Release That Witch

Chapter 283: The Hydrogen Balloon Delivery

argaret’s Chamber of Commerce arrived at the pier of Border Town on the third day of autumn as according to the appointment.

The caravan regained its former scale this time with 10 sailing ships lined up and steadily anchored by the trestle.

“Your Respected Highness, Prince Roland, we meet again,” Gammon, the merchant from Crescent Moon Bay bowed and said, “I heard Miss Margaret mentioned that the first steam-powered boat was completed?”

“That’s true.” Roland laughed. “However, it’ll need three or four days’ trial trip to verify the reliability of the power system in order to ensure the quality of the goods.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Marleen said while clapping her hands, “we can definitely wait around here as it’ll take as much time for the fleet to unload. Your Highness, may I visit the steam-powered boat during the trial?”

“Of course, it’s a completely new boat. I’ll have to show you how to operate it as it’s totally different from the sailing ship. However, these are tomorrow’s content according to the plan.” Roland made a gesture telling them to follow him. “The most important thing now is to relax the tired body, I supposed you’ve not had your lunch yet? I’ve prepared a full feast in the castle hall.”

“There’ll always be a good meal to enjoy every time we come here.” Margaret laughed. “I’m really hungry now as the wheat biscuits and jerky was as hard as stone and it was difficult to swallow.”

There was no reliable preservation technique in this era, so most of the dry food was really hard and dry which reminded Roland about canning. Manufacturing a variety of delicious and convenient canned food was definitely the best option for long-distance travel and marine merchants after the completion of the light industrial development.

…

When the feast was over, Hogg patted his belly with gratification. “I almost swallowed my tongue while gulping down the mushroom soup. I can also taste the flavor of seafood, stewed chicken and pork bone at the same time. Your palace chef is superbly-skilled. ”

“I prefer the dessert after the meal which was called ice-cream… right?” Margaret said, “I guess it’s made of milk and honey before it was frozen into ice crystals with saltpeter.”

“Some butter and egg white are added too in order to make it softer,” Roland added. “May I know what the volume of saltpeter is this time?”

“There’s still only one boat.” The businesswoman shook her head. “The alchemist association is still buying up saltpeter, and the prime minister even sent the patrol team to help them sift through the niter plant. They’re no different from the robbers who have the title of philosopher and even this boat of saltpeter was shipped from Redwater City.”

“In this case, most of the goods delivered this month are washing stone?”

“That’s right.” Hogg drank up the white liquor in his glass and filled it up again himself. “However, it may be a little more as I remembered by heart that you personally said to get as much as possible last time. There’re premium-quality iron ingots and lead ingots other than the washing stones, and not many cities needed them recently except you.” He sighed. “And the mine operations are getting worse.”

[t’s the impact of the civil war,] Roland thought to himself, [the purchasing power is gradually declining everywhere. If it lasts for another two or three years, it’ll basically lead to increasing food prices and starvation rate.]

“Oh yeah, what happened to the Western Region recently?” Margaret suddenly asked.

“What happened?”

“On the way to the town, the fleet came across a lot of… well.” She paused for a moment as if she was considering how to put it. “A lot of floating corpses were floating on both sides of the river. There were some broken planks and ropes on the water other than the bodies, which looked like a boat wreck; however, there was no reef in the river, so I thought…”

“Hmm, they’re Timothy’s fleet that attacked the Western Region.” Roland pretended to be angry and simply narrated the war a week ago. “They’ve received the punishment they deserve.”

In order to avoid clogging the waterways and epidemic, Roland had arranged Anna and Lily to clean up the battlefield where one was responsible for burning the damaged ships and another was responsible for purifying the river. The dead bodies that Margaret saw were probably the bodies that were drifted far down the river before the battle ended.

“I see,” the businesswoman smiled and said, “it seems that Timothy is going to hit the wall on both sides.”

“Both sides?”

“And Garcia from Port of Clearwater. The latest news I heard was that it was Garcia’s men who previously attacked the Eastern Region. The Blacksail Fleet didn’t return to the harbor but went north along the coast after they robbed Seawindshire and Valencia, and no one knows where she eventually went.”

“Went north…” Roland wondered. “Did she leave the Kingdom of Graycastle?”

“It looks like it now and Timothy’s men went back empty-handed from Port of Clearwater as it’s now an empty city.” Margaret said, “It wasn’t a secret in Black Street as he brought a lot of Rats there. Anyway, he may attack the Western Region more frequently as you’re the only one left now. ”

“You’re always welcomed to the Crescent Moon Bay if you’re thinking to leave the Kingdom of Graycastle as well,” Marleen said.

“That’s true,” Gammon patted his chest and said, “the island there is enough to hold 10 Border Town and we’re willing to offer it to you and your people for free.”

[However, I’ll have to surrender the technology of steam engine and paddle steamer, right?] Roland turned a blind eye in his heart. Tilly Wimbledon would be their first target to go for if the Kingdom of Graycastle was crumbling. However, Roland was simply smiling and said, “Yeah, I’ll think about it if that day really comes.”

“Oh yeah,” he looked towards Margaret and said, “I’ve successfully made two detection balloons which you ordered last time.”

“So fast?” The latter was surprised and said, “Can you please bring me to see?”

“Of course, follow me,” Roland stood up and said.

…

There was a fully inflated hydrogen balloon in the extended castle backyard.

Its airbag was in a droplet shape and it was wide on the top and narrow at the bottom while the top diameter was five meters. It was made according to the size of the test target and it could take off with an adult man. The airbag and ropes were painted with the sky-like camouflage and it would minimize the scale of recognition with the matching camouflage reconnaissance clothing for the observers.

“It looks different from the balloon we took last time?” Margaret looked carefully at the new product.

“Because it can be used without a witch.” Roland cleared his throat and began to introduce the method of using the detection balloon to the crowd. “There’re moving valves at the end of the airbag that’s used for inflating and deflating as it was exactly the alchemy filling that makes it fly. The inflating method is as simple as unscrewing both of the valves after the matching hose is connected to the gas tank.” After that, he demonstrated the process of inflating and deflating to the crowd once.

“How many bottles of gas are required to fill a detection balloon?” Margaret quickly grabbed the main point.

“Five or six bottles…” This question made Roland a little embarrassed. “It’ll not take more than seven bottles.” The main reason was that it was difficult to control the concentration of diluted sulfuric acid to generate hydrogen in the bottle and it would be a waste of valuable manpower of the laboratory to purify the distilled sulfuric acid to 98% before diluting it.

“Is the alchemical gas very expensive?”

“Indeed. It’s hard to keep and very dangerous… I mean under a careless operation.” Roland coughed twice. “So, each of the tanks can only be stored for a year and no knocking, dismantling, or burning allowed; otherwise, it’ll cause serious consequences.” He paused. “The price is somewhat expensive. However, no worries as the first tank will be provided for free by Border Town on your first purchase of the detection balloon. You’ll also receive an additional sky camouflage reconnaissance clothing.”

.

Chapter 284: The Company

hen the caravan left, Roland let out a long sigh of relief.

Finally… the treasury was full once again.

He delivered a total of eight steam engines to the three chambers of commerce. Three of them had been produced by the Crescent-Moon-Bay Chamber of Commerce in Factory No. 2—Roland had to acknowledge that when it came to talent or learning potential, the smiths from the Fjords were far better than the miners and the blacksmiths from the town. Once they understood how to operate the machines, the standard of the products just kept rising. Perhaps after two more months, the production capacity of Factory No. 2 would catch up with that of Factory No. 1. Fortunately, according to the signed contract, any income from the sale of those machines belonged to Roland.

