Release That Witch

Chapter 168: Ashes’ Past

quot;Go away! Filthy beggar!”

Someone pushed her forcibly, but she stood still. She watched as the other person staggered and backed up a bit.

The pompous expression on his face disappeared. He glared at her and left.

She continued moving through the crowd with indifference. The majority of people frowned and avoided her when they saw her ragged clothing.

There were swarms of people. Although the Inner City didn’t have a traditional city wall and gate, people had constructed a symbolic entryway composed of wood and wreaths. Armored guards stood on both sides of the door. Their exquisite armor reflected a glaring light under the sun. The vivid eagle adornments, the embossed irises on their chests and the handsome visage of the knights, made all the girls shriek in excitement.

Their red velvet cloaks dragged all the way to the ground, resembling a red wall from afar. The magnificently dressed nobles separated the crowd and made an empty space behind the entryway.

The flags on the sidewalks were flowing in the air. Long strings of golden flags hung from the top of the flagpole, creating a sense of grandeur. The embroidered flags had different motifs. The most common was the high tower long spear. She knew that this pattern represented the royalty of the Kingdom of Graycastle, the host of today’s ceremony.

Today was the coming-of-age ceremony for Princess Tilly Wimbledon.

A week prior, the advertisement for this ceremony had caused a joyous uproar. Everyone in the town knew about it. In addition to the local nobility of the Kingdom of Graycastle, there were a few ambassador groups from the other kingdoms. They all brought gifts and marriage proposals in the hope that they would gain the admiration of Princess Tilly and the Royal Family.

The church had sent a bishop to host the ceremony for Princess Tilly. The ceremony would be held in the Dawn Square in the center of the city. The royal family would distribute meat porridge and soup, this was the reason the ceremony had attracted such a large audience.

However, she had not come for food.

Her goal was the archbishop.

It would cast shame on the church if one of its archbishops was assassinated in front of everyone in the king’s city. The sweet joy of retaliation gave her a strong sense of exhilaration. She touched her chest; there was a short knife that she’d stolen. Although the knife was of an inferior quality, it was enough to kill a common person.

There was a round of loud applause in the crowd that interrupted her thoughts. She looked toward the Inner City. The knightage was marching in organized alignment. The knights in the very front of the group looked glamorous with their red cloaks flowing behind them like dancing flames.

The carriage was drawn by four horses behind the knights. The emblems of the royal family of the Kingdom of Graycastle were ingrained on the sides of the carriage. The wheels and frames were painted gold. Bright red pennants fluttered in the wind on top of the car, and golden silks were hanging on the four corners. At a glance, the whole troop looked like a moving golden ocean.

The crowd started to move to the Dawn Square with the carriages. She entered the border of the square with the crowd. The soldiers had separated the inner part of the square. Only the nobility could watch the ceremony up close. She estimated that it would only take few seconds for her to rush into the square. As long as the archbishop entered the square, he would not be able to avoid her.

The people from the royal family started to jump off the carriage. The five children of King Wimbledon III were slowing walking toward the center of the ceremonial stage.

Among them she saw the Princess, Tilly Wimbledon.

Undoubtedly, Princess Tilly was the heroine of the day. There was a light shining in her eyes, crystal clear like a gemstone. Her tidy long gray hair was in a simple hairstyle, without any decoration. Her appearance was the most exceptional of her siblings; the patterns on her cloth were simple, stylish, and well-suited for her aura. Most incredibly, Princess Tilly cast her eyes straight onto her in the crowd. Then, Princess Tilly nodded as if greeting her and smiled lightly.

This was not a delusion. She felt the same sensation at that moment, a sense of intimacy as if they had known each other for years. Sweet and warm. This intimacy was not of blood, identity, or social status. It was from the resonance of magic power.

She released the handle of the knife that she was squeezing tightly and started to watch the girl on the stage quietly.

At the end of the ceremony, two guards found her. They wanted to take her to the palace.

If she chose to refuse, the guards would not be able to block her. However, she did not ask anything and followed the two guards to the Inner City, entering the glamorous palace through a narrow street.

In a secret chamber in the palace, she stood in front of Princess Tilly.

“I see.”

“This is a truly unfortunate story. So, this is how you ended up here in the Kingdom of Graycastle.”

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to wander around anymore. You shall accompany me hereafter”

“I’ll do a proper makeover for you. I’ll make sure that no one can recognize you.”

“I investigated. The cloister was destroyed by a huge fire. All the children were missing. The entire building was left in ruins and ashes.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Then, I shall call you Ashes.”

…

Ashes opened her eyes. The first thing that came into view was Maggie’s face.

Maggie blinked then rushed to hug her. “You finally woke up!”

Ashes tried to move her finger. She did not feel the expected powerlessness or numbness. She did not feel pain in her waist either.

“How long was I in a coma?”

“A whole afternoon,” Maggie said, “Nana said I could wake you up as soon as she healed you, but that your body would be really tired. It was better to let you rest so that you would feel more energized when you woke up.”

Ashes patted Maggie’s head and slowly sat up on the bed. She lifted up her clothes and found that her waist was intact. The huge wound was like a nightmare that had disappeared upon waking.

“How did she heal me?”

“I don’t think you want to know.” Maggie pursed her lips. After she saw the insistence in Ashes’ eyes, she explained, “They collected your scattered… umm, parts, and put the parts back into your stomach. Then Nana used magic power to restore the parts back to their original state. According to Lightning, the more parts that they collect, the faster she heals. If the limbs are all gone, Nana won’t be able to regenerate new parts.”

Ashes could feel the goosebumps breaking out over her skin. “Then the dirt and grass stains…”

“The dirty stuff was expelled when your wound was healed. Nana’s power is able to differentiate between necessary parts and unnecessary parts.”

Ashes was relieved. She got off the bed and tried to feel the power in her body. Just like Nana had said, after her long rest, Ashes did not feel any emaciation. Instead, she felt her power was even stronger than before.

Ashes put on her black cloak, looked at the color of the sky through the window and walked toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Maggie asked.

