Inside the carriage, the small stove was burning vigorously, isolating the bitter cold of the outside world behind heavy curtains.
Sophia sank into the soft deerskin cushions, holding that cup of purple-red wild berry juice in her hand, her gaze cold and clear.
Willow slowly unfolded a hand-drawn simple map on the table board, her fingertips tracing over the two red dots circled there, her expression solemn.
"Your Majesty, according to the feedback from the sentries sent out earlier, although both Withered Willow Town and Eagle's Nest Mountain have run out of grain, the situation at Eagle's Nest Mountain should be the worst at present."
Sophia raised her eyes slightly and took a sip of the sweet juice:
"Because of the terrain?"
"Yes," Willow nodded and analyzed. "Although Withered Willow Town is desolate, there is ultimately a plain. But Eagle's Nest Mountain is located at a high altitude; I fear the accumulated snow there has already gone past the knees. The most troublesome part is that the subjects there mostly make a living by hunting and logging; apart from these, they have almost no farming ability. Once the grain is cut off, they are left with only the chance to gnaw on tree bark."
Sophia's fingertip slid across the rim of the cup, her voice cold:
"Then we go to Eagle's Nest Mountain first. We cannot let them turn into ice sculptures before the flowers bloom in spring."
Willow looked at Sophia's calm and composed appearance, as if everything was under control, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion in her heart. Your Majesty's gaze, which coordinates the overall situation without losing decisiveness, truly does not lose to any founding monarch.
Amidst the discussion, one corner of the carriage seemed exceptionally quiet.
Saint Daphne was currently tightly clutching that staff inlaid with crystal, her knuckles turning white from the force. Her emerald green eyes constantly scanned the carriage curtains that were occasionally moved by the wind. Whenever the carriage bumped from rolling over a rock, her body would tremble subconsciously.
"Daphne," Sophia suddenly spoke, startling Daphne so much she shook like a frightened little deer.
"Pre... Present! Your Majesty!" Daphne jerked her spine straight; using too much force, the staff even hit the roof of the carriage.
"Since you got on the carriage, your mood hasn't been quite right." Sophia put down the cup, her eyes sharp as if they could penetrate the soul. "Are you afraid? Because you thought of the assassin encountered at the border last time?"
Daphne froze completely. She opened her mouth, a sense of shock from being thoroughly seen through instantly sweeping over her entire body. Your Majesty... has actually been observing me?
A monstrous wave rose in Daphne's heart. Clearly, Your Majesty has been drinking juice and looking at the map the whole time. Does she possess a Divine Power that can synchronously perceive the state of life around her?
"I... I am sorry, Your Majesty." Daphne lowered her head, her voice as thin as a mosquito's, carrying a frustration that couldn't be concealed.
"You guessed correctly. I have lost all offensive Holy Light magic in this world. Apart from healing and blessings, I can't even release a Flash spell to drive away wild beasts."
She bit her lip, her eyes turning slightly red.
"Last time at the border, if it weren't for Your Majesty and Lord Delilah, I could only have sat on the ground waiting to die. Now that we have left the walls of the Royal City again, I always feel that behind those layers upon layers of white snow, those bad people holding long swords will rush out at any time."
For a Saint who was once admired by ten thousand people and possessed powerful magic power, this sense of powerlessness caused her to crumble far more than hunger. She was afraid that not only could she not help Sophia, but she would instead become a burden on this grain delivery journey.
Sophia looked at this little Saint before her who was about to cry and sighed secretly in her heart. This child was indeed given psychological trauma by that previous assassination.
"Daphne." Sophia extended her hand and gently patted the back of Daphne's hand. "Look at that squad of soldiers outside."
Daphne followed Sophia's gaze out the carriage window. Those soldiers carrying Black Rose muskets and walking with firm steps maintained a grim formation even in the snow that went past their ankles.
"Since This Queen dared to bring you out, it means this place is safer than anywhere else." Sophia's voice was light, yet it revealed a sense of power that allowed no doubt. "Your Holy Light is used to warm the hearts of the people. As for that filthy blood, This Queen's soldiers will naturally block it for you."
Daphne gazed at the young girl close at hand who seemed expressionless. For some reason, she felt there was a trace of tenderness in Your Majesty's eyes. She thought she understood Miss Irene a little bit. Being by Your Majesty's side for a long time, it seemed one really could feel those subtle changes.
Is Your Majesty telling me that she has already woven an impeccable safety net for me? That sentence about my Holy Light being used to warm the hearts of the people... is she guiding me, telling me to shift the focus of my priesthood from destruction to the spiritual consolation of the ruling class?
