Soul of Searing Steel

"Humans are so strange; they're always busy for some bizarre reason."

In Joshua's study within the liege's residence in the main city of Moldavia, the silver-haired girl was complaining to her brother. "Ling, what do you think? Why is it so?"

The black-haired boy who was overwhelmed with all sort of administrative duties looked up tiredly towards his idling sister. He looked prepared to utter some profanity in reply, but thanks to his cultured upbringing he merely grumbled. "Creatures who are not human would be busy too… To be frank, you should be too. Where are the two sisters? Aren't you supposed to look after them?"

"They've played around too much around noontime, they're all asleep now." Ying replied. The female divine armament then stood from her chair, hands behind her back as she walked over to the window.

"Why hasn't Master returned?" she asked with a curious stare outside. "He should be only out for a stroll with Black, but it's already evening now…"

Indeed, it was evening. The main city had become rather quiet apart from the taverns—smoke billowed from chimneys of the houses, with only the pyroxene lights flickering on both sides of the streets.

"Guess they ran a bit too far?" Ling mumbled noncommittedly while going through a document. "Black was feeling a little stuffy lately; she might have run at full speed to the Lost Sea in half a day. By the way, sister, don't just stand and watch, help me with these."

"No way!" The silver-haired girl refused resolutely and turned towards her brother, her arms crossed in an X-shape. "That's your job, I won't help you with that!"

"Then don't be a bother!" Ling bellowed in frustration at Ying's complete lack of sympathy, and randomly grabbed a set of paperwork towards the young girl. As if a wooden plate, the hard envelope spiraled as it flew at Ying's head.

"Too slow!"

The silver-haired girl smiled and simply extended her right hand, pinching the envelope out of the air handily with just two fingers that were lithe and snowy. Waving it about with a self-satisfied expression, she said proudly, "I've been practicing Master's movements! Just look, and should I be saying 'poor' at this very moment too?"

"… As long as you're happy." Annoyed, angry and already speechless right then, Ying helplessly shook his head before turning around to keep handling the official duties. "Really, I'm dying here. Don't trouble me, go find Miss 03 if you want to play. She should be making her night rounds; she won't mind going on a walk with you."

"Miss 03 likes to float here and there in the air, going out with her feels holding a kite while walking on the street—it's weird!" Ying pouted, before letting out a small gasp when she saw the words on the envelope. "Eh? This is a letter from High Lord Moreila to Master. Didn't you notice it before, Ling?"

"High Lord Moreila?" Ling indeed did not notice. He had grabbed it arbitrarily, but shrugged when he saw his sister's interested expression. "Then that letter's yours. Just remember to recite the contents when Master's back."

Since Joshua often traveled to train his Kokyu-ho or his own knights, he rarely handled his public duty—with most being delegated to Ling, Ying and Miss 03. He trusted the trio so much that he would allow them to go through private missives, provided that they inform him of the contents when he returned.

"Alright." Ying would not jokingly refuse since the letter was already in her hand. She went to sit on a chair in a corner, swiftly tearing apart the hard envelope which dwarves frequently used and was mixed with metallic residues to read the contents.

[To the ruler of Moldavia, Joshua van Radcliffe,

The living metal on Unit-01's body is an extraordinary treasure. By analyzing it I have understood the method which gives metals life, a priceless technology for the Underground Citizens (the official self-given name for the dwarves). The Northern Runic Dwarves are all thankful for your selflessness and generosity.

That being said, animating metals is a complicated process and we had only come up with the prototype. When you have time to spare, please visit the dwarf settlement and take a look at our processes. I would also like to know how your 'Authority' works, so that we could improve our procedures.

With your ability now, you would definitely not require any weapons or armors that we could craft now. Still, your subordinates might, and living metals would prove useful since it possesses a powerful self-repair aspect whether used as weapon or armor. Currently, I'm attempting to use the material to craft an enchanted armor, with Unit-01 seemingly interested too. Recently, it had been standing around the Great Furnace while watching our crafting process—I suspect that it was analyzing the composition of the magic armor.

Apart from that, I'm still doubtful about your suggestion last time—the one where you wanted us to produce an autonomous human puppet construct? It's not impossible, but your request was a little too demanding since most constructs are at least two meters tall for energy core placement and reasoning circuitry.

The one you had requested for at most one and a half meters, and with a slim build too… Forgive my frankness, but it's rather meaningless. And you've even specifically asked for no reasoning circuitry, so perhaps you only wanted a simple living metallic statue?

Nevertheless, that's the current situation. The runic factory had been completed, with several of my nephews heading over to supervise the work. As long as the materials are enough, we could produce fifty standard magic armor before summer next year, which should fulfill your knight platoon's needs.]

…

The old dwarf Moreila had written the letter in common dwarf format—meaning that the lettering was minuscule. To go through the contents clearly, Ying had to pay full attention as she scanned through every word. She was so absorbed that she did not notice that the study's door had swung open.

"Working so seriously, huh." A familiar voice wafted behind her, startling her so much that the female divine armament flung the letter aside. Fortunately, a gentle power caught it out of the air, and returned it into Ying's hand.

