Release That Witch

Chapter 183: The Construction Plan of Border Town

ooking at the shiny black stone on the desk, Nightingale asked, “What’s this?”

“Obsidian.” Roland even did not raise his head, busy with painting his blueprint.

“Ob… What?”

“No, I was talking nonsense.” He sighed. Just by looking at its shape and color, how could he know what it was? After all, he was not a geologic expert, and could not guarantee to distinguish even a pure metal, to say nothing of ores. The knowledge he had in his head only told him most ores were compounds with complicated compositions and their color varied with different impurities. For example, iron ores could be divided into hematite, pyrite, and siderite, which looked totally different from each other. Especially the pyrite, which would sometimes show a light yellow metallic sheen, was often wrongly identified as gold, giving it a nickname “Fool’s gold”.

As for their thermostability, a compound did not have a fixed melting point, as it was related to the impurities and its composition, so it still was impossible to distinguish between all the different varieties by using different temperatures. In addition, metallic elements would exist in ion state, so melting the metal would be useless, as long as he did not know how to purify it.

“So there are also things you don’t know about?” Nightingale asked with surprises.

“There are plenty.” Roland put down his quill and poured himself a cup of black tea. “Would you like some?”

“No.” She waved her hand. “By the way, beef jerky isn’t as delicious as dried fish. You’d better put some dried fish in your drawers in the future.”

Roland was silent for a while, pretending that he did not hear her. He decided to give the ore to Kyle Sichi, the Chief Alchemist. After all, minerals were more or less radioactive, so putting them in his office as decoration would not be a good choice.

Since Soraya’s ability evolved recently, he found that there were suddenly a lot of things he could create now.

First of all would be a tap water system, which would greatly enhance the living level of the residents. Thinking of that, after a busy day, the residents came back home in a sweat and could not wait to have a shower, only to find the water tanks were empty and they had to walk to a well nearby to fetch some water. That feeling would be awful. What was more, Roland hated to use water from the tank to wash face or hands. He always felt there were parasites growing in the water after it had been stored in the tank for several days. To make things worse, tanks were rarely cleaned, not even once a month. When he took a closer look, he could see strips of sediments flowing at the bottom of the tank.

If they used water tower for water supply, there were not many technical difficulties. They could pump water from Redwater River into a water tower by using a steam engine, and then the siphon principle would cause water to flow along pipelines into every house in the town. With this, they would have formed an automatic water supply system. The reason why Roland had not put it into practice so far was… the insufficient material.

They had to use pipes made of iron or copper. The iron pipes without anti-rust treatment would be seriously damaged within several years. Copper pipes would be perfect, as they were non-corrosive, the inside walls would not scale, and they were non-toxic, and even the copper ion could kill bacteria in the water. But how could he use the raw material of coins to make pipes? The output of North Slope Mine was far from sufficient to afford such luxurious product. Even in modern time, copper pipelines were only affordable in high-grade mansions.

Up to now, Border Town was not able to export ores; instead, and it had to import metal ingot. Therefore, no matter iron or copper pipes, Roland was reluctant to use them just to create a water supply which was purely for his enjoyments rather than making any profit.

But now it was different. With Soraya’s Coating magic, he could make pipelines without metal. For example, he could take an iron pipe as a mold, wrapping it in paper and then covering it with Soraya’s coating. Then he only had to take out the mold and got the pipe he needed. Even though these kinds of pipes were not pressure-resistant, they would be qualified as long as they were placed in covered ditches.

The second thing he wanted to create would be a power supply system. He was afraid that it was impossible to spread it over the whole town within a short time. But Roland had dreamed for a long time to make the castle full of light. After all, reading in dim candlelight was too painful, and would do great harm to the eyes. Furthermore, summer was coming soon, so the evenings would be sweltering enough. If he had to stay in a room with burning torches and candles, how terrible it would be!

Now he had got generators and electric wires, it was not an impossible dream for the castle to enter the electrical age ahead of its time. As for the filament of bulbs… he vaguely remembered that carbonized-bamboo filaments were commonly used for the incandescent lamps before the invention of tungsten filaments. Bamboos were not rare, as there were a lot to be found in the forest south of Redwater River.

However, what Border Town needed most so far were smelting facilities. Their iron output was directly related to the scale of their mechanical production and weapons manufacturing, which was essential for the survival of the town.

“You are drawing… a tower?” Nightingale sat at the desk and asked curiously.

“Similar to it.” Roland nodded. “But it’s empty inside, so it can be filled with fuel and ores. It has similar functions as shaft furnaces and can be used to smelt iron ore into pig iron.”

This was a blast furnace, an updated version of the ancient shaft furnace.

He had visited the construction site and had taken a look at the shaft furnace designed by Lesya. To be honest, its structure was very close to that of a blast furnace, except its capacity was smaller and the temperature it could achieve was lower. If Soraya’s ability had not been evolved, giving the town the possibility to produce refractory bricks, he had originally intended to build a dozen of such shaft furnaces.

But now with refractory bricks, he could consider building a blast furnace which could achieve a higher temperature and have a higher output.

The height of the newly designed blast furnace was almost eight meters, about four times of that of the shaft furnace. The furnace was tower shaped, and its largest part was three meters wide. In order to prevent it from collapsing, carriages were installed at the bottom. The furnace wall was thinner at the top part and thicker at the bottom. The furnace bosh was up to half a meter thick, and its innermost layer was made out of refractory bricks with Soraya’s coating. At the same time, it also had an air inlet hole through which a steam engine was able to continually send fresh air into the furnace bosh.

In order to make full use of the power of the steam engine, Roland had also designed a set of automatic feeding equipment for the blast furnace, which included a climbing rail and a special loading cart with a movable door at its bottom. Driven by the steam engine, the cart would climb to the top of the furnace. Then the buckles at its bottom would be inserted by a hook, pulling open the loading door to pour fuel or ores into the furnace. This system could be regarded as the top technique in this era.

Different from the shaft furnaces with wide openings and low furnace temperature, his new blast furnace would not stop working for a long time once it started. As long as fuel and ores were constantly delivered into it, it would have a much higher output than the shaft furnace. If five or six blast furnaces were built in the town, the output of pig iron would be multiplied.

…

After finishing all his drawing, Roland rubbed his sore wrists and then took out a box from a drawer of the desk and pushed it in front of Nightingale.

Nightingale was surprised. “This is…”

“Well, I had intended to give it to you earlier, but it cost me some time to engrave decorative patterns on it. After all, I’m not very familiar with the machines in the factory,” Roland smiled and said, “Open it and take a look.”

She opened the box and could not help but give a cry of excitement.

Inside the box were two revolvers. Different from the prototype used by her when she competed with Carter, the revolvers were made of shining silver and were so polished that she could even see her own reflection on it. Exquisite decorative patterns were engraved on its grip and body. On the barrel, he had engraved Nightingale’s name “To Veronica”.

