King Of Limbo

"Quite simple really... you and I should take over Ettenheim." Lady Rose voiced rather casually with an expression that showed she wasn't joking.

A brief silence followed as Aron furrowed his brows, what she had just said wasn't something that could be just done on a whim. He had read enough about the continent to know that such a method although possible would take quite the amount of time.

"Do you disagree?" Lady Rose saw that Aron was hesitant and so she assumed he perhaps wasn't willing but he shook his head at this. "I was just trying to think of what could have possibly brought you to reach that decision."

Seeing that Aron didn't outright call her decision mad already meant he was onboard as far she was concerned. "I've never considered such a thought but last night as I was pondering on how we should proceed it occurred to me that you and I need not go about things a round about way."

"Your fight with the serpent made me realize just how capable you truly are. Regardless of what many think, no being is above tier five in Ettenheim, Lady Uva included. I'm sure you've realized this as well after seeing what a true tier five serpent did to what was considered a race with many peak tier fives."

"Im not sure about other continents but in Drotzi I can confirm that only you and myself are within tier five, Evanora could possibly be in that tier as well but it's hard to gauge her ability. And yes that includes the head of the Lamarck family." Lady Rose's revelation came suddenly to Aron but he too had began to question the matter after his battle. He was sure the beast was tier five so he assumed it only excelled because of it's mutations but Rose's theory on Pesia having a false view on ranks seemed plausible.

For one he never heard anyone using the sub categories of tiers but instead tiers directly. What's more he never struggled with so called tier threes or early tier fours even without going all out. If Rose's words were true then it meant he and Rose were the top existences in Drotzi and possibly Pesia as a whole.

"Suppose I agree, wouldn't such a daring ambition take far too long? As incompetent as most aristocrats are, they are quite a few who are more than capable of putting up ample resistance against you and I. At the end of the day it's still two people against numerous individuals wielding unknown Arts and possibly high tier artifacts." Aron began to think Lady Rose had grown more confident in taking bold measures since he could easily defeat the serpent but they were still many factors he himself couldn't overlook.

In truth she really had only considered this idea the night prior when considering their options going forward.

Seeing that Aron wasn't fully convinced she decided to go into further detail about the matter and what brought her to consider this as the most suitable option.

She reminded him that it was no secret that the great families didn't get along not only with each other but with their people as well. As powerful as Ettenheim looked on the surface the inside was riddled with cracks ready to crumble if taken advantage of.

Her proposal was obviously not that of a frontal assault but one more intricate and carefully planned. Using the means at their disposable to further deepen the cracks in the system while strengthening their own so that in the case that it should fail they can still flee to Aethel using the more dangerous method.

"It's by no means perfect but I also feel it wouldn't be too difficult to achieve. At the very least we'll gain power over a good section of Ettenheim, with that we can launch an assault on Aethel and break in during the confusion." Lady Rose seemed confident in this idea considering how insistent she seemed despite Aron's reluctance.

But now that the idea had some light shed upon it he could vaguely see some truth to her words. "You're right, it has many factors to it but... it isn't impossible."

The more Aron pondered this idea that any other person would call madness the more it looked plausible to him. Given the means he had now alone he was sure he could at the very least gain control of one of the major big families.

"If this is to work we'd need to operate carefully and without drawing attention to ourselves, manipulating variables to suit our needs. I've got a rough idea on where to start." Aron had already began to concoct a plan there and then which brought a rather small smile to Lady Rose's face.

She found it rather noteworthy how he didn't downright reject the idea due to the dangers it carried. For one there was no way to tell if she was even telling the truth about the matter but Aron began to plan regardless, the fact he didn't explain how he planned to start showed his lack of trust towards her which came as no surprise.

A partnership in which no trust existed was the best way to describe Aron and Rose's current relationship.

However if better results were to be yielded at the very least a minuscule amount of trust between them needed to develop.

"I see, then I'll leave you to handle that. I myself will focus on creating opportunities and actively seek the position of arch-mage. Having control over Galos Academy could become quite useful down the line." Lady Rose didn't hide how she herself would go about things to show her openness towards Aron.

He of course didn't do the same and instead just gave her a nod, it would take more than this for him to risk leaving himself open to dangers.

...

The days began to fly by with not much occurring at all for either the Sovereign or La Belle.

Only the news concerning the current state of things was of any interest to Aron and Lady Rose.

Thanks to her research concerning how to capture the beast's of the Newman Highlands Ettenheim had gained a new weapon. This was never her intention in the first place but it was certainly welcome given what she and Aron were pursuing now.

Not much intriguing news could be heard through public channels as plenty was of course hidden from the common people and lower level aristocrats.

The real news was brought to Aron courtesy of Khalifa who had snuck back aboard the airship when they docked momentarily in the port city of Hazenloft.

...

Aron was currently within his quarters sitting upright on his bed with his legs crossed. Numerous papers were scattered on the dark sheets of his bed and illuminated by the sunset yellow light from the lighting crystals mounted on the walls.

Not too far from his bed stood Khalifa who only observed him in silence with her hands behind her back as he went over the scripts and scrolls she had gathered for him.

"There's not much here..." Aron casually remarked while still checking the scripts calmly. Khalifa lowered her head slightly after being told this before mustering a response. "Forgive me Sayidi but this was the best I could provide on such short notice. I will have some more eyes and ears planted in the major cities but it is very difficult to get to any one of the major families, do forgive my incompetence." She replied but received no immediate response.

Aron continued to read script after script as if he hadn't even heard her, replying only when he was finished. "It's natural for them to be cautious, their biggest enemies after all are other families. Don't bother adding more new faces into the picture, it will only become a hindrance down the line." Aron sighed while dismissing her idea, the information she collected for him wasn't really helpful in regards to the great families but it did detail other families and individuals who could be of use.

'This reminds me of that game Argos particularly enjoyed more than any other. Chess was it?' Aron recalled as he began mentally setting up a strategy with the pieces he had at his disposal.