Release That Witch

Chapter 209: The Convenience Market

quot;Stop!”

May stopped Irene who was holding a dagger, pretending to stab. “Your expression doesn’t have to be so hideous. Although he’s a heinous scum, he’s still playing the role of your step-father. So, you should show perseverance within the hesitation and finally express relieved and peace after stabbing him. Do it again.”

“Yes!” Irene seriously said.

It had been half a month since her first performance in the town, and she was not sure why she had not left this place but joined for the second performance instead. The crew was currently rehearsing for the third part of “The Witch Diaries”. The drama bound to be incomparable simply in terms of the scripts. It was her first time to see such an interestingly twisted story which was not about the love story between the prince and the princess or the conspiracy of the rebels in the palace but was praising the courage, friendship, and principles of the ordinary people and the witches… She even could not help but want to applause for the characters in the story after reading the entire scripts.

It was also the reason that May claimed to be staying for a short time.

However, she was not clear about the actual reason herself.

Irene suddenly stabbed Sam who played the role of her step-father with the prop dagger. Sam miserably yelled, “You actually…” and he tilted his head to one side and pretended to die.

It looked too exaggerate. May shook her head. “Since she was stabbing you in the chest, how would you have time to scream and talk? You can simply raise your arm pretending to strangle Irene and then paralyze. This is the most common expression of fatal injuries. Were you not listening during the drama class?!”

Sam could not help but blush. “I’m, I’m sorry.”

“Again,” she emotionlessly said.

Irene’s performance was out of May’s expectations, and a lot of details were quickly corrected once she mentioned. Irene was considered the outstanding batch with her serious attitude towards drama and her personal performance talent. Her title of “Flowers of the Theater” was not entirely the mutual adulation among the low-level performers.

“Much better. Let’s end the rehearsal here today.” May clapped when the content of the scene was finally clearly expressed. “Have Ferlin Eltek finished the lesson? You should also head home to prepare dinner, after all the whatever water…”

“Tap water,” Irene added with a smile.

“Uh, the tap water will only be refilled once before the dusk, and that means there’ll be no water for the shower if the dinner is too late,” May said after coughed twice.

“Miss May, is it mainly because Mr. Knight is coming to pick you up?” Rosia chuckled with her hands covering her mouth. “There’s still at least an hour from the evening.”

“I heard that Mr. Carter is the trusted guard of His Highness Prince Roland, always traveling with His Highness in and out of the castle,” Tina loudly said, “ah… you’re indeed a dazzling star in the Western Region, no wonder you’re so compelling everywhere you go.”

“Enough.” Irene waved. “Miss May doesn’t necessarily have to accept Mr. Carter.”

“…” May raised her eyebrows, it was probably because she had not behaved so harshly recently. Both of them did not even dare to breathe in front of her initially but now they dared to make up a joke. She would probably have to be stricter towards them during the rehearsals for the next few days, otherwise, they were not qualified to be on the same stage with her with such a bad performance. “I’ll leave first.”

“Thank you for your guidance!” Irene and the others bowed.

Originally only the drama tutor was eligible to have such etiquette, however, May did not care. She nodded and left the rehearsal room, suddenly feeling the hot air around her.

A tall man was quickly walking towards her after she sat down under the shade in the center of the neighborhood for a moment.

He was Carter Lannis, the Chief Knight of the Lord of Border Town.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he touched his head and said.

“I didn’t wait for too long.” May lightly smiled. “Let’s go.”

He did not give up although he was rejected the last time he invited May. He was persevered to visit at the door which was entirely different from the cool and arrogant look he had, and she was confusingly retained by him just like that. She was quite aware of what he meant but she was confused and afraid to think of residing in the foreign land.

She did not plan to reside here with him for long-term even when she initially decided to see Morning Light.

She was a famous drama star who was the undisputed focus in the stronghold. However, she was no different from the other members of the drama team here, and her reputation could not even be compared with Irene who was a teacher in the town.

Both of them walked through the wide street where was covered by the shades towards the Convenient Market.

The town looked different every week, it was empty in the outer district last week but it was luxuriantly green now. There were constructions every day as long as it did not rain, and there were always roads and houses repairs. Sometimes they were carried out at the same time. The buzzing with activities scene was hard to find even in the king’s city.

The convenience market was located in the north of the square, dividing both of the districts and separated by the sycamore tree in the middle. It was the fair price area on the right and the layout was similar to the market, surrounded by the streets and a wooden shed was built above it. There were people selling some cheap irons and farm products in the market—the former were farm tools, hammers, drills, and nails while the latter were eggs, beef, grapes, and some food that can’t be named. These goods were arranged in different stalls and each stall had a specially-assigned person-in-charge.

It was the boutique area on the left, where was much smaller and surrounded by bricks, looking like a bungalow. There were a variety of goods sold inside and the crowd was much lesser as the price was slightly higher. She was pulled here by Irene to walk around the second day she was in the town. If the chief knight had not mentioned that there were some rare new products sold here today, she would have gone to the bar for one or two ice-cold ale.

Both of them walked into the boutique area after registration. The selling method here was very strange. There was only one door to enter and exit in the entire market and the goods were displayed on the shelves for self-selection. There were neither bargaining accepted nor anyone boasting and promoting, the prices and items descriptions were written on a parchment stuck at a corner and the payment was at the counter by the door after picking the favorite items.

May noticed that there were only around 10 pieces of the colorful glasses left on the first row of the shelf, and the patterns on them were still the same as what she saw the last time she was here, which means that the glasses were not entirely sold within the one month. If it were for the normal merchant, he would have suffered the loss.

“Is this market really opened by His Highness?” she asked.

“Yes.” Carter nodded. “So you would see some incredible merchandise.” He walked towards the third shelf and said, “Such as this one.”

“This… is the rare new product you were talking about?” May followed the knight and saw five or six bars of light-yellow colored blocks which were only the size of a palm displayed on the shelf without knowing what they were for.

“It’s personally trial-produced by His Highness and the witches in the castle now… Ahem, I meant the servants and guards are using it. It can easily clean the stubborn grease when it’s used in the shower and it feels extremely refreshing after showering, leaving a soft fragrance of the rose on the body. I swear it’s the most magical thing in the shower,” the chief knight solemnly said.

May looked at the parchment next to it and saw a rare term marked on it—scented soap.

Chapter 210: To Leave or to Stay

quot;Scented soap?” She picked up a bar, putting it to her nose and smelled it. She could really smell the rose scent.

“Yeah, it’s hard to imagine that it was a sticky paste before it was made. His Highness even added perfume into it in order to make it fragrant.”

May subconsciously glimpsed at the price on the paper, which could be considered luxury as it cost 25 silver royals each, however, the price was obviously a little too low as compared to the expensive perfume. “Are you sure there’s perfume added? A great noble had given me three bottles of perfumes when I was performing in the king’s city and each bottle was only as big as the thumb but the price of each bottle was more than 5 gold royals. Such a big bar of soap would at least required half a bottle of the perfume.”

