Steel and Mana

Chapter 59 – Growing Retinue

When I called up the ministers for the meeting, I was happy to see that this time around, they were less nervous than before. Well, at least until they realized more people were present than before, including all the blacksmiths.

"Before I hear the reports and your plans for the upcoming year, I must start with some important announcements. Please sit! First, as you already know, Sasha is my wife." I began while smiling as she stood beside me, looking embarrassed for the first time in a long time. "More than that, from now on, I officially establish our own Department of Magic, which she will be the head of, titled the first of magic, The Archmage."

"Congratulations!" The rest answered at once, clapping, the loudest being Merlin, grinning from ear to ear.

"From this point onward, anything magical is under her jurisdiction, and in the future, if more mages are born in our territory, they will learn under her supervision. Next, let me introduce Luna to all of you."

"..." I would have laughed if not for not wanting to tease her too much. She was blushing and being so stiff she almost fell forward as she stepped out, bowing. She was not saying anything, and after the other's greetings, she backed off next to my throne as soon as possible.

"From now on, she is my second wife. That's it." Of course, this simple sentiment was greeted with another wave of applause, including Sasha, who smiled at her encouragingly. "Next to introduce is Yuribisaida, who will be part of the army, serving under Oleg." I continued as the others didn't need to know she would be someone who would run my black-ops troops in the future. "Her role will be to oversee the palace's security."

"And be the third wife!" She added, making the others freeze after she brazenly interrupted me. I simply shrugged, glancing at Sasha, who nodded back, making me continue while smiling.

"Concubine. At best."

"Good enough, bwahahaa!" With a hearty laugh, she sat back down, already satisfied with everything, nodding at the weak claps and uncertain congratulations.

"I assume all of you have received the notification from Merlin about my plans. Minister Rennar, any opinions?" I asked, looking at the man who had not much to report in our first council meeting. He was the fellow who headed the Ministry of Architecture. Previously, he only had the building of the first walls on his plate, but this was about to change.

"We received the plans, Your Lordship!" He stood up, a bit nervous, bowing his balding head towards me. He was close to his forties, at least that was what I guessed at first glance, but it could be the result of his previous, more challenging life. "I already had my assistants to mark out the place where we can build a temple..."

"But?" I asked, encouraging him to continue.

"Is this a good idea?" He asked, glancing at Mikan, who was standing next to the long table. She had yet to join them as part of my ministers, not until I officially announced it.

"Merlin?" I turned my head towards the boy who was already ready.

"As you asked, My Lord, I conducted an anonymous survey in school! 44% percent of the answers stated that they wouldn't mind. Of course, this can't represent everybody, but I not only asked the kids but sent home a query so their extended families could participate in it. It was also a test to see how they fare. Luckily, it seems their education worked as they didn't forget to read and write!"

"Thank you. Well, Minister Rennar. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, My Lord, and I'm sorry for posing the question!" He bowed deeply towards me.

"Don't be. I approve of it! I commend you for it! I expect you all to voice your concerns. You have been selected to lead my different departments and are responsible for them. Never be afraid to question our decisions in these meetings to find the optimum. That is the goal why I hold these. Please go ahead and submit a report of what it would take to build the temple; Merlin will review and finalize it."

"Yes, My Lord!"

"This also takes us to my next announcement. Let me introduce you to Priestess Mikan, the new Head of the Church from now on. As I stated in my missive, she will be part of our culture. Not just our home but this whole land follows the Six Gods and their legend. I agree that what the previous church did was unacceptable. It is time that their teachings return to their original form, what it was thousands of years ago, free of distortions! Priestess Mikan will help us with that; give her a chance to show what the Six Gods meant by their words when they visited us."

"Thank you, Your Lordship, and thank you, Ministers!" She bowed deeply before taking her place at the table, and I exchanged a quick glance with Sasha. I could see the smile on her face as she knew full well that until a few months ago, I didn't believe in them at all. Oh well... things can change, no?

"Mhm. Now, last but not least... My blacksmiths, please, step forward!" The moment I mentioned it, they visibly shivered, coming forward, standing between me and the Ministers at the table. "I reviewed all of your works, and each and every one of them was perfect in their own way. But, there is only one person who can earn the title of Forgemaster. Kraus Lithannan!"

"Yes, My Lord!" He stepped forward, shaking like someone who had a high fever. He was well-built, relatively young, maybe only in his early twenties, with long, blonde hair and a growing goatee. I watched as his blue eyes filled with excitement and tears, which, in turn, made me smile.

"From this day forward, you are the first of the blacksmiths in my domain. Hence, your title shall be Forgemaster Kraus! Minister Paxon!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

"Record him down as the first of the Forgemasters and make a public announcement. From now on, you will present my orders to the Forgemaster, who then will be responsible for completing the directives!"

"I hear and obey, My Lord!" They both said, bowing to me while I looked at the rest of the blacksmiths, encouraging them with a few words.

