Steel and Mana

Chapter 163 – Peace Talks (2)

Sitting next to his Empress, Milan was holding a thick notebook in his hands, scribbling into it as fast as possible, making the others look at him at first, feeling it was an insult to their integrity. They were rulers and leaders of their countries, and two of them –three, if they counted Mirian– were also high-level mages. Their words were the gold standard, and they were not here to pull the wool over the others' eyes.

"Is this really necessary?" Ahnud finally asked after feeling his ears starting to twitch, hearing Milan's pencil scraping against the paper whenever a word was uttered by someone.

"It is." Mirian answered without batting an eye. At first, she was also surprised, but if her future husband decided to do it, then it was fine. She even thought it was a good idea because then she didn't need to keep track of all the bullshit they were going to spew to convince her. This was why she loved him so much; he was so considerate!

"Are you suggesting our words can't be trusted?" Kadosa pressed on, backing up the Emperor of Sar.

"Which of you trust mine?" She shot back with a sly smile, tilting her head, "What? No instant answer?"

"Of course, we trust your words, Empress Mirian." Queen Nuen answered, but everyone knew it was just late enough and that it should mean nothing by now. That initial hesitation, remembering that it was Ishillia they were dealing with, was all that Mirian needed.

"If Duke Milan Kustov decides to record our meeting, then I approve." Mirian articulated slowly, and her voice carried unmistakable authority this time around, becoming as cold as steel. "Anyone having a problem with it has problems with Ishillia's decision."

In her mind, she was doing her best to place her love on a pedestal, showing off to other leaders who Milan was and how seriously she took his family... but to the leaders present, it was simply Ishillia being Ishillia, placing their own offensive ideas onto one of their nobles to take the fall for them.

"Let's continue." Nuen spoke before the two Emperors could, guiding the topic back to its original course. "As we established, the three countries in question have agreed to put down their weapons and disband their standing armies."

"Really? We never received a message about that. Did we?" Mirian asked, chuckling, looking at Milan, who hurriedly looked back up from his notebook.

"No, Your Majesty. I would remember that, and I would have put it at the top of your schedule."

"I thought so."

"Don't need to play dumb." Kadosa tapped on the table, shaking his head, "It was Empress Kathrien who demanded their complete surrender before annihilating an entire city, massacring tens of thousands of innocent people."

"Approximately, it was 70,000 souls." Mirian nodded, her face placid and uncaring, "Including the complete army of the Kingdom of Scorc, their generals, royal bloodline, and some key nobles."

"And you feel nothing?" Ahnud asked without masking his disgust.

"I feel grateful; without her decision to decimate our enemies in one move, I wouldn't have the chance to become her successor. What? Should I feel sorry? Should I be lethargic? Why?"

"If anything, that was a war crime, Empress!" Kadosa agreed, mounting the pressure on her, but she wasn't flinching; she was smiling.

"There were no civilians in that city."

"You can't be seriously saying that!" Ahnud laughed with deep sarcasm.

"Duke Kustov, am I missing something?" She shrugged, looking at the nervous Milan, making him speak up, trying to sound confident.

"No, Your Majesty. The city rebelled and crucified every loyal citizen, displaying their corpses on the fields before the city. We don't have concrete numbers, but it was in the thousands... if not more."

"Hm, hm, I thought so!" Mirian clapped, closed her eyes, and continued smiling, "I almost thought it was us who attacked ourselves; how weird! See? This is why you are right to record this meeting! Who knows, in the end, they will start saying we were the aggressors!"

"You can't deny your responsibility in this war." The two Emperors said simultaneously, even though they knew that it was making them look bad. It was true; Ishillia was not the one who instigated this conflict, but it all happened because Ishillia had robbed them of land for centuries. Even if they would look to be in the wrong now, by pressing on the matter, they had to see the current Empress's limits. So far, she has surprised them because she was indeed dangerous despite her young age.

"Responsibility? Our only responsibility is to end the war, and we have done exactly that." Mirian scoffed, "We are here because after annexing the Scorc Kingdom, the three little weasels decided it was in their interest to raise the white flag before we did the same to them!"

"Is this a threat?" Nuen interjected, taking it seriously as they all collectively kept ignoring the three countries' rulers. Not that they had anything to say and were only figureheads. They were only allowed to be here because their fate was at stake, and the three empires would be frowned upon if they were left out of the meeting. They gave up on their future, placing it into the hands of Nuen Roblesia IX the moment this meeting was agreed to happen.

"No, it is a fact." Mirian answered, reopening her eyes and looking directly into Nuen's gaze. "Scorc lost. I could say that we stopped a bloody civil war by occupying them. Or something similar..."

"Then what will be your excuse?" Kadosa chuckled, leaning back, making Mirian look at him with a side-eye.

"Excuse? No excuses. They lost and now belong to us. Just as these three." She grinned, pointing at the trio, almost making Huren faint. "They lost, and because you three are afraid that Ishillia will grow more potent than what you can handle, you are now trying to pressure us into a peace treaty. By all means necessary, go ahead, threaten me, show me your muscles, and pound the table! Go on!" She laughed graciously, leaning back, looking at them with confidence. "But be warned, I am not Kathrien... I don't throw a tantrum. I kill." Suddenly, the air within the room became chilly, and everyone could see their own breath leaving their nostrils. An icy-blue magic formation appeared above them all, making Ahnud and Nuen stand up, their eyes serious, murmuring their own counter-spells.

