The clear sunlight poured down on the pure white temple. A devout man had come to pray early in the morning and was just returning.
"Good morning. Your Majesty."
"Yes. May the grace of Dunamis be with you, my lord."
The man greeted the priest, who was cleaning the stairs.
"It's still early, and you're cleaning so quickly? It's still a long way to go until the regular worship service starts today."
"Oh, you still don't know?"
The priest said as if he understood. The man who arrived late last night from Verite just blinked.
"What are you saying...?"
"These days, before the service, there is a prayer meeting to end the drought. They read the prayer of His Majesty the King, who came down from the capital. I think there will be a lot of people attending today, so I am cleaning it up in advance."
"Huh?! His Majesty's prayer?"
He knows that when times are turbulent, people often hold prayer meetings to ask God to look down on them. But reading the prayers of the cursed, that' King?
The man suddenly became afraid that he might be cursed and tried to stop the priest. At that moment,
"Hello, priest! Wow, the temple is clean even this early in the morning."
"Oh, you're here too, Mattison?"
A group of about 20 people came rushing in noisily. They all looked excited, greeted the priest, and then all disappeared in the same direction.
"Yes, let's go in quickly. You have to sit in the front row to hear the prayers up close!"
"As expected. The followers of Navita are passionate."
The priest shrugged proudly. The man asked, doubting his eyes.
"Are all those people really attending His Majesty the King's prayer meeting?"
"Yes. The first prayer meeting was before the move, and this is the fourth. There were five people at first, but it gradually increased, and today there are twenty. Next time, there will probably be twice as many."
The priest put away his broom, saying that he should go in too. The man who had come to Navita to get new food grabbed him urgently.
"No, why on earth His Majesty's prayer in these times? If we're not careful, even Navita will be brought down by the wrath of God...!"
"Ah, it's because of 'that' rumor. Calm down, my lord."
The priest patted the frightened man as if he understood.
"A week ago, a messenger arrived with His Majesty's prayer. At that moment, the five believers who were in the temple were forced to read the prayer together with the priests. And everyone was frightened as they recalled the ominous rumors about His Majesty..."
Gulp. The man swallowed dry saliva in horror.
Oh my, reading the prayer of a King hated by God, and in a temple at that! Did he receive divine punishment or something...?
"It rained."
"... Yes?"
The man who had been very nervous doubted his ears. The priest's next words were unexpected.
"At first, I thought it was a coincidence. But then it didn't rain again, so I thought I was being fooled and gathered some believers and held a prayer meeting where I read His Majesty's prayer. But then it rained again!"
"Wh, what It rained after reading His Majesty the King's prayer?"
The man looked puzzled as if he was wondering what he was talking about. The priest nodded with confidence.
"Do you know that Navita's current food situation is better? That's because of the rain that fell before the migration. The rain came just before the seed crops dried up! Since then, whenever we held a prayer meeting with sincerity, it rained, and now we can breathe easier."
The man opened his mouth wide.
'Does this make sense?'
A King hated by God, whose prayer brings rain?!
"Well, there's no reason for you to lie! But it's so surprising that I can't believe it..."
"I understand. Then why don't you wait with me? I'm sure it'll rain after the prayer meeting today."
The priest led the man inside, holding a broom. The man, who was about to finish his prayer and quickly get some food and leave, followed him in, looking confused.
And a few hours later.
Swish-!
"It's raining! It's raining!"
"Oh, Lord Dunamis!"
"Long live His Majesty the King!"
The wet raindrops soaked into the dry ground. After finishing their prayers, the people who had been waiting anxiously ran out into the yard and rejoiced.
"Am I right?"
"Oh my, this can't be happening..."
It really rained.
The man's jaw dropped open. The rain was too precious to be dismissed as a simple coincidence. It was a lifeline for everyone who prayed for it, sleeping or awake, during the disaster.
"The more people there are, the more it rains! Next time, I should bring my little brother!"
"What do you mean, little brother? I'll bring my cousin's eighth cousin!"
The cries of the people rang in the man's ears.
The man ran straight to the market. He urgently bought food and looked around, and heard something similar to what the priest had said.
It rained suddenly before the migration, and thanks to that, the seed crops survived.
And at about the same time, the parched land began to come back to life, and from then on, whenever they held a prayer meeting, it rained.
"The merchants who stopped by Navita a few days ago were just like old men. They all said they were going to their villages in a hurry to hold a prayer meeting with His Majesty's prayer!"
The boy who was selling potatoes shouted brightly. The man with goosebumps all over his body thought.
'It's clear that there's less damage here. In other places, even the seeds have dried up recently.'
It was a severe drought that could not be solved by a single rain shower. That means it was very likely that it rained many times!
'There's no place to retreat anyway. Let's give it a try!!'
