Steel and Mana

Chapter 52 – Faith

Heading back to the city was a challenging trek in the knee-high snow, especially for Mikan, who landed face-first in the snow multiple times.

"S-sorry!" She mumbled as we pulled her up again, and when I looked into her silvery eyes, I realized something.

"Wait..."

"W-what is it, Viscount Leon?"

"Your... eyes."

"Y-yes?" She asked, feeling nervous, and her reaction confirmed it even more. With a bit of rummaging through my pockets, I pulled out a letter, holding it before her, about... 40 centimeters from her eyes. "Um... What?"

"Read it."

"I..."

"Come on, it shouldn't be hard, Mikan! Read it. Please."

"I can't..." She murmured, her eyes filling up with tears.

"I knew it!" I put the paper away with a snap of my fingers while Sasha and Luna looked at us puzzlingly. "No wonder you are falling around all the time! You need glasses."

"Those are not cheap." Luna interjected at once, "Usually, only nobles could pay for them, and I mean nobles in the capital city! I don't think you can get one here anyway."

"That is true." I murmured, watching Mikan's embarrassed and sad look... I just couldn't help but reach out and start rubbing her head, surprising her. "I can't make you one; that is too complicated, and I doubt I have the materials for it."

"I am... u-used to it... It... it's okay..."

"It isn't. Don't belittle yourself, Mikan."

"You should have told us!" Sasha nodded, trying to comfort her while Luna asked the question I was also thinking about... I just didn't want to cut too deep with it.

"How can a witch have bad eyes anyway?"

"Hauuuh... I am not a witch... it seems." She answered, sounding heartbroken, "A witch shouldn't have bad eyes regardless of age, not one who can heal it, no? I am truly useless... I learned to conceal it, live with it, ignore it, but... Viscount Leon is very perceptive."

"Thank you. Plus, you don't need to hide it; we will get you one! You are part of the church, yes? Then you will write back home, saying you need a shipment of it. Order a batch of glasses, and we will find the one that you need. And please, do not order only one! I bet there will be people under me who will also need it; I don't want to get them one by one but in one, big batch."

"O-okay. I will do so, Viscount Leon. It should not pose that big of a problem. Most scribes do have glasses because copying works all the time. I can say I am recruiting more to serve under me. They didn't send me any helpers at all!" She nodded, bowing to me after I released her head, and we began heading back once again.

I expected Elyzien to speak up, even offer to fix her eyesight, but she didn't. Is she that selfish? Or she can't? She brought me back from the dead, so I guessed it would be trivial for her. What was she doing? Mmmh... She may be a bit more egocentric than I first thought. Well, as long as she is attached to Mikan, she is bound to a place I can monitor. Maybe building a temple is not a bad idea so I can move her into my city.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Hm?"

"Your face," Sasha chuckled, pulling on my hand, "It says you are juggling some ideas in your head! I'm just curious."

"He probably was juggling the Priestess's boobs."

"Luna!"

"Eh?! I... I didn't mean it to say out loudly!"

Well, I did think about it occasionally, but come on... although, now that she mentioned it, I looked over and imagined it. I couldn't help but smile, making the already embarrassed Mikan begin steaming from the top of her head releasing even a larger amount of golden light, filling the area around us with the scent of vanilla.

"What happened? Geez, concentrate girl! You are disturbing my meditation and leaking out my precious mana!" Elyzien grunted, although I wasn't sure I believed her reasoning.

"S-sorry! Sorry!"

"Khm! Well, if you want to know," I said, raising my voice to steer the conversation back to its initial point while we were walking, "I was thinking about reforming the church."

"Huh?" I could almost hear how their heads snapped right at me, especially Mikan's, who grew up under their care.

"I admit, I know little about the church and its teachings... But I can tell you that people here are not happy with them. Especially after what happened previously, they don't want to deal with them. Usually, this is how it goes when even good faith gets distorted and used for selfish reasons. When people see through it, they no longer want to be part of it."