"That's enough, Empress Mirian." Kadosa spoke elegantly, and although he was without any magical capabilities, a medallion lit up hidden behind his clothes, coming from his chest, dispelling the cold before the two other rulers could finish their own spells.

This time, Mirian remained silent, only looking at the glowing amulet under Kadosa's shirt, knowing what it was... The gentle, peaceful aura emanating from within it automatically dispelled all the spells present without causing any backlash to their owners; only one artifact in the world could do it like this. It was the Medallion of Life.

While she said nothing, only smiling at him with a nod, the other two kept looking at her, reevaluating the new head of the Ishillian Empire within their minds. She managed to manifest a spell at the Adept-level without uttering the required spells. This either meant she was already an Expert-level mage or was carrying some artifacts under her clothes. As for which, they couldn't tell.

But Milan knew. It was the latter. Under her dress, she was wearing ten enchanted strips of paper tucked into the side of her panties, all of them a one-time-use artifact. One of them alone was worth the yearly income of his family, and she just used one up willy-nilly, exhausting a whole strip of paper laced with CC strings for a show of strength.

"This is what it means to be an Empress..." He thought, trying to only look at his notebook, wanting to disappear and be away from this stressful situation. This was worse than when she would massage him; at least, at the end of that, he could still finish and feel satisfied.

"I see that Emperor Kadosa IV came the most prepared from all of us. It is rare to see one of the Gods' Artifacts out in the open." Mirian exhaled, making the Emperor nod back with a smile.

"I am just happy that the Ishillian's dreadful spear has not made an appearance yet."

"Were you counting on me bringing it over?" She giggled, shaking her head, "If the spear sees the light, it means our countries are going to fight to the death, and there would be no negotiations."

"Let us all hold a little break." Nuen clapped, clearing her throat and feeling her back a little drenched. "It seems we are too overheated to come to a logical conclusion right now."

"You just need to stop testing my boundaries." Mirian moaned, stretching and standing up. "I came because I am not an unreasonable woman. I am willing to listen to our neighbors' peace offerings, but if they are unsatisfactory, we will just leave."

"Is this a threat?" Ahnud asked, his hand balled into a fist.

"Yes. Yes, it is." Mirian nodded, "You brought a God's Artifact out. We would already be at war if it were any other than the Medallion. Let's go, Duke Kustov! We will head back to the ship, and if we don't fly away until tomorrow morning," She smiled, already heading towards the door, departing decisively, "be sure that the war will continue, and I will trample on all of your balls, and uteruses."

...

....

......

"Very good, my love, very good!" Mirian giggled, reading Milan's notebook, holding it in her left hand, while his right was grabbing his shaft, stroking it at an incredible pace as they laid on her bed in her private chambers aboard the Judgement.

"M-Miri!" He gasped for air as he climaxed, making her peek above the book, grinning, watching the fountain explode and land all over her thighs and stomach.

"Geez, you always have so much in you! Good boy~!" She whistled and continued stroking him while returning to the book. "You take perfect notes, very nice. Will you show this to your dad?"

"..."

"Hehehe, you twitched." She looked at him, licking her lips, "This is why I love holding your third hand, my love; it is so honest! I don't mind; he is loyal. Is he not?"

"Yes, Miri."

"Hehehe!" She giggled, leaning in and kissing the side of his face before letting him go and starting to lick her fingers clean as if it were the most delicious sauce in the world. "Make a copy for me too."

"Y-yes..."

"Hm? What is it? Something bothering you?" She looked at him while scooping up his seed and eating it. "If they trouble you, we can leave. Fuck them. We can glass their borders and be done with it."

"N-no, nothing like that!" Milan yelped, sitting up straight, thinking that it was frightening that Mirian would even suggest something like that just because he was uncomfortable with sitting alongside them. "I'm just nervous; I am not even the head of my family yet."

"Who cares? You will be soon! With this move, when we return, I will announce your great work, how good you are, how wonderful you are, how... ahh..." She gasped, sucking on her own sperm-covered fingers, looking at Milan with hungry, blazing eyes, "Then we can start preparing for marriage!"

"A-already?"

"Of course!" She pouted, looking really childish, "Do you know how blazing hot my pussy is right now? I want to sit on you and ride you until dawn! Uuu... but I need to keep with the protocol, or there will be problems with conceiving a child, my love."

"A child?" He mumbled, his mouth opening wide. He felt more stunned than he had been told they would marry her.

"Of course! You see, my bloodline manages to breed a magical person because of the machinations of Ishillia. The very first one! We have to follow a particular protocol and be virgins on the first try..., and we will need to do it at a specific time of the year, too! It is a strict ritual, but don't worry, it will be fine!"

"A ritual..." Milan nodded, knowing this one wouldn't be recorded in the notebook, but he would surely tell his father about it.

"Yep! I only know that it is a must, and seeing how we have a lot of magical members within the bloodline, it is evidently working. I once asked Old Pascal about it, and he only said it is something we inherited from the Vasas."

"Who are those?"

"Dunno. Why? Interested?"

"A bit..." Milan nodded, but he also knew these were the things his father wanted to hear about the most.

"Hmmm... Well, you were always at the top of your class in history, so it's no wonder! Okay! I will try to learn more and tell you~! Anything for my love!" She giggled, hugging him, snuggling up to him while beginning to masturbate, moaning straight into his ears.