“To see Prince Roland,” Ashes said without looking back.

Chapter 169: The Farewell

n the office, Ashes met Roland Wimbledon again. He was buried in documents, writing. It seemed that he was handling some work. The sun was tilting to the west and the sky was painted with a touch of golden color. The sunlight came through the casement windows and lifted a long shadow before the table.

Ashes waited until the prince put down his quill before proclaiming, “I won.”

“Absolutely, you won.” Roland nodded without hesitation.

Such a straightforward attitude made Ashes feel a bit surprised. She’d thought that Roland was going to argue and had not expected that he would admit this result.

“However, I admit that you do have the power to fight against the God’s Punishment Army,” she said. “The God’s Punishment Army isn’t impervious to blades and spears. Their power and physical capabilities are similar to mine. However, they lack consciousness and also the ability to think. That’s why I can handle three at one time. According to the previous contest, if the knight’s opponent is God’s Punishment Army, I believe they would attack with a frontal assault on the knight. The God’s Punishment Army isn’t able to have a single dispatch as the Judgement Army does. If what I assume is correct, the church needs to appoint someone to lead them.”

“Thank you.” Roland smiled. “This information is substantial.”

“What was the new weapon in the knight’s hand?”

“A running fire flintlock,” he said, “From now on, all my soldiers will use this weapon. Even a farmer would be able to defeat a well-trained member of the Judgement Army using the flintlock.”

Ashes hesitated. “Could you give me a flintlock?”

“Not unless you join the Witch Union.” Roland shrugged. “This weapon is still fairly rare at this stage.”

Roland’s refusal was expected. Ashes breathed out and said, “I have to reunite with Tilly as soon as possible. Tomorrow at dawn, I’ll leave Border Town. If you can’t withstand anymore, you could move to the Fjords for sanctuary.”

He nodded. “You too, don’t forget to tell the news to my beloved sister that there’s a place for the witches in the Western Region of the Kingdom of Graycastle.”

Ashes was silent for a moment. “I’ll consider it.”

When Ashes was just about to leave the office, the prince called her to stop. “Wait, I have a gift for you. It’s right behind the door.”

A gift?

She was dazed for a moment. She turned around and saw a huge sword near the door. It was blocked by the door so she hadn’t noticed it when she walked into the office.

“Your original sword couldn’t be used anymore. I asked Anna to make a new one for you. This sword isn’t made out of inferior pig iron, it’s made of pure steel.”

The body of the huge sword was smooth and well-proportioned. It reflected an orangish glow under the light of sunset. She walked to it and gently touched the body of the sword. Its width was very well-balanced, and the side of the blade showed signs of the hardening process. Undoubtedly, this was a high-quality weapon. The only thing confusing Ashes was the style of the sword. Rather than having double blades, it was a single blade, and the other side was as wide as a little finger. The sword did not have a tip. Its top was in a trapezoid shape. The most bizarre part was the first section of the blade. A particular pattern was ingrained on the blade, and the unsharpened side had a round bump covered in gold. It would definitely catch everyone’s attention.

Even though she did not want to show her affection to the new sword, she could not help but lift it up in admiration.

“Why is its appearance… so weird?”

“Because this isn’t an ordinary weapon.” Roland smiled. “Its name is the Messenger of Ashes. Compared to the plain sword that you had before, this is a legendary item.”

Ashes decided not to inquire about the strange words that Roland was using. “Well then, I’ll accept this gift. In return, I’ll give you a gift too.”

“Umm? What is it?” Roland asked curiously.

She did not answer and simply left the room.

The next morning, Roland opened the door and saw Nightingale sitting in front of the desk with a piece of dried fish in her mouth.

“They left.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes,” she answered in a sluggish tone. “They departed at dawn. Wendy accompanied them part of the way.”

Roland was moved. Wendy was caring for every single sister, not to mention that this was the witch that at one time protected her from harm and indirectly helped her to leave the cloister. He’d thought that Wendy would have gone with Ashes. He had not expected that Wendy would refuse Ashes’ invitation.

In the end, the Witch Union was still composed of 12 people. That truly motivated Roland.

“Do you believe that they’ll tell the witches across the ocean about Border Town?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” He leaned against the chair and sighed. “However, if they meet insolvable hardships, they’ll think of the Border Town.”

Roland closed his eyes and started to search his mind for the memories that belonged to the prince.

He and Tilly were not close. Tilly had kept her distance from everyone, even King Wimbledon III. Aside from her exceptional appearance and intelligence, he did not have much information about Tilly in his mind.

Roland did not know when Princess Tilly had started to cover for witches or what she planned to develop in the Fjords. Nevertheless, since both of them planned to fight against the church at this stage, she would be a great alliance that he should strive for.

Sending Theo to spread the news was not a meaningless act. The awakening of a witch was totally random. Tilly would not be able to take away all the witches. Especially since the organization had retreated, the newly awakened witch would be in desperate need of finding sanctuary.

Since he’d gathered new information regarding the God’s Punishment Army, the next thing that he needed to do was to expand the manufacture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid.

More efficient gunpowder and bombs were inseparable from nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Once the First Army replaced its weapons to the revolving rifles, gun-barrels with rifling and fixed loading bullets would drastically increase the accuracy of shooting. Therefore, training would be even more important. In this era without gun control, the skillful soldier would be able to fight 10 newbies. The consumption of bullets would be astonishingly high.

The black gunpowder would remain in the gun-barrel and block the rifling, decreasing the age of the gun-barrel. This problem could be solved by using the smokeless powder. The smokeless powder in its preliminary form was nitrocellulose, in the later stage it would be the mixture of glycerol and nitrocellulose. Right now, even the nitric acid that was used to soak the guncotton was insufficient, not to mention replacing it all with guncotton.

