"I just feel that when it actually comes time to put it into practice... it’ll definitely be way more troublesome than Astrid made it sound..." Lyra said softly after hearing her out, slightly rubbing her thighs.
The Kingdom of Velys and the Valeria Empire were separated by frozen tundra and snowy plains.
Even in times of peace, their commercial exchanges were not closed; long years of division meant that, even though the two nations shared a common predecessor in the Lorraine Empire, enormous differences had emerged in culture, faith, institutions, and every other aspect.
If they wanted these foreign prisoners to wholeheartedly help build the Empire, the resistance would surely be substantial.
Astrid didn’t deny it. With her other hand, the one not held by Lyra, she gently placed it on her own thigh. Her slender legs crossed, and the palm was met with the snowlike delicate feel of black stockings.
"Of course. But for the Empire to have made it this far, what has ever been easy?"
"At least now we have a solution. We just follow it through, better than having the will but no way."
From another angle, if all goes smoothly, then several necessary conditions for Astrid’s reform of the magical machinery industry, pushing the Valeria Empire from a feudal medieval state into a brand-new stage, could be met through this war: foreign markets to dump goods into in great quantity, and a labor pool cheap enough.
The only thing missing, and the most critical, is the resource problem still unconquered on the magical-technology front: mass-produced cheap, efficient elemental crystal stones of every attribute.
"Lyra, are you going to cast Aria of the River Bathed in Light again later?"
"Mm. The earlier fighting didn’t consume much of my mental power. Once this field spell ends, I’ll add another one."
To ensure it could cover the wounded as they slept, granting them warm, dry rest.
As she finished, Lyra thought of how Astrid had gone a long time without sleep for this night raid. She took a sip of fruit juice to moisturize her lips.
"If Astrid’s sleepy, you should go rest first."
"I can handle it alone."
Don’t underestimate a knight’s physique. Although Lyra had just come off the front lines after more than ten hours of hard fighting, she was still far from drowsy, her battle with the man later confirmed to be a frontline commander had not been difficult for her at all.
If anything, the only thing she truly had to control was herself, lest she unintentionally revealed the aura of an Arcanist mage.
Hearing her, Astrid shook her head, voice gentle and soft.
"No rush. I’ll stay here and keep your company a bit longer."
"After all, Lyra just achieved the feat of being first to mount the walls and seize the banner, and then beheaded the enemy general before everyone’s eyes. As the Empire’s Regent, I can’t exactly ignore such a great contributor."
At that, Lyra pressed her legs together, fingers lightly gripping the crystal bottle. After a moment, her trailing tone lifted.
"Then... I’ll trouble Your Highness, the Grand Princess."
Truthfully, Astrid could be awkward sometimes. She clearly just wanted to sit with her a while longer, yet she still had to drag out a set of official-sounding reasons.
But it also fits the Princess Astrid she knew: when teasing people, she was proactive, aggressive even, and the occasional succubus-like straight ball she threw would always make Lyra’s heart pound and her cheeks flush.
Yet at other times, Astrid’s emotions were relatively restrained, carrying that refined chill and noble reserve proper to a princess.
And when it came to certain matters... Astrid, when on the offensive, could bully her until she had no room to fight back. But once she relaxed, especially when her stamina was nearly spent, she became especially sensitive, frighteningly easy to make fall apart beneath Lyra’s fingers.
It was hard to describe. If she had to... maybe: high attack, paper defense towards her lover; a seductive yet cool, noble succubus princess?
Perhaps because their spiritual bond had endured for such a long time, and because they were accustomed to communicating across impossible distances, Astrid, who rested beside Lyra, noticed Lyra’s eyelashes quiver briefly after she spoke, and felt her relaxed body ease back against her a little more.
"..."
So the foolish knight had guessed it.
But Astrid wasn’t meant to hide her thoughts anyway. Saying it that way just added a bit of flavor.
"Not a problem, Lyra..." Astrid said.
Then, right in front of the pink-haired girl, Astrid’s fair fingers gently pinched and smoothed the black stocking fabric at her thigh, flattening the soft dark silk. Her slender, long, glossy jade legs reveal perfect lines under the light.
