Chapter 1634: Vesperine... getting her love?
Later, Vesperine collected the points, the so-called ’Aevum,’ from the shattered remains scattered across the battlefield. Broken metal, blackened flesh, shattered weapons, pools of steaming blood... everything slowly disappeared beneath the organised cleanup squads moving across the ruined barrier.
Meanwhile, the shelters finally opened.
People stepped outside cautiously, blinking beneath the golden morning light pouring through the clouds. For the first time in days, the suffocating atmosphere around the Empire felt lighter.
Almost hopeful.
The citizens had seen the live footage broadcast during the battle... they had witnessed how their Empires responded to the attack.
And surprisingly, admiration began spreading faster than fear.
Everyone praised the tactical operation. Instead of sacrificing countless soldiers, their rulers captured the monsters and forced them to fight against one another.
"I... I still can’t believe what I saw earlier. That horde alone nearly made my heart stop."
"Y-Yeah... same here. At first I thought those creatures would break free and start slaughtering us... but they actually controlled them."
"And not just controlled them... they had formations. The monsters were intentionally driving those metal creatures away from the civilians."
"Honestly... whoever planned that operation is terrifying."
"Especially that fiery red-haired woman... did you see her? The entire battlefield turned crimson every time she attacked."
"I think she’s related to the Dragon Emperor somehow... maybe his wife?"
"Hah... that explains the ruthlessness then. The way she burned those things alive without hesitation... t-terrifying."
"Oh come on, she wasn’t the only one. Even Ms. Aria was incredible. She never even stepped close to the battlefield, yet her arrows kept piercing those monsters one after another from the sky."
"Yeah... every arrow looked like a falling star."
"Haha... our Archpriest certainly found himself a terrifyingly capable wife."
The laughter slowly weakened after those words.
A brief silence followed.
The air itself felt heavier.
"...Speaking of him... where is Archpriest?"
"I haven’t seen him since that... day."
"Neither have I."
"..."
"Do you think he’s injured?"
"No... don’t say things like that."
"I’m just saying... after everything that happened, it’s strange for him to completely disappear."
"Let’s just hope he’s alive and recovering somewhere."
"Y-Yeah... honestly... I just want to see him again."
People continued muttering among themselves as they walked through the recovering streets. Some still looked shaken, their hands trembling from lingering fear.
But many were worried about Aether.
The man who once stood constantly before the public had suddenly vanished after that fateful day.
Still... despite the fear, something had changed within the Empire.
Hope.
A small flickering flame that once looked ready to die had finally stabilised. Now, it slowly began burning brighter inside the hearts of the people.
That alone was enough for Aqualina.
Because if the spirit of the people collapsed, the Empire itself would crumble soon after.
Power alone could never protect a nation forever. It was the people who carried an Empire forward.
Their courage, their will to stand again after loss, their willingness to fight despite fear... those things mattered far more than strength.
If that hope disappeared, then even the Chosen Ones themselves would eventually watch their Empire perish before their eyes.
Their Trial had already warned them.
Even amidst endless massacres and despair, hope would always exist somewhere.
As long as they preserved it... Survival remained possible... Right?
Aqualina and the others understood this clearly. Even if Mother or Arcane abandoned them completely, those higher beings would still operate under certain laws and restrictions.
That meant the answer to survival already existed somewhere within the Trials they received.
If they could decipher those hidden meanings... perhaps they could finally discover a way to end this endless suffering once and for all.
After the second wave finally ended, the armies across every Empire gradually relaxed their tense formations. Soldiers dropped heavily onto the ground, exhausted breaths escaping from their lips.
Above them, massive dragons carrying giant cages slowly descended from the sky one after another, their wings stirring violent winds across the empire as they landed.
The atmosphere remained exhausted... but stable.
Honestly, this battle had never been about victory alone.
It was a test.
Not to measure how many enemies they could kill... but to measure how many lives they could save.
Casualties.
That had become their greatest priority.
Maelona and the others currently lacked enough power to directly confront the coming disasters head-on. And after witnessing the horrifying deaths caused during the previous attack... they realised something important.
