The Gait Kingdom.
As a country effectively controlled by the Earth Mother Goddess Church, ninety percent of its territory consisted of vast plains suitable for growing all kinds of crops.
If the Norant Plains of the Nolant Kingdom were the kingdom's granary, then calling this place the continent's granary hardly seemed wrong. It was also the Earth Mother Goddess Church's greatest stronghold of faith.
Almost everyone allowed to farm here was a fanatical believer in the Earth Mother Goddess Church-the sort who would fight you to the death on the spot if you insulted the Mother Goddess in front of them.
So even though practically no meaningful security measures were in place, they could ensure that none of the crops or secrets within ever leaked out. Who could get past so many fanatics who could receive the Mother Goddess's response at any moment?
Yet now, these fanatics stared blankly at the scene before them-
The earth lay barren, dry and cracked, without even a blade of grass. Wind swept across the empty land, whipping yellow sand into the sky.
The lush greenery of days past had long since vanished.
"Mother Goddess!"
They burst into tears, truly sobbing and wailing, sprawling on the ground and refusing to get up. Their anguish was greater than if their own relatives had died.
As they wept, they cried out the Mother Goddess's name:
"Merciful mother of the earth! Are you punishing us?"
"Mother, I would cut away my flesh and tear out my bones to atone for this sin!"
"Why must you torment us like this?"
The situation briefly spiraled out of control. Even the Cardinals of the Earth Mother Goddess Church nearby were moved, yet they silently signaled for the believers to keep crying.
Perhaps the believers' cries really could draw the Mother