Not long after the carriage left Eagle's Nest Mountain, the sky, which had cleared up slightly, turned gloomy once again.
Fine, fragmented snowflakes were like torn cotton wadding, hitting the heavy carriage curtains with a rustling sound.
Daphne clutched her staff tightly, a trace of unease revealing itself in her emerald green eyes. With her constitution as a Magical Girl, she possessed a near-instinctual intuition regarding malice in the surrounding environment.
"Your Majesty..."
Daphne lowered her voice, her body unconsciously leaning closer to Sophia. "There seems to be some kind of turbid aura hidden in the snowflakes. I just feel terribly flustered."
Sophia was currently bored to death, flipping through a parchment regarding the population distribution of Withered Willow Town. Hearing this, she didn't even lift her eyelids, merely replying faintly:
"That is an illusion of low blood sugar caused by you using too much magic to save people just now. You will feel better after eating something later. Sit tight. On the land of Mason, there is nothing harder than This Queen's will."
This sentence of comfort, carrying a trace of Sophia-style tsundere arrogance, was like a potent calming pill, instantly steadying Daphne's frantically beating heart.
In the eyes of Willow, who was at the side, Her Majesty's bearing of remaining unchanged even if Mount Tai collapsed before her was simply the embodiment of security.
However, just as the carriage traveled to the unavoidable fork in the road leading to Withered Willow Town, a sudden change occurred.
"Whoa—!"
The cavalry in front let out a hurried command to control the horses.
Sophia lifted a corner of the curtain, her clear and cold gaze penetrating the wind and snow. She saw several severed dead trees blocking the center of the valley in a disorderly manner.
Six or seven men with ragged clothes and ferocious features, holding rusty long knives and sharpened wooden sticks, drilled out from behind the pile of rubble. Their eyes flickered with a madness and greed akin to wild beasts, staring dead fixedly at the cartloads full of grain and fodder in the rear.
Sophia took only one glance, and her brows raised slightly.
This signature tattered leather armor, and that ruffian air seeping out from their bones... Aren't these the remnants that ran away during the previous bandit suppression?
Sophia felt a burst of speechlessness in her heart.
Last time, she had ordered Delilah to tear that bandit nest apart until not even a complete brick remained. Even those pieces of scrap copper and rotten iron were moved back to the Royal City to be melted down for shovels. How did this bunch of people grow back like leeks—cut one crop and another grows?
"Leave the grain! And that pretty carriage!"
The bandit leader let out a hoarse roar. Due to long-term hunger, his face was sunken, looking like an evil ghost. "Otherwise, in this world of ice and snow, don't think anyone will get past here alive!"
Faced with this vicious threat, Sophia didn't even plan to get off the carriage. She simply sat back onto the soft cushions, spitting out three words coldly toward the window:
"Clean them up."
Victor, who was feeling annoyed at having to continue traveling in the wind and snow after working all day, saw this bunch of fellows. Upon hearing the order, his old face instantly became ferocious and solemn.
He pulled out an exquisite musket and waved his hand fiercely at the guard squad behind him.
"Prepare! For Her Majesty's peace and quiet!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several deafening bursting sounds instantly tore through the wind and snow. These were the improved muskets newly produced by the Black Rose Workshop; the shots created friction in the air, drawing scorching trajectories.
Those few bandits who were just about to charge didn't even see clearly what was spraying out of those black tubes before the chests of the two rushing at the very front exploded into a mist of blood. Their entire bodies seemed to be hit by giant hammers, flying backward dejectedly and dragging a dazzling red trail across the pure white snow.
"It's that strange Witchcraft again! Thunder!"
The remaining bandits were scared out of their wits by this long-range lethality they had never seen before. Their originally ferocious expressions instantly collapsed into extreme terror.
But the soldiers of Mason gave them no chance to beg for mercy. Under Sophia's rule, the iron laws of Order allowed no bargaining.
As the soldiers opened fire, the valley returned to dead silence once more; only the smell of gunpowder smoke permeated the cold wind. The battle ended too quickly; it didn't even let the wild berry juice in Sophia's cup get cold.
"It's them again."
Sophia looked at the few gradually cooling corpses outside the carriage window, her tone carrying a coldness that made Victor shudder.
"Victor, when our people went to raid that bandit nest last time, did we leave any cellars or secret doors unexploded?"
Victor lowered his head in fear and trepidation. "Replying to Your Majesty, at that time we indeed only processed the surface buildings..."
"On the return trip, think of a way to get some gunpowder and blow their old nest clean." Sophia pointed to the mountain ridge not far away, her voice clear, cold, and firm. "This Queen does not want to see these flies again when farming begins next spring. Since we are cleaning, blow it rotten from the roots for me. Even those cracks in the ground, pour Cement into them for me."
