Steel and Mana

Chapter 43 – Sasha & Luna

It was a warm autumn day, maybe the last one before winter began knocking for real. Luna had already finished all the laundry and was lazing in her room, lying on her bed, reading a manuscript she borrowed from Leon, enjoying the fantastic story about flying giant machines fighting against each other.

"He should publish a book..." She murmured, fascinated by the strange world her Master came up with in his story. Thinking about Leon, she couldn't help but remember how he had mounted his wife the previous night, going at it for a whole hour, changing his rhythm multiple times. "I'm sure he knows I'm watching... Hauh..." She was about to let her hand wander downwards after recalling it, just when a loud knocking interrupted her. "Y-yes?!" She yelped, sitting up straight, watching her Mistress enter the room. 

"Am I disturbing you?" Sasha asked with a kind voice, looking at her in a way that made Luna uncomfortable. Not because she didn't like it; no, it was the opposite. It made her want to act like a friend towards her Mistress, which was complete nonsense. She was a maid while Sasha was her owner. Being a servant to a noble family didn't allow such thoughts to fester in one's mind.

"No, Mistress!" She hurriedly answered, climbing off the bed and fixing her wrinkled uniform, which was getting loose as she was ready to have a little mid-day fun time. 

"I was thinking of going to the city, and I was curious if you would come with me?"

"The city? S-sure!" 

It was still weird, moving away from the capital city that was one of the wonders of the world and starting a new life in the most remote, barbarian land of all. Barbarian... she couldn't really say that anymore, not after witnessing this newly built city that, although pristine and marvelous looking, was still just a husk. A lifeless copy. It was missing what made the capital a place to never forget: Life. People here were still just illiterate village folk, barely filling half of the city, and in Luna's mind, it was like throwing pearls before a swine. 

"Where do you want to go?" She asked, pushing down her thoughts and sighing. She exited the palace beside Sasha, watching the straight, wide roads and clean, painted stone houses. These streets should be filled with people, merchants, guild members, street urchins, nobles, and anything else that makes a city a city. Instead, she saw nobody, as most people were working on building the walls outside the city. 

"A new shop has been built up! Merlin said it is the first bakery in the city, opened by his parents, and I want to try it out!"

"A bakery?" She asked, tilting her head, not expecting much, even if it was from the young genius's parents. 

If anybody creeped her out the most, it was Merlin. How he spoke and acted was in stark contrast to how he looked, and she couldn't get used to it. Walking down the pristine street, they passed by multiple houses painted white and gold, giving the city a majestic feeling. When they turned left onto a bit narrower street, they passed by a two-story building that was multiple blocks long, and atop its main, double-sided gate, a huge sign was hung up, displaying a parchment and quill.

"This is the school, yes?" Luna asked before thinking, letting her thoughts slip out. Wandering past it multiple times previously, she was curious about what it was like inside but had yet to step through its door.

"Yes! I think Merlin is in now, teaching the children how to read and write. I know that in the evenings, it is Oleg who occupies it with his volunteers."

"Huh, teaching the children... how are they paying for it? Tuition is expensive, and I can't see how simple village people could afford it!"

"Is it?" Sasha asked, surprised, placing a finger on her lips before continuing. "Well, it is free here."

"Free?!"

"Um! Leon made it so that every child must learn reading, writing, and calculating, so it is free but mandatory! I know that Merlin is working to select teachers to help him out and already has assistants in training."

"I never heard about doing it like this..." Luna whispered, trying to wrap her head around something being free.

"Ah, here we are!" With a laugh, Sasha quickly held onto Luna's hand, pulling her forward and breaking into a short run.

The shop's structure differed from the others as they were permitted to change it to serve as a home and a bakery simultaneously. Its front was authorized to have a little terrace where people could sit down and enjoy tea or coffee while eating what they had just bought. The insides were also reconstructed as they had their own oven and anything they needed to bake all the different pastries they came up with, while a staircase led upstairs in the back, where the family had their living quarters.

Sasha was lying to Luna as it wasn't her first time here. She and Leon visited before the official opening, overseeing the finishing works. He even mentioned how impressed he was with Merlin's parents as they proved to be natural bakers. Still, Sasha didn't have any other ideas to get closer to her maid, turning her from a servant to a friend, than to invite her to a place she knew about. 

If Luna could have read her mind, she would have found it astonishing because Sasha was so nervous that her hands were shaking. It was her first time trying to make a friend, as the people regarded her as some kind of leader back in the forest, even more so now. No one dared to get too close to her since childhood, as she was capable of magic, giving her a status that was more than a simple human. Until meeting Leon, she only knew about how to interact with others from what she picked up when listening to the other vagrants hiding in the old logging site. 

"Come on, Sasha... keep it together!" She murmured in her head, still holding Luna's hand as they walked into the bakery, "We will eat some cookies, try out Leon's new imported drink that... that coffee thing, and talk! It will work, and we will make our first girlfriend! Girl. Friend. Yes, not girlfriend, that would be weird!"

"Welcome! Ah, Sasha, come, come! We just pulled out a new kind of cookie from the oven! It is made with the thing Leon imported, called chocolate! We don't have much, but we wanted to send a few samples to the palace anyway!"