The production in the lab was limited to a small-scale. He would need industrial manufacturing if he wanted enough equipment to supply an army. However, Roland was unfamiliar with the chemical industry. He could not think of any better ideas right now. 除此之外,教育同样不能放下.不只是普及初等文化知识

Besides that, he also could not neglect the education. Not only civil knowledge, but Roland also had to implement to transform the thinking of his citizens. The locals now had a better understanding toward the witches after the challenge of the Months of Demons and also the advertisement of the First Army. However, the outsiders were still confined to the propagated thinking of the church. The population of outsiders in Border Town had dramatically increased, especially the farmers. They were still living in the wooden sheds near the Redwater River. It could be considered the “suburb” of the town. However, as soon as they were promoted to freedmen, they would gradually move to the inner city. By then it would be too late to adjust their thinking.

He had to think of a transformation method that would not arouse too much attention and would be accepted by the public.

…

His thoughts were in a chaotic mess for a while. Roland opened his eyes and noticed that Nightingale was staring at him from aside. When their eyes met, she subconsciously turned away her head.

“Ahh… yes, I forgot to tell you something.” The witch stared through the window and pretended to be nonchalant. “Wendy asked me to tell you something.”

“What?” Roland asked.

“She said, thank you.”

Chapter 170: A Gift from an Avenger (Part ?)

he sun had gradually sunk into mountains, and night fell in the Western Region.

The emissary delegation decided to camp in an open field not far away from the main road.

Soon after they pitched their tents in a circle, they lit up a bonfire in the center. Warriors took off their armors and sat around it. They stretched to relax themselves and waited until the water boiled on the fire to cook porridge.

Alicia carried a basin of warm water into a tent and said, “My Priestess, please wash your face.”

“Thanks,” Mira nodded to her with a smile and then dipped her towel in the water. “We’ll arrive at Border Town tomorrow. Thank you for your hard work along the way.”

“It’s not a big deal, compared with fighting against demonic beasts. On this journey, you’re the one impressing me the most. You’re such a good rider. I used to think priests and priestesses weren’t good at long journeys,” Alicia said.

“Hah-hah, I’m not born a priestess. I frequently traveled on horseback when I was a merchant.” Mira wiped the dust and sweat on her face with the towel and then gave the basin to the female warrior. “Wash your face, please. How’s it? Do you feel any better now?”

“What?” Alicia winced.

“The thing about God’s Punishment Army.” The Priestess shook her head with a smile. “You’ve your heart on your sleeve. Is it because of what Abrams said?”

“…” Alicia took the basin without saying anything.

“All of us will encounter difficulties and challenges. If we can’t overcome them, the whole world will suffer, let alone the church. In order to stop those dreadful enemies, we have to make sacrifices sometimes. This issue may put you in a dilemma, but don’t forget the church’s motto,” Mira said.

“Of two evils choose the lesser,” Alicia said in a low voice.

“Exactly, the purpose of the sacrifice determines whether it’s worth doing. Most importantly, participation in the incarnation ceremony of God’s Punishment Army is completely voluntary. When Abrams’ brother made up his mind to become a God’s Punishment Warrior, he was ready to sacrifice himself to the church. It’s a lofty ideal, and his name will be engraved on the Monument of Glory and passed down through generations together with the glory of the church.”

“Thank you, My Priestess. I feel much better now,” Alicia said, with her right hand on her chest.

She stopped feeling gloomy hearing what the priestess said. She thought no matter what, as least, God’s Punishment Warriors adhered to their faith and sacrificed themselves for the glory of deities.

“My pleasure,” Mira said with a slight smile, “let’s get out having dinner. It must be ready now. No kidding, I can’t taste now after so many days of eating porridge.”

“Luckily, today is the last day,” Alicia smiled back and said, “tomorrow, we’ll meet the lord and enjoy a splendid banquet.”

The chief justice picked out tonight’s watchmen after the tasteless dinner. Judgement Warriors not assigned to any task went back into their tents to sleep. Alicia also returned with the priestess to the tent, put out their oil lamp and wrapped themselves in quilts.

Alicia was not sure how long she had slept when she heard a sudden thud in a daze. It sounded like something hitting the ground. Very soon, here came another heavy, dull noise.

And in that noise, she had heard a vague sound of an armor dropping onto the ground.

She opened her eyes at once.

She swiftly got out of her quilt to grab her two-handed sword aside and slowly moved to the door of the tent. When she was going to raise a corner of the tent to see what happened outside, she heard the chief justice angrily shouting, “Enemy attack! Warriors, get up to fight!” The roar broke the silence of the night and stirred up everyone in the battalion.

After that, Alicia heard a loud bang!

Meanwhile, the chief justice’s voice suddenly stopped.

She did not hesitate anymore and promptly rolled out of her tent. She saw the chief justice’s giant sword being cut in half, no… not only his sword, the chief justice himself was also split, his blood gushing into the sky. In the light of the bonfire, he knelt down feebly and his body broke into two pieces, falling down at a woman’s feet.

This woman with a giant sword in hand was the attacker. She wrapped herself in a black gown and covered her face with a hood. In the shadow of the hood, Alicia could clearly see two shinning golden pupils.

Another two Judgement Warriors lunged at the attacker together, but nobody could resist the dreadful giant sword in her hand. She killed each Judgement Warrior with only one strike, cutting both the warrior and his sword in half. First, their swords clashed, making loud bangs and sending sparks and iron filings flying to all directions. After that here came the friction sounds of flesh and bones being cut through by her giant sword. The horrifying sounds like a nightmare curdled Alicia’s blood.

“It’s a witch!” someone exclaimed.

[There’s only one attacker… and she dares initiate attack at Judgement Army on her own. She must the Fallen with demon power!]

When Alicia was absorbed in thoughts, a steady voice suddenly came into her ear. “Take the priestess away!”

She turned around and saw Abrams.

“Are you asking me to leave all my battle companions behind?” Alicia widened her eyes.

“Otherwise, you’ll die here for nothing. Don’t you understand!” He growled with his eyebrows knitted. “She’s not afraid of God’s Stone of Retaliation. She must be an Extraordinary. I’ll try my best to stop her. You take the priestess to Longsong Stronghold! Remember to take the main road all the time. If you run into any caravan along the road, ask them for help!” With these words, he dashed toward the attacker with his sword in hand.