Daphne and Willow listened at the side with palpitating hearts, yet felt an unprecedented sense of peace.
Did you see that? This is Her Majesty's perfectionism!
In Her Majesty's eyes, even a few insignificant remnants are a blasphemy against the Empire's Order. Her Majesty not only wants to kill them but also completely erase the physical space where they once existed!
The true meaning behind this extermination is Her Majesty's absolute, unquestionable, mysophobic control over this land!
Victor was recording frantically in his small notebook.
"Her Majesty's Oracle: Governing a territory must be like excavating a mineral vein; one must not only remove the stubborn rocks but also crush the shadows. Thorough destruction is for the sake of a more perfect reshaping."
He would definitely tell his descendants about this in the future.
The carriage slowly bypassed the corpses and continued forward. Sophia leaned back against the cushions again, her ears finally restored to tranquility.
It looked like the winter famine had made even the bandits anxious. Behind the carriage, the soldiers looked at the Queen's unruffled carriage, the worship in their eyes having already turned into a fanaticism bordering on faith.
"Following Your Majesty, even the God of Death has to take a detour."
A young musketeer kissed the stock of his gun, murmuring in a low voice.
The wind and snow intensified again, but this time, Daphne no longer trembled. She only needed to see Her Majesty's clear and cold face, and her heart would settle down.
Looking down at the pair of fair small hands under the table inside the carriage, Daphne unconsciously extended her hand and pinched one of Sophia's fingers.
Sophia looked over in confusion. Seeing Daphne's strange expression, she knew Daphne must be feeling uneasy again. Thus, she did not retract her hand, allowing her to gently pinch her finger.
The carriage slowly stopped at the entrance of Withered Willow Town. Although the accumulated snow here did not go past the knees like at Eagle's Nest Mountain, the dead silence permeating the air was even superior.
"That is... the banner of the Black Rose!"
A hoarse shout, breaking into a falsetto due to excessive excitement, broke the tranquility of the small town.
Immediately after, countless tightly closed door cracks were pushed open. Pairs of eyes, deeply sunken into their sockets and revealing extreme hunger and thirst, looked toward the convoy slowly driving in.
Sophia lifted the carriage curtain, and the scene entering her eyes made her eyelids jump slightly.
The subjects before her eyes appeared even thinner and weaker than the hunters of Eagle's Nest Mountain. Due to a lack of fur, most of them were wrapped in moldy dried grass and tattered burlap. Everyone's cheeks were deeply sunken, their skin presenting an unhealthy deathly gray.
Under that huge withered willow tree hung with ice prisms, dozens of elderly people and women were leaning together, dying; their breathing was extremely weak, and one couldn't even distinguish if they were frozen stiff or had already lost consciousness.
"Your Majesty, we beg you, give us a mouthful of food..."
A strong male tried to crawl toward the carriage, but because of physical exhaustion, he tumbled in the snow.
"Willow, Victor, begin."
Sophia walked down from the carriage. The sheepskin boots on her feet stepped on the snow, making a crunching sound.
"Don't let them die under This Queen's eyelids; that is a blasphemy against This Queen's authority."
Sophia stood under the withered willow tree. Facing this group of subjects who were like ghosts, her expression remained as cold as an ice sculpture.
"Listen up."
Sophia spoke, her voice echoing in the empty square. Daphne silently applied magic at the side, giving Sophia's voice more penetrating power... acting as a human small loudspeaker.
"This Queen came all this way not to see this half-dead virtue of yours. Those who want to die, roll out of the town to die. Those who want to live, stand up for This Queen and go receive your rations. Mason does not raise waste. Having drunk This Queen's porridge, the rest of your lives must be spent risking your lives for This Queen's cause."
"Your Majesty... Has Your Majesty really come to save us?"
"Heavens, look quickly! Those soldiers are starting fires."
"Beans! It's beans and wheat rice! So many bags of grain! We are saved!"
"Did you hear that? Your Majesty actually said she doesn't raise waste! This shows Your Majesty has already thought of future livelihoods for us! She is even worrying about the rest of our lives! She isn't here to give charity; she is the Queen here to lead us to the future!"
Following the end of Sophia's brief speech, huge marching pots were set up. Daphne was like a graceful butterfly, the tip of her staff constantly lighting up with soft healing light that fell upon those who had fallen ill.
"Don't worry, everything will get better."
Daphne gently comforted a dying little girl before her eyes. "Your Majesty brought enough Black Bread and wheat rice; everyone has a share."
On the other side, soldiers had already taken out dry bread and started distributing it. Subjects who received dry bread could also be distributed a bowl of porridge each after it was cooked.
