Chapter 82: Ch 82: Extending a Helping Hand

"What kind of nonsense are you saying? Do you actually expect us to believe that-"

A few people showed their shocked displeasure at Sasha’s words, not willing to believe her. But the elder slammed his stick on the ground, causing everyone to calm down.

Everyone turned to look at the elder to hear what his decision would be, and the older man made a quick decision. His gaze felt like it was searching through Aiden’s mind, but he quickly shut it out.

He made sure the half-phoenix elder did not see beyond what he wanted him to, and the elder smiled gently at him.

"Please pardon my actions. I wanted to catch you off-guard so that I could see what you truly want. But now I see that you truly have no desire to hurt us."

Aiden nodded slowly to show that he understood. But that did not mean he was happy about this. He chose to stay quiet for the sake of his goddess. He did not want her to know something had happened.

Aiden could feel how agitated Goddess Apophis was, but she chose to follow his lead rather than causing an accident in order to avenge him, which he was grateful for.

The elder looked around at the other half-phoenixes before turning his attention back toward Aiden.

"However, understanding your intentions does not mean that everyone here will immediately accept your offer. We have survived this long by being careful about outsiders so trust is a little thin right now."

"That is understandable."

Aiden replied calmly, even though he could still feel his goddess’s anger radiating from beside him.

"But I am not asking you to trust me blindly either. I am willing to prove that my intentions are genuine."

The elder narrowed his eyes slightly at those words.

"And how do you intend to do that?"

Aiden thought about it for a moment before glancing toward Sasha.

"I heard that your village has been struggling with a lack of resources. If that is true, then I can provide you with food, medicine, and other necessities without asking for anything in return."

The surrounding half-phoenixes immediately became more attentive.

Food and medicine were not things they could easily obtain anymore. However...to take it from an outsider without consideration...

Especially one with another god and faith...

The elder noticed the change in their expressions and sighed.

"You truly intend to do this without asking us to worship your goddess?"

"I do. This is what Goddess Apophis wants as well-to help. My goddess is kind and benevolent after all. Of course, if you eventually choose to follow Goddess Apophis, she will welcome you. But I will not force you."

Aiden quickly added the last part. He was never going to back down from advertising his goddess and converting more people into her followers.

The elder remained silent for several seconds.

Then, surprisingly, he smiled.

"Perhaps...we should hear what you have to offer."

"But elder-"

"We don’t have much of a choice here either. Our harvest was especially bad this year and I do not want to see anyone starve. Would you like to take this risk?"

As soon as the elder said these words, everyone went quiet. It was clear that no one wanted to die, even if they had to accept the foreign help.

"Well, why don’t we start small? As I said, you don’t have to accept Goddess Apophis as your god and we won’t force you to either. Instead, we are offering to relocate you on the outskirts of our village where you can live a quite life, but also be inside her protective reach."

Aiden offered once more and even the more stubborn people started to waver.

In the end, the chief noticed this as well and he let out a sigh.

"We shall have a talk about it among each other. Meanwhile, why don’t you look around our humble village. Seni, show them around."

Seni, the half-phoenix healer from outside faith flinched and nodded.

"I-I will..."

Now it was a waiting game but Aiden had a feeling they won’t have to wait for too long. He was even more sure after seeing the condition of the village. All the crops were dying and the soil looked undisputedly bad.

But it was not normal. He could feel the divine essence that was eroding this place.

Most of the halflings had likely not noticed and even if they did, they chose to ignore it. But it was only a matter of time before this place fell.

It made him once more aware that the system had a reason for everything it did. And most of it was to help Aiden out.

It brought Aiden to this phoenix village so that he could help the phoenixes and gain their trust.

Now, it was a waiting game to see how long it takes these phoenixes to come to their senses and agree to head back with him.

...

"Leader, what were you thinking? We cannot allow those outsiders to come here and cause a mess of things! We need to throw them out."

Some of the extremists in the group made a decision and presented their leader with this. However, their elders did not agree with their sentiment.

In fact, he did not even pay them much attention and chose to clap his hand to gather everyone’s attention.

"I know that you are worried and jaded by outsiders after all this time. However, I believe that we should give these outsiders a chance. It cannot be a coincidence that they arrived at such an important time for us."

The elder pointed out and a lot of people around him got triggered.

"Of course it’s not a coincidence! This is a trap set by those people. I bet they are also the ones who destroyed our crops and forced us into this desperate situation. All that just so that they could take advantage of us."

More than a few people nodded, showing their frustration. But the elder just sighed and shook his head at his own people’s ignorance.