King Of Limbo

A few days had now passed since Aron set off from Galos Academy on Juliet's airship "The Astroda"

Juliet was the strongest descendant in third generation, her father who belonged to the second was already head of house Lamarck as her grandfather had retired a few years prior.

In regards to this, Juliet was given the maximum backing of the Lamarck family during this war as she was their sole piece in achieving victory.

Even now as she moved with a single airship, numerous others were on standby awaiting her command should she send word for them.

A similar case was present for Esmeralda who was the oldest of her siblings. Much of the Hoffenheim's hope now rested with her and Emilia.

The Vonstein's had suffered a loss by losing Gregor of the third generation and Ursula who was of the second. However they still had a good number of capable individuals far above Brutas in both generations so little was spared for him.

The same treatment was given to Sebastian of house Lovitz who was miles below his uncle Yohan despite being a firstborn in the third generation.

Henry and Anastasia were favored greatly by their grandmother but even they had to struggle against their uncles and aunts who would aim for the titles as well. Luckily most families discouraged fighting amongst one another as it would only work against them so in incense most families still stood as one.

…

In those few days that had passed a great number of airships had left the continent and travelled towards Aethel. By the time the Astroda arrived the war would have at least been a few weeks old and both sides would have taken damage.

This delay didn't worry Henry as he knew the war would likely rage on for months or even years like the one before. Ettenheim perhaps held a slightly greater advantage due to receiving help from Galos Academy but that was still far from being a deciding factor, especially since Lady Uva herself wouldn't be participating.

"Attention everyone, we'll be out of the region of Galos by evening and we shall stop by the city of Kremlin to restock!"

Scarlett's voice loudly resonated throughout the airship as she passed this announcement.

Making stops along the way wasn't a problem since they weren't in an immediate hurry. Even Aron was unbothered by this as it gave him time to gather information on what kind of a force Aethel was just in case Ariel's information was false or out of date.

'I should find time to met with Khalifa once we settle there and see what she managed to learn so far.' Aron who was currently seated by a desk in his room thought to himself before turning towards Lady Rose who was laying comfortably on the bed with a book in hand.

"Something the matter?" She asked without turning her gaze from the book.

In these few days the two had barely left the room at all since it had all the basic amenities one would need. All in all nothing seemed to bother her about their cohabitation although she did place a barrier over herself when she slept on her side of the bed.

Aron could only associate this with her dislike to making physical contact which he had only done once with her and not even direct skin to skin. Wether it was a phobia or just a general dislike was something Aron didn't know.

"Nothing, I'll be stepping out for a bit to see how things are operating." Aron announced before standing up and walking towards the door, receiving only a short response from Rose. "I see."

…

After Aron left his room he immediately went over to the next room on his right which was assigned to Evanora. As usual he had long since taken measures to ensure her mana demon wouldn't run amok within the airship.

Since she rarely ever moved it meant he didn't need to overly worry about her causing trouble, the few times she did leave her room was to be in Aron's anyway.

Inside the room he found Evanora laying on her bed scribbling on a some pieces of parchment. "Is Evanora wanted?" Upon noticing Aron's presence, Evanora raised her head in his direction and asked blankly but Aron shook his head. "I only came to see you, continue what you were doing." Aron replied before exiting as quickly as he came.

He had stumbled upon a dead end when it came to researching Evanora's unique situation. He just had far too little information to go on and experimentation done blindly carried too many risks that he couldn't afford at the moment.

After leaving he began walking towards the other residential hallway on that level of the airship where the other important members stayed. To be exact he had wanted to visit Henry and give him a route to follow.

He still had no plans of fully revealing the detailed map of Aethel to others so he'd have to give directions in parts as if he himself was only now discovering them.

On his way to Henry's room he encountered Claudia who had also just exited the room and turned in his direction. Unlike her who stopped in her tracks, Aron continued to walk sparing her only a glance in the corner of his eyes.

"Are you going to ignore me completely?" Claudia muttered with some displeasure in her voice causing Aron to pause and look at her more clearly. As their gazes met she felt some regret uttering those words but it was something she couldn't help but wonder.

"I'm not ignoring you, I simply have no words to say to you. If you have anything to say to me then you're free to seek me out." Aron revealed bringing a sort of relief towards Claudia.

Any normal person would see Aron as being distant but Claudia was used to this nature of his, he was someone she considered very blunt with no need to lie. This was the image she held and liked to believe about Aron, so far she had no reason to believe otherwise.

Aron didn't await for a reply and continued to make his way down the hall until he arrived at Henry's room.

It only took a knock and his name for Henry to rush to the door to open it. The first thing Aron did was observe Henry's current state which didn't look all that well.

His eyes looked weary and reddish whereas his shoulders were slumped and his lips chapped. At first glance he looked extremely exhausted and stressed.

"You should take better care of yourself, you're useless as you are now." Aron advised bluntly and received a chuckle from Henry who gestured him to come in.

What followed was Henry updating Aron on the current state of things before Aron brought forward the route suggestion he had.

"This…" After looking at the route Aron was suggesting Henry grew hesitant for a moment. Henry's initial planned route meant they would have to steer directly into a battlefield and fight their way into the continent.

Henry had no trouble with that plan because it meant they'd have no choice but to battle and thus play a pivotal role in the war.

Aron's route plan shattered this idea as it detailed rather than them trying to enter the Aethela continent directly they would instead travel around it and enter from it's western most region, avoiding battle all together.

"As you know the continent of Aethela is split into two parts, there's the Kingdom of Aethel itself and then there's the Veldra community which is a protectorate of the Kingdom of Aethel."

"According to what you said the main forces of Ettenheim are all doing frontal attacks and so Aethel's force is going to be concentrated there leaving their rear somewhat vulnerable or at the very least less secure than the front, making it the perfect point for us to sneak into the continent." Aron explained roughly without going to deep into details.

The main reason Ettenheim chose a frontal attack was because they didn't know what kind of security the other points of the Aethela continent would have, scouts were of course sent in the past but attempts had failed.

Henry showed some hesitation towards Aron's suggestion even now. 'We'll have to miss the front lines but if we can cause a large enough disturbance within the continent…' Henry's thoughts immediately went towards the pros of this plan of Aron's and the little hesitation he had soon vanished entirely.

"We'll do it, we'll follow this route you've planned." Henry said confidently and received a small nod from Aron who stood up afterward and proceeded to leave the room.