Release That Witch

Chapter 275: Lucia and Nightingale

ucia carefully put three iron ingots on the bedroom floor. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath while reviewing the feelings from her past practices in her mind before she stretched out her hands to release her ability to surround the ingots.

This was the practice method Anna came up with for her, even the iron ingots were specially made by Anna. The three ingots contained different compositions. The ingots were fused with silver, copper, lead and some other impurities. Her task was to identify the separate elements without breaking down the ingots and find the ingot with the highest content of silver.

It meant that she would need to control the magic power output and to perform it on each ingot once.

Otherwise, the impurities would be further dissociated and would cause the ingot to break apart. This was the reason that she found her ability difficult to control at her home in Valencia. She would restore paper products but due to her lack of understanding of her magic power and effect, the results were inconsistent and sometimes catastrophic with most raw materials of some paper being refined down to water and gas.

The first lesson that the witches taught her when she first came to Border Town was to practice controlling her magic power.

Lucia did not believe that the invisible and intangible magic power could also be precisely controlled until Anna demonstrated how to measure the length with the Blackfire and Lucia realized that she had been totally wrong. Anna could even adjust the output of the magic power to transform the size and thickness of the Blackfire, and it was always perfectly accurate every time.

“Sister, are you starting to practice again?” Ring curiously stuck her head out from the bed. “We’ve just had lunch.”

Lucia flicked her hand and the iron ingot was suddenly changed into several piles of powder.

“I’ve told you not to bother me when I cast my ability,” Lucia knocked on her sister’s head and said, “concentrate on your book!”

“I don’t understand,” Ring pouted and said, “I don’t understand the meaning of half of the words. Unlike you, I can’t read and write.”

“That’s why you have to read more. Many words have similar structures. Even if you haven’t seen it before, you should also be able to guess its meaning. Literacy itself is a process of familiarization.”

“Okay.” Ring retracted her head.

Lucia re-focused on the second iron ingot while controlling the magic power to slowly flow out. She imagined it as a layer of gauze, and she controlled it gently to cover the target and wrap it up evenly.

“Hey, I’m here.” The door suddenly opened and a blonde woman walked into the room. “Oh, are you practicing your ability?”

“Sister Nightingale!” Ring yelled with joy.

The second iron ingot was turned into dust again.

Lucia sighed and collected all the metal scraps on the floor into the sack as she felt that she might not be able to practice anymore this afternoon.

“This is for you.”

An ice-cream with a strong aroma of milk appeared in front of her.

“Thank you.” Lucia took the ice-cream. “But, isn’t it only offered for afternoon tea?”

Nightingale patted her chest proudly. “That’s what I asked for as a reward from His Highness. Oh yeah… You also have one.” She handed the other one to Ring, making the little girl laugh joyfully.

“Sister Nightingale is the best!”

[What a brat! She totally forgets about me whenever she gets delicious food,] Lucia thought. However, once Lucia took a bite of the ice-cream, she felt that she would probably have the same reaction as Ring if she were the sister. The ice-cream’s mellow honey and milk favor melted in the mouth. The cool and refreshing taste blended both of the flavors together and further enhanced the sweetness. The cooling sensation was still lingering in her mouth even after swallowing it.

No one could resist its yumminess, especially in the hot summer. No wonder His Highness only distributed ice-creams during the weekends’ afternoon tea time. Such a unique delicacy would probably cost a lot as she had never heard about it before.

Thinking about it, Lucia could not help asking, “How did you ask His Highness for this?”

“Hehe.” Nightingale lifted her lips. “I achieved third place in the test, only behind Wendy and Leaf. However, His Highness thought I wouldn’t pass, which was completely different from the actual situation, so I asked him for a reward.”

“I… see,” Lucia hesitated and said, “how about my scores?”

“Your score is 68, but I’m not sure which place you’re at.”

“Uh, so low.” Lucia was depressed. [I’m a literate, but I only correctly answered a little more than half out of a total of 120 marks.]

“It’s pretty good,” Nightingale said, patting her head, “after all, you only joined the class not long ago. You’re, of course, poorer in the maths and natural science. You can ask me if you have anything you don’t understand.”

“What about me? Can I ask?” Ring raised her hand.

“Of course,” Nightingale answered with a smile, “You’re always welcome.”

“When I pass the primary assessment, will I be able to choose my own work?”

“It’s still early for you. His Highness has said that the minimum age to work is 14 years old and you’re only 10, so don’t be worried.” Lucia stared at her.

The little girl reluctantly answered, “I want to share the pressure with you as early as I can because it’s going to take a lot of money for things like getting married and having kids. Life’ll be very hard if money isn’t enough!”

“Who did you hear that from?” Lucia said with her hand on her forehead.

“Dad. He was always nagging that he wouldn’t be able to support us anymore.”

“Pfft,” Nightingale could not help laughing and said, “if you can work, where will you choose to go?”

“The chemistry laboratory!” Ring raised her hand and said, “I want to be an alchemist, obtaining the title of philosopher, accepting everyone’s admiration and praise!”

“You’d… better not.” She shook her head. “The lab is pretty dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Both of the sisters asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Nightingale stretched out her arms and said, “Alchemists have to not only deal with the acid often, but also have to face explosions sometimes. Even the chief alchemist can’t avoid such accidents, he blew off four of his fingers last time. Without Nana, Mr. Kyle Sichi would probably never be able to pick up bottles and jars for the rest of his life.” She paused. “And recently, His Highness has wanted to develop a new gunpowder that even he thought was extremely dangerous himself, so it was necessary to make a separate laboratory for it.”

“Uh, what good advice do you have in this case?” Lucia put her arms around Ring and decided not to let her sister work in such a terrible place.

“Of course, joining the City Hall and becoming a government official.”

“Government… Official?” Lucia repeated.

“Ahem, that’s what His Highness was murmuring about. General speaking, it’s a City Hall official.” Nightingale coughed twice and continued to say, “It’s stable, safe and the payment is in the upper-middle class. It also has good prospects and the payment would be comparable with that of the witches when one becomes a department manager.”

“I see,” Lucia thoughtfully said.

“Sister Nightingale, do you like His Highness?” Ring asked, “there’re a lot of ‘His Highness says’ in your words, and mom had said that we’ll only keep mentioning a person because we like him very much.”

Ring’s question surprised Lucia, [Damn, how can she ask such a question directly? It’s so impolite. Even ordinary friends will not ask so directly… Nightingale is a respected senior.] She quickly covered Ring’s mouth and when she was about to apologize, Nightingale frankly answered.

