The Villainess’ Beloved Plan: The Struggles to Avoid a Doomed End

Randall headed for the inn where Raqqa was staying.

When he arrived at the inn, Cyril and D’Artano were already there.

Cyril had a grim look on his face and stared at the jewels, gold coins and glassware on the table.

Randall took a seat and picked up one of the gold coins. It was a Saladora gold coin.

“These all came from Viscount D’Silva’s ship,” Cyril said in a low voice.

“I had Raqqa confirm that they were definitely part of what was stolen from a commercial ship in Saladora that was said to have been attacked by D’Artano.”

“You mean to say that… the culprits were not pirates, but D’Silva who had been using D’Artano’s name?”

Randall quietly announced the gold coin, and Cyril kicked his foot off the table. In the spur of the moment, several of the gold coins on top rolled off.

“He did an incredible job”

Cyril was understandably irritated. The ship was not a ship of another country, but a ship from his own country.

“Did you report it to King Verhund?”

“I sent out the information immediately, but it will take some time for him to get back in touch.”

“What is the status of the ship from which this came?”

“After Raqqa and his men seized it, it was detained under my authority as soon as possible. However, the D’Silva guy pretended that the people on that ship had done it on their own. I’d like to hurry up and search all his ships if I could, but he asked for the search warrant? Weissued.Because the navies of other countries can’t investigate without permission We can’t let them dispose of the evidence in the meantime.”

Cyril snarled, wondering what to do.

The navy of Saladora cannot search a ship at anchor, let alone on the sea. But even if they were to investigate, if D’Silva refused without a warrant, they can’t force them to comply.

Although they had sent soldiers stationed in Caesar’s to visit Viscount D’Silva and monitor him, saying it was an urgent investigation, they were unable to detain him at this stage. If they are asked how long they were going to keep an eye on him, they will have no choice but to withdraw their troops. It’s just buying time.

    On the other hand, they couldn’t let D’Artano and his men attack D’Silva’s ship. Having given him the righteous pirate licence, anything D’Artano and his men do will in turn be the responsibility of the government. Even if D’Silva is completely guilty, the bored nobles will be noisy about the fact that he had his ships attacked by righteous pirates before the warrant was issued. Some of the nobles, more or less, do not want their bellies probed. The more such people will start making a big fuss.

Cyril ruffled his hair in frustration.

One of the D’Artano pirates who had been on watch on D’Silva’s ship came running into the room, gasping for breath.

“What’s the matter?”

When D’Artano looked up, the man shouted, his shoulders shaking.

“Captain, there’s a storm coming!”

Randall sat up with a start.

Marana suddenly looked up from the book she was reading. She looked out of the window and sat up in panic.

“What’s wrong?”

Sophia, who was also reading by Marana’s side, asked, and Marana looked very pale.

“I have to go!”

“What?”

“If we don’t hurry, there will be a storm!”

“A storm?”

Could it be the effects of the dragon god’s wrath that Karana had mentioned? Sophia put her hand on the edge of the window and looked up at the sky, which was clear and blue, without a single cloud. There was no sign of a storm anywhere.

But Marana ran out of the room while Sophia was looking out the window, and Sophia hurried after her.

Marana ran out of the inn and ran straight towards the sea.

“Hurry up!”

Sophia desperately chased after her, but Marana kept running ahead of her at an unbelievable speed. She had to try all her best to keep up with her.

After running down a gentle slope to the beach, Marana looked up just before the sea.

“Ma, Marana, what storm?”

Marana quickly pointed across the sea. She looked in the direction Marana pointed and saw a pitch-black cloud beyond the blue sky.

　Just as Sophia gasped, a strong wind suddenly blew in from the sea, and she reflexively closed her eyes as the sand that had rolled up almost got in her eyes.

The wind stopped for a while, but a gust of wind blew again, and it seemed to be gradually getting stronger..

“The Dragon God is angry.”

Marana said and wobbled closer to the sea.

Sophia hurriedly grabbed her arm. Without the sealskin, a selkie cannot return to the sea. She could not swim and would develop a high fever just from being in the sea water.

Marana stopped when Sophia took her arm and turned a tearful face towards the sea.

Right at that moment…

“Sophia!”

She heard her name being called and turned to see Randall, D’Artano and Cyril running towards her.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the masts of the boats parked nearby were creaking.

At that moment, something cold fell on Sophia’s cheek… It was raining.

‘This is not good! Anyway, let’s go somewhere inside the building.”

Sophia noded as Randall pulled her arm, but Marana shaked her head and stubbornly refused to move. They had to hurry, as the wind was getting stronger and the rain was coming down hard. If that black cloud from across the sea came their way, there would be nothing they could do about it.

Sophia was horrified when she recalled Karana’s words about Caesars sinking into the sea.

They had to get Marana away from there somehow. But even if they got away from there, it won’t stop the storm.

The only way to stop the storm is to find Marana’s sealskin and return her to the sea.

“D’Artano! Wasn’t Marana’s sealskin on Viscount D’Silva’s ship?”

“There were a lot of things and I haven’t been able to check everything. There’s a ship a bit further down, but it’s all moored there.”

“I’ll take the responsibility for searching inside D’Silva’s ship!”

Cyril shouted, holding up his arm to shield his face from the wind and rain.

D’Artano nodded and headed towards the ship.

“Sofia and Marana, go somewhere safe”

“I’m coming too!”

Instead of hiding somewhere and waiting, Sophia might be found sooner if she joined the search. It would be better to have more people. Marana was not likely to take shelter anywhere at that point, either, and in that case, they should all head for the ship and search.

“Even though the ship is anchored, it’s still rocking from the waves! We can’t go up on a ship like that”

“But! If we don’t hurry, the town could really sink!”

Cyril and Randall looked at each other and slumped their shoulders.

“All right, But don’t ever leave our side!” said Randall

Sophia nodded broadly and ran through the storm towards the ship.