Roland had planned this for a long time. Compared with the flintlocks which were inconvenient to carry and load, the newly invented revolvers had been greatly improved. It had a high level of safety and firing rate. What power this powerful weapon would create in the hands of such an agile witch like Nightingale, he was looking forward to.

“Thank you.” She smiled to pick up the two revolvers, jumped off the desk, and struck a shooting pose. “Will you teach me how to use them?”

“Of course.” Roland nodded. Her white assassin outfit and sunny and dazzling smile made him immediately understand what was drop-dead gorgeous. “It’s not difficult. You only need to sneak up on your target, pull the trigger, and shout ‘It’s time to die'”.

Chapter 184: Self

croll hesitated for a while at the door of the bedroom before pushing the door to enter.

Inside, Wendy sat at the desk, holding a book with a miserable look on her face. It was certainly Natural Science Theoretical Foundation, even if Scroll just had a quick glance.

She could not help smiling, as it was rare to see such miserable look on Wendy’s face. Even when Witch Cooperation Association was trapped in the Impassable Mountain Range and the food supply ran out, Wendy still smiled, trying to cheer up every sister. It seemed that she had never worried about the difficulties and hardships.

She had never expected that a book would trouble her so much.

“Totally beyond understanding, right?” Scroll said, “when I first read it, I feel the same way.”

“I thought it was Nightingale.” Wendy turned back when she heard her voice. “… So what about now?”

“I still can’t understand it.”

“Fortunately, you’re the same with me.” Wendy sighed. “Besides Anna, now Soraya also developed her new ability. If I don’t try harder, I’ll soon be excelled by the younger generation. I wonder how His Highness knows so many things. How’s he able to describe the invisible world as if he had seen it?”

“Actually, he isn’t aware of many things, “Scroll shrugged her shoulders, and said, “I mean in certain aspects.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about Nightingale,” Scroll said, and she drew a stool and sat beside Wendy. “Have you noticed that her current behavior is totally different from how she acted in the past? When she’s protecting His Highness, she rarely becomes invisible now. Even when she’s out of the castle, she’ll only wear a hood to cover her face. And what’s more… she’s earnestly listening to the evening classes. You share a bedroom with her, so you should be even more aware of this. Can you tell me what happened to her?”

“Well, it was nothing.” Wendy shook her head. “She just made her own choice.”

Her response surprised Scroll a little. “Choice?”

“Well, just as you’ve guessed,” Wendy closed her book and bluntly said,” she has a crush on His Highness, Roland Wimbledon. Of course, this is so obvious that you don’t have to guess. It isn’t new that some witch falls in love with the man who offers her shelter. We’ve heard lots of such stories when we were in the Witch Cooperation Association.”

“Those are just stories made up by others. Most sisters didn’t have a happy ending.”

“His Highness was different from people in the stories.”

Scroll was stunned for a while. She never expected that Wendy, who held the same view with her not long before, would say things like that. She said, “You know, witches aren’t able to have children. It’s impossible for His Highness…”

“His Highness will marry a witch,” Wendy shrugged and said, “He told you personally.”

[How did she know about it? Was Nightingale there at that moment?] Scroll thought. Then she suddenly realized something and asked, “Are you blaming me for not telling you?No, Wendy, I just don’t want this to get out. It will cause bad influences on His Highness’s road to the throne.”

Wendy remained silent for a while before she said, “I know. I’m not blaming you. I said the same thing to Nightingale before. Before I knew His Highness’ answer, I thought nothing would happen to the sisters. But if His Highness doesn’t mind it, why would we force them to change their mind? Previously Nightingale tried to hide her feelings, but she was so depressed. I prefer how she looks now. No matter what’ll happen in the future, at least she follows the feelings of her heart.”

So that was the reason, Scroll thought. Although she agreed that His Highness’s answer should not get out, she would not interfere with the sisters’ feelings, and would not make choices for them. Different from Cara, Wendy always considered the feelings of the sisters and cheered them up when they had little courage to face with difficulty.

“But, did His Highness know it?” Scroll suddenly thought of a serious problem. “What if he didn’t know that witches are unable to have children?”

“Well…” Wendy also lowered her voice. “How about, you go to ask him?”

Outside the city wall of the Western Region.

The grassland was bathed in late spring sunshine. Far away herds of cattle and sheep were leisurely eating grass. It was difficult to imagine that just three months ago, the whole grassland was covered in snow and ice, and there was nothing outside but terrible and cruel demonic beasts.

Nightingale had been practicing shooting for most of the afternoon. She mastered the skills of shooting much faster than Roland had expected. [Maybe everyone was endowed with different talent,] he thought, [some people were born to fight. With her standard positions of reloading, aiming and shooting, she had completely behaved unlike a beginner so far.]

“If she were born in a knight’s family, she must be the most excellent and renowned knight in Graycastle.” Carter could not help praising her. “Just like me.”

“Luckily she wasn’t. I don’t want her arms to be as thick as yours.” Roland cast a glance at him and asked, “How do you feel drawing a tie with an Extraordinary?”

“The moment when I was hit, I felt as if I was hit by a battering ram and my chest was smashed into pieces.” Carter admitted honestly, “To tell the truth, awful.”

“There should be no next time.” Roland laughed.

When Nightingale finished another round of shooting with standing position, Roland applauded. “Your performance is excellent so far. Let’s do a simulation now.”

After putting the pistol back into a holster on her belt, Nightingale walked towards Roland. In the bright sunshine, sweat droplets sparkled on her nose.

“Do you see those targets?” Roland pointed to the five bust targets not far away. “They’re all hung with God’s Stone of Retaliation. You should be able to see them clearly in the Mist. Here’s what you’re going to do next. Combine your ability with shooting skills, and defeat these enemies in shortest time once you expose yourself from the Mist.”

In the Mist, objects and space were constantly changing, making difficult to guarantee that the bullets would fly toward the objects. Previously Nightingale had tried to directly shoot from inside the Mist; however, nine out of ten bullets changed their trajectory when they left the Mist, and the last bullet nearly hit Roland, who was standing behind her.

Therefore, Nightingale had to walk out of the Mist to shoot; and the shorter amount of time she exposed herself, the less possible she would be counterattacked by an enemy.

“Got it.” She smiled, raised her cloak with one hand, and disappeared instantly before them.

When the first shot rang out, Roland could barely see a white figure quietly emerge and then with flame and smoke spurting out, the target got hit and broke apart. Even before spattering wood chips completely landed, she had already arrived at the back of the second target and pulled the trigger from a distance of three or four meters.

Then the third, the fourth target… Every time when she shot, she had not completely stepped out of the Mist. Except the silver pistol and sudden flame, Roland could not catch more details. It was difficult for him to capture her position with his eyes. Under cover of her Mist, she seemed to appear and disappear in an instant—a scene which could only be seen in movies. Within the blink of an eye, the five targets all broke into pieces; and after another blink, Nightingale was standing beside him again.

“How was it?” She laughed.

“Well…” Roland cast a quick glance at the stunned Carter and asked him, “what do you think?”