“Is it?” Carter stunned. “Perfume is actually so expensive?”

“Of course.” May rolled a blind eye at him. “It’s the most complacent product of King’s City Alchemist Workshop, other than the crystal glass, perfume is the best selling product. I heard that there’re only thousands of bottles perfume flows into the market annually other than the batch that’s tribute to the royal family. Those who could afford to buy this thing are mostly the upper-class noble and wealthy merchants. I wouldn’t use the remuneration of several of my plays to purchase a bottle of perfume if it wasn’t a gift.”

“However, I didn’t see any rare materials when His Highness made the perfume… I heard His Highness mentioned that it seemed to be made of sugarcane.” Carter added, seeing May’s confused expression. “Sugarcane is a sweet stick, a plant that came from the Fjords that looks like a stick and chewing on it will fill your mouth with sweet juice. It’s only planted at the castle backyard currently, and I’ll ask His Highness for permission to bring you one.”

“It’s Prince Roland, His Highness again…” She had been hearing the name of Roland Wimbledon the most often since she came to the town. As long as the change of the town was mentioned, both Irene and Carter would definitely mention him. It sounded like His Highness knew everything and all the new things were created by him.

[Is there really such an erudite in this world?] She was skeptical. [It takes time for a person to learn the new knowledge. The recognized scholars in both the king’s city and Longsong Stronghold are white-haired old men. There’s even a saying that the longer the beard, the wider the knowledge. Prince Roland is only around 20 years old, and how could he know so many things?]

Thinking so in her heart, May looked as usual and said, “Don’t need to, it must be a rare crop if it were used to make perfume. Especially the perfume formula which could be sold for a high price in any alchemic workshop. You must not inquire from His Highness even if you shouldn’t say anything about it even if you see it.”

“Alright,” Carter answered before he pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped four scented soaps in it.

“You’re going to buy so many?”

“Each person was limited to purchase two bars. We’ll pretend to purchase separately and I’ll give them all to you when we’re outside—don’t reject for now.” The knight stretched his arm out to stop May from talking. “I can always apply for it from His Highness if I run out of it but I’m not too sure when would the new stock comes in if it’s sold out here. It can last you for a while with these four pieces.”

May felt warm in her heart, looking at Carter’s serious expression. “For a while…” She puckered her lips, quietly looking at the knight who was wrapping the scented soap.

“Let’s look at the other merchandises since we’re here.” He lifted the sack and smiled.

…

It was dimmed outside the window when May returned to her “home” in Border Town.

The sunray of the sunset penetrated into the house from the window, dying the decorations in the house with a touch of orangey-red.

Since she decided to stay here for the following plays, May received a set of the room like Irene’s. It was not big but it was fully-equipped.

She put the fancy goods they bought from the Convenience Market on the table one by one, and there was a bottle of alcohol besides the four bars of scented soap.

The bottle of alcohol was different from the common ale and wine from the pub. It had almost no color and was clear and transparent like water. She remembered it was called White Liquor on the introduction of merchandise, and it was high-alcohol and not suitable to drink too much of it.

[White Liquor.] She smiled. [The name matches the appearance well.]

May pulled out the wooden stopper and poured a glass for herself. She lifted the glass and the strong smell had made her frown. However, after the smell, she could smell an alcohol fragrant that was sweet and rich, and was totally different from the low quality diluted alcohol in the bar.

She seldom went to the bar as she would need full attention and concentration during the play, and she would only drink a glass or two to celebrate with the drama team after a big success of her play. It did not feel bad for being drunk, but she witnessed a lot of actors and actresses’ misbehave after getting drunk, so she always kept her drinking limit within the scope of not affecting her thoughts.

However, May was having a strong urge of getting drunk now, otherwise, she would not insist on buying such an expensive White Liquor even with Carter’s discouragement—she heard the other actors said that getting drunk could shield the distracting thoughts and concerns away to find the actual answer at the bottom of the heart, and she wanted to try.

May closed her eyes and drank up the alcohol in the glass, and she could have a boiling hot feeling exploding in her throat. She had spat the alcohol out before she could swallow it and a severe cough was choking her to tear.

“Damn it, is this really alcohol?”

She bit her lips and tried again after the burning sensation had subsided—she only dared to sip on it, and she could taste the thick and fragrant after the burning sensation. It did not taste very good with both the tastes mixed up, but it brought her a strange feeling.

May felt a trace of dizziness after only 7 minutes.

She pulled out a fist-sized metal box from her pocket and opened up the box where she found a shining mirror in front of her. The mirror must be expensive as it was different from the usual bronze-mirror or silver-mirror, and it had a smooth surface with the reflected scene extremely clear. May could see both her blushing cheeks and her confused eyes.

It was a gift from the chief knight before parted, and she wanted to reject but the knight had walked away without giving her a chance to push it back. He turned back to wave goodbye at her while walking away quickly. To be honest, Carter Lannis was an impeccable type on his appearance, however, it would be impossible for her to stay if the knight was not being chatty.

So, should she reside here? Moving away from the busy city and starting over in the remote town, and there were only a few of them from the crew knew her identity… The fear of unknown made it difficult for her to make up her mind.

May opened up the letter that had been on her table for a few days—it was the letter Prince Roland, His Highness passed to her through Irene and it was written by Petrov, the manager of the stronghold. She was informed that the Stronghold theatre had announced her to be missing, and Petrov was personally hoping for her to return to the stronghold and continue the play.

Prince Roland, His Highness did not hide the news but left her to decide herself.

As May drank up the alcohol left in the glass, her vision gradually became hazy.

She staggered to the desk, spreading out a piece of paper to write back.

In the overlapping surging thoughts, she could see the Stronghold Theater, Irene, Ferlin Eltek, as well as the town square filled with cheering noise and the out-of-control exciting third-rate actors… When all these finally faded slowly, it was only left with the smiling face of Carter Lannis when he was inviting her for a drink in her mind.

“Hello, Miss May. Can I buy you a drink?”

…

Chapter 211: The Light Industry

oland was sitting in front of the desk, interestingly looking at the chief knight who was here to report the up and down of the First Army.

Comparing to his meticulous look past few months, Carter’s icy face had shown other emotions, the steady feeling had faded a lot and he was showing a lot of hope and impatience.

[It must have something to do with the Star of the Western Region,] Roland thought.

Roland also heard a little about the matter that Carter had recently gotten very close to May. After all, as one of the top-level in the first army and Roland’s representative in the army, his every action had been watched; not to mention that he was close to the attractive lady, May.

When they first appeared side by side on the streets of the town, the guards had already reported the news to Roland.

Roland did not really care for such things. It was very strange for Carter to be still single as he was probably two or three years older than Roland. It would be good if he could find his spouse in the Western Region as long as it did not affect his work.