“Well, I do like him.”

Chapter 276: The Research and Development of New Cannons

ucia went to see His Highness with the ores in her hands, dwelling on Nightingale’s words.

In truth, she was shocked by the calm attitude showed by Nightingale.

Although she did not quite understand exactly what love was, she knew that the witches and the prince could never be together. Thus, should not Nightingale carefully hide her feelings deep in her heart rather than letting the other side know the truth?

Moreover, why would herself, being just as a listener, feel embarrassed and blush?

Standing outside the door, Lucia took a deep breath and stepped in.

“Your Highness, I’ve brought the ores.”

“Let me see.” Roland yawned.

This ruler of Border Town looked normal. He seemed still sleepy with his bleary eyes as if he had not long awoken from his noon nap. He was leaning on his chair in a casual manner and was easygoing when he spoke, totally different from the other nobles.

Lucia suddenly felt relieved and relaxed. She took out the pieces of ore found in North Slope Mine from her leather bag and spread them on the desk.

After they had undergone decomposition from her ability, the particles seemed almost identical. Some were white and some gray. Probably only the erudite prince could identify exactly what these ores actually were.

The prince gazed at the ores for a long time frowning and weighed them one by one in his palm. Then he looked at them carefully under the sunshine before he finally waved his hands. “Ahem, I’ll give theses ores to Shichi to discern them. Continue to practice your abilities in the backyard of North Slope. You can ask Anna if there’s anything you don’t understand.”

[What, not even His Highness can distinguish them?] Lucia bowed her head. “Yes.”

When she was about to leave the office, Roland stopped her.

“By the way, you did a good job in the examination, you ranking ninth with a score of 68. It isn’t easy for you to have such a performance after only a month’s worth of study, so try to maintain it. And…” He paused. “I hope Ring can join you all in the next test.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Lucia said excitedly.

The little girl happily bowed to him and left. Then Roland stared at the metal particles on the desk and sighed.

He was still naive. He thought that he could have found out what mineral veins were hidden in North Slope Mine through decomposing the ore. However, the reality made him realize the huge gap between mechanical engineering and geology. These stones would eventually differentiate into three or four kinds of metal. Although the ore was predominately a single kind, they all looked almost identical in color and shape. For example, iron, aluminum, magnesium, and potassium were silver-white metals at their purest state. It was too difficult to distinguish with a naked eye.

[I had better ask the chief alchemist for some help rather than waste time here. After all, chemical reactions can verify the material properties properly, and it’s better than just guessing,] thought Roland.

After finishing this, Roland got a piece of paper to plan how to deal with the Months of Demons from this year on.

Summer was coming to an end leaving only the three months of fall for him to prepare. Not only should he get ready to defend against the demonic beasts in the west, but he should also be aware of what Timothy and the church were doing in the east as well. Compared to last year, the population and income under his rule had risen sharply. Ironmaking output had been gradually increasing, and he even had a dozen more witches than last year. He was completely confident in his ability to make the Western Region an insurmountable one.

Based on the combat experience of last year, the biggest threat to the city wall was undoubtedly the demonic hybrids which had strong armor that was hard to be penetrated with bullets. He had to either use an explosive package when demonic hybrids came near or send witches to fight outside. However, both of these strategies were incredibly risky.

In addition to the demon beast, most of the enemies he encountered were cavalry and infantry and had never seen the siege weapons of this era yet. If they built torque trebuchets, or an even more advanced trebuchet, they would be a problem. After all, it was very inconvenient for the current artillery to shoot downwards. Each barrel needed raising in order to fill with shells and the shells could easily fall out of the barrels.

It was imperative to invent a kind of more powerful cannon.

Roland pondered and listed the indicators he needed on paper.

Firstly, it should have sufficient range and power to penetrate the carapace of demonic hybrid beasts at one kilometer. It also needed to be reloaded from the back and should be freely adjustable, in terms of the angle so that it could rapidly fire. Finally, a multi-purpose design should be considered for the cannons to save time for repetitive development. It could suppress the enemy as a fixed fort and be pulled directly onto the ships as the main weapon for the shallow water gunboats in the future.

So it should be a kind of heavy artillery with a large caliber and a long barrel.

Roland first thought of those 15 to16 inch cannon on a battleship with a range of up to tens of kilometers, whose shells could make a deep pit of a few meters when exploding. But he quickly rejected this unrealistic idea. Although there was no problem in processing, using the materials in Border Town, most of the cannons would break when firing… The inventions would be abandoned because of their poor flexibility and they would quickly lose their value.

He could at most produce wrought iron with a higher purity and ordinary steel, so the plan had better be more conservative.

Roland finally decided to use the caliber of ‘152 millimeters’, a sacred number.

The cannon was with a vertical wedge-type breechblock. When sliding down the breechblock, one could fill the shell into the cannon bore, and then pulling up to lock it and igniting, the gunpowder gas could eject the shells. Compared to the screw-type, the wedge-type breeches had the fastest firing speed and the simplest principle. Not to mention that its mechanical structure had been well documented in Roland’s mind.

However, to achieve rapid firing, the cannon would need to harness recoil that would act like a double pump. One was filled with oil and the other, a spring or gas. The barrel would be pushed backward from recoil, which would release the oil and the compressed spring. The oil was used to smooth the recoil, while the spring was what pushed the barrel back after firing.

Finally, the shells…

Since they would be upgrading the cannons, Roland naturally also needed to upgrade the shells. Solid iron and paper wrapped grapeshot would no longer fulfill ——ccothe needs of the upgraded weaponry. Roland thus decided to develop two kinds of shells at the same time. One was an enlarged bullet, the head of which was made of solid metal, while the other was a kind of explosive warhead with a fuze which would later be known as the howitzer in modern time. However, there was a certain technical difficulty for the latter and it would need testing, especially in terms of the reliability of the fuze. There was also no guarantee that this weapon could be assembled before the Months of Demons. So it was very necessary to produce the former to solve current problems. Even firing solid warheads from fixed siege equipment could easily deal with the slow-moving demonic beasts.

Of course, no matter what kind of shell it was, they all needed a large amount of smokeless gunpowder. Before he could mass produce the two acids, this new type of cannon could only be used as a special weapon, so arming his forces with such a weapon would be impossible.

Suddenly, a guard walked in.

“Your Highness, a secret letter from the king’s city.”

Roland put down the quill and opened the envelope. There was no sign in the whole letter and the handwriting was strange. But one sentence showed that the letter was undoubtedly sent from Theo.

