Steel and Mana

Chapter 376 – Follow

Alongside the wide streets of Avalon, Galahad crouched low behind a row of thick hedges covering the sidewalks, his movements slow and careful as he peered through the gaps in the leaves. It was already dusk, and the evening air was chilly, thanks to it being in the middle of autumn. But he was doing it for a reason... His grandparents walked ahead of him, their movements a bit hasty even if they looked composed. Unlike most, his mind quickly spotted the telling signs, the underlying nervousness and slight twitch in their necks when a noise passed by them. To any passerby, they would seem like nothing more than an elderly couple taking a twilight stroll.

However... they weren't fooling him. Galahad knew better.

There was nothing obviously suspicious about them—and that was already suspicious. Then, there was how he observed them in the past weeks, the way they whispered even when they thought no one was listening. Why? Then, there were the tests he ran, causing indirect noises and disruptions, watching how their gazes flickered toward shadows as if expecting something to jump at them. It was clearly not a simple case of paranoia.

By now, he wasn't alone in his suspicions. When he showed his findings, Arthur, Leyla, Lancelot, and Morgan followed his lead at once, though his older siblings didn't need much convincing to join in his effort to sniff out what the two were up to. So far, nobody has stopped them in their investigation, but Galahad was sure that if they had noticed these clues, the Avalonian Secret Service would have already been on the case. They were probably even using their little personal investigation as cover, working around them without interference.

"Fishy..." Lancelot suddenly dropped from a balcony above Galahad, almost scaring the daylight out of him as he knelt beside his brother, his sharp eyes scanning the road ahead. "They're heading to meet someone," he murmured. "And they don't want to be followed."

"I agree." Morgan's voice came from a little cylinder-looking object pinned to their collars, glowing in the faint hue of a miniature magic circle transmitting their voices back and forth. She, in fact, was about a hundred meters ahead, leaning against a gnarled oak beside the road, arms crossed, her blue eyes looking on with suspicion. "That much is obvious. But the question is, who?"

"With a spy, what else." Leyla adjusted the scarf around her neck, speaking into her own cylinder, standing on the other side of the road, hiding amongst the passersby. "Otherwise, why would they be so careful about it? I bet they are either working for a disgruntled noble... or some other country..." She trailed off, fingers twitching as if resisting the urge to summon a spell and just invade their minds to dig out what they were hiding. But... they were Galahad's grandparents. She couldn't be rash.

"Probably." Arthur joined in as he tapped a finger against the rooftop he was crouching on, watching from above. "Still, we wait. Don't make a motion to capture yet. If we make our move too soon, we might miss something important." His voice was calm, ordering the rest of his siblings, "We need to let the net spread out and catch all of them at once. We can't send the spies underground to fester there..."

Galahad said nothing. Instead, he had been listening only subconsciously, his mind simultaneously memorizing every word while his eyes kept recording every subtle shift in posture in his grandparents' bodies. His mind effortlessly worked through the patterns—the pauses in conversation, the way his grandfather's hand had lingered near his belt when a night bird called too loudly. Moreover, he decoded the letters their lips formed when speaking, learning to lipread on the go. It wouldn't be long before he finally grasped and gained the skill, teaching himself a new thing. Again. What did his father call it? Being an... autodidact.

In the end, the old pair entered one of the parks on the outskirts, where they could also disperse and form an invisible circle. They hid in bushes and trees, enjoying the thrill of stalking them without being noticed.

"Those are not Avalonians." Morgan's voice came into Galahad's ears, and shifting his eyes, he agreed. A group of people were walking in the opposite direction, about to pass by his grandparents, even moving in a way to open up as they talked amongst themselves, letting the pair move through them... Concealing anything to be exchanged between their hands. If that happened at all.

What if his grandparents exchanged quiet words with them? He would not be able to see everything, especially if the conversation was brief, punctuated by nods and short gestures from the group, covering the actual exchange from prying eyes.

And that was precisely how it went down. They passed each other, and even if they slowed down a little, the exchange was lightning quick.

"Galahad?" Lancelot asked as everyone waited for their little brother's answer.

"I will need to meditate to examine all the details... I can't do it here." He sighed, rubbing his temple, feeling a headache rising already.

"..." Arthur exhaled quietly, audible from their magical walkie-talkie. "We need to know who those were. Their skins are a shade darker than ours, so they must be from the south."

"I could track them," Lancelot offered, already shifting his weight forward on the tree branch, ready to head after them.

"What if we spook them?" Morgan shook her head, unsure what to do. "If we're dealing with spies, they might have countermeasures. It could be a misdirection, a trap—something to lead pursuers astray."

"Galahad?" Leyla asked soothingly, "What do you think?"

He had closed his eyes already, running through every detail, furrowing his brows in concentration. The group had been cautious, yes, doing everything they could to make it hard or impossible for surveying counterintelligence agents to catch them in the act. But, they never had expected Galahad's gift. There it was, he could recall it... one of the men in the opposing group, who lingered just a step too close, the way his hands hovered near a hidden weapon, while the other was putting something in his grandfather's pocket... His grandparents... They weren't being trusted for a hundred percent. Or were they expecting an ambush? Was it a threat? He couldn't tell.

"They exchanged something." He spoke as he opened his eyes, his voice telling his siblings he was sure of it. Not that they would doubt his words. "The real danger isn't from them... It's from the people who passed them."

