Chapter139

After reading the two letters, Elara thought for two minutes, then suddenly pulled up the task panel from System 92 and checked the two tasks listed earlier.

When she left Plumera's capital, she intercepted over sixty thousand taels of silver that Gregory and others tried to embezzle from the national treasury. After arriving in Marigold County, she confiscated property from corrupt officials, taking another ten thousand or so taels.

Now, adding the forty thousand taels in revenue from the Bai family's merchant estate, Elara estimated she was almost done with the one-million-tael mission.

She opened the panel to confirm. As expected:

[Task Four: Possess one million taels of liquid silver. Reward: Complete Manual of Cold Weapons and Armor Forging. Current progress: 840,000 / 1,000,000]

With war approaching, the need and importance of this manual were obvious. Elara had to gather the remaining 160,000 taels quickly, complete the task, then use the iron ore brought back from Anqu Town to forge more refined weapons to improve Marigold County's overall military strength.

As for the other task:

[Possess one million catties of stored grain. Reward: Beginner's Guide to Ancient Farming. Current progress: 460,000 / 1,000,000]

This one was falling behind in comparison.

Because everyone in Marigold County needed to eat daily, and many farmlands were either abandoned or occupied, most of the food was still the relief grain Elara had brought. That 460,000 figure was dropping quickly.

Thankfully, the General Qi troops had their own rations. On the way from the capital to Marigold County, Elara had cleared out many rebel groups and collected quite a lot of food. Without that, her supplies might have been long gone.

Even though this second task's reward wasn't directly tied to the upcoming war, as the guide would only help with future harvests, not immediate food, relying on that alone would have meant most of Marigold's people and soldiers would starve long before the food grew. Forget defending the city.

So, grain storage had become an urgent issue, possibly even more critical than money.

Once war breaks out, if there's no food supply, the army will collapse. There's no war without soldiers who can eat.

Finding enough food was a problem she needed to solve.

Elara thought for a moment and recalled a handsome young man with a flower petal on his forehead. He was from the Sargassum royal family, the heir apparent—Leif of Zhaiyun Pavilion.

"System 92, as long as I reach the one million mark in silver or food at any given moment, even if I spend it all in the next instant, the task still counts as complete, right?"

[Yes, Master.]

With that confirmation, Elara's thoughts started to align.

Zhaiyun Pavilion was the largest trade network among the ten small states near Plumera. With its massive connections, it would surely have access to large quantities of grain.

Besides, Sargassum also lacked food. Leif surely had access to several channels. On her way back, she would go look for this prince from the neighboring state.

With plans for both tasks in mind, Elara lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked outside. The entrance to the Valley of the Divine Healer was already in sight.

Compared to their last visit, when only two quiet children had greeted them, this time nearly all the valley's key members were standing at the gate. That included the silent white-haired master, the senior disciple who had humiliated Oswyn at the dining hall with only a few words, the second disciple, and others.

Oswyn had already dismounted and spoken briefly with the white-haired master and the others. Suddenly, his expression shifted.

He turned sharply and stormed toward Elara, who was stepping out of the carriage. His tone was fierce.

"The Divine Healer Valley was nearly destroyed the day before yesterday! Why didn't you tell me?"

Elara blinked and replied as if she just remembered. "Oh, you mean those Puppet Cult people? But the valley's fine. You were busy treating the wounded in Anqu Town, I didn't get a chance to tell you."

A few days ago, right before Elara and the guards went underground to destroy the poison root, the guards left in the valley discovered that the Puppet Cult members inside were quietly tampering with the protective array using small animals and releasing more puppet-controlled insects, preparing to seize control of the valley.

Once Elara got the news, she ordered the guards to secretly alert the white-robed master and ask for a medicine to resist the poison.

Luckily, not just anyone from the Puppet Cult could override the blood contract within the guards. The ones in the valley were low-ranking, and their influence was limited.

With the master's help, the plan of those traitors was exposed in time, leading to a full purge in the Divine Healer Valley.

During this purge, the cult members tried to fight back. But since the guards had discovered their plan in advance, the protective array was never broken. The white-haired master activated the main formation and shielded everyone inside.

Even though Oswyn's senior and junior disciples didn't know martial arts, they were full of fire.

Being betrayed by the very people they had saved filled them with rage. So, they joined the guards in the counterattack.

The guards used blades. The disciples used poison.

In the end, the Divine Healer Valley didn't lose a single person.

But the Puppet Cult invaders were left screaming in agony, killed off one by one. Some were sliced apart, others rolled in pain on the floor, poisoned beyond recovery.

Not a single one survived.

Even though the valley followed a healing path, that didn't mean they were soft-hearted.

They saved lives, yes, but when someone brought murder to their doorstep, they could kill too.

The cult members were all buried inside the valley. Because the valley had deep knowledge of poisons, the disciples even cut off their link to the main cult after killing them.

So until now, the Puppet Cult still had no idea anything had happened inside the Divine Healer Valley. It was a clean, silent slaughter.

Elara thought about all this, and her opinion of the Miracle Doctor Valley grew even better.

Standing in front of her, Oswyn paused after hearing her response and stubbornly said again, "Then you could have told me after you left Anju Town!"

Elara replied naturally, "But after I left Anju Town, I was busy thinking about other things. I completely forgot about it. How could I have told you then?"

Oswyn stared at her like he couldn't believe she could say such things so casually. It was like she always had a way of making him so mad it hurt.

He opened his mouth on instinct to scold her again. But then he remembered that this time, it was because of her that Miracle Doctor Valley was saved, so he forcefully swallowed the anger back down.

Elara watched his face change expression several times and couldn't help but smile. She reached out and pinched his cheek. "Come on. I already said before I wouldn't let anything happen to Miracle Doctor Valley. Even if I didn't tell you, that doesn't change the outcome."

It was the first time Oswyn had ever been pinched by this woman. He froze for two seconds, not quite believing what she had just done to him.

A few seconds later, he realized what was happening, but still didn't move his face away. He let Elara keep pinching his cheek. Only the tips of his ears hidden by his long hair turned a little red. He pressed his lips together, and after a while, said softly, "Thanks."

His voice was quiet, but his tone was full of sincerity.

Elara happily withdrew her hand and looked behind Oswyn at the people from Miracle Doctor Valley.

The white-robed master had already brought the group over. His face still had a gentle smile, and his clear white eyes looked at Elara with warmth. His pale fingers moved in front of him a few times.

Thank you, Princess, for saving Miracle Doctor Valley and for cutting our ties with the Puppet Sect.

Elara raised her eyebrows. What ties?

But before she could ask, the white-robed master stepped aside slightly and made a gesture inviting her in.

The group of senior and junior disciples behind him did the same. Especially the two senior brothers who had glared at Oswyn in the dining hall earlier, now looked at her with much softer expressions. And maybe it was just Elara's imagination, but she felt like they weren't just thankful.

Their gazes also had something else, like they were studying her carefully.

Elara thought about it, and finally remembered seeing that same look on a parent's face at one of those blind date banquets...

She suddenly felt a little uneasy. Could it be that after she saved Miracle Doctor Valley and changed their opinion of her, these two senior brothers were seriously thinking about marrying Oswyn off to her?