Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"The secondary bedroom is reserved for my sister and brother-in-law, the master bedroom for father and mother." Pierre glanced at his parents, then looked at his wife: "Sonia and I will stay outside."

"Will Fanny and Alex come too?" Eileen unconsciously clutched her chest.

"Yes." Pierre held his mother's hand: "Brother-in-law will come. I've sent him a message, asking him to bring my sister as well."

Gerard was silent for a moment, then quietly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand: "Then our family will be reunited again."

"Yes." Pierre replied with a smile.

After a brief moment of distraction, Eileen turned her attention to her son: "We can squeeze in with Scarlett, there's no need for you to find a place outside."

Upon hearing this, Scarlett showed a very reluctant expression.

"Don't worry, mom." Pierre gently squeezed his mother's hand and then looked at his wife with a smile: "There are plenty of bachelors here, there's no shortage of empty rooms."

"But there isn't a speck of ash in the hearth." Sonia Mitchell, holding her sleeping daughter, timidly asked: "Haven't you been eating well either?"

"That's because I'm mostly outside." Pierre walked over to his wife, rubbed his stepdaughter's hair, and gently explained: "Even when I come back occasionally, I eat at others' places. Don't worry, I'm eating very well."

Sonia shyly nodded. This newlywed couple, although the wife was three years older than the husband and was remarried, was oddly enough led by the latter.

"By the way." Pierre turned to his parents, pointing tentatively at the distance: "His Excellency's residence is over there, just a few steps away."

Hearing this, both Gerard and Scarlett clearly tensed up.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Gerard suddenly stood up, quickly straightening the creases in his clothes, rebuking his son with a hint of frustration: "If that's the case, we should have thanked him first. How can we not greet him knowing he's just in front of us? Have you forgotten the Dusan's customs?"

"Don't worry." Pierre pressed his father's shoulder: "His Excellency is definitely not in his residence now."

"Then... where is he?"

"Right now." Pierre thought for a moment, letting out a slight bitter smile: "He should be in the siege camp."

"Siege camp? Siege what? Maple Fort?"

Pierre nodded.

"I've heard." Gerard slowly sat back down, curiously asked: "I've heard it's been besieged for over a month and still hasn't fallen."

Pierre didn't know how to explain to his old father for a moment: "It's a bit complicated... Anyway, don't worry about being disrespectful to His Excellency. Just a few days ago, he expressed his desire to visit you personally when you and mother arrive in Maplestone City."

Gerard let out a long "Oh".

A moment later, Gerard pondered and asked: "What's His Excellency doing this time with all the effort of holding a Free People's Assembly?"

"No need for you to worry about that." Pierre answered without hesitation: "Just do what His Excellency asks you to do."

Gerard furrowed his brows.

...

Meanwhile, in the siege camp outside Maplestone City.

Winters squatted side by side with Mason in the cannon embrasure, staring dejectedly ahead.

In their line of sight, the beast-like Maple Fort quietly perched on the hill.

Although its surface was already battered by cannonballs, and the fortifications on the walls were shattered, this giant stone fortress, meticulously built by the New Reclamation Legion over twenty years, still stood firm.

On the bastion facing the siege camp, a flag belonging to the Blue Rose weakly fluttered in the wind.