Steel and Mana

Chapter 10 – The First Companion

We spent a week back home, and while I spent my time teaching Sasha to read, the maids and soldiers began to whip the rest of my new retinue into shape. They would be mine to command later on, so they had to be strengthened. Not to do battle but to at least look like regular humans. Living in the forest without many skills to speak of, I was surprised they were still alive.

Of course, I gave them a chance to leave. If they wanted, they could have left. Go back to the forest and do whatever they want. Seven people did so, and I never stopped them from leaving. Nor did anyone send people after them to silence the bunch, although Oleg was arguing openly with me to do so. I think the firm way I shot him down made Sasha open up a little more, as she never complained when I pressed her to start learning.

"I don't get this word!" She came up to me, holding a parchment as we were walking on a narrow footpath, heading towards my original destination, the open mine where the church got its stones in the past.

"It's the word for mana," I explained to her patiently.

I was surprised by the speed she was learning. Memorizing the alphabet with its 44 characters was done by a day. What she was kind of struggling with was recognizing words when those characters were written down in sequence. I say she struggled, but it meant she learned it after around 8 to 10 tries.… still doing it with lightning speed. I suspected that mana had different effects on her body besides enabling her to cast spells.

Talking about that… she was shaping up beautifully. A week of normally eating and sleeping started to turn her for the better, almost making her glow. Her body began to gain back its healthy weight… in return, she was getting sexier by the day. I was a bit… jealous. I had to work besides inheriting my parents' genes… she only had to eat and sleep. Not fair.

"Thanks!" Sasha chuckled, putting the parchment away, stretching, wearing a traveler's outfit, and carrying a bag on her back.

"No need. It is the basic I can't do with subordinates who can't read! When you can do it well, we will practice writing and move on to numbers."

"I can learn that too?"

"Of course! Duh! It is the basics; I will have to teach you more complex stuff, or how are you going to help me with my research?"

"What if I can't do it?" She asked, tilting her head, looking a bit nervous and troubled.

"Oh well, I will have to look for another mage and find you a profession you can excel in."

"I will do my best…" She mumbled softly, but I did catch it.

"Not that I am not looking for more mages, but I am not stupid enough to think one would fall into my lap! Eventually, I will need someone who can do some advanced stuff!"

"That would suggest something is very wrong here!" Oleg chimed in, still playing the role of my bodyguard. "I never heard about mage escapees before!"

"I think they thought I was dead." Sasha shrugged, "They did pursue me but then gave up after a while."

"Do you think they made a report?" I asked not Sasha but Oleg, who simply shrugged. "I guess they wouldn't tell the higher-ups they lost a child… a witch at that… probably their heads would have been lopped off!"

"Good!" She added, enjoying the thought.

"Relax with the hate train there!" I patted her shoulders, making her raise an eyebrow, and Oleg also looked back over his shoulder.

"What is a train?" Both of them asked curiously.

"Oh, it's an invention! In my mind only for now!"

"What does it do? Does it work with fire?" Sasha went on, becoming more and more inquisitive after she realized I hadn't lied to her before.

"Well, yeah, yes, it can!" I thought about it, already pondering how I could lay down tracks and use steam engines to go back and forth… the problem was, where the hell am I going to get steel from?! When we can't even build stone houses? Shit… this will take time.

"Leon?" She poked me gently, drawing my attention back to her. "You spaced out. Again... You are doing that too much!"

"Sorry, my train of thought is led from one issue to another that I have no solution for yet!" I shrugged, stopping and quickly drawing up the image of a train on the ground with the tip of my sword. "This is a train! I can draw you a more detailed blueprint later if you want. Simply put, it is a carriage made out of steel, running on steel tracks. You ignite a fire in it, feed it, and then it can go along those tracks with great speed, dragging carts you can fill with whatever you want! Even people."

"Woah!" They exclaimed, watching it with wonder in their eyes while I started walking again.

"Hey!" Sasha rushed after me, catching up quickly, "Can you really make something like that?!"

"Not now. Too many problems prevent me from making it into reality!"

"How much would it be able to carry, Young Lord?"

"Well…" I looked at Oleg, thinking if he would believe me or not… so I went with an example I think was in the realm of possibilities for them to understand. "It could easily drag the church in town behind it."

"No way!" They both exclaimed, and it took me some persuasion to calm them down.

"I can't give you proof, so it is up to you to believe me or not! But why would I lie?"

…
….
……

It was already dusk when we finally arrived. While the two began setting up a campsite, I decided to look at the mine. Calling it an open-pit mine was a kind gesture. It was… pathetic. I recognized the work, how they chipped off or, with some unknown method, broke off the stones from the side of the mountain. A maybe 10- or 12-meter-deep oval-shaped pit was dug out, getting some hard stones mined from deep within, but it was nowhere near what I expected. However, I had to realize my expectations came from my previous life. Something that was not applicable here.

While walking closer, I was also picking up rocks, as many small chunks littered the ground around the area. What I was most surprised to find was that some had traces of iron in them. Why wasn't this area exploited yet? We certainly have an ore vein deep underground, probably running into the mountains… I could only think about other regions already having an industry built out, and it's much cheaper to mine there than to start one up here… My evidence to support my conjecture was the fact that we had to buy the equipment for our soldiers from one such region at an exorbitant price! Saying it was because they had to ship it from so far away… bullshit.

"This is good…" I murmured, pocketing some samples before returning to the camp, seeing that Oleg was cutting wood and making a fire while Sasha finished putting up the tents. "Why do we only have two?"

"One for me and one for you two," She answered casually.

"Pft, heck no! I'm sleeping with you! Oleg is so big I wouldn't have space next to him!

"Hah!" He laughed, feeling proud, but Sasha was gawking at me.

"Relax, relax!" I walked past her, sat down on a log, and started examining my little rocks, but it was hard as the night settled in by now.

"It's… inappropriate!" She protested again, making me look up at her face, repeating the facts she seemed to forget from time to time.

"I already saw everything that there is to you, Sasha. We could go bath together; it wouldn't change a thing."

“Y-y-y-you!” She stammered while I caught Oleg looking at us and showing me a thumbs up, managing to finally ignite the fire.

“M-m-m-me~!” I replied, rolling my eyes. "I won't molest you! Relax!"

Well, she was still unhappy about the fact, but there was nothing she could do… and I won't sleep with another guy when I have a girl with me. Dinner was fine; I always liked barbecuing some meat over an open fire. Although I missed the variety of spice we had in my time… oh well, maybe later on I can get some! Sasha, even though she was recovering quickly after a good dinner, became extremely sleepy, so she returned to the tent early. I remained, talking with Oleg a little, listening to how the others fared back in the castle before I also excused myself.

"Have a good night's sleep, Young Lord! I set up warning traps and will stay up for now to guard you!"

"Wake me up when you are sleepy," I looked at him, "Then we will switch!"

"Thank you, Young Lord!"

I only smiled before disappearing into my tent and settling down beside Sasha, who was lying on her back. Looking at her, she was cute and innocent. Pushing down my perverted, evil thoughts, I just laid down next to her, letting sleep take over me. What I didn't expect was that my mind would make a move while I was asleep, and somewhere in the coming hours, I did climb onto her, finding a place for my head on her flat chest… I just couldn't help it… she did smell really nice.