“I’m afraid no one can catch Miss Nightingale now.” The chief knight took a deep breath. “Even Ashes can’t, even if she wears God’s Stone of Retaliation.”

“So, have I graduated?” She wiped the sweat from her nose and rubbed it on Roland’s cloak.

“Of… course.”

Chapter 185: The Star of the Theater (Part I)

he Swan on Redwater River towards the west. May was standing on its bow, looking straight ahead. It was not to enjoy the scenery, and she just wanted to see Border Town’s pier sooner.

“How much longer until we reach our destination?” she asked impatiently.

“Soon, Miss May. The sun is too hot, you should return to the cabin to rest,” said Gait, who was standing behind her. She did not even have to look to know that he was fawning over her smilingly.

As she turned around, she saw that she was right. “You told me this before, and now you are telling me the same thing? Have you actually been to Border Town before?”

“Uh…” embarrassed, he scratched his head and said, “it has been 10 years since I came here last time.”

“One year is enough for Longsong Stronghold to change a lord, can you imagine about 10 years then?” May said angrily, “but there are always exceptions. Look at you, in 10 years, you never once performed on stage.”

Seeing his awkward smile as he retreated, her mood finally got better. If it had not been for Irene’s message, she would have never gone with this group of lowly performers to Border Town.

As the star actress of the theater in Longsong Stronghold, she had quite a reputation in the Western Region. This time she had received an invitation from the Tower Theater to go to the king’s city and perform the play “Prince Seeking for Love”. The show had been a great success, and even the drama master, Mister Kajen Fels, praised her performance in the role of the princess who died for love. Although she did not play the main heroine, she still left a deep impression that was not any less.

But when she excitedly returned to Longsong Stronghold, she had discovered that the stronghold had undergone great changes. Duke Ryan had been defeated and died, and Longsong Stronghold had fallen into the hands of Prince Roland Wimbledon, who had temporarily appointed Petrov Hull of the Honeysuckle Family to run the stronghold… She had been away for less than a year, but the Western Region had become totally unfamiliar to her.

Fortunately, the political turmoil in the upper ranks had no effect on the theater. This would have been something May and her sisters talked about after dinner, if only her heart had not beaten violently at the news that Morning Light, the First Knight of the Western Region, had been captured.

May had rushed to the theater, looking for Irene to ask for more details, only to discover that she had also followed him to Border Town around half a month ago, probably to reunite with her husband. This news disappointed May a little, and also made her a bit envious.

They both worked in the same theater where she was the deserved leading figure, while Irene was just a new face on the stage. The title, the Flower of Tomorrow, was given to Irene by those inferior actors who were flattering each other all the time. In regards to appearance, May would definitely not lose; and in regards to family background, although she was a common civilian, Irene was just an orphan adopted by the theater. So no matter what, she was definitely better than Irene.

But what was hard for May to understand was that Ferlin Eltek, the Morning Light, fell in love with that naive looking Irene, even giving up his family inheritance in order to marry her later.

“Look, farmlands,” someone shouted, “Border Town shouldn’t be much further.”

May looked at her left side, only to see rows of high wheat swaying in the wind. Farmers wearing straw hats were busying themselves in the fields as if they were standing in a green sea. The wheat fields extended westwards along with the river reflecting the sunlight, with no end in sight.

“Such a beautiful scenery, Miss May,” Rosia walked over and nodded. “I never expected that a remote place like this would have such a vast farmland, it can be even compared with Longsong Stronghold.”

“This is nothing compared with the farmland around the king’s city,” May argued. “There, the wheat fields are so vast they can connect two cities. You can see wheat everywhere, and then you’ll become sick of it.”

“Is that so?” She smiled awkwardly. “I’ve never been that far.”

[Well, this is a normal reaction,] May thought, but if it was Irene, she would have shown an expression of envy and would have asked her to describe more. “Rest assured, you’ll have the chance one day.”

“I hope so.” Rosia patted her chest. “Thank you for the encouragement.”

[I meant that with only a few silver royals, you could find a caravan to take you to the king’s city, not that you would ever have the chance to go to the king’s city to perform.] May rolled her eyes silently. But the other was a good friend of Irene, and May did not want to bother saying this aloud.

Rosia had joined the theater before her, they had almost the same age, but because of her simple appearance and poor memory, she never had the opportunity to officially perform on stage. Except for Irene, not many in the theater were willing to talk to her.

“Does Irene know that we’re arriving today?” May asked.

“I’ve informed her of the date in my reply, she should be waiting for us at the docks.”

“Good.” She nodded. “I don’t want to search for an inn alone in an unknown town.”

“May I ask you something, Miss May?” Rosia asked hesitantly, “why did you come with us to the small town? Moreover, why did you try to conceal this from the theater? Irene wrote in her letter that there may be an opportunity to perform here, but you’re not someone who needs such opportunities.”

“If I told them the truth, do you think the theater would ever let me come to this place?” May curled her lips. “As for the reason… I merely want to see if my theater comrade is having a good life.”

In fact, she also did not know why she made this impulsive decision. The Longsong Theater would have important plays during the next two days and with her gone, the owner would have a big problem. Although there were a few backup actresses, without her, there was a chance that the nobles would not accept their performance and they might even seriously protest about it.

To be honest, May knew that this was not a wise choice. No matter how big her reputation was, she still had to rely on the Longsong Theater. If she made the owner angry, she would be unable to stop him from freezing her career and promoting a new actress. Other than apologizing, the only choice left for her would be to leave and compete with the stars of other theaters.

“Or… I could take the next ship back to the stronghold, the moment I meet Ferlin, right?” May thought.

“I see.” Rosia nodded. “Irene will certainly be very surprised to see you.”

The scenery along the river bank gradually became richer. A lot of tents and wooden houses were seen near the Impassable Mountain Range. As it was near noon and the peasant women were all busy cooking porridge and soups, they saw wisps of smoke rose continuously from the village chimneys, and May even occasionally smelled the aromatic fragrance of wheat. Many children gathered to play by the river, and those who were good at swimming would completely take off their clothes and jump into the river with the cheers of their peers, and then proudly climbed back ashore.

In the end, May finally saw the dock.

After The Swan had docked, Gait and Sam volunteered to handle all of the ladies’ baggage. Just as they walked down the trestle, Rosia excitedly shouted, “Irene!”

Looking at the direction she shouted at, she saw a woman wearing a white dress standing on the dock, waving at them. Beside her, stood a tall man. Even from such a big distance, it could be seen from his broad shoulders and chest that he was extremely extraordinary.

The Morning Light, Ferlin Eltek.

His figure in May’s memory became clear once more.

Chapter 186: The Star of the Theater (Part II)

he moment she saw him, May immediately forgot that she should return at once.

“My God, M-May!” As they approached, Irene exclaimed in disbelief. She then took her hands and pulled her towards the knight. “Darling, do you know who she is? She’s the most famous actress of the Longsong Theater, Miss May! Whenever she performs, the people are lining up from the theater lobby to the streets!”

