Hail the King

[TL Note: This is a three-parter!]

-The Southern Region-

The war that lasted a long time destroyed this rich and fertile land. Now, the land was burned by the flames of war, and holes were everywhere.

Many trees were chopped down, many mines were exploited, and grasslands were dug up.

Land degradation in this region was severe, and the goblins created dams and barriers, changing the paths of rivers.

As a consequence of the war, the land was scorched, and the corpses of humans, animals, and demon beasts were everywhere. These corpses were either completely rotten or were rotting.

A stinky odor of rotten flesh permeated the air, and many ugly goblin zeppelins flew over in the sky, making loud noises and leaving trails of black smoke. All the smoke made the blue sky look dark and gloomy.

This was a location 100,000 meters away from Bali Island.

This was already the territory that was within the goblins’ control.

Teams of goblins traveled around on the ground, trying to capture the humans who had escaped. Also, tragic screams sounded in the wilderness frequently.

There were less than two hours left before the sunset, but dark clouds already blocked the sun in the sky. It was quite dark, and the greenish-grey land and the dark sky seemed to have merged at the horizon, making the world seem desperate and on the verge of collapse.

A light breeze blew by, and the weeds on the ground lightly shivered.

Three figures were slowly crawling forward in the grass in panic.

It was a young mother and two little girls. They were covered in grass, hiding themselves as much as possible. They had confirmed the direction and carefully moved up north.

The young mother was quite pretty, and her long black hair was tied into a ponytail. She looked to be about 25 years old, and with some black mud on her face, she protected the two six to seven years old little girls like a hen guarding her chicklings.

The panic and fear couldn’t be hidden on the mother’s face.

She had seen too many tragic ends of humans who fell into the hands of goblins, especially females; it was worse than being dead.

This mother couldn’t imagine how the goblins were going to treat them if she and her two daughters were captured.

While fully aware of her surroundings, this woman slowly moved forward. Any movement of grass would make her heart shiver!

“Mom, I’m hungry…”

The little girl who was smaller lightly pulled on her mother’s clothes while crawling in the grass. Her bright eyes were filled with the desire to live, and her lips were dry and cracked. Since she hadn’t eaten in a long time, her spirit was low, and she was even hallucinating a little.

Pain flashed in this young mother’s eyes, and she hugged this little girl tightly. Then, she kissed her forehead and said, “Anna, listen to Mom. Just hold on for a bit longer. We will soon find some food…”

In reality, this woman didn’t know when they would find food. At this moment, even a mouthful of water would be wonderful.

They had been hungry for two days.

“Little Sister, behave. Big Sister will give this to you…” the older little girl took out the root of a plant, and it was full of bite marks. She passed it to the younger little girl and said quietly, “You can bite it; it has sweet juice!”

The younger little girl bit it a few times and cried, “It doesn’t taste good. Big Sister, you liar. Mom, I’m hungry. I can’t…”

This little girl’s cry broke her mother’s heart.

While escaping, her two daughters suffered more than they had ever imagined. The young mother truly doubted if she could escape from the Southern Region with her two daughters.