Alicia gasped. [She’s an Extraordinary. It’s said that only God’s Punishment Warriors can rival Extraordinaries. Meeting them, I should immediately ask the local church for help. Abrams is right. If I stay here, it’ll only waste their sacrifices.]

Seeing five Judgement Warriors killed, the remaining warriors changed their tactics. They took advantage of the tents and the terrain to fight a running battle against the witch as a ploy to gain time. However, Alicia knew it clearly that sooner or later, the warriors would die in the hand of the Extraordinary who was way more stronger and faster than them.

She grated and rushed back into the tent. The priestess had already put on her shoes, waiting for information. Alicia jerked Mira up, leading her to the place where the delegation had tied their horses.

“What happened?” the priestess asked in a deep voice.

“An Extraordinary witch attacked the battalion! Please leave with me now!” Alicia mounted her horse and urged. “Be quick!”

Finding out that she could hardly see the road at night, Alicia was afraid that the horses might be tripped if they galloped on the main road. Slowing down the speed to ensure safety was not a good choice, either. The witch could easily catch up with them as they could not run very far.

In the end, Alicia decided to send the horses run along the main road while she and the priestess were burrowing into the forest on the wayside. In this way, it was hard to find them without firelight.

She took Mira’s hand, walking away from the main road. Gradually, she could hardly hear the clashes of swords. In the dim moonlight, she stayed alert and aware of the surroundings. Deep in the forest, they might meet beasts or vipers, but at least it was better than encountering an Extraordinary.

Alicia finally heaved out a sigh of relief when they fumbled their way through the dark and got near to the Impassable Mountain Range. It seemed that they were not followed by the witch. Quietness prevailed now except for the tweeting birds over their heads.

“What’re we going to do next?” Mira asked.

The priestess did not seem to panic at such a crisis, which impressed Alicia a lot. “My Priestess, we’d better find a place beyond the wind’s reach to spend the night. When the dawn reaches tomorrow, we’ll go to Longsong Stronghold to ask for help.”

“Don’t we go to Border Town? It needs at least a day and a night to return to the stronghold.”

“No.” Alicia shook her head and continued to explain, “It wasn’t just a coincidence that we were attacked by an Extraordinary. The lord probably has already been in collusion with witches. If that’s true, it’s too dangerous for us to go there.”

“I see your point…” Mira’s mouth was suddenly agape. She seemed to stare at something behind the woman warrior.

Alicia’s heart skipped a beat. She turned around and saw the woman in the black gown steadily stepping out of the forest’s shadow. Her eye shone like stars. An owl swirled down and landed on her shoulder.

Chapter 171: A Gift from an Avenger (Part ?)

quot;Devil!” Alicia took out her two-handed sword and stood in front of Mira.

“… devil?” The witch sounded cold, showing no emotion. “What about you church people? You send orphaned and abandoned children to cloisters and pick witches out of them? What should I call you?”

“Nonsense!” The woman warrior retorted. “The church accepts and raises the kids out of kindness of deities. If it’s not for cloisters, how many of them will be able to reach an adult age? Ubiquitous demons corrupt the weak-minded ones and lead a small number of them astray now and then, but the church will solve all the problems at once when finding a devil witch among them. You’re distorting reality.”

Hearing the word “solve”, the witch’s golden pupils suddenly dimmed. She raised her giant sword in just one hand and said, “I’m not very interested in arguing with a dead woman, so that’s it.”

Before her voice died away, the owl on her shoulder had flown up, and she had already come up to Alicia, evoking her unforgettable memory of her battle companions being cut in half together with their swords. Instead of moving back, Alicia lunged forward at the witch, aiming at the part under her right arm. Alicia had repeatedly heard during her sword training courses that this part was the weakest point if the opponent chose right hand as a sword hand. If she attacked this point, the right-handed opponent would need several seconds to turn the blade.

Alicia bounded on the witch like a leopard, evading the strike. When she brushed past the Extraordinary, she held her two-handed sword horizontal, trying to hit the weakest point on the right side of her body, but the witch reacted at a stunning speed. By just a skip, she easily escaped Alicia’ attack and swiftly turned around, lifting up her giant sword.

Alicia, however, had not landed by now.

It all happened in a split second. Alicia saw half of her calf flying up into the air with blood. A tearing pain down there almost made her faint away. She instinctively clenched her teeth to stop herself from crying out at the scene.

The gap between her and the Extraordinary was just too wide.

She finally saw what an excellent fighter Abrams was, who had exchanged a dozen of blows with the Extraordinary, striving for more time for her to escape.

Alicia struggled to turn around and saw Mira took a hand crossbow out of their backpack, aiming at the Extraordinary when the witch was concentrating on herself.

This was their last chance. Alicia thought that she must manage to make the witch focus on herself.

When she was going to say something, the giant sword swept. She suddenly felt a tight throat and then saw the world upside down… No, she thought that she must be flying, as she could see her body feebly kneel down on the ground and the owl dart toward Mira. The owl transformed into a girl in the air and knocked down the priestess… Soon she was bleary-eyed and then all she could see was endless darkness, when her head finally fell on the ground.

…

“Damn this stupid rock! Coo.” Maggie touched a swollen part on her head, complaining. “You’re so careless. If it wasn’t for me, you would have been shot by the bolt!”

“Relax, I saw it. I just wanted to end this as fast as I could,” Ashes said. She dug two shallow pits in the ground, dragged the two bodies into the pits and buried them, after she had pocketed all their God’s Stones of Retaliation and gold royals. By doing so, she earned her travel expenses on her way to Port of Clearwater. In addition, she found a letter from the priestess. She skimmed through its content. It said that if the priestess found Roland Wimbledon, Lord of the Western Region, was not in collusion with witches, she should request to buy female infants and orphans from him at market price. All the females under age could be traded for golden royals or pills, like what they had done with Duke Ryan before.

After reading the letter, Ashes sneered and burnt it with a torch fire.

“Let’s go. We have lots of bodies to bury.”