"I... I heard what happened." Mikan nodded, but she looked determined, which was a significant upgrade. "But they twisted the words and teachings of the Six Gods. I can fix that if you let me, Viscount Leon!"

"Hmmm... We will see. First, why don't you enlighten me? I wasn't really the religious type, so I never paid attention to it."

"Happily!"

She wasn't lying. Just watching her retell the stories, I watched how it made her excited and happy. She was devoted, no questions about that. She may be clumsy, but she knows her field, which I can respect. Quickly glancing at Sasha, she remained silent, but I could tell she wasn't fond of the church, no matter how well Mikan conveyed their principles of caring for the people.

"In the ancient days, when magic was still unknown, Six Gods descended from the skies. It happened 3089 years ago, and it is that day from where we keep counting our Era of Enlightenment. They were Ariana, the Goddess of Death; Toobu, the God of War; Wyland, the God of Magic; Orsi, the Goddess of Life; Valen, the God of Honor; and finally, Elyse, the Goddess of Power. They traveled our world, introducing us to magic and its powers before leaving, telling us that one day when we are worthy, we will see the Heavens and join them up there!"

"Do we have any proof?" I asked subconsciously, but Mikan merely nodded, smiling happily.

"Yes! All six have left behind an artifact, and they said that by using them, we will be able to call upon their presence when we finally travel into the Heavens. They are the most sacred and most revered items in our world."

"Oh." Now, that was... interesting. With what I experienced, seeing that so-called Heaven after my second death, I couldn't chase out the idea from my head. They probably were not gods but visitors from a different world. Aliens, if you must. Huh! That did make sense. If I could study one such relic... "Where are they now?"

"One is in our possession! I mean, in the hands of the Ishillia Empire. It is the Spear of Death, once wielded by the Goddess Ariana herself. The last time it showed up was when Ishillia was established; it has been dormant since then. But whenever it was used in the past, empires fell. Then, the Geth Empire to the west has the Medallion of Life, the gift of Goddess Orsi. When I was still an acolyte, I visited their temple and saw it for myself! It was... glorious."

"Hmmm... Now I also want to see it."

"They are nothing that humans could make; they are impervious to all damages, and nothing can stand in their way. Their magic is something that we can not comprehend!" Mikan continued, wholly lost in the saga and in her reverence. "The third we know about is the Gauntlets of War, from the God Toobu, and it is in the possession of the Khulman Empire."

"Wait... we don't know about the last three?"

"We know of them." She answered me, smiling with a bit of sadness, "But they are lost to time. Our Empire has been standing gloriously for 2000 years, but before that, there were others who ruled the land. Evil, ancient forces who battled for the Relics of Gods! There were many dark and bloody centuries, and we lost the last three. They were the Book of Magic from God Wyland, the Sword of Lightning, wielded by God Valen, and finally, the Tiara of Power, a gift of the Goddess Elyse. As they are unbreakable artifacts, we know that they are not destroyed but 'only' lost."

"Huh... it would be nice to find one..." I hummed, which made Mikan chuckle.

"It would give you the right to proclaim yourself as a messenger of the Gods and would give you the right to rule, no matter your background."

"Hah! Superstitions..." I couldn't help but grin, shaking my head, making Sasha copy me, "I don't need them for it. My actions will be enough!"

"But others do need to acknowledge you." Mikan countered, speaking seriously, "There is no power in the world that does not worship one of the Gods. Our Empire is amongst the few who follow the oldest path, praying to all Six. Most countries adopt only one of the Gods!"

"Hmm... I see... and if there is a power that doesn't acknowledge any of them, it would be branded as a heretic and burnt to the ground by everyone. Correct?"

"Yes, Viscount Leon. That is for sure what would happen."