"It's fine, there's no need to work that hard. Hurry and get some rest."

Joshua had stepped into the study together with Black, a bunch of translucent flowers in his hand. He went to stroke Ling's head first—the black-haired youth's mental core was about to crash.

"Never thought that Ying would volunteer to help Ling work," the warrior said in slight surprise as he then turned to the silver-haired girl. "Really looking like a sister there."

No! The black-haired youth bellowed inwardly as he sprawled over the table, feeling lifeless. She did not help me work! She's nothing like a sister!

Nevertheless, Ling was too lazy to reveal Ying's true face, and simply closed his eyes in blissful ignorance to cooldown his mental circuits.

Then, Joshua went over to Ying and extended his hand. "These flowers are for you."

"Eh?!"

It was not just the silver-haired girl who was surprised—Ling, who had been trying to rest also quickly widened his eyes and stared at his own master, while the atmosphere within the study instantly grew heavy.

But the black dragon girl who was standing beside the warrior tapped at her own chest, and broke the atmosphere with a pleased expression.

"I said that Ying would definitely like it since the colors are so similar. Look, Master, she's so happy she's speechless!"

Ying's eyebrows twitched as she looked down at the flowers in front of her. Instead of being speechlessly happy, it was more like a dream since it was completely inconceivable that Joshua would give her flowers! The word 'flowers' and the name 'Joshua' would never connect in ten thousand years! She would not have been that surprised if the warrior had given her a can of sword polishing oil.

And in that trance-like state, the silver-haired girl received the Frost Diamond Thornblooms. "Well… I might not be able to keep them alive," she mumbled quietly. "I pretty much murdered that cactus last time."

"It's fine," Joshua replied flatly. "I've already asked for someone to process it. As long you don't put it beside the furnaces, it would keep growing by absorbing the molecules in the air. You've given that cactus too much water, taking care of plants…"

Then, as the topic bizarrely switched to botany, Joshua cut himself short as he remembered business.

"I've caught a bunch of cultists when I went out to walk Black." The warrior had always spoken straightforwardly. He did so now too as he took Moreila's letter from Ying and read it. "Miss 03 is handing them over to the church right now. However, I have learned their motives to mount one huge surprise attack on Moldavia."

Ling, who had been prone on the desk, quickly stood up at those words. "If that's so, Master, we should notify Mister Kaos and Countess Vale Dani," he said gravely.

Ying's reaction, on the other hand, was more inclined to the warrior's own desire. The silver-eyed girl's eyes twinkled even as she held on to her flowers, and exclaimed with an even more excited voice, "Master, are we fighting again?"

She seemed so lively, entirely different from when she refused to help Ling handle the administrative work whether dead or alive. Despite that, Joshua's reply left her severely disappointed.

"Nope," the warrior said. "I'm going alone this time; I won't be bringing you two along."

Glancing sideways at the still-very-energetic Black, Joshua added, "And that includes Black too."

"I'm not going either?!" The black dragon girl took a huge blow.

"Of course."

Joshua then told them the reason to soothe the downcast crowd.

"Ultimately, I'm still under house arrest right now… Even though Israel ordered me to stay in the Northern Realm and not just Moldavia, while also not forcing it against my will, I did agree and would never disobey. The gist of his intention was to have me stay out of trouble, which I obviously won't."

"Then you'll just watch as those cultists sabotage Moldavia?" Ling asked doubtfully after some thought. "Forty percent of our recent cargo flow relied on the huge ships from Countess Vale Dani. If the order in Moldavia is disrupted, we would take huge losses too."

"Of course not, how could I sit idly by and let the cult attack the peasants freely?" Joshua replied matter-of-factly, his tone calm. "In the end, the name 'Joshua' must not be too conspicuous or Israel would lose face. I'm not bringing you guys because you two have a strong reputation and would quickly reveal my identity."

When that time comes, the cultists would simply flee—how would I catch them then? Those were the warrior's thoughts, but of course it was not said directly.

"But as long as I need you two, you guys would come to me immediately. Isn't that right?"

Indeed, it was. Since Ying and Ling had advanced their tiers at the Sacred Mountain they came to possess the ability of independent movement. Furthermore, they could answer the warrior's summon in weapon form and fly automatically into his hand, with the distance traveled depending entirely on Joshua's capability.

And with the warrior being a Supreme individual, it meant that Joshua just have to think about it in any corner of the North, and Ying and Ling would answer.

That way it did not matter if he brought them along, and there would not be much difference with a little preparation before battle.

With those thoughts, Ying's discouraged mood recovered significantly. Tilting her head as she sat in her chair, she asked in curiosity, "Then, Master, you're heading over there anonymously?"

"That's right." Joshua nodded and turned towards Ling. "Although Brandon and the others need to be notified first. Sorry for the trouble, Ling, but please help me draft a short message."

"No problem." Though the youth was very tired, writing a short message was fine. Taking out a paper for mystical communication and magic ink, Ling waited for the warrior to tell him what to write. 

"Just inform them," Joshua said as his lips curled, his tone subtle. "A Supreme warrior who does not wish to reveal his name is going to pay them a visit."