“Coo.” Maggie transformed into an owl and led Ashes back to the emissary delegation’s camping site.

As she would get dizzy seeing broken body parts or smelling blood, she alighted on a bough and watched Ashes digging pits, dragging and burying bodies all by herself.

“Why did you do this? It’ll be awful if the church finds out what you’ve done.”

“Only several months later, the church people will confirm that the emissary delegation is missing. They usually expect an emissary delegation sent out to investigate a lord to return in about two to three months, if the lord is happy to cooperate with the investigation,” Ashes said while digging.

“But His Highness won’t be happy to do so! Coo!”

“Please talk to me in your human form.” Ashes sighed and continued to explain, “Once this emissary delegation is allowed to enter the town, witches of the Witch Cooperation Association will be exposed. They even don’t need to ask the prince. All they need to do is to interrogate some subjects there. At that time, Roland will have only two choices. First one is lying. He’ll contend that he’s nothing to do with the matter. Second is to cooperate with the church and arrest all the witches. For a well-prepared emissary delegation like this one, if one of them had escaped from me, Hermes would have soon received the news. They brought carrier pigeons with them all the way. You’ve seen them, right?”

“I’ve already got them all. They can’t see their way at night.” Maggie patted her bulging pocket. “Let’s toast them tomorrow. One for you, and one for me.”

Ashes had never seen Maggie eat birds before. She sighed secretly, thinking how come the little girl became so keenly interested in toasted bird meat after she had been stayed in Border Town for merely a few days. “If the church received the delegation’s report about what happened in the town and decided to send its troops there at once, the prince would have only one month to prepare. But now, he has at least three more months before the church reacts, with any luck… This is the gift I give him and also my revenge on the church.”

“I see. Ashes, you’re such a considerate person.” Maggie praised.

In fact, Ashes had another reason for doing this, which she did not tell Maggie. By killing the whole emissary delegation, she had also pushed Roland Wimbledon to the point of no return. When the church failed to contact the emissary delegation, it would impute blame to Roland Wimbledon. At that time, he would not have any chance to betray the witches even if he wanted to.

It was almost dawn when Ashes finished.

“That’s it. Now, time to say goodbye to each other,” Ashes said to Maggie.

“…” Maggie was surprised. “What?”

Ashes gently touched her little head and squatted down to talk to her. “Don’t you really like Border Town? You’ll have a good time there with Lightning and Wendy.”

“But…” Maggie lowered her head and hesitated. “I like you and Lady Tilly, too.”

“I’m not telling you to stay in the town forever.” Ashes smiled. “Roland Wimbledon isn’t like Tilly. He’s an ordinary nobleman after all. We can’t be sure that he’ll remain on our side all the time. Given that, I assign you a task now. You have to fly back to Sleeping Island every month to tell us the recent situation of the town and then bring our information to the witches of Witch Cooperation Association there. In this way, we’ll stay in touch with the Witch Cooperation Association and you’ll be able to guide them to the Fjords when the town and Kingdom of Graycastle are no longer a safe place for them.”

“Is it true?” Maggie blinked her eyes.

“Yes, remember to complete your task. I trust you,” Ashes nodded and said.

After the talk, Maggie transformed into a pigeon and gradually disappeared in the morning sky. Ashes mounted a horse, heading for Port of Clearwater.

Chapter 172: A New Play

quot;That’s all for today. Class is over.”

“Goodbye teacher,” the little girls said simultaneously.

Irene closed her textbook and watched the kids walking out of the classroom. This school was rebuilt from a former residence belonged to a noble, which had been expropriated by the lord after this year’s Months of Demons. Partition walls which had separated the house into small rooms had been torn down. New walls had been built to create several big rooms on each floor. Four to six batches of students could take classes here at the same time. According to the textbook, such batch should be called a “class”. She could see most students of the daytime classes were kids, and at night classes, she would usually meet adult students.

She had thought her application for a teaching job would have taken a long time to reach the City Hall, when Ferlin had submitted her application. Surprisingly, she had received permission on the very next day. After that, she had gone to the City Hall to register and fetch her teaching materials and a school timetable.

Most of her students were children of the locals in Border Town. She had done lots of work to make these naughty kids attend classes well. There was one interesting chapter in her textbook guiding her to maintain classroom discipline. This chapter which was a real eye-opener suggested that the teacher should help students to develop self-discipline by dividing a class into groups and appointing group leaders and class leader. Besides the traditional methods of vocal critics and cane punishment, it also encouraged teachers to motivate students through encouragement and praises.

Irene believed this thoughtful author of the teacher’s textbook must be a senior who had been a teacher for many years.

As soon as she walked out of the school, she saw her knight, Ferlin Eltek, waiting for her at the gate.

Standing tall and straight, he still looked handsome in a simple leather coat. Without his shining armors, shield and sword which were bearing his family’s lion emblems, he was still her Morning Light.

After they hugged, Irene noticed that there was something wrong about Ferlin.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“…” he hesitated and said, “His Highness invites us to enjoy refreshments in the palace in the afternoon.”

“We?” Irene remained speechless for a while, as she had realized what was bothering Ferlin. She patted his back and shook her head, saying, “The prince has never met me. It’s impossible that he’ll act like the duke… and you’ll go to the palace with me, right?”

“Yes, I’ll protect you this time,” Ferlin nodded and said.

In the afternoon, Irene dressed up a little and went to the lord’s castle wearing an appropriate dress.

Not long after they were ushered into the reception hall, a gray-haired young man came to the gate. He was Lord of the Western Region, His Highness Roland Wimbledon. A lady above 30, seemed steady and capable, accompanied him. They could tell from her still attractive face that she must have been an extraordinary beauty when she had been young. They quickly rose and bowed to the prince.

“Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Eltek.” Roland sat in the seat of the host. “Help yourself to these dishes prepared by the kitchen of the palace.”

“Thank you very much for inviting us. It’s such a great honor for me,” Ferlin replied with noble manners.

“This lady is Scroll, the one in charge of Ministry of Education of City Hall. I believe you’ve already met each other.”

