Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Winters finally understood what was going on and, with a mix of tears and laughter, dismounted again.

"Montaigne is too naive to understand," Pisani teased, asking, "But Lailo, senior, how come you came out with us too?"

Lailo and Pisani exchanged a glance, their knowing smiles laden with deeper meaning.

Not long ago, Winters had been in the hellish siege battlefield. Now, he was a war hero, back in the bustling, crowded, and vibrant Sea Blue, surrounded by friends who only talked about women, women, and women.

Winters still hadn't gotten used to this stark contrast in circumstances, the sights before him felt like a dream, not real in the slightest. Stay tuned for updates on My Virtual Library Empire

In the square, the noisy crowd's voices gradually merged into one name: "Saint Marco! Saint Marco! Saint Marco!"

Hearing the crowd's chanting, Winters chuckled and said, "I don't remember Saint Marco personally killing any Tanilians."

The officers nearby, hearing Winters' rebellious remark, smiled awkwardly.

"We are the hands of Saint Marco! Hahaha, it's just for fun, to make everyone happy," Pisani immediately burst into laughter, slinging his arm around Winters' neck, "Do you think the old man likes to spit from the gallery? Who else do Venetians love for this? If he doesn't cheer everyone up, where would the money to continue the war come from?"

Conscious of his faux pas, Winters also knew that Senior Pisani was smoothing things over for him and nodded along with a few chuckles...

"Don't be fooled by the grandiose stage, this might be the most cost-effective method," Lailo said somewhat nostalgically, "In a month's time, the Sea Blue People will forget our names, but even after a hundred years, they will remember this grand victory parade. Old Debela has a real knack for manipulating people's hearts!"

Winters spotted familiar faces waving to him from a carriage not far away, realizing they were anxious for him, he excused himself from the others. The officers of the Honor Guard all had places to be and naturally dispersed on the spot.

Winters tied Strong's reins to the rear beam of the carriage, then opened the door.

Anna had been waiting inside the carriage for a long time already.

She reached out to pull Winters into the carriage, smiling and saying, "It really feels like Sea Blue hasn't been this lively in a long time."

"The war hasn't been won yet, celebrating now might be a bit premature," Winters sighed, a touch of worry surfacing whenever the subject came up.

But Winters didn't realize, now was not the atmosphere for such words. The air in the carriage seemed to cool by three degrees because of his buzzkill.

Anna held onto Winters' hand without letting go, faintly sensing that he no longer seemed able to be as happy as before.

She pinched Winters' hand, pretending to be angry, "Mr. Montaigne, you really should learn how to charm the ladies!"

"Hahaha, then may I ask who can teach me?" For the first time that day, Winters' face showed a genuinely heartfelt smile.

"That would be..." Anna's laugh was blooming when halfway through her sentence, her gaze shifted towards the helmet sitting beside Winters, "… Hmm? What is that?"

Before Winters could react, Anna had already released his hand and picked up his helmet.

Protruding from the helmet was a delicate, exquisite folding fan.

Winters, oblivious to the crisis before him, answered somewhat puzzled, "Isn't that a folding fan?"

Anna took the fan from the helmet, examined it, and sniffed the helmet. Convinced, she looked at Winters with a very playful gaze.

It was only then Lieutenant Montaigne realized that something was amiss, and he cautiously explained, "This was given to me by someone else… I don't know who did it… I didn't really want it… that fan almost hit my eye…"

Anna played with the folding fan, her lips curling into a faint smile as she listened to Winters' excuses.

"If you like it... you can have it?" Winters said helplessly. But after thinking about it, he felt it was strange to re-gift this, and corrected himself saying, "Or I'll buy an identical one for you?"

"No, I want this one," said Anna as she suddenly tucked away the folding fan.

"Fine, it's yours."

Anna suddenly stood up, closing in on Winters. Her hair brushed against his face at such close proximity that Winters could almost feel the warmth from her body.

Human body temperature should not differ, but at that moment, Winters could distinctly feel that Anna's body was burning hot.

"What... what... what are you doing…" Lieutenant Montaigne's breathing nearly stopped.

Anna extended her arms, circling Winters' neck, then… began to unbuckle the straps of Winters' breastplate.

The Honor Guard armor Winters wore was not the roughly made chest plate distributed to ordinary swordsmen. This set of armor might not fit perfectly, but it was a finely crafted three-quarter plate armor.

This armor, particularly the core protection, was meticulous. If encountered in hand-to-hand combat, it could give the most skilled swordsman a headache.

Yet such tightly fitted armor had been infiltrated by women slipping several handkerchiefs through the gaps under the arms and waist. Winters had not even noticed when they had been inserted—the crowd had been too vast, too dense.

Consciously, Winters unbuckled his arm plate and indeed found two handkerchiefs stuffed in there.

"You seem rather popular... Mr. Monta-gne," Anna leisurely folded the handkerchiefs one by one, articulating each word.