A few crows hovered in the sky above the ravine, quacking, and Sophia stood by the roadside, her heart cold.

Dead babies piled up at the bottom of the ravine, some of them had rotted into white bones, while others seemed to have not been left for long, and looked like they were at least a hundred.

The smell in the air was disgusting, and the pungent smell penetrated into the nostrils, causing the girl's belly to roll for a while, and she couldn't help but turn around and vomit......

It wasn't until she spat out everything she had eaten that Sophia recovered slightly.

It's just that the pale face and the slightly trembling body show that the girl's heart is not calm at this moment.

"I've said it all, I won't let you see it."

Demacia sighed, dismounted, and walked over.

He glanced at the dead baby at the bottom of the ravine, and said to the other mage players who were traveling with him:

"Burn it, chant a soul purification spell again, even if it's a baby, if you leave it alone, there may be undead spirits."

Several players nodded, beckoning the priest to begin disposing of the corpses at the bottom of the ravine.

Sophia, on the other hand, looked at the busy elves, and her eyes became more and more trance-like.

"Why...... Why is this happening? Abandoned babies are forbidden by imperial law and the eternal canon, why are there so many corpses of babies here? ”

She muttered unacceptably.

"Because I can't feed you...... After being born, he couldn't afford to raise it, so he could only suffocate and throw it away secretly. ”

Demacia shook his head and said.

"Can't feed? Do you have to throw it away if you can't feed it? Suffocation? How could they bear it?! ”

Sophia said angrily.

"So what to do? Civilians are already poor, and there are children born unexpectedly almost every few days in human cities, and they can't afford to raise them, what do you let civilians do? ”

Demacia sneered.

"You can give it to the church to raise, the eternal church already has an adoption center!"

The girl argued.

Demacia shook his head:

"Miss Sophia, you are still too young, do you know how many similar foundlings can occur in a town in a year? How many can the church adopt? And, what about the Eternal Church? Where are they? ”

Sophia was stunned.

At this time, she remembered that the Eternal Church in Rivertown had been evacuated along with the nobles......

"Say ...... again"

Demacia continued:

"This is a good situation, at least it shows that the poor can still live, if you really can't get by, you can't even see these dead babies."

Hearing this, Sophia was stunned:

"Why?"

Demacia was silent for a moment, and then said:

"If you really can't get by, you won't throw away anything you can eat."

Sophia's face became even paler:

"You mean...... You mean......"

Demacia sighed:

"Yes, cannibalism is not impossible."

"This ...... How is this possible?! How could such a demonic act take place within the borders of the Empire! ”

Hearing such shocking content, the girl felt dizzy.

"How is it impossible, don't say anything else, when the Maple Leaf Leader starts a war, if the war is deadlocked, Miss Sophia, do you guess what I said, it can't happen?"

Demacia said coldly.

Hearing this, Sophia was speechless.

A little fire lit in the ravine, and the chanting of the elves came faintly, and looking at the hazy flames, the girl's eyes gradually blurred.

"This ...... Is that the real status quo of the commoners of the Empire......"

Her voice trembled a little, and there was a hint of pleading and hope in her tone, as if she wanted to get a negative answer from Demacia.

It's just that Demacia's answer made the girl's mood fall into the abyss:

"That's right, this is the status quo of civilians outside the rich area, and it's already good for them to be able to work hard to live."

"Magic! The nobles have so many allegiance magicians, why don't there be magicians to help them! Just one piece of natural magic can double the yield of crops, right?! ”

The girl said angrily.

"Miss Sophia, this is for yourself, you are also a nobleman, have the mages loyal to your family done anything similar?"

Demacia asked rhetorically.

Hearing this, Sophia's anger instantly extinguished like a fire in the face of ice and snow......

She opened her mouth, completely speechless.

Using magic to improve the lives of civilians?

No......

She knows.

No noble mage would want to do that.

For the nobility, magic was a symbol of knowledge, a tool for consolidating position, and at the same time a powerful force.