“Yes.” Ferlin nodded to Scroll to greet. “I’ve not yet expressed my gratitude to you. Without your help, Irene could not become a teacher that fast.”

Finally meeting the one who had helped her in the job application, Irene smiled to Scroll with gratitude.

After chatting together for some time, Ferlin finally asked, “May I ask, Your Highness, what’s the reason for this afternoon tea?”

“Education.” Roland paused and looked at Irene. “I heard you’ve worked in a theater in the stronghold. Are you an actress?”

“Uhm…” Irene was surprised hearing the prince asking about this. “I did only one drama.”

“Well here’s the thing. I plan to present a play every weekend in the square of the town. I’ve got scripts, writers and directors. What I need now are actors and actresses. As you don’t have many classes now and have a relative work experience, I want you to star in this drama. I’ll pay you extra salaries. Do you agree?” the prince said explicitly.

“…” Irene looked at the prince in disbelief. After she made sure that he was not kidding, she nodded excitedly, saying, “Your Highness, I’d like to!”

Standing on the stage to play had been her aspiration all the time. Since she had left the Longsong Theatre, she had been thinking that she might never get the chance to play a drama again. Therefore, she had buried this wish in her heart and never shown any regret in front of Ferlin. She was so excited now to know that she would be able to return to the stage.

“These plays are for the masses. It’s not very demanding. It’ll do as long as you can play the story clearly on the stage. Do you have friends in Longsong Stronghold who have a certain understanding of drama and hope to play on the stage but can’t find any opportunity? If you do, you can write to them, telling them they can play in Border Town every weekend and get paid as they’re in the theater of the stronghold.”

“They even can join this play? I know lots of people like that! I’ll write to them as soon as I get home. They’ll be happy to come to the town if they get the chance to play,” Irene was overjoyed and said.

“Good.” Roland gave her three books. “Here are the stories you’re going to play. They’re numbered. You’ll start with the first one. All of them are written by Scroll, stories close to the common people’s lives. You can take them home to read. If there’s anything you can’t understand, you can ask Scroll.”

“Yes, Your Highness! Thank you!” Irene bowed and said.

…

“Is it good to lie to her like that? You’re the author of those stories,” Scroll said.

“It’s alright. They won’t believe such vulgar stories are written by a prince.” Roland stretched himself. “And without your polishing and editing, I couldn’t finish them in such a short time.”

“They’re not vulgar at all.” Scroll shook her head. “They’re moving and inspiring. I don’t know why you know so much about the common people’s daily life, but I can promise the play will be generally welcomed.”

[Of course, it’s going to be a hit.] Roland was confident, too, as the first two scripts were actually revised from two popular stories, “Cinderella” and “The Crowing Cock in Midnight”. The first one was a moving love story between a prince and a civilian girl. The latter depicted the struggle of people at the bottom and their fighting against their mean, shameless landlord. He had localized both stories by changing the fairy who helped Cinderella into a witch and the landlord in “The Crowing Cock in Midnight” into a merciless lesser noble. After these two plays attracted lots of attention, Roland was going to put the third story called “The Witch Diaries” on stage, which was the part and parcel of his whole drama plan.

It was an original piece about three girls who became witches but had very different lives. He had not directly mentioned the church in his script, but only focused on the characters. One witch girl was abandoned by her parents, another one was used by others and the last one, very lucky, was deeply loved by her father and mother who remained the same to her even when they found that she was a witch and who even sacrificed their own lives to protect her. Fate and chance finally brought these three girls together. In the end, they defeated their enemy who wanted to kill them and then lived a good life like ordinary people.

Roland intended to make “The Witch Diaries” a series to infuse the people with a new idea, telling them through the moving drama that witches were not devil and even some of their own female relatives might become witches.

Chapter 173: Irene’s Wish

hen they were back in their apartment, Ferlin shook his head with profound resignation. “Why don’t you think about it for a few days before you promise His Highness?”

He had seen his wife skip happily all the way back home. In his memory, he had only seen her being that happy in their wedding.

“No.” Irene stuck out her tongue at him. “One day’s delay will make me sleepless.”

[Yes, she loves drama so much. Back in the Longsong Theater, she used to practice all alone until midnight and frequently run over her lines with me. If it had not been for the duke, she would have moved from Flower of the Theater up to Star of the Theater.] At this thought, he hugged his wife from the back and said, “I’m sorry.”

“…” Irene patted his head. “It’s not your fault. You were transferred to another city and couldn’t stop him at that time,” she said with a slight smile, “if you want to apologize, go to cook. I want to read the scripts first.”

“Well, well, well, I’ll cook.” Ferlin kissed her earlobe. “Meat porridge and fried eggs. Let’s add toasted sausage to our dinner tonight to celebrate.”

This residence in the town was different from all the houses which he had lived in before. Took this cooking range for example. Unlike the open hearth in every household in Longsong Stronghold, which was generally located in the center of a living room, the kitchen stove here was set in a separate room. The back of the stove was connected to a flue, and the other sides surrounding the stove were covered. A movable baffle was arranged on the fume exit. When they were not using the stove, they could push it to block the exit in case that cooking fume from downstairs came out of it.

Ferlin could easily think of the advantage of this design. Once the kitchen door was closed, the cooking fume and smell would not come into the living room and in summer, the temperature in the house would not be influenced by the heat out of the kitchen.

He put some firewood and sawdust into the hearth and then lit the fire to cook for dinner.

After dinner, Irene engrossed in the scripts again. When she finally put down the third book and heaved a long sigh, the candle was almost burnt out.

“How’s it?” Ferlin was bursting with curiosity, seeing her read the scripts for such a long time. He remembered she had been able to read 10 books like that in half a day back in the theater.

“It’s… hard to describe. Every story is different from the usual ones. I’ve never read anything like this! In ‘Cinderella’, the prince fell in love with a beautiful civilian girl instead of a princess… which isn’t a rare thing, but he even insisted on marrying her. I’m wondering why His Highness didn’t feel unhappy reading such an absurd story. Despite that, it’s really a heart-thrilling story. I can’t help but applause for the prince and Cinderella when I read the part where he found her again and put the crystal shoe on her feet,” Irene exclaimed.

