Steel and Mana

Chapter 222 – 200 Winners

"I'm not late, am I?!"

"No, no, you are in time, Tomek! It didn't start yet!" Answered the young man's girlfriend, Bia, patting the empty stool next to her that she reserved.

The youthful couple's interaction was not unique; it happened in multiple places within the city that night. Almost everyone in Avalon was hurrying to somewhere where they could listen to the radio, holding their lottery tickets with sweaty fingers, hoping they would be among the two hundred lucky ones.

Just right next to the young couple, barely teenagers, sat Kolpath, his spot-filled hand clutching his own two tickets, smiling as he overheard their conversation.

"I am surprised you bought any." Ulnar, the bartender, appeared, putting a cold ale before his old friend and switching out his already empty bottle.

"Me too. I found myself swept up in the atmosphere, and before I noticed it, I already bought two. Maria would have loved this."

Ulnar didn't need to say more, nodding at Kolpath with a soft smile, remembering Maria and her playful laughs. She was not only Ulnar's younger sister but Kolpath's wife before she passed away in an especially nasty winter, years before their Sovereign was born. Before Kolpath could say anything else, the familiar chime rang out from the radio, silencing the stuffed pub quicker than its sound could exit through the open windows.

"Welcome to this extraordinary episode of Sovereign's Sessions!" Echoed Sasha's voice, heard by tens of thousands within the city as everyone was glued to a radio at the moment. "I know that everyone wants to know if luck has chosen them or not… So, we will do things differently this time instead of having a lengthy talk show!"

"But!" Mikan chimed in, making the emerging cheers die down quickly. "Before that, there is something incredible we are going to announce before the winning numbers; please pay attention. We have a new machine that we are happy to introduce, called a typewriter! Those with us in our beautiful Frontier of Arts have already had a chance to inspect it and try it out. This unit will be placed on display within our school, and everyone is welcome to arrange a meeting to come and visit and have a chance to type on it. As the name suggests, it is a sophisticated machine that helps us write, just like how books are printed… Now, a possibility for you, in your own home!"

"Printing books at home?" The young pair next to Kolpath mumbled, finding it hard to believe, but there was no time to think too much about it as Mikan promptly continued.

"It will be just as important an invention as the radio; believe me when I say this! Our Sovereign has already begun using the first model, and soon, every Ministry clerk will be mandated to take a course to learn how to use it. Trust me when I say this: The moment you try it out… using a quill will feel archaic! Now, before any of you accuse me of robbing you of excitement, I will let Sasha pull us back on track, so to say~!"

"Thank you, Mikan~!" She giggled, her voice echoing in everyone's ears as she said her following words, "Let's start pulling the winning numbers!"

Every time a number was revealed, somewhere within the city, somebody cried out, elated beyond what they thought was possible, some even crying from happiness. Even though it was nothing more than Mikan and Sasha repeating random numbers, going back and forth, it was the most exciting day for the Avalonian citizens. Well… for most of them.

"No fair…" Reus, Matilda's first son, mumbled, sitting in his wheelchair next to his brothers at the edge of the main square, trying to listen to one of the radios Dorian Arbuckle brought out for the public from his home.

"Not that mother would have allowed us to participate, " Bastian said with a sigh, trying to comfort his eldest brother. "Let's be happy for that we are… here."

"Um." Maximillian, the middle child, nodded, looking around, knowing that there had to be undercover agents watching them. He was sure of it… or just became way too paranoid. "We will… buy a ticket when that thing is moving back and forth between the two cities, hm?"

"If they let us out of the city." Reus shrugged, trying to massage his deformed legs, which were healing but far away from being capable of supporting his weight.

"Ah… True… Haaaaah!" Sighed all three of them, realizing probably why their mother forbade them from participating in the event.

While the trio was watching on without any stake in it, back in the pub, Frontier's Fortune, the young pair of Tomek and Bia were dejectedly looking at their tickets. The show ended, and neither of their numbers was called; in truth, nobody within the pub had won, yet nobody's face was disappointed beyond what a few drinks couldn't fix.

"Well… We tried; it was still fun!" Bia chuckled in the end, trying to cheer up Tomek, who looked probably the most dejected of the two. He believed he would win... He wanted to propose to his girlfriend right on the train. It would have been something neither of them would ever forget.

"Y-yeah… You are right."

"Hey, kids." Kolpath interrupted them, catching Ulnar's attention because his old friend wouldn't do something like that, not without a proper reason.

"Y-yes, Mister?" They asked, surprised, bowing politely, acknowledging his age and the fact he was an elder to them.

"Here. Take these." He shrugged, pushing his tickets into their hands. Confused, the two looked at the numbers, but their stupor only lasted until the realization finally dawned on them.

"We can't!" They shouted, springing to their feet, panicking a little, and now the whole pub was looking at them.

