Release That Witch

Chapter 134: Morning Light

oland wrote down on a paper how he would deal with Prius, and then put down the quill, and rubbed his aching neck.

“Your Highness, do you need me to help you relax?” He heard Nightingale’s voice.

“There are still more than 30 people to deal with, maybe later.” Roland rejected her with a smile, and then rang the bell placed on the side of his table. The sooner he finished with these matters, the sooner he could initiate Border Town’s universal education. With Anna’s new ability, he was full of expectation about the future.

The next person brought into by the guards was a tall knight, and Roland’s first impression on him was that he looked extraordinarily handsome. He was not that far off from Carter, who was also very attractive. Of course, in Roland’s eyes, being extremely good-looking was a bad thing. He glanced at his list, and asked, “Ferlin Eltek?” But unlike the other people, there were also additional comments after his name, so Roland continued reading, “Head of the Lion Knightage, Morning Light, First Knight of the Western Territory… you have so many titles.”

“I do, Your Highness.” Ferlin went down on one knee.

“I thought people like you would be in the front line of the battle.” Roland raised his brow. “How did you manage to survive?”

“I hid in the back,” he replied honestly, “As long as you control the gallop of your horse, it’ll look like you’re in full sprint, while in fact, the horse speed is still relatively low.”

Roland never expected such a straightforward answer. He was expecting some kind of excuse to cover up his cowardliness and how he had escaped from the battle. It seemed that the situation was not as simple as he had first thought.

As expected, Ferlin continued, “On the morning of the third day of your pursuit, in other words, the day of the duke’s death, I was standing right by his side, waiting for an opportunity to kill him, but because he had a large number of guards closely surrounding him, I couldn’t attack him. Fortunately, your troops killed him in the end.” He paused and bowed his head. “Your Highness, I want to express my gratitude for what you did. No matter what you need me to do, I won’t have any objections.”

The last words could be regarded as a swear of allegiance. Stunned Roland commanded. “Stand up and tell me, what happened?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” He stood up and began. “My wife, Irene, was originally a civilian who worked at a well-known theater in Longsong Stronghold. We met each other on a lucky encounter and immediately fell in love. I wanted to marry her, but my father and mother didn’t support the wedding. So, I had to leave our territory, and rent a room on a farm near the stronghold. That’s where we also held the wedding. Shortly after our marriage, Irene finally got the opportunity to officially perform for the first time.” The knight’s voice became deeper. “Unexpectedly, the duke also watched the performance and took a fancy to her, and soon afterward, while I was away on a mission, he took the opportunity to break into our room and raped Irene.

“It took a long time before she finally told me what had happened. I wanted to find the duke and hold him responsible for his action, but Irene begged me not to act recklessly. Deep down, I also knew that if I were to try and do something, my chances of success weren’t very high. Even if I was able to kill him, I’d never be able to escape his guards and Irene would most likely become an object of revenge for the duke’s heir. With no other option, I could only suppress myself, until the day he decided to march against Border Town.”

“Although I didn’t avenge him myself, Irene will finally be able to sleep without worrying that someone will break into her room during the night. And for me, a heavy burden has now finally been lifted from my heart, so please allow me to express my gratitude again.”

“So that’s what happened.” Roland tapped on the table with his quill, a sign he had previously agreed with Nightingale, whenever he had to check whether the other side was lying. Soon he felt Nightingale pinch his left scapula, which meant that the knight had told the truth. But this pinch was just a bit too hard, leaving Roland with a little flinch. “Can you read or write?”

“Uh…” Ferlin was startled, clearly unable to follow the prince’s thoughts. “I can.”

“Then I’ll announce my verdict now.” Roland gave him the same choice as the others. “… what’s your choice?”

“Your Highness, don’t you require me to fight for you? Whether it’s a single duel or a group battle, I…”

“No, I don’t.” Roland interrupted him. “There are no nobles in my army, and I won’t recruit any of them in the future. My army is fully composed of civilians, and as for you, you’ll never pick up a weapon for the rest of your life.”

“Oh. Is that so?” Ferlin remained silent for a long time before he finally nodded. “I understand. In this case, I choose to become a teacher.”

“You made a wise choice. Teachers can get free housing and the salary is also very good. I’ll send someone back to your home, to pick up your wife, so that you can continue to live here together.” Roland waved to the knight to leave.

“Wait, Your Highness, please allow me to ask a question,” he hesitated and then said, “Do you give these options to all the knights? If they’re unable to become teachers, will the only option left for them be to work in the mines for 20 years?”

“Correct.”

“Your Highness, I have a man named Halon who’s an experienced old knight but illiterate. Can I pay for him with gold royals, so that he won’t be sent into the mine?”

“Of course not.” Roland waved. “If you could redeem your crime with money, I would have sent you back to the stronghold.”

“But he’s almost 50 years old, and that kind of hard work would only destroy his body.”

“He can’t survive in a mine but has the ability to attack Border Town?” said Roland. [Furthermore, my mines are not like dark coal mines. Apart from the steam engine helping with the pumping and transportation, the workers also have a fixed amount of holiday.] Roland picked up the bell, ready to call the next person.

“Your Highness!” Ferlin ground his teeth and kneeled down once again. “I have a family treasure map. It’s at least 400 years old. I’m willing to use it in exchange for Halon’s freedom.”

“A 400-year-old treasure map?” The prince raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure that one of your ancestors didn’t just draw a map to joke with the younger generation?”

“No, it was not written with charcoal or ink.” He shook his head as if he was trying to recall the drawing. “I can’t tell what material it’s made of. The lines are very delicate, smooth and subtle, and even though it has been stored in the basement for decades, the drawings and the text don’t have any sign of discoloration. My father told me it was handed down from generation to generation, and it describes the location of a treasure, located deep in the Misty Forest in the northwest, but now the area is Barbarian Land, impossible for people to reach.”

Roland tapped his quill again against the table, and once more Nightingale pinched his left side.

“Well, even if what you said is true, this treasure map should be hidden in the basement of the Eltek house. You’ve already given up the right to your inheritance in your territory. I’m afraid they won’t be very pleased to see you again.”

“That’s true.” Ferlin nodded. “But I’ve completely memorized the content of the map, and I can roughly depict the drawings and the texts on it.”

“Then draw it for me.” Roland pushed his quill and paper to the side of the table. “If what you said is true, I can make an exception to your request.”

“Your Highness is too kind.” Ferlin went to the table and began to draw the treasure map.

In fact, Ferlin Eltek was not just good at fighting, he was also talented in painting and calligraphy. Soon, a rough geographical map appeared in front of Roland.

The map displayed the area behind the Impassable Mountain Range, the whole lower right corner of the map was occupied by mountains while an equilateral triangle was drawn in the middle of the map. The three sides connected three different locations. One corner pointed towards the foot of North Slope Mountain, and another pointed to a hexagonal star mark inside the Misty Forest, which most probably represented the so-called treasure’s location.

However, Roland’s attention was entirely drawn to the third vertex of the triangle, located in the middle of the Barbarian Region, on top of a tooth-shaped mountaintop, with a word above it: “Taquila”.

Chapter 135: Starting from the Basics

quot;The number of demons increased day by day, but our numbers grew smaller. The Holy City of Taquila had fallen and the only option left to us was to flee in all directions. We fled over the mountains and across the rivers, getting as far as possible from the Gates of Hell. But next time, where should we flee?”