“Another story ‘The Crowing Cock in Midnight’ has simpler plot compared with ‘Cinderella’, but it’s very interesting, too. I think two to three scenes will be enough to tell the story clearly on stage. The part describing the serfs finally plucking up their courage to fight against the nobleman is well-written. The serfs were resigned to everything in the beginning and then they were driven beyond endurance. By creating a long foreshadowing, the author added dramatic tension to the ending and fully expressed their emotions. I felt really great reading it when the serfs decided to fight back!”

“Serfs fight against a nobleman?” Ferlin knitted his eyebrow. [Nobles will never tolerate such a thing. If the serfs in the Eltek’s manor dare to fight against their lord with hoes and shovels, my father will cut their heads and put them at the manor gate the very next day.] “Is His Highness really going to let you play such a story on stage?”

“You haven’t read them yet.” Irene rolled her eyes at him. “You’ll feel the same thing as I do after reading them. The serfs had to fight. The lesser nobleman had gone too far. They were so cruelly oppressed by him, but all they did in the end was wrapping him in a bag and beating him up. I think they were very restrained. After that, the nobleman wanted to put all the serfs to death, but a witch happened to pass by and stopped the noble by transforming herself into a well-known great noble in that place. Later, she even went to the Lord’s castle to humble herself for the sake of the serfs. After a thorough discussion, the lord made a wise and merciful decision. He bought all the serfs and made them free civilians! I bet the audience will hail seeing this.”

[But nobles will definitely protest and press the theater. In the end, this troupe will be dismissed,] Ferlin thought with disapproval but another idea suddenly stuck him. [Wait, there’s no other noble besides His Highness and Viscount Tigui in Border Town and the prince is the one who builds this theatre. Does it mean that he really just intends to play the stories for the common people? How much will he earn by doing this? If he really pays the troupe as Stronghold Theater did, he’ll inevitably lose money on this investment. Does he just do this to amuse himself?]

Irene, however, did not notice the look on his face at all and continued to say, “But my dear, wonderful as the two stories are, they can’t compete with the third one, ‘The Witch Diaries’. I wager that theaters in big cities like Redwater City or even the king’s city will set up a troupe to rehearse and put up ads to ballyhoo the play once they read the script! I have to say, Scroll was a genius playwright. ‘The Witch’s Dairy’ is way better than any play nowadays in terms of the story and narration skill.”

“Are you sure?” Ferlin found it quite funny when Irene talked about those scripts so seriously and asked, “Do you think it’s even better than Mr. Kajen Fels’ widely recognized works, ‘For Rose’ and ‘A Prince Searching for Love’? They don’t only hit in the king’s city, but also attract troupes from the other kingdoms to watch and learn. I could hear Mr. Griffith’s name all the time even in the stronghold.”

“Yes, trust me, dear,” Irene told him the plots of the three stories roughly. “Despite the content, the narration style alone is creative enough. Plays before are written from a third-person view but this one is from the perspectives of the three witches. What they did affected each other’s lives, but they didn’t know it at all. In the middle part of the story, details that seemed irrelevant in the previous plots turned out to be coherent, and the witches became close friends. I must say this method of using multiple story lines to motivate the development of the plot will definitely make a stir, but not in Border Town. I doubt that the audience here will be able to see this point.” In great excitement, she got paper and quill, ready to write letters. “I have to invite all my friends in the theater over as soon as possible. I can’t wait to see the surprised look on their faces!”

“Wait, Irene, don’t you think… these stories are too irrational?” Ferlin came up to hold her hand.

Hearing what his wife had said, he also found the stories very interesting and all characters, good or evil, well-written, but he just did not feel right hearing the parts about the witches. They were completely contrary to what the church preached and in the meantime, amazingly detailed. The third witch in the story, who was lucky to be brought up in a loving family and to release her power at her will, found out in the end that Demonic Torture was nothing but a lie and that witches were not different from the common people except for their ability to use magic power. In the story, the witches had feelings and would also be overcome with sadness when their loved ones died. Ferlin believed that once the church got this news and came to the town, His Highness Roland would be in real trouble. [Is His Highness really not afraid of the church?]

“Irrational! No… Ferlin, before they became witches, they were ordinary girls, too.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“What about me? If I turn out to be a witch, will you think that I’m evil?” Irene stared at him and asked.

“No, of course not. You’re always the kind-hearted girl I know,” Ferlin said hurriedly.

“So what if we have a daughter who turns out to be a witch?”

“That’s impossible…” He suddenly closed his mouth and got what Irene meant. Judging a witch who he had never met was very different from judging his own relatives whom he got along with morning and night. How could he easily call them evil?

“Yes, if we really have a witch daughter…” Irene nodded with satisfaction.

“I’ll love her and protect her like the father of the third witch in the story.” The knight got down on one knee, acting as if he was taking an oath of allegiance.

“That’s the answer I want.” Irene put down her quill and smiled slightly. “I think… we can try it now.”

“Yes, my dear,” Ferlin whispered in her ear and then scooped her up, walking to the bedroom.

Chapter 174: The Industrial Park

fter Ashes left two days later, Maggie unexpectedly returned to Border Town and appeared again in front of everyone.

After she had been asked about the reasons for coming back, they welcomed her warmly and there was a new member in the Witch Union.

What made her feel greatly moved was the welcome banquet, which was held in the backyard garden of the castle. In this banquet, there was a long, iron shelf, covered with all kinds of meats that could be casually taken to barbecue. Spices were also very abundant; there were salt, oil, pepper, chili, and barbecue sauce which was made by Roland—boiled forest-produced mushrooms and chicken together with the soup, then salt, sugar, and wheat flour were added, which could be used instead of MSG. Maggie did not stop until her stomach was full.

In the afternoon, Roland tested her ability.