May’s heart jumped when she heard the phrase darling, but thanks to her years of experience in acting she was able to smile and give a little nod. “Hello.”

“Of course I know her. You said it yourself she’s the most famous actress, all the noble of the Western Region is familiar with her name.” He sighed and then apologized to May. “My wife showed a lack of manners. I’m Ferlin, welcome.”

He didn’t announce his title, his position, or his family name. May’s heart was filled with sadness, but on the surface, she maintained her utmost elegant expression. “I’m aware of you. You are known by everyone as the First Knight of the Western Region, ‘Morning Light’, Sir Ferlin Eltek. I must apologize, because of my busy theater work, I was unable to attend your and Irene’s wedding.

“That belongs to the past now.” The knight smiled as he shook his head. “Nowadays, I’m just a teacher, not a member of the Eltek family, so you don’t need to be so polite.” Then, he waved towards the others and said. “Let’s go back first. We’ve already applied for your temporary residence.”

[A teacher?] May was startled. [Did he mean a court mentor? Even though this town’s lord is a prince, but even a castaway prince would not hire a knight for that kind of position. And what’s that about applying for a temporary residence? Shouldn’t Irene take us to a reliable local inn?]

Before she could think more about it, Irene approached her. “God, I really did not expect you to come here. If you were to play Cinderella, it would certainly cause an outbreak!”

“Is that so?” May said with a doubt. She had never heard of such a play, which meant that it was probably written by some new playwright. Furthermore, she did not have time to rehearse for a play, she had only come here… because she wanted to see how Morning Light was, and if there was any way she could help him.

As they entered the town, May realized that something was amiss with this place. The town was located on the border of the kingdom and it was supposed to serve as an outpost for Longsong Stronghold, but yet it looked like a newly constructed city? The roads were covered with dark gray gravel, with no sign of mud, not to mention the width of the roads, they could practically fit two carriages side by side.

“What kind of road is this?” Sam asked the question in her mind. “It feels so flat.”

“Aha.” Irene proudly smiled. “When I first arrived here, it was still made of mud, but now it’s like this. In fact, the road isn’t finished yet. I heard from the masons that this was only the foundation for the road.”

“They’ve fooled you.” Rosia argued. “Only houses need foundation. Things already lying on the ground won’t collapse, so why should they need one?”

“Really, they used a mix of gray powder and stones and then spread it out. Afterwards, they sprinkled water on it and compressed it with a rolling stone until it became flat. In the beginning, I also thought this was a new type of road, but the masons said that this was a practice developed by His Highness, something called… water whatever layer. In short, this is still only the foundation!” Irene turned around and continued leading the way, with her long braids swinging with each step. “In the future when people and carriages increase, it’ll be paved with slate. Only then it’ll be truly finished.”

Paved roads? May sneered into her heart. Other than the inner city of the king’s city, which city could afford to cover its roads with slates? A broad and flat road like this was already good enough, even in Longsong Stronghold, there were still many mud roads.

As they were going further into the town, she saw many houses on both sides of the road were being demolished, regardless of whether they were wooden or clayed houses. Although they were clearly not new houses, they still could not be considered uninhabitable. “Did the lord drive them away because they were blocking the road?”

“No, they’ve all moved to another district.”

“District?” May asked, “What’s that?”

“It’s the new residential area, which contains identical brick houses,” Irene explained. “They’ll be allocated to all the original residents, and soon there’ll be no old houses in town.”

Brick houses allocated to everyone? May could not believe her ears. This was even more exaggerated than the slates streets. Did she have any idea about the cost of such a project? But being in front of Ferlin, May could only swallow her words.

There were many pedestrians in the street, and occasionally they would stop and greet Irene or Ferlin. So, May found out that Irene was also one of those so-called teachers.

“Aren’t you performing here?” she asked, “Why do all the townspeople call you a teacher Irene?”

“That’s my job. I only perform part-time. After all, the town doesn’t have a theater.” Afterwards, Irene told the story of how she had been summoned by His Highness. “Although it’ll be an open-air performance and the audience will only consist of civilians, the pay will be still calculated according to the standard of the Stronghold. I think this is a good chance. At least, I can have some practice.”

“You’re right. As long as I can go on stage I would be satisfied.” Gait and Sam nodded repeatedly.

An open-air performance for civilians! May did not even have the strength to say a word. Compared with Irene, what was harder for her to understand was the reason behind the prince’s idea. How could those people whose only purpose was to survive each day really comprehend the romance and the plot twist of a drama?

Gradually, they finally arrived in front of a two-story building.

“This is the teachers’ building, but since there are only nine teachers in Border Town at the moment, there are still plenty vacant rooms left. Ferlin applied for you to stay temporarily in two rooms here. During the show, you can stay here.” Irene handed out two keys. “Gait, Sam, this one is for you. Rosia and Tina will get the other one, eh, as for Miss May…”

“I’ll stay with you,” May said.

“But…”

“I came here to see how my theater comrade is living,” she said with a smile, “after all, we’ve been through so much together in the theater, and you probably won’t return to the stronghold again, so I’d like to chat with you more. Are you going to reject me?”

“Of course not!” Irene happily reached out to hold her hands. “I’m just worried that the room is too small for you to live comfortably. There are also a lot of things about acting that I want to ask you!” She turned around to the other four. “Let’s first put away your luggage, then you can come over to my place and we can discuss the script together.”

May climbed up to the second floor and followed Irene and Ferlin into their new home.

But her last hope was shattered.

She did not want to admit it but this small room gave off a comfortable and clean feeling. The red and white cotton tablecloths and curtains were clearly newly purchased. The floor was clean and there was linen carpet placed in the living room. Her attention was quickly drawn to some strange cups on a low table. Stepping closer, she picked them up to take a closer look, but she was unable to identify its material—it was light, like wood, but the surface was smooth and the color was vibrant. It was nothing like the usual cheap goods owned by civilians. Depicted on top of the cup was an image of two people holding each other affectionately.

“Beautiful cup, right?” Irene, said as she came over, “but it was too expensive. It was sold for five silver royals at the convenience market, four cups consisting a set, depicting a different kind of pictures. To celebrate our payday, Ferlin insisted on buying them for me which resulted in us spending our whole salary. That fool.”

“Convenience Market?” May deliberately ignored the last part of the sentence.

“Yes!” Irene nodded. “The Lord has opened a market at the town’s square, where they’re selling some very fine daily necessities, but they’re not cheap. If you want, I can take you there tomorrow to have a look.”

May had mixed feelings in her heart. Everything was different from what she had expected. She thought that, as a war captive, and a knight for whom no one had offered a ransom, even if the lord had released him, his life would still have been very hard. And since Irene never had any savings, the only thing she could do to help him would be to accompany him throughout this hardship.