“A platoon of about 1,000 left the king’s city today in the direction of the Western Region.”

Chapter 277: The Conflict in the Theater

ere at the theater performance hall, Longsong Stronghold.

The curtain slowly fell with the audience’s endless whistles and cheers. May wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at Irene, who gazed at her in excitement and expectation. She responded Irene with two slight nods.

The response made Irene cheer out loud. After the curtain fell to the ground, she could not help rushing over and hugging May forcefully.

“Hahaha, did I really play very well?”

May thought her troublesome and gave her a supercilious look. She pulled Irene away and said, “You have made some progress and can perform on the stage independently.”

“Miss May, what about me?” Another witch actress Rosia asked her cautiously.

“You still have a long way to go,” she said without hesitation, “your expression was stiff, your movement was tardy, and you spoke the lines without any feelings. Furthermore, you made two mistakes in the second act and made another one during the fourth, which was a typical mistake of not memorizing the script.”

“Ha-ha, Miss May is really strict,” Gait touched the back of his head and said, “however, the audience’s response seems very good. You can hear that the applause has not yet subsided.”

“Most of these people are civilians who have never been to the theater, and play is a fresh thing for them,” May said frankly, “If it was a regular show, the several mistakes were enough to make the nobility hiss its displeasure.” She paused, “If you want to go down the path of the actor, you can’t be satisfied with the temporary success. Only by constantly improving yourselves can you gain a firm foothold on the stage.”

“Yes, thank you for your guidance!” The surrounding people bowed and said simultaneously.

May sighed. She thought, [here they come again. I am definitely not their drama tutor.] However, she was too lazy to care about such little thing. She said, “OK, let’s continue to work hard. Since the show of ‘The Witch Diaries’ will last until September, we have several more chances to make the performance. This opportunity is so rare that we shall not miss it.”

“Yes!”

May was informed by the Ministry of Education a month ago, that all members of the crew were arranged to go to Longsong Stronghold and perform there. The so-called all members were the inferior players following her to the border and Irene Eltek.

Perhaps it was because that His Highness had reached an agreement with the agent Petrov, the theater specifically adjusted its schedule for the crew to perform “The Witch Diaries” trilogy. Hence, the inferior players, who had poor acting and even could not be regarded as new artists, openly appeared on the stage of Stronghold Theater. If as usual, they were even not possible to be selected for the supporting roles. However, they could take the stage as important roles and perform together with the Star of the Western Region, which made people lament the capriciousness of the fate.

After returning to the backstage, May frowned.

She saw a crowd of people making a great noise seemingly disputing on something in the lounge. When seeing May and her members, more than a dozen people gathered around under the leadership of a woman.

These people were all the players in the theater. May also knew the leader, Bella Dean, who was a famous actress and belonged to a different crew. Some nobles once thought that she was the strongest competitor for the Star of the Western Region. Actually, no matter on acting or reputation, May always firmly pressured her.

“Guess what I’ve seen?” Bella bypassed May, walked toward Irene step by step and said, “I’ve seen a group of ham actors sneaking back from the countryside.”

“What did you say?” Irene asked confusedly, while Gait, Rosia and others looked stiff and could not help moving back two steps.

“Puff,” Bella said while covering her mouth, “look, she even doesn’t know her identity.” These words caused the crowd to burst into a laughter. Bella continued, “I just say it directly. The big city like Longsong Stronghold is not the place you should come, and your poor, vulgar and third-rate performance is not welcome in Stronghold Theater. What’s ‘The Witch Dairies’? It’s just several stray dogs struggling and wailing. Who would be interested in this kind of cloying play? You’d better go back to Border Town early.”

“You—” Irene suddenly colored as she said, “what did you mean by ‘third-rate performance’? Don’t you hear the applause of the audience?”

“Ha, the audience?” Bella dismissively quipped, “did you call those people who worked with mud, hoe and furnace audience? Don’t make me laugh my teeth off! Even if you catch several monkeys and let them run on the stage, they will still cheer loudly! If it was not for the free tickets, how could they have the spare cash to watch your performance?”

“I…” Irene opened her mouth a little but did not know how to contradict her.

“In order to arrange your performance every Wednesday, the theater has suffered a continuous decline in income, and even we have been affected—as long as you perform here, the nobility won’t come to watch our play!” Bella raised her voice and continued, “Who would be willing to sit on the chairs stained with mud and oil? If I were them, I also don’t want to come into the messy theater after the party of a crowd of country bumpkins.”

May thought, [She is obviously to make trouble here. Many actors indeed have lost their performing chances due to the sudden appearance of the crew from the Border Town. However, Bella Dean hasn’t been affected too much. Since I left Longsong Stronghold, the theater has intended to brand her as the new Star of the Western Region. Therefore, the play starred by her can’t be canceled.]

[Then Bella’s purpose is clear. She seemed to yell at Irene and others, however, she actually aimed at me—if these people back down, I could not play ‘The Witch Diaries’ alone but go back to Border Town in disgrace. By doing that, she will be regarded to defeat me in the confrontation and restore the performing chances for other players incidentally, which will cause a corresponding rise in her prestige, and will build up her status of the new Star of the Western Region.]

But May never made herself a stepping stone for someone else.

“The theater’s income has been declining. Are you serious?” May turned back and said casually, “How could you come to such a naive conclusion that the theater couldn’t make ends meet due to offering the free tickets for our play? The theater operator has definitely come to an agreement with His Highness and Mr. Petrov. The missing amount would be complemented by the City Hall of Border Town. It’s a commission contract, but not a game of playing house. You’d better use your brain instead of shouting here only based on your guesswork.”

“What… were you talking about?”

“In addition, only your group of inferior players with low-performance level has suffered income reduction,” May said with a smile, “I once played in the Grand Theater in king’s city, which was an open-air theater. Unluckily, it was drizzling the day when we performed. However, the tickets were sold out and the theater was filled up with the nobility. So if you said that they didn’t want to come to watch your play because of the civilians, you were wrong. Actually, they just didn’t want to make a special trip for the show of a group of monkeys.”

“…” The scene fell into a strange silence. No one stood up to accuse May, or even made a defense.

“Finally, did you say that ‘The Witch Diaries’ was vulgar and the stray dogs’ struggling and wailing?” May raised her mouth, but her voice was extremely cold, “I might have forgotten to tell you that the script of the story was written by His Highness. Did you mean that the idea of His Highness was poor and vulgar? Insulting the royal nobles will be punished by cutting off the tongue. Do you still stick to your point?” She looked at the crowd behind Bella and said, “or anyone among you wants to have a try?”

