Release That Witch

Chapter 250: The End of Midsummer

oland did not want to leave the castle anymore, seeing the midsummer was coming to an end and Border Town was ushering into the final and hottest month of summer.

The saltpeter bought from Margaret, except for producing gunpowder, was all used to lower the room temperature. Now almost every room was displayed with a bucket filled with saltpeter and also a kettle. Then he could sit in a cooler room and enjoy iced water to quench the thirst. In this case, he would not be sweating profusely the moment he came into the office.

Except Anna, the other witches were told to stop working other than the daily practice and learning. They would basically gather in the hall on the first floor to chit-chat or play Gwent, looking extremely cheerful. As for Anna… it was not that Roland did not want her to rest, but she was not afraid of the heat. She could hold the red-hot ingots of high-temperature directly in her hands, so the scorching hot summer was nothing to her. Even if she was busy working by the steel smelting stove the entire afternoon, she would not sweat more.

In order to reward the hard work of Anna, recently Roland had deliberately created some cold desserts to reward her, such as the classic delicious ice-cream in modern time. It was made by mixing the egg yolk, cream, milk, and sugar evenly and chilled with the saltpeter. Anna was very fond of this waxy, soft, and sweet snack. Every little bite of the ice-cream would make her lake-blue eyes bent into a slit, making him feel extremely pleased.

In addition, reading the monthly summary sent by the City Hall was also a great pleasure to Roland.

The population of Border Town had doubled again so far, which was close to 18,000 people. With a number of serfs turned over by Longsong Stronghold every month, it was not a problem to break the record of 20,000 next year. If the number of villages and towns within the domain were excluded, this scale was comparable to the big cities such as Redwater City, Valencia, and the king’s city.

It was a pity that the quality of population did not improve with the quantity. At present, there was still only over 1,000 natives accepting the education, and they may take about a year to graduate. Although the private academy Karl opened previously had created a number of talents who graduated ahead, the less than 100 people were relatively unworthy to mention compared to the total population.

[Perhaps I should go ahead to educate the refugees from the Eastern Region, rather than doing it after building enough dormitory area,] Roland thought, [After all, early education is only good for them.]

The factories in the town were developing very well.

After half a year of construction, the industrial park now had three factories running. They were two steam engine production plants and a bullet processing plant. The number of workers in No.1 factory had increased from the initial dozen of blacksmiths to more than 100 people now. The subsequent participators were mainly the natives. This was what he wanted to see, a number of apprentices growing into craftsmen and promoting the next batch of apprentices.

The workers of No. 2 Factory belonged to the Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan, who had generally mastered the usage of various machine tools within a month. Although the yield was relatively poor, the first-month performance of these craftsmen was apparently better than the blacksmiths from No.1 Factory. However, the steam engines they produced were owned by Roland before their contract expired. Now, both factories could produce almost 8 to 10 steam engines each month, which was the main income source of Border Town.

As for the bullets factory, the bullets produced would be directly passed to the First Army. Sentries were set at every entrance, and the factory was also surrounded by the patrols, and even the production was in-charged by the soldiers. After a week of the trial run, it had begun to mass produce the new generation of fixed bullets.

The pipeline Roland designed could not achieve full mechanical production. It did not matter if it was a primer, gunpowder or warhead, it needed to manually file the compaction. The tools were mainly two mechanical punching machine—one of it could press the copper Anna cut into the shell shape, while the other was used for stamping primer cup.

The soldiers needed to place the mercury fulminate evenly between two pieces of paper, stuck them up tightly, and then put them into the cup before inserting the cup into an annular groove at the bottom of a primer shell. As for loading black gunpowder and compacting the warheads, it was exactly the same as the previous reloading exercise.

The number of people in the plants was not much. There were only around 40 people and it could produce almost 500 bullets every day. Roland intended to turn these 40 people into full-time processing personnel in order to maintain the normal operation of the bullets factory.

Then Roland intended to build the soap plant and perfume plant. The former was a very important part of the military industry, while the latter might be able to open up new business channels for the town. As for the bicycle plant, it could be delayed a little, as long as it was put into production before the completion of the Kingdom Main Street.

“Your Highness,” Nightingale said after she opened the door, “Maggie and Lightning are here.”

Both of them drilled in beside Nightingale. They ran to the table and stuck their heads out. “Are you looking for us?”

“It’ll be the last month of summer since tomorrow.” Roland pulled out the reply letter he had written from the drawer and handed it to Maggie. “Remember to help me pass this to Tilly when you returned to the Fjords.”

“Ah…” She stunned for a moment and blinked a few times before she took the envelope. She carefully stuffed it into the bag and said, “No problem, coo!”

Looking at Maggie’s sudden enlightened look, Roland guessed she probably did not remember that she had to go back to report monthly. Roland suppressed himself from smiling. [It seems that the influence of the town is really big.]

“I’ve forgotten that tomorrow is the beginning of a new month,” Lightning held her forehead and said, “doesn’t that mean we won’t meet for a while again?”

“The last time I was delayed due to Lady Tilly’s sweeping plan. I’ll come back as soon as possible this time.” Maggie shook her white hair which was almost dragging on the ground. “Wait for me to explore that eagle nest… Coo!”

“I know,” the little girl pouted and said, “it’s a deal.”

“You also have a task.” Roland spread out a map of the southern area of the town. “This is the map you drew. Do you remember the location of a shallow beach in the direction of the mountain closed to the sea?”

“I do.” Lightning pointed on the map. “It was around here.”

“Well, you’ll take Maggie for a fly later. After that, set up two flags in the junction of the shallow beach and the mountains, and marked them on the map.” He looked at Maggie after finishing his order and said, “If Tilly agreed to send the witches, you’ll take the sailing ship to the location of the shallow beach, and I’ll meet you at the top of the mountain.”

“Send the witches?” Lightning asked curiously, “are any new sisters coming to Border Town?”

“I don’t know yet.” Roland smiled. “It depends on Tilly ‘s answer… But I think she’ll agree.”

Chapter 251: Fly Again

he second day after Maggie left, Roland led the witches to the yard and started the assembly of the new generation of hot air balloons.

Since the castle backyard and witches’ dormitory was under construction for remodeling and enlarging, Leaf moved the plants to the front yard. Various types of vines climbed all over the walls, gallows, and hallways, which made the yard appear to be an ancient forest. The effect of shielding from the sun was apparent. The sunlight could only penetrate through the tiny gaps between the vigorous leaves, leaving scattered spots of sunlight on the ground.

