Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 534: We can relax little bit

Although most technical personnel had left the independent chamber where magical-energy weapons were assembled, a small number of flight pilots remained on-site. Considering her and Lyra’s identities, Astrid gently took the pink-haired girl’s hand and led her to a room designated for high-ranking nobles to rest.

Sitting side by side on the soft bed, behind them was a porthole embedded with specially designed windproof glass. The delicate orange-yellow lighting illuminates the furniture, revealing a decorative style entirely different from the passenger cabin.

Astrid quietly closed her legs, gazing at Lyra beside her, speaking in a gentle voice.

"We’ve already left the pursuit range of Velys. It should be safe enough now; there’s no need to keep wearing your armor, Lyra."

Hearing Astrid’s words, Lyra, who always placed one hundred percent trust in her, deactivated her armor protection. The light-white pleated skirt, previously compressed by metal, naturally fell down, covering the girl’s soft thighs. A pair of smooth, snow-white legs wrapped in delicate white thigh-highs revealed several faint blood marks. It was unclear whether these were splattered during combat or caused by tiny wind blades she hadn’t noticed.

Astrid naturally noticed these marks. Her crimson eyes showed a faint trace of displeasure, then she reached out and gently touched them.

Her hand glided down along the smooth silk fabric, sliding over the soft thigh, stopping at a slender red mark just above the knee. Her fingertip lightly brushed against it.

She didn’t touch the skin beneath. Although the mark looked similar, it was actually blood splattered into the gaps of her armor, enemy blood.

Feeling Astrid’s careful touch on her leg, delicate as if playing some kind of instrument, Lyra couldn’t help but feel ticklish. Her knees leaned rubbed together. After scanning with mental energy, the injuries she previously hadn’t noticed finally became clear.

Astrid was right, she did have some unnoticed wounds.

On the outer side of her arm, where the holy armor didn’t cover, a shattered knight’s sword blade had cut a small gash. Her right calf was also injured, a fine line appeared on the tender skin, the seeing blood staining the milky-white thigh-highs.

For a knight who had participated in multiple city-defense battles, this injury was actually quite minor. Given Lyra’s current recovery ability, it would heal within half a day, leaving not even a scar.

The only pity was... the shirt she was wearing and the pantyhose on her legs were basically ruined...

Seeing the wounds Lyra pointed out, and confirming they weren’t serious, Astrid gave a slight nod. She retrieved a medicinal ointment that accelerated external wound healing from her gemstone pendant and personally applied it to Lyra’s injuries.

She hadn’t felt much pain when first injured, but now, with her mind relaxed and the ointment applied, Lyra felt a strong burning sensation.

"Keep using light magic to purify it, don’t let it get infected."

"Mm."

After carefully instructing Lyra and watching her diligently clean the wounds as told, Astrid finally relaxed. She gently crossed her legs and began pondering everything that had just happened.

Seeing the woman leaning against the bed, her smooth, jet-black tights like polished ink jade slightly raised, the soles of her black silk stockings connected to an elegantly designed pair of high heels, Lyra suddenly recalled the scene when Astrid knelt on one knee inside the flight cabin, helping her deal with the suddenly appearing assassin.

"Astrid... what exactly did you use to save me back then..."

That dark, gun-like object, was it a new type of magical-energy weapon?

It had knocked away the who ambushed her with just one shot. Judging by the level of danger Lyra had sensed at the time, the opponent’s strength was at least that of a peak tier Master Knight, possibly even close to her own level of near breakthrough.

Such immense power far surpasses the magical-energy weapons ordinary soldiers could access.

Hearing Lyra’s question, Astrid paused slightly. Her fingers tapped, and a magical-energy weapon, extremely similar to firearms from her previous life, appeared on her lap.

"This is a new magical-energy weapon developed jointly by me and Lady Charlotte. I call it the Magic-Focusing Rifle."

Having spoken, Astrid lifted the barrel, showing Lyra the piston button on the exterior, and the specially crafted magical lens embedded on the barrel, a dual-purpose device that assisted the naked eye in aiming and amplified mental energy scanning.

"As you can see, Lyra, you can think of it as a special upgraded version of a firearm, similar in shape, but its operating principle is closer to the ship cannon we just used."

