The sky was gloomy, the air unbearably oppressive.
The cracked earth gaped open, like a child who hadn't had enough to eat.
Who could have imagined that not a single rain would fall from the beginning of spring until now?
Currently, even drinking water supply was a problem in southern Elasia.
Old Gru, the village elder of Wak Village, sat at the doorway of his house in the village, looking at the lifeless earth and letting out a long sigh.
"Sigh, before long, I fear chaos will break out..."
The Village Chief's brow furrowed into a knot.
He had seen too much.
In the face of such drought, the royal family would usually take no action.
In a country like Elasia, which was extremely wary of church forces, the church had no ability to provide relief to disaster victims.
Disaster victims affected by natural calamities generally had only two choices.
Either starve to death or steal.
But the problem was that the current drought affected too wide an area; everyone had no food to eat, and there was nowhere to steal grain from.
"Sigh."
The Village Chief sighed again.
He had always used his experience and wisdom to protect this village, and the village had barely managed to survive under his leadership.
But now, he was out of options too.
"Annie! Stop lying in bed! Come out and help Grandpa!"
After a long while, a thin girl with yellowish complexion finally walked out of the house.
"Grandpa, do you need something?"
Her voice sounded very weak, showing no sign that she was a young girl.
"Go call everyone in the village to come over, we'll eat."
The girl nodded and slowly walked toward the outskirts of the village.
Just one meal a day, everyone was counting on this moment.
After a long time, the villagers finally gathered at the village center at the girl's call.
Every villager was thin and sallow, and even hearing the news about mealtime couldn't bring any excitement to their faces.
They had all prepared themselves for death.
The grain they were eating now was saved from the previous year, but this year's harvest was destined to be nonexistent.
Starvation was just a matter of time.
Looking at his fellow villagers who resembled walking corpses, the old man's face showed bitterness.
"Everyone, I must tell you, the village's grain will only last a few more days..."
The villagers didn't react as the old man had expected, as this was all within their expectations.
There was no anger on the villagers' faces, no grief, and no one broke down.
There was only—despair.
Silence, endless silence.
Suddenly, a voice from the village entrance broke the desperate silence.
It was an adventurer.
She looked strange.
Wearing a tattered helmet and armor that covered her entire body, with an extremely short sword at her waist, if not for her delicate voice, most people might have mistaken her for a man.
"Everyone, don't despair. I just returned from the city and heard that the Elasia Emperor has been replaced."
The strange woman continued:
"The new emperor came to power through a coup, and during the coup, she repeatedly emphasized not to harm the civilians. She will surely save us..."
The old Village Chief interrupted her with a bitter smile.
"Aelia... you'd better not have unrealistic hopes for the royal family..."
The Village Chief had lived for over eighty years and his understanding of the royal family ran bone-deep.
They wouldn't care about the life or death of the common people.
They only cared whether their positions were secure.
The Village Chief looked at Aelia with pity.
Aelia's parents were both adventurers, and they both died in goblin caves.
Goblins were a race with no females, only males. They abducted human females for reproduction, a filthy and dirty species.
Because goblins were short and weak, few human adventurers would take them seriously.
This was precisely why countless human adventurers met their end in goblin nests.
In fact, goblin intelligence far exceeded human imagination.
They would set traps, use poisons, and use human females and infants as shields.
By the time adventurers realized the danger of exterminating goblin missions, it was already too late.
After her parents died, Aelia became someone the villagers saw as strange.
She was almost constantly on the move, hunting goblins.
After buying a short sword, she modified it to be even shorter, just to move more freely in the nests.
She wore armor even in bed, just to quickly engage in battle should goblins attack.
She wore a helmet almost twenty-four hours a day, just to guard against goblin stone-throwing.
Despite the Village Chief telling her it was useless, Aelia would go to the city once a week to write a letter to the Elasia Empire royal family, explaining the harm of goblin proliferation and requesting the use of national power to completely exterminate the goblins.
Over time, she, who only accepted goblin extermination missions, became famous in the adventurer's guild and was called—"Goblin Slayer."