Release that Witch

...

After the banquet, Lotus and Wendy were called into Roland’s office.

”Did everything on Sleeping Island go well?” he said to Lotus with a smile, ”I hope I didn’t bring you any trouble during Tilly’s absence.”

”Of course not.” Lotus nodded and then whispered, ”Oh... well, you gave me a scarf as a present last time, and I haven’t thanked you yet.”

”Don’t be so formal.” Roland waved his hand slightly. He knew that they would become less familiar with him after a period of time away, but this did not mean their personal relationship would be broken. Actually, this unfamiliarity was just temporary... He believed they would soon be able to be comfortable in this union again as long as he treated them as usual. ”It seems that a lot has changed here, but it basically remained the same as when you left—please just make the City of Neverwinter your home.”

”Yes.” Wendy touched her head. ”You’re still our sisters.”

”Okay.” Lotus lowered her head in a show of embarrassment, however, she seemed to be more relaxed.

”After you arrived at the castle, I saw something weird... Aren’t Iffy and Softfeathers witches from Sleeping Island?” Roland changed the topic because he had noticed that, whenever they discussed and talked about the old days, the two witches seemed alienated from others. Although they would speak now and then, they appeared to be less communicative than Sylvie, Evelyn, Candle and other witches who talked with each other joyfully. He did not know if it was just an illusion, but he felt that Evelyn and Candle feared these two witches a little.

”Yes, they did come from Sleeping Island, however, they’re a little different...” Lotus briefly introduced their background. ”I don’t know why Lady Tilly sent witches from the Bloodfang Association here, either.”

”Iffy is a combat witch?” Roland asked a little shocked.

”Yeah. She can summon a cage made from magic power and thereby capture more powerful enemies than herself. Even Ashes, if she’s not wearing the God’s Stone of Retaliation, would find it hard to get out of, once trapped.

”What about Softfeathers?” Wendy asked with curiosity.

”Although she is not a combat witch, she is also powerful,” muttered Lotus. ”Any object she is touching becomes sticky as long as she touches it, and they can’t be separated once they’re stuck together unless the magic power fails—but according to what she said, the stickiness can last for a long time as long as she uses enough magic power.”

”This kind of ability could be widely used, right?” Roland was very surprised and exclaimed. ”That’s unbelievable! The Wolfheart Kingdom’s witch, Heidi Morgan, agreed to send these powerful witches to us?”

”Well, the members of the Bloodfang Association are very powerful. They not only have many combat witches but the rest of the non-combat witches have superior abilities as well. They did a lot for the quick construction of Sleeping Island.” Lotus sighed and appeared to be very reluctant to admit this. ”However, they always feel they’re superior to others, and often bully the witches with less abilities. The number of witches in the Fjords would have dropped by more than half if it wasn’t for Lady Tilly’s great efforts to stop them.”

”So, this may be the reason why Evelyn and Candle looked afraid in front of them,” he thought. ”OK, I got it. Just have a good rest today.” Roland comforted Lotus and then looked at Wendy, saying, ”Well, please arrange for their accommodation and keep the witches of the Bloodfang Association away from them. I’ll test their abilities in detail tomorrow.”

”Yes, Your Majesty,” Wendy said while stroking her chest.

After the two witches left, Nightingale appeared beside him with a fillet in her mouth and asked, ”Do we need to ask someone to keep an eye on them?”

”There won’t be much of a problem since they still belong to Sleeping Island.” Roland shrugged and said. ”The witches to the Fjords have never had to experience life and death together like the witches of the Witch Cooperation Association. They’re blended with many other witch groups. In reality, it isn’t strange for them to have such opinions.” As the saying went, it was very odd for a party to form without any smaller factions. Things like this will also happen in the Witch Union sooner or later when it expands. However, the competition among factions also has its merits. Internal competition will make the Union become stronger as long as the competition is benign. I’m just puzzled about why Tilly sent combat witches here. If she just wants me to train them on behalf of her, she can also send assistant witches here, not to mention the fact that Breeze still stands by her.”

”She probably clarified it in her letter.” Nightingale guessed.

”Oh, you remind me of the letter.” Roland patted his forehead and took the envelope from the drawer. He spread it out on the table. In addition to the five witches, Tilly also brought a stack of ancient books and a letter in her own handwriting. Due to the banquet, he had yet to check them.

In her letter, Tilly introduced the background of the ancient books and the odd parts of these books in detail. Then, she put forward her ideas about Sealine and hoped that Roland could help Thunder build a ship that could go against the current. Actually, Thunder had told Roland himself about the latter part. What Roland was shocked most was about the first half. He thought to himself, ”The books are from different ages and places and they were collected and put into these remains. Some of the contents of these books had even disappeared for hundreds of years, which meant someone had come across the remains on the seafloor. Who were these people?”

On the back of the letter was a brief introduction to the ability of the two new witches, and what Roland cared about most was the last paragraph at the end of the passage.

”What we know about this world is still vague and obscure, and our knowledge is not even as thorough as the Unions four hundred years ago. If we want to defeat our enemies, we should know about our enemies first—In this regard, their abilities could probably help us.”

After reading the letter, he couldn’t help but fall into his thoughts.

”Know about your enemies... offer help... what’s Tilly trying to say?” He thought.

Roland read the introduction to their abilities again, and suddenly he came up with a shocking idea.

Does Tilly want...

”Oh, no, that would be insane,” thought Roland. He shook his head quickly. However, once the idea had crossed his mind, it would not leave. ”Though risks do exist, the reward would be very handsome. In fact, those boxes of magic stones left by Agatha are really tempting. If they are made into sigils, then they would be as significant as a steam engine...” Actually, he had thought about it before, but it was very difficult to put into practice. So, he had to give it up. Now, with the help of Iffy and Breeze, he seemed to suddenly get closer to his goal.

”What does the letter say?” Noticing his strange look, Nightingale bent down and touched his forehead. ”Hey, are you all right?”

”Not very good. I almost have a heart attack.” Roland laughed helplessly. ”Unfortunately, Tilly just left me to make the decision without any explanation.”

”What kind of decision?” She asked curiously.

”To capture the demons,” Roland said slowly, one word at a time.