"You’re a Holy Light Knight who’s saved many soldiers... and also..."
"...the hero of Astrid Calliste alone."
Miss Succubus’s straight ball arrived late, but its lethality far exceeded any other.
Could anyone really resist their beloved affirming their actions, encouraging their justice, and then speak such tender words with such affection?
Lyra couldn’t. At this moment, she felt as if some strings in her mind had melted clean through, like a computer whose CPU had burned out, like steam popping the lid off a kettle, her face and hands turning scorching hot in an instant.
She had indeed said it. No, she had sworn it to Astrid’s face: that she would be Astrid’s and Astrid’s alone, her guardian knight.
But hearing related words spoken from the silver-haired beauty before she still sent a hard-to-calm tremor through Lyra’s heart.
"H-hero... that’s... too exaggerated..."
Just a moment ago she’d been thinking, full of confidence, that Astrid must have stayed because she couldn’t bear to leave her. Now Lyra’s heart was in disarray, and she reflexively denied the praise.
Sensing the pink-haired girl behind her lean forward, no longer resting against her, Astrid relaxed her waist muscles, letting her fair, snow-white back, covered by luxurious skirt fabric, lie against Lyra’s hard armor.
"Not at all. Lyra really is amazing~"
"With a reliable Holy Light Knight like you, I can’t devote myself to internal affairs with a clear mind otherwise," Astrid said.
The brain-draining, energy-consuming imperial reform went to her; the military operations requiring direct command to defeat powerful enemies went to the battle-tested Lyra. Only by division of labor could they bring out each other’s strengths.
Of course, beyond division of labor, appropriate "cooperation" was also good for relaxing the mind and stabilizing emotions.
As Astrid continued praising her, Lyra’s cheeks flushed bright red. She pressed her knees together; the leg armor clinked with an exceptionally crisp collision.
"Astrid is amazing too... thinking of so much ahead of time..." Lyra’s voice was soft.
"Actually, the moment I arrived at the wounded camp I was already thinking about how Astrid would handle the prisoners... and what might happen if things went badly..."
She was still thinking of what would count as a good solution, when Astrid arrived and all the troublesome matters were resolved at once.
"But I haven’t truly carried the plan out yet. If Lyra celebrates early, and later there’s too much resistance and it fails, won’t we just end up worrying again?" Astrid asked softly.
Plans were made by people; outcomes were decided by heaven. Even she couldn’t guarantee everything would proceed according to plan.
Lyra shook her head and replied at once, "It won’t. I believe in Astrid."
She had too seen many miracles in her. This time will be no different.
But as soon as she finished, she realized that saying so might place pressure on the Regent. She hurriedly added:
"Um... I’m not saying Astrid absolutely can..."
"Ah, no, no, what I mean is, Astrid is so smart, you’ll definitely do it in the end."
"Ugh... that’s not it either..."
Hearing Lyra’s interruptions and self-contradictions, Astrid pursed her lips; a seductive smile surfaced on her snow-white, pretty face.
In that speech to the army, Lyra had been clear in tone, smooth in logic, and top-tier in emotional drive. Why? when talking to her, was she so clumsy, so pure it was downright adorable?
"I’m guessing what Lyra means is..." Astrid paused, speaking from Lyra’s perspective.
"I believe in Astrid’s ability, and I’ll always support you. But I also hope Astrid won’t feel too much pressure because of what I said."
Am I right?
"..."
Completely correct. Astrid understood her well enough to be her mouthpiece.
Lyra nodded, her cherry-pink lips parting and closing.
"Mm... that’s it..."
She only wanted to express encouragement and trust, not to make Astrid shoulder more pressure to meet her expectations.
"I understand, Lyra."
How could Astrid not understand what kind of person her little maid was?
The hand resting on her thigh drifted upward, slightly stroking Lyra’s lips, still slightly damp from the fruit juice.
Astrid gazed at those bright, tempting lips, the corners of her mouth lifting. She cupped Lyra’s face and kissed her.
