Steel and Mana

Chapter 276 – Overview

The winter had lasted longer than anyone could remember, including the one only a few years back. The bleak, bone-chilling frost this time was even stronger than before. It covered the world in white for nearly seven months, and when it finally began melting, it was like the Gods had finally shown mercy to the world. Yes, snow still piled high over the plains, cities were buried beneath layers of ice, and the mountain passes remained impassable at many places, but the thick clouds were breaking apart more and more, letting the sun's golden rays shine down on the world.

Many of the world's empires, boasting green pastures of plenty and bustling trade routes, felt the full force of the unforgiving cold since it started. Crops failed, food stocks diminished day after day, and the supply chains that once linked nations together dropped to a standstill. This winter overshadowed any other one, bringing greater destruction than anyone could expect at the first snowfall. Many countries began believing that something was wrong with the world and that the Six Gods were punishing them for it. Famine crept into the homes of even the wealthiest nations and their leaders while the poor suffered the brunt of winter's wrath, their survival becoming a daily struggle. There were multiple smaller kingdoms dotting the surface of the world that simply collapsed, consumed in the flames of rebellion.

With the snow finally beginning to melt, Cerna started to send out news and edicts of their Empress, the advocated, true ruler of Ishillia. Her will was that the nobles began helping their people, sharing their wealth, and ensuring everyone had something to eat and somewhere to live. Her words not only spread around the Silver Region but down south, reverberating in the lands under the clear rule of Pascal, the Eternal Emperor. In many places, supplies were too few to sustain the population, and the gossip of revolting and joining Mirian's side grew louder with each passing day. Yet, out of nowhere, people bearing Ishillian banners appeared, rounding these people up, hauling them away, scaring the rest into compliance. It wasn't Ishillia alone who was doing similar things.

Beyond their borders, the story was much the same. The Kingdom of Nonia to the west, most known for its dense forests and timber trade, found itself stripped of most of its resources as its people cut down literal forests to keep themselves warm. Its southern neighbor, the Geth Empire, had endured a similar plight. Their bountiful grain fields lay frozen and barren, most of it ruined ahead of harvest. It put Emperor Kadosa IV into a tight position, especially because he was aiming to gather enough resources to launch an attack against Ishillia in the spring. Yet, now, more than half of their expected resources were gone before they could have been collected. Even the most faithful warriors can't fight on nothing but their conviction. Anger simmered below his usually calm expressions, which he had nowhere to direct but at Ishillia. He wasn't going to miss an opportunity; instead, in the middle of the raging winter, he began holding sermons, putting the blame of winter on Ishillia and the blasphemy of their 'Eternal Emperor,' readying his people for a Holy Crusade.

Next to Ishillia to the east, the Atuvian League had been all but isolated, its people trapped in a frigid wasteland with no way out. Unlike before, not even Ishillian airships delivered supplies this time around, causing most of their regions to collapse. The League's wealthy merchant leaders, known for their maneuvering and keen instincts for a good deal, had hoarded what little they had, turning their backs on the common folk who had kept them in power. There was no way to launch caravans through the heavy snow, ending the country's usually continuously ongoing trading, and just like that, their nation's lifeline had frozen solid, the same as their rivers. The subsequent hunger-induced desperation had led to unrest; violent skirmishes broke out in the streets as people clawed for their share of the scant resources left in the hands of the wealthy. They were burning down noble houses and ransacking them, wiping away multiple hundred-year-old bloodlines in only a few months.

Southward, in the Khulman Empire, the fate of their people grew darker still. The vast Empire, similar to that of Ishillia, whose breadbasket regions had always fed its massive army, was now a burial ground. Their fertile lands lay covered in sheets of ice and frozen corpses. Countless villages were abandoned, consumed by the elements. The Khulman sultan had enacted harsh rationing policies, with only the most loyal citizens receiving aid, deeming the weak and useless to be sacrificed for the survival of the Empire.

It was no wonder that rebellions brewed across the land as people reached their breaking point, and not just in Ishillia. The brutal winter had spared no one.

Yet, with the arrival of spring and sunlight, the imminent thaw—the sudden, abrupt melting of the snow—had signaled not a season of relief but one of reckoning. As the frozen rivers began to flow again, as the soil became visible beneath the disappearing snow, a new kind of punishment came down on the people, one that was just as bad as the winter. The snow had to go somewhere, and it resulted in the creation of lakes that never before existed, colossal floods, swallowing land, towns, and thousands who dared to stand in its way.

Further east, the Kingdom of Markoth, with its flat fields and multiple lakes, had been entirely cut off by the flooding waters. As the land thawed, the hundred-year civil war between the citizens of Markoth was about to continue; their army was ready to mobilize, preparing to march westward in finally defeating the rebels, but then, the roads were swallowed by the rolling waters along with the unlucky troops. The merchants of the Republic of Aymnes, who once relied on Khulman's grain, were now stockpiling their own resources, hiring mercenaries to secure their borders from desperate refugees or potential invaders stuck between a rock and a hard place, feeling their imminent destruction.

