Release That Witch - Chapter 508

Chapter 508: The Game

Your… Your Majesty, I… I don’t understand.” Marquis Wyke wiped the sweats from his forehead. “What… What do you mean by ‘out of the game’?”

“Those who are out will either be hanged, banished from the kingdom, or sentenced to heavy labor in the mines. Or, perhaps, all of their assets will be confiscated.” The prince explained airily. “The rules of the game conform to the royal laws. It’s fair enough.”

“No, I’ve served the royal family faithfully since the reign of your father. You can’t…”

“But now I’m the king. I can do whatever I want.” Roland interrupted him and continued. “Don’t panic. Those who have answered all of the ten questions correctly will get promoted or rewarded. It’d be boring if there were only punishments and no rewards, right?”

“I… can’t accept this,” said Sir Pilaw, shaking his head. “Those punishments you’ve mentioned should only be ordered by the court. We can’t take such serious things so lightly. Your Majesty, I’m sorry I feel uneasy. Please allow me to take my leave.”

He turned around and tried to exit the room, only to find that the door had been closed and that there were two expressionless soldiers now standing by the door. They blocked his exit and would not budge.

“I’m not asking for your opinion, Sir Pilaw,” said Roland, “and, if you insist on quitting the game, I’m afraid I’ll have to add one more punishment,” he made a gesture as if shooting a gun and added, “that is, to shoot you.”

The frightened nobles opened their eyes wide and spontaneously stepped back a few paces, while the soldiers around them lifted up their guns and calmly looked at them.

“So, now, time for the game.” Roland stood up and clapped his hands. “The first question, did you get involved in the matter of forcing refugees to invade the Western Region? Let’s start with you, Mr. Prime Minister.”

“…” After a moment of silence, Marquis Wyke said, “I did follow Timothy’s order to recruit refugees from the Eastern Region and the Southern Territory, but I did not take part in the other matter you stated.”

He felt Nightingale lightly pinch his right shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I told you that you’d only have one chance to answer each question honestly.” Roland waved his hand. “Take him down to the jail beneath this hall.”

“Your Majesty, what I said is true…”

“No, you and I both know that you’re still lying, even now.” Roland promptly rejected the Prime Minister’s appeal. He watched him get dragged out into the hallway and then slowly said to everyone, “If you’re smart, you’ll understand that lying won’t do you any good, because, I can tell whether or not you’re telling me the truth.”

The nobles all stood with mouths agape, and no one dared to speak.

“If nobody volunteers to answer the question, I’ll just call out names.” Roland looked at the Minister of Justice and said, “What about you? Sir Pilaw.”

…

It had turned out just the way he had wanted. This was a trial.

He had to cut the Gordian knot by efficiently dealing with the nobles here in this manner. As he also had to handle the situation with the area to the south of Fallen Dragon Ridge, he could not afford to waste too much time here. The post-war city management would be transferred to the personnel trained by the City Hall, and the resistance they would meet was from the local nobles and Black Street gangs.

Given that he needed the city to smoothly get back to normal and that now there was not enough time and energy left for a long screening, he held the trial to quickly remove the guilty nobles who had worked in collusion with Timothy and to pick out the clean, honest nobles to work with. As for the Black Street problem, he would leave them to Theo.

After all, the purpose of the surprise attack was to prevent Timothy from using ordinary people to wage a meaningless, long-lasting war. If he were to just step away from the city after overturning Timothy’s rule and leave the city in chaos, he would be no different from their previous King.

He did not plan to absorb King’s City into his kingdom, nor did he want to find another agent to run the city for him. After a whole year of hard work and development, he just did not have the strength.

No matter to act against the noble or the church, he had the ability to beat them.

“Now, the last question, have you ever bullied or oppressed the people, including witches?”

After asking nine questions, less than 10 out of the over 50 still remained in the hall. Such a high outing rate did not shock Roland at all, as he knew for sure Timothy had already kicked the incapable ones out of the palace. They were the people who either thought he usurped the throne or questioned the cause of King Wimbledon III’s death. However, what did surprise Roland was that there were still seven nobles working in the City Hall who had nothing to do with either Timothy’s schemes or the church.

“Your Majesty, I’m guilty,” said a noble, falling to his knees and sweating profusely. “I’ve ordered my men to beat up a civilian because he smeared my trousers with his feet. I failed to hold back my anger at that time and…, but I just beat him. I did not kill him.”