“What’s your opinion?” Back in the office, Roland closed the Book of Illusion and turned to Scroll.

“If the knight remembers correctly, then this would be a really incredible coincidence.” Scroll waited for a moment. “The content in the treasure map is the same as the recordings in the ancient book. It proves that the church had indeed constructed a city in the Wild Places to defend against the demons. As for the marks on the map, perhaps they were defense towers, posts, warehouses, or whatever else they had built there.”

“You mean, it isn’t really a treasure map?”

“Of course not. After all, the church isn’t like bandits or pirates. They don’t need to hide their treasures, not to mention leaving a drawing for future generations.”

Roland nodded. “You’re right, so… is it a legit map?”

“Most probably. Although it’s not clear why the church didn’t record this period of history, I believe that there are more ruins in the forest east of King City,” explained Scroll. “If the locations marked on the map are just constructions above the ground, there shouldn’t be much left after all these centuries, but if they include underground facilities such as basements, underground remains must exist, and through them we might be able to discover some clues.”

“What kind of clues?”

“For example, why the church wants to hide the existence of the demons? Why are they so secretive about it when they’ve previously fought them?” She paused, her voice becoming deeper. “And, why do they hunt us, witches, as if we were demons?”

Roland did not know how to comfort her. After a long silence, he slowly said, “Unfortunately we’re not sure how accurate the drawing is. According to him, the original map was so precise that it didn’t look to be drawn by hand.”

“How about asking Nightingale to check the knight’s home?”

“That’s not very appropriate.” Roland disagreed. “The treasure map has already been passed down for hundreds of years in their clan. It’s highly probable that the basement is filled with God’s Stones of Retaliation and other traps. Let’s discuss this another time.” He measured the sides of the triangle symbol. “Anyway, for now, this place is out of our reach. Assuming that the foot of North Slope Mountain is our mines, then the location of the hexagonal star is at least 50 kilometers away from us, almost as far as the distance between Border Town and Longsong Stronghold. Apart from Lightning, who could reach it within a day, the rest of us would need to walk for two or three days. Not to mention the chance of encountering demons. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“You could let Lightning explore the area from the air, maybe she’ll discover something.” Scroll proposed.

“That’s a good idea.” Roland stood up. “Once she comes back, I’ll talk to her. I need to go to North Slope Mine now, and you can start preparing your teaching materials for the lessons. If you need more copies, turn to Soraya for help. You have to continue their lessons this evening.”

Roland had combined what he had learned in primary school with the teaching methods of the palace, and passed everything to Scroll, including classic memorization, phonetic reading, writing and reciting phrases. With all of these, he believed she had everything needed to become a good teacher.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Scroll saluted and left.

The firing area behind North Slope Mine was double the size it had been before, and the two holes needed for the production of the 12-pound cannons were still visible on the ground. When Roland arrived, he saw Anna practicing her new ability. On the table, there were two finished products. They looked like steel pipes.

He held one up examining it. The steel pipes were perfectly round and had a smooth surface without any pores. The hole in the middle was equally wide on both sides, and sunlight passed through without any problems. Roland used his nails to measure the thickness of both sides, only to find that they were nearly identical.

“How were you able to make it?!” Roland praised her.

“Watch.” Anna picked up a freshly cut steel bar, laying it flat in her hand, and then a thread of her black flame was inserted into one end, slowly burning through the whole bar. Then she rotated the thread around the center, and soon the hole was created.

What a great ability, he thought. With the high temperature of her magic, Anna was capable of taking the industrial production of Border Town to a new level all by herself. Trying to contain his excitement, he said, “Let’s try some basic tests first.”

The basic tests included the range of her ability, her ability’s strength, and its duration.

Nightingale came out of the Mist. She was responsible for observing any changes to the magic power inside Anna’s body.

The results showed that other than a substantial increase in the strength and the duration of her ability, the range of her dark flames still remained at around five meters, and only within three meters was she able to control them with precision.

At the same time, her ability still belonged to the summoning type. Her dark flames could still be affected by God’s Stone of Retaliation, as they would immediately disappear once inside the range of one of them.

[Unless she could evolve to the point of directly utilizing magic power, it would be impossible to get past this hurdle,] Roland thought.

However, Anna’s new abilities could turn Heaven and Earth upside down. With her Blackfire, it became much easier to produce industrial machines, all kinds of machine tools, and it quickly improved the quality of machining levels.

But a large-scale industrialization could not be achieved by one person alone. For example, the task he gave Karl of building furnaces next to North Slope Mine was underway, with one furnace already constructed. However, by the time they tested it, they discovered that although they could use it to produce clay bricks for the creation of cement, its temperature tolerance was not up to standard. So, in the end, they still had to rely on Anna to produce the required cement. Fortunately, since her day of adulthood, she could complete the calcining process without the need to be inside the dusty room.

Roland could solve the temperature problem. For instance, they could use the steam engine to create enough wind to improve the furnace’s temperature, and they could then let the heated air circulate to minimize heat loss. But without Anna, the steam engine would not even exist. After all, only she could produce the key components.

It could be said that the industrialization of Border Town relied heavily on Anna’s ability. Without her, the so-called industrial revolution would be nothing more than a dream.

During the Months of Demons, everything Roland did had been to survive, but now that the threat of the demonic beasts no longer existed, and Longsong Stronghold had provided them with enough manpower and funding, he naturally intended to change the current situation.

Starting from the basics.

He let Anna cut a two-finger wide, one-millimeter-thick steel sheet then measured a centimeter-long distance on it, marked it and repeated this until he had a ten-centimeter-long ruler. Then using the black flames, they created vertical marks at a regular distance. Under her control, the distance between each vertical mark was almost identical.

Roland intended to start with a ruler, and then continue with the creation of all kinds of measuring tools, in order to define all weights and measurements. These standard units would then be written as the norm into manuals, becoming an indispensable part of his imminent plan for universal education.

Chapter 136: The Predicament

very day during this half month in Port of Clearwater was like a holiday. Even when standing on the terrace of the Lord’s high tower, Ryan could still feel the high morale of this city.

The supplies and manpower from Eagle City dramatically boosted the performance of this harbor city. Every marauder came home with great profits. The slave market also prospered. The series of battles did not cause much loss on the Blacksail Fleet. Instead, the Blacksail Fleet recruited many slaves as their sailors. Right now, the newly recruited slaves were under some serious trainings. A few days later, they would head for the Fjords route and start the first plunder of the year.

The queen also promulgated a slave expansion decree. As long as these slaves, who were looted from Eagle City, were able to capture new people from the plunder to substitute themselves, they could become the citizens of Port of Clearwater. With such an exciting decree, the residents of Eagle City who were now slaves would endeavor in the battles.

[Now Timothy was utterly defeated. There would be no one to stop the Queen of Clearwater in the Kingdom of Graycastle. Soon enough, Garcia Wimbledon would sit on the throne of Kingdom of Graycastle,] Ryan thought, [but why didn’t the queen show any signs of pleasure? Instead, there seemed to be a sense of low spirit on her face.]

“Your Highness, the tribe leader from Sandstone Clan and Black Bone clan request to see you.” There was guard’s voice from outside of the door.

Ryan looked at Her Majesty, who seemed completely indifferent. Ryan then called, “Bring them in.”