Furthermore, he also received a new purchasing order for a new hydrogen balloon from the Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan. Marleen was extremely interested in an item like this that could greatly increase the vision range. Apart from a single person detection balloon, he specifically ordered also a huge three to four people balloon which he planned to use to explore the new islands of the Fjords.

Adding up to that paddle steamer, the three orders brought to Border Town an income of almost 7,000 gold royals. Excluding the purchasing fees for metal ingot, the washing stone and other food supplies, the remaining 6,000 gold royals were enough to sustain his project to expand the population.

Roland called Barov and Iron Axe into his office.

“Now that we have extra funds, it’s time to recruit more foreign citizens.” He looked at the two capable men. “This operation will be handled together by the City Hall and the First Army. You’ll decide which men to use, and I’ll only provide you with the details of the task.”

“Please go ahead.” The Prime Minister nodded.

“The recruitment will be done both in the north and the Southern Territory.” Roland spread a map in front of them. “Especially from Eagle City to Port of Clearwater… I suspect that Timothy already regards those people as part of Garcia’s force, and they can be used and be disposed of any time. That’s why you need to hurry and bring them in first.”

“The team sent out by the City Hall will be responsible for the recruitment of nobles, smiths, and other literate people. The First Army’s main task is to recruit civilians. Unlike the previous rumor spreading, this time the approach should be more active. Do you understand what I mean?”

Iron Axe hesitated for a while. “You mean… by force?”

“Um, no need for that.” Roland coughed twice. The way of people of Sand Nation was obviously simple and rough. “For example through food distribution, actively encouraging them, advance payment for their living expenses, etc.” He glanced at Barov. “You should be pretty familiar with this method.”

“Of course, Your Royal Highness, during my time in the king’s city I often assisted the ministers and the patrol teams to control and suppress riots,” he said stroking his beard, “their requests were quite simple, sometimes it was just to fill their belly, so there was no need to use any money, or to mention salaries—if the benefits were too generous, they would actually become suspicious. Even though the fallen nobles are troublesome, and they’re currently hard-pressed for money and no longer showing off but still they’re quite knowledgeable, so their requests will likely be more demanding. They won’t follow us miles away for just a piece of bread. That’s when money and promises will come to use in order to attract them.”

Roland clapped satisfied. “It’s a pity that you have so many affairs here in Border Town so you can’t go personally, or else this mission would definitely be a success.”

“Rest assured, Your Highness, I’ll send out my most capable students,” Barov said with a smile, “by next year’s wall construction, the two sides of Redwater River will be swarming with residents.”

“That day will definitely come.”

After the two of them left, Roland rested on his chair for a while and then decided to go to the North Slope courtyard to see Anna.

As he entered, the first thing he saw was a pile of metal cubes.

Roland picked up one in his palm—their size was mostly identical, around five centimeters long and wide. The surface was not smooth as if they had been suppressed, and there was a number engraved on one side. For example, the one in his hand had the number “256”.

“How is it going. Have you discovered anything nice?”

“Number 1057 and number 2284, one is extremely hard and the other is perfect both in terms of hardness and tenacity,” Anna replied with a smile on her face as she came closer.

“You already reached number 2,000?” Roland asked in surprise. He took the record handed over by Lucia, which was completely filled with data. He found number 2284, and read the notes next to it, “carbon accounts for 0.8% and unknown element number four 15.2%”.

“Yeah, this is much more interesting than cutting gun barrels.” Anna winked. “I never expected that mixing iron with other metals could cause so drastic changes in its characteristics. I’m really curious how the little balls of metals are able to be combined together.”

The research that Anna and Lucia were conducting had a great future significance.

Roland first asked the little girl to break down the ore into its raw materials and then Anna would smelt them according to their quality with pure iron. Afterward, they would test the characteristics of these pieces—through the suppression and pull of Blackfire, Anna could discern how much magic power was needed every time, thus being able to determine their toughness and tenacity.

The first material to mix was obviously carbon.

Roland knew that steel was essentially a type of iron and carbon alloy: with too much carbon it would become pig iron, and with no carbon at all it would be pure iron. Only if it contained a certain percentage of carbon it could be described as steel and any fluctuation would cause significant changes to the metal’s properties. So, the first thing they had to test was this range of fluctuation.

According to the record, before number 1500 the pieces were all done by smelting iron and carbon, but after number 1500 new elements were added in addition to the steel. Roland understood that with each additional element in the sequence, the results could multiply many times over, making the process extremely time-consuming. This was why he let Anna conduct her research only when she was not busy with her other manufacturing work.

He encouraged the two witches and sat on one side, admiring the rear view of the busy Anna in silence.

The autumn sunlight was still very bright, but it was not as vivid as that during summer. He felt a feeling of warmth, along with a long-absent feeling of safety and stability.

As the time passed, the yard gradually quieted down. Suddenly, he felt a soft hand on his forehead. Struggling to open his eyes, he saw that Lucia had already left and that Anna was sitting in front of him. “You want to talk to me?”

“…”

“I can see it in your eyes.” She leaned over, her hair falling down naturally like half transparent golden silk threads.

Roland hesitated but finally shook his head. “I’m just a little confused.” He briefly described his population expansion plan to her. “Compared with my original free will choice, now in order to save time, a combination of half luring and half forcing come to me. Even though doing this will help them avoid Timothy’s extortion to take the pills and gradually die, after carefully thinking about it, I’m not really so different from him… the only difference is in our purpose.”

“Isn’t the purpose the most important thing?” she said softly.

“But…”

“I know what you’re trying to say.” Anna covered the prince’s mouth. “You’re worried they won’t appreciate your efforts and at the same time, you have doubts whether you can always guarantee that this purpose is correct in the future—being misunderstood for using the wrong method to achieve the right purpose, or using the right method but ending up making an irrevocable mistake… You don’t know whether using the correct method or achieving the right purpose is more important. Am I right?”

“Don’t worry.” Without waiting for his reply, Anna came closer, put her hands on his cheeks and whispered softly in his ears, “You have me… I’ll look after you.”

Chapter 285: The Answer

he environment in Sleeping Island was getting better day by day. When flying, Tilly could see the busy crowd and the lively market.

Sleeping Island was no longer a place where there used to be 300 witches who had been secretly living in isolation. Through negotiations and trade agreements, Crescent Moon Bay, Twin Dragon Island, Sunset Port and Shallow Water Town had all established trade connection with Sleeping Island. Furthermore, she also guided few civilians from some nearby crowded villages to settle down here.

Even though for now they were gathered outside of the island, far from the witches, Tilly believed that one day, Sleeping Island would become a city without prejudices. The merge was a slow process, but she was full of hope for the result. It did not matter if the awakened witches of the other islands joined them at Sleeping Island or if they decided to stay in their hometowns and they were accepted by commoners. Either way, it was good news for her. It meant that Tilly and the witches that immigrated to the island would receive more supporters.

“Come down and it’s windy,” Ashes shouted from below, “Be careful not to fall!”

“I’m alright!” Tilly waved. Suddenly, she dropped for a short distance but after a while, she was able to stabilize her body again. “Oh… it’s still a bit hard to control.”

“And yet you flew so high!” Ashes said stomping, “You can fly at a lower height or practice above the sea. If you don’t come down now, I’ll climb on the roof to catch you myself.”

“Fine, fine, I got it.” Tilly could feel that the wind was getting stronger and she did not want to push it. So, she withdrew the magic power that she had released and landed slowly in her residence’s garden.

“Please call Molly next time you do this,” Ashes said, “At least her magic servant could catch you.”