“I, I had a secret love affair with a shop owner’s daughter, but she seduced me first!”

“My housekeeper slept with my wife while I was out hunting. I cut off his penis straight away instead of sending him to the court… But, Your Majesty, a housekeeper doesn’t count, right?”

Roland did his best to keep a straight face while hearing those various, funny answers. Those trifles were not considered misdeeds or even mistakes by nobles usually, but now they were apparently so frightened by the questioning that they spat out all those things in fear that it would be regarded as lying.

After they had all given their answers, Roland cleared his throat and asked, “Is there anything else?”

“No,” the nobles said.

When Nightingale pinched his left shoulder, he finally nodded and said, “Congratulations, you’ve passed.”

The nobles were greatly relieved.

“I did say that the winners of the game would be rewarded… Trust me, I’ll keep my word, especially when there’re so many vacancies in the City Hall, but I still have one question.” Roland looked at the two people standing at the back of the room, who seemed to have never broken any laws since they hadn’t said anything but “No” in reply for every question and their answers were all approved by Nightingale. “What’re your names and positions in the City Hall?”

“I’m Alva Taber, Your Majesty,” one of them replied, “and I’m in charge of the issues related to the star image.”

“Blanche Orlando,” the other person, a woman, said, “I’m the ceremonial officer.”

“That’s the reason. People in positions like theirs don’t get many chances to do bad things… These two are indeed the only ones with clean hands in the City Hall.” Roland went back to the throne and said, “You can leave the palace now. I’ll send for you after I straighten up a few things with my family.” He paused and added. “My way of ruling will be very different from my father’s and Timothy’s. You’ll see that soon enough, and remember what got you through the game… Keep it up. This isn’t going to be the last game you play.”

The nobles withdrew submissively and then Roland left the hall and headed to the basement with Nightingale, thinking to himself,

“Time to meet my ‘dear brother’.”

Chapter 509: To Become a King

he dungeon of the palace was a childhood nightmare for Prince Roland. The feeling naturally came back to him as he was walking down the stone steps.

He started to search his memories and soon found the reason for this fear.

One day, Timothy invited Gerald, Garcia and little Roland to explore the basement of the basement under the palace hall together. The 12-year-old Roland had been so excited to finally get the chance to join their inner circle but had never expected what would happen next. Timothy had stolen the keys from the guards, locked Ronald into a jail cell and left with the other two kids while laughing.

Little Roland was left alone in the dark room. He had thought of the shrilling cries he occasionally heard throughout the hall. A guard had once told him that the cries were from wailing ghosts in the underground world beneath the palace. His teeth chattered with fright but he had not dared to cry out loud since he had been afraid of attracting the ghosts to him. At last, he huddled up in a corner, held his knees and pressed his face against them, sobbing uncontrollably. When Timothy, Gerald and Garcia returned to check how terrible he was, his face had been covered with his snot.

After that, Prince Roland had been too frightened to step back into the basement of the palace.

Roland now understood that the wails and shrills did not come from ghosts, but from the prisoners being questioned and tortured in the basement. The jail could not hold many prisoners which explained why little Roland had only been able to hear them every now and then.

Roland met Timothy Wimbledon in a small cell on the bottom floor of the basement. Compared with the jails in the Outer and Inner City, the place was pretty good. At least, it was dry and clean, without rats, cockroaches or stinky smells. This was the exact cell where the little Roland had been locked into and cried for an entire night.

Ironically, now Timothy swapped positions with Ronald.

Hearing unexpected noises, Timothy, who sat silently against the wall, opened his eyes and saw Roland.

This brother, that Prince Roland had feared the most in the past, looked almost the same as before. Like all the other descendants of the Wimbledon Family, he was gray-eyed and gray-haired. He resembled his father in appearance in that he wore short curly hair and had his father’s nose and handsome face. However, his long, narrow eyes made his face a little ghastly, especially in the flickering torchlight.

Prince Roland had never dared to look into his brother’s eyes before, but now, Timothy was just a helpless and defenseless stranger.

They looked at each other for a while during which nothing could be heard except the burning sounds of torches. Finally, Timothy was unable to veil his gaunt face any longer and gave up trying to overwhelm Roland with an aggressive attitude, for he found that it was useless now. The look in Timothy’s eyes changed, and somehow he seemed to be terrified.