According to the report of the chief knight, the First Army had possessed around 200 revolving rifles equipped and it was increasing by 10 daily— in fact, if the raw material was enough, Anna could produce several times more, however, the speed decreased as she was also responsible for pig iron and steam engine manufacturing at the same time.

However, the production speed was acceptable as there were only 600 people in the First Army, and it would be finished reloading within one and a half month. The military scale temporarily could not be further expanded before the new population expansion arrived.

Another point was the formation of the Second Army.

The civilians recruited from Longsong Stronghold were incorporated into the Second Army by Roland after verification in order to facilitate the training convenience and security needs. They were currently accepting the discipline training which was also a part of military training. It was the ideological education course at night in order to develop their ideas as the guardian of the Western Region, and they needed to protect the safety of their loved ones.

“The training of the Second Army personnel was progressing well at the moment, and they were expected to be transferred into shooting training after a week. Then, the sifted-out flintlocks were enough for one each.” Carter concluded.

It was also the advantage of the flintlock. It would take at least a year to train a cold weapons fighter and five or six years to train a knight, but yet the musketeer would only take a month to complete training and enter into combat. The longer a battle lasted, the more dominant force of the musketeer was—after all, pulling the trigger was easier than fighting with the sword.

“The live ammunition shooting practice requires to be paid attention to the management of firearms, the number returned had to be the same as the number given out. The same applied to the gunpowder, which was distributed on the spot during training and it was arranged to be supervised by the veteran of the First Army.”

“Yes.” He nodded.

“Very well.” Roland waved. “In this case, you may go to do with your business.”

“Uh, Your Highness,” Carter said with hesitation, “you mentioned to me last time that the perfume that was mixed into the soap was made from sugar cane, was it true?”

“Yes,” Prince Roland leaned against the chair and said, “why?”

“Is the sugar cane expensive?”

“No… Just an ordinary crop.”

“I heard that a thumb-sized bottle of perfume can be sold for five gold royals in the king’s city.” Carter scratched his head. “If so, can manufacturing perfume with sugar cane bring huge income to the town?”

“Five Gold Royals?” Roland startled as he did not consider about this point. Thinking back the time in the palace, Prince Roland never cared about the prices of daily necessities and he had only little contact with the thing such as perfume—only women preferred the stuff that could make them smell nice.

The initial motivation for him to make perfume was to get soap. Otherwise, it always felt like something was missing in a bathroom without scented soap, since rubbing the bubbles all over the body was the true romance in the bathroom.

If a small bottle of perfume could be sold for a few gold royals, it would be indeed a good business. Unlike the coated mirrors, the sugar cane and flowers that were used as the raw materials were much cheaper than the crystal glass.

Thinking about it, Roland laughed. “It’s a pretty good idea. I’ll consider it.”

“Your Highness, in this case… May I bring a sugar cane out from the castle?” Chief Knight asked with hope.

“For sure.” Hearing from the tone, Roland could guess what Carter wanted to do—the Western Region was different from Port of Clearwater, the crops in the Fjords were rare here, and it was a good choice to give it to the lady as a gift. “It’s on the wall in the backyard. You may go and pick it yourself.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!” Carter bowed and left.

After that, Roland summoned Barov—it was no longer appropriate to call him the assistant minister, for he had been regarded as the administration manager of Border town as the headline of the City Hall.

After Barov was seated, Roland mentioned to him about perfume. “What do you think about this business? Can we earn a lot from it?”

He did not answer immediately but stared at him. “Your Highness, are you sure that perfume is made from the sweet crop?”

“Did you not use the soap that was distributed to you? The reason for the fragrance was because of the perfume that was mixed in it,” Roland stretched her arms and said, “its raw materials are indeed worthless things. I’m just unsure if it’s true that the perfume in the king’s city is as expensive as Carter said.”

“More than that, Your Royal Highness,” Barov excitedly said, “the perfume was the top-secret product of the King’s City Alchemy Association. There were only about 1,000 bottles produced a year, and only a small part of it would be sold in the king’s city. The price for those which were transferred to be sold in the Kingdom of Graycastle and other cities were 20 or 30 percent higher. If it was sold to the Fjords and other kingdoms, the price can be almost doubled. In order to prevent the merchant from earning the difference, the association not only firmly controlled the perfume price of the other area, and even the merchants were designated by them. If you can produce perfume, we can get a huge return even if we’re just selling to Redwater City and Fallen Dragon Ridge.”

“I see.” [He’s indeed the man who served as the finance minister’s assistant for 20 years,] Roland thought. Barov was really good at the price of the goods and trading market. With this information, he also formed a preliminary plan.

There were many methods of making perfumes, the simplest method was soaking the unique fragrance petals or herbal in the alcohol, letting the aromatic oil of the plants dissolved in the alcohol, and finally filtered the residue, adding water to dilute it.

The alcohol came from the sugar cane juice fermentation; the raw materials of the aromatic oil could be roses, and it could also be the more commonly seen rosemary and Vanilla. However, since it would be under mass production, getting Leaf to cultivate a magic plant that would directly produce the fragrance aroma oil would be the best choice.

The industry could also produce sugar and white liquor, which were also consumables with a considerable demand, although the profits were less than perfume, it could be sold to the people at a low price to enrich their recipes and it would be a big progress for the people’s livelihood.

Roland was not developing the light industry due to the small-scale production of daily necessities was very difficult to earn high profits with the lack of manpower; investing the limited manpower into the heavy industry was the most cost-effective approach.

Since the production of perfume was profitable, perhaps he could take this opportunity to make up for this missing link.

Chapter 212: The Caravan and News

argaret arrived in the second month of summer as what had been agreed upon.

This time, the number of their boats had far exceeded the capacity of the dock, and quite a few sailing ships had to anchor along the riverbank, waiting for the ships before them to finish unloading cargos before being connected to the trestle.

It thus occurred to Roland that the dock of Border Town had to expand.

The Industrial Corporation of the Kingdom of Graycastle had at length managed to complete its task this month. It had successfully reduced the rejection rate to 40% and had manufactured three steam engines prior to the deadline. Although compared with the third generation steam engine used in Border Town, the commercial products manufactured in the plant was not in the same league in terms of power, noise reduction, vibrating frequency and gas leaking control, they were much better than the first generation.

The Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan brought 300 workers in accordance with the terms set out in the agreement. Roland took them to the industrial zone located to the south of the Redwater River and helped them settle in. Apart from building a wooden factory next to the original plant, Roland also asked Karl to build a dormitory close to the riverbank for those workers. In order to have the construction completed within a month, he instructed Karl to supervise on technical issues and Anna to cut and slice materials after logs were delivered to the site. It thus only took them two days to process materials, which was supposed to be the most time-consuming part of the whole construction process. Meanwhile, Karl, as Anna’s former teacher, was astounded by her astonishing progress in her ability. In merely half a year, this quiet, emaciated girl had become so confident and radiant.

Roland held a big feast to welcome the merchants.

It was also the first time white liquor was presented.