“As long as I keep providing magic power, it’s impossible to fall down. The worst that can happen isn’t able to control the direction.” She took off the blue magic stone glove and handed it to Ashes. “You should try it, and flying is so magnificent. When you look down at Sleeping Island from above, you’ll see the world in a whole different look.”

“I’d rather not.” Ashes refused. “I was unable to activate the lightning magic stone at the beginning, let alone this stone that needs continuously filling magic power into. Furthermore, there’s also only one such stone. Even if I learn how to use it, I still wouldn’t be able to fly with you.”

“You’re right.” Tilly regrettably took the glove back. “I often think that it would be so nice if I manage to figure out the principle behind it and then create similar magic stones.”

“Do you think it was made by humans?”

“Of course.” She nodded without hesitation. “As for its polished surface and its purpose, it’s highly unlikely that the stone was formed naturally. The people who constructed the ruins must have had a deep understanding of magic power, and it’s a pity that they didn’t leave anything else behind other than some documents that were hard to understand.”

At this moment, a huge white figure suddenly fell from the sky. Due to its fast landing speed, it almost hit the ground, causing a circle of dust.

“Maggie?” Ashes lifted her eyebrows.

“Oh… that hurt, coo.” It was indeed the little girl. Standing up, she rubbed her head and said, “Did my eyes just play some trick with me? Lady Tilly can actually fly in the sky! If it wasn’t for the hair color, I would have thought that it was Lightning.”

“You saw correctly and I was just flying a while ago.” Tilly smiled and rubbed her cheek. “So… are the witches from Sleeping Island doing well in Border Town?”

“Pretty well, coo. They’ve asked me to deliver a letter to you.” Maggie opened her bag to find letters and said, “This is from Lotus. This is from Evelyn, and this… is from His Highness.”

Tilly was startled. The prince’s letter was half a finger thick and it was tightly wrapped as if it was a package. It felt a bit heavy as she held it in her hands. Obviously, it did not contain just a letter.

“You must be tired.”

Ashes took out half a wheat pie and gave a small piece to Maggie. But Maggie shook her head, putting a dried fish into her mouth and said, “I’m going to play with Molly.” Then, she turned once again into a huge white pigeon and flew out of the flower garden.

“Why do I feel that she has grown even bigger after a month?”

“I have the same feeling.” Tilly laughed. “It seems like that life in Border Town is really good.”

When Tilly returned to her room, she opened Roland Wimbledon’s letter and found out that besides a letter full of words, the rest were actually lifelike pictures.

“What’s this?”

Ashes’ question also reflected Tilly’s own puzzlement. She shook her head and unfolded the pictures one by one—their content was somewhat hard to believe: the background looked like an evening in the wasteland, where under the bloody red light of the setting sun, two scary-looking monsters were engaged in a deadly fight with a group of witches. The witches were obviously losing and their abilities seemed to be useless, and both vipers and fireballs could not stop the monsters. In the last picture, several witches were lying dead in a pool of blood.

Tilly frowned. The scenes in front of her were clearly drawn by a witch. Only magic power could create such lively and real drawings. But… were these mere drawings, or did they represent an event that had actually happened?

With a feeling of uneasiness, she grabbed the letter and quickly read through it.

Soon, Tilly felt a grip on her chest and her hands started shaking as she came across many times a same word: “demon”.

“What’s wrong?” Ashes took her hands into hers. “What’s in the letter?”

“The past of the Witch Cooperation Association,” Tilly patted Ashes’ back to relax her and continued to say, “They used to search for Holy Mountain in the Wild Places… you must have heard of Holy Mountain, right?”

“Yeah, it’s the legendary destination for all witches. Only at Holy Mountain can they obtain real peace and serenity, but this is just a rumor,” Ashes said carelessly, “In Sleeping Island, we can also live in peace, and the demonic torture is nothing more than a lie created by the church.”

“But Cara was convinced that Holy Mountain really existed. Furthermore, she found an ancient book in the ruins of the forest east of the king city, believing that the gates to Holy Mountain were in that forbidden area that no one had ever stepped in before. So, she led the Witch Cooperation Association over the Impassable Mountain Range, towards the wilderness. However, what they encountered was not Holy Mountain, but instead a kind of terrifying monster,” Tilly said in a low voice.

“The one in the drawings?” Ashes breathed heavily.

“Exactly.” Her expression became somewhat dark. “According to the letter, they possess unimaginable strength, and they’re extremely agile. They can also control demonic beasts and one of them can actually release lightning from its hand… Just like a witch’s ability. Among more than 40 witches, only six survived. As they had no other choice, the six witches decided to seek the help of the Lord of Border Town.

“I see… So this is what happened.”

“One more thing that makes me confused is that at the end of that ancient book, there’s a sloppy essay which was written in the language of the four kingdoms.” Tilly checked the back of the letter. “It mentions that Holy City, the fight with the Devils, as well as Alice’s experiments of the God’s Punishment Army. All of this should have happened 400 years ago, but since they were familiar with the kingdom language, why would they use an entirely different language to record the literature and the books?”

Princess Tilly thought about it for a long time but without any result, so she put everything aside and picked up Sylvie’s letter to see the result of her examination of the Lord of Border Town.

But she was stunned the moment she saw the first sentence of the letter, even more shocked than the time she had seen the word of demons.

“Lady Tilly, I didn’t find any sign of camouflage or magic power on Roland Wimbledon. Besides the Witch Union, there’re also no other witches hidden in the town. So I think… he may actually be your older brother.”

Chapter 286: [Transformation]

real brother.

[A real… brother? How’s that even possible?]

Tilly stared at the stationery in her hand but could not concentrate enough to make sense of it, and her train of thought was a complete mess.

King Wimbledon III, their father had five children, among whom Gerald, Timothy, and Garcia were the eldest. So, they were all close and by the time Roland was born, Garcia, who was the youngest, was six years old at that time. Naturally, the older boys would not let him join their play. Normally she would have had a close relationship with Roland, but that was not the case.

Her brother Roland absolutely admired their other three brothers and tried in every way to get close to them. But, as a result, he was always bullied, which made Roland bitter and irritable over time. Of course, he dared not release his pent-up wrath on his brothers but saved it for her.

For example, Roland once forced her to steal their father’s crown with him. Following some verbal abuse, he would even sometimes hit her if she refused to cooperate. Later, their father found it and severely punished him, which made him a little less arrogant, but he still intimidated her in private.

While she had not understood it at the time, in retrospect, Tilly realized that it was all ridiculous and… foolish.

When she found broken pieces of an earthworm in her beloved shoes at the age of 10, she finally could not take it anymore and decided to fight back. She yelled for Roland and directly stuffed the pieces into his mouth. She then threatened him, and after that Roland no longer provoked her and she just began to ignore him.

As an adult, Roland had not made any progress and had even become vainer. His deeds were always filling her ears. According to the noble’s, he was irritable, harsh, ignorant and unbecoming of his nobility. He had nothing left but his royal status. Tilly agreed with this evaluation greatly. However, she also knew that his bad temper and irritability were his way of keeping up appearances and to conceal the fact that he was timid and weak.

However, he was the person who sheltered and defended the group of alien witches, known as the devil’s minions, even going so far as to make an enemy of the church.

Tilly did not know what to say in that moment.

“Tilly, Tilly?” She did not fully snap out of her daze until Ashes gently shook her.

“I’m okay. It’s just a little bit… unbelievable.” She shook her head before saying. “Sylvie told me that the Lord of Border Town is probably the real Roland Wimbledon and not someone controlled or replaced by a witch.”

