"You... you are Elashia?"
As Holy Princess Ileina's confidant, Catherine was all too familiar with this name.
The first time Catherine heard the name "Elashia" from the Holy Princess's mouth, it began with a question.
As the leader of the grassroots resistance organization "Northern Fire," Holy Princess Ileina had never cared about her appearance.
Things like clothes and dresses that most girls loved held no attraction for her.
But she was particularly precious about that white scarf of hers.
Sometimes she would even stare at that white scarf in a daze.
Catherine found it quite strange, and one day finally couldn't help but ask Ileina about the story behind that white scarf.
Then she heard—"That was given to me by Elashia before we parted."
It was no exaggeration to say that afterwards, whenever the Holy Princess mentioned her experience as a hostage in the Elasia Empire, she would definitely mention this girl named Elashia.
Every time Ileina mentioned Elashia, she liked to say this: "In my life, I've wronged no one, except for her alone."
In the Holy Princess's description, that gentle girl had taken on much to protect Ileina, a foreigner, from being bullied by the Elasians.
But as Elashia's only friend, Holy Princess Ileina had left her when she needed her most, throwing herself into the Holy Kingdom's resistance war.
So much so that whenever the Holy Princess mentioned this girl named Elashia, she would show undisguisable guilt.
Seeing Catherine's reaction, Elashia smiled gently.
"It seems Ileina really hasn't forgotten me."
"No... Princess Ileina, she..."
Before Catherine could finish speaking, the Elasia Empire's armory had already appeared before them.
"Alright, let's go inside and talk about other things."
Elashia opened the huge armory door and walked in first.
Catherine, with her words half-spoken, was somewhat eager to express Ileina's feelings toward Elashia, but after opening her mouth, she ultimately couldn't say anything.
She had no choice but to follow Elashia's steps.
"Take a look at our Elasia Empire's armory. Take whatever you need."
Elashia's words made Catherine feel somewhat embarrassed.
"Ah, this..."
Elashia smiled.
"Come on, stop pretending. Take whatever you want. I know how desperately you need weapons."
In the storyline, Catherine failed to catch the Blood Cult Leader due to his schemes, and afterwards she infiltrated the Elasia Empire's armory and stole a large magic crossbow.
This magic crossbow played an important role in the subsequent Holy Kingdom storyline.
The magic crossbow was Elasia's most powerful weapon and the pride of the Elasia Empire.
Operating the magic crossbow required ten knights skilled in using [Qi] to operate simultaneously. The arrows it fired had extremely strong destructive power and could cause quite terrifying explosions.
The Holy Kingdom's royal family, controlled by Blood Clans and possessing powerful armaments, built quite a number of "Blood Fortresses" throughout their territory to deal with "Northern Fire" soldiers in order to trap the organization that had popular support.
The "Blood Fortresses" built with Blood Clan materials and craftsmanship were quite sturdy. Although a single blood fortress wasn't large and didn't house many troops, it could easily defend against attacks from Northern Fire soldiers who lacked mages and high-destructive weapons.
Often, Northern Fire soldiers had to pay several times the cost to take down a single blood fortress.
But with the magic crossbow, things were different.
The role a magic crossbow could play was as indispensable as a spear tip.
With fewer than three arrows, a blood fortress would be reduced to rubble.