Foundation of Smoke and Steel

Chapter 114

NathanWhat the blue-blazes donkey balls.

Nathan Li squinted across the practice yard, sword slung over one shoulder, watching his ever-so-surprising brother-in-law move. Ethan Zhou—yes, Ethan, the quiet one with books instead of biceps—was sparring with Gavin and somehow not being folded into dumplings. In fact, he was pressing Gavin hard enough that Nathan’s brain kept trying and failing to find a good metaphor.

“Like a rabbit takes to carrots,” he muttered, then frowned. “No, that’s dumb. Rabbits don’t even like carrots that much.”

Elegance was not his cup of tea. Ale, yes. Tea, no.

Nathan paused. That didn’t make any sense. Elegance was his cup of ale. He liked ale.

Damn it. What was his point again?

Oh yes—the point stood: Ethan had taken to the sword like something ridiculous and unfair. After weeks of drills, sword forms, raw cultivation, and pointers regarding the Li mana method (all while Nathan heroically pretended he was paying attention to tactical briefings), Ethan had gone from to in record time.

Borderline supernatural.

And it wasn’t just raw talent. It was that insane contraption of his—the Framework. Nathan still thought it looked like a pile of soulglass plates stapled together by a lunatic artificer, but it worked—worked like some sort of miracle from heaven.

Ethan fed it data, and the machine coughed out corrections—tempering theories, exercises for meridian widening, how to maximize mana flow, and dozens of helpful hints, advice, and adjustments that even the Li House cultivators hadn’t realized they needed. Suddenly, cultivators were training like they had invisible masters smacking them every time they botched a stance. The feedback was, in a word, perfect.

It was bloody insane.

Nathan twirled his blade, let it drop to rest across his back, and exhaled. “Yep. My brother-in-law is either possessed, cheating, or both.”

Which was fine. Nathan approved of cheating. Cheating was just creativity with sharper edges in situations that usually required higher stakes. It didn’t matter how you won a fight—not in real life. He wasn’t talking about the dueling circuit where people like Alaric slapped each other around for fun and ego.

No, he was talking about when life was on the line and you had one chance to make a difference. Contrary to popular belief, Nathan was practical—whimsical, but practical. If you had to cheat to stay alive? You bloody cheat.

Yeah, so he was fine with cheating. What wasn’t fine was the news that had just reached him.

While his brother-in-law was revolutionizing everything from how armies fought to what an elixir could do for cultivation, other forces in the world were moving—including the orcs.

The Iron Tide was not to be messed with, and there were even some on the mainland. But this wasn’t all. There were other things happening in the world—things unseen, deliberately. Nathan could feel it in his manhood— And Nathan believed Lazarus, because Lazarus was wrong.

Lazarus always knew when women were pretty. When he was bored. When he was impatient. Lazarus just knew things.

“Focus,” he muttered. “Something important’s happening.”

“Master Nathan,” said a voice behind him.

He turned. One of the household servants stood in the doorway—a pretty little thing whose name he could never remember. Lynn? Emma? Deanna? Sakura? Didn’t matter. She was very pretty—and part of the house intelligence network.

“Yes, Pretty Eyes,” Nathan said with his trademark smile. “What scandalous news have you brought me today?”

“There’s been… news.” The servant rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. “The Zhao household has been trying to reach Master Ethan.”

“Yes, yes, I already got the first report.” He waved her off. “His sisters are visiting their southwestern estate ditching school. Brother-in-law got the message from his younger brother. He wrote and was worried about his sisters and Miss Lin.”

Nathan paused. Brother-in-law’s younger brother. Brother-in-law a younger brother. That means he, Nathan, has a younger brother-in-law.

Holy shit. He’d forgotten. He should be training his younger brother-in-law in the way of the sword. Why hadn’t he thought of that?

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Younger brother-in-law could be getting bullied???? No. Unacceptable. Who had the balls to mess with his younger brother-in-law? He would kill anyone bullying him—no, he’d kill everyone related to the bullies. Oh, those bastards. They would know the wrath of Nathan Li.

Nathan’s mana started to leak at the thought. Yes… they would suffer… nobody messed with younger brother-in-law. He would make sure of it.

“Sir,” Pretty Eyes said quickly, voice going higher as she felt the pressure of the mana rolling off him. She took a step back. “There is something else you should know.”

Nathan straightened and reined in his mana, realizing he didn’t have anyone to unleash his anger on—yet. But he would find them, the bastards. He would not let this go. “Yes. Go on.”

“Intelligence from our contacts in the independent city of Seren reports a group of privately conscripted flying military transports entering restricted airspace. Our assets flagged it as potentially problematic. These appear to be Imperial tech coming from one of the independent cities. Our agents found it worrisome. House security determined it potentially hostile.”

Nathan’s smirk vanished. “Hostile… toward whom?”

“They didn’t say. But the message included a note—possible threat to noble families currently operating in the southern province.”

Nathan blinked. “That’s a lot of words to say ‘we don’t know.’”