Regardless of resting, meetings or seeing subordinates, Her Majesty liked to do all the activities on the top floor of this high tower. As long as the weather was fine, Garcia stayed most on the terrace. Most of the people were not used to standing up in the midair and conversing with the sea breeze of unpleasant smell blowing on their face. Even the residents of Sand Nation were not accustomed to such.

The leader of Sandstone Clan was a small-sized female, who was also the goddess of the tribe. Ryan scorned it in his heart when he first heard such introduction to her. There was no such thing as the goddess. She was merely a fallen witch. The leader of the Black Bone Clan was a strong guy with scars all over his face. His arms were the same size of legs of the ordinary people. During every meeting, there would be three to four guards surrounding him in case of any malicious attempts from him to the queen.

The two tribe leaders frowned at the instant when they stepped on the terrace. However, they soon appeased their expression and bowed piously to the Queen of Clearwater. “We wish that your road to the future will be covered with oasis and that the stars in the heaven will shine on your path.”

“You may get up.” Garcia seated with her back facing the fence. “How’s your new house? Are you content?”

“Everything has been great,” the goddess Kabala said, “there are forests and water sources in your domain. Living here is much better than living in the windy and dusty Iron Sand City.”

“That’s good. Why did you two come to me?”

“Your Majesty, last time you…”

The leader of Black Bone Clan was immediately interrupted by Kabala. “Your majesty, after last battle, many of our warriors have been weakened. They can only recover after taking the new pill periodically. However, we don’t have many pills in our hand anymore. So, I came here to ask you for more pills.”

“I came for the same reason,” the tribe leader of Black Bone Clan glared at the goddess and said.

“The ingredients to compose this pill are very complicated. I don’t have many pills left either. Don’t worry. I’ll give the pills to you two as soon as the production of the new pills is completed. However, don’t forget to prepare the gold royals. If you two don’t have enough gold royals, you could use the water of Styx’s River instead.”

“Your Majesty, may I ask. “Kabala hesitated. “When would next batch of pills be produced?”

“I couldn’t release any information to you regarding that.” Garcia smoothed down her hair that was ruffled by the sea breeze. “Anything regarding the pills is confidential. Wait patiently. Those warriors are just exhausted. They’ll be fine after resting for a while.”

The guards received the hint from Ryan. They came up and surrounded the two residents of Sand Nation and “escorted” them out even though they wanted to ask more.

Garcia sighed after the door of the terrace was shut.

It was extremely rare to hear any sighs from Her Majesty. He asked, “Your Majesty, don’t you think it’s the proper way to allow Sand Nation to reside near the border of the Southern Territory? If they grew stronger one day…”

“No, Ryan.” Garcia shook her head. “I never worried about Sand Nation. They would not anyhow threaten Port of Clearwater. The lake in that territory is in the middle of the two clans. And the upstream comes through Port of Clearwater. As long as I block half of the river, the lack of lake water would make them fight with one another. That’s why I picked the Sandstone Clan and the Black Bone Clan—their relationship has always been not so harmonious.”

“Then are you worried about the pills?”

Garcia did not answer. At that moment, the guard knocked again. “Your Majesty, Priest Descartes from church requests to see you.”

“Bring him in.” Her Majesty stood up promptly. Her expression grew even gloomier.

“Your Majesty Garcia Wimbledon, I wish to greet you as the representative of Holy City.” The priest came up to the terrace and bowed.

“Where are the pills? The delivery of the previous batches of pills was punctual. What’s wrong with the delay for this time?” Garcia asked coldly.

“Please appease your anger, Your Majesty. I came here today for this issue.” Descartes wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Your order of 5,000 pills was too overwhelming. Even if we devote all of our resources to produce the pills in Hermes, we couldn’t satisfy your demand within such a short time. This time, I brought you a new batch…”

“How many?” Garcia interrupted.

“1000 pills,” Descartes said while holding onto his chest, “and the rest of the pills will be delivered shortly afterward.”

“What was the promise before?” The queen’s expression was less gloomy now. ” You promised that I would have as many pills as I wish. Where are the pills? I’ll send my people to retrieve it.”

“In the church, regarding the gold royals…”

“You’ll have all gold royals that we agreed on,” Garcia walked toward Descartes and whispered near his ear, “however, if the rest of the pills couldn’t be promptly delivered, your head will be hung on the embolon of my Blacksail flagship. I believe that the archbishop would not shed a tear for you.”

The priest excused himself with a ghastly pale face. The queen walked back to the fence, started at the faraway sea antenna. The sea breeze blew her long gray hair just like the flags waving in the wind.

“You’re right. I’m worried about the pills.” Garcia’s voice sounded far away, “If Timothy was late more another two months, I would have ample knightage of King’s City to defeat him, instead of relying on the pills. However, he came too soon.”

“You’ve done very well, Your Majesty.” Ryan thought. [Who would have possibly done better? Garcia schemed a response right after they occupied Eagle City. She ordered people to take away the resources and citizens and at the same time started to dig ditches to pour the blackwater. Due to lack of human resources, she obtained the support from Sand Nation in exchange for a vacant territory in the Southern Territory. She ordered the warrior who took the pills to attack the knightage. Her loyal followers even took the pills without any hesitation to block the last savage assault.”]

“The pills from the church were not as beneficial as how I described. Without continuing the prescription, the warriors who took the pills will become anxious and then weak. They’ll eventually die in pain. I don’t care about the death of Sand Nation. However, my citizens who’re loyal to me should get better returns.” Garcia paused.” Ryan, you go retrieve the pills and give them to the warriors. Tell them to eat half a pill once, so that we can last a little longer.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

At the moment when Ryan departed, the guard knocked the door again. “Your Majesty, there’s a letter from King’s City.”

“Read it to me before you leave,” She said.

“Yes.” Ryan took the confidential letter, cut open the seal with ease and took out the letter. This type of letter was usually from the scouts from the various districts. There would be no names on the letter, and the content of the letter would be very clear. However, he was flabbergasted when he saw the first sentence of the letter.

“On 22nd day of Spring, the church declared that Linna, the queen of Kingdom of Everwinter was a hidden witch, and then conquered the capital of the kingdom and claimed total control over the Kingdom of Everwinter.”

Chapter 137: The Secret Talk

hen Mayne pushed open the heavy door of the secret chamber, a slight scent of resting grass blew onto his face. Archbishop Mayne was fond of such a candle that was composed of a mixture of herbs and spices. Especially in the airtight room, the scent of the burning candle made him felt composed.

The secret chamber was not commodious at all, it could only take one round table and four chairs. The other two archbishops were already seated. The first seat facing the wooden door was vacant. With his failing health, the pope had not shown his presence in almost half a year. Mayne would visit the Pivotal Secret Area of Hermes’ underground castle only when he encountered tough problems and sought help from the pope.

“Since you all have gathered, let’s begin.” Mayne locked the door and sat between the two others. “Tayfun, how was the social order maintained in the Kingdom of Everwinter?”

“Besides the nobles from King’s City, there were not many revolts in other areas. The plebeians even welcomed us to rule the kingdom.” Tayfun touched his beard and said, “Of course, the nobles who still clung to their glories in the past will be annihilated one by one.”

“Very well.” Heather licked her lips. “If it were up to me to make the judgment, the citizens would realize the ugly side of the nobilities. It is a shame that I have so much to do over here and couldn’t make it to the Kingdom of Everwinter.”