According to Nightingale’s judgement, her total amount of magic power was at a moderate level among the witches. Her ability could be shown as she could change into a variety of birds—on the condition that she had seen that kind of bird before. The consumption of magic power was quite large when she was changing. She could continue to change 4-5 times in one day, and when she maintained the deformation, the consumption of magic power was very little. So, her ability belonged to the summoning type—it could be influenced by the God’s Stone of Retaliation. Her favorite birds were pigeons, but Roland noticed that no matter what kind of birds she changed into, the shape of her deformation was too large. For example, when she changed into a sparrow, in his view, the shape was as large as an ordinary pigeon, and if she transformed into a real pigeon, the shape would be as large as a sea eagle.

Maggie could not change into a Flying Beast like those in his fantasy—a Phoenix, a Griffin, or a Kunpeng, such as what Roland painted—which made him feel sorry.

In addition, Ashes’ plan was still worthy of his concern, that was, for the witches who were called up by Tilly, what kind of ability did they have? He would not mind using technology to exchange the assistant witches if they could dramatically improve farming efficiency.

For these reasons, Roland decided to write a long letter to Tilly. First, he showed the natural relationship of allies on both sides, and then warned her that the church’s intention was to unify the mainland, and finally handed out an olive branch to show the will of mutual cooperation and common progress. Next month, when Maggie went to the Fjords, he would ask her to take this letter incidentally.

The next day, the prince got another piece of good news.

The plant used to produce the steam engine was finally built. The plant was located on the other side of Redwater River, leaning to the west, and it was next to the Leaf experimental field. The whole site had been surrounded by a wooden fence, and they also paved a simple road leading to the pontoon. In Roland’s plan, this place would be the industrial park in the town afterward.

In order to expand the building space as much as possible, the plant was built of light wood, and covered an area of about 1,000 square meters. The machine tools, which were manufactured by Anna, had been transported in. They were two steam boring machines, two manual milling machines, a manual grinding machine, and a manual lathe. Although these machine tools were simple in principle, their workmanship was first class—except for the base or pedals that were made from wood, the other parts were cut from the wrought iron or rolled steel. It was true that under the existing level of materials, the products were of the highest quality.

At present, there were just about 10 workers in the factory, and they were originally blacksmiths and apprentices in the town. They were now recruited by Roland’s 50 silver royals to learn how to operate high-end machine tools. And their blacksmith tools and shop were also moved to a brick house outside of the plant. Except for creating some unimportant parts, the production of the steam engine would be completely finished.

Roland held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the door of the factory. In order to strengthen the momentum, he called up the officials of the City Hall, and they delivered brief speeches. In the Echo’s simulative of the gun salute, the Kingdom of Graycastle Industrial Company officially announced its establishment.

Over the next few days when he was free, Roland, as the head of the company, would go to the plant to demonstrate the operation of the machines as well as the manufacturing process of the steam engine. The best method he could think of to make the illiterate blacksmith grasp how to process and assemble a steam engine was to make a map. In this map, he showed the process by pictures, similar to the instructions for the assembly of models. It showed the names of parts, numbers, and their size one by one before illustrating the order in which they were installed and the methods of connection with pictures. Soraya helped him a lot in this matter.

As he had expected, in the initial days of production, almost no parts met the requirements, let alone a completely assembled steam engine. However, Roland did not care about the rate of rejections. In Anna’s hands, these defective products could be recast into a new plate in the blink of an eye. He believed that after repeated practice, these blacksmiths would master the production methods of the modern era sooner or later.

Apart from the industrial plant, Prince Roland transformed the North Slope Mine area and the backyard into an army factory, mainly for the production of revolving rifles and bullets. After “Furnace Expert” Lesya arrived at Border Town, who Karl had recommended, the temperature of the airbag had been greatly improved. They could fire cement flour independently, and the firing room had no need for existence.

But limited by the technology, the production of revolving firearms and bullets was still completed by Anna. Roland was designing a steam punch for punching bullets, although the efficiency was less than Anna’s cutting molding, at least it could reduce her burden.

In order to thank Anna for the nearly half a month of busy work, he decided to present her a gift.

“A gift?” Anna asked, and then put down the cutting parts in her hand, stroked her hair and slid it to her forehead, showing a bright smile. “That’s good.”

“Don’t you ask what kind of gift?” Roland teased her.

“Well…” She thought for a moment and replied, “I’ll like whatever you give me.”

After half a year of recuperating, Anna was not the girl that he first met in the dungeon. That thin and weak girl now became a slim beauty. Her blue eyes full of expression, she looked neat and pretty in a plain dress, and her whole body was filled with the vitality of youth.

This was how an 18-year-old girl should look.

Roland was pleased when he saw her smiling face.

The “gift” was placed in the courtyard of the castle, and in order to give Anna a surprise, it was also covered by a layer of linen—when he was making Envoy Ashes, he had this idea in his mind. Since he was the prince, the gift must be special, for something like jewelry was not sincere. He thought for a long time to come up with this idea.

Roland opened the linen, and a rattan basket appeared in front of them. The top of the basket was connected to a lot of hemp rope, and at the other end of the hemp rope was a huge canvas.

“What, what’s this?” as Anna came forward and walked around it, she asked curiously.

“A hot air balloon,” he replied with a smile, “It can take you up to the sky, like a bird overlooking the earth.”

“Flying in the sky?” She turned around, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Really?”

Soaring in the sky was the dream of mankind since ancient times. From gliding wings to hot air balloons, from airships to airplanes, people had made huge sacrifices in the exploration and challenge of flying in the sky, but people had never given up this kind of pursuit. There were witches in this world, but flying was still the right of few people. To see the scenery through the high-altitude perspective would certainly leave a deep impression on her.

“Of course, just fully fill the airbag with hot air.”

Roland let Nightingale ask Lightning and Maggie to be first-aiders. If there was an accident, Lightning and Maggie, who could change into a large sea eagle, would protect them to land safely. As for the other witches, he decided to not tell them, especially Wendy and Scroll, as they would certainly oppose any of his adventures—they would not allow anything dangerous happen to him.