Meanwhile, in the south, the Tentian Theocracy saw an opportunity in the chaos. The Theocracy's faith, which remained untested by winter's grip, now urged its people to cleanse the land, pointing their fingers at their old enemy, the Sar Empire. The high priest called for a crusade, just as Emperor Kadosa IV did, to reclaim fertile lands by force, reasoning that those who failed to endure the winter had lost their divine favor anyway. Their greatest ally, Queen Nuen Roblesia IX, agreed with their notion, sending formal declarations that they would support their ally in their righteous campaign. The tension between the Theocracy and the Sar Empire reached a breaking point, and already, small skirmishes had erupted in the border regions, giving Ishillia a slight breather, having Pascal only worry about an immediate attack from the Geth Empire's side.

Drums and trumpets echoed throughout the land as the sun's golden rays became a constant presence, heating the world and its people more and more with every passing day. Everyone now knew that spring would bring no peace, no rejuvenation. It only brought war.

Yet, strangely enough, there was one place where the world seemed... normal.

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....
.....

"Mhmm... Mhm? Is it... morning?" Luna moaned, sitting up in their bed, rubbing her eyes with a yawn, wearing nothing, revealing her slender body as the bedsheet fell into her lap.

Looking around, it was rare for her to be the last to wake up… well, not the last, as Mikan was also asleep next to her. Still, it was usually her who woke up first, making breakfast for everyone. She never complained about it because it was something she liked to do. Mainly because after it, she could laze around throughout the morning, doing nothing else. It was the best part of every day, just watching the world wake up and come to life, people busying themselves while she had to do nothing.

"Mhmm… I need to pee…" With a low moan, she climbed out of bed, landing face flat on the thick carpet as her legs refused to support her body, reminding her why she woke up so late. "Owie… I'm still sore…" she mumbled, looking up at the window. She saw the morning sun's light shine through the small gaps in the curtains, and she heard the melting snow dripping down, intensifying her urge to pee.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, her body felt weak from yesterday's intensive playtime, where she was being passed back and forth between Leon and Yuri…

"Nyauh…" She moaned again with great satisfaction after remembering it.

It was always best for her to do nothing and just enjoy the sensations. Her partners knew precisely how to please her until she blacked out, and it was no different this time, either. But her lower part refused to wake up, feeling tired, forcing her to lay on the carpet, naked and getting troubled. If someone didn't come to help, she would be like little Lancelot. The only difference, she wasn't wearing a diaper.

"Miiikkiiiiiiii!" She moaned, pushing herself up a little, "Help!"

"Mhm…? Luna?" Mikan moaned, waking up to her cries. She looked around with a sleepy expression, fumbling around in the bed. She was looking for the others, but she found it empty. "Where–?"

Then, just like Luna, she managed to fall off the bed when she tried pushing herself up, missing the edge with her hands. With a soft thump, her naked body landed square on Luna, making her disappear under her curvy, soft body. As she lay there, almost falling asleep again, Luna's trashing managed to keep her awake, followed by a warm feeling appearing between their bodies, squeezed out of Luna by Mikan's weight.

…
….
……

"Don't worry about it!" Mikan said with a kind smile. She held Luna in her lap, bathing in the palace's bathhouse while gingerly playing with her long hair.

"Better not!" She flinched with a blush, "Yuri would tease me about it forever!"

"My lips are sealed." She giggled, clearly in a pleased mood, which wasn't weird, as yesterday's night's focus was centering around her.

"They were indeed sealed!" Luna giggled, "Sasha even sat on them! OWIE! No twisting when they are still sensitive!" She cried out as Mikan's fingers pulled on her nipples.

"You can be just as bad as Yuri. Maybe I will tell her about your accident."

"N-no! Hauh!"

"Then act like a grownup already." Mikan warned her, slowly releasing her cherry-colored nipples.

"Where is the fun in that? I am me! And Leon likes me like this. There is Sasha, the serious wife, and there is Yuri, the wild one. Then, there is you, the doting one, and me, the plaything!"

"You mean playful?"

"That too."

"You are indeed spoiled rotten." Mikan shrugged, hugging her one more time before getting out, starting to dry themselves. By now, both of them could stand, feeling refreshed and ready for a new day. "What are you going to do today?"

"Nothing. As usual." She answered, drying her hair with a towel, "I am planning to finish my first draft, though!"

"Will I be able to read it then?" Mikan asked, glancing at Luna, who, for some reason, constantly refused to let any of the girls read her budding story. Not even Sasha read any part of it, and the only judge who knew her story was Leon, who refused to share anything about it.

"N-no!" Luna flinched, "It… It is for me, that's all!"

"But you showed Leon."

"I didn't!" She pouted, "He found it… I was careless in hiding it well enough…"

"Tsk, come on, I bet it is really fun! You read the most among us; don't rob us of it!" Mikan pleaded, curious as to what Luna was writing throughout the winter.

"No! It… it is just ramblings and… stuff! Hmph! Let's go, I'm hungry!"

With that, she hurried out of the bathhouse, leaving Mikan there, shrugging with a smile. Even though Luna would wear ridiculous clothes that covered nothing and put toys into holes, Mikan had never thought about it before becoming part of Leon's harem; the moment it came to her writing, she was as shy and embarrassed as a young maiden.

But… It was what made her love not just Luna but all of her sisters. Sasha, Yuri, Luna, and, of course, her husband, Leon. It was now her family she wouldn't want to exchange for anything, not even eternal life. Helping to raise Arthur, Leyla, and Lancelot was a blessing in itself, and tonight, she had a dream… a dream of raising her own soon enough.

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