Mayne ignored her words and said to Tayfun, “Those vacant positions need to be filled with our people. The church raised so many talented individuals for this occasion. Now is the time to use them. Originally, the church had the most influence on the Kingdom of Everwinter. The smaller the waves that we make, the quicker that we will be able to handle the Kingdom of Dawn and the Kingdom of Wolfheart.”

“This is natural.”

“The people who seek refuge from the church—I mean, the nobility—how shall we deal with them?” Heather asked. “The reason why the church has attracted so many excellent believers is that we care about their ability instead of their background. If we hastily accept those fools, we’ll shake the foundations of the church. My suggestion is… ” She made a gesture of cutting down her throat.

“Leave them aside. We can make the issue clear to them after the situation becomes stabilized. That way, we’ll meet less resistance.” Regarding this issue, Mayne had consulted the pope. “The church could offer them positions equivalent to their noble ranks, which, however, can’t be passed on to their descendants. Don’t forget that we’ll abolish the monarchy in the end. We don’t need to be too anxious, Your Excellency Heather.”

Heather was born in a low-income family. She had gone through the hardships of starvation and vagrancy before the church took her in. She climbed to this position, thanks to the fact that she was born with a keen mind and extraordinary judgment. Mayne deeply understood Heather’s hatred toward the nobility. However, they needed to look at the bigger picture for now.

“How has the Kingdom of Graycastle been?” he asked.

“According to the information, the new lord Timothy didn’t return to King’s City after he was defeated. Instead, he went straight to the Eastern Region,” Tayfun answered.

“A smart choice.” Heather snapped her fingers. “He took Duke Frances to challenge the Queen of Clearwater, and when the duke died, he immediately went to divide the territory of the duke so as to stabilize the army and win over the support of other nobles. Well, well… not everyone in the royal family is a moron.”

“This way, we don’t need to worry as much. Let the High Priest from the church of King’s City contact him. I believe, in such a predicament, he wouldn’t refuse the benefits offered by the church. We’ll cut down 30% of the distribution of pills to Port of Clearwater so as to balance the power between the two. You shall take care of it, Tayfun.” Mayne arranged it. “In two years, the Kingdom of Graycastle would not have a single available soldier.”

“Don’t worry.” Tayfun nodded. “But… something is wrong with Longsong Stronghold in the west of Graycastle.”

“What happened?”

“After having defeated Duke Ryan, Prince Roland returned to Border Town. He didn’t reply to the invitation from Tylo. Perhaps, is Prince Roland not intending to fight for the throne?”

“Well, what do you think?” Mayne looked at Heather.

The latter shrugged. “There’s not much to think about… What were the rumors about him? They said he was ignorant, ill-mannered, incompetent, and covetous. I presume that someone like that wouldn’t be able to conquer Longsong Stronghold. So the answer is obvious. He lied to everyone, nobles and also us.”

“You mean that…” Mayne frowned.

“Our Royal Decree on the Selection of the Crown Prince picked the wrong person, Lord Mayne.” She sneered. “He should be the one on the stage, not Princess Garcia.”

“Being able to defeat a duke showed his capability. However, no matter how talented an individual is, it’ll be meaningless if he doesn’t have enough resources.” Tayfun shook his head. “If he chose to go back to that desolate place, that means that he has given up the chance to fight for the throne of the Kingdom of Graycastle. In this way, he’ll naturally not hinder our plan.”

“Yes, theoretically. However, it becomes interesting to view the situation with this new information.” Heather took out a note. “My personal information.”

Mayne unfolded the note and scanned through it. “Witches?”

“Uh-huh, a witch organization, which calls itself the Witch Cooperation Association, claims that they have settled down in Border Town and beckon other sisters to gather there. This may be a rumor without any confirmed evidence, and I shouldn’t have brought it here for discussion, but we all know that the name ‘Witch Cooperation Association’ isn’t made up. Since the association was attacked by our Judgement Army in the forest east of King City, its members fled to the west and ultimately disappeared in some place to the west of Longsong Stronghold. And Border Town is just outside of the Western Region of Graycastle, at the foot the Impassable Mountain Range. Your Excellency, don’t you think that this is too coincidental?”

Witch Cooperation Association… Mayne had a vague impression of that name. They were hunted by the Judgement Army, and yet insisted on fleeing toward the Impassable Mountain Range even after losing many of its members. Through interrogating a captured witch, they knew that the witches wanted to find Holy Mountain in Barbarian Land. This was a suicidal act. Therefore, he did not put much effort into chasing them. There were several witch organizations like that over in the Kingdom of Wolfheart and the Kingdom of Dawn. Those witches who hid in the city were far more threatening than those who rushed to Barbarian Land.

“You mean that this prince is afflicted with the witch organization?” Tayfun’s face was gloomy after hearing the news.

“Maybe or maybe not.” Heather curled up her lips. “It’s a simple speculation of mine. What’re witches most afraid of? ‘Being exposed.’ Apparently, using the name Witch Cooperation Association will receive attention from the church. However, they’re still using that name in their underground messages. Why?”

“Because to us, this is a familiar name,” Mayne said calmly, “as it is to the other witches.”

“Exactly!” Heather clapped her hands. “That way, it could lower the vigilance of wild witches. And perhaps someone will be attracted by this news and go to Border Town. It’s difficult to imagine they dare to do so without the support of the lord. We always say that we choose the lesser of two evils. Apparently, they believe that the consequence of not being able to recruit witches would be more serious than being exposed…” Her voice grew gloomy. “I feel that we’ve underestimated.”

“This isn’t a problem of underestimating or not,” Tayfun said in a furry. “Once the witches have settled down, they’ll be able to use their power without worries. They’ll probably soon discover that the so-called Demonic Torture can be avoided. That’s why we need to annihilate any residing witches and force them to hide or live in exile. Only by that way can we maintain the secret.”

Mayne knew that Tayfun had the right points. Witches themselves were not a threat to the church. However, as a group, once they got rid of their identity of ‘sinner,’ they would be impactful to the church’s propaganda and even influence the foundation of the church’s control.

He found that he had fallen into a dilemma. In normal situations, they should launch the Judgement Army to annihilate the witches. However, Border Town was too distant from Hermes. In addition, the church’s army would soon attack the Kingdom of Wolfheart, so it was difficult for them to arrange the army to destroy this remote town. In addition, at such a turning point, if they commanded a large army to enter the Kingdom of Graycastle, it would raise the vigilance of Graycastle and the other two nations. This might affect later plans.

He decided after a long cogitation.

“I’ll send an emissary delegation to Border Town. There’ll be 10 members of the Judgement Army and a priest. They’ll investigate this issue with the help of Priest Tylo. If the prince isn’t involved with the Witch Cooperation Association, then this emissary delegation will eradicate the witches on its own.”

“What if the prince is involved in this?” Heather asked.

[God’s Punishment Army only obeys my orders and that of a few trusted priests. This is a rule personally set by the pope.] Thinking of that, Mayne said word by word, “Bring the news back to Holy City and I’ll lead the God’s Punishment Army to the town.”

Chapter 138: Setting up the Ministry of Agriculture

s the woodland on the south bank of Redwater River was gradually cleared, the days of plowing drew closer and closer.

In order to facilitate the movement of people across the river which spanned nearly 100 meters, Roland had ordered the construction of a floating bridge. It was supported by dozens of timber rafts, which were made by carpenters, bound together by hemp rope. He specifically instructed the carpenters to make sure that the two ends of every raft were sharp so as to reduce the resistance to water impact. On each bank, the ends of the hemp rope were tied around four wooden poles to keep the position of the rafts as stable as possible. Four long wooden planks were placed on every raft to form the deck. They extended two meters off the rafts, such that four people could walk abreast on the bridge.