In the eyes of magicians, magic is sublime, and they disdain to do such small things.

Even if Sophia herself is willing to use magic to improve the lives of civilians, it may be difficult to promote it.

It's a matter of perception.

"What about the church...... Civilians are the church's greatest source of faith...... Wouldn't the eternal church take care of these things? Doesn't the Church use magic to improve the lives of the common people? ”

Sophia asked again.

"The church? Why should the church improve the lives of ordinary people? Could it be that all the magic of the church is blown by the wind? ”

Demacia shook his head.

After a pause, he added:

"Miss Sophia, maybe you don't know much about the workings of the church, so as a person who has come before, I tell you a cruel truth."

"It is much more cost-effective for the Eternal Church to occasionally perform miracles and use minor magic to cure the ailments of the faithful than to spend a lot of effort to improve the lives of believers."

"Because people in despair will have more hope and more firm faith ......"

"For the church, collecting faith is the ultimate goal, saving the people? What is that? Do you think that the Lord of Eternity is the God of life who cares about all things? ”

Demacia scoffed.

Hearing his words, Sophia's body shook and she stood on the scene for a while.

The flames in the ditch were extinguished, and the chanting of the elves slowly stopped.

Demacia glanced at the sky and said:

"Let's go, Miss Sophia, let's hurry up, and you'll be able to attend the nobles' dinner in Morningstar City tonight."

With that, he turned over and got on his horse and left the ravine first.

Sophia pursed her lips.

She clenched her hands, eventually released them weakly, and then, dejectedly, with the help of the other elves, mounted on her horse and kept up with Demacia's pace......

Leaving Riverbend Town, the team moved on.

It's just that, compared to the excitement at the beginning, the escort team at this moment is a lot quieter.

"I knew that "Elven Country" was very real, but I didn't expect it to be so real, the magical version of the Middle Ages, this is also too miserable......"

In the team chat channel, Meng Zhihan couldn't help but type.

"Maybe it's darker than the real world, after all...... Civilians in the real world will rebel when they are in a hurry, and there are many examples of civilians in Western history killing the king and changing the king, but in the game...... Ordinary people who can't control their extraordinary powers are nothing more than leeks. ”

Demacia typed.

"Really, what are you doing so really, it makes me depressedQAQ......"

Symphony posted a facial expression in the channel.

"That's why we're here, no game will completely design some meaningless plots, since "Elf Country" shows us such a dark human world, then...... I think in the end, we players should need to make changes, after all, one of the main tasks of ...... "Elven Country" is to help the goddess spread faith, and there is no harm if there is no comparison. ”

……

The players were talking in the chat channel, and Sophia, the half-elf girl who was traveling with them, fell completely silent.

She looked lost, with a hint of dazedness in her eyes, as if she had been hit hard.

As the whole team continued to move forward, her mood became more and more depressed, and her initial smile was no longer on her face......

It's not just Riverbend Town.

Along the way, every village and settlement that everyone passed through exuded the atmosphere of decay and hardship.

This huge gap between ideals and reality has shaken the girl's perception of the whole world......

At this moment, she felt how ironic the books she had seen in the castle that recorded the prosperity of the empire, and how disgusting the documents that touted the merits of the nobility......

Why is this happening?

Why...... The gap between the nobles and the commoners, will it be so big?

Why...... The nobles in the castle would never mention the real situation of the commoners?

The glory of the nobility, the responsibility of the nobility...... And what is it, and for what?

Why does the Eternal Church sit idly by and ignore all this?

Is it simply because Demacia says that it is worth money to gain faith that it is necessary to ignore the plight of the common people?

What, then, is the meaning of the doctrine of the Eternal Church that teaches people to be good?

How credible is God's claim of salvation?

At this moment, Sophia was at a loss......

The sun is sinking in the west, and the temperature is getting colder.

When the red sunset filled the sky, the line finally stopped.

"Miss Sophia, there is Morning Star City ahead, and according to our information, Duke Lawson is now located in the city."

Demacia said.