Before thinking about defeating the enemy...
They first needed to learn how to keep their people alive.
And the result of this approach was phenomenal.
Without wasting any time, the Chosen Ones immediately began hunting the larger monsters outside the barrier while the soldiers maintained order and protection within the barriers.
Meanwhile, engineers and magicians from every Empire were grouped together and forced to cooperate despite their differences.
Tables filled with dismantled artifacts, glowing crystals, broken machine parts, and floating magical screens covered the temporary research camps.
Their objective remained simple.
Understand the captured artifacts.
And more importantly... create something capable of supporting those massive cages in the sky permanently.
Yet amidst all the tension and preparation...
Victor simply hummed quietly while staring at Vesperine’s Origin Card.
Earlier, he casually asked if he could inspect it for a while.
To his surprise, she handed it over without even the slightest hesitation.
Even more surprising...
"You want the Arcane Kings to help you capture beasts? Of course they will."
Vesperine smiled beautifully as she said those words, her eyes curving softly. The expression on her face almost looked dangerous in its sincerity, as though if Victor demanded her life itself, she would willingly place it in his hands without complaint.
Honestly, Victor nearly felt tempted to jump her from the palace.
Especially after hearing her casually mention that her husbands would work for him without resistance.
"Are you sure they won’t mind working for me?" Victor asked curiously, leaning deeper into the sofa.
Vesperine smirked faintly.
"I thought we were partners?"
"Well... you are, but..."
His words slowly trailed off, the unfinished sentence making his thoughts painfully obvious.
Vesperine merely smiled in response.
"Need not worry. I already spoke with them beforehand... they do not mind."
However, near the end of her sentence, she quietly averted her eyes.
A tiny movement.
But enough to reveal there were details she deliberately chose not to explain.
Victor noticed it immediately.
Still, he decided not to press further for now.
Amused, he adjusted himself comfortably on the sofa inside his private room while continuing to observe her Origin Card carefully.
<
Vesperine
Occupation: The Vessel of The Thief
STR: 25
INT: 30
AGI: 90
CHR: 90
SIN: 0
>
At the top left corner of the card, five shining marks glimmered faintly.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Meanwhile, at the top right corner of the rectangular card...
’1045’
And at the centre of the card rested an image.
Or more accurately...
A silhouette.
The outline depicted a feminine figure with a beautifully curved body and long, kind of sexy, hot, slightly curved ears rising from the top of her head. The image lacked details, yet somehow still carried an alluring presence impossible to ignore.
Victor narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
There were far too many questions surrounding this woman.
"Is this your weapon?"
He pointed toward the image displayed on the Origin Card.
After all, from what he had observed so far, the illustrations inside Origin Cards usually resembled the user’s desired weapon or symbolic ability in some form.
However, Vesperine slowly shook her head.
"Unfortunately... I do not know."
For the first time since entering the room, a faint sadness slipped into her voice.
"Please... don’t ask anything else regarding that."
Victor’s brows furrowed slightly.
Confusion flickered across his face, but he chose not to push her too hard.
At least not yet.
"Then what about the ’Thief’ part?"
"...I don’t know."
"The five stars... do they mean your level cap is one hundred, or have you already reached level one hundred?"
"...I don’t know."
Silence.
Victor tapped the edge of the card lightly against his finger while staring at her with narrowed eyes. His expression remained calm, yet traces of irritation still surfaced beneath it.
Because every answer she gave sounded less like a refusal... And more like genuine ignorance.
Sensing something amiss from Victor’s silence, Vesperine instinctively reacted immediately.
"R-Really, I don’t know most parts of the card... believe me!"
Her voice carried genuine panic this time. Even her posture stiffened slightly as though she feared he might suddenly stop trusting her altogether.
Victor quietly nodded after a small pause.
He could tell she was hiding something.
But the problem was... he wasn’t entirely sure what exactly she was lying about.
Was she pretending not to know?
Or did she truly possess those abilities without understanding how they actually functioned herself?