“Well, he’s the fool… ahem, the guy who once attempted to bully me?” Ashes coughed and said then, “He has made some staggering changes since we met a year ago. I feel like I’m watching someone else in general, except for a little difference in his face in my impression.”

“Can you be more specific?”

Ashes thought for a long time with her head tilted to one side. “I think… the biggest difference is that he’s neater.”

“Neater?”

Both his dress and my impressions indicate that he doesn’t favor ornaments like the other nobles. He doesn’t even wear gold or gemstones.” Ashes recalled. “Even his clothing looks common and more relaxed, lacking lace, ornamentation, and gold. There’s almost no differentiation between him and other people, except his conspicuous hair. But, anyway, he isn’t like an ordinary noble.”

“He looks like the nobles?” Tilly asked.

“Not anymore, not like typical nobles.” Ashes curled her lip. “None of the nobles here are clean, and instead they’re like stagnant water or sludge at the bottom of it. As for him… I can’t give an accurate evaluation. Anyway, overall he makes me feel good.”

“It’s hard to believe that you’re praising him.”

“Uh, I just wanted to answer your question honestly.”

Tilly exhaled. It seemed that her brother had changed a lot. However, what had contributed to his transformation? Was it something external that had changed him into another person?

Princess Tilly suddenly remembered Roland’s first letter—[to this end, I must destroy the whole church, eliminate the belief that witches are evil and pull my people out of stupidity and ignorance. This will be a hard process, and I’ll need more of your help. As for what made me come to this decision and what made me no longer indifferent to everything, like in my past, are something trivial that I’ll explain in more detail to you later.]

Maybe once they see each other in person he would tell her the real reason.

Taking her thought back, Tilly returned her eyes to the letter.

The latter part of its content discussed what Sylvie had seen and heard in Border Town.

Originally, Roland chose her to find mineral resources. However, a great amount of the God’s Stone of Retaliation was found in North Slope Mine. As it turned out, the stone that suppresses witches’ abilities grew out of the ground just like other minerals. That indicated that Holy City of Hermes must have controlled a mineral vein that produced the God’s Stone of Retaliation continually.

And then another passage caught her attention.

It talked about a terrifying weapon that could fire iron balls and bolts from an iron pipe with a deafening roar… Although Maggie and Ashes had mentioned this kind of thing to her before, this was her first time reading such a detailed description, and there was even a hand-painted diagram to accompany the paragraph.

“Oh? Now I finally know what the thing that shot me looks like.” Ashes walked over. “Since we’re all allies, you can write back asking him to send you a batch of weapons to protect Sleeping Island from the church. Unless you think he isn’t willing too… Hum, maybe this ally isn’t as reliable as you think.”

“Allies don’t mean preparedness.” Tilly smiled. “Since this weapon is the foundation from which he guards himself, why would he share it with others? The temptation to ask for things would only destroy our slowly developing trust. There weren’t Molly and Breeze presented on the witch capabilities list that I handed him. Besides, we’re going to Border Town this winter and I think it would be more appropriate to ask for a favor in person, don’t you think?”

“Well,” said Ashes, “as you wish.”

Tilly smiled and continued to read the letter.

When her sight had reached the end of the letter, she could not help but express shock.

Roland intended to send a brazier, as a gift, to every adult woman in the Witch Union. This was absurd! Everyone knew that only lovers bought gifts that were personal like that. How could he… wait, Tilly suddenly remembered that he once sent corsets to some noble ladies in the king’s city, some of which were directly thrown back in his face. This incident became a joke among the nobles at the time.

This seemed just like something he would do!

Tilly suddenly felt entangled. On the one hand, she wanted to see if he was just like in her memory. But, on the other hand, she would rather not.

Deciding whether or not she would go to Border Town this coming winter greatly distressed Princess Tilly.

Chapter 287: Building a Soap Plant

order Town, Western Region.

The washing stones bought from Silver City had filled four ships, and it took a few days to unload them.

Now that there were sufficient raw materials, the soap production plan was formally put on the schedule.

The workshop and warehouse had been set up already to support the soap factory, which was located beside the industrial park next to the second steam assembly, which was the same shape as the soap factory. In addition to the wood cutting and hoisting being the responsibility of the witches, the roof, beams, and walls were a wooden structure that was smaller than the second steam assembly; therefore, the whole building project period was only a week.

It was a series of chemical reactions. The washing stones were used as a natural alkali in making soap. And the crude materials were common, which included lots of lime cream and oil. In this process, lime cream which was soaked in water would precipitate the turbid liquid. And this liquid was used in reacting with sodium carbonate for getting a caustic soda. After the caustic soda made a chemical reaction with the oil, the higher fatty acid and glycerol would be produced. The former was soap, and the latter was the raw materials for explosives.

Before making the soap, Roland had experimented with the whole reaction process in the castle backyard. The theory was the same, but it needed professional chemists to make the appropriate craftwork and rules to go from trial-production to volume production.

Therefore, he asked the chief alchemist to come into his office.

“Your Highness, I have thought of a possibly feasible plan about your request of making massive sulphuric acid.” Kyle Sichi started speaking loudly when he came into his office. “But we need lots of lead and blacksmiths who can make lead into vessels. I heard that your witch can cut metal accurately, and she had made those ironwares that made a rumbling sound. Can I…”

“You may. You can give me the size and shape of the vessel, and I’ll tell the Witch Union to do this,” Roland let him sit down and said, “It isn’t about making acid, and I asked you to come here today for another project.”

“Your Highness, I’m too busy to do another project,” Kyle shook his head and said, “It’s a big challenge to make this massive acid, and I must try my best.” He added, “Also, my students aren’t available. They all help me to prepare that, so none of them have free time.”

“Don’t worry about that. It won’t take you much time,” Roland said while drinking tea, “I also don’t need your students to respond. What I need are just a few apprentices.”

“So… What’s the mission?”

“We’ll make low-cost soap like in the Convenience Market. Besides the flavor, its function is the same as scented soap, which can be used for showering and cleaning clothes and dishes.”

“You mean the saponification which was mentioned in Elementary Chemistry?” Kyle touched his mustache and asked, “Is that the chemical reaction between caustic soda and oil, which can produce alcohol and salt?”

Roland had to admit that it was amazing when he heard some professional and standard chemical words, which were made by himself, directly from an alchemist. Roland bore a happy expression and nodded seriously. He said, “Exactly, that’s the saponification which is mentioned in the old book, and I’m also making soap based on this method.”

“What can I do for you? I suggest that this production can be put off if it isn’t necessary. You know, it’s not a big deal that your subjects can’t take shower or wash clothes and dishes, after all. They also can drop into the river to clean themselves.”

“It’s very important,” the prince stressed that and said, “In another word, it’s not important to make soap but make byproducts, which are what I urgently need.”

“You mean… alcohol?” Kyle asked without any expression.

“Yes, it’s alcohol, or you can say it’s glycerin,” Roland said, “It’s a very important material which has the same significance as the two acids.”

“Alright,” Kyle Sichi shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’d like to say this is worse than the situation before, for I really don’t have time to implement that.”

Roland sighed lightly, for it was tiring to talk with the chief alchemist, and he said, “You just pick some smart apprentices and show them how to do that. I’ll recruit some subjects for production. But I need these apprentices to supervise them.” He made a pause and continued. “You can regard this as an unpractical chemical trial—this process means many alchemical formulas could be discovered, and these would make apprentices become alchemists in the alchemical workshop.”