"Lancelot, go, follow them!" Arthur's brows furrowed, and by the time he finished speaking his name, he was already off. "You're saying they are being forced to spy?"

"I don't know," Galahad muttered after a pause. "Maybe they are spying willingly... Maybe they are being used because of their connection to Mom and me."

"Could be both indeed..." Morgan stiffened, finding the thought... troubling. Annoying.

"I will go after Lancelot." Arthur murmured, disappearing, while continuing to speak, "You go, follow the two, and see if there is a second handoff. We will track the other group."

"Should we inform Mom's ASS contact?" Lancelot asked, making Morgan's stifled giggle come through, always finding it funny.

"Leave Mom Yuri's ASS out of it... for now," Leyla answered amidst her own laughter.

"Understood." Lancelot hummed, clearly knowing what he was doing, "No troubling that ASS until it's time to get to slapping."

"I'm going to cut the feed if any other world is about to mention Mom Yuri's ASS." Arthur chided them, but... it was clear he was also laughing. "We don't need ASSistance at the moment."

"Boo." Morgan grunted, "You have to ASSimilate some humor from us, Arthur. Also, there may be ASSassins around the second group... Be careful."

"I will ASSertain the danger, don't worry." Lancelot echoed proudly, hearing Galahad's long sigh come through.

"If we continue like this, we are ASSking for trouble."

"So, Lil' Galy likes ASS? Nice!" Lancelot answered in a snap, almost making Galahad stumble and reveal himself, followed by the soft clicking sound, showing that he muted his side of the communicator. "Tsk... Come on, kiddo, there is nothing bad about being the ASS King..."

"Yeah, Lancy, that title belongs to Dad." Morgan shrugged. "And knowing we are his children... maybe we all inherited it."

"Point taken." They all answered, letting out a sigh just the same while somewhere in the palace, someone had their strongest sneeze in a while.

...
....
......

"Achoo!" I sneezed, suddenly feeling as if someone was tickling my airways with both hands. Then, a second came right after, then a third, a fourth, and finally a fifth.

"Damn... You good?" Yuri asked, slapping me on the back.

"Someone is cursing me beyond reason..." I grunted, reaching for a tissue, "What the hell..."

"Oh, I bet you are being cursed from coast to coast!" She grinned, looking at me while we were inside my office. "Anyway, did you get my report?"

"I read it, yes. Are we sure?" I looked up at her from my chair.

"So far, yes. The guests are either from Roblesia or the Theocracy. We are in the middle of discovering which southern kingdom sent Luna's parents here. But we are sure that half of their entourage are not who they say they are. They are probably there to keep an eye on the family from within."

"They must be from the kingdom they ran to after Luna was given to me," I murmured, tapping on my armrest. "Did they make any weird movements so far?"

"Nothing much." She mused, thinking back on her subordinates' reports. "So far, they have been meticulous, but we have two instances where we logged that they made contact with merchants."

"Roblesia? Theocracy?"

"Both." She shrugged. But that also means nothing. We could be looking at a diversion, and they are from Sar, trying to throw us off."

"I wonder what they want, especially now that the Union is in effect." I hummed, leaning back in my chair, letting her sit down in my lap, pulling my hands to rest on her thighs.

"What else? More. We always want more. My personal guess is on the airship designs. Or the airplanes."

"Mirian is also asking for the biplane designs, but she is doing them more subtly." I smiled, caressing her smooth skin, "But for now, I am not thinking about sharing it."

"Doesn't she have new ships?"

"Two, yes." I nodded, "That is why I am not so keen on giving her the airplane's design, too. I already let Merlin dig up his memories, combine them with his new understanding, and pass them down to Mirian. With their newly built variants, they don't need to make Shipslaves. Let it be enough for now!"

"And what if her dream comes true? We may need others to be at the same strength as us if we want to avoid destruction."

"Maybe." I shrugged. "Maybe... But first, let's wait until proper cohesion is being nurtured amongst us all. Then we can talk about sharing more! Until I can trust the others, I am not going to give away everything willy-nilly. Case in point, they are still trying to spy on us right now."

"Don't worry, I agree." She grinned, leaning in and kissing my neck, pulling my hands upwards under her skirt. "My ASS will capture them, and we can squeeze them until they squeal~!"

"I have a feeling you want your ASS to be squeezed," I answered, letting her do as she pleased.

"Don't worry, I will squeal~! Oh, I will, fufufu! You can come and investigate me deeply... very... deeply!"

I was about to when the door opened, and Pion walked in, suddenly stiffening.

"I'm sorry... My Sovereign... Queen Yuri." He stuttered, looking away until she climbed out of my lap, not because she wanted to, but because I lifted her out, standing up and fixing my clothes.

"What happened?" I asked, knowing he wouldn't have come in just like that if it wasn't important. While Oleg was away, he was now responsible for stepping up in Avalon and being the commander of my local forces.

"A brawl broke out in an inn." He started, making us raise an eyebrow as that was... nothing major. Or... "The instigator was... Lancelot. And Arthur." He mumbled, unsure how to present the news... diplomatically.

"..." As we looked at each other, I couldn't help but suppress a laugh while Yuri's eyes were twinkling with actual pride. "Well..." I mumbled, shaking my head, "It seems someone's ASS will indeed be spanked."

"If they lost," Yuri added with a whisper. "Only if they lost the fight..."