The Villain Changed the Ending

068 Failure is the mother of success

***[Heroine Oscar]***

It’s summer now, and the days are hot.

As he wiped away the dripping sweat, Benno’s face naturally frowned.

he is sorry

On this hot summer day, being exposed to the scorching heat, Benno seems very sorry.

‘Well, it’s not like I don’t know that feeling.’

If it is unavoidable, it cannot be helped.

But when I know I can stay cool enough and don’t use it, yes, I get depressed too.

I too want to stay in a cool room.

‘But the granary still has a higher priority.’

I poured the water Benno brought into my mouth.

cold.

There was a lot of perishable food in the kitchen, so there was a cold storage.

Thanks to this, you can drink a cold drink even in the middle of summer.

Cooling down with the coldness that permeated my body, I looked at Benno.

Until just before fall, I have to go around buying grain.

Money was accumulated from various things, so there was money to buy new crops.

They are supplementing weapons and manpower in preparation for the invasion of the steppe tribes, but food purchases are also important.

Whenever I could afford money, I was buying grain that could be stored for a long time.

Because if you’re hungry, you can’t fight.

The duke’s family had a trading house in charge of the grain trade.

A significant amount of grain is purchased through merchants, but purchases are not limited to merchants.

Sometimes they are purchased directly from the artist.

In such cases, there is an official in charge, but if the purchasing unit is too large, some exchanges between the heads of households are required.

This time, I had to deal with a new family.

Since the purchase is carried out in a different format from the conventional method, I have to go out myself.

“Before I go out to buy something, I’ll have to go to the granary. Please prepare for that as well.”

“All right.”

While Benno went to the corner and ordered his subordinate to prepare to leave, I blankly looked out the window.

My heart felt a little heavy at the thought of going out in the scorching sun on this hot day.

After giving instructions to his subordinate, Benno came closer and suddenly asked.

“Master, during the hunting season, are you going to call your wife here?

“Well, what should I do?”

When Katrin is called here, we need to add enough escort soldiers to the movement.

Even the marquess would have an escort, but she was the duke’s wife.

You need soldiers from the duke’s family to match it, and since it’s the first time you’ve set foot in the dukedom, you’ll have to decorate the appearance of the procession to show to the people.

In addition, the duke’s mansion had to be prepared.

From the preparation of the room and the dress to the appointment of the maid, the mother and the head maid would have to be busy.

The vassal family to attend the hunt will have to send a notification that the duchess is coming, and the mother will have to lay the groundwork for Katrin in advance at the wives exchange meeting, so it becomes quite a lot of work.

Autumn sounds like a lot of time, but I think it’s about a month that I can use for the preparation process.

busy.

I was a little worried, but I shrugged my shoulders thinking about the reports of the wives that Catherine was zealous.

“Since the evaluations of the wives were very good, let’s call them.”

Carrots and sticks are effective when used alternately.

Up until now, he had only swung a whip, so at this point he had to give him a carrot so that his motivation would not be dampened.

A smile appeared on Benno’s face.

“Your wife will be very pleased. The godfather is also looking forward to meeting you…”

“Mother will take care of the ladies-in-waiting, but… Benno should inform the head maid in advance. Catherine is a little different from other noble women.”

The head maid had worked for a long time in this top-level family, and she had been watching her mother ever since she got married.

He knows what a high-ranking aristocratic woman is like, so when he sees Katrin, he immediately notices her level.

If you do wrong, you may be looked down on as inferior to your mother.

My mother was a noblewoman, and I heard that she had the best manners and education.

It would be a bit pitiful to compare young Katrin to that.

Besides, people in this family tend to think too highly of me, and if I get it wrong, I might think that Catherine is out of place for me.

Aristocratic women seem to be able to do whatever they want, but the reality is different.

There were quite a few ladies who pretended to be respected only on the outside and were treated coldly by the servants.

Since the older the family, the more likely it is to be a member of a vassal family with a long history of serving people, so married women often do not want to get fired because they are worried about a backlash.

There wouldn’t be anything bad about getting along well with someone in command, such as the head maid or the head butler.

‘Cause I’m a little worried because Katrin stands out too much.’

Benno laughed and lowered his head.

