"I see..."

I don't understand these theories, but since Elara is so confident about it with her prestige and capabilities, it's pretty much confirmed.

"But what does this have to do with the commanders attending the banquet?"

The big shots sitting across from me kept staring at me, making me rather nervous. They had already planned this out, so why did they need me? Don't tell me they want me to join them in the campaign against Michelle.

"It mainly has to do with the issue of Michelle's capabilities..."

Hearing my question, the Fourth Legion commander Janet, one of the ten winged angels, finally spoke up.

"The proposal for this operation came mainly from the Astralrealm Kingdom side. But for an enemy at Michelle's level, since we haven't seen her, it's hard to determine which tier her capabilities belong to. This concerns the entire campaign effort, so to be prudent, we wanted to hear your firsthand account one more time."

"But other than me and Nicola, weren't Hyden, Eleanora and Selene also there to witness everything? With three people's accounts, how could there possibly be any mistakes?" I asked doubtfully. Alfreed and Adrian didn't count since they were unconscious the whole time.

Did these commanders come back to Edenmere just to hear me and Nicola tell stories? Isn't that making a mountain out of a molehill?

"Humans' words cannot be fully trusted! Just listening to their one-sided story makes me uneasy."

Josie, the Second Legion commander sitting at the edge scoffed.

"If we weren't certain that angels were involved to corroborate the information from Edenmere's side, our legions would never risk getting dragged into this mess."

"This is..."

I suddenly felt tremendous pressure weighing down on me. I could sense her great displeasure towards humans. With this, wasn't the responsibility for everything now piled onto me?

I understood Astralrealm's eagerness to end the war, but to rashly launch such a major operation without fully grasping the enemy's capabilities seemed overly reckless to me.

To be honest, even as an eyewitness myself, I didn't know Michelle all that well either. I had only witnessed a small portion of her capabilities after all. If something unexpected were to happen during the decapitation strike, and I got blamed for providing inaccurate intelligence, wouldn't that spell disaster for me?

"It looks like everyone is hungry. There's no rush with this matter. We can take our time to discuss it while we eat..."

Sensing my dilemma, Elara quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Alright everyone, let's start eating!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of clinking cutlery and soft chatter instantly filled the banquet hall, lightening up the atmosphere considerably.

"I can't help you out with this one... good luck yourself!"

Cyra had endured it for a long time already. She shook her head at me and picked up her cutlery, ready to heartily tuck into the food placed before her.

"I knew I shouldn't have come today!"

I bitterly bit into the Loftham mountain goat steak. The meal instantly lost all taste for me.

...

After the exhausting banquet finally ended, I dragged my weary body back to my room, mentally drained. I had been interrogated for hours by the three commanders, barely touching any food. I felt I had suffered a major loss.

Moreover, despite repeatedly reminding them that Michelle might be far more formidable than imagined, they simply refused to listen.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Although Josie immediately voiced her objection to the operation after hearing my warning, Janet and Cheryl insisted I was just a fledgling angel frightened by Michelle, completely oblivious to the might of the angel legions and the allied forces.

If that was the case, why even ask me for confirmation? Just go ahead and strike! I had already told them everything I could. As long as they didn't come to blame me if something went wrong later, everything would be just peachy.

"Ugh... That scoundrel Nicola escaped..."

I flopped onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling as I grumbled.

"If she had been there, their firepower wouldn't have focused so heavily on me. It's because she's taller and more conspicuous than me..."

Just as I was lost in thought, footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the door. Glancing at the time, I realized it was already nearing midnight.

Sure enough, Nicola soon came barging in, the fatigue evident on her face as she collapsed onto my bed.

"I finally got today's experiments done. I thought they would drag on until tomorrow..."

Sprawled limply on the bed, Nicola looked as if she had just run a marathon. I wondered what torment she had endured to end up in this state.

"Was it that bad? Just what torture did you go through?"

After being ganged up on by the big shots for hours without any isolation from the light element, I didn't suffer nearly as dramatically as her, did I?

"Just what did Reed make you do? To put you in this shape."