The assembly of the floating bridge was simple and highly durable. As long as there were no incidents of water rising or falling violently, and thereby causing the hemp rope to snap, the bridge was guaranteed to last for two to three years – the timber from Misty Forest was of excellent quality and was also used to manufacture the columns and pavement of Bordertown’s jetty, such that the lifespan of the jetty is said to be as long as Bordertown itself. Although it produced a creaking sound when stepped upon, there were never any signs of collapse.

Across the bridge towards the west, the first piece of land to be plowed was Leaf’s experimental farm. At present, it was already securely boarded up on all four sides, while its entrance was guarded by the First Army soldiers. These days, apart from eating, attending class and sleeping, Leaf spent the rest of time on the farm. Roland could vaguely see the scene enclosed by wooden boards from a window in his third-floor office—wheat was growing at such a frenzied pace that what was only green ears of wheat in the morning would become a sea of gold by the afternoon.

These Golden Ones, which depended on magic power to grow, took only one day to ripen. Any outsider who saw this would probably kneel down and hail this miracle.

Seeing that the land, population, and grains were fully prepared, Roland decided that it was time to add the final piece of the jigsaw: supervisors.

He summoned over Assistant Minister Barov, who had been terribly busy of late.

“By now, your apprentices should be ready to take on leadership roles, right?” Roland asked, “I’ll need to set up two new departments in the City Hall.”

“Your Highness, but… we don’t have enough manpower,” Barov replied awkwardly.

[You’d normally agree right away before discussing the details. But it seems that you’ve learned how to complain recently.] Roland bemoaned in his heart while remaining indifferent on the surface. [How can that be? Didn’t I recently allot you a fresh batch of knights?”]

In the first round of examination, Roland had picked out more than 50 knights who made the grade and were able to read and write. As there was no need of too many teachers, he ultimately assigned only nine of these knights to be elementary school teachers, while the remaining knights were assigned to the city hall and started off as apprentices.

“Your Highness, that bunch turned out to be tardy, lazy and unresponsive. They even make mistakes while copying notes. They’re completely unfit to be apprentices.”

“It’s up to you to discipline them.” Roland thumped lightly on the table. “If they don’t follow your instructions, send them straight to the northern slope mine. I’ll definitely need to set up these two departments.”

“Alright, Your Highness, as you say,” Barov replied in resignation.

Roland explained, “The first is the Ministry of Agriculture, which will be responsible for supervising the planting and growing of crops within my territory.”

Barov was surprised, undoubtedly because this was the first time he had heard that the City Hall would take charge of farming matters. “Your Highness, why not let the serfs handle these things themselves? How they plant or harvest has nothing to do with us. We just need to collect the right amount of tax.”

“That’s why your… no, I mean to say, that’s why the crop harvests have been so low.” Roland lifted his cup and drank a mouthful of water, as if to cover up his slip of the tongue. “A responsible City Hall needs to take care of how the people eat, drink and sh*t.”

“Eat, drink and sh*t…? Your Highness, are you kidding?”

“Of course not. I don’t have to talk about the importance of eating and drinking. If my subjects don’t have enough food, both the City Hall and I are guilty of dereliction of duty. As for sh*tting, don’t you think the public toilets project is done for this purpose?” His casual tone turned serious. “I don’t know how the City Hall in King’s City operates, or if the lives of the common folk are of no great concern to them. But, in Border Town, I want to establish an all-purpose government agency which understands clearly the various conditions and situations that the people are in. Only this way will I be able to obtain the wholehearted support of my subjects, and thus ensure that the decrees I issue will be carried out effectively. Make sure you remember what I’ve told you about the setting up of this department, as well as the tasks that it’ll be responsible for.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Barov wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

“Go to the archives and find three or four people who used to do farm work, and recruit them into the Ministry of Agriculture. Then choose two of your apprentices to be in charge of records and statistics. In total, six people should be enough.”

“Wait… you want a few commoners to serve as the City Hall officials?” Barov revealed an expression of shock.

“They’re not only obedient but also highly enthusiastic when doing things, so why not? Officials aren’t equivalent to nobles. And the Ministry of Agriculture will require a few professionals to guide the farming from now.”

“But most of them aren’t even literate…”

“That’s why you’ll have to assign two apprentices to manage the paperwork.” Roland interrupted. “This state of affairs won’t last for too long. Soon, I’ll implement a universal education program throughout my territory to teach everyone to read and write. When that time comes, you’ll no longer have to worry about lack of manpower.”

Clearly, this piece of news was even more startling to Barov than the decision to allow commoners into the City Hall. He gaped in silence at Roland for a long time.

Roland was not concerned about gaining his acceptance, and continued saying, “Back to the matter of the Ministry of Agriculture, when the serfs cultivate their own land, there’ll inevitably be different standards and results. Some will dig the soil deeper while others will sow more densely. This will be an excellent opportunity to observe them. The six people of the ministry will need to number every plot of land, record every step undertaken by the serfs, and provide detailed information about how deep they dig and how much spacing they leave between every seed. I’ll give the ministry the necessary measuring tools and teach them how to use these.”

“Your Majesty, is this… comparison work?” Although Barov was old-fashioned in certain aspects, his brain worked faster than he usually got credit for.

“Indeed. For the first round of cultivation, the harvest amount won’t be too important. We’ll continue to import grains and… use a few new varieties of wheat to ensure that our people don’t get hungry. What I need is to find out the most suitable method of all and compile it into a manual. We’ll then use this method widely, with the Ministry of Agriculture in charge of promoting, guiding and supervising it.”

Although Roland was not well-versed in farming, it did not prevent him from using scientific thinking to devise a set of the best farming methods. Once it was completed, the average yield per plot of land would be maintained at a relatively high level even if the acreage was increased or inexperienced hands were added.

Barov nodded in agreement but hesitated for a moment before responding. “Your Highness, there’s something I don’t understand. When the serfs were promoted to free citizens, why did you only collect two-tenths of their harvest as land tax? Even if you decided to collect half of their harvest, you would have been seen as big-hearted like no other.”

“Because money piled up underground has no meaning,” Roland explained, “and after they turn over that two-tenths, I’ll purchase their excess grains at a fixed price—in Border Town, the Lord franchises the grain trade. This way, the castle obtains the grains while they get their due remuneration. Once they accumulate some savings, they’ll think about buying things… such as farm cattle, iron-made farming tools, beef, cotton clothing, as well as top-grade brick houses. I’m the only person who can provide these. Similarly, the townspeople can only purchase grains from the castle. Eventually, money flows back to me, but within this cycle, it allows the living standard of the people to increase continually. Do you understand now?”

Barov frowned and did not answer for a long while. It was obvious that he had fallen into a state of complete bafflement.

Roland laughed and shook his head. “You can go back and try to comprehend everything on your own time. But first, do as I’ve instructed.”

The assistant minister, still visibly dazed, stood up and made his way out. When he reached the door, he abruptly turned his head back. “By the way, Your Highness, you mentioned two ministries earlier. What’s the second?”

“A Ministry of Education,” Roland answered, “I’ll personally handle this one.”

Chapter 139: A Demon’s Authority

arov returned to his office in the City Hall and immediately bolted the door.