“I don’t think you need to worry about the head maid. She will be on your side more than anyone else. If the high lady treats you kindly, no one in this household dares to neglect her. You can rest assured. “

“…then that’s fine.”

I let out a small sigh.

I’m a little worried now about what my mother will think of Katrin.

Mother is an example of an aristocratic woman.

He was accustomed to a life of enduring and sacrificing for his family.

She lives like that even before getting married and after marrying into this family.

Maybe it’s the exact opposite of Katrin, who is faithful to her own desires.

Benno’s smile deepened.

I think he noticed what I was thinking.

“I fully understand the master’s concerns, but don’t worry about that either. Thanks to the letters your wife has sent you since she was a child, you already know his disposition.”

Well, that’s it too.

As if drawn by Benno, a smile appeared on my face.

As if I had timed it, at the end of my conversation with Benno, a report came that I was ready to leave.

Let’s go outside, escort soldiers and horses are ready.

hahahaha, the thought of riding around in this heat really kills me.

*

In the summer, the granary was the biggest problem.

It’s okay if you can make it into powder like wheat and store it.

However, those that failed to do so often took root or withered away, and those stored as seeds were also easy to spoil.

Seeds for the next year’s crops are especially important, but if the storage conditions are not good or the time until seeding is prolonged, the probability of germination decreases.

In that case, it literally affects the next cultivation, and in the case of seeds brought in with difficulty from abroad, the damage was even greater because there was no alternative crop.

Even if the soil is difficult to adjust for the growth of crops, it is useless if the seeds do not germinate.

Growing crops may seem easy, but it required some effort to produce large and abundant fruits.

It happens in other seasons too, but in this world without refrigerators, summer is the most troublesome.

Not just the duchy, but probably most families.

I still pay a lot of attention to it.

However, right now I was paying attention to the temperature control, not the heat.

It’s all thanks to Sven.

The failure he had while developing the magic bomb was rather a blessing in disguise, and now it has become an expensive magic tool.

“Whoops.”

Suddenly, laughter came out.

Sven has developed a refrigerator in this world.

Compared to modern civilization, the temperature control is difficult and the usage is somewhat sloppy, but it is innovative in this era.

I think the greatest inventions on Earth are refrigerators and air conditioners, so I think so.

Getting Sven was probably the greatest luck of my life.

The duke’s granary is located in several places.

Among them, the largest was the warehouse that existed inside the innermost wall of the three-layered walls of the city of Eldoni.

There is also a warehouse in the grounds of the duke’s residence, but it is several times larger than that.

Grains bought from all over the country were gathered and piled up there.

While collecting food in preparation for the war with the grassland tribes, they are also building more warehouses.

Not only war, but also famine or natural disasters can be fully prepared.

When I entered the large building where the grain was stored by type with a partition wall, a manager jumped out between the tightly stacked grain sacks.

“Are you here, Duke?”

The caretaker was wearing a thick coat over him, even though it was midsummer.

It is because the temperature of the storage warehouse is low using the cooling magic tool.

I also got a little goosebumps on my body.

“Isn’t the temperature too low?”

At my question, the manager bowed his head.

“A few days ago, a newly improved magic tool came in, but it’s much colder than I thought. Even though I took some out to adjust it, it’s still so cold.”

The manager’s shoulders went down a bit, as if tired.

“However, if the number is too small, it will quickly be affected by the heat outside, so we are repeating importing and exporting again.

The manager chuckles.

“But don’t worry, Duke. I’m constantly checking for frozen or frosty areas.”

Sven’s magic tool was originally a failure.

If you put magic into it, it will not stay in the magic tool, but will leak out little by little.

No matter what, I couldn’t completely confine my mana within the mana stone.

The same goes for magic bombs.

That’s why magic bombs must be energized right before use.

I was the one who suggested using that property to shed cold or warmth.

It was because it reminded me of Earth’s air conditioner, which made it easier to store food.

However, there is no switch to turn it off, and there is no temperature control.

If you put magic power in, cold or warmth flows out little by little until the magic power runs out, so in order to control the coldness, you had no choice but to touch the capacity of magic tools to be put in when making magic tools, or increase or decrease the number of magic tools when using them in real life.

Sven is struggling with various things, but it seems impossible to confine mana inside the mana stone no matter what.

