Steam and Heart.

"Speaking of Reptilians, a group of researchers from our country seems to have found traces of those guys near an electrolyte mine," Lisa said, repeating a message she had heard a few minutes ago.

"Are you talking about that strange stone that produces electricity? According to Alexis, it seems to be part of the new armor fuel we captured, but who knows? There's hardly any use for something as strange as electricity, only in some expensive things," Jack grimaced as he remembered a bad experience with a piece of that stone in his childhood, he still feels numb sometimes. 

"It will be the future," said Laria, who had high hopes for the applications of electricity.

"You say that because ancient technology uses it," Jack said with pursed lips, not quite convinced. 

"The ancients were more advanced than us, that's obvious, so I also think that electricity will be the future," Lisa added, smiling when she saw Jack's annoyance. 

"Ah, so you're afraid of electricity, don't tell me, you were one of those fools who licked a piece of electrolyte," with an increasingly wider smile as she noticed her companion's annoyance, Lisa decided to annoy her friend even more. 

"Hey Laria, I've heard about some devices that use Electrolyte as an energy source, there is one that has become popular among some high society women, you should try it~" she joked, making the brunette also join in a strange but beautiful laughter. 

The two women laughed at Jack's obvious discomfort, who kept his head down, trying to think happy thoughts, but Lisa and Laria's increasingly heated comments only made him feel more uncomfortable. 

"Is it good for masturbation? Isn't electricity revolutionary? " Jack finally gave in to his curiosity and asked about what he had heard from the girls. 

"Yeah, you know, what drives human civilization is food, laziness, sex, and war, you know what came into play here," replied Lisa, who seemed to have a special interest in this electrical device, as they called it.

"What do you think Jack, should I try it? "Laria asked jokingly, making Jack cringe at the thought of his girlfriend having one of those weird days where she was strangely expressive. 

Those days scared him, he was so used to a quiet Laria and when she got like that, it was as if she was releasing all the pent-up energy she had stored under her usual serious demeanor. 

Laria's good mood was quite strange, she could get into weird and intense things due to the energy and stress of the accumulated research, so he had to keep an eye on her because she could be kind of wild.

That was of course if they didn't end up having sex until dawn because that helped Laria to release pressure and even get inspiration, but this time they had three days of travel ahead of them in a steam carriage, so anything could happen on the way, who knows, maybe she'll adopt a cat or something. 

"No need to try something like that, I have hands and I know how to use them, or what do you think? " he replied, not wanting to talk about an intimate subject in front of Lisa. 

The group was so familiar with each other that they had a lot of trust for many topics, so it was not uncommon to talk openly about this kind of topic, then, in front of the purple eyes of a woman looking for gossip material, Laria answered. 

"You have skills, otherwise we wouldn't be boyfriend and girlfriend," Laria said with a small smile, shaking her long white hair when she saw the look on Jack's face. 

"Haha, you know I have better qualities," the boy said with a joking expression on his face. 

"I don't deny it, but let's say, out of 100 points, your manual skills add up to 50, that's what attracted me. If you hadn't done well the first time we were together, it would have been our last time," the brunette replied, making Jack's right eyelid throb. 

"I won't say anything, I'm a civilized guy," although he looked annoyed, his expression was full of pride and even his walk became much lighter. 

Standing behind him, the two women looked at each other and nodded, Jack was better, which was something they were looking for with their constant conversation. The group was concerned about Jack's strong bloodlust, especially towards Cyber Ghosts, so the two women quietly managed to distract him, at least for now. 

The three of them chatted and laughed until they reached a somewhat secluded spot where they saw a huge metal machine with six wheels and an exposed roof. Alexis was using her hand-shaped Pneuma to put some things on the steam cart, while Irina seemed to be cooking something on a nearby campfire. 

"You took too long!" Alexis looked reproachfully at Lisa, who just shook her shoulders. 

"They were asleep and I had to wait for them to change," the woman replied before walking over to Irina and squeezing her cheeks.

"Stop it!" complained Irina, who fell victim to the fierce clutches of her companion, who loved to squeeze her cheeks. 

"Good morning, Alexis," Jack greeted, approaching his girlfriend and bumping fists with an invisible hand, something super weird, but they were used to it by now. 

