Ornn, the Chosen One, a treasure from ancient times!

Chapter 108 Getting Extravagant

Meanwhile, inside the tent of the Winter's Claw, a heated argument was also taking place.

"We've already torn off all pretense of civility, so why worry about anything else? Our weapons are fully deployed, the Horde warriors are unafraid of battle, and now, the Noxians have retreated—now is the time for us to press our advantage!"

Sejuani shouted loudly, vowing to give the Noxians a good beating.

This stems from the belief she developed from childhood—war is about plundering resources. If they don't invade Noxus's homeland, how can they seize their granaries?

Is it a waste of effort to only fight in front of your own house?

Her sworn father, Udyr, was her direct adversary.

"The Noxians retreated because this is Freljord. If we leave Freljord and go to Noxus, the situation will reverse, and we will lose all our advantage."

Udyr is not without radical ideas, but Sejuani is too radical for him.

"Herren advocated building the Winter's Wall," I think, is also for this reason.

"Yes, in my opinion, we don't stand much of a chance against Noxus in a head-on confrontation."

Herren had already said it cautiously: if they were to really fight Noxus head-on, their numbers wouldn't be enough to fill the gaps.

To this day, their tribe has only two or three thousand warriors, half of whom are still in training.

The Noxian legions often number in the tens of thousands; without the geographical advantage of Freljord, they are nothing.

"But we've already fallen out, are we just going to keep shouting from afar?"

"Let me interject: it's not quite a complete breakdown yet—I've read Herren's statement repeatedly, and it doesn't seem to indicate any intention to declare war, and so far, the Noxians haven't formally declared war either."

Zhao Xin reminded him, although he also knew that going to war without declaring war was almost a traditional virtue of Noxus.

After pondering for a long time and listening to everyone's argument, Herren finally expressed his opinion.

"In my opinion, we must fight—and not only fight, but fight in front of everyone. Whether we fight or not is not important; what is important is that others see us fight."

"Um?"

Herren’s words were all human language, but when put together, they became somewhat incomprehensible.

What does it mean to let others know you're fighting?

In fact, Herren didn't participate in the argument at first because his perspective was different from everyone else's.

In their view, this was a fierce battle from which there was no way to gain anything—but for Harren, he was thinking about how to gain benefits for Winter's Claw in a battle that was sure to be won.

After all, he was prescient and knew that he was destined to win the battle, so his considerations were naturally different.

First and foremost, we need to be able to withstand the attacks—we can't let Winter's Claw collapse before Ionia even starts its counterattack, that would be disastrous.

Therefore, Harren's idea is to build the "Winter Wall" to block the pass, and ideally, take over Direburg at an opportune moment to completely seize the defensive initiative within Freljord.

Then it's all about holding on. As long as they don't collapse and hold out until the end of the war, Winter's Claw will be the victor.

Based on this, Harren needed to consider what the Winter's Claw would gain from this inevitable victory—

Food? Winter's Claw is now basically self-sufficient, and Freljord doesn't have a large population. With basic needs met, food is no longer the primary concern.

Compensation? You're kidding. Freljord doesn't even have the fertile ground for a commercial economy, let alone whether Noxus's future stingy president would be willing to pay.

After much thought, Herren recalled his experience in Demacia.

Status. The Claws of Winter need status, and all factions must acknowledge their position.

They can't be some insignificant little tribe in Freljord. They don't need to be on equal footing with the great powers, but at least they have to be qualified to sit at the table. If they're not good enough, they have to be better than the Twin Cities.

Therefore, the Winter's Claws cannot simply defend—they must make their presence felt as much as possible in this war.

Simply put, they have to slap everyone in the face.

"We must fight the Noxians, but not necessarily in Freljord—if we fight here, the snow will see, the wind will see, but the snow will bury the traces, the wind will dissipate the stench of blood, and perhaps in the end, these things will be forgotten—"

"So? You approve of me invading Noxus?"

Sejuani thought she understood, but what?! Heron is still on my side, so they're still going to fight Noxus, right?

"No, we're going to invade Ionia."

"???"

However, Herren's words left everyone present completely dumbfounded.

Sejuani stared blankly at Heron for a moment, then picked up the map from the side.

"Wait a minute—where's Ionia's mother?"

After a moment's thought, Zhao Xin hesitated before speaking.

"I don't quite understand—you're going to cross Noxus to support Ionia? Are you kidding me?"

"No!"

At this moment, Udir interrupted him.

"From the east, Freljord and Ionia are separated by an entire continent, but from the west, it's a different story—"

Starting from the southern port, one can reach Ionia by ship by simply crossing an ocean.

As a traveler who had spent many years training in Ionia, Ionia was never a distant place for Udyr.

"You want us to go to Ionia to help the Ionians fight against the Noxians?"

Sejuani did not reject the idea; in her view, it was at least fighting the Noxians.

But Zhao Xin quickly reminded him.

"This is similar to Noxus—but I think Freljord probably can't support cross-sea operations like Noxus can."

"It's not quite the same. Noxus is going to invade, but we're going to help the Ionians—and I think the Ionians will repay us in return."

"But the Ionians are now in dire straits themselves—"

"I've said it many times, this is temporary, Ionia will prevail."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xin could no longer refute it. How could he not also hope that his hometown could truly win this arduous war?

"So, let me share my thoughts."

Herren straightened up and said, word by word.

"We can organize a small expeditionary force, or rather a volunteer force, to go to Ionia—the reason is simple: we believe in the spirits of nature, Ionia is the land of birth, and we are willing to protect their sacred sites from being destroyed by the Noxians. Apart from that, we will never take the initiative to participate in a direct conflict between Ionia and Noxus."

"Uh—wait, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army?"