Until now, it wasn’t enough just to use it at the Duke’s house, but thanks to the Beast’s bones bought from the pirate ship a while ago, there were enough materials to make magic tools.

First of all, I plan to provide air-conditioning magic tools to the Marquis Hoven, Marquis Petri, and the vassal of the duke’s family, and reduce the capacity of the monster’s bones to make them into weak air-conditioning devices.

That way, when the money comes in, they buy things needed for war again.

Buy weapons and food, train soldiers.

I felt with my body that war was fought with money.

Money was king on the modern Earth, and so is this world.

Power and money are the best.

You can’t live on your lineage or status alone.

After walking around the granary for a while, checking the conditions and talking to the manager, I left.

When I came out, my body, which had been shivering from the cold a moment before, quickly melted in the sunlight and stretched out.

The heat seems to melt the bones.

It felt like the sun was burning high above my head.

“Duke, wouldn’t it be better to go inside the carriage?”

The escort captain, who couldn’t see it, spoke up.

“It’s okay. If you go inside, the steamer will rattle and vibrate, so I think I’m going to vomit.”

“… It reminds me of the old days.”

The captain of the escort covered his mouth with his fist and laughed.

It seems that he remembered throwing up at Benno when he was young.

“Forget about it now.”

“I’m sorry. It feels like just yesterday.”

People I’ve seen since I was young are troubled because of this.

Standing in front of these people, dignity and everything else disappears.

I let out a small sigh and rode off.

*

After departing from the central city of Eldoni, I stopped at several cities en route to my destination.

Most of them grow special crops.

I am cultivating a variety of new crops brought in from abroad and via pirate ships.

In some places, the harvest was good, but sometimes the newly introduced seeds did not grow properly and died.

I chose a place where the crop conditions were not good as much as possible and stayed.

Dying crops do not come back to life just because I see them.

However, it can raise the morale of officials and farmers.

After making a few stops and cheering people up, I continued heading south to my destination.

If you go farther south from the dukedom, you will find a region with very warm temperatures.

There was a city that was directly governed by a ducal family, not a vassal family, where the border with other territories took several days.

It was originally a huge fortified city.

There are not many commoners who are still living there.

Many of them were soldiers and slaves.

As I got closer, the huge gate opened as if I had recognized the carriage’s coat of arms.

As I entered through the door, a huge man hurried out to meet me.

He is the captain in charge of this fort.

The captain of the fortress city saw me and moved his huge body and lowered his head.

“how is it.”

When I asked endlessly, the captain smiled.

“If you’re asking about slave soldiers, there’s only chaff these days. But if you’re talking about crops…”

The captain puffed out his chest.

“It’s great.”

The escort captain standing behind him frowned.

It’s too rude to say something to a duke.

But this captain has been like this since the first time I met him.

Since he was a mercenary, should I say that he left his courtesy somewhere far away in Andromeda?

Not much different from the captain of a pirate ship.

But this person’s skills are real.

The duke’s soldiers are also excellent, but this captain and his men literally eat sh*t in order to survive.

In actual combat, the duchy would be better than the soldiers.

If dealing with steppe tribes, they might be stronger than duchy soldiers.

“Okay then, shall we look at the soldiers first?”

“I eat delicious things first, but the duke is different because he is a nobleman. If he doesn’t taste good things first, he may die and there may not be anything after that.”

At the captain’s words, the escort captain’s eyebrows rose to the sky again.

I looked at the captain of the fortified city as I raised my hand and calmed the captain of the escort.

“Because I don’t plan to die.”

“Hmm, well, the duke won’t die when I’m there. I’ll do my best to protect it.”

“It’s good.”

The captain of the fortress city grinned.

“How are the soldiers?”

“I still haven’t let go of my spirit as a slave, but if I push myself a little more, I’ll become a decent demon.”

“Don’t push yourself to death. I didn’t entrust you with killing them.”

“of course.”

The captain put on a slightly sad expression, asking if he didn’t trust himself that much.

The captain led us to a training ground where the smell of sweat vibrates.

It is crowded with people who take off their tops and beat each other with wooden swords.

The horse is a soldier, and all they were wearing was a pair of short pants that looked like pieces of cloth.

I saw the figures of soldiers who seemed to have survived only their eyes.

I was raising slave soldiers and sugarcane here.