Under her gaze, these dozen players receded one by one.

“Enough!” Bella clenched her chew and said, “Since you have gone to Border Town, you shouldn’t have come back! May, do you think I don’t know the reason why you went to that broken place? You went there not for the idiot Irene but for Morning—”

WHACK!

Her voice ended abruptly, and a bright red hand print appeared on her left cheek. Bella touched her face and said in disbelief, “You, how could you dare to slap, slap…”

May realized that she was still impulsive and took a deep breath. This thing might bring her some trouble.

As expected, two actors behind Bella stepped out and said, “Miss May, you’ve gone too far in doing this.”

“Don’t you know the importance of appearance to a player? I think you have to apologize to her at least.”

Apologize? Isn’t it to prove that she was wrong? May sneered in the heart. Even she was impulsive, she did not think that she needed to make an apology at all.

She looked at the two greasy-headed men, and could not help thinking of what Carter Lannis had said.

“Don’t only look at men’s strength, as they also have many weaknesses. The attack on their eyes and throat, also… on the place between their legs, will make them lose resistance instantly. As long as you have agility and reflexes, it is not impossible to knock down a man much stronger than you.”

Although she was not clear about how she had talked to him about this aspect, she had prepared to throw a leg kick, only waiting for the two to get closer…

At this moment, as the lounge door was violently pushed open, a knight wearing a cavalry came in, followed by several warriors armed with long guns. When entering the room, they had the gun pointed at the crowd.

“I heard that someone here slandered His Highness, and attempted to contemplate an unethical act on His Highness’s crew?”

May was shocked. She blinked her eyes and thought what she saw was an illusion. However, nothing changed. She even found the man smiling at her secretly—the knight before her eyes was exactly Carter Lannis.

Chapter 278: The Operation Plan

he conflict ended quickly.

Upon seeing the menacing knight, no one dared to say another word. It was as if the actors had turned into walls and they stood there frozen, witnessing the conflict as it took place. No one wanted to go up against the mighty May, so the fight became one-sided as Bella was dragged from the restroom by two guards.

A few moments later, only Carter and the performers from Border Town were left in the big house.

“Thanks for your help,” said Gait and the other people, and they all bowed deeply.

“You were awesome! She couldn’t even speak.” Irene exclaimed and held May’s hands. “That slap to her cheek could easily beat her senseless,” she added.

Then, she turned to the chief knight and gave him a salute and asked, “Your Excellency Carter, why did you show up in Longsong Stronghold?”

“I was wondering that too,” said May. She shrugged, breathing a sigh of relief.

“For the sake of His Highness’ decree,” Carter threw up his hand and said, “May I buy you a drink?”

…

“You… live in here?” The chief knight asked, looking around while appearing reserved.

“Yes, it’s pretty common.” May pulled out a bottle of white wine from a cabinet and poured a small amount into a cup. “The pub is only open at night. Now, this cup counts.” She pointed out handing him the cup. Irene and her partners had fled using the excuse of having something important to go do, which left her and Carter alone in her domicile.

“Yes, indeed… common.” Carter coughed and then asked, “What about… your family?”

“My mother passed away a long time ago. My father landed a job in the theater, doing a few easy chores, but it would keep him out very late.” May said in a calm voice.

She bought this small bungalow, situated in a deep alley off of Inner City, with all of her savings after she had become the Star of the Western Region. Although it was old and small, she would be free from harassment and the vicious snooping moving from the outer city brought.

“Oh… sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter. Did His Highness send you here to rectify the theater order and cope with the growing disputes between performers?” May asked while pouring herself a cup of the white liquor.

“No, of course not.” Carter waved his hands in denial. “Timothy sent some of his people to cause trouble in the Western Region again, so His Highness Roland went with the main troops. I arrived early in the Littletown to arrange the night duty reinforcement from the Second Army and to remind the Honeysuckle Family to remain vigilant in case of an enemy’s sneak attack at the gate.”

“You shouldn’t have told me about this.” May was shocked and shook her head.

“You asked and it wasn’t confidential. Take it easy! I know what I’m doing,” Carter said before drinking the wine.

“Okay.” She curled her lips before asking. “How did you come to the theater?”

“After I arranged everything, I saw the advertisement for your drama. So, I came to see you on a real stage and just like I had imagined, it was a wonderful performance. Although, I only got to watch the ending.” The knight gushed in admiration. “I went backstage to invite you out for a drink. I didn’t know if it was proper so I hesitated until I heard the dispute inside…”

May frowned before saying. “You were already out there?”

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” Carter lifted his hands in protest. “It was just a coincidence, I promise.”

“Pfft.” She could not help snickering. “I wasn’t accusing you. Don’t get a hurt look,” she said.

“Oh? Yes?” The knight breathed a sigh of relief and went to pour himself some more wine and she quickly smacked his hand away.

“Don’t you have duties to complete tonight?” May wagged her finger at him and said, “you’re only to drink a small cup, nothing more, but… you could invite me to have a big drink with you after you’ve finished with your tasks.” She offered with a smile.

After Carter left, May added more wine to her own cup, before leaning against the chair and taking a sip.

She found that she now loved the ardent and mellow taste of the white liquor when compared to the last time she had tasted it.

As to Carter’s invitation earlier, she faintly knew the answer in her heart. As expected, the only way to know was to try. Much like the drink in her hand, although the first taste was difficult to swallow, the later mellowness she experienced was comparable to a sweet fruit wine or a plain cerevisiae.

[How about returning to settle in Border Town with father after finishing the drama’s performance?] she thought.

…

Roland arrived at Longsong Stronghold two days later.

Petrov Hull and members of the Five Families greeted His Highness and troops outside of the city.

After the First Army was stationed at the stronghold, Roland went straight into the castle and briefly convened.

“According to our credible source, Timothy sent out a troop to march on the stronghold. The number of people and the attack route isn’t clear though. There’s little doubt that I’m the target. Considering his style, he’s going to try and expand his troops by looting civilians, and then he’ll then force them to take pills and make them launch an attack.”

“Your Highness, by a pill you mean…?” Viscount Elliot of the Wolf Family asked confused.

“This is an evil red pill which endows the person who takes it with incredible power that rivals that of the knights. However, anyone who takes the pill will die in desperation as soon as the effects of the pill wear off.” The only one who knew anything about this pill was Petrov, so Roland took the time to explain the details to the others. He then added, “Timothy’s plan is to weaken the defensive forces of the Western Region by targeting the civilians that were of no use to him, and this is the plan for your domain. I implore you to move your families and civilians into the inner city, to prevent them from being used by Timothy.”

