Listening to this plot, which sounded like something straight out of a novel, Jeanne's heart was filled with waves of emotion.
What on earth had happened to Laterano? It was as if the entire country had activated a stealth cloak. No, a stealth ability on that scale... wasn't that just a high-powered, reinforced version of Alina's barrier?
Could it truly be a miracle triggered by God? According to Executor, all Laterano cities spray Holy Water, though the concentration is incomparable to what they had here. If that were the case, perhaps this miracle wasn't that difficult to achieve. Using Holy Water to make enemies unable to find their side, or even inducing hallucinations...
In any case, the rule here was simple: you will absolutely never find the place you wish to reach! Jeanne remembered she had a colleague born in Egypt who had experienced something similar during his lifetime.
Supposedly, back when he led his people back to their "Promised Land"—Canaan—the believers began to "seek death," constantly complaining about God's shortcomings, which eventually earned the Divine's displeasure. The result was that they wandered the wilderness for forty years, unable to find the way into the Promised Land no matter what they did. It was only after that entire generation had died of old age that the Promised Land finally appeared...
Should she say her God had been in a good mood lately? He actually let those soldiers out alive! Based on His previous personality, He would have let them keep walking until they starved to death...
She suddenly felt that the growth potential of Alina's current abilities was incredibly high! Could she hide a whole landship now? If she could, then traveling with her would create a literal "Ghost Army."
Over the next period of time, through Jeanne's persistent and persuasive efforts, she finally managed to pull the two clearly over-excited Sankta back into the village.
Jeanne also felt the depth of the Sankta's devout faith. As long as they could be closer to the radiance of God, even freezing in the snow felt like the happiest thing in the world to them. Only a nation like this would disregard everything to support a girl they knew nothing about—merely because she was favored by God—rather than making a decision after weighing the pros and cons.
Because of this, after Executor reported Jeanne's situation and her suggestions, the Laterano military temporarily halted their mobilization and retreated a certain distance, leaving a sufficient safety buffer zone for both sides.
The Emperor's Blade-led field armies on the Ursus side had no intention of launching a sneak attack either. They simply watched the Laterano army's withdrawal in silence, their hearts suddenly feeling an immense sense of relief. The general had received a direct order from the Emperor: Ursus must absolutely not fire the first shot in this battle; they had to avoid this war at all costs. If the opponent showed a tendency to withdraw, they were not to launch any further attacks...
A war that could very likely have turned into another "Battle of the Four Emperors" ended just like that. It began because of a girl no other faction would have noticed, and it ended because of that same girl.
At this point, all the bystander nations breathed a collective sigh of relief; it looked like the two sides wouldn't be fighting after all. However, the pro-war faction within Ursus was jumping up and down in fury.
How can you just not fight, Laterano? And what is the Emperor doing? We've been bullied at our front door, yet he won't send troops to crush them! This is a total insult to our national image and dignity!
The Emperor looked calmly at these "monkeys" of Ursus who were making a scene because they couldn't start a war, and he couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Let them jump for a few more days. In a few days, they won't be having such a good time...
Hearing about the bizarre events in Laterano—how even a joint effort by Victoria and Kazdel ended up in such a state—Fyodor didn't know exactly what happened, but his intuition told him it was definitely linked to that God...
For the first time, he felt immensely satisfied with his own decision. He couldn't imagine what would have happened if a war truly broke out; would they, like Victoria, have been played with until they had no power to strike back?
However, these matters weren't something Jeanne and the others needed to worry about. Right now, she was watching Alina "boil rabbit soup."
"So, why exactly did you soak her in water? Doesn't that just make her look even more blinding?"
Jeanne looked at Frostnova, who was emitting a dazzling light from within the pool; she seemed even brighter than before. Jeanne felt it wasn't a matter of reflection, but that Frostnova's "wattage" had actually increased.
"I have no choice. I'm not confident I can guide the light contained in the Holy Water out of Frostnova's body without affecting her. I can only use this method to guide it into the water, similar to how you create Holy Water..."
Alina explained to Jeanne. She was smart enough to have found a pair of sunglasses from somewhere, allowing her to remain as "steady as an old dog" even in this environment.
Outside, the Yetis were staring curiously at the window emitting a light as bright as day, wondering if their Big Sister was being turned back into a fluorescent tube by Alina or if she had achieved an "Ultimate Evolution" after drinking enough Holy Water.
There was no need to worry about them peeking; the female members had already verified that even if you pressed your face against the glass, you couldn't see anything but pure light. Only then were the male members allowed to watch from a distance.
Outside the door, Lemuen was watching the scene with great interest. She even began to doubt if Laterano really did have "Halo Sprites"—she had never seen Holy Light of this level in her entire life.
Jeanne watched as the "Shining Frostnova" in the pool grew even more brilliant, knowing the accumulated energy in her body was being released.
"Jeanne, Alina... I feel like my body is floating, and it's a bit hot. Is this a hallucination or something wrong with my body?"
Frostnova spoke listlessly to the two of them. Filtering the Holy Water out of her body was a test not just for Alina and Jeanne, but also for her as she constantly exhausted her energy.
In her daze, she seemed to see her parents and her grandmother beckoning to her. Frostnova threw herself into her grandmother's arms, acting like a spoiled child.
"...I have no words."
Jeanne looked at the sleeping Frostnova, who suddenly lunged upward and hugged Jeanne tightly. Her head kept rubbing against Jeanne's chest, and she was even mumbling "Grandmother" under her breath...
Looking at Frostnova acting like a child in her arms, Jeanne didn't know if it was better to let her continue the dream or to find a way to wake her up. However, seeing how much she missed her family, Jeanne felt a bit bad about waking her. But... was the name "Grandmother" a bit of a problem? Was she, a nineteen-year-old "child," really looking that old?
Fortunately, the light had weakened significantly. If the previous Frostnova was a searchlight, the current Frostnova was just a standard lightbulb; she was no longer so blinding.
"I'm coming in! Do you need to boil some water? I can help..."
After watching from the outside for a while, Talulah couldn't contain her curiosity and came in to see what the situation was. Logically, she should be familiar with this—when Jeanne used to soak herself to make Holy Water, Talulah was the one in charge of boiling the water...
But what was this situation? Why was she seeing the white rabbit rubbing back and forth against Jeanne's "front-facing armor"?