“Who the hell are you?” Timothy broke the silence.

His dry, emotional voice reverberated in the basement, from which Roland could easily tell that his brother was scared. Compared with Tilly, Timothy had had more interactions with Prince Roland and contributed a lot to his previous annoying and fickle behaviors. He felt that it was natural for Timothy, who had known Prince Roland quite well in the past, to spot something different in Ronald now and ask that question.

“I’m Roland Wimbledon,” Ronald said as he had squatted down until his face was level with Timothy’s and looked into his eyes, “You can’t remember me?”

“No, you’re not him,” Timothy said in a trembling voice, “He could never look at me like this. He dared not look directly into my eyes.” He heavily panted and continued, “I know… You’re the real demon! You’re not lured by demons. You’re evil incarnate, wanting to steal my kingdom!”

Roland did not even want to bother explaining anything to a dying man like Timothy. Ronald said, “So what? You think you’re better than the demons? You killed our father, framed our innocent elder brother and then executed him to keep the throne you stole. You collaborated with the church, who our father hated the most. You compelled innocent people to invade the domain of Princess Garcia and you can’t even spare your weakest and most powerless brother Prince Roland. In only one year, you conquered and destroyed so many cities, dragging the whole kingdom into chaos and making the people homeless. Even the demons wouldn’t do this!”

Timothy hurriedly refuted, “No! I didn’t kill our father. He killed himself. Just like you, he was controlled by demons!”

“Suicide?” Roland asked, frowning.

“Yes! He lay in the bed as usual and drove a dagger into his heart with a smile on his face!” Timothy answered.

“Not the witches?” Ronald questioned.

“No, he wore God’s Stone of Retaliation! Damn it…” Timothy shouted hoarsely and added in a choked voice, “It just happened without any warning and I couldn’t stop it at all!”

Roland looked back at Nightingale who slightly nodded to him.

“It must have been an attaching magic witch. Once she performed her magic power, she would not be affected by God’s Stone,” Roland thought, “And unlike witches from other organizations, the pure witches of the church could possibly find a chance to get close to the king.” Prince Ronald quickly recalled an incident that happened half a year ago when they were evacuating refugees. A witch tricked her way into the camps to assassinate Wendy by her ability to change her appearance. Connecting that incident to what had happened to King Wimbledon III, he thought the answer was clear.

If the church was the creator of those incidents, it could also explain the reason for the Royal Decree on the Selection of Crown Prince which clearly aimed at creating wars and chaos. He still needed somebody to testify this speculation and believed he would get something out of the High Priest of the King’s City.

“But this can’t be the justification of framing Gerald and expanding the war,” Roland said in a deep voice. “You conspired with the church and used the Pills of Madness to create crazed soldiers. Have you ever thought that how many people would die of this?”

“Even if I didn’t use the pills, who could guarantee that Garcia wouldn’t use them? If they recognized me as the legitimate king at first, why would I destroy them mercilessly?” Timothy explained as he crawled to hold the railings. “And what do all these have to do with a demon like you? How the hell do you want to deal with me?”

“I want to expose your crimes, judge you and then send you to the guillotine. You’ll end up like Gerald, except that you’re proven guilty of unpardonable crimes for which even death penalty is not enough to serve the justice,” Ronald said.

“No! You can’t kill me. Demons like you can never stand in the light, since powerful deities will wipe you out. If you want the Kingdom of Graycastle, you have to rely on me.” Timothy yelled.

“Deities?” Roland grinned. “You mean the church?”

“You don’t know them! The church’s hidden strength is unfathomable. There’re incredible things father had written down in his notes and they’re the reason why he could not make up his mind to banish the church in his life!” Timothy cried out. “Pills are just one of their formidable methods. If they uncover your identity, there’ll be no escape for you!”

“No, Timothy Wimbledon. I know much more than you think I do and I’ve got a clear idea of the road ahead. It’s a hard road and you don’t have the ability to lead the people to a bright future,” Roland said slowly, “Your life must end here for the crimes you committed. But, relax, you aren’t the only one who is going to hell.”

With those words, Ronald stood up and walked out of the jail, leaving Timothy to cry alone without even turning his head.

Chapter 510: The Flower of Revenge

..