[My goodness.] He felt the God’s Stone of Retaliation on his chest. [His Highness has truly been possessed by a demon.] He had vaguely guessed this previously but was almost certain now—the person whom he talked to was definitely not the fourth Prince.

It was still understandable that there was a dramatic change in his personality and way of doing things, but not to he suddenly comprehending things he had never come into contact with, and acquiring knowledge he had never heard about. This only happened in fairy tales, and even then, the story would always be about a deity who possessed a common people and led humanity out of their predicament. Since when did demons do the same thing?

Barov would not have felt surprised had Roland Wimbledon copied the methods of managing his territory from King’s City, as difficult as that would have been nevertheless. Even if the fourth Prince was known to be ignorant and incompetent, he could easily have faked his personality, and it was possible that someone had secretly taught him how to govern a city or even a country.

However, the assistant minister had never heard of the ideas and plans that the prince spoke of. Having served some 20 years in the City Hall, including as the treasurer’s assistant, he was highly knowledgeable about the structure and operation of the City Hall. Usually, the ministers took charge of their respective functions and did not care about each other’s business, saving for a few private agreements.

Whenever the king issued a decree, the ministers would assign work to their subordinates. Every minister had his own influence and style of doing things. Take for example Steelheart Knight, who was in charge of defending King’s City in Graycastle. He had hundreds of patrolmen and mercenaries at his disposal, and also had some influence in the underground world of the city. His style of doing things was aggressive and reckless. Any criminal eyed by him, even if it was a noble, would find it difficult to remain in the city. They would either have to flee or wait to be imprisoned.

This applied not just to King’s City, but every other city as well.

Therefore, to become the subordinate of a lord or the king, one had to first be a noble from an important family and line of work.

If one did not have enough money and food to recruit men, it would not be possible to get many things done. Conversely, the more men that one had, the more valued he would be by his superior—everyone understood the principle that many hands make light work.

However, the prince’s new way of doing things completely subverted Barov’s beliefs. One new rule was that everyone, including ministers and their subordinates, would be recruited and paid by the City Hall. This implied that whenever a minister was absent, he could easily be replaced, and someone from below could be directly promoted.

This was a novel system altogether. Barov was certain that the prince wanted to create a political system that was entirely different from the upper levels of Kingdom of Graycastle.

Some people might think that this was simply Roland’s fantasy or the bumptiousness of a layman. Instead, the assistant minister did not think so. He picked up a quill and recorded His Highness’ requests on paper.

As he read through the plans, he realized that they were all interlinked and consistent, and took into consideration every small detail.

The first thing to do was to take care of the people’s “eating, drinking and sh*tting”.

Barov naturally understood that the greater the control over the people, the faster the decrees ordered by the Lord would be carried out. However, this significantly increased the number of supervisors needed. Where was he going to find so many literate people? Furthermore, not many of the Lord’s subordinates would be willing to see funds diverted to pay for the increased amount of salaries, which was sure to be a huge burden.

Barov then read the other two requests, which were respectively to recruit commoners into the City Hall, and to make education available to everyone.

He swept through these two lines of writing with his fingers, and his heart shuddered unbearably.

If His Highness successfully realizes these plans, how would Border Town be like?

Anyone would be able to read and write, and thus when the city hall wanted to expand, it could easily find a large number of suitable people. Conversely, this would promote the universalization of education—it would become widely known that those who received education would have the opportunity to enter the City Hall, secure a well-paying job, and increase their social status. But Barov was afraid that in less than two years, everyone would actively request an education, or, if they were incapable themselves, they would want to send their children to school.

Coupled with the aforementioned plan for the City Hall to take care of all salaries—which meant that Roland would be paying, the commoners who entered the City Hall would not need to fork out a single bronze royal to recruit their own men. This was tantamount to eradicating the extant restriction that only nobles who had sufficient capital could serve as officials.

Without a doubt, only a demon could have conceived such a revolutionary system.

Barov inhaled deeply and clutched the God’s Stone of Retaliation in his hand. He only had one question left: do kindhearted demons exist?

He would be the first to disagree with any suggestion that Roland was a follower of evil.

In his eyes, the fourth Prince’s deeds were on par with that of a noble king. In fact, even in the tales of the legendary kings in the history books, there was none who cared as much as Roland about the life and death of his subjects. He had remained behind to guard Border Town together with his people and spent large sums of money to purchase grains, so that everyone could get through the Months of Demons safely; introduced monstrous technology and equipment to develop the town; and somehow persuaded witches, who were considered to be the Devil’s minions, to use their abilities to improve the lives of the people.

Barov suddenly thought that if Roland ever became the king of Graycastle, it would not necessarily be a bad thing.

He recalled his father’s teachings: “Don’t say what you shouldn’t say, and don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask.” He decided that it was the best to keep his discovery to himself for the moment. If Roland was indeed a demon, he would have to deal with the church sooner or later. When they discovered something wrong with him, Barov could then emerge as a divulger and witness who hid within the demon’s camp.

He rang a bell and summoned in the City Hall’s newcomer, Sirius Daly.

Compared to the stupid and haughty knights, this young fellow from the Wolf Family could be regarded as outstanding. Although he retained some of the arrogance of a knight, he was at least willing to listen to Barov’s instructions.

“Teacher, what’s the matter?” Sirius bowed as he entered the room.

“His Highness wants to set up a new ministry to be in charge of crop harvest and supervision. Two apprentices will be needed to help with the paperwork.” Barov repeated Roland’s request. “In addition, you’ll need to go to the City Hall’s archives to find 10 people who meet the requirements, and then pick out four of them. Although they’re commoners, His Highness insists on bringing them into the City Hall. Anyone of them who performs outstandingly may even become the Chief Supervisor of the Ministry of Agriculture. Aye…” He sighed and continued, “You’ll follow them to record the results. When the spring harvest is completed, I’ll transfer you back here.”

“Teacher, I’ll only need to pick out two people.” Sirius raised his chest and proclaimed. “I’m also very experienced in this area.”

“You?” Barov seemed surprised.

“Yes! Before I became a knight, I used to help my father to manage the farm. I know a lot about wheat cultivation.” Sirius paused. “However, when His Highness asked me whether I had other proficiencies, I didn’t mention this… because I was worried that he would assign me to the farms to work with the serfs.”

Barov quietly felt happy. If Sirius was to be believed, he was knowledgeable about farming while also educated. Even if commoners joined the Ministry of Agriculture, he would undoubtedly be the clear choice to become the chief supervisor. As things were at present, Sirius was on Barov’s side, and therefore if he became the chief supervisor, Barov would have some influence on the ministry as well.

“Great.” He framed these considerations into a promise of benefits, and nagged at Sirius. “Do your job properly. Who knows, you may even climb to a higher position than ever before.”

After Sirius departed, Barov leaned back on his chair and exhaled lightly.

Since he now knew that Roland was a demon, he believed that he had to hold on to power tighter than ever before. As the legends often depicted, demons were always highly appreciative of ambitious people. And to Barov, power, whether conferred by the king or by a demon, was equally sweet.

Chapter 140: The Plant Seeds

ot long after the assistant minister left, the prince received a piece of good news regarding someone’s return.

It was his personal guard, Sean, who had earlier gone to Port of Clearwater to purchase crop seeds.

Roland followed the guards who reported the news to the garden. He saw Sean and several other bodyguards unloading many bags from several horses’ backs.