Pretty Eyes nodded. “Yes, sir. But they specifically mentioned the Princess’s entourage.”

That got his attention.

“The Princess?” he repeated. “Like Princess?”

“Yes, sir. Princess Sophie, Lady Vivian, and the Zhao twins—and a few others—were reported to be at the Zhou property on the southern sea. It may be nothing, but with all the orc activity…”

She let it hang.

Nathan froze. The words hit like a punch. His scary sister. His brother-in-law’s twin sisters. The Princess. Brother-in-law knew about this his sisters...but what is this maddess??

“Bloody blue donkey balls,” he muttered.

He wasn’t the smartest man in the Empire—he’d be the first to admit it—but Lazarus was screaming at him,

Then Lazarus added,

Nathan nodded. That was obvious.

But first, it was time to talk to his brother-in-law, wherever he’d gone off to—Gavin and Ethan had finished their spar at some point; Nathan couldn’t even remember when.

He found his brother-in-law in his makeshift testing hall/command center with Gavin and Lucas. The three of them were running sword drills while projections from Ethan’s ridiculous glowing machine floated nearby, feeding corrections into the air like an overly critical aunt. Gavin’s technique, which had always been lacking, was now cleaner and rapidly improving. Lucas’s swordplay had always been decent, but he’d struggled with the mana method because of how clogged his meridians were. It had always been a sore spot for his second brother—though no one in their family looked down on Lucas because of it.

Honestly, Lucas was like Brother-in-law: smart, which made him scary. And Lucas’s wife was even scarier. No one messed with Ren Yaling. She had once firecast an entire bandit stronghold because they had threatened Lucas on one of his tax runs. She had specifically kept the leader alive so she could put his head on a pike with the message:

The thought made Nathan shiver.

Lucas’s lack of sword ability had always been a sore spot, but there were no signs of weakness now. The medicine and the Framework had pretty much fixed that for him. He was improving fast, and his usually stoic face was as wondrous as Nathan had ever seen it as he fulfilled a long-running secret ambition—the ability to fight with a sword.

Then Nathan spied his brother-in-law—the bloody reincarnated sword saint himself. Ethan wasn’t running drills like Lucas or Gavin. He wasn’t focusing on the forms. He was actually studying the mana method itself with feed back from his crazy machine while shifting energy through his body like a master sculptor shaping light.

Then Ethan apparently decided on something, picked up the stupidly expensive sword his scary sister had given him, and started to move.

Nathan stopped in the doorway, jaw dropping. He watched as Ethan finished a sequence that spliced together Movements Four, Six, and Eight of the Li sword form—something Nathan had never even considered trying—with a variation of mana flow that was visible and revolutionary.

It was insane.

Ethan’s blade cut through the air like it had been waiting its whole life for him to hold it.

“Brother-in-law, you have to be cheating,” Nathan whispered.

Ethan turned, sweat on his brow but eyes calm. “Nathan. You look pale. What is it?”

Nathan blinked, remembered the servant, and blurted:

“Military transports took off from one of the independent southern cities—headed toward Solcarin and your holdings. Our intelligence network and the Zhao household think it might be a threat—to the Princess, the twins… maybe Vivian.”

That stopped them.

Ethan, Gavin, and Lucas all froze mid-form.

Gavin was first to speak. “Are you sure?”

Nathan nodded. “Confirmed by household intel. Unregistered transports, large-scale movement—it has them spooked. They think someone’s moving soldiers down there. If those girls are in that area, combined with the orc threat… I think we’ve got a problem.”

Gavin set down his blade, stretching his neck. “It could be a training patrol. Or a southern escort mission. They move troops that way all the time to watch for orc raids or Murai incursions.”

Nathan crossed his arms, serious now. “It’s been over a hundred years since the Murai acted up. We’re allies now. But if you’re right, then why the secrecy? Why fly unmarked?”

Silence.

Ethan studied him, dark eyes steady. “What are you suggesting?”

Nathan met his gaze. “Honestly, I don’t know about plans—but something isn’t right. I can feel it. I think we need to head south. Quietly. Before someone decides a Princess and a handful of nobles are convenient hostages.”

Gavin frowned, already thinking logistics. Lucas looked skeptical but uneasy. Ethan said nothing, only watched Nathan like a man measuring a blade.

The brothers of House Li waited for their brother-in-law.

Then Ethan gave a sharp nod. “Let’s do it. Pack light. We move fast, we stay quiet, and we figure out what’s really happening.”

Gavin and Lucas turned to go. Ethan started to follow, then paused. “Actually—Nathan.”

Nathan stopped. “Yes? What’s up?”

Ethan gave him a soft smile. “Remember that thing I showed you?”

Nathan perked up. “The thing—oh, that—yes. I remember. Why? Is it ready?”

“I put the finishing touches on it yesterday. We’ll grab a few, just in case we run into unexpected trouble.”

Nathan grinned, wicked and delighted. “Yes, Brother-in-law. You’ve got it. I like the way you prepare for trouble.”