If it was like that, any assistance she could have provided him would be greatly appreciated by Ferlin Eltek. She could have even taken it further, and with her own influence, she could try to persuade the local lord to allow to her redeem the First Knight. That way, she might have been able to completely reverse the knight’s heart.

However… all of her plans had been for nothing. He was having a good life in Border Town, even without her help.

Should she go back? By choosing to leave, she would forget everything about Ferlin and Border Town.

May fell into a state of confusion.

Chapter 187: The New Merchants Group

y summer, Margaret’s inland ship team would arrive at Border Town.

Roland deliberately went to the docks to meet the business woman and inspected the cargo she had delivered.

The most important things were the three ships of saltpeter. Border Town’s gunpowder had basically run out causing the shooting practice of the First Army to be stopped. Though revolving rifles had been distributed on a small scale, they were merely put through their paces in order to maintain the guns by reloading and cleaning them. With the saltpeter they could begin shooting practice once more.

Apart from the saltpeter, she had also brought two ships of mine ingots that included iron and copper, as well as part of green alum mine. It would take almost two or three days to unload that.

Roland put two steam engines in an obvious place and dropped a red cloth on one as was customary. He then tied the cloth into a big red flower and waited for Margaret to accept it. Actually, the Western Region Industry Company had spent almost one month and a lot of power to make just a single steam engine based on hundreds of scrapped parts. So, Roland had Anna reprocess some part that had a smaller deviation, which made it possible for the second steam engine to catch up on the scheduled delivery time.

To Roland’s surprise, Margaret did not come alone this time, she had brought the merchants group of the king’s city.

After the delivery was completed, Margaret and her crew followed Roland back to his castle for lunch.

“Your Highness, this is Hogg, my old friend. He’s also one of the top businessmen engaged in mining in the king’s city.” Margaret introduced them one by one.” This is Gammon, like Marleen, she belongs to Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan as well. She mainly deans in the sea trade between the Kingdom of Graycastle and the Fjords. They all are very interested in the steam engine. Due to having known them for years, I’m embarrassed to increase the selling price to profit off of them. Therefore, I come here with them and to make the necessary introductions.”

“I pay my respects to you, Your Royal Highness,” Hogg who had a paunch and a shining face with fat said, “I heard Margaret say that this kind of machine not only replaces manpower to draw water from mines and transport ores quickly but also is capable of creating an endless supply of power. Does it need a rest? Could I see it with my own eyes?”

“Of course.” Roland took a sip of wine. In the beginning, he could not get used to its acerbic taste from the start, but now he had gradually become accustomed to it. “However, if you want it to deliver ores, we’ll need to equip it with the orbit system. I’ll take you to North Slope Mine and you can see the system.”

“Your Highness, I’m very interested in the uses of the steam engine you described. Could it be installed on sailing ships instead of sails to drive ships?” Marleen asked, “If it were used on a three or four mast seagoing vessel, its power wouldn’t be enough, right?”

“The steam engine is just like horses, some of which have great strength while some of which have a poor strength. It depends on their model number when they’re produced. Of course, the engine that has a greatest power is more expensive. What’s more, you can decide the model number that you’ll buy as per your needs,” Roland answered with a smile.

Even though it was the most basic of paddle steamers, it involved complex power, transmission and control systems. Besides Border Town, there was no place owning the technology in Kingdom of Graycastle. And transferring that kind of ship cost much more than a steam engine.

“If that’s the case, Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan also want to order this kind of machine.” Gammon narrowed his eyes after forking a bun just out of the steamer into his mouth.

Sure enough, birds of a feather, flocked together. Entrepreneurs were drawn to other entrepreneurs. They had not even looked and had already placed an order as if they did not care about the thousands of gold royals that they would fork out.

Roland shook his head. “We’re incapable of producing extra machines before finishing Margaret’s order because Border Town’s manpower is shorthanded and making a machine is very complex.”

“I can provide sufficient manpower, Your Highness.” Gammon clapped to applaud a breast. “Either carpenters or blacksmiths, even shipwrights, there’s enough in my port. Besides, you wouldn’t need to worry about paying them.”

“After that, let them learn the means of making the machines and work for you.” Hogg interrupted.

“No, of course not!” his eyes rounded and he said, “how would I play these tricks on His Highness. 10 years, Your Highness.” He opened his two palms. “I’m willing to let them work for you for 10 years, and I shall pay them. But I only have one requirement that steam engines made by them will be sold to Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan preferentially.”

[This is an interesting suggestion,] Roland thought, [just like technical partners in the modern society. I only provide technology and gain the large part of its earnings. Of course, they can get the steam engine as soon as possible and own a group of technical personnel in 10 years. His investment might be equivalent the cost of buying the technology.]

“Don’t worry about deciding on that now. We can talk about these details after seeing the object.” Roland relieved the pressure by changing the subject. “The steam engine isn’t the only thing worth buying, you’re presumably interested in something else as well, such as this…” He snapped his fingers and the guards move a lot of things out of the box by his feet and placed them on the table one by one.

“These’re the new goods in Border Town, both high quality and available for a fair price. Let me present the simple mug,” Roland said, pointing at those colorful mugs. “Light, beautiful and not fragile like crystal cups. The patterns on it can be customized and what’s more, it sheds water so it’s easy to clean.”

“Sheds water?” Margaret picked up a cup and looked at it carefully.

“You can have a try with the wine.” Prince Roland joked. “You can pretend to be a drunken man, throwing it to the ground. If it breaks, I’ll undertake the cost.”

“The craftsmanship… it… is rather exquisite… But I’m afraid that not all of the cups will have this kind of quality.” Abdominous Hogg had filled his glass and swilled it all. “Eh, inside of it should be dry.”

It certainly was dry. The nature of it was an ordinary wooden cup covered by a layer of Soraya’s painting. “It doesn’t conflict with crystal cups. Compared with a royal banquet, it’s more fit for noble lady’s boudoir,” Roland said, “as far as I know, they tend to like colorful and beautiful things.”

“I think so too.” Margaret nodded with interest. “You look really experienced.”

“Ahem.” The prince coughed twice. “Look at this, a whole cuirass that has a uniform thickness. It has two parts, the forward and back, both of which are made of wrought iron. Besides it’s more portable than knights’ plate armor and anyone can wear it. It’s fit for guards following caravans too because there’s no gap after closing it. The most important thing though, is that it’s cheaper than plate armor.”

…

After having introduced all goods, the merchants could not help getting together and whispering. Roland left the hall to give them some free discussion time and went for a walk heading down the long corridor towards the garden.

“Your Highness, we left one month ago. But now you’ve made a lot of novel things,” Margaret said as she walked out behind him.

“Do you exchange your ideas with them?”

“No, the things I like can’t be changed by the thoughts of others, which include both goods and people.” She shook her head with a smile. “The caravan may stay here for three or four days. So could you allow me to meet Lightning again?”

“She didn’t recognize you, but she didn’t express her dislike of you at least. So, I think it’s okay.”

“Thank you!” Margaret said thankfully.

