King Of Limbo

With Aron's new route in mind, The Astroda had changed it's course drastically after making a short stop in the city of Kremlin.

Unfortunately for Aron Khalifa didn't have useful information to report to him. The only advantageous information he got was that her organization had managed to sneak a few spies onto the continent of Aethela during all the chaos the frontal battles on sea were causing.

This was something Aron found impressive because according to her information Ettenheim's forces were yet to even make land fall, officially that is.

The battles thus far had all been either on sea or on Islands being used as temporary bases. From this it was clear to see that Ettenheim had underestimated the power of Aethel.

However since both sides were yet to send out their top forces, the true end result was far from being seen.

…

A few days after the Astroda left the city of Kremlin, Aron was in his quarters discussing the current status of the war with Lady Rose who currently occupied one of the three seats on a round table within the room.

Aron and Evanora occupied the other two but Rose's attention remained on the messaging scroll she was using.

"So? How is it looking?" After Aron saw her take a long pause without writing on the scroll again he inquired this of her.

In the next moment she turned to him and showed a small smile before speaking. "Our main piece just reached the boarder and will be making her way towards the battle soon, she'll wreck enough havoc to cause Aethel to focus solely on the frontal attacks at least for a few days until they send someone who can rival her." Lady Rose revealed as she rolled up the scroll and put it on the side of the table.

"Good, with this we've not only likely lessened the security of Aethel in other areas of the continent but also provided great contribution to Ettenheim." Aron replied with a small smirk on his face before the two began talking about other topics.

….

Meanwhile tens of kilometers away in the city of Hazenloft which once again acted as the central hub for departing airships, a gigantic airship that could rival the Astroda had appeared bearing the Ettenheim family crest.

On the deck of said airship stood the familiar figure of Belle Aurora Ettenheim. However this Belle looked very different from the smiling bold beauty everyone knew.

This time around Belle had worn full luxurious leather armor that accentuated her figure quite well and showed very little skin. Her expertise laid in the art of pure mana offensive arts and techniques thus she didn't require a weapon, although she did always carry around a staff with a mana crystal imbedded into it.

As she looked down on the city of Hazenloft she wore a look of displeasure and closed a messaging scroll she was holding before clicking her tongue in irritation. 'That whore of a lonk dares to use me in her schemes!' Belle thought while furrowing her brows as she thought about Rose who had just passed her instructions via messaging scroll.

Ever since her role in Aron's attempted murder was found out she became nothing more than a helpless pawn to be used by Rose and Aron.

Every free second of her time was spent trying to think of a way out of her predicament but to no avail. No matter what she thought of it was either too risky or would involve her losing out as well.

If her role was to be revealed she'd lose Galos support and likely become enemies with the Vonstein household as well, a result she dreaded to think about considering Gregor had died.

Just as she was in her thoughts a young man and woman appeared behind her and bowed, these two were none other than Aela and Reginald who Belle had began to use more since they had no backing aside from her, hence more loyalty.

"Milady, all the information you wished to pass on has been delivered successfully and should be reaching all other forces soon. Lord Issac Lovitz is requesting if you can ask Lady Rose to provide more such support." Aela spoke in a very formal manner and didn't dare raise her head without being told to.

Unlike Reginald who was a bit more relaxed, she took her duties extremely seriously and always acted diligently when wearing the uniform of the Belle faction which sported the colors of red and white with the Ettenheim family crest present.

"Tsk. Tell him I'll do so but she releases information at her leisure so it's out of my control, dismissed." Belle spoke while trying to hide the great anger she felt just from hearing Rose's name being mentioned.

The information Belle was referring two was that of some basic glyphs Aron had chosen to have Rose release. Although simple to him who had enough time to study them, they were a new and powerful advantage Ettenheim now had over Aethel.

Rose made sure to have Belle distribute this information to all capable forces as he believed the big families would monopolize it if revealed to them alone.

No matter the case this gave them a considerable amount of favor in the war as everyone now had Lady Rose's name on their lips, praising her for her ingenuity. In reality Aron simply wanted the scales in the war to slightly tip in Ettenheim's favor.

If Aethel somehow managed to gain favor or even gain an advantage then he would once again have more information released. As long both sides had similar strength the losses would remain stable on either side lessening the chances of an early end to the war.

But to maximize the gains and favor both sides Aron had another scheme prepared…

…

Later that evening on the Astroda, Aron could be seen casually making his way through the hallways of the lower residential levels. Under normal circumstances these would belong to servants and other low ranked crew members but this time around they acted as the elves place of residency.

​ No matter how powerful someone's words are, they simply can't have someone change their beliefs in a short span of time, the belief in this case being the racism towards the elves.

To avoid any altercations or problems, Claudia had suggested they have a separate residential level to themselves. This idea was supported by Ariel who acted as a sort of spokesperson for her kind.

She knew getting fair treatment especially with the current state of affairs was near impossible so she just preferred securing her kind's safety.

This side of her proved to be contradictory to the image Aron had created of her. In his mind she was someone who cared only for herself and would use any means available to achieve her goals… this image was shattered due to how much care she showed for her kind.

'Perhaps I'm just reading into this too much.' Aron stopped this train of thought as understanding people and their emotions was something he felt he was mediocre in.

Just as he decided to think of something else, the dining area of that level was in sight.

Most large airships had the design of having a separate dining areas on different levels. For larger airships it wasn't odd to find four or five present.

As Aron walked into the one before him he found numerous elves gathered sharing a meal although the atmosphere did look rather weary despite the living conditions being well above average.

"Aron?" Just as Aron walked in a faint gentle voice called out to him causing many gazes to go in his direction.

The sweet melodic voice belonged to Mirai who had also been staying on the lower levels despite Lucas's efforts to change that decision. Ever since Aron had made a point during their gathering in the lecture theatre that one time Lucas hadn't been on stable terms with Mirai and Sharla.

The moment this little piece of news had reached Aron he had began to subtly add his presence into their lives.

"Yes, how are you all faring?" Aron replied to her in his usual distant tone. There was no need to pretend when one's character was already known, rather he would let his actions define his intentions.

"Much better thanks to all the food you had sent our way in Kremlin. The stock should last even after we make land fall, I thank you again, you treat us well." Mirai said gently and received nods from other elves who appreciated Aron's gesture towards them.

Sharla wasn't among these elves and instead gave Aron a short glare before turning to her meal. This didn't go unnoticed to Aron though he did nothing in response, it was within expectations for some to not receive him well.

"I simply have no reason to hate Aethel and it's people, this is simply how I treat crew members." Aron replied honestly and received a small smile and nod from Mirai. 'You're really misunderstood Aron… life truly is unfair to you.'

A/N: Lonk, a Pesian insult similar to bitch but far more offensive.