“But, what about the grains and goods in our warehouse?”

“Only transport within your capacity.” Roland interrupted firmly. “I leave you only three days. The civilians of the villages around must gather together in the stronghold. I’ll set you free as soon as Timothy’s troops have been defeated.”

After the meeting, the prince led Iron Axe into the castle.

In fact, he had not fully disclosed all of the information he had to the nobles. He had found out the location of the troop through Lightning and Maggie’s reconnaissance. Unlike the last invaders, they were taking the slope to travel west along the mainstream of Redwater River so they could enter the backlands of the Western Region, gaining access through Willow Town.

It was a pretty tricky route and if the enemy crossed over fork point, they could turn back to attack the southern and eastern gates of Longsong Stronghold along the tributary. Or, they could choose to march towards the west of Border Town.

In order to avoid them dividing their forces, he decided to take the initiative and gather his superior forces to defeat this enemy.

Apparently, the fork in the Redwater River was the most appropriate place to conduct an ambush.

Chapter 279: The Battle Line

ron Axe gave a standard military salute when he walked into the hall.

“Timothy’s troops are expected to arrive at the fork of Redwater River in four days, so the First Army will set off this afternoon,” said Roland bluntly, “the troops stationed in Border Town will rendezvous with you in the inception place, and I’ll catch up to you as soon as possible.”

“Doesn’t Border Town need to be fortified?”

“Lightning and Maggie have kept a close watch on the enemy’s movements, so we don’t have to divide the forces for defense. What we should do is to defeat them head-on,” the prince paused and said, “100 people should be left in Longsong Stronghold to guard those nobles.”

“Leave them… here?” Iron Axe was a little surprised.

Roland briefly introduced the decree conferred to the five families. “Gathering them together makes it convenient for us to guard them. It’s uncertain what designs they would have if they knew the information that Timothy attacked the Western Region. The outmoded weapons and lack of combat experience make the Second Army come under scrutiny in case of emergencies and the troops couldn’t react in time. However, it would be impossible for those nobles to make trouble if 10- platoon soldiers of the First Army provided assistance. I don’t expect something uncontrolled to happen at the battle in the fork of Redwater River.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Iron Axe answered.

“You’ll also go to the front?” asked Nightingale, who showed up from behind the seat of honor after Iron Axe took his leave.

“Of course. If I don’t go, who’ll make the utmost use of Lotus’ capability other than me? Perhaps I’m not skilled in commanding troops, but my expertise is to set bunkers and drive tankers,” said Roland.

“I understand bunkers, but what’s a tanker?” Nightingale asked with a look of confusion.

“Oh… It’s a kind of wagon carrying cannon,” the prince said with some coughs. “But we don’t have enough horses, so the Littletown will be used to transport cannon. To some extent, it can’t be called a tanker,” he added.

“So you chose Honey?” she blinked her eyes and said, “as far as I’m concerned, she can tame tigers and leopards to be as docile as a horse. Can the cannon carried by beasts be called a tanker?”

“Of course, it can even be divided into tiger or leopard tankers.” Roland could not help tilting his lips and smiling.

At that moment, Carter came in with an Elanus in his arms. “Your Highness, here’s the information from Border Town,” he said.

Roland clapped his hands, the Elanus appeared to understand what this action meant, ridding itself of the knight’s arms and flying up. It stably landed on Roland’s shoulder after gliding a distance. Roland took out a slice of dried meat from his pocket to feed the bird. The bird also lifted one of its claws to let Roland take the strip of cloth with the information.

The Elanus wasn’t magically changed by Maggie, but was one of the messengers trained by Honey, which could remember the appearance of five to six people and fly hundreds of routes. It could establish the connection with home if it were taken to a strange place.

Roland unfolded the letter wrapped by the strip of cloth and glanced through it quickly.

The letter was from Wendy, who had taken Lotus, Sylvie, Leaf, Hummingbird, and Nana, heading to the fork of Redwater River as he had required. They set off with some of the soldiers of the Artillery Squad and eight cannons were loaded on the boat. It was the largest capacity that the Littletown deck could accommodate after this lightweight load.

The prince calculated the speed of Wendy and her followers in his heart. It would take one day to arrive at the destination by concrete boat. Although Sylvie could work as the navigator, and the boat could also sail at night, the magic power of Wendy was not as abundant as Anna, and she could not constantly cast her power. However, if they rested at night and chose to sail during the day, they could only complete two round trips within four days and, at most, 16 field artilleries could be transported to the fork of the river.

Although the number of weapons was less than that of the last war, it was just sufficient enough in consideration of some unexpected strike and the enemy’s failure to mount a counterattack on the boat. Roland wrote a new order using the pen and paper passed by Nightingale, saying to gather troops and set off right away with weapons and ammunition to converge with the main force in the command of Iron Axe in the fork of the river.

An hour later, the Elanus delivered the letter to Scroll, who would then transfer it to Captain Brian.

…

It was noon of the next day when Roland headed to the preset position.

The glittering river served as the boundary line between Longsong Stronghold and Redwater City.

Due to the width of Redwater River, it was commonly considered as the main channel, while the part that flowed to Longsong Stronghold was called Small Redwater.

After disembarking from the vessel, the witches, who had waited for a long time, came to meet the prince.

“Where’s Wendy?” Roland looked around and asked.

“She has gone back by the Littletown,” said Leaf, “and she said there was the last batch of cannons to deliver.”

“I’ve heard that you plan to deal with Timothy Wimbledon, the fake king who catches the witches in the city daily. What could we do for you?” Lotus asked eagerly.

Although Iron Axe and the main force of the First Army had not arrived, it was practical to make preparations as long as witches joined in.

“I need to build defense lines on both sides of the main channel,” he said and crouched to draw up a sketch map with a stone, “this line represents the path that the enemies are marching on, and our troops are hiding on both shores of the river to mount a surprise attack on them. Therefore, you need to lift up two earth houses forming a V-shaped angle. The house’ll be in a rectangular shape, with its walls thick and solid enough. There’ll be eight compartments inside, with a small window to the left on the wall that faces Redwater River.”

“Your Highness, I’m not clear… ” Lotus said with confusion, “you hide the soldiers in the earth house to conceal their whereabouts, but they can’t attack the vessels on the river. What should we do if Timothy’s troops would neither stop nor hug the shores?”

“No, they won’t pass by. You’ll know at that moment,” Roland smiled and said.