“No problem.” Roland smiled. “You know, now that you stay here for such a long time, what about watching a drama? The first show will be held in three days in Border Town.”

“It only took one month to finish building a theater?” she said with a great astonishment.

“Of course not, this is just an open-air performance. It’s located in the central plaza of the town. I think it might be different from the rest.”

“And so your wish shall be my command, Your Highness,” Margaret bowed and said with her hands on her chest.

Chapter 188: [The Play Begins!]

fter the field trip to North Slope Mine and two consecutive days of negotiation, Roland established a new trade agreement with Hogg and Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan.

When Hogg saw the rapidly operating mine transportation system, his eyeballs almost fell out. He even put forward an application to invest and build a factory in Border Town that would specialize in the construction of mine orbits and ancillary equipment. They would both earn half of the profits. However, Roland refused his application. If Roland had lots of people, he would consider the invitation of investment. But currently, the town was short of people, not money.

Hogg, after all, was a mining businessman. Although he owned several mines and managed an open-air silver mine for the Earl of Cambara in Silver City. He only had the miners and was much weaker compared to Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan which owned an island. Eventually, Hogg signed a contract to order 10 steam engines and a complete mine transportation system (including orbits and harvesters). The first half should be delivered before the Months of Demons, and the rest next year.

The Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan was so much stronger that Gammon directly signed a 10-year contract. When the caravan came next time, he would bring a team of 300 people, mainly composed of blacksmiths and carpenters. The Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan would pay for them while Roland only needed to provide accommodation and food. The steam engines they produced over the following 10 years would preferably be sold to the Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan. A decade later, these people would decide voluntarily whether to go or stay. This point was finally agreed after Roland’s repeated negotiations.

There was no doubt that there would be henchmen of the caravan in this team. Especially with the last item, the caravan would try their best to choose the people who were loyal to the Crescent Moon Bay, and it would be hard to know whether half of the people would decide to stay or go. But for Roland, skilled workers were never enough. Even if only 10% of the people stayed, it meant that he earned. He was never worried about technological advantage but worried that no one would transfer the technology to an actual product.

In addition to the steam engine, the second biggest order was for ship transformation.

They would bring two inland sailing ships together with the 300 craftsmen. The Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan hoped that Border Town would transform both sailing ships into steam-powered paddle steamers. The reconstruction expense for a single ship was up to 1,800 gold royals, and the expanse for two ships directly exceeded Margaret’s order for the steam engines. In contrast, though he received three orders for mugs, the total amount was less than 300 gold royals. The amount would be even less if Roland had not increased the price of the mug by 10 times more than that in the convenience store. This made him deeply feel the profit gap between industrial and civilian goods. If the civilian goods could not be produced in large quantities, then it was better to simply meet the needs of the local residents.

To the prince’s surprise, iron cuirasses and implements were snubbed. Margaret later answered his doubts at dinner. “Although your cuirass is really cheap, the production is too small. For resale, excluding the cost of transportation and tax, the profit may be only five or six gold royals. Besides, your armor is forged by a hydraulic hammer, right? Or with the steam engine? In any case, the price of this armor is fixed. It’s expensive for the quality of the iron, but not for the manual work.” She paused. “It’s even more unnecessary to buy them for our own use. For sea merchants, both bodyguards and sailors rarely wear heavy armor. For the heavy armors will allow them to sink quickly when falling into the water. Most of the time, the armor is a kind of shackle for them and not protection.”

“The same is true for farm implements. If you can’t get lots of cheap iron, the price of the farm implement will be cheaper but not cheap enough. It’ll be hard to form an advantage compared with the local equivalents. Conversely, the prices of those colorful cups aren’t fixed. If a noble liked it, he would pay several times the price for it.”

“I see.” Roland thought for a moment and found that was true… For commodities like armors and farm implements with stable prices, the material costs accounted for the majority, so it was hard to cut the price too much. His armor and farm implements were cheaper because of the higher efficiency in forging with a steam engine than with a hydraulic hammer. Unfortunately, this difference was not big enough to attract the interest of big businessmen.

And these whiteboard armors with Soraya’s stab-resistant coating on them were also a part of the First Army’s armament upgrade. If the iron production did not increase, it would be impossible to sell them in large numbers.

…

The anticipated premiere of the play was coming soon.

In the afternoon, the center square was so crowded with people that even a drop of water could not leak out. Even though Roland had demolished the surrounding buildings and doubled the size of the former center square.

To publicize the play, Roland released an announcement a week ahead of time. Besides, he specifically ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to send people to the town’s surrounding areas and mobilize the serfs to come and watch the play.

Roland, as the lord, obviously had the best viewing position. In the direction of the performance stage, Karl set up a temporary wooden stage with three rows, which could hold about one hundred people. Roland sat in the middle of the third row. On his one side sat the Witch Union, and Anna sat next to him. The other side sat the merchant group, with Margaret sitting close to him.

The first and second rows were mostly for the City Hall officials and apprentices.

For safety’s sake, the people around the wooden stage were soldiers from the First Army. They would separate the prince from the civilians while watching the play.

At this moment it was about four o’clock in the afternoon. The sun was not that hot, together with the occasional cool breeze from Wendy, everyone on the stage enjoyed a VIP-like treatment.

Amidst the applause of the crowd, the actors went to the stage one by one.

To tell the truth, Roland was completely unsure what effect the premiere would achieve in the end. After giving the script to Irene, he never cared about it again. The recruiting and rehearsal were both under the charge of Irene and Ferlin. In retrospect, Irene was a theater newcomer and only performed on the stage once. How much experience would she have? Her friends might be the walk-ons who had no opportunities to perform in the theater in the stronghold and had to perform in the town.

In other words, this was a new play totally directed, arranged and implemented by a new team.

However, Roland did not mind failure. The play was neither for the ticket revenue, nor to promote how good the script was. It was an enlightenment of ideological remolding, and it would show more than once. If they did not perform well this time, then they would make improvements next time.

“I know why you’re so confident in this show.” Margaret suddenly exclaimed. “You invited Miss May!”

Roland was surprised. “Who?”

“May! Don’t tell me you don’t know. Oh, my God, before I came here, I had seen her show in the king’s city.” Margaret smacked her lips. “She’s the top actress in both grasping the roles and creating feelings. Her performance in ‘The Prince’s Searching for Love’ moved many people to tears, even Kajen Fels was full of praise for her!”

[Who’s Kajen Fels?] Roland checked his memory and found that he had no recollection of the name.

“… Your Highness, are you really from king’s city?” Margaret blinked and asked, “Forgive me for asking, except people in the court, who’s the person you’re most familiar with in king’s city?”

“‘Magic Hand’ Yorko.” Roland blurted out but immediately realized that he gave the wrong answer.

“Oh.” The lady merchants looked at him meaningfully. “The most famous casanova, I heard that he could make a woman never forget him with only one hand… I know.”

“Only with one hand?” Anna turned her head and asked, “why?”