Faced with my question, Nicola remained silent for a good long while. Just as I thought she might have fallen asleep, she finally responded.

"Nothing special. She just kept making me control the wind element, or try sensing various gases that are sensitive to the wind element..."

"Oh? Gases? Are gases sensitive to the wind element?"

Hearing her say that piqued my interest a little.

Come to think of it, it made a lot of sense. The wind element is named aptly - it allows control over many wind-type magics. Most wind-type magic is related to gases, like tornadoes, blade vortexes, wind blades etc. While this magical world might not understand gases as well as Earth, for transmigrators like us who were equipped with knowledge from Earth, there was still much to anticipate from this line of thought.

"I suspect Reed wants to combine magic and science to develop her theories. That's why she keeps using me as a test subject!"

Nicola sighed and sat up straight to complain to me.

"She said that based on initial deductions, elements like the wind element and light element should be a special kind of energy that can influence specific substances. So she kept making me use the wind element to control those gases. One moment she'd ask if I could generate a gust of wind out of nowhere, the next she'd ask if I could sense molecules or atoms within the gases and try separating them..."

"Doesn't she know how draining all this is for me? It's even more tormenting than fighting magical creatures on the battlefield! Mad scientists like her simply aren't human - they're demons!"

"She stopped being human long ago. But her theories do sound rather fascinating..."

Hearing Nicola's indignant tirade, I couldn't help but chuckle as I consoled her.

"You can't blame her. Don't forget Reed's background before transmigration - she was the cream of the crop at Jellongon University! Graduated early with honors and went straight into a Ph.D. program, even majoring in something physics-related. It's only natural for her to have this level of academic curiosity! You should let her know upfront where your limits lie. Reed is reasonable - she would listen."

"I hope so..."

Nicola didn't sound very hopeful.

"Just thinking that I have to endure this for another week makes me regret ever agreeing so casually back then."

"A promise is a promise, no matter how tough. You'll just have to bear it yourself..."

What else could I say? With the nearly endless energy replenishment angels get within Edenmere, fatigue lasts but a moment.

Besides, for all her complaints, Nicola had bounced right back to liveliness after just lying there briefly, no?

"I'm going back to my room. Wife, come give me a goodbye hug!"

Nicola stood up and spread her arms, ready to embrace me.

"Get lost!"

I frowned and kicked her. All her dramatics from before were an act.

"You only pick up Cyra's bad habits, none of the good. Don't let her lead you astray!" I admonished righteously.

When I thought about that occult maniac Cyra and science fanatic Reed, two extremes who somehow transmigrated together into this magical world, I truly felt destiny was ironic.

"Don't compare me to Cyra..."

Mumbling dejectedly, Nicola opened the door to leave, not forgetting to toss over her shoulder:

"I still have way more integrity than her!"

"As if you have any integrity left!"

Recalling Nicola's shameless behaviour ever since transmigration, I shook my head angrily and rushed forward to lock the door.

...

"Where is this place?"

When I awoke, I found myself lying on the couch inside an unfamiliar cottage.

The brightly lit scene outside the window showed the room's furnishings were simple - a couch, some chairs, a coffee table in the center, nothing else.

There weren't many items, but the decor was intricate. One glance revealed they formed a matching furniture set. The pure white colour scheme gave off a warm yet romantic vibe, cozy but still elegant.

What was going on? How did I get here?

I looked around blankly, completely unable to recall anything that had happened. I only remembered I seemed to have a dream just now. The last impression was shortly after Nicola left my room, though the details were fuzzy...

Glancing down inadvertently, I spotted something that shocked me tremendously.

"A wedding dress?"

I was wearing a wedding dress. What did that signify if not the obvious? Was I getting married?

Impossible! How could I possibly be getting married? And even wearing a wedding dress?

Just then, the small door in the wall opened as someone rushed in from outside.

"Cyra?"

Recognizing the newcomer instantly, I called out. She hurried over anxiously asking:

"Quick, it's almost time for the bride and groom's entrance. Are you ready?"