Roland handed the witches a stack of paper, made them spread it into an enormous drawing paper, and had Soraya to draw the lightest coating of blue sky. Compared to the combination of cow skin and canvas that the first generation hot air balloon used, the coating fabric was much lighter and sturdier. There were no stitches on the connecting points so that there were no concerns over any breakdown of the hot air balloon in the air regardless of its size.

“I heard from Lightning that there might be witches coming from the Fjords?” Wendy asked in curiosity.

“If everything goes smoothly.” Roland repeated the content of Princess Tilly’s response letter. “We have to wait for Tilly Wimbledon’s reply for any further conducts.”

“Seems like that Ashes and her group succeeded,” she said in contemplation, “it’s unbelievable that these many witches gathered on Sleeping Island.”

“Indeed, I’m afraid that Tilly has been planning for this migration over the past many years.” Roland shrugged. “Besides the Kingdom of Graycastle, she has undercover witch networks over the other three superkingdoms. I believe that Witch Cooperation Association has received her invitation too. I guess that’s why not a single witch visited even though the guards had been spreading the rumors for so long—we were one step behind Tilly.”

“But Cara never mentioned this to us.” Wendy rubbed her shoulder.

“If she had told your guys about Tilly’s invitation, you guys wouldn’t insist on seeking Holy Mountain anymore, Right?”

“There’s such a possibility indeed. However, if that were the case, we wouldn’t have met each other in Border Town.” She shook her head with a smile. “So… this isn’t bad at all.”

“I also think this isn’t bad,” Lightning raised her hand and said.

“Maybe it would be even better if we went to the Fjords.” Lily twitched her mouth. “After all, there’re witches all over the island, unlike this town that we have to be extra cautious whenever we go out.”

“This is still much better than before,” Anna said in a serious tone, “I didn’t even dare to go out at that time.”

“Right, some people are like that. Even she instantly refused Ashes’ invitation, she still put on a pretentious act,” Mystery Moon murmured a complaint. “How dare she say that she’s not a traitor!”

“You…” Lily widened her eyes. “Moron!”

“Traitor!”

The rest of the witches could not restrain their laughter.

“I think so too.” Roland felt a sense of accomplishment raising in his heart. Even though he was not as intelligent as Princess Tilly, and was less powerful and less decisive compared to Timothy and Garcia, he was able to provide a free and comfortable environment for these witches at the same time bring higher living standards to his citizens.

“That hot air balloon… I’m afraid it’ll be so many times larger than the previous one.” Nightingale observed the parts that Soraya finished drawing so far. “Are you planning to use it to transport witches?”

Roland nodded and said, “Only this way will we be able to avert the harbor cities and arrive at the inner territory straight from the southern end of the town. Also, besides transporting the new visitors, it’ll be a new experiment.”

After the paper was painted on both sides, it became an interlayered fabric. Each fabric was about six meters in width and length—if it were regular canvas or linen, it would be difficult to drag the fabrics with a single hand. Yet the light-weighted coating’s weight was similar to a stack of paper. When the 10 pieces of fabrics were connected and seamed with the adherence of the coating, it became a huge gasbag that was astonishing in size.

What Roland wanted to test was Soraya’s ability to adhere the coatings. At least when Roland first saw Soraya’s new ability, the half-done drawing of the “thick tree skin” on the desk was quite memorable. The two objects tightly stuck together that someone could lift the whole table by pulling the tree skin. How strong would the adherence between the coatings and the base be? Would it be able to support a huge gasbag and maintain its stability after inflating the balloon? These were all the things that Roland wanted to know.

The inflation of a hot air balloon still depended on Anna. The hydrogen balloon could be handled by anyone. Now with the presence of DC motor, they could produce hydrogen through electrolysis. The prominent Zeppelin seemed reachable to Roland at this point. As long as he could find the suitable materials for the lightweight backbone of the airship, this gigantic monster that could travel with a high velocity at two to three kilometers above the ground would be infallible. Its technical difficulty would be much less compared to that of the airplanes.

Although the accuracy of dropping bombs at a high altitude of 1,000 meters above the ground would be quite low, the enemy would not be able to retaliate at all—any enemies would be devastated if someone kept dropping bombs every day on their domain.

Imagine when Roland started the expedition against the Holy City of the church, four or five airships floating on air in a line and dropping bombs, shallow water gunboats bombarding the enemy’s city gate and strongholds in river courses, and the infantry with flintlocks was supporting in the back. The army, navy, and air force would be cooperating with each other and fight against the enemy. Roland felt quite excited just by imagining that scene.

“Your Highness, what’re you smiling about?” Anna let out a deep sigh and reached out to cover Roland’s widening mouth.

“He’s probably thinking about those newly arrived witches.” Lily rolled her eyes. “The nature of men…”

After the gasbag was connected to the huge vine basket with hemp ropes, the new generation of hot air balloon was officially accomplished. The size of the new hot air balloon was almost four times larger than the first generation hot air balloon. The new hot air balloon would be able to contain 10 people. The top of the balloon was equipped with shade shed which could be used to shield from the sunlight. Of course, there would be a hole in the shed so that Anna could replenish hot air to the balloon.

Roland named the hot air balloon the Cloud Gazer. After completing various tests on the vacant area in the yard, Roland launched the first flight of the Cloud Gazer on the next day. The participating members of this test flight were five witches including Anna, Wendy, etc. Prince Roland himself was also in it.

The test flight went smoothly. The witches were chitchatting during the flight and marveled at the incredible views in the air—compared to the observation from last time, the sightseeing trip this time obviously aroused everyone’s interest. The Cloud Gazer moved to the south under the stable wind-force produced by Wendy. They reached the mountain ranges around noun, crossed the summit of the mountain that had a banner on it, and finally stopped at the coastline.

The Cloud Gazer flew around the shallow beach and took the group back to the castle. Roland noticed that Wendy, who was responsible for controlling the direction, kept rubbing her shoulder and looked quite exhausted.

Roland heard that women with big breasts were prone to have sore shoulders. It was said that lingeries were made to solve this problem. Although Roland had not testified this theory, it would worth a try. Besides, as growing, Anna’s body would start to develop too. Roland decided to make a small gift for every grown-up witch.