Kyle was probably convinced by the last sentence and said, “In that case, I’ll find another afternoon to teach some apprentices what you told me.”

“Good.” Roland smiled. “You should know that the most vital part of this process is making enough caustic soda.” He wrote down the reaction formula—natural alkali can be decomposed into sodium carbonate, carbon dioxide, and water by heating. These were the main materials of making caustic soda, so this method was used until today. Roland said, “You can heat, dissolve, and filter the washing stone; therefore, you can get more pure sodium carbonate solution.

“Next you can heat it with lime cream to get sodium carbonate solution. It’s easy for you to purify,” he wrote on the paper and explained, “The clarification, distillation, and mix need repeating again until there’re lots of crystal in the cold sodium carbonate solution.”

These all referred to the content in Elementary Chemistry. When he was a student in school, he had taken a long time in reciting this part, because two alkalis had many other names (such as caustic soda, soda ash, sodium thiosulfate, sodium bicarbonate, and soda) and were the keynote in the examination, too. That was why he remembered this part so clearly.

“I see,” the chief alchemist looked through the chemical equations from the top to the bottom and said, “but what about the oil, Your Highness.”

“I’ll send those materials to you.” Animals’ oil was expensive that year, but after the guards found the olive seeds in Fallen Dragon Ridge in the last purchasing trip, Border Town had a reliable resource for plant oil. Although olives were planted in the castle backyard at a small scale, it would not be a problem to get plenty of olive fruits a day because of Leaf’s magic power to accelerate ripening.

Moreover, the process of squeezing the oil was easy, too. When the fruits were ready, you could filter out those scraps and dregs, and then you could get the limpid oil.

In the end, Roland did not let Kyle Sichi leave his office until he asked Kyle Sichi to simply repeat the method of making soap and the requirements of extracting glycerol.

In this way, he had acquired a stable channel of supplying the oil once the soap plant opened.

Last but not the least, he had glycerol, which meant that the real smokeless ammunition and powerful explosives were on their way.

Chapter 288: Mentor and Student

yle Sichi was walking across the town, towards Redwater River.

Border Town was now a bustling place, and it was hard to imagine that it was just an outpost for investigating the movements of demonic beasts. The floor beneath his feet was black and gray in color and there were bungalows neatly arranged on both sides of the street which were different from the residential quarters. These residentials were not for living, which was more spacious than the residential and looked more like a small warehouse.

According to His Highness, these houses would be for sale later.

There was a deep ditch in front of the bungalow which was covered by slates, looking like two border lines that were cut out on the black street. Other than that, there was a tree planted for every specific distance. And, the branches were closed to the center of the street in between of two bungalows which not only acted as a good shelter for the rain and sun, but also looked extremely beautiful.

He had to say that the place had given him a feeling that it was in order.

The houses, the roads, the ditches and the trees were all placed in the well-planned position. The degree of attention was not any less than the noble garden. It felt different walking in Border Town as compared to the main city area of Redwater City. The coordinated arrangement of the buildings in Border Town had a unique aesthetics even though the latter had more intensive and larger buildings. The aesthetics overshadowed the individual size of it and it looked more grandeur as a whole.

[It feels just like those consistent chemical formulas,] he thought, [that’s the beauty of order.]

Kyle had quite a reputation in the town today. The passerby would always nod and bow to him while addressing him as lord philosopher. However, he liked the title, master of chemistry more than the philosopher. Unfortunately, His Highness said that he had to understand “Intermediate Chemistry” before he could receive the honor.

Redwater River that traversed the Western Region could be seen after he walked out of the central area. There were four laboratories by the river and two of them were idle due to the lack of manpower.

A soldier who was wearing the First Army uniform walked towards him when Kyle was about to summon for several apprentices to complete the task His Royal Highness ordered.

“Your Excellency Sichi, there’s a sailing ship approaching the dock area and it was carrying over 50… civilians,” he bowed and said, “They’re stopped by the garrison because there’re a lot of them and they aren’t businessmen. One of them said he wants to see you and he claimed to be an alchemist from Redwater City. His name is…”

“Chavez!” Kyle excitedly grabbed the soldier’s shoulder. “Take me to him quickly.”

…

He pulled the soldier to the dock and a familiar figure came into his sight. It was really Chavez.

“My Respected Mentor!” Chavez quickly waved at Kyle once he found him.

“These’re the alchemists and apprentices I invited,” he went to the captain of the garrison and said, “you may let them enter, I’ll take them to the City Hall to register.”

“Yes, Your Excellency. However, please allow me to send a squad to escort them.”

“Alright.”

The escort was in fact surveillance and control to prevent anyone from the team sneaked into the central area of the town. However, this was the rules set by His Highness, Kyle had no intention to interfere.

“My Respected Mentor, what’s wrong with them? Why is there someone specifically watching the port even in a deserted town?” Chavez who was just released quickly walked beside him and unhappy complained. “And, they’re checking more strictly than the big city, even asking for our names and origins. I was giving them silver royals but it didn’t even change their mind.”

“Silver royals?” Kyle asked with interest, “How many?”

“One, of course.” Chavez was slightly shocked.

“Haha,” he laughed while touching his beard and said, “that certainly wouldn’t work. You should know that their remuneration is about fifteen silver royals per month.”

“Fi-Fifteen?”

“Well, the First Army has a more comfortable life than the city patrol that lives by extorting the merchants and travelers. However, because of this, extortion, looting or taking bribes is strictly prohibited and they’ll be immediately expelled from the army and imprisoned in the dungeon to accept trial if they were found doing any of these.” Although Kyle was not an official in the City Hall, however, he had replaced the chemical minister to attend several meeting. So, he had a certain level of understanding about the upper-level policy.

“Are they really able to keep their hands?” Chavez asked with suspicion.

“There were some uncontrollable, and they were sent to the mines.” He curled his lips. “Did you notice the uniqueness of this town when you were on your way?”

“Uh… There’s a lot,” the young alchemist said while scratching his head, “For example, there’re many people cutting down the trees and repairing the road along the river. Where are they heading to? And what’re these iron towers along the river banks for? Are they for storing drinking water?” He paused. “Oh yeah! Before arriving at the pier… I even saw an iron bridge under construction! It was not a wooden or a stone bridge, and I can confirm that it was iron!”

“And it was much longer than the bridge we usually see, wasn’t it?” Chief Alchemist smiled. “So, don’t bring the living experience from Redwater City here, for this is a very different city and of course… It’s also surprising enough for it’s just a little town now. It’s just like “Elementary Chemistry”, you won’t think of such possibility in the world without seeing it by yourself.”

Somehow, he felt carefree and cheerful in his heart when he spoke to his previous apprentice. Thinking about it, he noticed that he had regarded himself as a member of Border Town and he was like showing off his new home to the guests.

…

Upon completion of the registration, the apprentices were left to the City Hall officials for accommodation arrangement, and Kyle Sichi directly pulled Chavez back to his home.

“Although I knew that you’ll still accept my invitation in the end, I never thought that you’d come so fast.”

“I…” Chavez lowered his head with embarrassment. “I should have promised you before.”

Chief Alchemist Kyle smiled. He was obsessed with alchemy, but he was not totally oblivious to the world. Chavez initially did not choose to leave, and it was likely due to his expectations towards the lord and hoping to become the chief with the two-acids preparation method. It was not until Capola became the new chief and he had quite a bit of prejudice against him that he decided to leave Redwater City.

However, Kyle did not care about the charade as longing for the position as a chief of the workshop was the ultimate pursuit of every alchemist.