“Margaret is right. Every time Your Highness has some novelties to show us,” Hogg said loudly, “and even the wine here is different. Compared with this, this…”

“White liquor.” Margaret reminded him timely.

“Right, white liquor! Compared with this white liquor, ale and grape wine are tasteless.” Hogg grinned and drained the glass. “Your Highness, you must sell a few boxes of this wine to me.”

“I prefer fruit wine actually. White liquor is too spicy for my taste.” The businesswoman shook her head with a smile.

Roland laughed. “It has nothing to do with the flavor. Not everyone likes distilled liquor of a high concentration. I didn’t plan to sell it to the public anyway. The production is quite accidental, and I want everyone to have a chance to try it.”

In an era where brewing was still one of the main industries, distilled liquor evidently had great potential. The wines in the modern world, such as white liquor, rum, whiskey and vodka, were all distilled liquors with high concentrations. The widespread of distilled liquor also gave rise to the so-called wine culture later. Yet for the current Border Town, it was still too early to develop such an industry.

“Your Highness, with respect to the matter in your last letter, I’ve got quite a bit news from my people.” Margaret broke off. “There haven’t been many changes since the church took charge of the Kingdom of Everwinter. The church, however, encountered great resistance from the Kingdom of Wolfheart. It’s rumored that the church sent all its army to Broken Tooth Castle but had been stuck there for over two months. Also, the King of the Kingdom of Dawn sent a messenger to the Kingdom of Graycastle, for the former believes the church’s true intention was to occupy the whole continent rather than eradicate witches. He calls for an alliance between the two nations, in hopes that the two countries can collaborate to fight against the church and Holy City of Hermes.”

“What was the response from the king’s city?” Roland asked.

“Prime Minister Marquis Wyke declined the proposal and denounced the absurdity of such an idea.” Gammon shrugged. “Everyone’s talking about the matter at the moment. No agreement has been reached even among nobles. As far as I know, many people view the alliance with favor, for there’s no sign whatsoever that indicates the church will return the sovereignty to the heir of the Kingdom of Everwinter immediately.”

“Timothy didn’t say anything about this?”

“The prime minister must have made the objection on Timothy’s order. As to Timothy himself, he’s taken his army to the Eastern Region,” Marleen said gravely, “I’ve heard that a huge fleet just landed Seawindshire and plundered the coast of the Eastern Region. They even looted the church. Many merchants from the Fjords suffered extensive losses from the pillage.”

“There has been a large number of refugees in the Eastern Region lately, of whom Hogg and I took in quite a few,” Margaret added, “and they say these looters not only grabbed things with monetary value but also robbed people. For stuff they had no way to take away, they burned them as if they had wanted to burn the whole Eastern Region to ashes. This is definitely a big blow to Timothy, for he has just vanquished the nobles in the Eastern Region.”

Roland should have been glad to hear that Timothy had received quite a big blow. His heart ached at the same time, however, when he heard ordinary citizens suffered from the raid. “Those refugees…”

“Are you interested in purchasing them?” Margaret smiled faintly. “When I was reading that letter, I thought you’d like to purchase a multitude of slaves and have them work for you in your territory. But I doubt they’ll be as willing as the refugees from the Kingdom of Everwinter and the Kingdom of Wolfheart to reduce themselves to slaves.”

“I don’t want them to be slaves. As long as they’re willing to settle down at Border Town, they’ll receive food and accommodations, and get paid for the work they’ve done.” Roland corrected her. He had just realized it was a good opportunity for him to increase his manpower, although the news reached him a little late. “How many of them are there?”

“Most strong and able ones have been taken away by nobles and caravans. There’re still nearly 10,000 refugees hoarding outside the king’s city, but they’re mostly children and women.”

“That’s fine. I’ll send someone to screen and bring them here.” The prince made the final verdict. “Do I need to inform the officials in the king’s city before taking them away?”

“No.” Margaret waved. “They’re more than happy to get rid of them. As there’s not enough food for all the refugees, there’ll probably be a riot if the number keeps going up.”

…

After the banquet, Roland retired to his office and summoned his guard, Theo.

This incident reminded him how dated his intelligence network was. If he could get informed right after the refugee problem occurred, he could start his preparation in no time and bring more people to Border Town. Currently, his sole information source was the caravan who visited the town once a month. Such a frequency was absolutely not enough to meet his needs.

Even if he garrisoned troops and built sentry posts in Longsong Stronghold, his monitoring would still be confined to the Western Region. If he wanted to become the King of the Kingdom of Graycastle, he must expand his intelligence network throughout the whole nation and even the entire continent.

Roland did not have enough devoted, reliable people for a full-service intelligence agency, and there was no way for him to find spies and agents who were willing to work for him from different locations. As such, he planned to start from scratch by sending a group of people to the king’s city to collect news of various places. Although it could not be considered as a complete surveillance system, he would at least be able to quickly get updated with current trends and the latest events, and would not be put in such a disadvantageous position like this in the future.

Theo, who knew Black Street Forces in the king’s city very well, was the perfect person for this job.

“You want me to return to the king’s city with the caravan?” Theo was a little surprised.

“Yes. You have two tasks. First, fetch refugees from the Eastern Region here. I’ll dispatch a unit of around 100 soldiers to escort you and let you know the specific screening criteria before the caravan takes off.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“Second, after you bring all the refugees here, you stay in the king’s city to collect news of different cities and towns for me. You dealt with underground Rats before and should know what to do. Margaret and her caravan will fully support you. You can ask for reimbursements for any expenses incurred. Unlike the dissemination of the information about witches in Redwater City last time, there’s no budget limit for this operation.” Roland put a revolver on the table and then said, “Take good care of yourself. I’m looking forward to hearing good news from you.”

…

Chapter 213: A Plan on Paddle Steamers

our days later, the caravan departed the dock and sailed out.

Theo and the 100 soldiers from the First Army set out for the king’s city together.

During the past few days, Roland and Margaret had reached an agreement: Theo could come to Margaret’s stores to request for as many gold royals as he wanted, whereas Margaret would deduct the amount withdrawn from the payment made for the steam engine. In addition to this, Roland would need to pay a 1% interest as well.

Notwithstanding that the amount of saltpeter and ingots Margaret brought was nearly two times those last time, Roland had still earned over 2,200 gold royals, including the deposit for modifying two inland river ships. Such a number would be unimaginable prior to the Months of Demons, as the profit for a one-month mine sale would be no more than 300 gold royals.

After the departure of the caravan, it was also about time for Maggie to leave Border Town temporarily.

As what had been agreed on with Ashes, Maggie would have to bring news related to the Western Region to Fjord Islands.

Roland even wrote a long letter and handed to Maggie, in which he particularly expressed his intention of mutual assistance and collaboration, as well as his hope that Princess Tilly could send some of her assistance witches to help him. In the letter, he did not address the matter as Tilly’s brother but as the Lord of Border Town, the ruler of the Western Region. Although Roland knew the chance that Tilly would consent was slim, he wanted to give it a shot anyway. At any rate, it did not take much time to draft a letter.