"Take it…" Kolpath waved his hand, turning back towards Ulnar, who was looking at him with an understanding and kind smile as he began refilling his mug. "I am old and not long for this world. I just played because of a whim, wanting to feel young again. Luck would have it; both of my tickets got pulled… Enjoy it."

Although he tried to remain unfazed, the constant bowing and praise coming from the young teens' mouths still made him blush and squirm in place. He felt undeserving of it right until loud cheers erupted all over the tables as it gradually spread what was happening at the barstool.

"There's no need to be this noisy about it!" Kolpath grunted, his eyes getting moist, mainly because the two immediately reminded him of how it was to be young and in love.

"There is!" Ulnar bellowed, patting him on the shoulders, "The next drinks are on the house! We celebrate today because this is what Avalonians do!"

"This is what we do!" Echoed everyone, raising their mugs just as happy for the two lovebirds and the turn of their luck as they were, happily sharing drinks and clanking their mugs with their felllow citizens…

…
….
…..

"How's our railways? And the train itself?" I asked, meeting with my ministers in the early morning after a long, celebratory night.

"Everything has been fixed up!" Paxon, my Minister for our Industry, answered, standing up from his chair. "We already replaced the damaged parts on the train and the tracks. We did two laps to check if we missed anything, and all was good. We also completed the passenger carts and their tests; everything is ready. We only need to finish waiting for the completion of the first railroad connecting Lothlia with Avalon, and we can start!"

"What are your estimations?"

"It should be finished next week, My Sovereign."

"Very good! Start preparing the train ride for our winners! Dorian!"

"Yes, My Sovereign?" He asked, standing up at once, bowing towards my throne.

"I called you into this meeting because I want you to make 200 shirts. I'd like them to have the image of Avalon Arrow on them in the front, while on the back, it says 'First to Ride.' My wives and I will sign them all. How long would it take you to make them?"

"I can do it quickly. We have the fabric ready, and if it doesn't need to be extra detailed, we can finish it in a few days."

"Good." I smiled happily at him. "Everyone who won will get one when they get onto the train. What they do with it afterward is up to them!"

"Sovereign?" Merlin asked, raising his hand. I already knew he was curious about the whys because I never mentioned to him that I had this idea.

"This just came to me today, watching my kids play dress up and stealing our clothes for fun. So it is a sudden idea, that is why I am putting this out only now, without proper planning. Sorry, Dorian…"

"It is fine, My Sovereign!" He bowed at once, repeating himself that it was an easy task to perform.

"I am doing this because I am trying to introduce…" Well, I wanted to say I got inspiration from my kids and the people's reaction to the lottery to sell merch, but they wouldn't know what that meant. So, instead, I was trying to explain it a bit… differently. I don't think they would understand that if I set ourselves up as celebrities, it would help us keep as rulers. Anyway... "What I am trying to slowly establish is an auction house and the idea of rarity."

"Oooh!" They reacted at once, knowing about it from other merchants who sometimes mentioned how different cities usually had them, selling rare, unique, and collectible goods at exorbitant prices.

"With our city growing and our people amassing their own wealth, rarities will eventually appear in Avalon. Either made here or brought in by merchants. Letting them develop naturally could lead to imbalance and result in the formation of black markets. Underhand deals where rare goods change hands, which can be dangerous. Remember how we brought down the church here! What was the reason that not even the old Empress questioned?"

"…" It very quickly silenced my Ministers, turning their faces serious because they all remembered how it was before I began changing the rules.

"To prevent this headache, we are going to establish a regulated Auction House. We will host the sales, take a small cut, and let people sell their rarities when they have something. We can have two types of functions within it: one where people can deposit their items and wait until someone comes along to buy them or submit them to a public, open auction. This way, we will also put our finger on the second-hand market. This does not mean I will try to stop people from reselling their belongings if they want to. They are free to do it as they were before, but we will codify certain items that can't be resold willy-nilly, but only via our auction services."

What I didn't say was that it would be the preliminary step to establishing a banking system with the option of loans and credits, but that was still in development within my mind.

"So… you expect that those shirts will be such rarities?" Merlin asked, scratching his chin. "To be sold there?"

"In due time, yes. I do want to trade similarly rare and numbered things sometimes. Think of it as… teaching my people how to invest." I shrugged because I wasn't even sure if this would be a good idea or not; I just thought it sounded… logical? They needn't know that. "Anyway, I want them to broaden their horizons and maybe inspire new ventures I haven't considered yet. It will also help our merchants, who can then bring forth or export more unique stuff to sell and keep our economy going. With our raw gold reserve, we are in no hurry to do this, as we can directly finance them, but one day that mine will run empty. So… Prepare while we can! As Avalonians should~!"

"Agreed!" They said in unison, looking at each other, and I think many of them liked the idea of owning something that was one of a kind. On the other hand, I couldn't help but hold back my laughter because, in essence, I was just doing a merch drop to celebrate the launch of my first train.