Age of Adventure - Chapter 373 AERO RIVAL

Zeus had amassed great force and sacrifice a lot of his soldier to conquer Loth.

But now Eric is giving it away. Even if he knows it is a trap, even he would be tempted.

But unlike the Pope and the Apostle of the Church, even though he would be tempted, he would not take Loth unless he could neutralize the threat of taking Loth which is the addition of a new enemy.

Eric had created a shield for United Kingdom of Veva like Aero had created a shield for the Empire when he took Duvar and letting Veranis to become the buffer if any western kingdom tries to invade east.

The Church would expand.

Of course, it looks like the church got a good deal. They would have taken Loth with minimal force and minimal loss of life on their side

But that is only for the short term. Aero is not inferior to Eric. Instead, one could even say that he is superior to Eric in terms of looking at the big picture.

He knew that in the long term, the Church would be restrained and become the unwilling shield between Alfhaim and Veva.

Unless they too could be as bold as Eric and let the land go. But this time, if the Church let it go, would Veva want it?

And the consequences would also be different since the timing is different. The matter of war could also be trace to its timing.

Nothing is more important than when to declare war. One must declare war during the most appropriate moment where the advantages lies on your side.

There are also many scenarios that could happen if the Church take Loth region

If Holy Zun Empire and Alfhaim went to war with each other, not only Veva could take back Loth to their dominion, they might even manage to push south and take a lot of Holy Zun territory if such scenario happened.

By giving up Loth, Eric not only had created a shield between Veva and Alfhaim, he had also weakened Holy Zun Empire ability to act.

This would give leeway for the United Kingdom of Veva to do a lot of things and develop faster than the Church.

With Nero Republic on their East and Alfhaim on the other side, they would be preoccupied and could not check upon Veva development.

Knowing Eric, he would probably stabilize the internal matters first before pacifying the external.

And Eric could also deal with Aerosia more easily later. Eric also is marching toward Duvar. Aero knows that the current situation is bad

But not all is lost. After all, Eric plan is not yet realized.

If Eric manages to take Duvar, then Veva path toward the East is open.

If he manages to create a strong position in Duvar, not only he could legitimize Zeus, he could also set up defenses along the pass around Duvar mountains to prevent Vanheim army to easily pass through that route toward the West.

Of course, this would only be able to come to fruition if Eric took Duvar.

There is a lot of things Eric could do if he could take Duvar.

‘If’ he muttered.

Aero smiles a bit. It is a race of time then. Aero think for a second and then he could see the crucial part of this matter.

He must take the capital city of Veranis as fast as he can.

Then he could send the main bulk of his army to reinforce the garrison all over Duvar and take over the Mountain passes all over Duvar.

James had already send some reinforcement toward Duvar. So even if Eric arrive a little bit faster than him, it did not mean Dual would quickly fall.

The Veva army would take a week or so to conquer Duvar. They would arrive in Duvar first. But that did not mean they could easily take Duvar.

Of course, Aero also had another measure that could delay the army of Veva to reach Duvar

He frowned

‘That is a tight schedule. A week, huh?’

In that one week, Aero must quickly seize the capital and pacify the region.

If Aero is faster, then Eric would have to retreat back and losing more than they should have.

‘No’ Aero muttered to himself and he knows what is wrong with his thinking as a smile curved up on the edge of his mouth

‘No, Eric had already satisfied one of his objective’ Aero thought and he smiles.

Thinking of this enemy of him, Aero could not help but admire Eric and wish to see him and converse with him. Even though Eric is his enemy, Aero very much respect him.

There is always this feeling of not having an enemy to improve himself that plagues Aero heart.

It would not be fun if he could easily unify the world if there is no rival against him. There is not excitement.

Fortunately, there is someone like Eric.

Eric is that rival.

Zeus would be nothing without Eric.

Aero thought of what would happen if Eric take Duvar. There is only one answer that immediately popped in his mind.

The conflict of East and West would erupt

‘There would be too many variables if that were to happen’ Aero muttered under his breath.

There would be chaos of ultimate proportion shrouding the entire Vilajeri continent and that is what Eric is aiming for.

As expected of the one he acknowledges as his rival, Aero thought to himself.

Right now, Vanheim while functional, it is not at its optimum level. The two imperial brothers are always bickering and fighting in secret behind the imperial court.

Niovar is not yet pacified though Aero believe that is just a smokescreen that James had set up so he could reject most of the imperial court orders in the name of pacifying the rebellion.

Aero would not be surprised that the group of rebels that wreak havoc in Niovar is actually a group that James himself created.

Aero believe that James had long pacify the regions and subdue the real rebels of the Empire. But if he had finished pacifying the region, then he could no longer part of the military power that is granted to him by the imperial court and could no longer ask for money from the Imperial Treasury.

So, in all probability, James created his own rebel group to hoodwinked the imperial court.

But Aero also do not believe that the Emperor did not know about this.

And the Emperor might know James scheme but he too must have a plan to keep James at Niovar and not in the court.

There are many explanations for why the Emperor keep up the lie for James. They might even tacitly both keeping up the lie

Probably because while James wanted to stay in Niovar, the Emperor to wanted him to stay far away from the imperial court.

Edward probably knows what kind of influence the title of the firstborn son of the previous Emperor have toward the old officials and the old nobles of the empire

Not to mention that the Six Council is also divided.

While Veva also has its own problem, if the East and West conflict is brought forward, the chaos would force both sides to fight inn a protracted long war.

It would delay the Empire unifying the world.

In that chaos, Aero might not be able to keep up with all the changes. One wrong move and it could spell the doom of the Empire.

Of course, to try to chip off the power of the Empire is probably hard with Veva own internal and external problem in the west, but Aero believe anything is possible when the world is in chaos.

Aero of course understood that even if Eric did not take Duvar and failed to take it, while the world might believe that Eric had failed, Aero would not believe it.

Because Eric had succeeded in one thing.

He had cut off the south. Even if he didn’t take Duvar, he would not be threatened. Because Aero believes Eric have a bolder plan.

There is still room for changes in Asgaro region.