Release that Witch

Combining the two techniques should allow the telephone signal to be read as far as a few hundred kilometers without a relay, which basically lets it cover most of the residential areas in the Western Region, and would allow Neverwinter to receive real-time updates from the defensive line in the Impassable Mountain Range.

If he wanted to further extend the range, he would then have to use a signal relay.

The reason why Roland chose to develop the wire telephone was not only because he was inspired by Anna’s words, but also because of the vast usage and practicability of this tool. It would serve as a crucial piece for controlling the political situation, enhancing the centralization of the government, and commanding the wartime efforts.

More importantly, the industrial projects in Neverwinter had already reached a saturation point.

The new immigrants still had to pass the primary education before they can be absorbed into the various industries. The four major industries—civil construction, mineral processing, machine manufacturing, and chemical production—had occupied over 90% of the workforce. According to current predictions, it would not be difficult for these four industries to employ 60,000 to 70,000 new immigrants once they pass through primary education.

As these industries were vital for future war efforts, their production could not be interrupted. On the other hand, the bicycle plant, which was enthusiastically built by Roland in the beginning, wasn’t even able to meet the demand of the First Army. The city hall would first shut down the bicycle factory whenever there is a power shortage and reallocate the workers to the steam engine plant whenever there is a shortage of manpower.

Even though construction on Kingdom Main Street and Route 67 had already been completed, and Border Area neither raised horses nor stables for horses to rest in, the roads were still mainly used by carriages that came from the Longsong Area or other cities. Also, with the construction of the railway already underway, the citizens never did start riding bicycles between the Border Area and the Longsong Area.

Of course, Roland would never admit to Barov that he had made this strategic mistake. Since then, he would always take into account of Neverwinter’s production capability when planning for new facilities.

The phone happened to be a good product that wouldn’t burden Neverwinter’s output, and it also does not require much maintenance.

First of all, Roland would not provide telephone to the market. He would only provide it for military communication purposes and basic communication between the Border Area and the Longsong Area. Roland only intended to lay down a one-to-one cable that connects both sides. In this way, it would save him the time and energy of setting up a complex wire network.

Secondly, starting with a limited number of telephone systems meant that it would only require Anna, Mystery Moon, and Soraya to help out during their spare time without having to utilize Neverwinter’s labour force.

Moreover, once they manage to produce vacuum tubes, they could develop telecommunication for the public.

Therefore, the wire telephone is the most appropriate project to start with before exploring the Great Snow Mountain with the Taqila survivors.

…

The prototyping stage of manufacturing phones went smoother than he had expected. By afternoon, two basic telephones containing magnetic speakers appeared in the backyard of North Slope Mountain.

It had no shell and looked like an assembly of a coil of wire and magnets. It was equipped with a hand-operated generator and a ”Mini Dawn” battery. Due to the low power requirements, the battery was only as thick as a finger and could last for at least a month, saving him from the trouble of making an independent dry battery.

”How does this work?” Mystery Moon asked curiously, ”Can my ability really do this?”

Roland naturally ignored the second half of her sentence. ”It’s very simple. Watch carefully... This hand-operated generator is used to start a call. When the user rotates it quickly...” He grabs the handle and rotates it forcibly, and the magnetic bell on the other side suddenly rang out a sound of ”jingling”. ”That ringing means that there’s a call coming.”

He gave Anna a glance, and she picked up the earpiece and the voice tube.

”When the earpiece is picked up and the switch pops up, it means the voice line is connected and people on both sides can start talking. The current that transmits the electrical signals is provided by Mini Dawn, so without this copper bar enchanted by Mystery Moon, the telephone can only ring but no sound would be transmitted.”

”Oh, I see!” Mystery Moon thrust her chest out and vigorously nodded her head twice.

”Your Majesty, may I try speaking through it?” Soraya was eager to try.

”And me.” Ring raised her hand up high.

”Of course... It was created by all of you, and naturally, you’re eligible to be the first few to experience this era-defining communication tool.” Roland laughed. There was no need to explain the significance of the phone, since it completely changed how humans could communicate with each other across distant worlds. ”There will be no signal attenuation in such a small yard, so connecting the phone with ordinary copper wire will do.”

In a quiet, snow-covered forest, a crisp bell rang out continuously. Obviously, they could talk through the phone directly, but they insisted on starting over again, from the step of rotating the handle to generate electricity.

”There really is a voice!”

”It sounds like Lucia!”

”Uh, what should I say?”

”Let her guess who you are!”

The witches, who were separated by the wall, were vying to shout at the voice tube. For a few moments, peals of laughter echoed from both ends of the yard.

Roland also tried out listening twice. To be honest, he thought the prototype wasn’t very good. The voice he heard fluctuated a lot and there was a lot of static. Anyways, it was definitely not up to standard. But he knew that as long as he kept adjusting the size of the metal reed and the space between the electromagnets, he would find the right parameters for the best call quality.

Soon, the voice tube reached Roland’s hand once again.

He shook his head with a smile and placed the earpiece beside his ear and habitually said, ”Hello?”

He heard nothing but interference from the weak conductance of the copper cable.

For some reason, he knew who it was on the other side of the phone as if their hearts were linked.

”Anna...?” Roland whispered.

After a moment, he heard a slightly distorted reply.

”I like you... Roland.”

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

After protecting Roland for a whole day, Nightingale returned to her bedroom in a bad mood.

This was not the first time she felt like this because she did not understand anything that the others were saying. And every time this happened, only dried fish and ice cream bread could comfort her.

Well... now there were also the Chaos Drinks.

She truly envied the intimacy between Roland and Anna. Meanwhile, a faint but unceasing bitterness flooded her. She thought that she would get used to it sooner or later, but it turned out to be harder than she had imagined.

The more invested she got in her feelings, the deeper the thorns dug into her heart.

Now Nightingale somewhat understood what Wendy had told her.

She walked to the table and pulled open the drawer, but she found out that the bottle inside was empty.

Did I take the wrong one?

So she pulled open another drawer and found that bottle inside was empty too.

”Wendy? My Chaos...” As soon as Nightingale turned around, she was hugged by her roommate, and Wendy’s ample bosom almost squeezed her out of breath.

”Nightingale, how many years have we known each other? You’ve been with me since you left the Gilen Family in Silver City, right?”

”Yeah... almost four or five years, but my Chaos...”

”We’ve experienced so many dangers and hardships along the way before today. Nothing can undermine our friendship, right?”

”Of course, I’ve always treated you like a sister, but my Chaos...”

”I drank all your drinks. I’m sorry!” Wendy held her even closer. ”I’ll definitely make it up to you with my share next month.”

What? All of them?

Nightingale fumbled the bag of dried fish and felt that it was empty too.

Only dried fish, ice cream bread, and Chaos Drinks can comfort her.

Now, all of them were gone.

Nightingale heard a crack in her heart.

In an instant, the bitterness flooded her once again.