Compressed wind-element particles provide the initial propulsion to launch iron stones. At the base, earth-element crystalline stones, following intricate patterns designed by craftsmen, produced special alloys matching the barrel’s firing specifications.

This magic-driven magical-energy weapon even surpassed firearms from Astrid’s past life in certain aspects, since earth-element crystalline stones were involved in the ignition process, it didn’t require an ejection port for spent cartridges. As long as the wind and earth-element crystalline stones still contain magical energy, the user wouldn’t need to spend time reloading bullets.

And more crucially, the bullets fired from the barrel were actually products of combined wind and earth-element particles. Thus, when attacking mages’ protective barriers made of elemental particles, the collision of magical particles will interfere with the mental energy constructing the defense field, making its destructive power significantly stronger, far beyond the simple impact force of kinetic weapons.

Handing the Magic-Focusing Rifle to Lyra, watching her carefully grip the barrel, her two white-silk-clad legs tightly clasping the grip below, Astrid softly spoke.

"Don’t worry. The fundamental operating logic of this rifle requires a specific individual to inject mental energy, compressing wind-element particles within the limited rear space, to achieve the final discharge. I am its owner; only Astrid Valeriae can activate it."

The standardized safe usage of magical-energy weapons was legislation established during Hibbort’s rule, and Amalia had continued this regulation. Between safety and power, safety holds absolute priority.

Upon hearing this, Lyra gave a slight nod, carefully examining the rifle in her hands.

"So, does that mean, like the magical-energy musket, it also requires the user to meet certain conditions to activate, rather than simply pressing the piston to fire?"

"Mm. Moreover, the higher the quality of mental energy a mage possesses, the more wind-element particles they can compress, making the Magic-Focusing Rifle’s power even greater."

Astrid’s mental energy quality had already reached a higher level. When she used the Magic-Focusing Rifle, its power was nearly equivalent to that of a middle tier Magnus. If the user were a wind-element specialist mage, the power might be even higher.

"Then... if the user were an Arcanist mage..."

Thinking of something incredible, Lyra blinked, her tone slightly hesitant.

Surely it couldn’t produce magic on that scale?

Astrid shook her head, speaking softly.

"Limited by material strength, this Magic-Focusing Rifle, crafted at the cost of shelling out platinum coins, can at most pierce a middle tier Magnus’ elemental shield defense."

Magical-energy weapons capable of threatening Arcanist mages could indeed be made with the current overall strength of the Valeria Empire; the massive magical-energy cannon that had already self-destructed was one such example, but further miniaturization was practically impossible.

Seeing that Lyra didn’t seem to grasp the value of the weapon in her hands, Astrid curved her lips into a smile and added.

"In actual value, what Lyra is holding right now, including the built-in elemental crystals, could trade for roughly an entire royal palace."

This statement wasn’t exaggerated at all. The feudal empire of this other world relies on the industrial capabilities Astrid had known in her past life, relying instead on biological materials and magical ores, which required specialized blacksmiths to mine and refine, extremely inefficient.

Just preparing the materials for the one Astrid used had taken over half a year. The actual construction date could even be traced back to before Amalia’s ascension.

Hearing Astrid say this, Lyra’s hand holding the rifle involuntarily stiffened, and the mental energy she was about to probe inward immediately stopped.

Astrid, familiar with Lyra’s mental energy was almost to the point of complete understanding, naturally noticed this subtle change. Propping her chin on one hand, she intentionally lowered her voice.

"It’s alright even if you break it. Baroness Lyra is far more precious to me than this."

Why did that sentence sound so familiar?

"Knight-Captain Lyra is an extremely important figure, both to the Empire and to me personally."

Astrid had indeed said exactly that earlier, in front of so many people before leaving the flight.

The delayed sense of warmth slowly fermented within her relaxed mind. Lyra pursed her lips, then immediately heard Astrid continue.

"Don’t worry, Lady Charlotte’s craftsmanship is exceptionally refined. It’s not easy to break."

If magical-energy weapons shattered at the slightest touch, how could they be used on the battlefield?

Reassured by Astrid’s explanation, Lyra nodded and continued probing the internal structure. After five minutes, she responded.