When he entered the basement of the palace, Hill Fawkes felt his heart tremble, not out of fear, but rather uncontrollable excitement.

The flickering flame of the torch seemed to dance for him, while his steps echoed praises off the stone floor.

He never felt the dark, quiet basement could be so wonderful.

After arriving at the ground floor of the basement, Theo searched his body again. He then patted his shoulder and whispered, “Go, and don’t stay too long.”

Hill nodded and walked excitedly into the darkness ahead… After a while, as he passed through a darkened walkway and approached the cage, he slowed down so he could fully savor this memorable moment.

He then saw the murderer who killed his wife,

Timothy Wimbledon.

At that moment, Hill covered his mouth, as his eyes were filled with tears… Everything that he had done before was not in vain, and the outcome came earlier than he expected.

“My wife would smile at this sight,” he thought.

“Who… is it?” Timothy asked. He turned around, leaned against the rails, and he desperately asked, “Is that you, demon… Did you change your mind?”

Hill came out of the shadows and paced to the cage.

Timothy was shocked and then became wary. He moved two steps back. “Who are you? Who let you in? Where is Roland Wimbledon? I want to see him!”

This was the formerly haughty king.

Hill had only seen what Timothy looked like from a distance in the ascending ceremony. At that time, he wore a crimson robe, a shining and noble crown, and he held a golden scepter in his hand. Surrounded by the Knights of King’s City, he walked to the high platform step by step and accepted the coronation. Hill once hoped that he would become a good king who would give everyone a stable life, but the later raid tore the whole city, the acrobatic troupe, and the families apart. As a result, all these expectations for the future disappeared.

Now, he finally felt the sweetness of revenge—it did not contain any pity for this enemy or emptiness after success. Instead, all he felt was just sweetness and happiness, which warmed his cold heart again… To his surprise, he found he actually was fond of this kind of feeling.

“I’m Hill Fawkes, Your Majesty,” Hill said as he bowed. “I’m a member of ‘Dove and Cylinder’, and it’s impossible for you to know me, but I know you.”

“…” Timothy was stone-faced and speechless.

Hill did not care at all, however, and continued, “There should have been seven members in this acrobatic troupe, but we lost a partner because of you. Since then, the six of us left no longer focused on performing, but we hid among the Rats and hotels to inquire about your movements. After that, we organized and analyzed the information and sent it to Lord Roland.” He paused, and then said, “By the way, we told him about your plan of developing snow powder and impressing militiamen to invade the Western Region. We also made the two saltpeter factories in the suburbs close down and transferred them to other places.”

“What’re you talking about?” Timothy squinted and said, “A hidden traitor who is proud of what he has done? A traitor who betrayed his king and reaped the benefits of betraying his dignity? I don’t know anything about the ‘Dove and Cylinder’ at all. Stop your tricks, you lowlife!”

“Benefit? Betrayer? No… Your Majesty, I just followed my heart,” Hill said quietly. “That partner is my wife. She died in your witch-hunting campaign. In prison, she was tortured and insulted, but the ultimate punishment for the murderer was just 25 silver royals.”

Timothy’s eyes glittered.

“Do you remember now?” Hill spread his hands and added, “Although the City Hall later gave three gold royals as compensation, it actually means nothing to me. My wife will never come back. She was not a witch, but she died because of you.”

After a while, Timothy said, “I didn’t do it.”

This rather weak answer was as sweet as honey. Usually, this response would have been met by a sneer and a “so what?”.

“At the time, Lanry, who executed the arrest, was your henchman. Even Steelheart Knight couldn’t stop him. I just wanted a fair verdict, but the court and the City Hall rejected my appeal. There’s no doubt that you were behind this…”

“No, enough! You lowlife!” Timothy could not help but roar, “Do you know what you’re doing? If that witch-hunting campaign only wronged your wife, what you’ve done will ruin the Kingdom of Graycastle! Lord Roland? You idiot! Roland Wimbledon has been dead for a long time! Your master is a real demon! You decided to serve a demon just for a woman?”

“… Is that so?” Hill asked raising the corners of his mouth. “When I begged the Gods, there wasn’t any response. At that moment, I swore that as long as I could get my revenge, even if he was a demon, I’d follow him to hell.” He bowed with his hand on his chest and said, “Goodbye, Your Majesty. I’m much honored to have aided in your destruction.”