Chapter 252: A New Round of Purchasing

s the Lord of the western region, Roland naturally did not have any hands-on experience, he just made a rough sketch on paper, and then expounded the lines to a tailor that had been recruited.

Despite Roland having no personal experience with bras, he had seen more than enough various advertisements, television shows and films. He chose the most common shoulder strap and clasp from a few models, a buckle with three copper hooks. It allowed one to choose a certain amount of slack.

Due to the need for it to be worn tightly to meet the requirements of the bust, Roland also called the castle maid in order for the tailor to measure sizes. While the tailor had engaged in cutting clothes for many years, her experience was also very rich. When listening to His Highness’s explanation, she immediately understood the role of the bra and in accordance with the actual measurement results, would divide the several grades of bust into different sizes and then subdivide those for the adjustment range.

In fact, long ago in this era, there had been a prototype of the bra, the corset. It was not to make women more comfortable but to tighten the waist as much as possible and hold up the chest so that the body would show an hourglass-like appearance. Those gorgeous aristocratic dresses were also in accordance with the thin waist design with no corset assistance. It could be seen that the average woman had difficulty in wearing these type of very fine, tight-waisted dresses as too much oppression of the waist was a very uncomfortable experience. It was severe and could even may affect blood circulation, leading to fainting.

The bra, in addition to holding the bust, would also play a role in fixing the bust and lowering the movement. Wearing it daily would only make women more relaxed.

In only two days, the old tailor cut out 20 bra patterns. The material that Roland provided was silk and high-quality cotton, which were both beautiful and breathable, working exceptionally well.

However, before Roland sent the gifts to the witches, the caravan from the King’s City had arrived at Border Town.

Compared to what had been scheduled the previous month, the fleet was not only late, but the scale was far less than the last time. Even when the sailing ships docked at the edge of the pier in front of the expanded part of the town, it had a sparse feeling.

“Your Highness, we meet again.” Margaret smiled.

“Welcome, the prior transportation of refugees exhausted you.” Roland looked to the fleet by the river. “This time’s load seems to be a lot less?”

“That’s because of… An unforeseen mishap.” She wiped the sweat from her forehead. “If you don’t mind, let’s go to the living room. It’s too hot.”

“I think so, too,” muttered Hogg, “I’m just a typical man from Graycastle, this darned weather is going to be the end of me. If not for the steam engine, I wouldn’t want to leave the house.”

Roland nodded and headed back to the castle with a row of people. When entering the hall, they felt cool air suddenly flutter at them head-on. Hogg took a deep breath. “Thank the deities that we found such a good thing… If I hadn’t seen the production process of ice cooler, I wouldn’t have believed it comes out of manure. Ah, there’s also ice water! Your Highness, May I…”

“Of course.” Roland made an inviting gesture and then sat. Going back to the main ordeal, he asked the businesswoman, “So what was the accident that led to the issue with this month’s cargo? Was it mainly the sharp drop of saltpeter?”

According to the contract, she should provide Border Town with at least three ships of saltpeter each month, but this time there was only one sailing ship carrying saltpeter.

“Because the Alchemy Workshop of King’s City has recently been acquiring saltpeter. The price isn’t high, but they received the support of the former Prime Minister Marquis Wyke and so this isn’t a pure trade. Businessmen won’t buy or sell,” Margaret said, “I guess it may mean that Timothy is behind this. After all, his Prime Minister Marquis Wyke seems to have his nose in the air.”

“Timothy?” Roland asked puzzled, “He’s not going to the Southern Territory?”

“It’s true.” She nodded. “It seems That Theo has told you the news. I heard that he left King’s City already and also brought a lot of troops and baggage. In all likelihood, it’s to go through the trouble of finding Garcia. Just after his departure, the Alchemist Workshop of King’s City rampantly bought saltpeter.”

Roland knew more about the matter. It was indeed fruitful to arrange Theo to work in King’s City. At first he only received the news of Timothy through the underground Rats. In order to prevent an outsider’s sudden attack, he also asked Petrov to strengthen the Stronghold in the realm of work, but the next letter from the guard made Roland feel a little relieved. Timothy went straight to the south, it was clear that the shipment was not for him.

As for the purpose of this group of Rats, Roland and the guard’s views were basically the same. That was, they were not suitable for frontal combat and that they were even less disciplined than civilians and serfs. Timothy’s use of this group of people must have been the same as the last time. First, he gave them addictive drugs and then forced them to go forward and kill the enemy. This repeated consumption of cannon fodder was his opponent’s strategic strength. For the king who owned two-thirds of Kingdom of Graycastle, it was a safe strategy.

But why did the Alchemist Workshop of King’s City suddenly acquire a lot of saltpeter? Snow powder was one of their hit products, but the wrong ratio can only be used to ring the ceremonial cannon. Did they find the correct recipe for gunpowder? Were they planning to manufacture in bulk, or were they trying to determine the best mix by performing a multitude of tests?

Roland shook his head and put aside the doubt that had emerged in his mind, speculating that it would not make sense. Though he felt that, as soon as possible, it would be prudent to complete the industrialization of triacyl acid production into a more advanced chemical gunpowder.

“So there can’t be a guarantee of a three-ship supply of saltpeter next month?”

“This… I don’t know,” said Margaret, though she seemed a bit embarrassed, she still spoke bluntly, “I did spend a lot of effort to bring this ship to the western region from Silver City. This is the hottest part of summer, so the demand for the saltpeter is very large. I’m unsure if I’m able to buy it. If it was another season, I could guarantee the supply of the three ships.”

“I see.” Roland took a drink of ice water. “So try it again next month, yeah? There’s no need to be so reluctant. I have new goods to buy from you.”

“Oh?” Margaret was relieved. “What’s it? Or is it ore?”

“Washing stones for cleaning laundry,” he replied, “They look like a white turbid chip or pillar. If you soak them in water, they give off a greasy feeling. They aren’t uncommon in King’s City.”

“Sure enough… It’s an ore.” The business woman reluctantly laughed. “It’s clear that there’s a big mine in your domain. Alright then, this item could be lots of things, and it’s not expensive. What’re you going to do with it?”

“Naturally, it’s for more convenient ways of doing laundry.” Roland laughed.