The raindrops falling on his head felt sweet. Finally, the man ran out with confidence.
"Thank you, honey!"
"Oh, yes. Be careful!"
The clerk's child smiled and saw the man off as he returned to Verite.
"Hehehe, I hope it rains a lot."
The child opened the window wide and enjoyed the fresh smell of rain. Then, a merchant came in carrying a wooden box.
"Oh my. it looks like we have another guest we haven't seen in a while. Where are you from this time?"
"Are you here, sir? This time, you came from Verite. I guess you heard the news from the temple."
The clerk boy who had received the goods answered with a smile. The merchant's eyes lit up for a moment, and he burst into laughter.
"Really? That must have been quite a surprise. You must have seen clearly that the rumors that God hates His Majesty the King were completely false."
"That's right. How did such a rumor spread? Oh, and should I give this away for free like last time?"
The clerk asked as he organized the bottles in the box.
"I would appreciate it if you would do that! If farmers survive, our fertilizer companies will be able to breathe a little easier. They plan to give out soil nutrients for free for the time being until the economy recovers."
"Yes! I will share it all with you. Thank you!"
"Yes, thanks. Then I'll go to another town to do business!"
"Yes, come again!"
The merchant got into the carriage he had brought, getting hit by the falling rain. His once kind and innocent face turned sharp, and he took out a small scroll from his bosom.
- All purifiers have been distributed to Navita. Next up is the main base... Verite.
The merchant sealed the scroll with wax engraved with the royal emblem, tied it to the ankle of a messenger who was waiting in the carriage, and sent it flying out.
A moment later, another man carrying an empty box entered the carriage.
"Oh my, I gave you all the nutritional supplements. Haha, people were so grateful that they even signed verbal contracts for other items!"
He was a member of a merchant guild with a fairly wide distribution network. The economy was bad due to the drought, but thanks to the man introduced by Adele, he was able to open up a lot of new businesses and felt like he had struck it rich.
"That soil nutrient is amazing. Let's wait. How about developing something more profitable? Let's sign an exclusive contract with us!"
"Hehe, is that so?"
The merchant, who quickly hid the royal emblem, started the carriage again with an innocent face.
Squeak!
After a while, the information agent's carriage rolled smoothly away.
***
The man hurried back to Verite and immediately called the village chief and other important figures together to tell them what he had heard.
"Does that make sense? It could just be a coincidence."
The village chief couldn't believe it. Then the owner of the largest inn in Verite scratched his head in confusion.
"Oh, by the way. I heard something this morning. The drought is just as severe in Tailan and Manuka as we are! They also had a sudden rain a few days ago, and the ground conditions have improved noticeably. Coincidentally, it was after the prayers arrived at the village shrine!"
The atmosphere stirred at those words. Then, the man who had heard the news from Navita shut his eyes tightly and shouted.
"Let's give it a try. There's no way we can retreat anymore anyway!"
Cheryl was in full bloom, but as the days grew drier, the need for more maintenance grew.
The unidentified merchants gradually increased the number of maintenance devices, and as they could not kill all the Cheryls they had raised so far, they had to meet their demands, and all the money they had earned from cultivating Cheryl was disappearing.
"If it stops raining, it's all over. Whether I die hugging Cheryl or dying from the wrath of God, it's all the same."
"Yeah, yeah. It's scary, but let's pretend we're being fooled and do it!"
Finally, the townspeople, although confused, agreed one by one.
"Ugh..."
Even the village chief, who had been hesitating, gave his permission, unable to withstand the trend.
The swift ones quickly went to the temple in the neighboring village, along with the priest and the prayer book that the King himself had written.
A few days later, the Verite people who had heard the rumor gathered and participated in the prayer meeting with mixed feelings. Since the situation was more serious than in other regions, many residents participated in the hope of grasping at straws, so there were quite a lot of people.
Swish-.
"Huh, gasp. It's really raining?!"
"Isn't it true that God was angry with His Majesty...?"
"What are you angry about? This is the extent of your pity!"
The parched land of Verite became moist. Smiles appeared on the faces of the struggling people, and everyone was moved by the mercy of God and the efforts of the King.
As the prayer meeting was repeated, especially as the number of participants increased, the rain fell without mercy.
In addition, a merchant guild that was in the fertilizer business came and left free nutrients in the field. As a result, the condition of the soil improved significantly.
"It's a subsidy from the King. The Baron, who was the lor,d was dismissed after it was revealed that he had embezzled the existing subsidy, and Verite was incorporated into the nearby Manuka estate."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you!"
The slope continued. Suddenly, officials from the central government came and distributed subsidies to each household. It was an unbelievably fast recovery.
"Chief, it's done! We're alive!"
"How could things have changed so much in just this week? Surely God has admired our, or rather, His Majesty the King's, sincerity!"
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