…

When he returned to the basement’s entrance, Theo nodded toward Hill. “Are you satisfied?”

“Yes, Your Excellency, please take me to see His Majesty Roland,” Hill said, as he took a deep breath.

On the third floor of the palace, he finally saw the man whom he had served for the past six months—Roland Wimbledon looked much kinder than Timothy. Although they had the same gray hair and gray pupils, he did not have the arrogant temperament that kept people at arm’s length. He did not even… look like a royal nobleman.

“I’m very grateful for your undercover work in King’s City,” said Roland. Hill was also surprised by his first sentence. “Thanks to your intelligence, I could prepare everything to conquer King’s City at the lowest cost.”

“Don’t mention it, and I was doing what was right…”

“Certainly, I know you did that for revenge. Timothy will soon have his due verdict. Now that you have what you want, you can start a new life, but I hope that you can continue to work for me.” Roland got up, walked in front of him, and looked at him. “There is still much to do to help the city restore stability and even return to its past prosperity. For example, Rats need to be controlled, and the restless noblemen also need to be watched, but Theo won’t be able to cope with these tasks alone. What do you think? The members of your acrobatic troupe and you can work in a secret and formal position to protect the people of the city from a similar tragedy.”

“I’d love to, Your Majesty,” Hill said and solemnly knelt down. “Even if you didn’t say so, I’d still follow you forever. You fulfilled what you promised before, and now it’s my turn to do so,” he said slowly. “The rest of Hill Fawkes’ life will belong to you.”

The flower of revenge finally bore its most delicious fruit.

Chapter 511: Whispers at Nightfall

ightingale lay by the window and watched the city under the night sky.

Dim shadows spread under the darkness and outlined the silhouette of King’s City’s wall. Under the light, the three walls showed some minor differences. The nearest palace wall was a light gray color, lit up by burning resin torches. At a glance, it looked like a jeweled belt with overlapping areas of light and dark.

Far away was the inner city wall, which was gray mixed with black, and it looked like a long snake that surrounded the city. Even after King’s City had a new ruler, the Inner City still kept its splendor. It was the first time that Nightingale saw a place busier and livelier than Border Town. This short, yet fierce war did not have any effects on the noble and the rich, so they still joyfully indulged themselves at night.

However, beyond that, the sky was suddenly darker as if all the light was blocked by the inner city’s wall. The darkness covered everything including the most splendid bluestone city wall, where Nightingale saw only some stones sparkle from the moon’s light. The Outer City just looked like most of the cities she had seen before. These cities fell into silence after the night came. In the vast darkness, the Inner City’s light seemed a bit dull but it did not stop people from dancing and singing. For some reason, Nightingale suddenly thought about how human beings were cornered into this part of the continent, and the vast Land of Dawn was being devoured by the darkness bit by bit. There were demons and evil beasts that lurked about but most people had no idea and still partook in what little entertainment they had.

“Phew, I’m beyond tired.” Wendy’s voice interrupted Nightingale’s thoughts, as the red-headed witch rubbed her shoulders and lay down next to Nightingale by the window.

Nightingale asked, “Have they fallen asleep already?”

“Yes. They finally got tired after all the commotion they’ve stirred up today.” Wendy yawned. “I don’t know where their energy comes from. They flew around on hydrogen balloons the entire day and still they demanded to hear a story before going to bed.” Wendy finished.

“You should thank His Majesty for that.” Nightingale laughed. “If he didn’t punish them to do three sets of exercises, I’m afraid they’d go out to explore the night instead of listening to your story.” Nightingale turned around to look through the gap between the balcony and the bedroom and saw Maggie leaned over Lightning. Maggie’s white hair almost covered Lightning’s entire body. “Those two seem to really hit it off.” Nightingale expressed.

Since the rooms in the royal palace were more spacious and each living room was accompanied by two bedrooms. The witches that followed Roland on this expedition lived in four-person rooms with each other. These rooms were the most splendid places in the whole Kingdom of Graycastle. The carpets and bedding in the guest rooms were all made of excellent materials, some of which Nightingale recognized, like velvet and silk. Other things were made of materials she had never seen before.

