"What?"
Faced with her leader's question, Catherine was momentarily puzzled.
What did she mean by—"are you sure there's only one?"
Could there be more than one... actually, there really could be!
Thinking of how Elashia had planned to give her ten magic crossbows earlier but was refused, Catherine suddenly seemed to understand everything!
A shocked expression immediately appeared on Catherine's face—she didn't understand the incantation for using the Jencas Ring at all, and Elashia had taken advantage of this to secretly slip something in without her knowledge!
Looking at the storage space packed to the brim, the shock on Ileina's face gradually turned to wild joy, and the wild joy quickly transformed into deep emotion.
Who could believe that the two of them, who had nothing three years ago, had both come this far?
She had taken up the banner of resistance for the Holy Kingdom, while Elashia had even directly controlled the Elasia Empire within these three years.
Seeing Holy Princess Ileina's emotional expression and Catherine's shocked look, Adeline pushed up her glasses and asked with extremely expectant tone:
"Your Highness, did she actually give us several more??"
Ileina showed an extremely mysterious smile, stood up, and walked toward the outside of the meeting room.
"Let's go outside and see."
Everyone in the meeting room stood up and followed Ileina outside.
Ileina walked all the way to a deserted training ground before finally stopping.
"It seems the contents inside are quite valuable, otherwise Your Highness definitely wouldn't have brought us to this place!"
Caroline said with a smile.
Everyone also looked at Ileina expectantly.
Ileina smiled mysteriously at everyone.
"Everyone, please take a look."
Ileina raised the Jencas Ring, silently reciting the incantation in her heart.
As the incantation was recited, massive magic crossbows appeared on the ground one after another, almost filling the center of the training ground.
"My god..."
"One, two, three... holy shit, she gave us a full ten!"
"Is the Elasia Empire not doing well? This quantity isn't a small number for Elasia either!"
Looking at the weapons before her, Caroline said in shock:
"Before the catastrophe, when we went to Elasia to purchase magic crossbows, that old bastard asked for five thousand gold coins per crossbow! Now Elashia just directly gave us ten?"
Watching this scene, Catherine's expression was somewhat complex.
She never expected that Elashia would use deception to make Northern Fire accept her gifts.
Even if Elashia had truly become the Empress of the Elasia Empire, taking out so many of the nation's divine artifacts at once was tantamount to self-destruction!
Moreover, Northern Fire's liberation cause was the Holy Kingdom's affair—what did it have to do with Elashia exactly?
Even if her relationship with Princess Ileina was excellent, there was no need to go this far, right?
Catherine really couldn't figure it out.
Looking at everything before her, a thin mist formed in Ileina's eyes.
In Elasia, it was that angel-like pink-haired girl who had dispelled her loneliness, and even when being too close to her brought ominous slander upon herself, she didn't care at all.
Even when she later chose to leave despite Elashia's extreme reluctance, Elashia had gently chosen to accept it in the end.
Considering that the Holy Kingdom was extremely far north, during their last time together, she had used her meager savings to buy the best materials in Radiant Emperor City and woven a pure white scarf for her as a farewell gift.
And now, she had sent her the strongest weapons of Elasia, which were also what she needed most, even though she herself needed them just as much.
Thinking of this, Ileina's slender white hand gently touched the pure white scarf around her jade neck.
This pink-haired angel always seemed to appear when she needed her most, no matter where she was.
From the moment Ileina heard Catherine say "Elashia claimed to be the Empress of the Elasia Empire," she had never doubted that Elashia was lying.
Catherine was her confidant and wouldn't lie to her + Elashia was her best friend and wouldn't lie to her + Elashia had Catherine relay a message to her = everything Catherine conveyed from Elashia was true!
Looking at Catherine, who was still confused and hadn't emerged from her bewilderment, and everyone else still immersed in wild joy, Ileina suddenly asked loudly:
"Everyone, what exactly are you fighting for?"
Adeline, who was the first to recover from the wild joy, answered:
"Of course we're fighting to liberate the Holy Kingdom!"
After hearing this, Ileina shook her head.
"Too narrow."
Smiling and making a face at Adeline, Caroline immediately followed up:
"Of course we're fighting for our future!"
Ileina shook her head.
"Even more narrow."
"Eh~"
Catherine, still not having emerged from her confusion, blurted out:
"Of course we're fighting for the Holy Kingdom's tomorrow! For this land's tomorrow!"
After hearing this, Ileina shook her head again.
"All wrong."
Everyone was somewhat puzzled.
A commander asked in confusion:
"Then Your Highness, what exactly are we fighting for?"
Ileina pointed at the magic crossbows placed on the training ground.
"Look at these priceless weapons, then think about who sent these weapons to us. I think you might be able to figure out the answer."
Looking at the ring in her hand, Ileina recalled what young Elashia had said to her in the past.
"We clearly use the same language and live similar lives, so why must we fight to the death?"
"Promise me, if one day you really return to your country to inherit the throne, you must do everything possible to stop the fighting among us humans."
"If humans could unite, then many tragedies could be avoided."
......
"I understand!"
Caroline shouted loudly.
"We—should fight for humanity's tomorrow, and whether we're currently in adversity or prosperity, this should never change!"
This answer had actually appeared in her heart when she was young, and now it was finally manifested again.
Everyone showed expressions of sudden realization after hearing this.
"Not just for the Holy Kingdom... not just for the Elasia Empire... but for humanity itself..."
Catherine murmured.
Now, she could finally understand Elashia a little.
Adeline didn't speak, but her eyes also sparkled with light.
This answer had actually appeared countless times in her heart as well.
If humans could unite, what couldn't be overcome?
The Holy Princess nodded with satisfaction.
"Exactly."
Ileina's question reminded Catherine of something, and she suddenly spoke:
"Oh right! Elashia asked me to bring a message to everyone!"
"What message?"
Everyone looked at Catherine expectantly.
Could there be anything Elashia said that people wouldn't want to hear?
No!
Catherine said in quite a serious voice:
"She said: She wants us to hold on for one more year. Within one year, once the Elasia Empire resolves the troubles at hand, they can immediately send troops to assist us in liberating the Holy Kingdom!"