Release that Witch

Roland was frightened by the sentence ”we don’t have much time left”, but he was a bit relieved after hearing the full explanation. ”Don’t stop in the halfway. It sounds scary.”

”You think five years is a long time?” Agatha frowned and said, ”The timing was accurate at the first and the second Battles of Divine Will. I don’t know why the cycle has now been shorten, and... it may become even shorter.”

”I thought you would say the Bloody Moon would come this winter,” Roland shrugged and replied. According to the current research and development plan, he would be able to universalize the new firearms throughout the whole army in one year. As long as the enemies were not impervious to blades and spears, they still had a chance to win the war. The only thing he needed to pay attention to was that the construction of the territory should be developed to an extent where it was able to support a long lasting war. This required its land, population and resources to be all at a high level, and that the territory had sufficient strategic depth to allow people to retreat temporarily and recover upon a defeat.

Therefore, the difficulty did not lie in weapons, but in the establishment of two to three industrial cities to constantly provide population, ammunition and food. Logistics guaranteed a victory, while staff guaranteed logistics. In the end, he found what he needed most were still reliable leaders, cadres and clerks. Without these, even he had unified the Kingdom of Graycastle, he still could not integrate it into a war machine, and the nobility would probably drag him down.

It’s indeed true that a country capable of waging a war always has a high level of educational popularity.

”What’s this weapon called?” Agatha suddenly changed the topic, ”Back then, I remember you called it 152mm Stronghold... ”

”Stronghold Standard Artillery,” Roland added, ”There’ll be naval artilleries in the future.”

”If you can fill the city wall with weapons like this prior to the arrival of the Bloody Moon, we probably can resist the attacks from demons. According to Kyle Sichi, what I made in the chemistry lab is also a part of the cannon, right?” Agatha seemed to be determined and said, ”I’ll try my best to produce liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen, as long as you can... ”

”Don’t worry.” He comforted her. ”We’ll defeat demons.”

*******************

”Was this all that I needed to do today?” Evelyn dipped her finger into the wine and touched her tongue. The spicy taste appeared to be more instense. According to His Highness’ requirement, the purer the white liquor was, the better it would taste. The best spirit did not even have any water, and every drop of it was mellow and rich—although she felt the white liquor she made became increasingly close to what His Highness described, it could lesser and lesser be considered as ”tasty”.

”Yes, good work.” The manager of the brewery labeled the wine jars and nodded to her. ”Remember me to His Highness.”

”Can you... really sell these?” Evelyn asked, confused. From her past experience of running a tavern, she was afraid that only few people could take such a spicy flavor.

”For this, I don’t know either,” the manager smiled and said, ”but there would be someone coming to ship liquors every now and then, so I think there’re still some people who like it.”

Evelyn was relieved instantly. If nobody was willing to drink this, not only did His Highness fail, but she herself would become useless as well... It was fortunate that things turned out not to be what she thought was, and it appeared that His Highness was a true great noble who knew the taste of the nobility very well. She smiled, ”I’ll take off then.”

Evelyn left the brewery and went across the streets filled with bitterly cold wind. Upon returning to the castle, she sensed the warm air surrounding her. The world inside the castle was totally different from the one outside. She took a deep breath, taking off her coat to be closer to the warmth.

This kind of comfortable life was unimaginable at all in the past. In winter, she used to either tightly sit with her families by a brazier, or curl up beneath a blanket. ”What’s the difference between the life in the castle and the Kingdom of God that the church has alleged to be like spring all the year round? Plus, His Highness had said that he would popularize the central heating system throughout the residential area, and enable all the subjects to stay away from the piercing coldness of the Months of the Demons.” She had no idea how many believers of the church had arrived at the Kingdom of God, but in here, witches who were considered as Devil’s minions and ordinary civilians were the first to enjoy this privilege. If it was known by those believers, they would probably grit their teeth out of envy.

His Royal Highness is truly capable of everything.

Across the hall, Andrea, Ashes and Shavi were playing poker.

”Double eight!”

”Pass.”

”Double two! I win,” Andrea smiled proudly and said, ”Ashes has the most cards, six. Hand over the IOU for ice cream!” Then she turned around and waived at Evelyn, ”Hey, do you want to play with us?”

Out of curiosity, Evelyn could not help asking, ”What’s an IOU for ice cream?”

”That’s a bet,” Ashes waived her hand and continued, ”Whoever has the most IOUs will have to give her next ice cream bread to the winner. How does it sound? Do you want to give it a shot?”

Evelyn was very hesitated. ”This is a rare chance for her to make conversations with combat witches. If it was on the Sleeping Island, both Andrea and Ashes would be figures only next to Lady Tilly, who were rarely seen, and would certainly not invite her to join their activities voluntarily. Besides, Fighting the Landlord is indeed very interesting, with simple rules but numerous variations, and it also requires teamwork. One can easily spend the whole day just playing it. However...”

”Um, it’ll be the final exam soon. Aren’t you going to review what you’ve learned?”

”Did you mean the exam for that basic course in the evening?” Andrea pouted and said, ”It’s very simple. Probably I can pass it without much reviewing.”

The other two seconded with a nod.

Right... Andrea is the nobility, whose insight and knowledge are greater than ordinary people. Both Ashes and Shavi can read and write. It appears now that she’s the one that falls behind.

”I... I might as well not play,” she hesitated for a moment and said, ”and I’d better go back to my room and do some reading. You guys please continue.”

Leaving the three people who were a little surprised behind, Evelyn rushed to Witch House. She pushed the wooden door open, and found Candle sitting at the table in the living room practicing the arithmetic exercises at the back of the textbook.

”You’re back?”

”Yes.” Seeing the hard-working Candle, she felt a lot relieved at once. ”How did your revision go?”

”Not bad. Nature and arithmetic are a little hard to understand,” Candle smiled and said. ”How about you?”

”Me too,” Evelyn nodded and said, ”Let’s list all that we don’t understand and ask Miss Anna in the evening.”

”Sounds good.”

According to Miss Scroll, these books were written by His Royal Highness himself, and they were part of his knowledge in his head. If she mastered them, did it mean that she would also possess one part of his almightiness? Evelyn thought in secret that although she couldn’t change the ability she was born with, at least she could achieve progress in this regard by working hard. Even if the nobles no longer liked to drink spicy white liquor, she could still work as a teacher in the territory rather than being useless. To this end, she pretty much read the textbook and studied those difficult phrases and equations whenever she had time, and she had become a frequent visitor of Anna’, Scroll’ and Wendy’s room.

She had the lowest score during the last test, but she firmly believed that it would not be the case this time.

”Let me set an achievable goal first—I want to exceed Maggie! ” she said to herself.