It had been more than a month since they set off for Port of Clearwater. Sean was noticeably more tanned and skinnier than before.

When he saw the prince, he immediately stood up straight and raised his hand in salute. Roland quickened his footsteps, walked up to Sean, and patted him on the shoulder. “Good job. What types of seeds have you brought back?”

Sean crouched his body and untied the bags on the ground. “Pearl rice, ground egg, sugar stalk… I’ve bought all of the plants you described at Port of Clearwater. They’re indeed mostly originated from the Fjords, but Port of Clearwater also has many farms to grow these kinds of crops now.”

“Did you ask the merchants how these crops are cultivated?”

“I did, but they weren’t able to explain the specific methods. They even said that these plants are very difficult to cultivate outside of Southern Territory.” Sean dug out a bunch of orange-yellow granules from a bag and showed it to Roland. “Your Highness, this is pearl rice. A merchant told me that if I bought it together with the pearl stalks, he would offer it to me at a cheaper rate. But the stalks were too heavy and inconvenient to carry, and thus I only brought one back, while the rest are peeled seeds.”

Undoubtedly, what Sean referred to as pearl rice was actually corn, which Roland was familiar with. He excitedly pinched a corn grain and observed it under the sunlight. Its fruit was a bit shriveled, as though it had been stored in a warehouse over winter. The yield of corn was naturally higher than that of wheat by some distance, and perhaps, after Leaf made some modifications, it could soon replace wheat as the staple food of Border Town.

Sean opened another bag and took out a plump and brown-skinned crop. “This is a ground egg. I ate some in an inn in Port of Clearwater. It’s usually cut into strips and soaked in water. It’s very crunchy and has a slightly sweet taste.”

When Roland saw the familiar shape, he felt exhilarated. This was clearly a potato! He used a finger to scratch away the dirt-covered skin to reveal the dark yellow potato flesh inside—compared to the latter-day potato he knew, the size of this potato was relatively small, and the tuber’s color was darker. Also, not every potato had the same egg shape. He noticed that there were potatoes with carrot-like long shapes in the bag.

“This thing’s even tastier when grounded and steamed into a paste.”

“Uh… Your Highness, you’ve eaten this before?”

“Yes, at a palace banquet.” Roland decided to lie, if only because he felt that the name “ground egg” was too unpleasant. “The royal chefs don’t call it ‘ground egg’ but ‘potato’ instead. The steamed delicacy is called ‘mashed potato’.”

“I see. Your Highness is indeed knowledgeable.” Sean exclaimed. He then opened the final bag, which stood up perfectly straight, and took out a black-skinned stick. “Your Highness, I feel that this crop will be the most important. Honey is extremely cheap in Port of Clearwater largely because of it. I heard in a tavern that many of their farms have switched to growing these sugar stalks instead. This amazing plant tastes sweet, and after peeling off the skin, it can be squeezed to extract sugar. Its price is one-tenth that of honey, and yet it’s no less sweet than honey water.”

“…” Roland wanted to comment that he had also seen this crop before, as well as suggest to change its name to sugarcane, but after some thought, he dropped the idea and decided that it would not be too late to change its name after allowing his subjects to cultivate the crop. The raw material that sugarcane used to produce sucrose could also be used to refine ethanol, and therefore, it might be considered to be a crop that could greatly enhance the happiness of the people. It was not too difficult to imagine that if some white sugar was sprinkled over the usually-tasteless flour pancakes, it would improve the taste by severalfold. Even Roland, who much preferred salty food, would fall in love with this.

“Are there any other crop seeds?”

“Those are the only ones from Port of Clearwater.” Sean fished out six small leather bags from an inside pocket and handed them to the prince. “You also asked me to bring back plant seeds which are found in Graycastle but not in Border Town. These bags contain plants which I picked while passing by Willow Town and Fallen Dragon Ridge. There are grapes, soybeans, cotton, flax and olive seeds. The only thing to note is that a farmer told me that grapes are mostly grown by sticking a branch in the soil. Although seeds can be used as well, the germination period is very long and the resulting grapes won’t taste too good.”

[None of these is a problem with Leaf around,] Roland thought. Now that he had grape seeds, he could even attempt to create a grapevine version of wheat. As for the soybeans, cotton, flax and olive seeds, they were all highly useful crops. He would first let Leaf modify the seeds to suit the Western Region’s climate and soil, and then pass them to the serfs to cultivate on a small scale, and finally get the Ministry of Agriculture to make the final improvements and compile a cultivation handbook.

“Your Highness, I have some other news to report,” Sean said in a low voice, “It’s regarding the situation in Port of Clearwater.”

“Does it have anything to do with Princess Garcia?”

Sean nodded. “I stayed in Port of Clearwater for nearly two weeks. Aside from purchasing seeds, most of my free time was spent in the taverns.” “There was an ongoing rumor that your elder sister, Garcia Wimbledon, had struck an agreement with the people of Sand Nation. She would offer the Southern Territory’s border regions for their people to reside, and in return, they would proclaim her as their queen and heed her call-ups and commands. During my time in the port, I indeed caught sight of the figures of several Mojin Clan people.”

“The Mojin people of the Southernmost Region…” Roland got caught in his thoughts. “They yearn most for oases and sources of water. Garcia has truly found their soft spot this time. However, even if she’s as bold as the Queen of Clearwater should be, she’ll most certainly not dare to invite too many of the people of Sand Nation, or else the safety of Port of Clearwater will be compromised.”

“The people of Sand Nation are divided among themselves into many factions. It’s not possible that they’ll all listen to her orders. Do you know which clans she made the agreement with?”

Sean shook his head. “The people of Sand Nation are extremely wary of Graycastle people. I won’t be able to obtain more detailed information even if I paid gold royals. However… something extremely odd happened. A day before I intended to leave Port of Clearwater, Garcia returned triumphantly from Eagle City, and throughout the city, people celebrated their queen’s victory over the fake king Timothy. However, the next day, there were four or five cases of murder throughout the city, and one victim was even torn into pieces on the streets.”

“Subsequently, Port of Clearwater was put into lockdown, and thus I had to spend another three days there. The taverns were closed and everyone gathered in the lobby of the inn to discuss this matter. Some said that this was the revenge for the fake king, while others said that this was committed by the people of Sand Nation. A merchant from the Fjords claimed that he personally witnessed one of the murders. The murderer wasn’t big in stature, and was clearly not a person of Sand Nation, but his strength and speed were extraordinary. The security team that came as soon as they heard the news was completely destroyed by him. Although he was stabbed several times, he seemed unaffected by his blood spilling all over the place. Only when more security members arrived in quick succession were they able to put him down with shields and spears. When the lockdown was lifted, I didn’t dare to stay any longer, and immediately hopped on a merchant ship and returned here.”

“You did very well.” Roland pondered for a moment. “Don’t bother returning the excess gold royals for purchasing seeds to the City Hall. Treat it as your reward.”

“Thank you for Your Highness’ reward!”

“Extraordinary strength and speed, and unaffected by the pain caused by stab wounds, these sound like… the church’s pill.” After the guards made their leave, Roland heard Nightingale’s voice ring out in his ears.

“I think so too. But then it makes even less sense,” Roland replied, frowning, “and according to Sean’s explanation, Garcia would receive the pill earlier than me. If they’re supporting both sides to fight for the throne… what exactly are they thinking?” He soon had a faint and nasty thought in his mind. “Could it be that the real purpose of the church isn’t to see a stable Kingdom of Graycastle?”