The way Merlin's mother welcomed them in was anything but ordinary for Luna. The way simple civilians dared to address their ruler shocked her, and the fact that Sasha just giggled like a child and thanked her profusely was even worse. She didn't want them to see her wrinkle her brows, so instead, she turned her head, surveying the inside of the shop. She was looking at the multiple woven baskets filled with loaves of bread, buns, and crescent rolls, letting their pleasant scent tickle her nose. 

"Someone is hungry!" Sasha chuckled, nudging her, holding a tray with the food and drinks, almost making Luna jump out of her skin.

"M-m-mistress, this is my job!" She yelled and was horrified that she had forgotten herself, and because of that, it was Sasha who was bringing the food out and serving it up, not her. 

"It's okay! Let's sit down; I want to try out this drink Leon likes so much because I know it wasn't cheap importing it! Oh, and I heard your tummy rumble, ahaha, come, let's go!"

"It did not do that!" She protested, but her stomach countered her at once, giving out a loud noise of complaint, making Sasha giggle once again.

After finally sitting down and tasting the pretty big cookie, both of them let out a happy moan at the same time. While Luna was going red in the face because of it, Sasha could barely contain her happiness. She finally felt like she made progress and was close to having her first actual friend. 

"It is tasty, isn't it? Leon said that he never thought to eat something so good!"

"It is good." Luna murmured, honestly surprised as she had to admit this bakery in the middle of nowhere effortlessly matched the stuff she could buy in the Empire's capital city. 

"Now, the drink!"

But, after only one sip, she shuddered, grimacing, making Luna laugh out by reflex, right until she hurriedly clamped down on her mouth. 

"S-sorry..."

"It's fine, you can laugh! Ugh... This thing is really bitter! I thought I got used to it, but... It isn't the same... This one isn't exciting to drink!"

"Is it really bitter?" Luna whispered, watching her face, increasing the redness of her own, speeding up her breathing. 

"Yeah, want to taste it?"

"Yes. I always wanted, but I never got the chance!"

"Here, let's share it!" 

Sasha wasn't shy about it and placed the cup she had just drunk from right before Luna, making the girl flinch as her brain was brooding about a completely different specialty than coffee. Of course, she wouldn't confess it, so instead, she took it up, licking the edge where Sasha's lips touched it before taking a sip.

"It isn't bad..." She murmured after putting it back down, unable to look into her Mistress's eye. "Is it like this?"

"Hm? What is?"

"You know... the other thing... Is it bitter like this?"

"Huh?" This time, Sasha finally realized that Luna was thinking about something else, and it didn't take long for it to click in her head as she retraced her words. "AH?! T-t-t-that was just, just a slip of a mind! Don't take it seriously!"

"No, it wasn't!" Luna pouted, "And now I'm curious! No fair, My Mistress! You brought it up first, not me!"

"I-it is bitter but different and... and..."

"And?" Luna asked, moving her chair closer, looking up at her, wanting to hear more.

"You just don't mind it when it's happening... It's exciting, and seeing his face while doing it is so cute... hauh!" This time, it was Sasha's turn to turn red and try to hide behind her cookie, but it also made Luna even more curious. 

"How was it? At first! Did it hurt? Bled a lot? How the heck does it fit into that small hole?! It never ceases to amaze me... Were you screaming?"

"Eh?" On the one hand, Sasha was happy that Luna was becoming more direct and friendly, but she didn't expect a topic like this to be the thing to break the ice. Watching her mismatched eyes, they were twinkling like stars as she rubbed her legs together, clearly excited to hear her answers. "Well, it stung at first, yes..."

"And?" She pressed on the moment Sasha fell silent, wanting to know more, with all the details.

"Now it is much easier... especially when I'm really wet... uuuuu!"

In the end, she had no chance to hide and had to retell everything from their first intimate moment to it finally happening, and by the end of it, Luna wholly emptied out the cup, leaving not a drop of coffee behind.

"Ahh... bitter..." She whispered, licking her lips, imagining something entirely different going down her throat. "Ah...!" It was at that moment she regained her self-control, sitting up and looking at Sasha, not knowing what to say or how to explain what just happened.

"You... never did it before?"

Luna was surprised to hear the questions as she had expected some kind of punishment instead, but looking at Sasha, she couldn't help but melt inside. The way she was looking away, embarrassed yet delighted to talk with her, made Luna feel like she was not just her Mistress but her friend, too.

"No, never. Frolicking in the capital is shunned for girls, at least if you want to have any social status later on. I had to keep myself pure for two reasons! Either our family gets into the grace of a noble family through it, or if not, it would be a perfect bargaining chip to score a good husband!"

"That sounds... weird! I think you should do it with the one you like and not use it as currency! Hmph, that thing won't happen here!"

"It is how it works in the capital, My Mistress! It isn't that weird, but it is logical. Of course, if you think everyone is abiding by it, that would be a mistake, hahaha! Well, I did because I was picky, but... well, you get the gist of it!"

"Can you tell me more? What it was to grow up in a place like that?"

"Gladly!" Luna answered with a happy smile, beginning to retell her story and how she was raised by a desperate family. Even though the customs Luna was made to abide by were weird and incomprehensible for Sasha, she still listened with all her attention.

Luna's story was of a bloodline wanting nothing more than to become servants to a noble family again and escape destruction. Ironically, they dismissed the exact thing they hoped for right before the finish line. Fate had a strange humor, it seemed.