The Villain Changed the Ending

121 God’s wrath is on the river

***[Heroine Oscar]***

The cold season passed, and the snow that touched the ground began to soften little by little.

Spring still seems distant, and traces of winter are everywhere, but sometimes the snow melts and exposes the ground.

Even if you can’t see it, you can already feel that spring is approaching.

The head of the priest does not return to his own temple, but stays in the temple in the city.

He said that he could stay in the duke’s house if he wanted, but he refused and made and sold amulets in Eldoni’s temple.

Of course, they also sell to rich people and nobles, but mainly to commoners.

It is said that most of the things the priest makes are talismans wishing for the safety of children.

I have heard reports that commoners are putting prices that they can afford if they push themselves a bit.

‘Wasn’t he a priest who simply revealed money?’

It’s kind of cool to extort a lot of money from the nobles and sell it cheaply to the poor.

‘He was a person who didn’t fit in with cool things at all.’

I remembered his flirtatious behavior and smiled softly.

But I don’t know if the high priest can leave the temple for that long.

I was thinking about something else for a while when I heard Benno’s voice.

“It seems that demon beasts are at their peak near the royal capital. They say people have been attacked again.”

He seems to have noticed that his concentration was slightly scattered.

It was at such a time that Benno spoke to me while I was working.

I felt like I was caught by the teacher.

Benno picks up the tea brought by the young butler and puts it down.

“It is said that secretly bad rumors are spreading in the capital.”

“Has the word started to come out that you’ve bought God’s wrath?”

When I asked, Benno lowered his head slightly.

“It hasn’t come out on the surface yet, but it seems like those words are coming out of people’s mouths.”

“That’s a bit of a problem.”

“It seems that the royal family intends to use Igor to dispel the rumor. They say they are officially hiring.”

The appointment of a royal fortune teller does not mean that something is officially announced.

It is only that a considerable amount of money is regularly paid to the fortuneteller and a residence is provided in the palace.

It was a bit difficult to say that it was something very special because there were already people living and coming in and out of the palace.

However, being a fortune teller itself draws people’s attention.

If you become a special existence as a royal fortune teller, there will be enough topics.

When I asked with my eyes what happened to the crown prince, Benno continued.

“The Crown Prince is also said to have gotten better thanks to him. The nightmares are gone, but there is news that his violence has decreased a little and he has become calm. I think that’s why the king trusted Igor.”

“How did you do it?”

It is certain that Igor has some power.

However, fortune-tellers may not have the power to change the behavior of others.

‘I don’t know if it’s a curse, but changing the behavior of others in a short period of time.’

Could this be what the goddess warned her about?

I felt a bit ominous.

“Have you heard anything from the Watcher? Do you feel like Igor is doing something to the Crown Prince?”

“I’m told there’s nothing particularly notable about it.”

Perhaps aware of my nervousness, Benno’s expression became a little more serious.

“However, it is said that sometimes there are only two people talking without even an attendant approaching. As the nightmares stopped, the crown prince came to believe in him, and they became very close within a short period of time.”

“okay.”

It was the moment I spoke while hiding a bit of ominousness in my heart.

The door to the office opened hurriedly and the butler entered.

Benno’s face frowned slightly.

“This is where the master resides. Be careful what you do.”

“Sorry. An urgent message has just arrived from the capital.”

“…”

When I allowed my eyes to speak, the butler opened his mouth.

“It is said that there was an attack by demons in the river near the capital. Two large ships were sunk and most of the people on board died.”

“what!”

Unbeknownst to me, a loud sound came out.

The royal capital was flanked by a large river.

Most of the goods and food used in the capital are transported through the river.

It’s not like they don’t use land at all.

However, since it takes more time and money, most merchants used the sea route.

The advantages of the water route are so great that they do not change to the land route even though they know that the number of monsters living in the water is increasing.

‘But the witch…’

If the waterway is blocked, goods will not arrive at the capital.

Not just the king.

If the waterway becomes dangerous, many of the cities that depend on it will be hit.

As the price of goods skyrocketed and food became scarce, some people starved to death.

Contrary to my surprise, Benno was calm.

His eyes were fixed in the air, his face almost expressionless.

I had seen his expression like this before.

It’s something fast thinking in your head.

Benno, who had been standing there for a while, moved his body.

“It’s a big deal.”

After Benno said calmly, he immediately called for another butler and started giving orders.

“You go to the library and get some data… yes, that data and a map of the entire duchy… yes, that’s it. Hurry up, don’t waste your master’s time.”

As the butler quickly left the office, Benno took out some booklets from the library inside the office.

“Master, this is a list of the families that owe our family. The previous as well as previous events are written on it, and what is written in this booklet is also kept in mind by the opposing family, so it can be used. It’s something you can push, so you can use it as much as you want. This pamphlet is about the secrets and shame of other families. It shouldn’t be revealed.”

Do you mean to use it for intimidation?

I smiled bitterly.

I just heard the news that the waterway to the capital was blocked, but suddenly bringing out materials that can threaten Taga, the story jumps out too loudly.

In the meantime, the butler who had been ordered came with a rolled-up map and brochure.

He probably ran from the library to this place after leaving this room.

much faster than usual.