“Don’t keep the past in mind. Alchemy is meaningless here, and the alchemist glory is also not worth mentioning as there’s only one thing worthy of your pursuit here. That’s the chemistry.”

“I see.” Chavez took a deep breath.

“Although you can also be assigned to an independent house, you can just sleep here tonight, just like before… We’ve not talked for a long time.”

When he was teaching Chavez the alchemy skills, they would always have a long talk at night. They would squeeze on the same bed and fall asleep if they felt sleepy.

The other party apparently also understood his meaning and answered with excitement, “Yes, mentor!”

Both of them came to the study after dinner and Kyle carefully brought out a book named “Elementary Chemistry”.

“Is this the ancient book you’ve been lauding about?”

Chavez solemnly turned open the first page and started reading it carefully while Kyle was standing beside him to explain his doubts. This scene seemed to have returned to a few years ago and Chavez once again became Kyle’s student.

He would have sufficient manpower to test the large-scale production of sulfuric acid with Chavez and the more than 50 new apprentices, and the other two chemical laboratories could also start operating. Kyle happily thought, [Most importantly, His Highness has fulfilled his promise and passed me the ‘Secondary Chemistry’.]

Chapter 289: The West of the Western Region

ightning took out the “adventure supplies” that she carried with and checked it again.

Flint, tinder, bandages, dagger, map, and a bag of dry food, stuffed with beef floss.

“What about yours?” She looked to Maggie. “Check it again too.”

“Coo!”

Maggie put her hand into the bag. The cloth bag was usually hidden in her fluffy hair. It was difficult to see how many things it could fit in, and both the clothes and the bag would disappear into the thin air after she transformed into a bird. It did not seem to affect Maggie much as compared to Lightning’s flying ability being restricted by the weight. And, the best proof was that she pulled out more things than Lightning.

There were piles of food piling in front of Lightning, such as dried meat, meat floss, chicken drumstick, fish slices and eggs, etc.

“Oh God,” she said, “we’re going on an adventure, not a barbecue. You should at least bring a weapon.”

“Coo, coo!” Maggie touched her beak.

“Are you saying that your beak is a weapon?” Lightning sighed. “I wonder how you’re going to peck open his armor if you encounter a Judgement Army who dressed like an iron bucket! Aye, nevermind… Anyway, it’s just for a day, we shouldn’t encounter any danger. Let’s go.”

“Oh! Coo!” Maggie suddenly turned into a pigeon while running for two steps and flying close to the ground for a while before she could slowly rise.

Uh, perhaps the weight still had an impact on her.

Lightning pulled down her windproof glasses and gently took a leap, and she was already flying in front of Maggie.

She remembered the first time she saw Maggie was when she was launching a chase in the west of the forest. Although the fat pigeon did not escape from her, but at least it took her a lot of effort before she caught Maggie. Looking at her now, she would probably be caught in a blink of eyes.

It could not go on like his. It was so rare for Lightning to find a flying partner, and she would have to rely on Maggie to carry the adventure tools in the future. The little girl thought, [It seems like she would need some good exercise.]

“Coo, coo?”

Lightning slowed down her speed, flying side by side with Maggie. “Speak properly!”

“I want to ask you where we’re going to explore, coo?” Pigeon said while her beak was opening and closing.

“The west side of Misty Forest, I wanted to see how big the forest is.” Lightning spread the map and pointed at the white area of the west side. “And, I’ll fill it in at the same time and perhaps, we would be able to see where Redwater River comes from.”

After Maggie returned from the Fjords, Lightning immediately began to prepare for the adventure. Anyway, His Highness would not control where they fly during the free practice. And the little girl had a secret that she did not tell Maggie, which was that she did not dare to explore the forest alone anymore.

It was a shame for an explorer.

However, she could not deceive herself that the stone pagoda trip had made her fear for the deep forest. She could not help but want to quickly run away once she thought of those terrible monsters that may be hidden somewhere in the forest.

Luckily, she was still the daughter of the greatest explorer.

Thunder had mentioned to her that the way to overcome the fear was to approach it slowly, observe it, understand it, and ultimately she would find that “fear” was not so terrible.

Because it was the obstacles that came from the heart.

This adventure was one of Lightning’s attempts, and at least she felt bolder with the company of Maggie. The route she had chosen was also very safe, which was flying westwards along Redwater River and not flying deep into the forest, so it was unlikely to encounter the demon. After she flew through this route, she should be able to try flying alone next time. She believed that one day, she would complete an entire map of the west, and once again entered the stone pagoda and revealed the truth of Holy City of Taquila.

…

Lightning was controlling her speed at around 60 kilometers along the way. Now she had learned to accurately adjust her speed by controlling the release of her magic power, and she could continue to fly all day according to the current consumption.

The method of flying along the edge of the river and forest was easier for her. The entire sight was in a dark green color, and she could not tell the direction and height as it was gloomy and depressed compared to the last stone pagoda search. Lightning’s fear was fading away now with a sparkling silver belt and Maggie who was talking nonstop along the way.

“Look, there’s a mountain in front, coo!”

Lightning also saw the gigantic mountain. Albeit it was far apart, its gray figure had already described its towering height. At the same time, the hills area on of the riverside was drastically reduced, and the mountains that looked upon the sea seemed to be a closed inland. The closer they were to Redwater River, the closer they were to the silver belt.

“This mountain is a little too big.” She could not help being emotional. The silhouette of the mountain was increasingly clear with the decreasing distance. It was white on the top as if it was piercing straight into the clouds, although it was not like the Impassable Mountain Range that was rolling over thousands of kilometers. In terms of height, it was more than three or four times higher than the Impassable Mountain. The hills on the south side of the mountain were just a corner of it and the source of Redwater River came from this magnificent mountain.

“We’re at the end of Misty Forest!” Maggie screamed excitedly.

The dark green block beneath their feet was ended. The earth had restored the light green color and it looked like a grassland. However, looking further in front, there was a touch of darkness within the scope of sight and it covered the foot of the mountain.

“Let’s go down and take a look.” Lightning made a gesture while diving down toward the dark earth. She soon discovered that it was a ground formed by black-colored stones.

“What’s this?” Maggie pecked twice. “It seems not edible!”

“Of course not edible.” Lightning picked up a black stone and carefully looked at the array, which looked angular, and although it appeared to be black, a metal shine could be seen while turning it around under the sun. The stone was everywhere, mixing with the sparse soil. It looked as if the earth was entirely soaked in the black ink at the first glance. “It may be some kind of ores. Let’s bring two pieces back for His Highness to take a look.”

Next was the drawing work. She returned to the air and began to record the terrain around her in details.

They had spent almost half the morning flying from Border Town to the towering mountain foot, which also meant, it was about 240 kilometers away from the town which was further than Longsong Stronghold. And this mountain… Lightning suddenly came out with an idea. [What will be the scene behind such a huge mountain? Would it be a vast jungle, or the undulating hills and mountains?]

After the fear retreated, it was difficult to suppress it the idea once it came up.

There were obviously some difficulties to cross the mountain, and it was discouraging to simply looking at the white snow on top of the mountain. However, there was another route, which was to fly around the sea or even not around the back of the mountain, but simply flying oblique towards the center of the sea, which would allow them to cast their gaze behind the mountains.

Lightning called for Maggie and warned her not to tamper around before she put on her goggle, and suddenly increased her spead to the maximum and the magic power quickly vented out. The oncoming gust of wind blew her short hair backward, and the land receded while the blue ocean was filling her entire sight.

She could faintly see behind the mountain after flying for half an hour. It seemed to have another continuous mountain that isolated the sea and the land behind the mountain, but the next scene Lightning saw had scared her.