"Now, there are multiple things we have to work on, so expect your forges to be running hot from now on! I will need a lot of iron to be processed, so hire your staff well, and let us improve the city together!"

Ultimately, it was my longest meeting yet, but I was satisfied with the results. While half of the people will continue building the walls, the other half will start working on the temple. While they were doing that, I sent my blueprints to Paxon so he could deal with it. It was also a test to see how he managed and worked together with my new Forgemaster and the blacksmiths.

What they had to do was to produce the future pipes of the central heating system, a relatively easy job, but the quantity was what made it hard. The true challenge fell onto the shoulders of Kraus as I sent down a copy of the Purifying Castellum that was yet to be built. He had to design a system that could be controlled from the outside, sealing it so people could go in and clean out the waste before it continued operating. It was a challenging job, mainly because he would have to work in tandem with the builders who would assemble and implement the mechanisms. It will be the first big test of how well my people can work together.

"When it's done, I will have to slowly pass down the new knowledge about artifacts to the Forgemaster..." I thought to myself. It was my goal to make it so that only those who hold the title will have the know-how to work with CC and its properties. Maybe even teach them how to apply magic formations... We will see.

...
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"You wanted to see me?" I asked, stretching as I sat down with my Mother. I wasn't alone because Sasha followed me, bowing towards her while Luna prepared tea for us. Even though Luna was now tasked with beginning training those who signed up to become maids in the palace when important guests came, she would not let anyone else do this but her.

"I did." My Mother nodded with a serious look, "First, I will start with the unimportant news! After teaching a few of your people, I deem that you have three families in this city with the perfect talent to become good merchants. I will train them personally and present you with a Trading Union built up like the one under Eliott's control. After a thorough investigation, I only trusted them to conduct tradings between territories as the rest failed to keep their mouths shut. If any of the other families venture out and begin trading, they would let things slip... And that would be catastrophic."

"Geez, and those are supposed to be unimportant news?" I giggled, shaking my head. This was great news! I direly need that. Simply trading with my Uncle's territory is insufficient; I need to expand on it. Carefully, yes, but I hope I can someday establish trading with other countries, too. But I don't want to rush ahead of myself.

"Yes. It is not that big of a deal. The rest whom I taught this winter are good enough to begin trading within the territory, with the villages and whatnot. Small businesses. They are still important, but I don't want to, and I won't supervise them for sure. For now, I sent them on a training mission; they are heading to your Father to carry some beast meat over to your soldiers."

"So beasts did come?" I hummed, letting Luna refill my cup.

"After you left, yes. More than once, but your mines did the job. Great work, Sasha! I hope we can have more of those by next winter!"

"Yes, I will work hard to deliver them!" She nodded with a happy smile, but it quickly disappeared after hearing my Mother's follow-up words.

"Now, to the important thing! Where is my grandson?"

"Again...?" I shrugged, but she wasn't having it.

"We almost lost you this winter!" Her voice was trembling, and although loud, it was also weak. I told her many times that it wasn't her fault; even Mikan stepped forth and talked with her, but still, she was mortified when she first heard what had happened.

"Haaah... look." I raised my hands, not wanting to get into the topic again as I lived through it. Let's leave it behind already. "It looks like the problem lies not with Sasha. Or Luna. It's me. Neither of them is pregnant yet."

"So you inherited my bane..." She whispered, slumping back, looking dejected, nervously fiddling with her thumbs.

"Is it frequent? I mean, were there relatives of mine who had this issue? Mom?"

"Not always... a few times, yes. But before me, it was my great-great-grandfather, who only had one son. Sometimes it... happens."

"But he did have one, hm?"

"Yes, a late one, but... yeah, he did."

"Then all is good!" I smiled, trying to appease not just her but Sasha, too. The only one who was unbothered by it was Luna. Although she didn't protest against being creampied every night, she also didn't care if she wasn't pregnant or not. I think she enjoyed the process more than she thought about what the end result would be. "Sooner or later, it will happen. You stressing about it won't make it occur sooner. I am still young, Mother! It will happen!"

"I will make sure of it!" Sasha nodded, standing up and sitting beside her, holding her hands, patting them warmly.

"My poor girl..." My Mother whispered, and soon they were hugging like sisters, talking about it like I wasn't there, discussing supposed ointments, or positions that may help.

"At least you are fine with it." I mumbled, leaning my head back and watching Luna stand behind me.

"It's okay! I was taught when I was being prepared to be a maid how to expect and deal with bringing a bastard into the world. I am completely ready if it happens! If not? That is good, too!"

"What bastard?" I turned around, flicking her forehead, making her moan cutely. "Want me to spank you or something? Our kid would be eligible for the throne!"

"Really?" She flinched, not thinking about it, and seemingly, it just registered in her brain at that moment.

"Duh. I wasn't playing with words when I named you as a wife. But, how things stand now, it is unlikely that I will have a hundred kids."

"A hundred?!" everyone shouted, looking at me.

Luna was distraught and pale while Sasha was trying to count how that would be possible... while my Mother? Her eyes were burning with zeal.

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