Chapter 168: Operations ; Night-Visit

"Yvonne, you are going to be leading this assault," I state.

As a response to my order, Yvonne simply replies,

"Understood, Your Highness."

I nod my head once before turning to face Godeffroy and asking,

"Has there been any response from Henrietta?"

"Yes," he responds, "Princess Henrietta has acknowledged Your Highness's suggestion."

"Good."

I take a few moments to think of everything that we discussed before getting up from my seat and saying,

"That's all. Everything must proceed according to the plan. If there are any issues, make sure to directly report them to me."

Then, I turn around and leave the room, along with Siesta and Saturnus who had been by my side the whole time during the meeting.

"Master," Siesta voices once we've walked a good distance away from the room we were in just now, "I've already cleaned and prepared a room for you to rest in."

Hearing this, I squint my eyes before asking,

"Using your powers?"

Siesta nods her head as confirmation.

"Good work," I praise her while thinking about any possible applications of her Code that could be useful for combat.

So far, I've only seen her use her powers to clean dirty objects, so I doubt that there is much that she can do when it comes to combat.

As we continue to walk, a voice suddenly resounds behind us,

"Your Highness!"

I turn around just in time to find a soldier panting behind me while holding an envelope.

Assuming that it's for me, I telekinetically pull it toward myself before saying,

"Good work. You're dismissed for now."

"Understood," the soldier replies before straightening himself and giving a polite bow then leaving.

"Siesta," I say while handing the envelope to her, "Read the content of the envelope out to me."

"Understood," Siesta responds before opening the envelope and pulling a letter out.

"This letter is from Princess Henrietta," Siesta begins, "It's related to the current war we're having and the noble families of Tristain."

Looks like she took my words rather seriously.

Siesta then proceeds to read out whatever is written in the letter from top to bottom.

The content of the letter is mostly related to noble families. It provides a brief description of the power and wealth of each noble family present within Tristain.

What's surprising is that three of the noble families mentioned in the letter have decided to aid us in this war by providing us soldiers from their personal army.

These three families are de Gramont, de La Vallieres, and lastly, Grand Duchy de Guldenhorf.

For the de Gramont and de La Vallieres, it's somewhat understandable that they would aid us in this way, however, I'm not so sure about the Grand Duchy de Guldenhorf.

Apparently, these three noble families decided to aid us immediately after news of our victory over the fort from three days ago reached their ears.

Henrietta deemed this to be an important matter, so she made haste to write me a letter regarding this matter.

As for how these men are going to be transported over, it's going to be done by making use of the three flying ships I had sent back to the castle in Tristain.

[Father, we're prepared.]

Finally. I've been waiting quite some time for this.

"Very well, Gabriel. Make sure to keep your guard up."

[Understood.]

Two days ago, I instructed Gabriel, Aruru, and Yuno to head over to South-West of Tristain where the flying ships are coming from and begin an assault against Gallia from there.

It seems like they're finally prepared to go through with the process.

That's not all, as I gave orders to both Ddraig and Tiamat as well.

They're to head to the south of Tristain and fly over the lake over to Gallia and weaken the defenses of any towns they come across.

As such, Siesta, Saturnus, and Krul are the only ones left with me.

Meanwhile, Aurora is sleeping in the Familiar Space and doesn't seem like she will wake up anytime soon.

"You two," I say, "Prepare yourselves. We're going to launch the next assault tomorrow at noon."

Siesta and Saturnus both nod their heads as confirmation.

---

"Krul?!" I voice, a little startled, "Why are you here?"

As a response to my inquiry, Krul approaches me before saying,

"I had another dream."

Dream? Is she referring to the visions that we Codes seem to have? Even so, Siesta is yet to have one, so I can't be so sure of that just yet.

"What was it about?" I ask her.

Krul climbs the bed and presses her back against the wall before saying,

"You."

"Me?!" I exclaim, further startled.

"That's right," she casually responds.

"What did you see?" I curiously inquire.

"A massacre."

Huh? Isn't this somewhat similar to the vision I saw not so long ago?

"What was it like? Can you describe it to me?"

"Sure," she responds before beginning to describe everything that transpired in her dream.

Based on her description, the 'vision' was different from the one I had.

First, the setting of the events that transpired was Halkeginia.