At the end of her sight was a layer of reddish-brown fog covering the mountains, as thick as the inseparable blood. The fog was spreading all the way to the west and there was almost no border to be found.

Chapter 290: The Investigation Plan

hen Roland was sitting at the desk thinking about how to launch air strikes against the palace in king’s city, he suddenly heard thumping sounds on the French window behind him.

Turning back, he saw Lightning bending over the window with a look of panic, while Maggie was squatting at her head and pecking the window quickly.

After Nightingale opened the window, the little girl immediately flew into Roland’s arms.

“What’s wrong?” Roland stared blankly for a moment and asked, “What happened?”

“Black stone coo! Huge snow mountain coo!” Maggie fell on the table and reported while patting her wings.

“Huh?”

“No,” Lightning muffled, “it was the demon. I saw demons!”

“What?” Roland looked serious, and he touched Lightning’s head to make her calm down. “Don’t panic. Just take your time telling me.”

For a moment, Lightning looked up from the prince’s arms, with her short blond hair in a mess. Around her eyes, there were two circles of light red marks, which were apparently reined by the goggles during the high-speed flying. She said, “I planned to draw the border of the Misty Forest. While I advanced to the west along the Redwater River, I found a huge mountain…”

After Lightning told what she had seen in detail, Roland could not help straining his eyes. The Red Mist by which demons lived was just behind the snow mountain. And it was only over 200 kilometers from the Western Region.

He cast a glance on Nightingale, who nodded and said, “I’ll call the other sisters.”

An emergency meeting was held in the castle office.

After Roland retold what Lightning had found, the crowd of witches, who experienced the killing night, all turned anxious. Especially Leaf, who killed two demons, could not help covering her mouth and screaming out in a low voice.

“Your Highness, I suggest a further exploration on the land covered by Red Mist,” Scroll said firstly, “after all, Lightning only took several glances from a distance. We’re not sure whether demons are entrenched under the Red Mist. Even we can confirm it, we shall investigate whether they can cross over the mountains by the sea or reach the Kingdom mainland along the coastline.

“I agree with Scroll,” Wendy nodded and said, “although the demons are powerful, a prepared defense is better than no response at all.”

As the two eldest witches in the Witch Cooperation Association, Scroll and Wendy always were the mainstays among the girls. Although others were still a little scared, no one would like to sit still waiting for death.

Roland also tended to adopt this suggestion. Since no one disputed, the basic plan was set down. The most important thing was how to implement the plan.

“How about using hot air balloon to detect the land?” Anna suggested, “we can cover the Cloud Gazer with sky-like camouflage and fly over the sea under the cover of the clouds.”

“You can bring Sylvie together,” said Nightingale. “Her ability is just appropriate to cope with this kind of situation.”

“OK,” Roland nodded and said, “and… I’ll go, too.”

“Your Highness!” after his words were spoken out, Wendy, Scroll and Nightingale blurted out at the same time to stop him. “You shouldn’t take this risk in person!”

“It’s not risky,” Roland waved his hand and said, “if the demons were able to fly over the sea or the mountain, they should have been all over the Four Kingdoms. However, they’re still entrenched in the Westernmost Land. The demons are obviously not as terrible as they might be.”

There was another reason he did not tell them. In judging the development degree of a heterogeneous civilization, he was more experienced than anyone—seeing the demons and their city with his own eyes would be extremely helpful to set up the development direction and tactics for accepting battles in the future.

“But…” Wendy expressed her hesitation.

“Don’t worry. We just look over from a distance,” the prince smiled and said, “if it’s still dangerous, I wouldn’t promise to let you go.”

“Well, but you must take me along,” seeing the prince could not be discouraged, Nightingale reworded firstly.

Looking at Nightingale’s serious eyes, Roland knew it was impossible to refuse her. After thinking for a while, he announced, “In addition to me, the staff members for this action are Anna, Wendy, Soraya, Nightingale, Lightning and Maggie.”

“We’re scheduled to start off in a week. In addition to the necessary food preparation, I’ll give each of you a revolver. Practice it during the week. Thus even the non-combat type witches can fight back when confronting enemies.”

Since the flying speed of hot air balloon was far slower than that of Lightning, it would take a whole day for them to cover the distance of more than 200 kilometers. Considering that they would need to camp for a night to complete the exploration, solid foods, tents and weapons were all necessities.

“Yes, Your Highness,” the witches answered.

Roland did not have time to check the black ore brought back by Lightning until everyone left.

“Did you say that this kind of stone was everywhere on the edge of the forest?”

“Yes,” Lightning already calmed down with her cheeks still a little flushed. She sat by the mahogany table with her feet shaking. “The closer we got to the bottoms of the mountains, the more rocks we found. Looking over from the sky, I found the land covered by the black stones was more than 10 times larger than the area of Border Town.”

Roland weighted the stone in his hand, and he was a little shocked.

Since it was lighter than the average stone, it was unlikely to be a metal ore. It looked hard and light, with a metallic luster, and it was exposed to the surface… Was it a coal mine?

Thinking of that, he hurriedly called Anna back.

Under the burning of Blackfire, the stone quickly turned red, which looked like the iron ore in the smelting furnace. But it was not dissolved. Even taking back Blackfire, the orange light it emitted was not weakened, and the cyan flame was still seeable on the surface.

Roland confirmed his guess that it was indeed a piece of high-quality anthracite.

“So the coal mine looks like this,” Lightning said with astonishment. “I once thought that it was as fragile and brittle as wood charcoal and had a lot of powder. Once touched, it would stain the palm.”

“What you said is the coal ball and coal cake after crushed and watered,” Roland laughed and said, “most mines are rock-like when they are mined, and the harder the better. The high-quality raw coal, like the stone, can even reflect a luster in the surface.”

This unexpected discovery made him overwhelmed with joy.

Coal was not rare in the Kingdom of Graycastle. In Fallen Dragon Ridge and Silver City, coal mines were produced mostly for kilns burning and heating. But in fact, it could be used in a very wide range. Before the popularity of the internal combustion engine, it was the burning coal that held up half the sky of steam power. The coking coal could replace charcoal to produce iron and steel, which was much more environmentally friendly than unbridledly cutting down trees. Even after entering the electrical age, coal could also be used to refine gas, hydrogen and asphalt, and generate electricity. It could be considered as an inexpensive and excellent fuel.

It was obviously much better to hold an open-pit coal mine than to rely on imports. The only problem was how to develop it.

Roland averted his gaze to the map newly drawn by Lightning.

It seemed imperative to build more steam concrete boats suitable for the inland river.

Chapter 291: The Notice

eanwhile, in the palace of Graycastle, Timothy was sitting on the throne and holding his scepter, looking down at Rayleigh Chenies, his Chief Alchemist. Rayleigh was complacent and respectful.

“Do you know which formula the traitor Boer stole?” Timothy asked.

“Yes, Your Revered Majesty. It was the last snow powder recipe that was invented by alchemist workshop. Please allow me to demonstrate.” Rayleigh bowed deeply.

After the new king had given him permission, Rayleigh waved to his apprentices in the back, indicating to set up for the test. Two of his students walked forward holding leather bags. Rayleigh laid some white paper out on the floor. He dumped the snow powder, from each bag, onto the paper and divided them into two fine lines. One was a light gray, while the other was much darker and closer to the color of gray charcoal.

“Your Majesty, please pay close attention. The pale powder is the first and original snow powder, while this darker one is a newer, more recent invention.” Rayleigh pulled out a fire-lighting stone and lit-up both of the powders on the paper. The pale powder burned slowly and produced a thick smoke, while the darker one was almost incinerated instantly, burning the paper beneath it.