“Yes.” Wendy also smiled gently. “I heard from Lady Tilly once that Maggie used to turn into a pigeon and slept while squatted on the roof. Any little noise would wake her and she only kept pigeon form to escape any possible dangers. Now, she finally can have a peaceful sleep just like a normal little girl.” She paused for a while and then continued, her voice filled with emotion, “We’re very lucky.”

Nightingale did not answer her… She did not need to. All the Witch Cooperation Association’s witches who survived would feel the same way. When they struggled between life and death, it was the Lord of Border Town who reached out to them and promised them a new world. Now, not only did their sisters see hope, but they also found that this new world was within reach. After the Holy Mountain, they pursued for hundreds of years, became a reality, their gratitude and recognition could not be expressed within a few words.

They fell into a long silence until the midnight bell ranged from far away, and Wendy said, “Do you… want to go back and have a visit?”

Nightingale asked confused, “Go back to where?” She still was not fully awakened.

“Silver City, your hometown,” Wendy pointed south and said, “It’s only half a day’s journey from here. If you let Maggie carry you, it won’t even take an hour. You, you do have a little brother living there, right?”

Nightingale did not think she would bring this up, and after a little hesitation, she shook her head and explained, “While we restore the city’s order, there are potential enemies everywhere. So I can’t leave His Majesty now. Besides, when everything in the Kingdom of Graycastle is settled, I’ll have many opportunities to visit Silver City. There is no hurry.”

“I thought you’d emphasize that you’ve already removed yourself from the Gilen family, just like you did in the past,” Wendy said relieved, “You seem like… you don’t hate your little brother anymore?”

“Without his betrayal, I wouldn’t have met you, let alone His Highness.” Nightingale smiled. “You always say to me, ‘Getting rid of the past nightmares doesn’t mean separating yourself from the past.’ Now I finally understand the second half of the sentence. It’s okay as long as I live a better life than before.”

“Well… it seems like a good proverb pieced together.” Wendy raised her brow. “I didn’t know you had such literary skills.”

“So I won’t sneak out secretly, and you can go to sleep in peace.” Nightingale uttered as she held Wendy’s hands. “It’s late.”

“Uh-huh.” Wendy huffed as the two of them crawled on the big bed, and Wendy summoned a slight breeze to blow out the candle. “Good night,” Wendy mumbled.

Nightingale replied, “Good night.”

After Nightingale was sure that Wendy was asleep, she got up from the bed, went into the Mist, and walked to Roland’s room.

Next, it was her time.

Darkness was on her side.

---

The next day, Roland received both good news and bad news from Iron Axe. The good news was that after one night’s interrogation, High Priest Ferry finally admitted Hermes’ plan of secretly replacing Wimbledon III and issuing the Royal Decree on the Selection of Crown Prince.

The bad news was that the church had plotted this war for a long time, so they could weaken the military potential of the Kingdom of Graycastle and occupy it more quickly. They actually occupied many areas, like the two provinces in the southeast of the kingdom. If Roland had not traversed time to become Prince Roland, this plan would probably have destroyed the Kingdom of Graycastle already.

“Did you hear all of that?” Roland asked Theo, who stood beside him. “Go spread the news, especially about the church’s true intentions and Timothy’s collaboration with them. The more details you disclose, the better. I want every citizen of the city to know what they have done.”

Theo answered, “Yes.”

Then Roland turned to Iron Axe and ordered, “Send out another paddle ship to bring Barov and Kyle Sichi here.”

Iron Axe seemed embarrassed, which was uncommon for him. “It’s no problem to fetch the director, but the chief alchemist… Will he really agree to leave the lab and waste his precious time on the road?” Iron Axe questioned.

“I’ll write to Kyle.” Roland frowned. “There’s a saying that if you don’t come back and visit your hometown when you get rich, it’s like wearing a black suit in the middle of the night. What’s the point if people can’t see it? When a man learns impressive skills, he shouldn’t mind showing it off. When Kyle was in Redwater City, he always competed with the Alchemist Workshop in King’s City. As they say, two of a trade never agree. Now Kyle has a chance to beat his rival, so I don’t believe that he won’t come.”

This is also a good opportunity to enlist all the alchemists in King’s City in one swoop and make them serve me.”

Chapter 512: An Old Friend and a New Friend

here was no doubt that King’s City was a huge treasure trove.

Although it was a rather backward city, and those magnificent buildings meant nothing in Roland’s eyes, it was still the most brilliant pearl in the Kingdom of Graycastle.

