Steel and Mana

Chapter 187 – Budding Alliance

"How was your previous two days?" I asked, meeting with Empress Mirian and Milan once again.

"Inspiring." She answered simply, sitting opposite me, acting nonchalantly. Despite her carefree attitude, I knew full well that she had observed everything she could in detail. She was constantly pushing her boundaries to the limit outside the palace. She multiple times tried to enter places she wasn't allowed to; she even tried to pressure others to let her enter the water-purifying castellas to inspect them.

"I am glad to hear. While you were out terrorizing my subordinates–"

"Most of your citizens didn't even recognize me as their Empress." She interrupted me with a smirk. She would be correct if she hadn't arrived with her massive, flying ship, so I wasn't buying it. 

"They know. It is just that we are no longer subordinates to you."

"Heh, we haven't come to an agreement yet, Sovereign Leon."

"But we will." I spoke up, and Sasha pulled out a thick folder, pushing it before her, waiting a few seconds before beginning to explain calmly and clearly.

"We drew up the borders we want in exchange for helping you clean out the capital city."

"You don't want more territory?" She asked, surprised as Avalon didn't even claim the regions around us, leaving them within Ishillian borders.

"No, but we want guarantees for our trade routes." Sasha continued, "We highlighted the ones that lead outside of the Empire, through the League, and onwards. I want a written, stamped, and sealed guarantee with no expiration date. It must allow us to accompany our caravans with our military to protect them, be it against bandits or some of your overachieving nobles."

"Huh... So you just want to waltz through the Empire as you see fit?"

"It would benefit you too." I interjected, leaning in and tapping on some of the routes that lead toward her city. "What if I tell you we could build a highway that would enable you to travel back and forth between here and there in a day?"

"I would think that you are lying."

"It is your loss." Sasha smiled provocatively, making Mirian furrow her brows before her face slowly smoothed out.

"How would that benefit me?"

"I would allow you to tax it appropriately for the line that goes through YOUR territory. Also, we are willing to let you expand on it as you see fit within Ishillia, and we are also willing to sell you the trains we build."

"So it is called trains..." She whispered, flipping through the drawn images of them. Of course, they did not include any accurate measurements or functional descriptions. I even added some overexaggerated details and wrongly placed parts so that if she could memorize it, she would build it in a way that would make it useless. "And you claim that this machine could travel from here to the capital in a day?"

"Yes. I am certain of it. Also, it uses no magic, so it would be easy to build and cheap to maintain. Compared to the regular caravan today, one engine could drag along ten caravans worth of items."

"Or more..." Sasha chuckled, watching Mirian finally understand its importance as a lightbulb turned on above her head.

"You are not joking..."

"We are not, Empress Mirian." I assured her, waiting for her to put the drawings down.

"Why share this? This could be life-changing."

"This is an innovation that is too big to contain to just the Frontier." I answered her with a shrug, "And, if I build it between me and my Uncle, it would be like an expensive toy. It only gets useful if I can take advantage of it to its fullest! For that, I need the railways to go everywhere. Down south, to the east and west, everywhere it can! When I look at the map, I want to see a spiderweb of railways on it. I can't do that alone."

"We thought that Ishillia would be our enemy," Sasha started, catching her attention again, making Mirian turn from me to her. "But that is no longer the sole option. If you can stay at the helm and be our ally, that changes everything. You are still young, and if you can sit on that throne for the next hundred years, we will have enough time to alter a lot and make us into good, friendly neighbors."

"You must also realize that it won't be that easy." After a minute of silence, Mirian exhaled a long breath, finishing reading the rest of our demands and suggestions. They included not only that we became fully independent but also that she would have to guarantee that it is acknowledged worldwide. "If I do this, it is an admission that we, the royal bloodline, became weak. That we can't retain a 'barbarian' region. This would be the starting point of an avalanche..."

"Rebellions?" I asked, already guessing as much.

"Yes, and more." She nodded, crossing her arms, "It would double the issues in the newly annexed Kingdom of Scorc. Then, other unhappy regions or ambitious nobles would announce that they also wanted to earn their independence. I would never underestimate greed; I know that at least half of the nobles would jump on the opportunity to try and take a slice from the Empire. Lastly, the sharks around us would bite onto the bleeding body of Ishillia and tear big chunks off of it. I have no doubts about that!"

"We speculated as much." Sasha answered, tapping her fingers on the table, musing a little before continuing. "We need to do it in a sequence, then. We become independent but without announcing it. While working together, we help you clean the house and find those who would be against you. Either scrub them out or place them far away from the capital, down south, preferably. This way, we would slowly cut down Pascal's potential allies before we move against him. In the meantime, you could easily turn the people to your side with edicts that elevate them and not the nobles."

"The people..." She whispered, and I could see that she was thinking about what she had experienced within Avalon in the past two days, about how people lived and were much happier, speaking about us not in hushed tones but openly and filled with pride.