“What does that mean?” Timothy said with a frown, “Burning a piece of paper doesn’t show me that it’ll overcome my dear sister’s weapon.”

“Of course not, My Revered Majesty.” Rayleigh smiled while stroking his beard. “Forgive me for asking this, but did you notice the smoke that was being emitted by the burning powder? It has a unique feature where the quicker the powder burns the more smoke it produces, making the powder rather formidable. I can prove it with this next test.”

This time, the apprentices brought forth two parchment bags tightly wrapped around fist-sized balls of the snow powders. Each one had a long string and the students ignited them before covering the bags balls with copper bowls. They all stared at the sparks as the fire traveled along the wicks, nearing the bowls.

“Your Majesty, please be aware. The noise is going to be very loud, so make sure you cover your ears.” Rayleigh suggested.

As soon as the Chief Alchemist had finished speaking these words, there was a loud bang and one copper bowl bounced up and turned over. The second was tossed high into the air, hitting the ceiling, and then bouncing a little, making a clear clashing sound as it made contact with the slate and granite.

“Damn it!” Timothy cursed silently while tightly clenching the scepter he had almost dropped. Unconsciously, he swallowed hard and complained in his heart. “Why didn’t this old man warn him a little earlier?”

He repressed his rage and turned his attention to the second blown-up bowl that one of the students had brought over for him to inspect. “After all, that old man is the anchor of the Alchemist Workshop in the king’s city and I need his help to develop alchemical weapons.”

He found that the copper bowl had been totally disfigured, whose outer-edge had become twice as large as if something powerful had hit if from the inside.

“After repeated testing, we discovered that the gas emissions from being ignited unlock the power of the snow powder, and this is why I suspect Boer decided to take this particular formula,” Rayleigh said this with confidence, “A dense ball, compressed and containing large amounts of snow powder would be powerful enough to rip their armor and men into pieces. I believe that the new snow powder formula will replace traditional weapons, such as swords, spears, bows, and arrows. Even a well-trained knight won’t be able to defeat a civilian who’s draped with bags of snow powder.”

Timothy noticed that the comment had triggered some of the knights, their faces turning sullen. When he noticed Steelheart Knight Weimar was about to step forward in protest, he quickly used his scepter to knock the floor and shouted, “Silence!”

After everyone had bowed their heads acknowledging his command, he turned his eyes back to Rayleigh Chenies and then asked, “Was the formula taken by the traitor the new formula?”

“No, Your Majesty,” Rayleigh shook his head and exclaimed scornfully, “He discovered the formula by accident when he was grinding it down to compound the snow powder. But, the storage, though small, of saltpeter is common in the alchemic workshop. However, what he took isn’t large enough for him to conduct more tests. And, my snow powder, the best formula based on massive testing, is far more powerful than the occasional accidental invention.”

“That’s good.” Timothy was relieved. He had known that Garcia had put a lot of spies in the King’s City, but yet he didn’t expect a spy to be hidden in the alchemist workshop. She had planned the traitorous theft involving Boer and 12 other apprentices. Generally speaking, alchemists were considered rare, but in the king’s city, where more than 20 alchemists resided, so losing one alchemist wasn’t a big deal. However, the tricky part was the fact this alchemist had made an extremely lethal snow powder just before leaving in the middle of the night before the formula had been recorded at the alchemist workshop.

Sadly, Timothy’s secret agent was unable to intercept Boer and the fleeing group, but he was able to catch the diversion spy. As soon as he had the information, he immediately ordered the prime minister to purchase all of the saltpeter in the city, and required the alchemist workshop to rediscover Boer’s snow powder formula. He was so pleased that this was accomplished in two months that the disrespectful old man didn’t seem as nasty as he once was.

Timothy cleared his throat before saying. “Well done. You’ll be granted 25 gold royals as a reward. Moreover, I’ll open a workshop in the inner city area to massively produce this quick-burning snow powder. Meanwhile, you’ll continue to do your research and discover any other applications for this snow powder.” “And you’ll be granted a title and land, but only if the snow powder is as powerful as you described, and allows a civilian to defeat a knight.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

After the chief alchemist had left, Knight Weimar could not help but step forward and say, “Your Highness, the snow powder may look scary, but it can’t defeat a knight. You have already seen that it’s only lethal when in very close proximity. Before a carrier could even get that close to me I can think of 10 different ways in which I could have already killed him. Even if they find a way to get near me, I can use the ignition time to slay him and then not even have to worry. What Rayleigh said is just the imagination of someone who has never witnessed a war.”

“We also think this, Your Majesty. “The other knights chorused.

“That’s why I order him to continue his research and find better applications,” Timothy comforted them. “Like a shortened ignition time or possibly find a way so it could be tossed. Of course, whatever kind of weapon it is, I always believe that my knights are better than mere peasants.”

However, what he had in mind was not exactly the same as what he was saying. The civilians, though they were indeed useless, weak, and cowardly, would become formidably lethal once they were weaponized with snow powder and under the control of the “madness” pills. At least, when sieging or attacking a shield formation, his army could breach the enemy’s defense line using only a few of the mad militias. Dispatching them while they were draped in bags of snow powder would open a gap through which they can then approach the target.

Suddenly, there were hurried footsteps outside the door. A guard rushed hastily into the great Hall and dropped to one knee before saying. “Your Majesty, it seems that the militia you sent to the Western Region has been defeated. From what I’ve been told the remaining wounded have returned to the king’s city, with a denouncement letter from Roland Wimbledon. Currently, the news is spreading quickly.”

“What?” Timothy was shocked. “Make them keep their mouths shut and bring the remaining soldiers to the castle!”

…

In the courtyard of the castle, the wounded militias congregated. They looked lousy and shabby, begging while kneeling on the ground like lumps of mud. “Your Majesty please show mercy. Please allow us to have some more pills. I can’t stand it anymore.”

[You all are a group of waste and are useless for anything but annoying the enemy. Any food consumed to keep you alive will be a complete waste. How dare you ask me for more pills?] Looking at them coldly, Timothy asked in a low voice, “What happened? How did you come to lose the battle? Anyone who can tell me the details clearly will be granted the antidote.”

Everyone shouted at once, “We were attacked on board and the fleet broke into chaos. Lord Knight commanded us to go ashore, but as soon as we reached the shoreline we were under a volley of crossbow bolts. The rain of arrows was so dense we couldn’t even defend ourselves. Finally, Lord Knight surrendered, as did the rest us.”

“Where’s the Lord Knight who led your troop?” Timothy asked.

“I, I don’t know, they escorted us to our camp, but no one has seen Lord Knight.”

Timothy’s frown deepened and his voice grew colder. “Then how did you make it back here?”

“Prince Roland released us.” one of them answered quickly, “He gave everyone a letter, and told us to bring them to you.”

“Every one of you?”

“Yes, I’ve got one here!”

“Your Majesty, I have the letter too!”

They scrambled and shouted, pulling out the ‘letters’ sent from Roland.

“Hell! He really gave this damn letter to everyone?” Timothy beckoned to the guard to hand over the letters and he found that each letter had the same passage.

“I’m sorry about your foolishness, Timothy Wimbledon. You’ll soon understand how big of a mistake you’ve made by invading the Western Region repeatedly, and what you’ve done to us will be repaid. I’ve decided to march into the king’s city at the beginning of the September, by then you’ll find that you aren’t as safe as you expected, and every civilian will notice that your throne is hanging by a thread.”

“Roland Wimbledon.”