Release that Witch

After Camilla Dary left, Ashes stepped out of the study.

She sat on her knees on the rug, hands stretching out to Tilly, and said, ”come here.”

”I’m fine...”

”Don’t pretend to be okay. There are no other people.” Ashes interrupted her.

Tilly twitched her lips and finally moved her body. She thrust herself into Ashes’ chest, back facing her.

Hearing the strong heartbeats of Ashes coming through her clothes like rhythmical drumbeats, Tilly felt calm and reassured.

”Thank you,” Tilly said softly.

”Don’t push yourself too hard. If we make a wrong decision, the worst scenario is that we go back to the Sleeping Island.” Ashes gently smiled and said, ”If you leave, I’m sure Roland Wimbledon won’t stop you, for you have all the witches in the Witch Union backing you up.” She paused for a while and continued, ”besides, you don’t need speak so resolutely. In this way, you don’t need to suffer such great pressure now.”

Princess Tilly shook her head and said, ”I must be convinced before persuading the other witches to trust me. If I’m somehow hesitant and confused, the decision will go nowhere.”

Though she appeared to be very confident in the decision, she was still a little concerned. She was not worried about Roland. In fact, he had expressed his attitude when he had agreed to continue to use the Sleeping Spell to manage the immigrated witches. She was only concerned about two things. After living an exclusive life for nearly two years, could those 300 some witches smoothly fit in Neverwinter? When the Battle of Divine Will was over, would common people change their views about witches?

These were unknown risks and also the problems Tilly had to think about. In the eyes of the other witches, she looked very confident and spunky, but only several witches understood her concerns. After all, from now on, she had to bear responsibilities for over 300 witches, not just for herself. It could be said that all the witches on Sleeping Island felt more relaxed after the church was defeated, except her, for her responsibilities were even greater.

”Just do what you’ve thought.” Ashes embraced her from her back. ”The immigration won’t start until the end of the next Months of Demons. If you still feel worried, you can spend the remaining months conducting a thorough investigation.”

”Is the Charming Beauty ready to sail?”

”Anytime.”

”Don’t forget your textbooks and exercise book. You can learn some new knowledge on the way.”

”Uhm...If I read books in the cabin, I’ll be seasick.”

”If you want to protect me, you have to become stronger than this. For example, you can try to be a legendary Transcendent... How can you be stronger without studying?”

Ashes mumbled agitatedly, ”OK, ok, I got it.”

”Don’t worry. If there is something that you can’t understand, you can ask me at any time. You should know that I have nothing to do on the ship.”

”Yes, yes, yes. As you wish, Your Highness.”

”Fortunately, I am not alone anymore.” Tilly thought.

No matter what will happen to them afterward, someone would always accompany me.

”Yeah,” Tilly replied her. She closed eyes and felt the warmth coming from her back. It felt like her heavy responsibilities were greatly reduced.

The wind was still chilling outside the windows while the inside was warm like in spring.

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

To establish a Joint Chamber of Commerce was a complicated matter, for each treaty needed repeated amendments. Roland left it to Barov and Edith and then turned his attention to the winter operation plan.

Undoubtfully, Months of Demons of this year came much later than that of last year. Today was the last day of late fall, but there were no signs of snow, except for a grey sky outside the windows.

It was good news to Neverwinter. The later the Months of Demons came, the more residential buildings would be built by the construction team.

Based on the reports of City Hall, the Western Region was richer in all materials this year than past years, especially in grain. The Stronghold Area had yielded ten times higher grain than the average amount of the past years. Luckily, Petrov had built grain storages in time and half of the wheat was sent to the Border Area, as the stronghold could not house such a large amount of grain.

With enough grain, he felt more secured to do anything.

Besides, there was enough ammunition. After Anna had improved the new generation machine tool and processing machinery, they were first used to process and load bullets, so the productivity had enhanced a lot. At the same, the shortage of bullets after the battle with the church was pretty much filled.

Due to the fact that he had enough grain and weapons, Roland could not help thinking of other plans.

The First Army took priorities to prevent demonic beasts and guard Neverwinter, but it seemed a waste to have thousands of soldiers all in the city. After all, most of demonic beasts would attack the big breach of Hermes while only a small part of separated beasts would attack one side of Misty Forest. Additionally, the firepower capability of the First Army was more than ten times stronger than that of last year. In such a case, some common demonic beasts could not even approach the city wall.

Besides, why he was eager to make other plans was that there were no rivals on the whole continent against the First Army, not even demonic beasts. When fighting against Duke Ryan, he had had to spare no efforts and used all guns and cannons. But now, he just needed to dispatch a team of 500 soldiers, and they could defeat all knightage who dared to directly confront them.

So when an army defended the city wall, he could also dispatch another unit to open a second battlefield. Was it possible to be a way of reducing the burden of next year’s expedition?

Roland found it not a tricky question. As before when Months of Demons came, endless heavy snow completely blocked the entire Western Region. However, since Neverwinter had dozens of cement carriers, land transportation was no longer a problem. Further, the First Army could also utilize Redwater River to transport soldiers and materials to their destination.

As long as he made a good plan, Neverwinter could be totally capable of winning two battles at the same time. ”Ah, it sounds somehow a monopoly.”

After receiving Hill’s letter, Roland ordered the Nothern Region to be ready for a war. That was not a bluff. If the King of Dawn, Appen Moya, indeed neglected his warnings and arrested the messenger’s party, he would have to change his plans and take the priority to force Appen to free them. However, a cross-border war required a considerable logistic support. If there were fewer soldiers, they could not continue fighting. Plus, Hermes Plateau which was guarded by the church would fall apart at any time. Therefore, it was not an appropriate time to declare a war to a neighboring country at this moment.

But luckily, the delegation arrived safe and sound, so he could target a place closer to the Western Region.

”Your Majesty, did you request to see me?”

As the door of the office was open, Iron Axe strode in.

”Are you interested in returning to your hometown in winter? If you go back now, it won’t be so hot there yet.” Roland spread out a very roughly-drawn map of the Graycastle and pointed to the bulging corner in the south. He smiled and asked, ”I remember that both you and Echo come from the land of the desert?”

He wanted to conquer the Southernmost Region in winter, the habitat for Mojin Clan.