“No… Nothing…” Roland said with his hand on his forehead, “we’d better watch the play earnestly.”

Chapter 189: The Star and the Flower

ithout a curtain or introduction but only a piece of wooden board separating the stage and the preparation room, the group of people had their debut on this simple theater. It was also the first formal presentation of their lives.

“This story happened in the king’s city of a kingdom. In the outer city, there was a beautiful and kind-hearted girl…”

At this narration, Irene slowly walked to the center of the stage. She was wearing a dirty gray robe, her hair was coiled on her head, and her face was patted with black ash.

She carefully swept the ground with a broom, bending over from time to time to erase the dirt with the corner of her robe.

After a few days of rehearsal, Irene had remembered the whole process by heart. It was a simple story: a common girl who had lost her mother was bullied at home. Out of kindness, she accidentally saved a witch’s life, and the witch used magic power to send this girl to a ball held by the prince. Then, the girl fell in love with the prince at first sight. The magic power had a time limit so the girl had to hurriedly leave the ball but left one of her crystal shoes in panic. After that, the prince searched the whole city for this pretty girl and finally found her in the outer city, and then the two of them lived together happily ever after.

The story was simple and easy to understand. Its plot was not a love story between a prince and princess as it commonly was at that time. Instead, it was about a common girl, who due to her kind nature, gained help from a witch and won a prince’s affection. The transformation of Cinderella, the leading character of this play, from tolerating the suppression of her stepsisters to bravely resisting it, was the main part the actress needed to perform on.

Yet to Irene’s surprise, May handed over the leading character for her to act.

Irene was extremely joyous merely by performing on the same stage with the Star of the Western Region. As the pillar actress of the stronghold Theater, May had enough pride and confidence to play the leading role in any play. But in the show Cinderella, she requested to play Cinderella’s half-sister.

At first, Irene had problems believing it. But after May repeatedly emphasizing that it was a show to train new performers, Irene unwillingly took the leading role.

In the following rehearsal, Irene exerted all her effort: she not only practiced every scene over and over again but also kind of forced May, who was sleeping in the same room with her, to teach her acting skills after the candle was put out before sleep. She simply did not want to disappoint May for giving her this opportunity.

Luckily, Irene was not inexperienced. Looking at the numerous eyes staring at her off the stage, she relaxed her body and re-acted the way she had practiced countless times during the rehearsal. Up until then, she felt everything was fine and she did not make any mistakes. When Rosia, who was acting as the witch, forgot her lines, Irene even encouraged her with eye contact.

“You can have half of my oatmeal. Don’t eat too fast. It’s still hot.”

“Thanks, you kind girl. I’ll pay you back.”

When Rosia walked to the backstage with a stoop, the applaud came from the audience. Irene was relieved. If it had happened in the Stronghold Theater during the official performance, it would definitely be intolerable. The nobles would have booed the actress, rather than applaud with benevolence.

Right then, May Eden went on the stage.

This act of the play was about the first conflict Cinderella had with her elder sister. After being bullied and insulted, Cinderella could only react by crying. She would sob silently in the basement looking at her mother’s portrait.

But when May stood in front of her, Irene found the atmosphere from the audience suddenly changed.

May, the star of the theater, stopped being silent as she normally was during the rehearsal. Instead, she became the ruler of the stage. Her arrogant manner, proper body movement, and unconcealed contempt gave Irene a strong oppression.

“Oh, look at this girl. What’re you doing under daylight other than working? Daydreaming?”

“You miserable creature. Go wash my dress!”

“Don’t be clumsy anymore. This dress is for an official banquet. You can’t afford to ruin it.”

May gave Irene a hard push. According to the script, Irene was supposed to fall on the ground. But looking at May’s cold gaze, Irene involuntarily stepped back and stumbled, which led to her falling on the ground with her elbow heavily hitting the floor. After that, there came a burning pain.

“You’re useless…” May stopped staring at her and walked to the center of the stage. Looking at the silent audience in the square, she started her monologue.

“She’s worthy of her fame.” Margaret could not help but praise May with a low voice. “She drew everybody’s attention with a few words. She totally gives life to this character she plays.”

“Indeed impressive.” Roland nodded. “But isn’t she too talented? The disgust and contempt she showed toward Irene are so real that I could feel her ruthlessness while sitting in the audience section. Her emotional appeal was so strong that it could be felt from the audience’s looks… but, she isn’t the leading actress. Irene’s poor-to-fair acting looks so inferior by comparison. If it goes on like this, I’m afraid the attention the supporting role gets will exceed the leading role.”

Irene felt at a loss.

She understood she must stand up right away. May’s monologue mainly expressed her craving for the prince, which served to lead out the royal ball, so it would not last long. Irene needed to leave the stage before the scene changed. But at that moment, she felt the familiarity she gained during the rehearsals left her and for the first time, the stage appeared strange to her.

“Is that all you’re capable of?” Irene felt disappointed at herself.

“When May finished her performance and walked by Irene, her waving dress touching Irene’s face, Irene came back to senses. Through May’s cold expression, Irene could feel what the Star of the Western Region meant to say to her. She understood that May could not pull her up because the characters they played were on the opposite sides. If May reached out a hand to her, this play would be ruined. She bit her lips so heavily that she could feel the taste of blood. Watching May’s figure disappearing to the back of the clapboard, Irene tried to climb up and follow May, but at that time Gait and Sam had run on the stage carrying props with them. Sam took the opportunity when he put a bucket beside Irene to whisper to her, “You’re in the next scene anyway. Keep acting. Be strong!”

Irene understood that it was against the rules not to exit the previous scene, but indeed… she had missed the chance.

The audience then witnessed something spectacular—Cinderella sat in the middle of the stage motionlessly, and yet the surrounding scene was shifted from a living room to a basement. A beautiful round table and wooden chairs were replaced by wine buckets and cane baskets. The staff moved back and forth carrying props, while Irene remained in the middle of the stage with one position as if she was frozen in time.

The following plot was that Cinderella was prisoned in the basement, then a witch showed and rescued her. The witch not only gave her clothes but also summoned a carriage to take her to the palace.

“Remember, you can only stay there till midnight. Before the midnight clock sounds, you must leave the palace, or the clothes and carriage will all disappear.”

“Ah… yes. I see. Thank you.”

Irene was still at a loss. She used to peek at May’s performance from backstage. At that time, she was impressed by this woman who could act freely and smile brightly in front of 1,000 viewers. Now when she stood on the stage looking at this shining star right in front of her, she fully understood how astonishing May’s acting skills were.

Perhaps this was the distance between the star and the flower?

After Rosia and Irene finished their lines, there came the first climax of the show—the royal ball. In order to achieve a grand effect, all the actors went on stage for this scene, except for Irene and May. Gait, Sam, Rosia, and Tida would all put on masks to act as noble dancers. The one who played the prince was Irene’s lover—Ferlin Eltek.

Chapter 190: The Victory and Defeat

quot;The actor who plays the role of prince looks handsome, but isn’t his facial expression too stiff?” Margaret commented.