The fear in Daphne's eyes as she looked at Sophia gradually receded, replaced by a kind of peace of mind. Your Majesty anticipated my unease long ago, so she brought Victor and this elite squad. She isn't taking me on a tour; she is using her method to help me overcome this so-called inner demon!
Too great. Your Majesty is not only the monarch of the land but also the guide of souls!
Daphne's originally pale small face gradually became rosy. She took a deep breath, gripped her staff tightly, and looked at Sophia earnestly.
"I understand, Your Majesty! I will use all my power to pray, ensuring that every grain of food those subjects eat is filled with hope!"
Sophia withdrew her hand and picked up the juice again, the corner of her mouth hooking up in a barely visible arc. Fine, as long as you don't keep trembling, think whatever you want.
The further north the carriage traveled, the sharper the sound of the wind became, like a hungry giant beast roaring crazily at the mountain pass. When the wheels finally stagnated in the deep snow at the foot of Eagle's Nest Mountain, the scene before them made everyone's faces turn pale instantly.
The environment here was even more severe than marked on the map.
In the distance, Eagle's Nest Mountain was like a gray stone blade thrusting straight into the firmament. Halfway up the mountain, a few stone huts where hunters stayed during the summer were scattered sparsely; at this moment, they looked like lonely ghosts in the blizzard.
And at the foot of this cold peak, the village that originally housed over two hundred people was almost completely wiped flat by the accumulated snow. It was a village like dead silence. No cooking smoke, no barking dogs, only the sobbing sound of the wind passing through broken window lattices.
In the accumulated snow, a few stiff silhouettes were faintly visible; those were subjects who tried to go out to find firewood or prey but ultimately fell in the snow. Frost hung on their eyelashes, their faces were blue and purple, and their weak breathing was almost imperceptible in the cold wind, like residual candles that would extinguish at any moment.
From the cracks in the doors of the dilapidated wooden huts, a silence bordering on despair seeped out. That was the unique deathly stillness of people waiting for death to descend in the darkness to save energy.
The carriage door opened slowly, and Sophia stepped into the snow wearing specially made sheepskin boots. Even in this severe cold enough to crack bones, she still maintained that reserve and elegance that kept people a thousand miles away.
She swept a glance at those subjects fallen in the snow, her pale golden pupils holding no fluctuations. This extreme calmness, seen in Victor's eyes, became another kind of divine mercy.
Did you see that? This is the composure of an Emperor! Facing such a tragedy in the human world, Your Majesty not only did not reveal the weakness and grief of a mortal but was instead as calm as the Ruler of the Underworld who masters life and death.
She isn't looking at dead people; she is calculating how to snatch these souls back from the hands of the God of Death! This capacity to view the common people as chess pieces, yet protect the chess pieces completely... it is simply too trembling-inducing!
"Victor, take the soldiers and dig the people out." Sophia's voice was cold as ice. "Dead subjects provide no tax revenue. This Queen does not accept such a loss."
"Daphne, don't daze out." Sophia turned her head sideways, looking at the Saint still shivering because of the surrounding miserable state. "Just as you said, you have no offensive magic."
Sophia pointed to a child curled up in a snowdrift ahead who was about to lose consciousness. "But the current you is more useful than a thousand swords."
Following Sophia's sentence about 'not accepting loss'—which was cold to the point of being nearly cruel—Victor and the soldiers moved instantly. In the eyes of that old minister, how was this urging? This was clearly Your Majesty issuing an order to God to rob people back!
Daphne took a deep breath; the chill all around almost froze her internal organs. She tightly gripped the crystal staff, her lips trembling slightly, as a low and pure chant spread out in the wind and snow.
"Please bestow upon this place, undying lingering warmth."
A touch of faint glimmer, soft as the evening glow, bloomed from the tip of the staff. Daphne knew her magic power was limited and could not melt this continuous pure white snow like a true Divine Miracle, but she condensed all the Holy Light into tiny seeds of light.
When the soldiers used iron shovels and their hands to dig open that snowdrift, they revealed that child who looked like he was about to die. Daphne tapped her fingertip lightly, and a ball of warm golden light instantly sank into the child's chest.
The face that was originally somewhat blue and purple, under everyone's gaze, miraculously flushed with a trace of faint rosiness. That deathly gray of impending death was forcibly suppressed by the Holy Light. The child's eyelashes, which had already stopped trembling, actually trembled slowly within the wrapping of the glimmer.