Watching the Empire’s foremost beauty draw close, Lyra slowly closed her eyes and tilted her face up to meet her.
"Tsk... Lyra may be tongue-tied, but her tongue isn’t..."
As she spoke, seeing the girl’s cheeks deepen into an even richer red, Astrid lifted a finger and tapped her lip bead, her tone teasing.
"I mean, your singing is beautiful."
"???"
Do you believe that yourself?!
Instinctively, Lyra wanted to lift her legs and clamp Astrid in place, to stop her from speaking nonsense, then, hearing the crisp clack echo in the air, she belatedly realized she was still wearing light armor. The motion halted halfway. Her blue eyes stared at the floor as she tried to cool her skin by spacing out.
Astrid’s smile only grew. She uncrossed her black-stockinged legs and turned sideways, lightly placing them atop the pink-haired knight’s knee guards. The heel of her pitch-black high heel touched the leg armor; thanks to the metal layer, it wouldn’t scratch skin not covered by mental power.
"Rest well. Once the detailed battle report is out, we’ll make other plans."
The number of prisoners, usable military supplies, the condition of the inner city, too many things needed to consider.
What they will do in the future, and who will do it, still has to wait for concrete figures as a model.
Lyra looked at her lover’s leg resting on her knees, and at the bright silver hair spilling from the night-sky-colored hem of her skirt, flowing as quietly as moonlight. She gave a light "Mm."
"Alright. Then give me the time for one more song."
With that, the pink-haired girl lifted a hand to brush her hair. The standard-issue armor covering her body turned into motes of light and sank into the light sword at her thigh, revealing the convenient, mobile clothes beneath.
An hour later, under Duke Charles’s arrangements, Astrid and Lyra moved into a luxurious manor Grant had once used to host distinguished guests of the Church of Light. Rumor had it that even the Saintess, Monica Angelis, had once stayed here.
But although it was said to be top-tier luxury housing, in practice, after looking around, the two found it fell far short of the aristocratic estates in Capital City, by more than a star or two. And the benchmark wasn’t even ducal mansions; it was merely some of the smaller nobles in the imperial capital.
In terms of acreage and interior decoration it was barely passable, but it relied on the most important thing: magical machinery. Without that, it was hard to call the conditions good.
"Astrid... the only automatic hot water supply here is the central grand bath..." After questioning the servants for details, Lyra spoke softly.
"It’s like a larger porcelain tub. Several fire-aspect crystal stones are placed at the bottom. There aren’t any control buttons, nowhere nearly as flexible as the palace."
It was even worse than her room at the Liya Tower Fortress; at least there she had heating stones and didn’t need to rely on a primitive fireplace.
"About what I expected. The Kingdom of Velys is a latercomer; their research progress in magical devices has been left far behind by the Empire. For now it’s not very likely they can apply it to noble life," Astrid said, unsurprised.
Even if the King of Velys had witnessed the power of magical weapons through the border war and wanted to step into the field, under Charlotte’s multiple layers of encryption, they wouldn’t be breaking that technical fortress anytime soon.
"Tell the servants to draw water. Let’s soak a bit, warm ourselves up and wash off the wind and frost."
And take a look at how much technical substance this artificial hot spring actually had.
Lyra didn’t move immediately. She hesitated for two or three seconds, then said:
"The soldiers are camped in the outer city on alert. As a wartime commander, is it really okay for me to relax like this?"
"..."
Astrid fell silent briefly. After a moment, she spoke:
"It’s just a bath. Lyra, you’re overthinking it."
"When marching and fighting, you can share hardships and show consideration for the soldiers, but you also need clear rewards and punishments and strict discipline."
"Lyra just earned military merit. You ought to be rewarded."
With that, Astrid walked into the hot spring room. Compared to the icy world outside, the rolling heat here practically rushed at her face. She slipped off her high heels; her delicate, smooth black-stockinged feet stepped onto the spotless floor.
"So, it’s fine," Astrid said.
"If you really can’t get over it, Lyra, then treat this shared bath as serving me, your Regent."
After all, Lyra’s intimate relationship with the Regent wasn’t a secret in the army.
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