He then looked at Leaf and said, “You’re responsible for camouflaging these fortifications. Both weeds and vines will work. Just make them look natural.”

“Yes!” Leaf answered.

When cannons were pushed into the disguised fortification, the two earth houses that seemed to be useless in Lotus’s eyes instantly changed into “the ship of the Line” that would be unsinkable. Each compartment would spew out the fatal fire only after opening the baffle on the window. The 16 field artilleries would not lose their target because of jolting. In fact, they could hit a sailing ship in the central channel even with their eyes closed. Even if the sailing boats would not sink, their decks would become inevitably useless.

And from the beginning of the war, the enemy was in a disadvantaged state. Roland thought proudly, [My troops certainly hold all the trumps.]

Chapter 280: The Ambush on Redwater River (Part I)

hen the enemy’s ships arrived in the fork of Redwater River, they were half a day late as expected. Until an afternoon, four days’ later, 10 sailing ships slowly appeared at the end of the horizon.

On hearing this news, Van’er walked through six compartments to order his subordinate mortar team to get ready, and then went back to his location.

“Where are they?” Rodney looked out through a crack that he made by lifting the window baffle.

“They’re at least several hundred meters away from us,” Cat’s Claw, who was responsible for watching signal flags, lay prone to the skylight and shouted. “There’re too many wild grasses on the roof, so much so that I can’t see them from here.”

Each compartment was equipped with both a shooting window and a hole on the top beside the wall. Stepping on two stairs made of soil, it was quite easy to see the situation of Redwater River.

“When it comes to wild grass, the witch with green hair has an incredible ability.” Jop wiped his semi-rusted shell, saying, “Wherever she went, the hair-like grass would grow so crazily that it would cover the dungeons tightly, which looked the same as an ordinary mound of earth.”

“What? The witch with green hair?” Van’er scolded. “Her name is Leaf. When we fought against the knightage led by the duke, she helped us grow vines on both sides of the woods, blocking the knights from passing. Otherwise, we would have suffered even more once the knights crossed the woods to attack us from behind.”

“Speaking of a miracle, all the witches are incredible.” Rodney shrugged. “Such as building bunkers in one night, growing vines and wild grass to cover the ground, flying freely in the sky, even turning into a giant pigeon—none of these things can be done by common people.”

“In my view, Miss Nana is the most incredible one,” Cat’s Claw said with yearning and anticipation, “I don’t know whether I’ll be wounded. If it happens, I could meet her at a closer distance and maybe I can hear her comfort.”

“Please fix your eyes on the enemies, OK?” Van’er frowned and shouted, “If you say that nonsense again, I’ll dispatch you to sweep toilets!”

Cat’s Claw spat out his tongue and craned his body out again.

As the leader of the artillery squad, Van’er sighed internally, knowing that those guys were not anxious and would not feel trembling in their hands as they had several months ago when they were first on the battlefield. He could not say whether the change was good or bad but he thought that they were too dismissive of their enemies. However, he could not reproach them, because he was no better than they were—since he became a soldier of His Highness, Van’er had developed a completely different understanding of battle; bloody and cruel fighting seemed to have nothing to do with strength, skills, or courage. All they needed to do to achieve victories was repeating those procedures in which they had been trained by preparing, fighting, and shooting by the book.

That was especially true when fighting against the militia of the new king in Border Town. Obviously, the enemies had incredible strength and the humanoid beasts did not fear death, but the battle had been over within half an hour. In addition, when cleaning up the battlefield, he had found himself not tired at all, as if he just finished a warm-up before training, and the enemies had already been defeated.

If this continued, would the day come when they only operated these metal machines to destroy their enemies 1,000 miles away without seeing their faces?

As Van’er was distracted, Cat’s Claw’s warning brought him back to reality.

“I see the enemies!”

Van’er shook his head to leave that nonsense behind and calmly made an order. “Load the ammunition!”

They became busy right away and they were so familiar with each step that they could even place the bag and shell into the bore with their eyes closed. Without thinking of resetting and adjusting firing angles, the mortar team could shoot once every 20 breaths.

Van’er had borne in mind the battle plan set by Prince Roland and Lord Iron Axe—similar to Border Town’s defensive battle, and they could not push the disguised window baffle to shoot until the observer saw a red flag held by Miss Lightning. The No.1 and No.2 teams closest to the banks of the river would shoot the deck with grapeshots while the rest would bombard the cabin with solid shells.

He waited quietly for the red flag to come.

…

Without the help of telescopes, Lotus could also see that the ships of the new king got closer and closer to the ambush location.

Compared with the ships sailing in the sea, these ships were much slimmer without high side ports and railings. Their low hulls made it look like the ships were stuck to the river. In addition to the sails, there was a row of sailors sitting on each side of the deck, slowly pushing their paddles.

So far, His Highness had not issued an order.

Lotus became somewhat anxious because the observing tower was built on the top of a high hill and was far away from the river, though it could overlook the whole battlefield. At that time, Lightning and Maggie did not stay with His Highness. Because it still took some time for the messengers to pass orders to all the teams, the ships would cross the fork of Redwater River if His Highness did not give an order right now.

Seeing the first sailing ship nearing the ambush location, Lotus could not wait to ask while a rumbling sound rolled over the river. As if it was a signal to attack and accompanied by consecutive thunderous sounds, more than a dozen thick smoke plumes mixed with flames were ejected out.

What happened?

Fixing her eyes back to the river, Lotus could not believe what had happened—she did not see any fighting knights and mercenaries, but the deck of the first ship was bombed abruptly. Those paddling sailors were half-killed and wounded instantly with debris and broken limbs flying in the sky. As clouds of blood rose up, the deck was painted scarlet red.

The ship’s advance slowed down because of the absence of half the sailors, while the thunderous noise didn’t stop. After a while, a towering mast in the center of the ship’s hull was cut in half by a cloud of dark shadow and fell down after swaying twice. And two knights, crawling out the cabin just then, were knocked onto the deck by it.

Propelled by the water currents, the sailing ship slowly retreated backward with the rest of ships giving way to it. On hearing that noise, many sailors walked out of the cabins to see what had happened. Puzzled and confused, they looked at the first ship, which had turned into hell.

Then, the second ship was attacked.

Lotus could see that the crowded decks caused the clouds of blood to come more turbulently. After a thunderous noise, there appeared several bloody empty areas between the enemies who were standing shoulder to shoulder. Those unfortunate people in those empty spaces were broken into a couple of pieces forcefully, while some who were still alive shouted painfully with their guts flowing outward. The survivors all jumped into the water to save their own lives and would not dare to stay on the deck any longer.