Benno received the data and placed it on his desk, continuing his conversation.

“This document is an old book that describes the appearance of monsters in the river in the past. It was written from before the founding of the country, so whatever type of monsters appearing now will be in this booklet. There is something.”

The materials that Benno arranged on the desk in turn were an old book describing the appearance of the demon in the river, a map depicting the place, and a booklet highlighting the characteristics of the demon.

I’ve never seen a monster that lives in water, but I think I’ll become the biggest expert on water demons in an instant.

Of course, I’ll have to die reading this before that.

Benno brought one last booklet.

“This is about the specialties and main business of each territory. In particular, the families that depend on the waterways are listed here. The families that use the land routes are here.”

Benno opens the booklet and shows it.

“Awesome.”

As I muttered in a state where I wasn’t sure whether the information gathered in an instant or whether it was such a big deal that I had to read it all, Benno smiled.

“All I can do is send the data to the owner like this. First of all, if you have this much data, I think there will be no difficulty for the owner to judge.”

Benno had a young butler put another side desk next to my desk.

Objects on the desk were cleared in an instant, and the appropriate booklets and materials were placed in kind and order.

“We will hurry up and find out information about this incident.”

“thank you.”

When I said that, Benno quietly lowered his head.

“It’s something I have to do, of course.”

The butlers stepped back so as not to interfere with my work, and the chatter between the aides died down.

I first looked at the map and looked at the cities that would be most likely to suffer if the waterways were cut off.

It is difficult to subdue the demons living in water.

If it was land, it would be possible to go deeper into the forest at the risk of reducing the number of demon beasts, but rivers and seas could not do that.

I had no choice but to wait for them to appear in places where they frequently appeared.

If it was possible to kill the Water Demon Beast even then, that would be difficult.

Humans can only fight on boats, but water demons can hide themselves in deep water at will.

It was unavoidable unless humans developed the ability to breathe underwater.

‘For the time being, I have to follow the waterways within the dukedom and hunt monsters.’

However, it is difficult to completely get rid of the demonic beast.

If it were me, I could kill the Witchbeast in an instant, but that was only possible if I could see it or sense its existence.

If you don’t know where it is, you won’t be able to kill the beast with my magical power.

This is because the ability I have can be used only when I am conscious of the opponent.

It’s close to a miracle, but even if you can kill all the monsters in the dukedom, the waterway has to be connected to another place to be meaningful.

It’s not just the dukedom that’s supposed to be safe.

If the Demon Beast riots in the water and destroys the boat, the river road is blocked at any time.

I clicked my tongue a little.

It will take some time for the passage to come to a complete standstill, but in the end no boats will be able to float on the river.

After that, the only thing left was the road.

However, the land route is too slow compared to the sea route.

Each territory became short of supplies, and eventually the lord of each region had the possibility to prevent the leakage of the territory’s goods to the outside.

In this era, there are still many lords who think that it is more profitable to store food in their territory than to make money by selling it.

If that happens, logistics will be completely blocked, and rising prices and food shortages will not be a problem unique to the capital.

The whole kingdom will starve.

If a country becomes weak, it will eventually lead to invasion by other countries. Once the snowball rolls, it will continue to roll and bring more tragedy.

It might perish without waiting for the grassland tribes to invade.

‘I don’t think there’s anyone who can think of such a problem yet.’

Benno didn’t think that way and prepared the materials.

It is simply to enable me to make good judgments.

No, maybe Benno thought that this incident could further expand the power of the duchy.

Maybe that’s why he even brought intimidating materials in front of me.

‘Anyway, we have to stop the spread of the fear of not being able to find food.’

There was only one family in this world that could do that.

That’s our duke.

My family had a logistics unit that could be said to be the most advanced in this world.

No house, not even the most logistical merchants, can keep up with the efficient movement of our quartermasters on land.

Our logistics unit, which has been supplemented and supplemented over the years, is the fastest except for the sea route.

‘But passing through each territory is a problem.’

Until now, most of the logistical units had operated only within the Duchy.

Otherwise, it was just a number that followed me as I moved.

Since it was only a universal procession, there was no problem passing through other territories, but when it became large, the problem changed.

There is no place to welcome soldiers from other territories passing through their land.

Since many of the people currently in the lordship had first-hand experience of war and plunder, they were particularly sensitive to such things.

‘As expected, a little intimidation is unavoidable.’

I sighed as I looked at the booklet Benno had brought.

It’s okay to build a friendly relationship, but I can’t help it with a place that doesn’t.

‘I’m sure it won’t be a problem until after some time passes and they know that we’re not trying to do anything.’

There is no lord who goes this far for other places.

After all, what I do is for myself and the dukedom, but to others I will look strange.

Maybe it looks like a scammer.

‘Though it would be best for the royal family to take care of it.’

But it’s probably impossible.

The ability of the royal family is also a problem, but there was an attack by water demons in the yard that rumors that they had bought God’s wrath began.

With this incident as an opportunity, wouldn’t the rumor spread in the blink of an eye?

The wilder the Water Demon, the more difficult the position of the royal family will become.

*

As if confirming my concerns, there was another attack by the Water Demons a week later.

It happened right after praying to the gods in several temples by order of the king.