Release that Witch

Roland was debating which kind of incendiary weapon was easier to manufacture when a guard came in. ”Your Majesty, the ambassadors of the Northern Region requested to see you.”

[It has been just one day...] Roland thought, feeling a bit surprised. [Are they planning to directly turn down my offer without even letting the duke know?]

”Bring them to the drawing room.” He instructed after a momentary silence. ”Also, ask Carter to block all the exits to the Foreign Affairs Building and stop the emissary delegation from getting out.”

”Yes, Your Majesty.”

Since they had refused to agree to his policies, it left him no choice but to detain them by force.

...

When Roland entered the drawing room, he noticed that the pair across the long table had switched their seatings. The lady, who claimed to be the assistant to Cole, was sitting in the guest of honor seat, whereas Cole was sitting next to her with a book in his hand.

”Your Majesty, I’m the first daughter of the Duke of the City of Evernight, Edith Kant, Cole’s sister. Please accept the best regards from the Kant Family.” The lady rose and performed a perfect curtsy. ”Please forgive Cole for not introducing me during our first meeting.”

”Calvin’s daughter?” Roland was intrigued by this turn of the events and after a short pause said, ”So you’re the real leader of the emissary delegation?”

”Yes.” She placed her hand on her chest. ”My father has authorized me to act on his behalf with respect to all matters concerning this visit and has also given me his seal.”

It was fairly rare for a woman to participate in political affairs in this era, especially for a young and pretty one. Judging from Edith’s confident expression, Roland could tell it was evidently not her first time to deal with heads of state. Every trait of her demeanor was impeccable. As to holding back her real identity, Roland knew it was simply a little trick to draw his attention. It was not a deliberate act of concealment or deception whatsoever, but just a disguise to mislead the other party. Most nobles would view it as a bold and playful move, which he had to admit was really effective.

”In other words, you can make the decision on behalf of your father?”

”Yes, Your Majesty. More accurately, he’ll follow my advice.”

[That’s such a confident answer,] thought Roland, who was amused to see Cole scratching his head beside his sister.

”Alright... So, Miss Edith, what’s your purpose of this meeting?”

Roland had thought she would politely decline his terms or talk him out of implementing the new laws using a more ”playful” tactic, but he did not expect to see her taking out a booklet from her backpack and spreading it on the table. That was the exact booklet he had drafted.

”I have a few questions to ask you.” Edith came straight to the point. ”You said feudal nobles will be obsolete as the centralized power increases. However, how are you going to guarantee the effective management of all the local authorities in the Kingdom without the assistance of nobles?”

[Is she... planning to discuss politics with me?] Roland thought.

From her sincere look, Roland knew she was serious.

It had been a long time since he had heard such an interesting question.

”By people and the development of technologies,” Roland answered after pondering for a long time.

”Do you mean free men? What’s the development of technologies?”

”Correct. A management team trained, paid and disbursed by the City Hall. Since the City Hall will provide labors and necessary equipment, administrators aren’t required to have large properties or affluent manpower. Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether they’re nobles or not.” Roland started to explain what a centralized government should look like and how ordinary people could get promoted, as well as the practical significance of technologies in domain control. It took him an hour to detail everything.

”How are you going to avoid dereliction of duty among the administrators of the king’s city?

How will the trade be distributed after the unification of the Kingdom of Graycastle?

And can you really evaluate the performance of your policies with productivity?”

”...”

Edith’s eyes glistened with excitement as she raised more questions. It had been about noon by the time they finally closed their conversation. She heaved a sigh of relief. ”I see. You did have a thorough consideration before writing down the opening statement.”

Roland sipped the tea in satisfaction. As a person who did not major in political science, this was all he could talk about regarding politics.

”Thank you very much for your time, Your Majesty. I didn’t expect you would answer my questions in such detail.”

”The very basic requirement for a City Hall in the new era is to publicize the policies and enable everybody to have a comprehensive understanding of its contents. Only in this way will things go well when it comes to the implementation.”

Edith gave an approving nod and then switched the topic. ”Could you provide the Northern Region with the equipment and workers for manufacturing steam engines?”

”I’m afraid I can’t provide the workers as the City of Neverwinter is also short of manpower. But you’re welcome to send your men to study here, provided that the nobles in the Northern Region waive their feudal rights and agree to be under the supervision of the City Hall.”

”You’ll also teach them how to manufacture paddle steamers?”

”Of course. As long as they’re willing to pay gold royals, this won’t be a problem. However, it’ll be hard to move the production line to the north in a short period of time without the assistance of witches.”

”I’m very surprised by your honesty, Your Majesty.” She meditated for a while. ”But there’s one thing I don’t quite understand. According to your plan, you can easily unify the whole Kingdom of Graycastle in ten years. By then, the new policies won’t face any backlash from the public and you won’t really need to care about our opinions. Why are you so anxious to implement these new laws?”

Roland was silent. It took him quite a while to reply. ”Do you really want to know the reason?”

Edith did not expect he would speak in such a grave tone, so her manner tightened into formality as well. ”Yes.”

”Then follow me.” Roland rose. ”I’ll show you one thing.”

...

Roland led Edith to the backyard in shadows of trees and took her to the wooden shed at the center of the olive woods.

A demon, whose limbs had been amputated, was lying on a long table. There were all sorts of vials and flasks piling around him. Agatha was taking his blood samples to complete the final step of the preparation.

”My goodness, what’s... this?” Edith had cried out in a low voice in disbelief, but Roland noticed she was simply shocked but not afraid.

”I should have locked the shed and asked Leaf to surround the whole yard.” Agatha frowned. ”Don’t tell me that you plan to let a common people participate in the sigil manufacture. If I were integrating the God’s Stone, I would have probably failed already.”

”Of course not... We won’t be here long.” Roland coughed to conceal his embarrassment and then turned to Edith. ”The creature you see is of a different race. It’s what you rumored as a demon. They live to the north of the Impassable Mountain Range and are also the biggest enemies that human beings are to face. The war between the demons and mankind has nothing to do with domains or wealth, but with life and death.”

”Demon? A war of life and death?” Edith muttered involuntarily.

”Right. It’s a long story that the church has been keeping as a secret. It can be dated back to 1,000 years ago when people called it—the ’Battle of Divine Will’.”