All the witches gathered at the castle backyard to send Maggie off.

Nightingale gave Maggie a small pack of dried fish, whereas Lightning gave her a pack of pepper.

The other witches all felt sorry for her departure. They stroked her feathers and hugged her as if they would have never seen her again.

“Don’t worry, coo!” Maggie raised her head. “I’ll be back soon, coo!”

“What if Tilly doesn’t let you come back?” Lightning was quite concerned.

“Coo…” The pigeon ducked her neck and pondered for a while. She then waved her tail feathers and said, “Then I’ll fly back secretly, coo!”

“So that’s the deal.” Lightning made a serious promise. “If you do come back, I’ll barbeque some birds for you. Also, as for that beehive which we found the other day, I won’t touch it until your return.”

“Coo!” Maggie nodded vigorously. “Deal, coo!”

Roland was amused and had no comment on what had just happened. It only took Lightning a month to bond with Maggie. Good job, Lightning!

“Well, see you guys later, coo!” Maggie spread out her broad wings and slowly took off after a short run-up. She hovered in the air for some time and then gradually disappeared in the southeast.

“Will she get there safe and sound?” Looking at Maggie’s slow move, Roland could not help worrying about her.

“She should be fine,” Lightning replied immediately, but soon crooked her head and added, “I… think she will.”

Roland returned to his mundane routine of everyday busy life after seeing Maggie off.

This time, he had to draft a complete set of blueprints for the two ships that the Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan had left here for modification. They would become the first two paddle steamers powered by steam engine in this world.

As the paddle steamer would have only one power source, the drive shaft of the steam engine would be directly connected to the paddle without relying on a gearbox. Several air intake ducts would be used to control the amount of air pumped in and thereby adjust the speed of the boat. If someone wanted to slow the boat down or pull it over, he would only need to shut the air intake ducts and air out the excessive steam through the exhaust. At the meantime, it would be still fairly easy to speed up the boat, as the ventilation would not affect the boiler.

The mechanism was not difficult. Roland soon drafted out a rough model. To make the design more precise, however, he needed to take specific measurements on the spot.

Just at that moment, Anna entered the office with a book in her arms.

“What’s the matter?” Roland put down his quill and immediately smiled at her.

“I finished the book.” Anna put the book on the desk. It was exactly that Natural Science Theoretical Foundation.

Roland’s smile faded away in a second. This was unbelievable! How could it be possible that Anna was able to learn everything about high school mathematics and physics within just a few months? Roland did not ask her whether she had fully understood the contents because he knew Anna would read the book over and over again or come to ask him had she not. By “finishing”, she meant a complete comprehension.

“The model you drew… Are you thinking about replacing sails with steam engines to power the boat?” Anna was instantly drawn to the draft on the desk. “But…”

“But what?”

“The two wheels are similar to paddles, right?” “When the wheels are in motion, they’ll push the boat forward. But since half of the wheel is exposed to the air, a part of the power generated is wasted. Why not put the whole wheel into the water?”

“…” Roland was speechless for a second and did not know how to respond. Nobody in the world was born to know everything. Anna must have made the judgement the moment she glanced at the drawing. Roland was suddenly intrigued. He asked, “So, what do you think I should do?”

Anna thought for a while and then started to draw on the paper with a pen.

Roland rested his chin on his hand while at the same time gazing at Anna with great interest. The latter was currently absorbed in her work. Roland could see a strand of unclipped fringes dangle in front of her face as she moved. Her dainty lashes fluttered occasionally. A rosy blush glowed on her fair cheeks. Although Roland could only see her side face from this angle, he could capture the perfect, soft contour of her face with the help of the light, including the arch of the bridge of her nose, her delicate chin and her elegant neck.

“Want some dried fish?” Nightingale suddenly came over and thrust her hand between them.

“Yes.” Anna nodded and put the snack handed by Nightingale into the mouth. “Thank you.”

As his view was blocked, Roland coughed to conceal his embarrassment. His attention was back to the drawings on the desk again.

At first, Anna tried to place the paddle down in the water horizontally. But then it would be pretty hard to see where the paddle was when the boat landed. The placement would thus easily cause a collision between the boat and the dock or trestles.

Therefore, she tried to put the paddle at the rear, which was actually a common practice. This arrangement, however, required a more complex power system. A steam engine, after all, was too cumbersome to be placed at the rear, for its drive draft and gearbox would take a lot of space of the boat.

When Roland saw Anna’s new design, he was once again amazed by her terrifying intelligence and insightfulness.

The draft Anna was working on had indeed become very close to a uniaxial propeller, where a steam engine was placed at the bottom of the hull, with its drive shaft sticking out from the waterline and its tail connected to four square paddles that looked like a windmill.

“I don’t know whether it’ll work,” she said hesitatively, “Technically, there should be a horizontal component of force if the dips of all the paddles are the same. But I’ve reduced one wheel, and it may not be enough to mobilize the boat with merely four paddles.”

“Of course it’ll work, with some modifications though.” Roland took the quill in Anna’s hand and drew a real propeller. “Compared with the shape of a windmill, the paddle in this shape works better under the water. You’re on the right track. However, the agreement requires us to turn the ships into paddle steamers. So, we have to stick to the first design. This has nothing to do with technologies but is simply a business strategy.” Roland paused for a moment and then asked, “Do you want to measure the actual boat with me?”

“Yes!” Anna blinked her azure eyes and gave an affirmative answer.

The best learning method was to test theories in practice.

…

“Nightingale?”

When Anna followed the prince to the doorway, she turned around and saw Nightingale was looking at the design on the desk meditatively.

“Ah, you guys can go first. I’ll be right there.”

She compared with the two drawings repeatedly and eventually made her conclusion: Didn’t she simply switch the location of the wheel?

Chapter 214: A Trip to the King’s City

he caravan went up north along a branch of Redwater River and entered the Grand Canal leading to the king’s city after it passed Silver City.

Theo had once learned from the Chronicles of Graycastle that 200 years ago, it had been an uncultivated land here. In order to ship silver dug out from the mine back to the king’s city, King Wimbledon I had summoned the Mason Guild and nearly 10,000 handymen and spent 20 years creating the canal to link the king’s city and the silver mine. Gradually, a city had formed in the vicinity and had been later named “Silver City” by the late king.

Nevertheless, Theo could now hardly make a connection between the current prosperity he saw and the deserted land 200 years ago. On either side of the canal lay fertile farmlands, behind which at a distance were packed villages. The scene reminded him of the Kingdom Main Street in Border Town. Theo believed if the construction of the main street was completed, there would be a dense population at the foot of the Impassable Mountain Range as well.

“I’ve heard you’re from the king’s city?” A lady’s voice said to him at the side.

