"No, I believe this time will definitely be different."
The "Goblin Slayer" spoke with a bright voice that the villagers had never heard before.
She took out an envelope from her pocket, and then another envelope from inside it.
She held the envelope high above her head and announced loudly.
"Her Majesty Elashia has agreed to my request!"
"She will soon dispatch a large army to completely exterminate the goblins!"
Unlike her usual dullness, the "Goblin Slayer's" voice was filled with hope and excitement.
But the villagers looked at her and shook their heads.
"She has finally gone mad."
"Sigh, poor thing."
"Sigh, drought, sigh, the country, sigh..."
The Village Chief also looked at her with sympathetic eyes.
She, who hardly ever spoke, suddenly said so much today, making people feel it was extremely abnormal.
The expression of the "Goblin Slayer" hidden under her helmet was difficult to see, but in people's imagination, her expression now must be frenzied.
Seeing that people were unwilling to believe her, the "Goblin Slayer" didn't say anything more, just returned to her house.
Before long, she came out carrying a huge package.
The Village Chief and villagers who were eating saw her.
Seeing her carrying a large package, the Village Chief asked:
"Girl, are you leaving the village?"
"No."
The "Goblin Slayer" answered.
"By the emperor's command, I am now setting off for Radiant Emperor City to serve as a goblin response strategy expert. I'll return once the goblins are exterminated."
After the "Goblin Slayer" finished speaking, the villagers again stared at her with pitying gazes.
She shook her head.
"Anyway, I will return."
Having said that, she walked toward the village exit without looking back.
However, before she could leave the village, an uninvited guest burst into the village entrance.
A man wearing official clothes rode a horse to the village entrance, jumped off the horse, and asked Aelia:
"Excuse me, where is the person in charge of the village?"
A smile that could not be suppressed appeared on Aelia's face hidden under her helmet.
She knew Elashia would not ignore them.
Aelia pointed to the village center.
"Our village is having a meal now. Just follow me directly to the village center."
The man nodded and followed Aelia into the village.
"That person is..."
The old Village Chief's heart suddenly stopped when he saw the man in official clothes enter the village!
Didn't they say there would be no taxes?
In the Village Chief's eighty years of life experience, whenever officials entered the village, there was only one matter.
Taxation!
It's over, all over.
This tax definitely couldn't be paid, after all, the village's stored grain was about to be exhausted.
Without grain to pay taxes, the officials would probably arrest people...
Having found the Village Chief, the official didn't say much, just confirmed his identity, left a letter, and hurriedly departed.
He didn't even intimidate him? Nor order the villagers to gather together?
The still-shocked Village Chief opened the envelope.
There was only one sentence on it.
"Approximately five tons of disaster relief grain will arrive at Wak Village this afternoon, please be prepared to receive it."
Huh?
Is this real?
He had lived for nearly a hundred years and had never seen the royal family provide disaster relief.
The old Village Chief really couldn't accept this.
But the official seal was stamped on it... it couldn't be fake, could it?
Before the old Village Chief could accept this, noisy sounds came from outside the village.
All the villagers came at the news.
With no time to think more, the old Village Chief and Aelia walked together to the village entrance.
The sound came through the gentle wind.
"Where is your Village Chief?"
Gru quickly ran to the village entrance.
What met his eyes was a group of soldiers and several grain transport carts, surrounded by villagers from Wak Village.
"That's me."
Gru quickly answered.
These soldiers all looked extremely gentle, without any hint of being military ruffians.
Just the leading soldier looked somewhat strange.
His eyes appeared somewhat empty.
Like... he was being controlled.
But Gru didn't pay much attention to this.
The lead soldier spoke:
"Did you receive the letter?"
Gru quickly took out the letter from his bosom.
After opening and checking the letter, the lead soldier said:
"Good. By the command of Her Majesty Elashia, please distribute this grain one by one to the villagers in our presence."
"One box per person, no more, no less."