In Prince Roland’s memory, the washing stone was essentially a natural base. The main component was sodium bicarbonate and it had a strong decontamination effect. In addition to vegetation ash and the pancreas, it was said to be one of the three ancient cleaning tools. In the absence of an ion exchange membrane, the electrolysis of salt water collects sodium hydroxide at an extremely low efficiency. Salt was not cheap like cabbage, so he intended to buy tartrate directly in order to produce a caustic soda. With sufficient caustic soda, he could make soap on a large scale… Also soap by-products, like glycerol.

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Chapter 253: The Hot Air Balloon Trade

quot;Your Highness, I wanted to ask you when we entered through the door,” began Hogg, looking like he was finally able to breathe. He was next to a barrel with an empty pot of ice water that he had finished. “The painting in the hall… I’m afraid that an average person couldn’t draw it. Whether it’s the realism or that it’s from the perspective of the air overlooking the Earth.” He paused and lowered his voice. “This is… A witch’s work?”

Roland looked at Margaret and she nodded. “Your Highness please rest assured, Hogg is my old friend of many years. He is no threat to witches.”

“You guessed it. It was indeed a witch that drew it.” Two days ago, after sightseeing around the beach by hot air balloon, Roland wanted to capture the magnificent view that he had seen. Plus, the castle living room was simple and humble, without a single painting at all. He simply let Soraya change the stone wall behind the main seat into a huge mural. With the art backdrop, the hall’s style was instantly raised several grades.

“I knew it,” said Hogg with a sigh, “although they were propagated as the demon’s minions, those strange abilities are really enviable. Ordinary people can’t fly like they do, or paint such exquisite murals.”

“You are only correct with the first half.” Roland shook his head. “Ordinary people who don’t rely on magic powers can fly up higher than an eagle, faster, and even more swiftly.”

“You can be really humorous.” said Hogg as he laughed loudly, “Unless we had a pair of wings and also became lighter than the birds.”

Margaret asked, startled, “Really?”

“Of course,” said the Prince with a laugh. “I can show you proof.”

Having a businesswoman take a look at inventions was an effective way to improve their relationship and expand their trading paths. From mugs to liquor, even with a sale going out, exporting was another matter. Anyway, the caravans would stay in the town for several days. The regular business negotiation process should be to eat, drink, and finally sign. Anna was also very interested in traveling by hot air balloon. Just letting her body take a rest for a moment from the busy work could be beneficial for multiple reasons.

Roland quickly finished inflating the hot air balloon Cloud Gazer. However, this time he called the witches who had not been able to get into the hot air balloon last time. Lucia also timidly asked whether she would be able to take her sister to see and Roland said that she could join them.

When the balloon carrying the people slowly rose, Margaret surprisedly covered her mouth, while Hogg clutched the edge of the basket. People could not tell whether he was excited or afraid. Ring was too short to see the scenery outside the basket, so Lucia had to hold her up on her shoulders and told her not to tamper with anything. As the navigator and the rescuer, Lightning had been circling around the hot air balloon. From time to time she would make faces at Ring.

In this way, the hot air balloon once again made its way along the southern coastline, and then swung in a circle to complete the aerial sightseeing tour.

…

After returning to the castle, Hogg’s legs were still trembling. He stammered, “I-I-I never thought that looking down from the sky would be that terrible. I felt like we would fall at any moment.”

“Fly a few more times and you will be just fine.” Roland laughed. “The first time a person’s feet leave the ground, they will have that kind of illusion, like a man who has never been out at sea and will stumble on a bumpy ship.”

“You’re right,” exclaimed Margaret, “It was incredible to see the scenery today. From the sky to the edge of the sea, it’s like a blue arc.”

“But Your Highness, I don’t seem to be wrong,” said Hogg, drinking a swig of white liquor, “Ordinary people may be able to fly in the sky, but it’s still due to the witch’s credit. If not for their contribution, this big guy should not be able to fly up.”

“No, my old friend.” Roland was not able to open his mouth before Margaret spoke. “Do you not realize it? Miss Anna is only releasing the flame. I also asked Lightning and she told me that as long as the airbag was filled with heat, it would be able to rise into the sky. Flame isn’t the privilege of the witch alone, Your Royal Highness, am I right?”

No wonder she, a businesswoman from the Fjords, could have a firm foothold in King’s City, both the observation and thinking ability she had were particularly outstanding. Roland nodded with a smile. “The hot air rises and the cold air sinks… This is the reason why they’re called hot air balloons.”

“It really only needs to use something like a brazier?” Hogg asked wonderingly.

“That isn’t enough, because you want to let it float in the air. It must continue to heat, but the wood itself is very heavy. The balloon is unable to carry too much of a load and so we have to use a special way to solve this problem.”

“Can you do that?” Margaret could not wait to ask.

“Well… We should be able to…” Roland thought for a moment. “But there still are some minor issues.”

“That’s great,” she said immediately, “I hope I can buy four or five hot air balloons from you. Not too big, but enough for just one person.”

“Do you want to put it on the ship?” asked Hogg.

“Well, the mast can’t be stretched indefinitely, but the hot air balloon can. As long as there’s a line tied to the balloon’s basket so that it doesn’t fly off with the wind. With a hot air balloon looking ahead, we could then have earlier detection of nearby pirate ships. Unless there’re unpredictable storms and tsunamis, the biggest harm is the droves of pirates.”

“But it’s cost, it’s probably not very low.” Roland estimated in his mind. “I expect to need more than 1,000 golden royals.”

If you don’t use the witch to heat it, the hot air balloon will have to use a gas fuel. The easiest to get is undoubtedly gasoline. Unfortunately, the mine at Coldwind Ridge of the Kingdom of Graycastle is too far away from Border Town. According to the current traffic conditions, there’s almost no way to transport it over. If replaced with the hydrogen balloon, then it would be easier to achieve, but there was the need to solve the problem of the gas tank. If they were not able to charge and discharge it freely, then there would be no practical value.”

“1,000 gold royals for each one, how’s that?” Margaret also said, “If you really made this kind of thing, I can guarantee that all of the caravans coming and going to the Fjords would want to buy one or two.”

“Had the Crescent Moon Bay Caravan come as usual, they would certainly be the next big order.” Hogg drained the white liquor he held in his hands. “However, I don’t need it. Although the hot air balloon looks very magical, I only want to get my steam engine as soon as possible.”