Theo turned around and found the leader of the caravan, Margaret, was talking to him. He nodded and replied, “I lived in Inner City before becoming a guard in the palace.”

“How do you feel like returning to your native town?”

“To be honest, it’s just so-so,” Theo answered, “if it’s not because of His Highness’ order, I actually prefer to stay at Border Town. It’s true that the king’s city is bustling but it’s suffocating at the same time.” [Especially for lower nobles,] Theo added within himself.

“Really?” Margaret smiled. “How much do you know about Roland, I mean, His Highness?”

“Why did you ask that?” Theo’s heart stopped with a queer jerk.

“I think he’s incredible. You must have heard of various rumors about his ungovernable behavior in the king’s city, but he’s… completely different from what people believe he is. Both his manners and ideas are inscrutable.” Margaret paused for a moment and then continued, “I can tell from the steam engine invented by him that the prince is a learned man, but why are the soldiers trained by him also so different?”

Theo glanced about the soldiers from the First Army on the deck. Considering that they should keep a low profile in the king’s city, the soldiers neither carried flintlocks nor wore military uniforms. Instead, they were all dressed up like any ordinary guards of a caravan, in a leather jacket, with a wooden pike on their backs. For most of them, it was their first time to leave the Western Region. They looked around with some curiosity and exchanged a few words with each other from time to time. Nobody, however, took off his shoes or lay down his weapon.

Compared with these soldiers, most of the mercenaries hired by the caravan had already gone into the cabin to avoid blinding sunshine. As for the few left on the deck, they were all lying on their backs in shady areas, shoes off and disarmed.

“I don’t really know, either. Perhaps His Highness used to be pretending.” Theo spread out his hands, looking as puzzled as Margaret. He was not trying to hold back anything, for he truly had no idea. Ever since Prince Roland came to Border Town, the life in the town had experienced dramatic changes.

“Is, is that so?” Margaret neither agreed nor disagreed. She was silent for a while until she suddenly pointed to the front. “Look, that’s the city wall of the king’s city. We’re almost there.”

An ashy, shadowy shape gradually entered Theo’s sight. Theo could sense the magnificence of the city wall from a far distance, for this piece of architecture was the most remarkable work completed by the Mason Guild before its dissolution. The wall was the highest and thickest in the Kingdom of Graycastle. It was said that in order to further facilitate continuous patrolling and immediate reinforcement, there were even built-in chambers and passages in the wall that could accommodate nearly 1,000 soldiers.

When Theo could clearly see the city wall, he also caught sight of refugees.

Hordes of peasants were gathering outside the suburb of the king’s city. Along the city wall, numerous sheds were set up, in front of which were fire pits. From the white smoke running out of the pits, it seemed those refugees had been in a good condition and had not suffered from famine yet. Nevertheless, nobles in the king’s city would not continuously offer food. Once they had got enough laborers, they would soon send soldiers to drive the rest of the refugees away.

“What are you going to do?” Margaret asked curiously, “ask His Highness’ soldiers to persuade them to go to Border Town?”

“No, this is inefficient and will be too conspicuous.” Theo shook his head. “You should know very well that there’re only two feasible ways in the king’s city to get things done. One is to lobby with officials, and the other is to hire Rats.”

“Precisely.” Margaret laughed. “I wanted to remind you, but it looks like that won’t be necessary. Well, feel free to contact me if you need any financial help.” Margaret handed Theo a plate and said, “My store managers will contact me immediately if you show this to them, not to mention that you can directly withdraw gold royals of any amounts under 100 with it.”

“Thank you.” Theo took the plate. It was a crystal-clear dark red stone, the end of which was engraved with a line of words written in a language he had never seen.

“You’re welcome.” Margaret chuckled. “His Highness will pay these loans off, both interests and principals.”

After the boat anchored, Theo asked the soldiers from the First Army to wait for his news at the suburb and try to avoid the patrol team in the king’s city as much as they could. He, on the other hand, entered the city with the caravan. When Theo passed through the city gate, he noticed the guards there had tightened the security, obviously to screen out refugees from the Eastern Region.

The first thing Theo saw after he entered the city was a line of towering gallows.

On the gallows hanged four women, whose hands were tied behind their backs. Under the scorching sun, their bodies produced a terrible odor that made Theo frown.

“Timothy is conducting a massive witch-hunt in the city, and these are all victims.” Margaret sighed. “Well, not exactly. Some of them were simply playthings abused, used and abandoned by nobles. The search has provided those nobles with an excellent opportunity to get rid of the witches they’ve been fed up with. It’s hard to say that between being locked up in a dim cell alive and being hanged, which is better… Anyway, I hope they can rest in peace.”

After spending half a year in Border Town, Theo had learned witches were not as evil as the church claimed to be. Other than possessing some weird abilities, they were no different from ordinary people. From the figures of the women on the gallows, the youngest of whom had probably been only 14 to 15 years old. At this thought, Theo felt the long-gone suffocating feeling suddenly came back to him again.

No big changes had taken place during his half a year’s absence. Other than the main street right across the city gate, which was a bluestone road, all the other alleys and sideways in the king’s city were mud roads. The roads cracked in the blazing sunlight of mid-summer. Dust and ashes sprang up every time a carriage passed by. It was unbelievable that the capital of the kingdom had even poorer infrastructure than a remote town beyond the Western Region.

After crossing two streets, the caravan arrived at the marketplace, where Theo bid Margaret farewell and turned to an alley alone.

He located the tavern named “Covert Trumpeter” effortlessly and pushed the door straight open.

“Hey! We aren’t open until night!” Someone yelled.

Theo took no notice of the man but went straight to the bar. Instead, he said to the stout bartender there who was busy wiping wine glasses in a low voice, “Do you still remember me?”

“Who the heck are you? Didn’t you hear that the tavern is only open at night?” The bartender put down the wine glasses impatiently and sullenly looked up. While he was growling, the two servers who had been tidying tables and chairs also slowly approached the bar. “I’ll count to three… S… sir Theo?”

“It’s me.” Theo spat on the floor. “I came to let you know a good deal.”

Chapter 215: The Skeleton Fingers

he stout bartender led Theo to a small chamber upstairs and asked the servers to continue with the cleanup before he closed the door.

The room was reserved for customers with particular needs. As it only cost 25 bronze royals per night, the abode was kind of shabby. The crumbled beddings on the tiny musty bed appeared to have not been washed or dried for ages. The cracked wooden table looked greasy and dirty. One corner of the table was chopped off, and the cracks were filled with black stuffings. Theo, however, carelessly threw himself to the bed, waiting for the bartender to break the silence.

“It has been such a long time.” The big man grinned. “Why haven’t you swung by since Lord Nagi took over your place? It doesn’t hurt to come down here to have a drink even if you’ve washed your hands off the matter.”