"Good morning to you both. Jack, are you feeling better?" asked Alexis with some concern.

Even though she knew Laria's level, it wasn't as easy as it seemed to get over seeing her friend so messed up yesterday. Jack nodded and looked at the things Alexis kept in the cart. 

Various pieces, tools, supplies, and something that caught his attention, so he walked over to take a look. When he realized what it was, his pupils narrowed and he looked at Alexis, who just spread his hands as if it was something simple.

"You know, I have a phobia of lack of firepower, and since we're on the front lines..." Alexis winked before covering the object and stowing it in the cart while Jack watched. 

"And I'm the violent one," the man said, looking at his reflection in the axe.

He knew of his companion's somewhat destructive tendencies, but hey, he knew what he was doing and they were all adults, so he wisely decided to keep quiet. 

Until he remembered that he had brought his enchanting equipment and some books on the subject, he wanted to think about practicing, but the skirmish started of nowhere, so he couldn't do any of that. 

In addition to his recovering wounds, he felt that he had brought luggage for nothing, so he approached the items that were in a small trunk. 

"Oh, you brought your gear? Waste of time" joked Alexis, who had just finished organizing everything in the steam wagon. 

"I wanted to practice some complicated patterns, mastering the cutting circuit alone is not optimal, although it came in handy for the axe," Jack placed the trunk on the cart, taking care not to damage it on the way.

"For a newbie, you did a good job, although you know, Lisa and I helped you create your weapon, so you owe us enchantments when you get better" Alexis tapped Jack's shoulder gently, causing him to blink a little in pain. 

"Yeah, I know, I know, although I never expected Lisa's blacksmithing skills to improve so much with the machines you built," Jack said, remembering the whole week of pure work, he even felt a phantom pain in his fingers from the tedious carving required for enchantments. 

"I have some interesting ideas, and I think Lisa will want a special weapon, so we can mix our visions to create something cool," Alexis said, adjusting his red hair to show his excited eyes.

"For example, we can make your axe more portable and even create a disguise for it, no one would expect you to suddenly pull out a weapon when you are unsuspecting," Alexis then started to mention some ideas for weapons he had, and Jack also joined in by contributing his own ideas.

After this brief chat, in which they even got to drawing diagrams of weapons on the spot, Alexis took it upon himself to start the car's steam engine, even though technology had improved a lot in this regard, it still required some preparation like this.

"Breakfast is ready! "Irina shouted to get the group's attention. 

While the group was having breakfast, some soldiers came to thank them for the help they had received during yesterday's skirmish, somehow or other one of them had been saved by a member of the team and they wanted to at least thank them.

"Cigars from the front are always the best," said Irina, who was smoking, even making rings with the smoke. 

"You know we're not supposed to take anything from them," Alexis, who was the strictest of the group, couldn't help but say, receiving a gentle pat on the shoulder and a death stare from Irina. 

"Just say you want one, I won't judge you," Irina said, handing him the cigarette she had in her mouth, which Alexis just took a puff on before handing it back to her. 

"Okay, let's organize the driving shifts," after puffing on the comforting smoke, Alexis clapped his hands several times to get the attention of his companions.

"Jack can't drive the first day, so we'll choose between the four of us for the first two shifts," Laria said, getting the others to nod. 

"Then let me do it," Irina replied excitedly, making her teammates shiver slightly.

"Only if you don't drive like a deranged woman, it's a steam car, not a car powered by Vetro crystals," Alexis pointed out sternly, causing Irina to playfully puff out her cheeks, but no one believed her. 

"Okay, I understand, you bunch of bores," Irina finally resigned, knowing that she had to control herself in this situation. 

"Then let me have the second shift today," Lisa added, completing the end of the shift-switching. 

"Then let's go!" shouted Irina excitedly and ran towards the steam car.

"You're missing the key!" exclaimed Alexis with a smile.

So, with a good sense of humor, they all boarded the steam wagon and, under the watchful eyes of the soldiers, set off toward the Rosicrucian Federation territories, encountering various situations along the way. 

"It looks like the weather is going to be fine for these days," said Alexis, who was examining a round object the size of his palm with some intricate lines inside a crystal dome. 