This kind of radiance, for those subjects hiding in wooden huts and curling up under moldy animal skins, was no different from the rising sun in the polar night.
An elderly hunter supported himself on the doorframe, trembling as he poked his head out. He had originally prepared to turn into an ice sculpture, but at this moment, he saw a scene sufficient to shock the rest of his life.
In this pale whiteness that could swallow almost all colors, a young girl stood quietly in the wind and snow. She wore a resplendent golden crown on her head, and the heavy black fox fur on her body flapped loudly in the wind. Her pale golden eyes were indifferent and profound as if even this whistling north wind had to submit under her gaze.
Behind her were countless soldiers carrying muskets excavating life from the snowdrifts, and that Saint exuding a sacred aura.
"It... It is Her Majesty the Queen!"
The old hunter's cloudy eyes were lit up by the Holy Light. In his cognition, as a humble subject who hunted and chopped wood, dying on Eagle's Nest Mountain was fate. But he never expected that the Tyrant, rumored to be decisive in killing, would actually trample the accumulated snow that no one dared to penetrate deeply and personally descend upon this corner forgotten by God.
While commanding the soldiers to move those dying subjects to the side of the stove by the carriage, Victor wiped the ice crystals off his face, sighing frantically in his heart.
High, truly high! Your Majesty keeps saying she doesn't accept losses, saying these subjects are tax revenue... how is this talking about money? This is clearly Your Majesty's most extreme tenderness! She used the coldest words to cover up her benevolence in braving the snow to save people.
She wants to tell the subjects that she needs them, that she is their reliance. In this way, these hunters and woodcutters not only keep their lives but will also offer one hundred percent loyalty to Your Majesty to repay this honor of paying taxes!
And in the ears of the subjects, Sophia's cold words regarding tax revenue, after being filtered by the wind and snow, actually turned into the most solid promise. As long as you are still people of Mason, even if the God of Death wants to take you away, he has to ask the Queen if she agrees first.
Within moments, those among the two hundred or so subjects who still had a breath left were all 'dug' out. The soldiers cleared an empty space in the snow and fired up the stove. Daphne disregarded her status, lifting her skirt to shuttle among the subjects. Every wave of her staff would let a dying woodcutter feel the power of their heart beating anew.
Sophia still stood there, the wild berry juice in her hand completely ice-cold. She glanced at the surrounding subjects casting terrified, awestruck, and grateful gazes at her, and raised her eyebrows slightly.
"Willow, is the fire started?" Sophia asked faintly.
"Your Majesty, it is ready. The rapid ignition method Lord Irene developed is very useful."
Willow pointed to the huge iron pot already set up not far away. Rich wheat fragrance, accompanied by white steam, began to dash wildly at the foot of this desperate mountain.
Eagle's Nest Mountain did not lack firewood, but the people who had been hungry for too long had absolutely no strength to go to the back mountain to carry wood, and they had been hungry for too many days, so much so that they lost the hope of living. Therefore, before Sophia arrived, these people were already waiting to die, so no one went to light a stove.
Sophia let her gaze fall on an old woman not far away who was so hungry she was powerless to pant. That was the Village Chief of Eagle's Nest Mountain Village.
Previously, after seeing Sophia, she wanted to speak with Sophia very much, but after walking a few steps tremblingly, she lost strength and knelt directly in the snow.
Now, every subject of Eagle's Nest Mountain who could still move on their own was holding a piece of Black Bread, nibbling it in small bites. It wasn't that they weren't given hot food, but freshly boiled stewed beans or porridge needed time. Sophia thought that making these people who had been hungry for many days wait dryly was truly too cruel. Fortunately, this Black Bread was also life-saving grain and supreme delicacy in the eyes of the Eagle's Nest Mountain subjects at this time.
After about ten minutes, the stewed beans in the pot began to emit a fragrance. And the Village Chief, who had finally recovered a little after eating some bread, also took steps to walk in front of Sophia and knelt directly.
This time it was not a collapse from exhaustion, but a kneeling of uprightness.
"Greetings to Your Majesty the Queen; many thanks to Your Majesty the Queen for coming to save us."
"Rise."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Joy, the Village Chief of Eagle's Nest Mountain, was over sixty. Although her legs and feet were still convenient, Sophia still didn't dare let her kneel much; this ground was truly too cold. Her gaze landing on Joy's eye sockets, which were somewhat red from being moved, Sophia spoke faintly:
"Tell me about the specific situation of Eagle's Nest Mountain."
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