Honestly... both possibilities sounded equally believable when it came to Vesperine.
Still, Victor decided not to pressure her further.
From what he vaguely understood already, she had most likely reached somewhere around Level 90 to 100. As for the ’Thief’ occupation...
It was probably connected to her obsession with stealing the Arcane Kings for herself.
’...That actually makes disturbing sense.’
Victor silently nodded to himself before shifting his attention back toward the top right corner of the Origin Card.
’1045’
The so-called Aevum value.
"Say... I noticed something strange."
Victor lightly raised the card between his fingers.
"Some of the dead people’s cards had over a hundred Aevum stored inside them. But every time you collected theirs, your value only increased by one."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Why?"
"I thought you were supposed to absorb all of their Aevum entirely, right?"
Victor asked curiously.
Honestly, ever since that captive bloody head revealed it possessed over fifty thousand Aevum gained from slaughtering thousands of people...
Victor already realised Aevum wasn’t directly connected to the number of kills alone.
Otherwise, the numbers would never make sense.
Still, those dead individuals possessed much higher values.
Yet somehow, Vesperine only gained a single point from each card she collected.
Why?
Even Vesperine herself looked genuinely lost this time.
"I... don’t know."
Unlike before, her answer sounded truthful.
Utter confusion filled her expression as she lowered her eyes toward the Origin Card herself, almost as though she too desperately wanted answers.
Victor stared at her for a few seconds before eventually shrugging.
There was no point wasting energy over mysteries he currently lacked the information to solve.
"Anyway... for now, just continue storing the Aevum."
Hearing those words, Vesperine blinked in visible surprise.
"Storing it? You... don’t want it right now?"
Victor smiled faintly before nodding.
"Of course I want it."
He leaned comfortably against the sofa afterwards.
"But for now, keep it to yourself. I’ll ask for it whenever I need it later. Is that alright with you?"
Vesperine stared at him briefly before her expression brightened instantly.
She proudly puffed her chest forward.
"Do you even need to ask? Of course, I’ll help you without hesitation."
As she looked toward Victor again, a familiar transparent screen suddenly appeared above his head.
The heart meter.
’0 💗’
Seeing that reading appeared again, Vesperine smiled inwardly, happy.
This time, however, she wisely chose not to push him too aggressively.
Instead, she slowly leaned slightly closer toward him, her lips curving into a playful smile.
"Since I helped you... How about a reward?"
Her voice turned softer and more seductive near the end while her tongue lightly brushed against her lower lip.
Victor blankly stared at her for several seconds.
Honestly, after witnessing her usual behaviour, he fully expected something troublesome or outright erotic.
"What do you want?"
He asked calmly, already mentally preparing himself to reject whatever ridiculous demand she planned to make.
Thankfully, she wasn’t using that strange pink mist again.
Just remembering it still gave him a headache.
Vesperine tilted her head slightly before quietly answering,
"How about... a pat?"
Victor visibly paused.
For the first time during the conversation, genuine surprise crossed his face.
He had almost expected her to demand something absurd enough for him to immediately throw her out of the room.
Yet instead...
She asked for a head pat.
"Well... if that’s what you want."
His voice carried faint amusement as he slowly raised his hand and gently patted her head.
Softly.
Warmly.
The moment his fingers brushed through her hair, Vesperine nearly melted on the spot.
The gentleness behind that casual action completely differed from the teasing and manipulation she usually experienced from others. His touch carried no greed, no lust, no hidden intentions.
Just simple warmth.
A faint blush slowly spread across her cheeks as her eyes instinctively lifted upward toward the floating heart meter again.
And then...
Her pupils trembled slightly.
[1% 💗]
For a second, Vesperine froze.
Then slowly...
Very slowly...
A dangerous little smile spread across her lips.
’Fu~Fu~...’
’So that’s how it works.’
She finally understood.
Victor wasn’t someone who could be conquered through seduction alone.
No.
What reached him were genuine actions.
Tiny moments.
Simple sincerity.
And somehow...
That realisation made this far more exciting for her.