Lotus finally understood what His Highness meant when he said, “They can’t make it”, but how did his subordinates achieve that?

Chapter 281: The Ambushes on Redwater River (Part?)

ompared with Lotus who was watching from afar, Sylvie could see everything more clearly.

Through the walls of the mud hut, Sylvie could see that soldiers were busy repeating their single actions in good order. When a group of seven or eight worked together, they formed a whole body. Bags and iron balls piled up behind compartments were successively sent into a thick iron pipe and then they were ejected out like thunder.

Looking at it carefully, Sylvie noticed that the soldiers first lit a rope attached to the end of the iron pipe and then sparks jumped into the pipe to light the bags. The ensuing brightness was so luminous that Sylvie squinted. The firelights then instantly expanded themselves to an orange fireball which filled each pore of the pipes. The firelights expanded so much that they, together with the iron balls, were tossed out as if by a giant hand.

In a blink of an eye, the iron ball turned into a dark shadow and flew directly towards the sailing ship in the river. Its power was so strong that it made a fist-like hole on the ship’s wooden side. Even though the iron ball slowed down as it went through, its power was not weak. An enemy who had been about to crawl out the cabin, was hit on his waist and instantly broke into two halves.

It was the first time that Sylvie had seen such a scene. Without the use of sharp knives or swords, a person could be slashed in two only by some small round balls.

Because she could see the cruel scene so clearly, Sylvie even felt that she was sprinkled with blood and guts from the wounded. Many people were and had either their limbs broken or heads smashed. The cabin was covered with flowing blood and organs.

Sylvie suddenly felt sick and wanted to vomit.

The scene in the cabin disappeared abruptly as Sylvie was forced to disconnect the Eye of Truth as her thoughts were so distracted that she could not support her ability any longer… She then vomited.

“What’s up?” Lotus was shocked and came forward to support her. “Are you OK?”

His Highness also noticed her discomfort and handed her a handkerchief. “If it’s too bloody, you’d better stop looking or at least not use your ability to watch closely. Take a rest first.”

“Thank you, Your Highness…” Sylvie took the handkerchief to wipe her mouth and said, “I’m Okay.”

This was perhaps the “incredible invention” Maggie and Lightning had mentioned, but at that time no one had really paid any attention to it or had taken it seriously. After all, without personally witnessing it, it was very hard to imagine such a powerful weapon.

Looking at the battlefield again, she saw ships led by Timothy marching close to the two banks. The enemies obviously were aware that this round of intensive attacks came from behind the disguised mud hut on the bank. However, they did not know that His Highness had set up more than one fortification.

Far away from the V-shaped defense line were hidden bunkers that were covered with wild grass and vines. The distance between them was equivalent to the tandem length of the whole ship. Unless the enemies did not hesitate to turn around to withdraw, wherever they landed, they would be attacked from the front and back.

Soldiers in the bunkers held long gavelocks to toss sharp tailless bolts instead of round iron balls. Even though bolts were not as powerful as iron balls, armorless human bodies were their targets.

Sylvie guessed that the enemies wanted to counterattack after they landed, but the soldiers in the bunkers would not give them this opportunity. Just as the previous attacking plan, without even showing their heads, they only needed to point at the enemies and pull the triggers, and then bolts like rains would be thrown at the enemies.

Those weapons could be shot quickly and did not need winding up. After a while, the enemies were broken down. The enemies that had disembarked wanted to go back to their ships, while the rest standing on the ships and waiting to disembark, wanted to escape to anywhere. The hull was breached, which allowed the sea to flood in. As the ship capsized, most of the enemies that were falling into the water were killed while they were crawling on the side. What a mess!

At this moment, Roland put his telescope down and ordered Iron Axe, “It’s time for you to take your reserves to clean up the battlefield. If their leaders didn’t die on the battlefield, arrest them alive if possible, for I want to ask them some questions.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Iron Axe saluted and left.

Then Roland looked at Sylvie and said, “You follow Iron Axe to make sure that no one can escape.”

Sylvie nodded and followed Iron Axe to walk out of the observing tower. Suddenly, she understood why Prince Roland would dare to boldly protect witches in his domain… With such powerful weapons, God’s Punishment Army of the church could not break down Roland easily. If Lady Tilly harbored such weapons, one day the witches would really be able to return to their home.

Seeing the broken sailing ships on the bank, Roland was slightly relieved.

The enemies were doomed to fail when they were about to land, turning the bow around by rod and boatman was very slow, which was maybe the reason why they chose not to withdraw under the attack of the cannons. Thinking that they would, rather than be attacked in vain, pull over and organize their soldiers to a counterattack.

It would be very hard to sink a wooden sailing ship completely with 12-pound field artillery. Even though the hull was hit badly, the ship could also float on the water. Thus, turning around would perhaps cause a lot of damage, but one or two ships could have survived. However, once they chose to land, they would all be ruined.

Compared with the previous Longsong Stronghold raid and the Border Town defensive battle, the enemies this time never even launched an effective attack. Perhaps this was because the pills were controlled by commanders and they would only hand the pills over to militias before battles, so once there was an abrupt attack, militias could not respond instantly.

Cleaning up of the battlefield lasted until the nightfall.

Iron Axe and the guards escorted two captives into their camp.

Before Roland could speak, one of them already started shouting. “Your Highness, I’m Sznak. Please allow me to write to my family, and they’ll definitely pay a handsome ransom.”

The other also said, “Your Highness, I’m Elvin Shad, the second son of Shield Family in the northern region, I’m also willing to pay a ransom.”

“So… you two led this attack?” Roland raised his eyebrows.

“Er, no, the captain was Sir Vincent. Alas, he’s already dead.” Sznak wriggled his body for a while and continued to say, “Your Highness, can you untie me? I hope to be treated normally during the ransom time.”

Roland shook his head, saying, “I don’t want ransoms. Tell me everything about your purpose, plans, as well as Timothy’s plans for the Western Region and then I’ll give you what you deserve.”

Sznak hesitated for a moment and said, “About that Your Highness, I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”

The young knight of the Shield Family also refused, saying, “I’ve given my allegiance to His Majesty Timothy, I can’t violate my oath.”

Roland said carelessly, “Well, take them away.”

After the guards left, Roland glanced at Iron Axe. “I’ve heard that you were appointed as a guard leader and that you were very good at interrogation in Iron Sand City? Is that right?”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Iron Axe answered confidently, “Few people can hold back intelligence from me.”

Roland turned around, saying, “Very good, no matter what methods and skills you use, interrogate the two and obtain as much intelligence as possible.”