"If you find insufficient grain or spoilage, please report it to us directly now, and we will make up the difference within three days."
"Before next year's harvest, we will deliver disaster relief grain every two months, with the amount unchanged."
Looking toward the vehicles, there were boxes of grain.
Time seemed to stop for an instant.
The country... really stepped in to save us?
The thing they had longed for countless times in dreams and fantasies was right before their eyes, but no one dared to believe it.
"Those... are really for us?"
A villager asked incredulously.
"Please hurry, we need to go to the next area soon."
The lead soldier did not answer his question, just urged them on.
But no one dared to move.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
Aelia shook her head.
She walked to the cart, carried down a box of grain, and placed it in front of the old woman who had earlier doubted her sanity.
She carried down another box and placed it in front of the uncle who had always looked at her with pity.
...
Gradually, the villagers realized—this grain was really for them.
Vivid emotions gradually returned to the villagers' faces, replacing despair.
"Long live! Long live Elasia!"
"This... is really real..."
"Ah..."
Jubilation, tears streaming down faces, loud crying...
When emotions suppressed to the extreme are finally released, the emotional outburst is most intense.
The old Village Chief understood—Emperor Elashia truly wanted them to live!
She really was different from all previous Elasia Emperors!
With a thud, the old Village Chief knelt facing north and shouted with his aged voice.
"Long live the Elasia Empire! Long live Her Majesty Elashia!"
After so many years, the ideal ruler people had dreamed of had finally arrived!
"Long live Her Majesty Elashia!"
The villagers, with tears in their eyes, followed the old Village Chief in kneeling toward the north and shouting.
Seeing this scene, the soldiers also stopped urging them on.
They joined the villagers in facing north, raising their hands to their hearts in salute.
At this moment, these soldiers finally rediscovered their original intention of becoming warriors.
Looking at the villagers and soldiers, Aelia once again opened the somewhat creased envelope in her hand.
There were only a few sentences on it.
"I have seen the 1,351 letters you sent to the Elasia royal family. Please come to Radiant Emperor City as soon as possible to provide guidance to the Elasia Empire's army on exterminating goblins.
I promise you, I will exterminate all goblins, leaving none behind.
You have been fighting them alone all this time. Thank you for your hard work."
The signature was "Elashia."
Aelia looked up at the sky with eyes full of hope.
A ray of sunlight pierced through the dark clouds, shining on the earth.
The path left by the sunlight in the sky appeared sacred and bright.
With the descent of this ray of light, the dark clouds hanging over the village quickly dispersed.
Bathed in sunlight, Aelia thought—perhaps the shadows looming over this country and herself would soon dissipate, just like this ray of sunlight piercing through the dark clouds.
After discovering that goblins had begun to show signs of clustering and organization, Aelia wrote a letter to the central government almost every week explaining the urgency of the goblin threat, but they all disappeared without a trace, like a stone dropped into the sea.
But with Elashia's rise to power, everything was different!
She even directly agreed to her request, even willing to directly deploy the royal guards!
She had despaired in the past.
By her efforts alone, it was absolutely impossible to counter the fully organized goblins.
Faced with her warnings, both local lords and the adventurer's guild treated her as an oddity, never seriously considering her requests.
Perhaps she would eventually have to watch helplessly as the goblins completed their preparations and destroyed her homeland...
Aelia was definitely not a weirdo, but the people around her treated her like one. As time went on, she sometimes doubted whether there was something wrong with herself.
But now, finally, someone could understand her!
That sentence in Elashia's letter—"You have been fighting them alone all this time. Thank you for your hard work."—made her cry alone for a long time when she first read it.
This kindred spirit she had longed for had finally arrived.
Although it was a bit late, it didn't matter.
She had never looked forward to anything so much.
Just thinking about how the goblin army that had once filled her with despair would soon be crushed to dust under the national army, she was so excited that she wished she could fly to Radiant Emperor City right now to see that Emperor Elashia.