The queen's campaign was still not over. After burning the ghouls of the Strigg family as scapegoats, Catalina declared a three-day public holiday for the whole city. During the public holiday, workers' salaries were still paid. In addition, free bread was given as a gift.
For a time, the whole city was rejoicing, and it seemed that everyone began to praise the queen for her kindness...
But privately, the rumor that the Snow Queen is a vampire still persists.
For this reason, the secret police began to dispatch again. This time, it was a large-scale dispatch and a city-wide manhunt. Anyone who talked about Catalina as a vampire in public was targeted, or threatened with the lives of their families and warned.
They kept their mouths shut, or put knives directly on their necks, telling these dishonest people that if they kept talking, they would be killed. There were many ways to kill people. When corpses were exposed on the street in the early morning, no one
Will you care how this person died? The winter in Kislev is very cold. Drunkards treat the main road as their home. They lie drunk on the streets and freeze to death when they wake up the next day. It happens every year, and it is common.
"I'm afraid this bloody storm will end like this."
The nobles were talking about this terrible situation in their mansions, and no one dared to say anything in front of outsiders. For fear of being accidentally overheard by the secret police dressed as civilians in the corner. The gloomy sky enveloped Kislev, and it seemed that
The situation here is not much better than during the rebellion in Erengrad.
"It's just like this? On the surface, that's the case, but I'm more concerned about how Catalina solves the post-war problems. As far as I know, she emptied the treasury in order to build a fleet to block the Erengrad harbor. This money is not
I know how she will fill it. Kislev is extremely weak now, and without the cash cow of Old Erengrad, Her Majesty the Queen may not be able to make up for the financial deficit caused by the war, no matter how good she is."
"Perhaps we should hope that she survives. Otherwise, if the Snow Queen cannot find money, the first person she will think of is us. The common people are already very poor. How many cents can they squeeze out of their pockets? Through the ages,
You and I both know how the Tsar expanded his treasury."
As the two nobles chatted, they couldn't help but feel a lot of pressure and their hearts were extremely heavy.
…
Although the city of Kislev was in chaos, Erengrad in the north finally calmed down. The surviving refugees began to repair the city, and the buildings that had been burned or destroyed in the war were demolished as
Building materials for the new city. The new mayor, Duke Landau, is not an extravagant person. On the contrary, in order to clean up the mess left by the queen, he tried to save every expense and used the building materials from the ruins to rebuild the new city.
It is one of the ways to save money.
After the rebellion ended, the only thing that was beneficial to the North was the inflow of refugees. Perhaps for other places, refugees were a headache, but for the North, this problem was not a problem. On the contrary, it was a good thing.
Because the north is vast and sparsely populated, and the cold climate prevents the population from flowing in for many years, it is indeed a waste to have the vast land uncultivated. After the rebellion, a large number of refugees went north, which actually promoted the development of the north.
The Black Hammer Castle under the jurisdiction of Rhodes was no exception and got a share of the pie. Judging from Muros's letter, the situation in his hometown was already very bad. Laheim had monopolized many industries, even smuggled arms and established his own bodyguard team.
.
But right now, Rhodes is more concerned about the situation in Kislev city, because Dennis is still in the city, and he heard that the undead army broke out from the magic academy. If this is true, his daughter's life will be in danger. This
This is what Rhodes is most worried about.
Therefore, Rhodes asked Yeskovitch and Bogul to go back with Caroline first, while he planned to go to Kislev City to visit Dennis. He had agreed with Catalina before the war that no reward would be required, but only
Reunited with her daughter. Now is the time for Catalina to fulfill her promise.
"A lord who values his daughter more than his territory is not a good lord."
Before leaving, Diego came over and stopped Rhodes. He was still wearing the black coat. Ever since he met this guy in the Secret Word Castle, Rhodes had never seen him change his coat. Like other knights, Onion
The odor of sweat and sweat always accompanies him. But this is not surprising. Kislev has a cold climate. There is no hot water for bathing in winter. They are constantly fighting and traveling throughout the winter, and there are few opportunities to clean their personal hygiene.
"A lord who values his territory more than his daughter is not a good father."
Rhodes replied.
Diego smiled and put a hand on Rhodes' shoulder.
"I'll go to Kislev with you."
he said.
"no."
As soon as Diego finished speaking, Rhodes rejected him harshly.
"Why?"
asked the witch hunter.
"I know what you want to do. There was a riot in Kislev, and it was caused by the undead army. There must be many evil creatures there. You want to investigate clearly, and if you have the chance, you want to kill one or two of them. But my friend, I still want to
Do you remember our agreement?"
Rhodes pushed away Diego's hand and said with a serious expression——
"This country is full of darkness and evil. You cannot eradicate them all by yourself. You cannot deal with the vampires hiding in cities and castles alone. I will help you, but it will take time.
We must consider the long term. You know, the witch hunter killed the Queen's most effective assistant, and she has no good impression of you. On the contrary, if she knows that a witch hunter has sneaked into the capital, then, with Catalina's character
, she will dig three feet into the ground to find you. I can't protect you, and you can't escape unscathed. The danger in Kislev City will exceed your imagination. Of course, I am not afraid of this, because
I went to visit my daughter for a legitimate reason. When I get there, they will entertain me and protect me, but you can't. You will only become a target of being tracked and hunted when you get there. Those secret police, their ability to track their prey is not good.
How much worse than you witch hunters."
After Rhodes finished speaking, Diego shrugged helplessly, indicating that he would not go if he didn't want to go.
"Don't forget our agreement. We have to get rid of the people on the list one by one. But rushing into the most dangerous place is not a wise decision."
After patting Diego on the shoulder, Rhodes packed the last thing into his luggage.