The bartender’s nickname was Black Hammer. He was the guardian of “Covert Trumpeter”, and also a member of the “Skeleton Fingers”. Although his name sounded quite intimidating, he was one of the many Rats in the Black Street of the king’s city. It was common for Rats to form various cliques to compete for territories. They would then further establish multiple large but loosely managed organizations based on their areas of business. These underground organizations were invariably somewhat colluding with great nobles or wealthy merchants. The “Skeleton Fingers” was just one of them. Unlike vassals, however, most Rats would not pledge alliance to a specific person but were more often driven by interest and profits.

“Cut the crap,” Theo said bluntly, “Ask Hillwei, Swineherd, Silver Ring and Pott to come here tonight, right in this tavern. I need them to do something for me.”

“These are all members of Covert Trumpeter.” Black Hammer failed to respond immediately. “Just them?”

“I’ve told you it’s going to be a good deal.” Theo shrugged. “I pick you to do the task is simply because you did a lot for me in the past.”

Generally speaking, the first step to do business with the Black Street was to find an intermediary who would decide whether to take the task or not. Once an agreement had been reached, the intermediary would then assign the task to the appropriate person and charge fees. Of course, everything during this negotiation was oral. There was no formal contract or written document to guarantee the success of the operation. The employer would have to take the risk of uncertainty himself. Normally, the more well-known the organization was, the more they cared about their integrity. Correspondingly, the higher fees they would charge. Newly established organizations usually charge a relatively low fee, but there was a big chance that the employer ended up paying for nothing. There existed a delicate relationship between Rats and the city patrol team, who, in some degrees, jointly maintained the order of the king’s city with the former.

Before Theo had become a guard in the palace, he had been a member of the patrol team, responsible for handing over some dirty work to various organizations in the Black Street. Due to the nature of his work, Theo was familiar with every large underground group. It thus saved him time to look for intermediaries. The reason he selected the Skeleton Fingers was that their members had yet to reduce themselves to the basest and most vicious kind in the world.

“Can I ask who you’re working for these days?” After a moment of hesitation, Black Hammer asked.

Theo did not reply but simply pointed to the palace behind him.

Neither the patrol team nor Rats knew that he had been appointed by King Wimbledon III as the guard of Prince Roland, and he had gone to Border Town with His Highness shortly after he had become a palace guard. In the past half a year while he had been absent, everybody had thought Theo was staying at the palace and working for the king. Technically, Theo was not lying by implicating the palace, as both Timothy and Roland Wimbledon were members of the royal family.

“Got it.” Black Hammer nodded with some understandings. “Hillwei and Swineherd are actually gone. Can I pick my own people?”

“What happened to them?”

“They’re dead.” Black Hammer gritted his teeth. “They came into conflict with people from Dreamland Water when they went to the northern city to sell poppy flowers and sleeping ferns. Casas and his men drove them away. Hillwei got her throat slit and bled out, whereas Swineherd was dumped into the canal.”

Theo frowned. The patrol team did not give a damn about things like this. They sometimes even deliberately provoke Rats to fight against each other as a way to balance out their power and number. Nobody cared about victims. “Well, that should be fine. But make sure that they must be someone in the tavern.”

…

Theo took a deep breath as soon as he left “Covert Trumpeter”.

The musty, damp air in the tavern made his stomach turn. He had been feeling sick all this time, until the fresh, balmy air outside at last filled his lung and dispersed the stifling sensation.

Despite that Black Hammer insisted that he should try some of the best wines in the tavern while waiting for the other members, Theo did not want to stay at a stuffy place for too long, for he needed to constantly keep an eye on any possible contingencies that might occur.

Theo decided to first go to Inner City to book a relatively comfortable hotel room where he could spend the night. He did not worry about the soldiers from the First Army in the slightest, as he believed they had been quite good at pitching tents for the night.

When night descended, Theo returned to “Covert Trumpeter” again.

The tavern was now during its regular business hours. Theo could see customers go in and out from time to time. After secretly observing the tavern from a distance for a while, he went in with one of customers.

As “Covert Trumpeter” was a cheap tavern, most customers were peasants. The wines offered were also ales of low quality, which were served in large bowls and cost merely 10 bronze royals. Theo soon spotted Black Hammer’s men in the noisy crowd. They were sitting in a circle close to the wall, with a fraction of a white finger bone on their table.

Theo joined them silently. Soon somebody offered him a spot.

“Good evening, my lord.” Both Silver Ring and Pott bowed to him.

“Let me present you these two members. This is Little Finger.” Black Hammer patted the petit person next to him and then pointed to the young man beside Little Finger. “This is Hill Fawkes, who joined the ‘Skeleton Fingers’ just very recently.”

“Fawkes?” Theo rested his eyes on the man. The latter bowed, appearing to be a little nervous.

“Well, people in our profession seldom have a full name.” Black Hammer broke into a laughter. “Hill lost everything in a casino, and his wife ran away with another fellow. His house was put on sale and he had no choice but to join the Black Street. Don’t worry. He used to live in the northern city and visit ‘Covert Trumpeter’ occasionally.”

Theo did not worry too much about the other members. Silver Ring and Pott were both old acquaintances of his, and Little Finger looked no different from any ordinary homeless people, but he was just concerned about this Hill Fawkes. From his outer appearance, Theo could tell that this man had definitely experienced some great misfortunes and had now sunk in the lowest dejection. However, there was something in his eyes that Theo failed to name. Theo thought for a while but could not find an accurate answer.

After a moment of reflection, Theo made the conclusion that Hill Fawkes should not pose a problem, for, after all, he used to live in the northern city and had also been a frequent visitor of the pub. His current priority was to send refugees to Border Town, which should not entail any ensuing risks.

“Listen carefully. It’s a simple task. Nobles don’t want to see any more refugees coming from the Eastern Region because food is decreasing day by day. If things go on like this, sooner or later there’ll be a riot. By then, the situation will be out of control. So, they want us to find a way to get them out of here.”

“What do you want us to do?” Black Hammer asked.

“Very simple. You spread out the news that the lord of the Western Region needs refugees to help him cultivate virgin lands. The mercenaries and fleets to escort refugees are now on the way and will be arriving at the dock in three days. What you need to do is to let those idiots outside the city know the information. Feel free to use your imagination. The more real it sounds like, the better.”

“But… if there’re no mercenaries or fleets after three days, it’ll be a waste of time.” Silver Ring looked concerned.

“There will be.” Theo smiled.

“Huh?” Silver Ring was stunned. “Is the Lord of the Western Region really accepting them?”

“You thickhead!” Black Hammer slapped Silver Ring on the back of his head. “Certainly we have to make up a perfect lie. Do you think they’ll walk to the king city once shipped to the Western Region? As to how to deal with them, let the lord there worry about.” He looked at Theo hesitatively. “It’s indeed an easy task. But how about the compensation…”

Theo stuck out two fingers. “Two times the normal rate. My new employer is nothing like the patrol team. He wants to see the result as soon as possible, and he doesn’t care much about gold royals.” Theo smiled faintly. “I’ve told you it’s a good deal.”