Iron Axe was stunned and asked, “What about the ransoms?”

“I said from the beginning, I don’t want any ransoms,” Roland said coldly, “Once you finish your interrogation, kill them.”

[This is the rightful punishment for anyone who dares oppress common people and attacks the Western Region,] Roland thought in his heart.

Chapter 282: The Stage

he following day, Iron Axe brought all of the intelligence that he had extracted from the interrogation to Roland. After which, they returned to Border Town.

“Are they just Timothy’s advance troops?” Roland frowned and asked.

“Indeed, Your Highness.” Iron Axe nodded. “As you’ve guess, Timothy Wimbledon’s combat strategy is to send one militia troop after another to attack the western region. Besides the western region, he has also targeted Garcia Wimbledon at the Port of Clearwater with the same stratagem.”

“Are they all common people?”

“Not entirely. There’re criminals and rats. Most of them are refugees from all over the country,” he answered, “according to the statement of the enemy’s knight, Timothy coerced them with some promises after forcefully hiring them and convincing them to take the first pill. Thus, they had no choice but to obey Timothy in order to obtain more pills to relieve their pain and their yearning.”

“However, they don’t know that there’s no cure once they’ve taken the pill.” Roland deeply sighed. “The extra pills are simply delaying their death.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Timothy didn’t tell the militia about the side effects of the drug, and they thought that they would receive the promised title and remuneration after fighting for the ‘new king’.”

“Where was this troop targeting?” Roland asked.

“Border Town,” Iron Axe quickly replied, “because Sir Vincent, who had been killed in the war thought that it would be easier to achieve the goal of the war of attrition since there was no wall in the town. He had estimated that 1,000 militia that had taken the pills would be able to exchange for about 3,000 casualties, which would be a heavy blow to Border Town. However…”

“However?”

“Sznak also confessed that Timothy assigned them another task. It was to divide the militias into batches and to attack the town in order to ensure their own safety as well as observe your coping style and operational effectiveness. I think he may have noticed that no team leader returned from the last attack.”

“There’s no one returning this time either.” Prince Roland shrugged. “Do these two people know Timothy’s subsequent attack plan?”

“They don’t know much, but the scale will be far greater than both of the previous attacks.”

Roland quietly hated it in his heart and clenched his teeth. [How can these living laborers be consumed like a cannon fodder batch by batch? Even if they can defeat us, it’ll still be a miserable victory. It’s more important to stop this meaningless war than resisting Timothy’s attack. Otherwise, how long would I have to wait for the population to flourish again after unifying the Kingdom of Graycastle?]

“The entire western region will be covered by heavy snow after the arrival of the Months of Demons. A large force will be difficult to move and there would be a long line if they were to travel by ship. Not just considering how how costly it would be, it’s also easy to be intercepted halfway.” He said, “So, he’ll have to act before the heavy snowfall in the winter if he wants to launch an attack this year. He’ll also have to search for the population earlier as the recruitment of militias must be completed by the winter.”

“You’re planning to…”

Roland contemplated for a moment with his eyes closed and said, “I want to delay this war.”

“Delivering a diplomatic letter or sending a messenger to him? Timothy Wimbledon probably won’t do what you want,” Iron Axe said.

“No, it’s useless,” he said slowly, “In order for Timothy to dispel the idea to attack, we need to either reduce the number of people he can search for or make him realize that a war of attrition is of little significance and make him fear for the western region. I was planning to get Barov to arrange people to spread the news of the western region reclamation in order to attract the poor outside of the city to come forward themselves. However, it seems that the measures are too conservative now and the effect will be too slow. We must take the initiative to contact and enlist them just like our last trip to the king’s city in order to take away the population before Timothy. The Southern Territory which is frequently attacked comes first, followed by the northern region of the kingdom which probably has to be undertaken by the First Army.

“A team of 50 people will be enough for only recruiting,” Iron Axe continued without hesitation, “After all, it’s not within the vicinity of city activities, and there’s no worry about any confrontation with the enemy.”

“I’ll talk to you in detail after I think out a specific plan.” Roland nodded.

There would need to be a force retained to guard in Border Town and a squad sent out that would need to return to the town before the Months of Demons. There were also gold royals and food problems as the expenditure would exponentially rise with a more aggressive solicitation policy. The previous plan was more cost-effective, but Roland needed to consider it carefully.

“But, regarding the second point you’ve mentioned… what should we do?”

“We need to first release the news of deporting the captive civilians back to the king’s city so that Timothy has an idea about the course of the battle. After all, he wouldn’t keep trying to do such futile thing.”

“But our cannon combat mode will also be exposed,” Iron Axe worriedly said.

“It doesn’t expose much,” Roland lightly tapped the table and said, “he won’t know the principle behind it or the method to reproduce them. All he would know is that we use a long-range strike weapon and that it’s amazingly powerful.” He wouldn’t be able to defend against it even if he knew. This was the overwhelming advantage of thermal weapons compared to cold weapons. This would not change with willpower, tactics or numbers. “These people will send him a letter of warning.”

“Letter of warning?”

“Yes, I’ll announce the time and date of the attack in advance in the letter and then raid the king’s city on that day,” Roland said.

“…” Iron Axe was shocked; he made a solemn salute after he recollected himself. “I swear with my life to complete it as long as it’s your order!”

“Relax, I don’t plan to send you to death.” Roland smiled. “The witches will execute the plan, not the First Army.”

How would he make Timothy fear the western region? Roland estimated that there was nothing more shocking than attacking the palace directly. Timothy would probably retract any of his plans as soon as he realized that he was not safe.

Roland envisaged a solution which was derived from the future airdrop leaflets. However, he intended to deliver two air bombs to Timothy beside the leaflets. The so-called raid would be an attack from the sky with a very little possibility of directly killing the new king; however, it would be considered a successful move as long as it played the deterrent role.

As a result, it would be difficult to judge whether Timothy would insist on launching a large-scale attack.

Roland clearly realized that the pattern of the contention war had changed. He was no longer as weak as when he first arrived and needed to hide. It was time for him to reveal himself and step onto the political arena of the Kingdom of Graycastle in order for the people of the kingdom to notice his existence. It was nothing to do with performance, but propaganda of his territory and power.

It was useless to have a kingdom full of ruins and dead bodies. Roland hoped that more people would come to the western region and stand with him after this declaration.

Roland opened the window in the office. The sun crashed into the mountains, the blowing breeze was no longer hot; it was bringing a touch of coolness instead.

Autumn was here.