Their offer of price left Roland overjoyed. 1,000 gold royals was his estimate of the price increase after a five-time premium. He did not expect the other side would actually accept something twice the price of the steam engine. But when thinking about it, the goods carried by the ship were likely to be more than that price, not to mention the entire business fleet and ship sailors. As long as they avoided being looted by pirates, the deal was still cost-effective for maritime businessmen.

In addition, 1,000 gold royals was not the exact cost of buying it. Whether it was hydrogen or gas, they were consumables. When they ran out, they would have to fill them up again in town, which was an extra cost… Of course, if one purchased many gas tanks at once, they could consider discounting or giving an additional number of inflations. At this point, the 4S shop and the two barrels of oil were examples of his learning and imitation.

Roland pretended to hesitate for a moment and then finally nodded. “It’s a deal.”

Chapter 254: The Alliance

he weather in the Fjords was very peculiar. Yesterday was sunny without any clouds in the blue sky, while today was gloomy with strong winds and thunders. A storm was coming.

Ashes walked into Tilly’s home with her hair blown into a mess. She saw the giant pigeon crouching on Tilly’s shoulder at first glance.

“Maggie?”

“Coo!” The pigeon looked up and its eyes became bright. It spread its wings and straightly flew to the door, but was easily stopped by Ashes. “Turn into your human form before we talk.”

“Woo… Coo.” Maggie thumped her wings and landed on the ground, shedding her feathers and exposing her original appearance. Then she twitched her lips and asked, “Do you hate pigeons?”

“I’ve always felt it’s strange that a big bird can speak,” Ashes said with a smile and pulled up the girl sitting on the ground, “when did you come back?”

“Just a moment ago. I was afraid of being caught in a storm, and my wings were almost broken,” she patted her chest and said, “fortunately, I arrived at Sleeping Island before it rained.”

“You flew back… like this?” Ashes put her hand on her forehead and asked, “why not become a petrel? It’ll be much faster.”

“Oh…” Maggie blinked her eyes and came to understand suddenly. “I forgot, coo.”

Tilly could not help laughing, putting down the letter in her hand. “Well done. I already know the news of the other party. You can go and play with Lotus and Molly, and I’ll inform you when I think of a good reply.”

“Good, coo!” Maggie saluted and hopped outside the room.

“What did Roland Wimbledon say?” There were only two persons in the room. Ashes went to Tilly and sat beside her. In front of Tilly there laid a map, when Ashes looked closely, she found that it looked like a topographic map around Border Town.

“This is his letter.” Tilly handed her a piece of paper. “I have to say, the witches he chose are really… special.”

Ashes quickly read the letter and could not help frowning. “He actually chose Sylvie? Didn’t he care about being exposed?”

“I don’t know,” said Tilly, not expressing any opinion, “Perhaps my notes about their abilities were so vague that he didn’t go deeply into it. Or he didn’t mind showing his identity in front of us to show his sincerity in cooperation? Of course, there’s another possibility…”

“He’s really your elder brother,” Ashes continued, “so he doesn’t care about Sylvie’s ability.”

“But it’s a slim possibility.” She laughed at herself. “Does anybody know him better than I do? If he was the real Roland Wimbledon, he would never choose to protect the witch and go against the church. Man and boy, he’s been good at escaping, whether in the face of challenges or difficulties… Even when he was sent to Border Town under the Royal Decree on the Selection of Crown Prince, he had never made a protest against our father, even if it was symbolic.”

Ashes lifted her eyebrows. “In a word, it’s a good thing for us that he actively chose Sylvie. So you don’t need an excuse to send an additional witch, but the other witches… Do you really want to agree with him?”

“Why not?”

“Lotus is one of the most important witches of Sleeping Island. If she left, who would fix the mud houses? If you want to build something or transform the island’s terrain, it’ll be extremely inconvenient without the ability to reshape the terrain. After all, we’ve only used less than 30% of the entire Sleeping Island, and there’re many places remaining to be transformed.” She gestured with her fingers. “So is Honey. She can drive the ospreys to fish for us, and all the delicious fish soup we enjoyed every day is her credit as well. As for Candle and Evelyn, there’re not too many problems… Can’t you refuse his request and exchange another two witches who aren’t so useful?”

“What’s useful, and what’s useless? By sending the witches to Border Town, I hope to form an alliance with the other party, rather than abandon them.” Tilly looked a little serious. “Whatever abilities they own, anyone choosing to come to this island is our sister. If we want to build Sleeping Island into the witch’s home, how can we select them according to whether their abilities are useful or not?”

Ashes had ever seen such a look in the palace—this was the expression when Princess Tilly was really angry, so she could not help changing her address. “Sorry… Your Highness. I just…”

Tilly sighed and said slowly, “Moreover, it’s difficult to measure everyone’s ability by a certain standard. Roland selected five witches from more than 100, including Candle and Evelyn, who you said were useless. Are they really useless? Perhaps through this alliance, we can figure out whether Roland chose the two by chance, or he had seen something special that we haven’t realized.” She paused. “Anyway, we’re the minority, so every witch is worth fighting for. They’re not tools for building homes, but our partners with a common goal. So never say it again.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Ashes said in a low voice.

At this moment, a lightning broke through the clouds, straight over the sea. As if it were the order of the deities, deafening thunders closely followed, roaring above Sleeping Island. Then it began to rain. At first, it rained sparsely, but then quickly merged into a hubbub.

Ashes stood up and closed the window to keep the rain from coming into the room. When she turned around, she saw Tilly sway for a moment with a haggard look on her face.

“Did you stay up all night?”

“Yes.” Tilly yawned. “The books brought back from the ruins are all written in the same language, and I’ve found some common ground. As long as I have enough time, I’m sure that I can translate them all.”

“Yes, as long as you have enough time… Since we’ve got rid of the church’s entanglement and time is enough, you don’t need to study it all through the night.” Ashes frowned. “It’s bad for your health.”

“Don’t worry, I’m an Extraordinary, so my body won’t collapse so easily.” Princess Tilly took a deep breath. “But I have some uncertain foreboding—I’m disturbed by the scenes of the ruins, so we’d better translate these books as soon as possible… By the way, when the witches go to Border Town, tell them to take an ancient book with them.”

“If you can’t understand it, then it’s less likely for the witches of the Witch Cooperation Association to understand.”