On the glass was a golden circle with some appendages around it, a design similar to how the sun is usually drawn. In addition, there was a white cloud-like object in front of this sun symbol. 

"If I were you, I wouldn't trust that junk so much, it gets it wrong more often than it gets it right," Lisa complained, squinting her eyes as she looked through a window, clearly seeing that it was cloudy.

"I don't know how they dare sell something so inaccurate, this thing barely has a hint of functionality," Jack pointed out with a hint of a joke in his tone. 

"I know it's useless, but it gives you a little hope, doesn't it? I prefer technological methods for these things," Alexis replied, although the way he held the object seemed to indicate that it was of great importance to him. 

"I hope we don't run into any weather monsters," Irina said, causing her companions to nod. 

"These things are complicated, we're just a small team, let the big guys handle the big stuff," Laria commented, reading a book that seemed to be about botany. 

"Oh yeah, those powerful and important guys in the barracks... smug bastards," Jack complained, a bit annoyed. 

"You're just saying that because Hans tried to recruit your girlfriend, bragging that he could give her more funding for her research," Lisa, who was up to date with the hot gossip in the barracks, pressed Jack's sore spot directly. 

"Right, you got jealous," Alexis said with a teasing smile on his face. 

"That day I thought Hans and Jack were going to fight as usual, but no, they just stared at each other, I almost thought they were going to kiss," Irina said, making her companions laugh. 

"For God's sake, I wouldn't kiss that guy, but that day we couldn't fight, we both knew there was an important emissary, in fact, the supervisor personally warned us a while before that incident," after laughing and ignoring the pain of his wounds, Jack explained a little more about the situation that day.

"Oh, can you tell me more?" asked Lisa, prompting Jack to start telling the story of that day and how Jack and Hans ended up fighting the next day. 

The steam truck sped along the road, letting the scenery outside pass through the window. Gradually, they left the Federation border behind, revealing the vibrant landscape within the Federation. 

Snow-capped mountains in the distance, the road bordering a forest of red-leafed trees, and the occasional crop of corn, rice, and wheat made the team's journey truly enjoyable. 

In the early afternoon, they approached a small village where they stopped for lunch and supplies. Jack, for his part, bought a newspaper to catch up on the latest news.

[THE FEDERATION PREVAILS AGAIN AGAINST RAURANIA].

Seeing this headline, Jack knew it had to do with the skirmish between the two countries that had happened yesterday, the reporters seemed to be everywhere at this time and he could even see some gray pictures of the armed conflict. 

"These guys are just as brave as us operators," Jack muttered, jokingly praising the reporters who seemed to be looking for death all the time. 

Then his eyes narrowed as he read a certain point in the article because he found an important piece of information that made him reread the whole text to have a better understanding of everything. 

"Wow, no wonder those man-eating wolves show up, those bastards..." Jack tightened his grip on the paper he was reading, feeling not only anger at this moment, but also a strange sense of sadness.

"Are you okay?" Irina asked, approaching Jack with a piece of cake in her hand. 

She noticed Jack's bad mood as he read the paper, so she took it in her free hand and read the same article he did, and her reaction was even more exaggerated, she started to curse out of anger. 

For the article, it was just an insignificant detail in their report of the Federation's victory, but the things they reported were disturbing because they sent hundreds of Gothamites to their deaths, the same group as this Juggernaut.

Yes, they might be a little annoying, but they were their citizens, and they were being sacrificed for their country just like that. Even if there is some animosity among its people, a country should always take care of its own. 

Outsiders hated the Goths because they were not only arrogant, but they were also true fighting geniuses and a group against their enemies, in principle, Jack and Irina should celebrate this information, but for a country to betray its people was a bad message.

Besides the fact that they provoked the appearance of the Weird, if Irina and Laria had not acted, the battlefield would have become a hotbed of cannibalistic maniacs the next day. 

For almost causing a major problem, Jack and Irina were deeply upset, but deep down, this meant that something was going on in Raurania, something extremely strange.

They could only hope that the situation would not get worse because even though it was a rival country if something bad happened in Raurania, it could spread and affect the Rosicrucian Federation because of the proximity of their territories.