"I won't say that Ishillia won't lose territories." I told her fair and square, "Whatever happens, when we move against Pascal, it would be bloody and costly. The aftermath would see us on a backfoot as rebellions would and will happen. I am also fairly sure that because Ishillia was a massive bully for two thousand years, everyone would join in and try to wreck you."

"I agree. And if we fall, all your deals with us will be worth nothing. In all honesty, you stand to lose nothing, Sovereign Leon."

"I do. I stand to lose stability and would have to deal with who knows what type of bastards wanting to be my new boss!" I grunted, rolling my eyes, "When I said we would help you, I meant it. We would help you keep Ishillia, but I am fairly certain that it would be at a reduced size."

"At a size that is more controllable." She smiled at the end, flipping through the documents, pulling the map of the Empire to the forefront. "Now I understand why you had some regions left uncolored... And why did you suggest moving the troublesome nobles to the south..."

"It is only our prediction, Empress Mirian." My wife explained calmly; now that it clicked within Mirian's head, it was much easier to sell it to her. "Those territories would fall, especially bordering the southern empires. We must focus on what we can keep and reinforce. That is why we suggested getting the people to your side; they are worth more than any noble family. Just look at your issues within Scorc territories. When the southern empires march in and take those lands, if the people there are on your side, it will be enough to halt their advance or slow it down."

"We would focus on the core regions..." she mumbled, already seeing the strategy that presented itself: taking advantage of the land's geometry and establishing choke points at natural formations and barriers.

"Also, look at those counties that we need for industry." I leaned forward, pointing at those we marked in red. "These are must-have ones. Of course, you will have to add more to it because we don't know where you get your CCs."

"Mhm." She smiled, looking at us, enjoying that there was something that we didn't know at least. "And these red ones... are they important for me or for you?"

"Both. As I said, we would help, so my army would march with yours. If you want us to be ready for it, we need to build it up first."

"How long would it take?" She asked sharply, putting the documents together and closing the binder around them.

"Depends on your support, Empress Mirian. Six years? A decade? It is up to our access to resources and nothing else."

"I'll sign it." She stated, thinking for only a brief moment, "As for resources, that is a different deal, Sovereign Leon. We will need to sit down again and work it out."

Hearing her say that, I wasn't angry. I also wouldn't want to just freely throw everything at someone who wanted to rebel against me. It was... a funny situation if you had a special kind of humor. But it was a start! That is what mattered the most.

"Tell you what!" I chuckled after we came to an agreement on the first half and on our independence. "Visit us in the winter."

"Why?" She looked at me curiously.

"In the past few years, we slain beasts that were anything but ordinary. This year will likely be the same. We still have their skulls, you know. Do you want to see it?"

"Beasts..." She inhaled sharply, "Yes. I do want to see them!"

...

....

......

"I am surprised you are letting me up here." I exclaimed honestly while Merlin and I were walking up the ramp and entering the insides of the flying jewel of Ishillia.

"It is a selfish reason," Mirian replied plainly, leading us into the luxuriously decorated machine. "This machine was built in a way that we can't replicate. The rest are also one of a kind; we still can't reliably replicate their main magic engine. That is why we can't replace one that has been destroyed… We can only repair it and fix parts that break, but if the ship goes down, it will be lost for us forever. This? This was the Emperor of Magic's personal vessel… He made it, drove it, was the only one who knew how it worked and never shared it. The others we have are nothing but the prototypes he left behind after repurposing them. It took my family a century to make them fly again after his death!"

"What a jerk…" Merlin mumbled, making me laugh, and Mirian also cracked a smile but remained silent. 

"Seeing your machines, I want you to take a look and share them with me. In exchange, whatever you learn will stay yours to do whatever you want with. Those monster skulls are no joke. I am surprised you stopped them and not just let them through."

"You are being awfully generous. We stopped them because that is the sensible thing to do."

"I see..." She hummed, "So! We are going to work together, yes?" She looked at me with one eye while speaking. "Then let this be our first joint project and the proof that we will be able to trust each other and work as allies."

"Fine by me–" I was about to strike my hand out for a handshake, but I had to stop. I watched a bald, thin man in white robes walk towards us, cutting through our group as if we were not there. His head was wearing a metal ring around it, while a magic tattoo was going around its neck… He was no longer a human, and I could feel it… See it. Its eyes were hollow, just like its body, while he passed by us. Watching the back of its head, I saw that it had a slot for CC, and it even had multiple threads going into its skull, with more tattoos hiding under its robe, making me shiver at its mere existence.

"What… is that?" Merlin asked the question that was ringing alarm bells in my mind.

"A shipslave." Mirian answered, "The Emperor of Magic was known to adhere to only one principle: Everything for knowledge. These… things are what make the ship work… They are part of it and are no longer living beings. Functionally speaking, they achieved immortality because some of them date back to his days."

“Holy… shit…” I cursed while I looked at Merlin, remembering when he blew up our prisoner. Unlike in this age, back in its first life, there was nobody who told him to stop… And it showed.