novelraw Chapter 73: The Goddess of Wisdom’s Wishing Pool
Chapter 73: The Goddess of Wisdom’s Wishing Pool
[Second Round Complete! Millbrook suffers a sudden outbreak of malignant affliction: a large number of ordinary citizens develop blotchy rashes, and once the marks cover half their bodies, they die instantly. Rumors begin to spread that the evil war has unleashed a plague. In reality, the Priest discovers that the blemishes are a curse, not a disease. Death toll in Millbrook today: 900.]
[Third Round Begins!]
Romon’s brow tightened as he read the update.
Nine hundred dead in a single day—the curse was merciless!
The people of Millbrook were already hard to win over, and now, with a massive curse and swirling rumors, pacification would be even more difficult.
Thank goodness this was only a simulation. If it were real, he’d be dazed—and cursed out by every surviving Millbrook citizen.
"Dispatch teams in batches to investigate the source of the curse," he ordered, "and find someone capable of delaying its onset."
[Third Round Complete! The Guild of Assassins identifies the curse’s origin: a Millbrook official who feigned surrender secretly unleashed "The Curse of Lishui" on the lower classes. Interrogation reveals he activated the curse even before the gates were opened. To break the Curse of Lishui, at least a Kinglevel Priest is required.]
[Fourth Round Begins!]
"I fucking—" Romon swore under his breath. Another Kinglevel Priest!
Lately, he seemed locked in a constant battle with this requirement—first he had to slay one, and now he had to hire one.
He opened the recruitment interface, only to find there were no Kinglevel Priests available anywhere.
Millbrook could never have one, nor could Highmount Fortress or Stone Town. He’d have to look beyond his own lands—and that offered no solution.
Thomas Nightingale had toiled for years to secure a single Kinglevel Priest, proving how rare they were.
Romon found himself trapped.
The solution was staring him in the face, but he couldn’t find the right recruit.
And if he didn’t solve it this round, what would happen next?
Would another nine hundred perish? Or would the curse spread further—to a thousand, fifteen hundred?
At this rate, all his efforts for Millbrook would be wasted.
Restarting the simulation wouldn’t help; the official had cast his curse before the gates even opened—willing to kill his own people rather than let them serve Romon.
"One more round of observation," Romon decided firmly. "If there’s still no other way, we’ll lock the city down."
The number of simulation rounds was limited, and it was impossible to continue watching the people of Millbrook die off.
If there were no other solution by the next round, he planned to simply abandon the city, lock it down, and destroy it in a concentrated effort.
[Fifth Round Complete! The curse in Millbrook continues, and more people are dying. You tried to relocate the population, but even outside the city, some people were still cursed. There were no places left to bury the bodies, causing secondary contamination, which led to the spread of a small-scale disease. The Priest has done all they can, but there is no hope. It seems that the curse only affects the locals, as none of the personnel brought in from Stone Town or Highmount Fortress have been cursed.]
[Sixth Round Begins!]
Romon gritted his teeth when he saw this.
He immediately canceled all deployments inside Millbrook, then ordered the army to march in and carry out the final execution of the city.
The severity of this curse meant that even leaving Millbrook couldn’t avoid its effects. If this continued, the constant death toll would become a major problem for the entire Thune Territory. The disposal of bodies and the spread of disease were still weak points for Thune Territory at this stage.
So, it was better to cut the pain short rather than prolong it. He decided to use the most advanced military technology in Thune Territory to completely destroy the town and let the bodies and diseases rot in the ruins.
[Fifth Round Complete! The story of Millbrook spreads, and your actions have sparked condemnation from all sectors of society. At least seven out of ten people consider you a tyrant. You were unable to solve the disaster in Millbrook, which highlights your lack of effective methods. The difficulty of pacifying new territories has increased. The difficulty of winning over the people of new territories has increased. Reputation decreased. Villainy increased.]
[Sixth Round Begins!]
Romon was at a loss for words, taking on the role of a tyrant in his daily life.
What was most frustrating was that the situation in the simulation was already happening in reality.
The information he had only uncovered in the third round was, in fact, already in motion by the time Millbrook was captured. No, the curse had begun even before that, as early as the day before Millbrook was taken.
And, unless something unexpected occurred, the policies he could implement were limited. Apart from killing the one who had unleashed the curse, his remaining options could only follow the path laid out in the simulation.
Since no King-level Priest could even be recruited in the simulation, it was clear he would have even less success in the real world.
Romon had always managed to avoid crises that started from the first round. But this time, the crisis had begun from a pre-round—he could simulate and predict the future, but he couldn’t change the past.
The past was set, and the future had become a stalemate.
Once Millbrook perished, the morale in Thune Territory would take a huge hit, and its reputation would be severely tarnished. This would lead to a long period of stagnation.
