Chapter 227: Aestrea Against The World (IV)
Then, Zeva practically dragged Aestrea to the war table, her fingers still lightly laced around his wrist like a cat who refused to let go of her toy.
With one sharp gesture, she scattered a few of the older scrolls off the table and slapped a fresh crystal map in place.
"Alright, serious now," she said, her playful tone still hanging in her voice, but her eyes sharpened the mont she tapped the center of the map.
A glowing blue circle pulsed near the northern frontier, which was far above Silverleaf’s Academy.
"People from the Elven Kingdom have struck Silverleaf once, but now... they’re about to do it again."
Aestrea’s eyes instantly sharpened at her words.
"Elves, huh?"
Zeva nodded.
"More precisely, Frozen Elves, one of the five great families in the Elven Kingdom. It seems that the Elven Emperor ordered them to attack Silverleaf."
"Wait... Ice elves?"
"Yeah. The sa ones that hit the northern frontier about six months ago and then disappeared like ghosts. We thought they’d retreated after that failed siege, but..." She pointed toward three flickering red marks that had just appeared on the map.
"They’re back. Multiple units were sighted in the frost valleys. This ti, they’re not even hiding."
’...They attacked the frontier six months ago...? How co I didn’t hear about that attack?’ he frowned slightly.
"...They’re marching in the open?" he asked.
"Blatantly," Zeva nodded, tapping the table again. "It’s not like them. Ice elves don’t usually expose themselves unless they’ve got an overwhelming advantage."
She flicked her hand again, and the map zood slightly, showing units converging toward a cluster of mountain paths.
"We don’t know what changed. But the weirdest part is... they’re not targeting the empire’s main northern walls. They’re veering east."
Her finger traced a long glowing line...
In that place, it was obviously Silverleaf.
"And that was actually the reason why I’m here. Because I’m probably the best person to fight against ice users."
"Mhm..."
Aestrea nodded slighly as he continued staring at the map. Their route was quite strange for him, and they had made too many stops along the way.
"Wait... ice elves?" Aestrea blinked slighly.
"I need to talk with Eira."
Zeva’s ears perked almost imdiately.
"Huh?"
"Ahh..." Aestrea frowned slightly. "I have a girl... friend called Eira, and she’s one of the princesses of the ice elves."
Zeva’s face twitched at that.
"Of course it’s a princess," she muttered darkly. "Do you ever talk to normal won, or is it just royal blood and war criminals?"
Aestrea’s mouth twitched.
"What do you an by war criminals?"
Zeva’s grip on his wrist tightened almost imdiately.
"Rember
again... when you were against the Emperor, who was the one that gave you an army to help you with the attack...?"
"Yara, the Underground Queen... she’s not exactly a war crimin—!"
"—She attacked the Emperor!" Zeva instantly interrupted him.
"...and I killed him." Aestrea simply added with a shrug.
Zeva crossed her arms at his words.
"I know... I was just making a point... besides, we should be focusing on a strategy instead of your relationships!" Her gaze went to the map again.
’You were the one who started talking about relationships...’ Aestrea sighed inwardly.
"...Either way, even if I’m friends with Eira, if the ice elves attack Silverleaf, I’ll stop them even if I have to kill them all," Aestrea added coldly.
Zeva’s lips curled slightly at his words, her eyes staring intently at his before she gave a tentative lick on her lower lip.
"Not now."
At his words, Zeva clicked her tongue and leaned on the table, folding her arms, but kept staring at him.
But then, Zeva leaned slightly closer, resting her chin on her knuckles and smirking up at him.
"...So. This Eira. Is she cute?"
Aestrea didn’t answer.
Which was already enough of an answer.
"Ugh. Of course she is," Zeva grunted, slamming her forehead against the table.
"She’s not the enemy... yet," Aestrea said calmly.
"No, she’s just another problem with tits," Zeva mumbled.
"...You kissed
like ten tis in under a minute."
"That’s different. I’m stable."
"You swung a sword at my head the first ti we t."
"It was a love sword."
As soon as she uttered those sa words, Aestrea stared at her for a few seconds with a practically deadpan face.
"Ahem!"
She cleared her throat and waved off the topic.
"Okay, okay, serious mode again. Look, if you’re thinking of confronting the elves, you’re not going alone."
"I wasn’t planning to," he muttered, already flipping through the strategy charts beside her.
’If anything, I’m thinking of directly eting their emperor...’
"Good. Because if I find out you rushed into so frost kingdom and got stabbed by so blue-haired girl in the snow, I’ll raise your corpse and slap it."
"You’d have to catch
first."
"Oh please. I’d just lay down and wait for you to co to . You’re emotionally drawn to chaos."
She grinned.
"Ah..." Aestrea sighed deeply, but then he turned around and left the tent, without saying anything, leaving Zeva puzzled.
But she still didn’t follow him.
And when he got out of the giant, he imdiately noticed two familiar figures, who were obviously Derek and Jas.
Derek was leaning lazily against one of the crystal-warded poles, with his arms crossed, trying to look cool while Jas sat cross-legged beside him, tossing pebbles at a target line drawn in the dirt.
The second they saw Aestrea erge from the tent, Jas grinned like a predator sniffing blood.
"Oho~ Look who survived the crazy commander’s lair!" he sang, throwing his arms behind his head.
"Still alive," Derek noted dryly. "Though she probably licked his neck when we weren’t looking."
"Bro, no joke," Jas said, wiggling his eyebrows. "I heard sounds. I swear I heard sothing wet in there."
"Shut it," Aestrea muttered, walking past them.
But that only made Jas and Derek exchange a glance and pounce.
In one smooth movent, both twins jumped forward!
"Whooo~ Zeva and Aestrea, sitting in a tree—"
"F-I-G-H-T-I-N-G—!"
Thud!
Crack!
"Agh—!"
"Ack—!"
Aestrea pressed both their heads into the ground with one hand each, firmly grinding their faces into the dirt like annoyed punishnt.
"I will freeze both of you solid if you don’t stop."
"Worth it..." Derek groaned under the pressure.
"Totally worth it... can’t breathe, but worth it." Jas wheezed.
Aestrea released them with a sigh, brushing invisible dust from his sleeves.
He walked away from the twin idiots as they groaned and flopped like stunned fish behind him.
Then, after walking for a while, he found a quiet patch of forest behind the outer ward line, where the wind filtered gently through the leaves and only the chirping of distant birds broke the silence.
From his storage, Aestrea pulled out a phone. Then, he searched for the contact "Eira
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