The dream showed me killing dozens of people that were quite obviously innocent citizens.

In the dream, my actions irked the populace, leading to a war between me and three different kingdoms.

The only allies I had in the dream were the girls that I have close relationships with right now, while the rest were all enemies, including Albion.

"This sure is troublesome," I say.

"I've been in a similar situation before," Krul says, "You're right about it being troublesome. However, for someone of your caliber, I expect everything to be settled within a few days."

Hearing this, I beam her a smile and teasingly say,

"I'm honored to have the former Queen of Japan acknowledge me in such a manner."

Right after the words escape from my lips, I sense a swift punch coming my way.

So, I use cancel all the vectors of Krul's punch before grabbing her arm and pulling her toward myself.

"Hey," she says while attempting to get away, "Let me go."

"Not happening," I respond before embracing her soft body.

Being this close to me, Krul can punch me without me realizing before it's too late, which she does.

As I feel mild pain in my guts, I say,

"Come on, now. Don't be so violent."

"Blame yourself for trying to take advantage of me," she responds with a scoff.

"Is that so?" I say before abruptly pushing her down on the bed.

Any attempts she makes to escape are futile, as the moment she moves, I cancel all of her vectors.

"So," I say while looking into her blood-red eyes, "What should I do with you."

"You're almost as annoying as Ferid," she says in an irritated tone.

"Ferid? Oh, that white-haired guy with the classy looks and manners."

I take a moment to deliberate on something before shifting my sight to Krul's lips.

She seems to what I'm looking at, as she glares at me and proclaims,

"If you dare kiss me, I will bite your tongue off."

Intrigued by her claim, I lower my head and give her a light peck on her cheek.

Krul is stunned for a few seconds before she turns her head to look away.

"Say, are you perhaps mad at me?"

"No," she directly replies.

Sensing that her response lacks integrity I lower my body so that I'm lying right beside her before pulling her close to myself and saying,

"If you don't tell me what's wrong, I won't be able to do anything about it."

Krul doesn't say anything for a few minutes before asking,

"What do you think of me?"

Eh?

"What do you mean?"

"What else other than what the question suggests?! What am I to you?"

"A close companion," I directly reply.

"That's all?" she asks me as her body stiffens a little.

"But, that's the truth, isn't it?" I say, "We have yet to do anything that would depict our relationship as anything more than that."

Seemingly realizing what I'm implying, Krul hums lightly before asking me,

"Do you believe me to be useful to you?"

"Where is this coming from? It's not like I keep you around just because you're useful. How did you even come to that conclusion?"

"Then why else?" she asks, clearly not taking my words to heart.

"Because I find you attractive and fun to be around," I reply.

"Huh? What's with that?"

"I'm being honest here," I respond, "Ever since I saw you, I felt an indescribable attraction toward you."

"After we had the first duel and the events that transpired after that, I felt like I shouldn't ever let you leave my side."

"How cheesy," she remarks before starting to laugh.

Seeing that her attitude has changed so abruptly, I dubiously ask,

"Were you messing with me just now?"

Krul turns around to face me directly, showing me a playful smile as she says,

"I forgot to tell you about something that occurred in the dream."

"What, we were acting as lovers or something?"

"Wrong. It was just you that was doing so. Some guy confident in his strength appeared and said something demeaning to me, which you didn't take well, so you practically gave him an experience worse than hell."

Oh? That does sound like something that I would do. Only I have the right to say anything to the girls.

Nevertheless, I wonder what he had said for me to react in such a manner. Also, I wonder what exactly did I do to him for Krul to describe it like that.

"Krul," I say, "I can confirm that this is precisely what would happen in such a scenario."

As a response to my statement, Krul issues a light chuckle before saying,

"Save your breath for tomorrow. You have a kingdom to burn down."

Amused, I use my left hand to gently stroke her soft cheeks as a smile appears on my lips.

Krul places her hand on top of mine as she looks into my eyes.

I subconsciously move my head closer to hers, and once I'm close enough, Krul closes her eyes.

Taking this chance, I kiss her small and soft lips while embracing her petite body.

All of a sudden, Krul moves away before swiftly pushing me so that I'm on my back. Then, she climbs onto my stomach and looks into my eyes as she slowly begins to undress as a predatory glint appears in her eyes.