His words woke up the lost Sophia from her daze, the girl's body trembled slightly, and then subconsciously looked ahead, only to see that as far as the eye could see, a magnificent human city appeared.

It was a large city no less than Maple Leaf City, the city walls alone looked twenty meters high, and under the city walls, there were tents that could not be seen at a glance, which should belong to the Imperial army and the mercenary group that accepted the signs.

There is no doubt that since the army is here, then as the commander-in-chief of the army, Duke Rosen, one of the seven electors of the Holy Mania Empire, is probably also located in the city.

"Miss Sophia, we can only send you here, and if you go any further, it is already out of our activities...... Ahem, it's no longer for us to move on. ”

As the player who is most familiar with the human world, Demacia, who is also the leader of the escort team this time, coughed dryly and said.

Listening to his words, the girl, who had always disliked him, did not say sarcastic, but only nodded silently.

However, Demacia saw that the other party did not quarrel with him, and he was a little unaccustomed to it for a while.

"Thank you, thank you for escorting, when I regain control of the territory, I will definitely fulfill my promise."

Sophia said sullenly.

After speaking, she clenched her fists:

"I'm going to change that, I'm going to ...... it"

Listening to her muttering, Demacia opened her mouth to say something, but thinking of the complaints and admonitions of the former brother who led the team, he finally endured it.

Sighing, he said:

"Miss Sophia, then I wish you all the best, if you encounter danger, remember to take out the statue of the goddess and ask for help, the power of the elven clan will help you get out of trouble."

The girl hesitated for a moment and said:

"Thank you...... I would ...... if I really needed it."

This time, she rarely refuted.

Glancing back at the sunset in the west, Sophia rolled over and dismounted.

She handed over control of the horses to the elves and headed for Morning Star City alone.

It wasn't until the girl was completely away that Demacia slowly shook her head:

"If you don't get to the Yellow River, don't give up......"

……

Perhaps because there were too many mercenaries coming and going, Sophia, who was dressed as a mercenary, did not suffer from the difficulties of the guards, and entered the city smoothly.

As one of the major cities in the Western Territory, Morningstar City is much more prosperous than Rivertown, even if there is a crisis of war, it is still lively here, and the presence of mercenaries and imperial troops has made the city a little more chaotic and noisy.

The buildings on both sides of the street are much better than in Riverbend Town, which makes Sophia's mood feel a lot better, at least the residents here are ...... The living conditions seem to be much better than those that the girl has seen along the way.

But perhaps because of the chaos, most of the houses were closed, with only a small number of pedestrians walking around the road, mixed with a large number of mercenaries and soldiers.

Sophia casually found a pedestrian and asked about the location of the City Lord's Mansion, and then walked in the direction of the noble district in the city.

As the girl approached the aristocratic quarter, the buildings on both sides of the street became more and more neat and beautiful, and when Sophia passed through the plebeian and officially came to the aristocratic quarter, the buildings in sight were finally replaced by the beautiful manor villas and towering castles she was familiar with.

It's just that, looking at these familiar and magnificent buildings, listening to the faint sound of music and laughter in the buildings, Sophia not only did not have the slightest joy, but her expression became even more stunned.

Just as she was about to step into the aristocratic quarter, she was stopped by two large-shouldered, well-armed guards.

"Stop! Ahead is the aristocratic quarter, mercenaries are not allowed to enter! ”

They warned menacingly.

Sophia gave them a cold look, and the disguise magic on her body dispersed.

Under the surprised gaze of the guards, she reverted to her half-elf form.

"Get out of the way, I'm Sophia von Wells, heir to the Wells family, lord of Zeroland, and I want to see His Excellency Duke Rosen."

She said indifferently.

At the same time, while showing the power of a magician, she pulled out a badge engraved with the lion's emblem and radiant radiance.

"Third-Order Mage! And also...... Medals of Imperial Nobility! ”

The expressions of the two guards changed slightly.

"Wait a minute, let's go and report!"

They exchanged glances with each other and said respectfully.