"Forget it. Let’s try expanding forcefully," Romon thought. "Since there’s nothing to be done about Millbrook, I may as well drop it and shift my focus to broader horizons."
Attack, Conquer, and Bring the Land and People Under Control.
[Sixth Round Complete! Your expansion army faces fierce resistance. After learning of your atrocities, the opposing army’s morale has soared, becoming fiercely determined to defeat you. Although they can’t withstand the bombing of the third-generation machines, the resistance to your expansion has significantly increased.]
[Seventh Round Begins!]
"Continue."
[Seventh Round Complete! Thomas Nightingale’s youngest son, Ryanie Nightingale, representing the Lord, comes to Thune Territory to negotiate. They demand an end to the war and the declaration of surrender. If Thune Territory continues the attack, it will be considered an act of war, and Nightingale Territory reserves the right to rally allies for resistance.]
[Eighth Round Begins!]
"Ryanie Nightingale?"
Romon didn’t know the name of Thomas Nightingale’s youngest son, only that he had five children. After the eldest son’s death, it had to be the youngest who inherited the Lordship.
So, logically, his youngest son’s name was Ryanie Nightingale.
The development unfolded just as Romon had anticipated—once the youngest son took over the Lordship, he would seek to surrender.
Right now, Thune Territory was on the offensive, but the one who declared war was Thomas Nightingale, not Thune Territory. Therefore, Thune Territory was in the right. Once victorious, they could demand reparations from the Nightingale family.
Of course, Romon couldn’t just accept their surrender.
[Eighth Round Complete! Your demand for reparations is the entirety of Nightingale Territory. The negotiation has broken down.]
[Ninth Round Begins!]
[Ninth Round Complete! Ryanie Nightingale abandons the permanent garrison of Nightingale Territory, concentrating all military forces on the border, preparing for a desperate last stand. But before the battle begins, scouts report that a large knight army from Matthews Territory has arrived at Nightingale Manor.]
[Your simulation rounds are now exhausted, cooling down for 10 days.]
[Simulation Score: 160 points]
[Reward: One Goddess of Wisdom Wishing Pool]
"Matthews? My old friend has probably been waiting for this day," Romon thought with a smirk.
The Lords of Matthews Territory and Nightingale Territory had been subtly competing for a long time, with Thomas Nightingale having come out on top. Matthews even owed Spidevs money, while Thomas’s wealth seemed endless.
Thomas Nightingale was aware of his territory’s size and knew that if other garrisons faltered, the neighbors would certainly take notice. As a result, Thomas rarely mobilized all his forces at once.
However, his youngest son, Ryanie Nightingale, didn’t care about such things. In his attempt to regain face from Romon, he drew all the elite forces from his entire territory to fight Romon in a final showdown.
When this situation arose, Matthews, without a second thought, sent troops to Nightingale’s main base.
Romon was familiar with this kind of situation. The first time he attacked Stone Town, his forces were so short that he had to use all available troops, which led to Spidevs’ assassination attempt.
Ryanie Nightingale might have been motivated by the same thinking—he believed that with the King-level Priest dead, Thune Territory was undoubtedly strong. Aside from launching a full-scale offensive, he couldn’t think of any other way to resolve the situation.
If reality followed this trend, Romon was certain that within a day, the Nightingale family would announce a "close" partnership with the Matthews family, returning all the businesses they had seized back to their original owners.
In fact, some industries that had been shrinking would likely be taken care of, fattened up, and sent back.
Unfortunately, the simulation ended here.
Romon snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the rewards from this round’s score.
The Goddess of Wisdom was the deity he worshiped, and the Wishing Pool was a common structure in theology.
Such buildings often appeared in town squares, where devout followers would toss a coin into the pool and make a wish.
Romon decided to fly over to the Royal Estate and extract the Wishing Pool from his spatial inventory.
The circular Wishing Pool immediately merged with the foundation of the Royal Estate, bringing with it its own flowing water and fountain.
For good luck, Romon took a coin from his pocket and tossed it into the pool.
"I wish for the curse of Millbrook to be lifted."
Romon whispered, his gaze shifting to the statue of the Goddess of Wisdom nearby. He wondered if the prayer would work doubly under such divine influence.
Suddenly.
The water in the Wishing Pool began to swirl, accompanied by occasional vibrations.
Before Romon could figure out what was happening, a splash of water erupted from the pool. Instinctively, he reached out his hand, and a few drops of water fell into his palm.
Romon stared closely at the clear water in his palm. It was different from ordinary drinking water; it seemed to carry some kind of magical essence.
"Could this be... the legendary Holy Water?"
As the thought crossed his mind, Romon had an idea. If the Wishing Pool proved effective, could he bring the people of Millbrook to make a wish and receive healing?