“Just take a chance,” said Tilly, “I heard that there was an ancient relic in the forest east of the king city, and the origin of the Witch Cooperation Association is in Seawindshire, almost next to the forest. Perhaps someone of them has seen this language. If we can prove the two languages are the same, then it means that the relics are from the same group of people.”

“Yes, I got it,” Ashes answered.

“In addition, I didn’t blame you, and what you said has some truth—but not the part about the significance of their abilities.” She reached out to stop Ashes from speaking. “I’ve reached an agreement with the Chamber of Commerce in Crescent Moon Bay and they’ll migrate some ordinary people to Sleeping Island in the next spring. If Lotus leaves for too long, it’ll certainly affect the subsequent construction of the island, so I’ll let them return to the Fjords before winter comes.”

Ashes sighed in relief. “That’ll be good.”

“However, in order to avoid misunderstanding, I’ll lead several combat type witches to Border Town instead to help the Witch Cooperation Association go through the Months of Demons.” Tilly exposed a sly smile. “Then, are you willing to go with me?

Ashes froze for a moment, and finally had no choice but to reply, “Of course, Your Highness.”

Chapter 255: The Welcome

he storm left as quickly as it came.

The delegation set out the second day after the storm and the sail that took them was the Charming Beauty.

Sylvie leaned against the fence of the hull pulling out a piece of beef from her bag, and shook the beef over her head.

“Ou, ou…”

The huge seagull landed with the twitter from the sky. Sylvie could not stop blinking due to the air current from the flapping of the wings. The beef in her hand was caught in the seagull’s beak. When she looked up, the seagull had returned to the front of the sail and guided the direction in the vast sea continually.

This was what Maggie told her to do, because she could not take out the jerky by herself when she turned into a seagull.

Even though there was nothing different between her and normal seagulls (except for size), Sylvie could still observe the change in her magic power and its real shape. If she looked carefully, she saw that the magic power that came from all directions turned into light spots before disappearing.

“I heard she could change into different birds and gain their abilities. Is that right?” someone said, “as far as I know, seagulls never lose their way in the sea and can always tell if a storm is coming.”

“Exactly, Mr. Captain.” Although Sylvie did not turn around, she knew who was speaking now.” That’s why we dare to choose a new route. Otherwise, we’ll be landing in the southwest of the Kingdom of Graycastle after going around Endless Cape.”

Her ability not only allowed her to see the change and flow of magic powers and give her a vast view without a blind spot, but also to see things around her without obstruction anytime and anywhere. She could even see the sailors sleeping below the plywood and the fish at the bottom of the boat.

“There’s a port there too?” Captain Jack spat out cigarette smoke. “I remember there were explorers who had been to the west of Endless Cape, but they found nothing except mountains and shallow beaches.”

“It’d be best if there’s nothing there,” Sylvie said indifferently, “that way, everyone can return home.”

“Doesn’t that mean we’re getting nothing out of this trip?” The captain shook his cigarette. “I was looking forward to seeing if there’s a new scenery on this new route.”

This trip was entrusted to them by Lady Tilly. Their mission was to visit the other witches’ haven, so they can improve their relationships and help each other. Other than the selected five witches on the ship, there were also Ashes and Molly. They would not be going ashore; they were on the ship to ensure that the route was foolproof. Molly’s Magic Servant could help the ship withstand the storm and Ashes could make sure the pirates who had their eyes on their ship to never return home again.

Ashes also had another mission. That was to determine Roland Wimbledon’s true identity for Lady Tilly.

Before they left, Tilly had explained to her the causes of the matter, the possible outcomes, and the ways to deal with them. Simply speaking, Tilly wanted her to try her best to reach an agreement with the leader of the Witch Cooperation Association and exchange for the real Roland. But to be honest, she thought that this was a difficult task. It was still acceptable if the association did not agree with the exchange. But what if they did not want information to be leaked and imprison everyone on the ship?

Through the cabin walls, she saw Lotus, Evelyn, and Magic Servant playing with happy expressions. She could not help sighing.

She hoped the witches in the Witch Cooperation Association were as friendly as Maggie had said.

…

After a week of navigation, Sylvie finally saw the gray coastline.

“We’re almost there!” Honey shouted as she lay on the side of the ship. A row of swallows, ospreys, and seagulls beside her were made noise in unison.

“We’re finally there…?” Candle lay on the side of the ship, wearing a haggard expression. “I think I’m close to my limit.”

“This is only a temporary phenomenon. Child, as long as you go ashore, you’ll soon recover.” Jack held the telescope and laughed. “I’ve been sailing for many years, but I’ve never seen anyone who dies on board because of the turbulence.”

“Where’s Maggie?” Honey asked.

“She’s going to Border Town in advance to contact the Witch Cooperation Association,” Ashes said, “and I believe someone will pick you up soon.”

“Aren’t you coming with us, Sister Ashes?”

“Tilly needs my help more.” Ashes laughed. “Don’t worry, the Witch Cooperation Association will treat you like sisters… If you have problems, ask for Wendy. She’ll definitely help you immediately. ”

[Wendy?] Sylvie quietly stored this name away in her mind.

“Oh, there’s one more thing.” Ashes patted her forehead. “Remember to stay away from Lord Roland Wimbledon. You mustn’t be left alone with him if you can help it.”

“Why? Isn’t he Lady Tilly’s brother?” Evelyn did not understand.

“He is,” Ashes said earnestly, “but that doesn’t stop him from liking to touch the witches’ butts!”

Everyone gasped.

The sail was finally docked at a shallow beach about 250 meters from the location. After all, there was no detailed map here. No one knew how deep the water by the shallow beach was. It was simple to go ashore. They did not even need to use a small boat. Molly made her Magic Servant to wrap up five witches, including herself, to float across the seaboard.

This shallow beach was clearly an extension of the mountain that turned into a soft beach after continuous erosion of the sea. The dash inland and the coast were completely separated by the high mountains not far away. The mountains were endless, getting taller as they went west. At the end of the vision, the great mountains almost turned into something like the Impassable Mountain Range.

After waiting for two hours, Sylvie noticed a strange shadow approaching.

The shadow was pretty large, comparable to the size of the Charming Beauty. The round outline of the shadow made it obvious it was not a natural creation. Logically, such a huge thing should be very heavy, but its movement was as smooth as it was floating in the air. She could not see the shadow clearly due to the mountains and the woods, but she was sure that it was climbing quickly and was almost over the mountain.

After a while, the thing left its shadow and revealed its true self.

