Release that Witch

After waiting by the telephone for an hour and a half, Roland finally received the final battle report.

The witches who were responsible for the ambush did not let any demons escape, and they also seized a lot of cans containing the red mist. Also, they acquired the corpses of the enemies shot down by the air defense squad, and Leaf also captured the final surviving Mad Demon was wandering around the Misty Forest. All in all, they had gained more from this battle than he had expected.

First, and most importantly, the victory had boosted First Army’s morale. The battle had let them realize that even though the demons were not an enemy that could be easily defeated like the knights or wild demonic beasts, they at least had the power to fight back. The demons that everyone had heard so much of was not supernatural and fearsome as the characters narrated in the old stories. In terms of defense, the demons, who were flesh and blood like human beings, were no better than the God’s Punishment Army in front of His Majesty’s powerful firearms.

Second, the captured enemy would make the anti-demon propaganda in Neverwinter much more effective. Roland believed that once the migrants saw what the demons looked like, they would no longer discriminate against the witches; it was impossible for the demons, a kind of monster that shared none of the similarities with humankind, to brainwash the witches’ minds and make the witches their servants.

Lastly, the corpses of the demons would also be quite useful. For research purposes.

Since the magic blood could not save up separately and would lose its power quickly after the host had died, Roland had not counted on applying the enemy’s blood to new sigils. But Celine had volunteered to take on the job of making sigils in Agatha’s absence. Celine told him that Agatha was indeed among the most outstanding in the entire Quest Society, but the knowledge of sigil making was essential to every formal member of the society.

She also stressed that apart from the quality of the Magic Stones and demon blood, the appropriate method of carving the vessels on the stone was also crucial to making a good sigil, albeit it being a less important factor. One could directly use a stick to draw a straight line if the time was limited, but carving intricate patterns on the stone would be able to fully bring its power into play.

She was proud to say that no hands could be more exquisite and precise than her tentacles. In terms of sense of touch, control of strength, and not to mention the numerical advantage, the human hand was no match against her tentacles.

As Celine goes on bragging about her tentacles, strange ideas kept popping up in Roland’s mind, and it took him a long while before he could get back to reality. Fortunately, Celine could not read his thoughts when their minds were communicating. Otherwise, there would be no way for him to explain himself out of this.

But of course, there was also the bad news.

It turned out that the anti-air effectiveness of the Mark I type HMG was mostly unsatisfactory. By looking at the overview of the battle, Roland found that the hail of bullets fired when the enemies were closer to the wall was the most deadly. The demons, at first, did not expect that they would be attacked, so they flew in slowly cramped up into two tight formations. This made them perfect targets for the guns. However, out of the twelve devil beasts that came, only four were shot down by the guns. After the demons changed the tactic and started to disperse as they entered the effective range for the Mad Demon’s spears, no bullets succeeded in bringing any of them down.

Fortunately, the demons’ ideal range of spear throwing was about 200 meters, a distance short enough for the bullets of Mark I to keep a straight trajectory. After three more Devilbeasts were hit, the rest of the demons stopped fighting and retreated immediately. However, if the enemies’ attacking range was farther, or if they chose to approach the walls in a more spread out formation, this battle would have been much harder to win.

After all, in the face of the enemies that could maneuver freely in the air, the disadvantages of the immobile defenders on the ground were apparent.

Roland would try to improve the Mark I after this, but there were limited things he could do with the design. He might add a protective steel plate around the gun or convert the guns into small forts to protect the gunners. Also, he would increase the production of Mark I to deal with the war after the Bloody Moon arrives. However, Roland understood that there was no way for them to eliminate the Devilbeasts’ threat unless Neverwinter had a comparable air force.

But let him put the concern aside for now. Roland put down the quill and let out a long breath. Finally, he won the air defense battle. No matter how insignificant it was, the battle would be regarded as the first battle in the human history that was won with the help of firearms.

At the thought of that, Roland sent for Barov Mons.

”Hold a celebration ceremony in the central square tonight. Make it as good and as lively as possible as the ones we have on Victory Day. It’ll be a part of the propaganda. Do you understand?”

”Yes, Your Majesty,” Barov responded with a hand on his chest.

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

Five days after the ceremony, Snaketooth received a letter from the City Hall.

”Who was knocking?” Tigerclaw slurred behind him. ”Don’t we rest today?”

”Don’t worry. It’s not the foreman. Just go back to sleep.”

Snaketooth returned to the low table and craned his head to look out of the window. The Sun had barely set, and there was still a faint trace of light outside as if a misty veil covered the sky.

Snaketooth had been sleepy when he was awakened, but he could not be soberer now. Seeing the City Hall’s red seal on the envelope, he vaguely knew what was in it.

His life had changed significantly in the past a year and a half. After he moved in Border Town, he no longer had to live a rat-like life. Instead, he, like most people, started to make a living by himself. But, still, he had not believed such things would happen to him until he got his first pay, for he was so, so familiar with hirers who were notorious for exploiting their workers. Those corrupt people would cheat workers out of receiving their wages. This was especially so for a worker like him, who was a migrant. However, on the contrary, he got a full pay every month.

So, now he couldn’t even imagine how much his life would continue to improve in the days to come.

With a salary of 12 silver royals per month, he could save up one odd gold royal for a down payment on the cheapest house in the residential area of Neverwinter. And if he took a part-time job, he might be able to buy the house much earlier. Now that he was clear about how long it would take him to achieve his goal, he started to look forward to it.

As His Majesty’s promises to the people were getting realized one after another, Snaketooth started to hope for more.

Snaketooth carefully unsealed the letter and poured all the contents onto the table. There were three pieces of paper of different sizes and colors.

The first piece was the thickest and palm-sized, with only a few words on it, but it made his heart thud.

Without any doubt, it was an identity card of a formal Neverwinter citizen.

Unlike the temporary card, this card was wrapped up by a transparent and hard film that gave a smooth touch. On it read not only his name and the day of his birth but also a vivid portrait of him.

Finally, he had become a member of this city, and a subject that was acknowledged by the King.

Snaketooth tried to compose himself before he looked at the second piece of paper.

It was a written notice. There were many paragraphs he could not fully understand, as he was only able to spend limited time on night classes since coming to Neverwinter, but he was able to grasp the general idea of the content.

As he had expected, his application for participating the railway construction in the Misty Forest was passed by the City Hall.