"What an exquisite design..."

Truly worthy of being the masterpiece of Professor Charlotte and Astrid.

Returning the Magic-Focusing Rifle to Astrid, the silver silhouette echoing in Lyra’s mind finally faded. She steadied herself, hands resting on the soft bed, her pink lips parting slightly.

"Speaking of which, this was also part of your plan, wasn’t it?"

"What plan?"

"The one to noble public opinion and solidify the influence of magical-device development."

From the city-defense soldiers nearly all wielding magical-energy muskets, to the military application of magical-energy flights, to Astrid’s heroic rescue of the Holy Knight today using a new magical-energy weapon, each event showcased the importance of magical devices to the Empire.

Seemingly surprised by how quickly Lyra had pieced everything together, Astrid gently rubbed her legs together. Her delicate, petite black-stockinged ankles swayed slightly in the light, catching the eye with each subtle movement.

"Correct. After this incident, not only border soldiers and merit-based nobles, but even the conservative factions within the country will have to admit that magical devices played a crucial, positive role in the entire war."

As she spoke, Astrid turned her head toward the window. Outside the flight, the sky was a vast blue, with occasional clusters of cirrus clouds drifting by.

"When formulating this plan, I actually had another consideration."

"I didn’t expect the Kingdom of Velys to be so patient, despite everything, they still didn’t deploy an Arcanist mage, just watched as the Empire’s Regent took all these soldiers away."

According to the intelligence Monica had provided earlier, the Church Knight Order had actually deployed some high-level combatants along the border. This conveyed a message, telling Astrid that the internal situation within the kingdom wasn’t entirely stable.

They desperately needed a major victory.

"Professor Charlotte, and Duke Charles, they’re both preparing support from the sidelines?"

"Not just them. The Arcanist mages Amalia assigned to me have all been deployed to the front lines. The moment the Kingdom of Velys shows unusual movement, we can counterattack immediately."

And most importantly, if the Kingdom of Velys actively used an Arcanist mage first, Amalia would then have a perfect justification to mobilize the entire nation.

The kingdom’s highest-level combatant launching a surprise attack on the Empire’s Regent, what explosive public opinion that will create. At that point, the funds they needed would drastically decrease, and noble dissatisfaction with new wartime legislation would also lessen to some extent.

After all, if even Arcanist mages were getting involved, the Kingdom of Velys was clearly determined to fight to the death. In such circumstances, whether one liked it or not, supporting the Empress against them would be mandatory, unless one already harbored intentions of treason and defection.

Understanding Astrid’s implication, realizing she herself, the Empire’s Regent, second only to the Empress, had also been used as bait, Lyra bit her lip, her emotions complex.

Although Astrid had made dual preparations, with multiple Arcanist mages already deployed, making serious mishaps nearly impossible, ultimately, as Regent, she still had to personally appear on the battlefield. And being on the battlefield is inevitably risky.

If Astrid had stayed in the capital, she wouldn’t have faced these dangers. If it were those lofty nobles instead, between letting more people die or personally taking risks to boost morale, they would undoubtedly choose the former without hesitation.

The Astrid Calliste she adored... was probably exactly this kind of person, gentle, yet unaware of her own gentleness.

In the blink of an eye, the ointment applied to the wounds took effect. Lyra’s injuries had already healed. The pale, tender skin at the torn spots of her white thigh-highs matched seamlessly, nearly invisible unless examined closely.

"Still... no matter what, we can relax a little now..."

Arcanist mages were monitoring nearby, ready to react instantly if anything happened. They could rest assured and proceed to the second defensive line.

Hearing Astrid’s words, Lyra nodded. Feeling the physical pain from her wounds gone, she slowly turned, bent her knees, and crawled toward the porthole.

Through the transparent glass, she saw the pale earth below. It has been some time since the explosion ended. The ocean of dust had somewhat subsided, revealing the ruined town beneath.

Astrid’s gaze followed Lyra’s movement, shifting past the two white-silk-clad feet that had removed their knight boots, and the gracefully parted, beautiful legs forming a slight V-shape. The girl’s slender waist wasn’t entirely contained by her shirt and skirtline, leaving a small exposed section in the middle, a slightly indented, smooth, delicate skin.