Night was falling, and Elashia lay on the grass by the magic lake in the royal gardens, gazing at the stars.
Living in a big city, how many years had it been since she'd seen such a brilliant galaxy of stars?
Looking at the stars, Elashia's thoughts returned to Elasia.
She had completely handed over all imperial affairs to Candice, and wasn't worried about restoring order and production.
But soon, natural disasters would begin.
Magical beasts affected by the resurrection shockwaves of the Undead Lord and his minions would soon attack Elasia in swarms from the northern forests.
And Elasia's greatest weakness was its almost complete lack of standing armies.
Whenever war occurred, the Elasia Emperor would instruct local lords to conscript large numbers of farmers, give them very brief training, and send them to the battlefield.
This is why Elasia's foreign wars generally ended in bitter defeat.
Facing the surging wave of magical beasts from the north, in many storylines Elasia couldn't even organize proper resistance before being destroyed.
Were all generations of Elasia emperors fools?
They all knew that insufficient standing armies would cause Elasia to suffer greatly in foreign wars.
But.
There was no money!
Reforming the military system required money.
Training troops required money.
Maintaining a powerful standing army also required money.
Elasia was a country full of mountains and bandits everywhere, with mostly barren fields.
The reason it hadn't been annexed by the Iron Empire to the west was precisely this.
This broken place was full of mountains and wastelands.
Too poor, not worth occupying.
If things continued, Elasia would certainly perish.
If Elasia perished, Elashia couldn't survive either.
Now Elasia's survival was Elashia's survival.
But how difficult it was to establish a powerful army.
This army needed to be strong, and more importantly, loyal.
Most crucially, it needed faith.
Difficult.
Human levels had an upper limit.
Forty-five was the level cap for humans.
While the Undead Lord was level 100!
His six grand lords were all mythical-level undead around level 90.
Even the weakest lord-level undead was around level 50, far exceeding human limits as transcendent undead.
In the game, apart from human heroes, the few characters who could briefly exert power beyond human limits relied on powerful will.
But how difficult it was for soldiers to achieve this...
The hope of survival was incredibly slim, with the only hope being the mysterious system she possessed...
Elashia missed home.
She really missed home.
Just thinking about her life in that world, tears welled up uncontrollably.
Tears fell onto the grass.
Elashia had just graduated from university before transmigrating, eager to start working and repay her parents.
Unlike parents of that era, Elashia's parents were very open-minded.
When she was young, because of poor grades, she was often criticized by teachers.
Although she was diligent, she was slow to learn, too slow to learn no matter how hard she tried, and parent-teacher conferences were routine.
But her parents almost never pressured her.
Her parents always believed children didn't need to become dragons or phoenixes, just grow up happy.
Later, time flowed steadily on, and the miracle that parents in the human world hope for finally happened to her.
In the end, years of persistent effort finally paid off, and she entered a prestigious university with the top score in the city.
She knew that with her heaven-cursed talent, creating miracles was nearly impossible.
What truly created the miracle were her selflessly devoted parents who made her feel truly loved, her responsible and gentle teachers, her understanding classmates, and her close, ride-or-die friends.
Unlike other protagonists she'd read about in novels, before transmigrating, she truly felt her life was blessed, that despite her poor talent, she was still loved by the world, that life was worth living...
Lost in thought, Elashia fell asleep on the grass.
After an unknown period, a cool voice woke her.
"Your Majesty, please get up."
"Mmm."
Elashia drowsily opened her eyes.
It was Candice.
She immediately went back to sleep.
Candice sighed helplessly.
"Why are you... so unguarded toward me..."
"When from the beginning... I never saw you as human..."
Candice murmured.
She had actually come to see Elashia for the last time.
After more than a decade of lurking and the recent coup, Candice finally remembered the purpose her Imperial Sister had sent her to Elasia for.
After today, the girl she'd known for less than a week would forever leave this world.
In her place would be a puppet absolutely loyal to the Iron Empire, an important link in the Iron Empire's human salvation plan.
Originally, Candice had just wanted to sleep well, then report to the Iron Empress about Elasia Empire's recent events in the morning.
After her report, the Iron Empire could take Elasia without bloodshed.
Her mission would end, and she could finally return to her homeland.
But whenever Candice closed her eyes, she saw the girl crouching with her head covered under her small fireball.
The girl who seriously discussed the Undead Calamity with her.
The girl who trusted her absolutely and handed over all of Elasia's power after just a brief conversation.
Tossing and turning, unable to sleep, Candice sat up. She knew if she didn't resolve this issue today, she would never sleep again.
Perhaps in future nights, whenever she closed her eyes, Elashia would surely appear.
And look at her with resentful eyes, questioning why she betrayed her trust.
After using a scanning spell to locate Elashia, Candice immediately flew over.
She didn't know what to do when she got there.
But she had a feeling that if she didn't find Elashia tonight, she would regret it for the rest of her life!
Candice disappeared into the darkness, then returned a moment later with a blanket from somewhere and covered Elashia.
Perhaps this was the last thing she could do for her.
Seeing the tear stains at the corners of Elashia's eyes, Candice couldn't help but speak.
"Does Your Majesty have something troubling you?"
If so, let me fulfill it for you.
Consider it atonement for being an accomplice.