Chapter 216: The Demonic Plague

or the next couple of days, Theo had been traveling back and forth between Margaret’s Chamber of Commerce and the suburb of the king’s city.

They reached an agreement where Margaret provided the boat for transportation, while the First Army disguised themselves as mercenaries at a fixed time to fetch refugees at the dock.

As to the dissemination of the information and the persuasion work, Theo was confident that Black Hammer would do well, for he had been doing this type of business for years. Although Rats majorly confined their activities to the northern city area, they usually spread words much faster than non-locals. Refugees, of course, would spread the news among themselves as well. Besides, His Highness had also instructed Theo to gradually ship refugees over and do what he could. It was, after all, impossible for him to take all refugees away at one shot.

To Theo’s surprise, there were nearly 1,000 refugees waiting at the dock on the first day the fleet arrived. It appeared Black Hammer and his men had done a quite good job, as Theo believed only about 100 people would come to board if the advertisement was purely done by the First Army.

Based on His Highness’ criteria, the boarding order was children first, families with children second and adults the last. As to seniors… Theo noticed there were very few gray-haired ones in the crowd. Perhaps elderly people were just reluctant to venture into a remote town, or they simply did not have physical strengths to flee to the king’s city from the Eastern Region.

The first fleet, which consisted of 10 sloops, sailed out with over 500 passengers. Those who did not board were asked to return to the camp with the message that “the fleet would come back again”.

Theo had thought he would complete His Highness’ first task without many difficulties. He did not anticipate, however, that shortly after the caravan shipped the second batch of refugees, a big problem occurred.

A queer illness suddenly emerged in the king’s city.

The first victim was discovered on the street. There were several dark spots on his body. His teeth had fallen off, his skins had cracked and his blood was in a weird color. The symptoms were just like what happened to a witch when she was devoured by demons’ power. Nevertheless, the victim was not a woman, but a male resident in the northern city area.

In the next few days, more bodies with the same symptoms were found in the city. For people who had once touched a victim’s body, dark spots soon started to appear on their skins. Neither herbs nor ice could relieve the symptom. When patients let their blood, they found the blood was in a dark red color as if it had been mixed with a large quantity of ink.

The illness immediately sparked panic and fear among citizens. The number of people who went to pray in church increased rapidly, but yet things were not getting any better. More people found dark spots on their bodies, and even some refugees outside the city got infected.

Just when the situation was about to get out of control, the high priest from the church spoke out and alleged it was a conspiracy plotted by witches. The priest claimed that witches released demons’ power, in an attempt to kill the innocent. There was no treatment whatsoever to defend against demons’ power at present. Those infected would die miserably. Nevertheless, the priest assured the multitude that the church would not stand by with folded arms to see their people suffer. Indeed, as what the high priest asserted, the church had developed the Holy Elixir that was potent enough to suppress the evil power of demons in hell.

The speech somehow brought a hope to patients, who sat outside the church waiting for the holy medicine every day.

Theo was pretty suspicious of the church’s assertion. The shipping of refugees, however, was suspended out of caution.

“Why do you stop?” Black Hammer was confused. “Those guys are now also infected by demons’ power. If we keep them here outside the city, more people will be exposed to the disease.”

“I’ve received instructions to stop shipping refugees from my employer,” Theo replied impatiently, “If they’re just ordinary refugees, then that won’t be a problem. What’ll the kingdom look like if this demons’ power reaches the Western Region?”

“Well…” Black Hammer was speechless for a second but soon broke off. “That isn’t our business. Your Excellency, just pretend that you’ve never got the instructions and get them out of here. Look, anyone who has touched a body might be infected. I don’t want to stay with a bunch of demons in Hell, even if there’s a wall blocking them.”

“Pretend to receive no instructions? I’ve got only one head,” Theo said coolly, “and so do you. Do what I told!”

After leaving the tavern, Theo came to a store bearing the emblem of Margaret’s caravan and showed the staff the plate.

“I want to see your boss. The sooner, the better.”

Shortly afterward, Margaret met him in the secret chamber of the store again.

The businesswoman said, “The disease must have nothing to do with witches. If the released demons’ power can’t be stopped even by God’s Stones of Retaliation, then witches would have taken Hermes long before.”

“I think so, too. But the priority right now is to report the incident to Prince Roland. Although there seems to be nobody who has dark spots on their bodies among the first two batches of refugees we shipped over, the disease appears to have an incubation period. If there’s anybody infected, we must let His Highness know so that he can come up with a solution immediately.” Theo took out a folded letter from his inner pocket. “I need you to help me send this letter to His Highness as soon as possible.”

“Certainly.” Margaret nodded. “Words always spread fast among tradesmen.”

…

The long voyage in the past few days made Lucia sick.

It seemed she had kept fleeing from one place to another for the past one month, first from the Eastern Region to the king’s city, and then from the king’s city to the Western Region. The only difference between the two trips, however, was that the former was by force, whereas the latter was voluntary. The Western Region was her last light of hope.

“Sister… water. I’m thirsty…”

Ring groaned in agony and grasped Lucia’s arm.

“OK. I’ll get some water for you.”

Lucia grabbed the fabric bag beside her and staggered out of the cabin. She stooped over the lowest side of the boat and sank the bag into the water. While she was trying to haul some water, her stomach turned again. Lucia could not hold back the reflux, so she puked. The little porridge she had taken earlier was all emptied out. She could feel the stomach acid gushing out of her nose. Lucia managed not to cry. She clenched her teeth and roughly wiped her face with the back of her hand. She again put the bag back to the water. When the bag was full of water, she carried it in her arms and trotted back to the cabin.

“Here’s the water. Open your mouth.”

Ring looked worse than before. Her feverish cheeks were glowing with a crimson flush. Her forehead was burning and her mouth was clamp shut. From time to time, Ring uttered an inarticulate moan.

Lucia had no choice but to open Ring’s mouth by force. She twisted the fabric bag to let the water drop down into her sister’s mouth.

“Don’t get too close to her. She won’t hold up for long, as the dark spots have already reached her neck,” A wan middle-aged man said feebly, “We’re all going to end up dying here. You’d better take care of yourself.”

Shortly after they had left the king’s city, some people on the boat had caught the terrible disease. The patients had first caught a fever that had lasted for a few days, after which dark spots had started to appear on their skins. The symptoms had aggravated within three or four days, and they had finally sunk into a coma. Anyone who had touched the patients had all been infected. Therefore, on the fifth day after the departure, the crews had arranged a sailing ship to isolate these patients from the rest. Lucia thought they had not dumped the infected refugees into the river was because some of the crews were also infected.

After dark spots had been found on Ring’s body, Lucia boarded the sailing ship with her sister resolutely, despite that someone had tried to stop her.

She had been busy taking care of little Ring without any sleep for nearly two days.

Lucia had not given up yet, for she believed everything would turn better after they arrived in the Western Region.

If the rumor was true… the Witch Cooperation Association was her last hope.