Sophia didn't have much interest in this chaotic grain distribution scene—or rather, she inexplicably felt bad inside when hearing the subjects crying to the heavens and knocking on the earth.
So, she walked alone toward that small river at the edge of town which had been completely frozen. The river surface was covered with a layer of transparent thick ice. If one ignored the famine and cruelty brought by winter, then the snow scene here was very beautiful.
Sophia looked down. Whether because the temperature had risen in the past two days or because Daphne had released Holy Light over there just now, a string of bubbles actually slid slowly under the ice surface.
Sophia narrowed her eyes. Relying on her excellent vision, she saw a streak of silver afterimage swimming in the depths.
"That is... fish? In this weather, there are actually fish that haven't frozen to death?"
Sophia muttered in a small voice, her throat moving involuntarily.
Compared to dry Black Bread and bean porridge, she missed that kind of braised fish or grilled fish with tender meat and savory taste much more. In the last two months, because of the trade with Leighton, she could occasionally eat some delicious meat even in Mason, but fish was rarely seen. Or rather, she had only eaten salted dried fish twice in the recent few months; not a single fresh fish.
The river behind the Royal City was very clear, but it had no fish. Sophia guessed they should have been fished to extinction by the nearby subjects; after all, when grain was not enough to eat, one could only think of other methods.
"Victor! Bring a few people, take axes and iron shovels, and come over!"
Victor was sweating profusely from distributing grain. Hearing the summons, he immediately brought several strong men and rushed over at lightning speed.
"Your Majesty! Was a lurking danger discovered?"
"There is no danger, but there is a bit of gourmet food." Sophia pointed beneath her feet. "There are fish down here. Smash this ice open for me, move faster."
"As you command!"
Although they had no explosives, the soldiers of Mason were full of strength. Two strong men swung huge iron hammers, smashing violently at the position Sophia pointed to.
Bang! Crack!
Ice chips splashed in all directions. The originally indestructible ice layer finally cracked open a hole the size of a washbasin under repeated heavy blows. As the ice blocks were cleared, a burst of fresh, lively aura gathered due to lack of oxygen sprayed out from the hole.
"Look! There really are fish!"
A soldier exclaimed. Disregarding the icy river water, he reached in and scooped, actually pulling out a silver-scaled fish half a foot long that was still tail-whipping violently. Seeing such a big fish, the soldier didn't even have time to shout that his hand hurt before shouting in excitement.
One after another, the soldiers tossed about for half an hour, fishing up over twenty fish in total.
"Over twenty..."
Sophia looked at the fresh fish lined up on the ground, gradually freezing stiff, and was shocked in her heart. The fish of Withered Willow Town actually hadn't been eaten to extinction.
She swallowed saliva subconsciously. Grilled fish, braised fish, sweet and sour fish...
These fish were enough for the few of them to eat. To eat alone at a time like this, was it a bit damaging to her persona of loving the people like children?
No, am I currently a Tyrant or do I love the people like children? I always feel like these people's titles for me change every day.
Willow saw that extremely obscure trace of covetousness in Sophia's eyes. She walked up smiling and proposed softly:
"Your Majesty, although the size of these fish is not bad, the quantity is indeed not large. How about picking two of the largest to grill for you? As for the rest, this servant suggests processing them and stewing them together with the beans and wheat rice. This way, although each person can only be distributed a little bit, everyone can taste the fresh fish flavor. In this freezing weather, a bowl of steaming hot fish porridge can soothe people's hearts better than anything."
Sophia nodded reservedly, her gaze stopping for one second more on one of the plump silver-scaled fish.
"Since you proposed it, then do as you said. This Queen... isn't particularly wanting to eat either. Anyway, go do it."
Victor listened at the side, old tears streaming down his face.
Your Majesty! You clearly want to eat, yet for the sake of letting the subjects taste freshness, you are willing to only keep a few! This kind of noble sentiment of sharing joy with the people, I must record it!
Daphne, at the side, wished she knew a few more types of magic and could conjure up thousands of fish, so their Majesty wouldn't have to aggrieve her own stomach for the sake of the subjects.
Before long, in the square of Withered Willow Town, in addition to the scent of wheat, there was an added fragrance of fresh fish soup that made souls tremble. Although the porridge received by every subject might only contain a tiny bit of minced fish meat, that delicious taste was like a bolt of lightning, instantly awakening their almost numb taste buds.
"This porridge... is actually sweet! It's fresh!"
"Long live Your Majesty! I haven't drunk such delicious porridge in my life!"
"Fish meat! We looked for so many days and didn't see a single fish, but as soon as Your Majesty came, she found fish. Your Majesty is favored by the gods!"
____
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