Chapter 141: A Kiss

t night, Roland sat in his office and began designing the new equipment.

The appearance of the pill in Port of Clearwater made him feel a strong sense of crisis. Without thinking about why the church simultaneously supported him and Garcia to vie for the throne, just the fact that Garcia’s military strength comprised of thousands of soldiers terrified him greatly.

He imagined thousands of steel-clad warriors charging at cavalry speed towards him in an unstoppable manner. His weak line of volley fire would find it hard to stop them. If one of these warriors charged into a group of soldiers, it would cause heavy damage to the First Army.

Fortunately, this kind of pill could not provide immunity to its user, who thus remained flesh and blood.

What Roland needed was higher-speed and more precise weapons, so that he could continually fire at the enemies from an even greater distance.

He also had to come up with a way to overcome the problem of lacking mercury fulminate to serve as primer. He decided to first manufacture a batch of substitute equipment which would be used to cope during a possible crisis.

Anna’s new ability gave him immense confidence. At present, as long as he could draw a blueprint, Anna would be able to produce the weapon with high accuracy and astonishing efficiency—unlike in the past when he had to rely on the blacksmiths to hammer out the flintlock’s components one at a time, Anna could stack several parts together and cut them into shape together.

The universalization of education and the standardization of weights and measures were intended to prepare for industrial mass production, but that did not mean he would not take shortcuts. Anna’s new ability was virtually a goldmine of its own, possessing an endless well of potential to be tapped. In recent days, Roland would go to North Slope Mountain every afternoon to do research together with her on the usage of Blackfire. When he did not have time for that, he would let her practice controlling her ability by carving a few small playthings, such as garage kits of the witches.

Although, at present, she was still an amateur in sculpturing human figures, Roland believed that there would come a day when the display sections of his bookcase would be crammed with garage kits of witches… perhaps?

He took out a steel ruler and pressed it down on the parchment. When he had only drawn two lines, he heard someone knocking on the door.

As his guards did not inform him of this arrival, he could guess that it was most likely a witch. And at this time, most witches would be in the parlor on the first floor, learning how to read words and perform the four arithmetic operations from Scroll. There was only one witch who did not have to attend elementary class and thus had time to visit him right now.

“Come in.”

Indeed, the person who pushed the door and entered the room was Anna.

She gently closed the door and walked up to Roland’s desk. She was carrying a book that was inlaid with golden edges in her arms.

That she was able to borrow the Book of Illusions, which Scroll could only reveal once a day, and furthermore to do so before Scroll’s lesson, it must be said that although Anna did not talk much, her popularity within the witches’ community was evidently yet unexpectedly high. He thought about Nana, who used to follow behind Anna like a tail on her back; maybe Anna was naturally born with a charm that enchanted witches?

“What’s the matter? Did you run into a problem hard to understand?”

“Yes.” She nodded in agreement and opened the book in front of Roland. “Here… Your Highness, you said that all things in this world are made of small balls and that these balls are all different from each other, but you then mentioned that they can turn into… waves?” Anna asked. “What’s a wave?”

“When you throw a stone into water, the vibration created is a wave.” The prince coughed twice before continuing. “This is a concept. You can observe it, but you don’t have to research it too deeply.”

“Why’s that?”

[Because I don’t know more about it myself.] Roland did not know whether to laugh or cry. The micro quantum field was one of the most abstruse theories to him. He suddenly felt that he should not have written this paragraph in the book, but his reply did not match what his brain thought. “Therefore, these balls have both wave and material properties. We’re also made up of small balls and thus we’re like that too. The only difference is that the quality of our bodies is too high, which makes it difficult to observe fluctuations. As for an even deeper reason, it would take many generations of mankind to discover.” He thought for a while before adding. “Because there’s a considerably large conflict between this kind of phenomenon and our common sense, it may be very difficult to comprehend. It’s like how those of us living in the three-dimensional world find it hard to visualize four-dimensional space. You don’t have to worry about these things.”

Anna curled her lips as though she was not satisfied with Roland’s explanation. She then asked, “What’s the four-dimensional space?”

“…”

By the time she stopped asking further questions, the prince had spoken until his mouth was completely dry. He had utterly underestimated Anna’s curiosity and thirst for knowledge. If this continued, he would soon have nothing left to teach her.

Notably, when Roland asked her about her progress in mathematics, she replied with a calm face, “That’s much easier than this. I’m currently studying equations and matrices, which are rather interesting.”

[Much easier, rather interesting…] Roland suddenly felt that the disparity among humans was too large. How long had this been? She had progressed from the basic functions of mathematics to equations and matrices in only a week’s time, and after this would be calculus. If placed in a school, Anna would be a terrifyingly quick learner.

And… a very pretty quick learner to boot.

Roland gazed at the young girl as she lowered her head and flipped through the book. For a short while, he was spellbound. He observed the fine fringes on her forehead and saw as strands of hair fell beside her cheek sporadically. He could not help reaching out his forefinger to gently roll up her hair behind her ears.

She turned her head and looked at him with a smile in her eyes. Her turquoise pupils were no longer as calm as water, and seemed to ripple. They looked into each other’s eyes from this close distance until Anna opened her mouth to say something—she did not make a sound, but Roland could still interpret what her lips said.

“Nightingale isn’t here right now.”

The meaning of these words could not have been more straightforward. Roland felt that he would be stupid if he pretended not to understand. The room was completely silent, such that he could practically hear her breath and heartbeat.

As he moved closer to her, she closed her eyes and her cheeks started to blush. He sniffed the faint scent on her body and gently kissed her lips.

A lush and soft feeling spread through his body. Time seemed to freeze at this moment, and it was God knew how long before they briefly separated.

Without waiting for him to say anything, Anna tipped her toes, allowing the couple’s lips to make contact again.

…

“Yee… haw… hey!” Mystery Moon sat cross-legged on her bed deep in meditation. She raised her arms high and chanted lines of words.

“Are you mad?” A frowning Lily asked while wrapping a towel around her damp hair.

“I’m trying to think of myself as a composition of particles, She opened her eyes and said, “I’m particles.” Then she pointed her hand at Lily. “You too!”

“Nuts.” The latter rolled her eyes and climbed into her soft bed.

“Aye, it doesn’t work.” Mystery Moon sighed. “I’ve clearly imagined everything around me to be compositions of particles. Why can’t I develop a new ability like Anna did?”

“Because you don’t believe it at all.” Lily posited.

“I do!”

“You don’t.” She shook her head. “The only person that we can’t deceive is ourselves… Although Anna wasn’t clear about Roland’s reasons, she trusted unconditionally in him from the very beginning. And of course, she’s always been much smarter than you. This is another important reason why she was able to obtain her new ability.”

“…”

“In any case, don’t imagine too much. Have a good sleep.” Lily shrugged her shoulders.

“Don’t you wish to have this kind of ability?” Mystery Moon pouted her lips. “I want to be able to do more work for Roland.”

“By developing an ability that’ll keep food fresh for a longer time?” She yawned. “I’m not interested. Besides, why would you want to do more work for him? Men are all heartless and capricious. Echo is an example right in front of you.”

“You say you’re not interested, but yet you’re always so attentive during class,” Mystery Moon whispered softly, “and you’re the most serious student after Leaf.”

Lily grabbed her pillow and clapped it on the former’s face. “Go to sleep!”