Release that Witch

Tilly cried for nearly an hour before she finally fell asleep. Roland put her on a couch, his cheeks and clothes smeared with Tilly’s tears and snot. The latter was still shaking with sobs uncontrollably when Roland disengaged himself.

Tilly obviously did not wish the witches from Sleeping Spell to see her cry like this, so Roland asked Anna to bring Tilly to the master bedroom on the third floor of the castle.

Anna wiped Tilly’s tear-streaked face as her breath gradually steadied as sleep broke over her. Apparently, she had burned out after working non-stop for weeks since Ashes’ death. Anna gathered this was probably how Tilly coped with pain — by immersing herself in work and thereby temporarily detaching herself from the cruelty of reality.

”Please stay with her tonight,” Roland said with a sigh. ”She needs someone, and I trust that you’re the best person to take care of her.”

”Don’t worry. I know how she feels and what to do,” Anna answered while nodding. ”What about you?”

”I could sleep in the Third Border City. I’ve been staying there for the past few days, so it doesn’t matter to me,” Roland replied. ”Also, the witches there should be informed of the success of the ’Torch’ project as well. Those ancient witches probably have been waiting for this news for a long time.”

”OK,” Anna said as she walked up to Roland and pressed a kiss to his cheek. ”Although I don’t want you to leave, it’s important to let them know...”

”Sorry, you just came back from the front.”

”Don’t be silly, my king. We’ll have plenty of time together in the future.”

Just when Roland was about to leave, Anna stopped him again.

”By the way, bring Nightingale with you,” she said in a serious tone. ”You should never put yourself in danger.”

While still being a little absorbed in Anna’s clear blue eyes, Roland closed the door behind him.

...

Pasha greeted Roland and his guards at Third Border City immediately.

”Your Majesty, how did the war go? Any news from the front?”

She swayed her tentacles, looking unsettled.

With no intention of holding anything back from her, Roland said flatly, ”We won. The demons on the plain were eradicated, and so was the Magic Slayer. The First Army seized Taquila.”

Pasha instantly stopped swaying.

After a moment of silence, she asked, apparently thrilled, ”Is this true? I apologize for my insolence, Your Majesty... I’m not questioning the credibility of your words, but I just don’t know what to say. Could you tell me more about it?”

As a Senior Witch who had been living for more than 400 years, Pasha had developed the ability to remain unperturbed under any circumstances. It was Roland’s first time seeing Pasha lose her composure. He replied, ”Naturally, but...”

”Thank you, Your Majesty. I’ll soon tell everyone the good news!” Pasha said and vanished from into the cave and from Roland’s sight.

Momentarily stunned, Roland shook his head resignedly.

When Roland entered the underground hall, however, he not only saw Pasha, Alethea, and Celine but also all the other God’s Punishment Witches gather about at the center of the hall. They were spread out in a line and were looking hopefully at him.

This made Roland feel it hard to tell them the whole story.

”Do what you can,” Nightingale whispered to him. ”Or tell Pasha mentally.”

Roland nodded, took a step forward, and briefly talked about the war and its outcome. As he had not received a statistic report yet and Leaf had missed quite a few details when she had related the incident to him, Roland could not fully recount the story. Neverthless, the God’s Punishment Witches did not really care about the specifics anyway.

For those survivors who had been waiting for four centuries, all they needed to know was the final result.

The crowd erupted into a loud cheer after Roland finished his speech.

Many witches burst into tears and some whooped with laughter. All of them were thrilled by the news.

It was a day of euphoria for those witches as they had finally, for the first time in the past several hundred years, been freed of the oppression of the demons.

”Please forgive our insolence and rudeness in the past,” Alethea said as she came up to Roland and bowed her main tentacle. ”From today onwards, there’s no need to keep a united front. We acknowledge you as the leader of Taquila and we trust you’ll lead us to achieve our final goal.”

Neither Pasha nor Celine spoke. Apparently, they also agreed.

This meant that Taquila had officially become an integral part of the Kingdom of Graycastle.

Roland gave a curt nod of agreement, and Alethea straightened up.

”Also, I need to tell you one more thing,” Roland said and then told them about Elena’s death.

”I see... So it was her,” Pasha spoke slowly.

Roland was mildly surprised that the witches were not too upset about the news.

”You... already knew?” Roland asked, unable to help himself.

”No, we just anticipated that it would happen,” Alethea said truthfully. ”The demons saw through our ambush plan, which, back in the Union age, would normally leave us with no chance of survival. It’s very fortunate that we only lost one member.”

”You probably find it hard to understand, but we’re used to death,” Celine supplied the answer. ”Every one of us volunteered to transfer our soul to the carrier and was on the brink of death once, not to mention numerous defeats during the past Battle of Divine Will. We’re not afraid of death but a meaningless one.”

”And Elena simply made a choice that every Taquila witch would make under that circumstance,” Alethea said. ”So, you don’t have to be too sad about it.”

Instead of providing solace to the witches, Roland became the one being comforted.

While being a little touched, he was at a loss for words.

”Of course, this doesn’t mean we aren’t sad for the loss. We simply learned how to control our emotions,” Pasha said as she looked at the celebrating witches. ”I’ll tell them later. Right now, let them enjoy the celebration.”

...

Five days later.

As the army gradually returned to Neverwinter, the news of the victory slowly infiltrated the city.

Although the civilians did not witness the actual war themselves like they had done during the battles against the demonic beasts and Duke Ryan, nor did they celebrate the victory at the time, they gradually formulated a mental image of the enemy based on the various rumors circulated in the neighborhood. This particular enemy, unlike any demonic hybrids or knights, was ferocious, powerful, and dauntless. As many people had seen the attack of the Devilbeasts, it was further believed that this enemy was a demon from Hell.

Some details had even gone awry in the retelling, as the public was now quite positive that the demon was actually a 100-foot legendary monster that brought disasters and ejected fire. This imaginary demon thus soon became the most heated topic of discussion throughout the entire city.

The defeat of such an invincible monster significantly raised the morale of the masses. If the demon from Hell had failed to stop the First Army, then who could?

Meanwhile, the Graycastle Weekly further advertised the war by interviewing a large number of soldiers who had participated in the battle.

In a few days, Neverwinter witnessed a rapid increase in the number of people who applied to join the First Army, and the public set up a chant of ”expand the territory of Graycastle for the king” throughout the city.

Nonetheless, the officers in Neverwinter knew very well what their real challenge was.

At the cemetery in the west of the city.

Since the first tombstone had been set up here five years ago during the Months of Demons, this old wasteland, which used to be overgrown with bushes and hedges, had now become a public cemetery carpetted with green grass.

426 new tombstones were added today.

Most of the tombs were empty, as they could not locate all the bodies of the killed. However, nobody felt that those soldiers were abandoned. On each of the tombstones, there was the deceased soldier’s name, rank, and feats.

Elena’s and Ashes’ tombs were among them.

They looked identical to all the other tombstones except that there was a half-melted sword in front of Ashes’ tomb.

”Salute!” Iron Axe shouted while raising his hand.

Then all the officers administered a military salute, most of whom had a much higher rank than ordinary soldiers.

It was not only a memorial but also a reminder.

It reminded them that there was still a long way to go before the Battle of Divine Will ended.

After the funeral, Roland summoned Barov and said, ”Ask all the ministers to come here. I have new tasks for them.”

The new battle had just begun.