529 Astoria's Determination
Even from a strategic perspective, having an army full of fire-attribute aura users could be disastrous.
Sure, the army of fire-attribute aura users would have great destructive power. But raw attack power wasn't the only factor that determined victory in a war.
If Gehenna had an army resistant to fire, they would be at a significant disadvantage.
As such, a versatile army comprising different element aura users would be more useful. They would have the option to use their strength to target the enemy's weakness.
Nevertheless, the Heavenly Fire Art was enough for the time being.
...
Shortly after tidying up the private study, Vaan visited the imperial library to peruse more books.
The imperial library contained countless thousands of books. A single session was nowhere near enough to read them.
Last time, he had only touched upon the Divine Serpent Empire, the Great Ratholos Empire, and a bit of the Freedom Federation.
However, there were still numerous countries, wonders, and dangerous zones in Pangea that he had yet to learn about and visit. There were other rare minerals and plants out there that couldn't be found within the domain of the Holy Knight Empire and the Seven Witch Kingdoms.
Nevertheless, Vaan was most curious about the impact of the rogue asteroids that entered Pangea and how the local powers reacted to them.
Unfortunately, such recent information wouldn't be found in the imperial library.
He could only wait for Eniwse and Aeliana to collect the information.
The last time he had seen them, the two devoted ladies personally suggested taking over the old Assembly of Silent Night's bases to establish a new intelligence-gathering network for him.
Since the resources and hideouts were already there, it would save them a great deal of time and money to set up the new intelligence-gathering network.
Naturally, Vaan had no reason to disagree.
However, it would take some time for the new intelligence-gathering network to expand to other countries. Even if they had the spare funds to support the operations, the shortage of human resources wasn't easy to resolve in a short time.
Even so, Vaan estimated Eniwse and Aeliana would have something to put on his table by the time he returned from his trip to the Great Ratholos Empire.
…
Vaan continued to spend his time in the imperial library, flipping through books one after the other. Unknowingly, several hours passed, and night arrived.
A palace servant soon informed him of Astoria's invitation to dine together for dinner.
A lavish meal was already laid out on the long table when Vaan arrived. The chandelier lights were all dead, and the only illumination came from the thoughtfully arranged candles on the dining table.
Although the candles weren't strong enough to illuminate the whole dining hall, they painted a romantic atmosphere.
Evidently, it had been Astoria's idea to set the mood.
Furthermore, Astoria had dolled herself up.
She wore a pretty blue dress without any armor and put on some light makeup to enhance her beauty. Coupled with her lightly braided side-swept hairstyle that revealed much of her right shoulder, she appeared especially captivating tonight.
Vaan was easily fascinated with the arrangement. He was curious how Astoria intended to go about seducing him.
Unfortunately, since they sat on opposite ends of the long dining table, they did not engage in any deep and meaningful topic related to their relationship. Instead, they discussed the internal affairs of the empire and its management reforms.
Of course, the Holy Knight Empire wasn't much better than the Seven Witch Kingdoms.
If the Holy Knight Empire didn't have border passes and trade relationships with the southern countries, its developments would have also stagnated.
In a sense, the witches' situation in the Holy Knight Empire was far worse than the ordinary men's situation in the Seven Witch Kingdoms.
After all, men didn't need to bear the labor of pregnancy and childbirth.
Miscarriage was already common among witches, but the rate of frequency of miscarriage was even higher in the Holy Knight Empire due to the regular abuse.
At the same time, the death rate of witches in the empire was higher than men in the seven witch kingdoms.
Vaan had to give Astoria some credit for tackling these issues calmly without flipping out.
After the two finished their dinner together, the palace servants came in to clean up the dining table. At the same time, Vaan intended to return to the imperial library.
However, Astoria pinched his sleeve, stopping him from leaving and forcing him to glance back at her.
Although her head was lowered, hiding her face from his direct view, Vaan could immediately tell her previous calmness had all disappeared. She was very nervous yet seemingly anxious as well.
Vaan's lips curved into an amused smile.
"Yes?" He answered, feigning ignorance.
Astoria pursed her lips.
She had already planned out her idea and made her determination to go through with it. And yet, when it was actually time to carry it out, she suddenly lost all courage.
She couldn't stop her heart from racing or suppress the butterflies in her stomach. She felt helpless against such uncontrollable feelings. She didn't think there would still be obstacles she couldn't easily overcome at her age.
At that moment, she would rather face ten thousand demons on the battlefield than look Vaan in the eye. She never thought such a situation would be the greatest challenge yet in her life.
Having never been in love until now, her over three hundred years of life experience failed to prepare her for it.
Even so, Astoria knew she couldn't just stand there and not reply. As such, she mustered up all the courage she could to open her mouth.
"Stay with me... tonight?"
Astoria glanced up at Vaan with trembling eyelashes and requested in the tiniest, softest whisper he had ever heard.
It was adorable and plucked his heartstrings.
No man could have refused such a request even if they had been mad at the person for whatever reason.
Vaan smiled.
Instead of replying with words, Vaan directly grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to steal her lips. His actions were bold, but his kiss was gentle.
He answered her with his action.
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