"Then I do need a temple..." I shrugged. I can't just overturn a 3000-year-old tradition, not when it is this deeply integrated with everyday life. Well, I am anything if not flexible, so I will adapt. "Tell you what, Mikan! You join my school first and begin teaching the people. You will have to work with them and show them the church they know is different from what our previous priests showed. If they accept you, I can build a temple and make you its Head Priestess! Then, we can talk about how to move forward. But! And this is a heavy BUT... don't teach them dogmas. Teach them ideas, but do not force them to accept them. Let them choose."

"Thank you, Viscount Leon, but... school? The local nobles and their children-"

"No, no. I have no nobles under me. There is me and my people. That is it. You will see! The school I am talking about is where we teach all of my people from a young age as in my city, everyone must know how to read, write and count. No exceptions."

"How can they pay the tutors... I don't get it..." She mumbled, but it was Sasha who answered her.

"They don't pay for it. It is given to them by Leon. We ensure that the teachers are paid, be it with money or with other privileges. The people attending the school don't pay anything!"

"..."

"As I said," I added with a smile, looking at her over my shoulder, "You'll see."

...
....
......

It took Mikan and Elyzien two days to tour the city under Sasha's supervision. I knew that many of the citizens would be apprehensive seeing a priestess walk around, but nobody made a problem for her because she was with my wife. Still, I hoped Oleg would finish raising the first batch of soldiers who would act as my city guards. I trust them, but... there ought to be bad apples in every batch.

"Here you go, Master." Luna whispered, placing a cup of coffee before me while I was sitting behind my office desk, looking at Mikan and Elyzien standing at the other side.

"Thank you. Well... how is it? Don't need to hold back your tounges, ladies! Speak frankly!"

"Marvelous!"

"Weird."

"Oh?" I expected similar responses but not ones that contradict each other. They may occupy the same body, but they are different, huh?

"I think what you built up here is marvelous, achieving it without any help! I... I wouldn't have believed you if you just told me and not showed me." It was clear that Mikan was honest with her words; the light in her eyes and her smile was genuine, and I was sure of it. "I can already see that one day, this place could rival the capital city in its beauty."

"Maybe." Elyzien nodded, remaining calmer and more critical. "The designs are unique, especially your palace. But not something I would find exceptional. What I am more interested in is how you did the sewers and water system. I couldn't sense magic in them... so how did you make the water flow? Is the magic hidden in those water tanks? What makes them work? The one in our capital is supported by 141 types of formations! You couldn't have copied it; I would have sensed it by now."

"There is no magic involved in it." I smiled proudly, making Elyzien's surprise double as she didn't doubt me. "It is engineering. Primitive engineering, mind you! The only part where magic is used is in its cleaning process. I will show it when spring comes and the snow melts. There, you could help me."

"I am looking forward to it! Hah! This is... so weird. You call it primitive... Well, it is true as it has no magic, yet it is also untrue because I couldn't have figured it out without using formations. You are a weird man, Leon of the Frontiers."

"I will take that as a compliment; thank you."

"It was. You are welcome."

"You see," I sighed, placing my cup down, watching Elyzien, "I would have used more magic if I could. The problem is... I don't have enough CC. Well... none, to be honest."

"I guessed as much. I can't help you there, I'm sorry. But! I can point you toward someone who can. The problem is, I don't know if his bloodline is still alive. His name was Ulbart Akashi, a magic family living within the Kingdom of Scorc, right next to us in the east."

"To the east?" I shrugged, shaking my head. "That would be problematic... You see, we were warring and expanding in that direction in the past decades. I don't think they would deal with us."

"I know. I heard it while Mikan was growing up. Right now, they wouldn't, but they would finance a force that could turn into a thorn in the Empire's side."

"I won't become another's pawn!"

"Okay!" She shrugged, raising her hands after hearing my rock-solid reply and watching my unwavering expression. "It is an option. If you want, I can explain it, but I will let you explore other avenues for now! Sooner or later, you will need CC. Formations are only true and complete when they are drawn by a mage, using them as a conduit."

"Don't worry! I do expect a shipment coming back home with the arrival of spring." I answered with a smile, and I couldn't help but feel that I was missing my crazy bandit bitch...