The day after the Star Rhythm Festival, the morning weather was still extremely cold.
The low temperature of at least minus ten degrees Celsius kept most citizens still staying in their houses, waiting for the temperature to rise a bit in the morning before going out.
But Northern Fire's soldiers had already completed their assembly early and were marching northward.
They all knew—the upcoming battle would be the final major battle.
...
"Ah... yesterday's concert was really amazing..."
Sitting in the carriage within the military formation, Caroline was still savoring yesterday's concert.
"Mm... Empress Elashia's 'Spring Shadow' was really too appropriate."
Adeline rarely didn't refute Caroline, just smiled and nodded.
"Mm... speaking of which, why did we perform 'Spring Shadow' at the end?"
Elashia asked Adeline in confusion:
"When there were clearly so many songs to choose from, why did Miss Adeline choose 'Spring Shadow' at the end?"
"Well..."
Adeline smiled and explained to Elashia:
"Once this war ends, spring should be about to arrive."
"Ending the concert with a spring-themed song should be able to awaken quite a few people's longing for the spring of ten years ago."
"This way... our rear should be more peaceful..."
...
Due to the need to march together with a large number of ordinary combat units, this journey from south to north would take at least two to three weeks.
So the flow of time in the carriage also seemed extremely slow...
Sitting in the moving carriage, Elashia took out a light novel she had prepared early, Dorothy was meditating with closed eyes, Adeline was staring at a map in her hands thinking about something, and although Ileina held a light novel Elashia had recommended to her, her eyes kept looking through the pages of the light novel to admire Elashia, who was sitting across from her reading her own light novel with an expectant expression...
"Ahhh... so bored..."
Having previously put almost all her attention into preparing for the concert, Caroline, who had completely forgotten she was about to experience a long march when she got up this morning and had made no preparations at all, was lying flat in the center of the carriage, rolling around listlessly.
"Why is every march so boring... Adeline, I'm so bored..."
Looking at Caroline rolling around in the carriage, Adeline, sitting upright in a corner of the carriage looking at the map, looked at her without any surprise:
"Every march is like this. You've fought for so many years, you should be used to it by now."
However, after hearing her words, Caroline continued rolling around all over the carriage, pleading to Adeline:
"No no no, please find an interesting topic for everyone to chat about, I'm so bored..."
"Sigh..."
Looking helplessly at Caroline rolling around in the carriage, Adeline still decided to find an interesting topic to help her relieve boredom.
Adeline thought for a moment and quickly came up with a question she had always been curious about and found very interesting.
She turned her head to ask Elashia, who had already put down her book:
"Empress Elashia, I've always had a question, I wonder if you know the reason behind it..."
After Adeline finished speaking, Caroline immediately stopped her rolling behavior and sat back up beside Adeline.
"Hehe... Adeline loves me the most after all."
Adeline glared at Caroline who was rubbing against her.
"I'm not doing this for you, I just happened to remember this matter."
Hearing Adeline's words, the others also temporarily put down what they were doing and focused their attention on Elashia who was being questioned by Adeline.
Elashia smiled gently and answered:
"Of course, I'll tell you everything I know."
Adeline organized her words a bit and asked Elashia:
"Empress Elashia, I don't know if you know about this... our Holy Kingdom supposedly hasn't allowed members of the Joshua family to become emperor since the founding of the nation, and there's even an oath carved on the throne that the Joshua family shall never become emperor for all eternity..."
"Moreover, several Holy Kingdom kings who wanted to become emperor in the past mysteriously lost their lives due to strange reasons like heart failure..."
"As a historian of the Holy Kingdom, my family and I have never understood—why can't the leaders of the Holy Kingdom become emperor?"
"Not to mention the most powerful human nation, the Iron Empire, even Elasia, whose comprehensive national strength and population scale are far inferior to the Holy Kingdom, completed their coronation as an empire when the nation was founded. But why can't our Holy Kingdom become the 'Holy Empire'?"
After Adeline finished her question, everyone in the carriage fell into contemplation.
Elasia had a population of less than ten million, but since recorded history, Elasia had always been the "Elasia Empire."
But the Holy Kingdom had always been the "Holy Kingdom" since recorded history. Even though it already had over twenty million people, it had never been able to achieve imperial status.
This matter... thinking about it, it was indeed quite strange.
Elashia thought for a moment and asked Adeline:
"As a descendant of the family that manages the 'Holy Kingdom History Books,' doesn't Miss Adeline know the reason behind this?"
In the storyline, Adeline's father Carles was someone who held the "Holy Kingdom History Books" that recorded the Holy Kingdom's history...
Why wouldn't he know the story behind this matter?
After hearing Elashia's question, Adeline shook her head.
"No, actually the 'Holy Kingdom History Books' has a strange characteristic that we've never been able to understand—although our family members can record in it, we completely cannot read it."
"We can only see the parts we've recorded in the 'Holy Kingdom History Books,' but we cannot open and view any of the past records at all."
"Oh..."
Elashia nodded.
The "Holy Kingdom History Books" had appeared in the game, but ultimately it wasn't an important item, so Elashia herself didn't know much about it.
It seemed... she still needed to explain to them properly—why the Iron Empire and Elasia Empire were "empires," while the Holy Kingdom was a "kingdom"...
Elashia smiled and surveyed everyone's curious faces.
"Mm... regarding this question, I'd like to ask everyone a question first."
"Have you noticed—although we belong to different countries, we use the same language and writing system, and there are almost no differences in our appearance?"
Hearing this question, the first to react was Ileina, who had discovered this issue early on.
"Regarding this question, the Holy Kingdom academic world has four theories..."
"No, Lena, their guesses are all wrong."
Elashia interrupted Ileina's explanation.
"Actually... whether it's the Holy Kingdom, Elasia, or the Iron Empire, we were all one family over ten thousand years ago..."
"And as for Miss Adeline's question..."
At this point, Elashia suddenly changed the topic.
"Do you know—what my surname is?"