“Ah, it’s him,” Roland said with a surprise, “Morning Light, the number one knight of the Western Region. He works as a teacher in Border Town, not a professional actor after all.”

“Not an actor?” the businesswoman said with a surprise, “Is he qualified then?”

“We’re short of hands,” Roland said smilingly, “Look at the other two guys who carried props earlier. If either of them plays the prince… he would definitely not look like a guy who can win Cinderella’s heart at first sight.”

“… If you put it like that.”

Splendidly dressed Irene stood aside, looking at May walking to Ferlin Eltek, putting her hand on his shoulder and starting to dance with him. “No, Ferlin doesn’t dance. He’s only guided by May’s excellent dancing skill and waggling with her steps.” Irene had not seen this plot during the rehearsal, which meant May was improvising.

The elder sister tried to seduce the prince with all her might, but the prince was not impressed at all. He only had a conversation with her out of politeness. When Cinderella appeared in front of him, all his attention was drawn by this pretty and charming girl.

Irene knew she only needed to go over there then Ferlin would push May away and put on this love-at-first-sight show with herself, but she felt everybody could see at her lost state, she looked totally unattractive compared with May. “So how could the prince abandon a prettier and more attractive woman and choose the common me?”

At that moment, she saw Ferlin looking at her.

The expression in his eyes meant helplessness, consolation, encouragement, and… affection.

Irene felt her surroundings suddenly quieted down: the laughs, cheers and discussing noises from the audience vanished, and her friends in the theater disappeared. Only May, Ferlin and herself were left on the stage.

It ‘s true that my acting skill is so much poorer than the Star of Western Region, but should I just quit and admit defeat?

“No.” Irene felt there came a voice from the bottom of her heart. She wanted to keep acting. This was a rare chance, or in other words… her last chance. If she chose to give up, she might never get the chance to play with such an outstanding actress on the same stage again.

She wanted to become someone just like May who could draw the audience’s attention to herself only by gestures and expressions.

Sorry, May.

She murmured in her heart.

If the prince had been played by an actor from the theater, she might not have the encouragement to compete with May. It was merely impossible to defeat the Star of Western Region with acting skills.

“Unfortunately, he isn’t. He’s Morning Light, my lover,” Irene thought. “Please forgive me, May. I don’t want to be defeated by you in front of my lover.”

The stage seemed to have disappeared. Irene felt in front of her was a piece of wheat field. The heavy golden ears had ripened and bent, slightly waving with the evening breeze as if waiting for harvesting. At the far side, the sun was about to set beneath the horizon, which dyed the slowly flowing water in Redwater River with a warm color. This was the place Irene and Ferlin used to date. Under this reddish orange sunset glow, the prince resumed as the knight, the person who had been in love with her for long.

“As long as I show my finest side in front of him, I could draw all his attention… it’s not performing, but a present of my true self.” Irene lifted the sloppy cope and tied a knot on it, and then walked up to Ferlin.

The confidence returned to her and everything felt so natural to her again. She walked to the knight and smiled at May, then May subconsciously lowered her hand on Ferlin’s shoulder.

“May I have a dance with you?” Irene asked.

A familiar smile appeared on Ferlin’s face. “Of course, Miss.”

Although Irene could not dance as skillful as May did, the knight danced more naturally under her leading. The entire audience was infected by the coherence of their dance. They began to applaud, whistle and cheer all over.

The noise brought Irene’s mind back to the stage. She stood tip-toed, gently kissed on the prince’ cheek, then pushed him away and quickly ran toward the backstage. At the same time, sincere bell tones came on top of the square and echoed by the remote mountains. No more, no less, exactly 12 strokes.

Soon enough, the show drew to the end which was also the climax of the entire play.

To look for Cinderella, the prince initiated a ransack in the outer city from house to house. When he finally came to Cinderella’s house, the little girl had already changed back to her dirty gray cope. With a broom at hand, she was pushed aside by her sister. Her sister was still pretty and appealing and could put on that crystal shoe.

“Your Highness, what’re you waiting for? I’m the girl you’re looking for.”

“No, she isn’t.”

“You… shut up!”

Although May’s performance was still excellent, actually even more oppressive, Irene was not intimidated anymore. She walked from the corner to the stage center step by step, looking at May in the eye, showing an unyielding expression.

The audience burst into the applause at this splendid scene.

At that moment, the witch appeared. She waved her hand, and then Cinderella was in her ball gown again.

“Your Highness, she’s the girl you’re looking for.”

Rosia jerked down Irene’s cope, revealing her night gown. At the same time, Irene’s hair, which was tied on her head, scattered. After her hair being combed, the girl who stole the prince’s heart once again presented in front of everyone in an incomparable poise.

The atmosphere in the theater was instantly detonated.

Everybody got excited upon seeing the prince and Cinderella hug together. Gun salutes sounded outside of the theater, which pushed up the atmosphere to the peak. The sounds of unceasing applaud and cheer filled the theater. Until the ending narration started and the actors and actresses bowed and left the stage, the applause was still sounding.

“It’s marvelous,” Margaret exclaimed and said while clapping, “I thought the little girl would be totally crashed by May, but yet she was able to make the situation turn. I wonder if it’s only an illusion, but I feel the interaction between Irene and the prince is more natural than May. It’s as if… Irene is meant to be together with the prince.”

“Indeed surprising,” Roland said, nodding. In the last few sets, Irene was like totally different, which was exactly herself, so that she could remain confident in front of the intimidating May. To convert the prince back to her husband in a short time, shaking off the shackle of the stage, she indeed showed an impressive ability. Given time, she would become a rising star. Besides, the sounds of bell tones and gun salutes created by Echo were equally perfect.

…

“I lost,” May thought with her eyes closed.

She exerted all the effort to make Ferlin Eltek play the leading actor, with an aim to impress him on the stage where she could show the best of herself. She could defeat Irene with her acting skill by showing Ferlin she was much better than Irene.

In order to achieve that, May stayed in the little town for nearly a week to rehearse with actors who were normally despised by her. Having stayed here for so long that the boss of the Stronghold Theater might not extensively boost her anymore. And the result of her scheme was rather ironic—she failed to defeat Irene on stage. But what led to her defeat was not Irene’s acting, but Irene’s love toward Ferlin.

That being the case, it’s time to give up.

May inhaled deeply. After changed her custom with a long face, she prepared to leave the preparation room early.

While she stepped down the wooden stairs, a man suddenly walked up to her.

He was a tall, straight and handsome guy. Judging from the shining armor he was wearing, he must be a knight of Border Town—but different from Morning Light who had a warm smile, this guy looked proud and cold with his rising eyebrows, long eyes, and thin lips.

“What’re you up to?” May asked, frowning.

“Hello, Miss May.” Unexpectedly the guy did not appear cold at all when he spoke. “I’m Carter Lannis, Chief Knight of His Highness. Your acting was splendid. Can I invite you for a drink?”