“Oh my God. What’s that?” Lotus asked in surprise, turning to the sky.

“Sister Ashes, have you seen that thing before?” Evelyn asked, pulling her arm.

“No…” Ashes seemed surprised. “It’s my first time seeing this thing too.”

“Looks like this is the way the Witch Cooperation Association is welcoming us,” Sylvie said.

The unbelievably large-sized spherical object was floating in the air with a basket made of vines hanging underneath. Maggie was inside the basket, flanked by two other witches. What was striking was the long yellow canvas hanging from the bottom of the basket, where large words were written on it.

It read: “Welcome to Border Town.”

Chapter 256: The Prologue to a New Life

fter the hanging basket fell to the ground, a witch, who seemed to be about 30 years old and had red hair dropping down to her waist, stepped out of the basket and came forward. “Hello, welcome to Border Town. I’m Wendy.” Then she looked at Ashes with a joyful smile. “I’m glad you’re here, too.”

[Is she the witch that Ashes mentioned? It seems that they have known each other for a long time,] Sylvie thought, looking them over.

“Hello, I’m Anna.” Sylvie’s eyes lit up when she saw her blue eyes, which were as pure as lake water. Besides, she was even more surprised by her magic power—strong, powerful, and almost faultless. A square made of black, white, and gray turned slowly and even changed the track of magic from all directions.

[What an amazing power!] It was Sylvie’s first time to see such oppressive magic.

“Hi, I’m Lightning!” It was the little girl that had been flying beside the hanging basket. Then Maggie fell on her shoulder.

“Coo, coo!”

After Ashes briefly introduced the witches from Sleeping Island, Wendy invited them with a smile to step into the hanging basket.

“The huge airbag above our heads is called a hot air balloon. We can go anywhere we want in it as long as we provide constant hot air for it.” She had a slight pause and asked Ashes, “Aren’t you going to town? His Highness would be glad to see you.”

“He wouldn’t welcome a person who intended to take his witches away.” Ashes smiled. “Take care of the children, please.”

“Well…” Wendy pursed her lips regretfully. “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of them.”

“Hold on tight,” Anna shouted, “The Cloud Gazer is due to take off.”

Sylvie only felt a tremble from her feet when the hanging basket left the ground. She stuck her head out, seeing Ashes and Molly waving to them. As the hot air balloon was rising, the scenery got smaller and both of them just looked like a fingernail. Anyway, a new life was coming soon.

Wendy’s magic seemed to control the wind. The hot air balloon moved towards the Kingdom of Graycastle under her control.

It was Sylvie’s first time to overlook the ground from the sky. Although the earth and mountains could not impede her view, it was still a novel experiment to keep such a large field of view in sight. She tried to summon the Eye of Magic. However, what she had not expected was that many sights came flooding back—steep cliffs hidden in the depths of the sea, underground rivers connected with the sea, animal remains buried in the mud, changes of rock formation underground, etc. Those sights caused Sylvie to have a splitting headache and her magic power was weakened sharply, so she had to stop her Eye of Magic instantly and gasped against the hanging basket..

“Are you okay?” someone asked. She opened her eyes and saw Wendy.

“Um, just a little… dizzy.”

“You’ll feel better after taking a few deep breaths,” Wendy said with a smile, “Many people feel uncomfortable when they’re far away from the ground.”

“Thank you, I’m feeling better.” Sylvie nodded.

The atmosphere on the way was more harmonious than she had originally expected. As Ashes said, Wendy did not treat them differently just because they were newcomers. Although Anna did not talk much, she could answer them carefully. Lightning seemed to be close friends with Maggie. Her personality was so lively that she always flew into the hanging basket to chat with others, together with that fat pigeon.

With Maggie acting as the link between both sides, the rest of the four people began to relax and asked Lightning about the situation in Border Town. Afterwards, the little girl simply hovered at the hanging basket and told the story of how they defeated demonic beasts and invaders and some incredible inventions made by His Highness, in which everyone was absorbed.

After a while, the hot air balloon reached the sky above the castle.

For its size alone, the town was consistent with “Border”—small and remote, whose area was less than one-third of Sleeping Island. However, townspeople were so many that groups of people could be seen here and there, such as the central square, the periphery of the city wall, and the riverside. They went through the crowd just like a flowing river.

The hot air balloon landed in the courtyard of the castle. When they stepped out of the hanging basket, Sylvie jumped when she heard a sudden explosive sound, so did the others. Honey came back to the basket hurriedly and, just popping half her head out, asked, “What happened?”

Wendy laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s a gun salute to welcome you.”

They went through the corridor covered with green shade and came into the hall. Sylvie finally met Tilly’s brother—he was sitting in the seat of honor. His appearance had some similarities with Princess Tilly in that both of them had gray hair, an easy expression, and no pendants on his body. Though his look was not nearly as delightful as Lady Tilly’s, his expression was so contemplative that he could easily attract their eyes only sitting there.

“Welcome to Border Town. I’m the Lord of the Western Region, Roland Wimbledon. Presumably, you already know my name,” He got up and said with a smile, “Tilly Wimbledon is my sister, so you can feel at home, just think of the town as Sleeping Island.”

Sylvie could not help casting the Eye of Magic, and then she was stunned.

To her surprise, the darkness did not appear, even though he did not wear a God’s Stone of Retaliation and had no signs of magic—he was consistent with what she found with her Eye of Magic and he was not pretending or was controlled, which could only mean that the man before Sylvie was Roland.

Regarding this situation, Tilly only told her to pass on the message to Sleeping Island.

…

She was untidy in her brain and did not listen to what Roland said at all. To fulfill Lady Tilly’s entrustment, she had imagined what words and expressions to use when talking with him, and she was even ready for being imprisoned. To her surprise, all of them were totally ineffective. Then she would finish the only task that let Maggie take the message back to Sleeping Island by the end of the month.

[How could it be that a true noble is determined to protect witches and has become the leader of the Witch Cooperation Association?]

Such a huge change put Sylvie in a trance. It was not until His Highness arranged bedrooms for them that she came to herself.

“This is the situation. The Witch House is under construction, so I’m sorry that you can only stay in the castle. But it’ll help you to quickly integrate into the town life.” Roland said, “As a formal gift to welcome you, a wonderful banquet is waiting for you. Enjoy it, please.”

Sylvie was relieved when she found out the result that she would be living with Wendy. During the time she spent with Wendy, she found that Wendy was a really nice predecessor and easy to get along with. Besides her, it seemed that another witch called Nightingale was also living there.

[I hope she’ll be an easy-going person too,] Sylvie thought.

Chapter 257: The Mystery

oland had been excited since the five witches from Sleeping Island arrived in Border Town. He drank half a glass of white liquor to force his body into the sleeping state as he found himself lying on the bed wide awake after dinner.

He was already awake when the cicadas in the courtyard started to chirr on the next day. He energetically climbed out of the bed and simply washed up before walking into the office. The sky was just about to turn bright and the first ray of the dawn was evenly streaming into the room from the French window.

Roland looked around and did not see Nightingale who was usually lazily lying on the chair when he entered the room. He could not help smiling and took out a notebook from the drawer to start planning for the next witch training program after sitting down by the table.

Wendy and Scroll would be responsible to help the newcomers to familiarize the environment and integrate into the group while he would have to start the sugarcoated-bullet offensive in order to make sure the visiting witches enjoy the unique and comfortable life. It would be a good publicity for his domain even if they decided to leave as they might not necessarily stay in Border Town.

When the sun completely rose, Nightingale finally appeared in the office. “Oh? You woke up so early today. Are you really tempted by the new witches like Lily mentioned?”

“Nonsense.” Roland smiled and put a bag of “dried fish” on the table. “How did you get along with your new sisters last night?”

“Sisters?” she curled her lips and said, “I suggest you not to believe them too much.”

“What’s the matter?”

Nightingale stretched her arm out and lifted up the bag before she turned around to lie down on the couch and said, “Half of the words of the witch named Sylvie are lies. She must be hiding something from us even though there’s nothing malicious about it.”

“Oh… it’s understandable,” Roland did not care much about it and said, “She’s probably trying to figure out if I’m really Roland Wimbledon.”

“What?” Nightingale was stunned.

“If one of your family members changes drastically, won’t you wonder if he has been replaced or controlled ?” he smiled and said, “I suppose this is how Tilly sees me as I was notorious for being loaf, ignorant and bully and how can it be possible for me to stand up to protect the witches?”

In fact, any bad comments of Prince Roland were not excessive as he also found a past incident when he went through his memories that Prince Roland had broken a few crystal-glass bottles while playing in the palace and pushed all the responsibilities to Tilly Wimbledon. He even forged the scene by throwing the six or seven years old sister into the broken glasses in order to prevent being punished. It was not surprising that the others were not impressed with such a dark history. It was normal for Tilly to wonder if her elder brother who had changed so much now was still the same person. In fact, anyone else would be wondering the same.

“Hearing this, I also wonder,” Nightingale curiously asked, “Are you the real Roland Wimbledon?”

“I’m, yet I’m not,” Roland opened up his arms and said.

She was shocked and said, “How come my ability is telling me that this statement is true?”

“Because it’s fact.” Nightingale’s ability could only distinguish the deliberate lies and Roland did not think that he was lying.

“…” She frowned for a long time but finally decided to give up and said while holding her forehead, “Okay, I’ll directly ask Anna later. Anyway, it’ll be fine as long as you’re the Roland I know.”

“Of course, I’ve always been myself since I knew you.” Roland smiled.

After breakfast, Wendy brought the five witches from Sleeping Island into the office.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” five of them bowed and said.

“Relax, I’m not very particular about the etiquette. You may address me the same way you address Tilly,” Roland waved his hand and said, “I won’t arrange any task for you in the first week. You mainly need to familiarize yourselves with the environment and lifestyle of the town. You’re free to visit Border Town as no one will be rude to you or attempt to arrest you for money reward because you’re a witch. The church forces have been eradicated from the Western Region, so it’s a place of freedom here, just like Sleeping Island.”

“I think you all should know the reason of the magic power bites, so the necessary practice can’t be left behind. There’re no restrictions during the day, as long as you don’t forget to come back for lunch. After dinner, you can also go to attend the elementary education classes which included reading and writing, as well as simple mathematics and natural knowledge. Tilly may have mentioned to you that the witches’ abilities can be further strengthened other than the Day of Adulthood, so it’s necessary to master this knowledge. You may come to join the witches of the town in the class if you’re interested.

“Besides, you’ll be paid a gold royal every month and you’re also entitled to weekends and paid holidays. You can ask Wendy if you don’t understand. In short, your usual life will be the same as your life in the Witch Union. Border Town is the witches’ home, just like Sleeping Island.” Roland paused. “Let’s test your ability next as Tilly didn’t clearly describe it in the letter and I’ll like to see it myself. Let’s go to a spacious place as it’s not convenient to cast your magic power here.”

“Please wait a moment, Your Highness. I’ve something to pass to you,” Sylvie said.

“What’s it?”

She opened the parcel in her hands and placed a few yellow parchments and a letter on the table. “Tilly found these documents in the Fjords’ remains and she had written down her questions in this letter.”

Roland questioningly opened the letter and soon finished reading it as the letter was not long, but the content of the letter had made him felt unsettled.

A man-made stone island that was sleeping on in the bottom of the ocean with unpredictable ebb and flow, a telescope that was still working after hundreds of years and the stone gates that were built on top of the cliff… It’s incredible to find such bizarre remains in the Fjords, and Tilly’s question at the end of the letter made him feel numb on his back, as he found that the words were indeed looking familiar to him after he took a few glances at the parchment.

“Ask Scroll to come here quickly,” Roland ordered Nightingale.

Scroll quickly returned to the castle from the City Hall to summon the Book of Magic. Prince Roland frowned.

The characters used in the documents found from the Fjords’ remains was the same as the one used in the “Holy Book” that Cara brought from the remains in the forest of the Eastern Region! It proved that Tilly’s speculation in the letter was true as both the ancient relics came from the same group of people.

Why did the church abandon all these that they built? Furthermore, the records of 450 years ago were entirely erased other than abandoning these magnificent buildings. What exactly were they trying to hide?

Even the summer sun could not warm Roland up as he could only feel a faint chill that was rising from the soles of his feet, making him feel dark and cold.

Was the hidden stone tower Lightning found in Misty Forest related to this as well? What about the demonic beasts, demons and Holy City of Taquila… What actually happened 450 years ago? Roland could feel a strong anxiety from the bottom of his heart.