In terms of population, the number of noblemen here far exceeded that of other cities—the first thing anyone who lost their rank and land would do was to come to King’s City to seek new opportunities. If landless nobles and knights canonized by the royalty were counted, then the population was even bigger. For example, nearly 20% of the citizens in the Inner City were noblemen. Most of them received primary education and could read and write, making them all potential officials who deserved training in Roland’s eyes. After all, without land and property, they would not resist the new policy too much, and their excellent insight would allow them to accept new things quicker.

In terms of industries, King’s City also hosted the best men of all trades. Besides the merchant and craftsmen unions, it also had the biggest alchemist association and the only astrologer association. Roland coveted these talents and summoned Barov and Kyle Sichi to utilize these men as much as possible.

In terms of wealth, the value of all the collections in the palace was ten times that of Duke Ryan, with gold royals, jewelry, and golden handicrafts filling up several storehouses. This, combined with the properties of the other ministers who fell from power along with Timothy, totaled an astonishing number. If their properties were all confiscated, then the City of Neverwinter would be well taken care of for two or three years. However, Roland did not plan to take away all of the treasures, since it would waste too much time. Besides, he would need a lot of wealth to take over King’s City and maintain its stability. Neither keeping the money stacked up in the basement nor using it freely was meaningful, so it was best to circulate it.

If possible, Roland would love to spend half a year to process all these resources. But compared with King’s City, which lay far in the middle, it was more important to take Fallen Dragon Ridge and the Southernmost Region, which lay next to the Western Region.

Soon after Iron Axe left, one guard reported, “Your Majesty, outside the palace, a businesswoman called Margaret wants to see you.”

Roland’s eyes lit up. “Bring her to me.”

When the businesswoman walked into the hall, he smiled and arose from his seat to welcome her. “We finally meet again.”

“I didn’t expect we would meet in the palace of the Kingdom of Graycastle this time.” Margaret raised her hem and curtseyed to Roland. “You always surprise me, Your Highness… no, now I should call you Your Majesty.”

“It doesn’t matter, the enthronement hasn’t been held, so I’m not the king yet.” Roland waved his hands.

“You’re not anxious about this, and you do behave in a kingly way.” Margaret covered her mouth and smiled. “From now on, there will be business opportunities everywhere in King’s City. As an old friend, you should take more care of me.”

“Of course, even if you didn’t come to me, I’d find you.” He laughed openly. “You may not know this, but Border Town and Longsong Stronghold are going to be integrated into one big city. The steam engine company has opened several more production lines, and the yield will triple. It’ll also produce more new commodities, and I promise they’ll be unparalleled in the Four Kingdoms.”

“I’ve already seen how creative you can be, so we can talk about these things later in great detail.” Margaret nodded. “But that’s not why I’m here today. I want to ask another favor from you.”

“Oh?” Roland asked with great interest. “Tell me.”

“Could… we move to another place to talk?” she glanced around the room and asked quietly.

“If the Chamber of Commerce’s financial resources can’t solve this problem, and now we have to be secretive about it… Has she really encountered so much trouble?” The prince thought for a moment. “Then let’s go to my study.”

…

The study, located on the top floor of the Tower of Crown, belonged to King Wimbledon III originally, and it was also where Prince Roland wanted to be the most when he was a child—this was the only place where he could see his reticent father. However, the reason that Roland picked this place was only that it was too high to have any secret passages, and there was only one set of winding stairs leading to the top of the tower, making it easy to defend and hard to attack.

“Can you talk about it now?”

There were only him and Margaret left in the room, plus Nightingale, who had already hidden herself.

“Sorry, Your Majesty, I swore to someone that I’d tell this to only you…” She bowed respectfully. “Thunder wants to see you.”

“Thunder?” Roland was shocked. “You mean the most famous explorer in the Fjords? Didn’t he… just die in a shipwreck?”

“A real explorer may believe in the three gods, but he wouldn’t go to them so easily.” Margaret shook her head. “He doesn’t want to reveal his whereabouts, especially to Lightning, which is why I need to tell you in secret. Thunder had planned to contact you through Tilly, but he didn’t expect that you’d occupy King’s City so soon, so he changed his plan at the last minute.” The businesswoman halted for a while. “He also said that he found some unbelievable things in the east of the Shadow Islands that you’d definitely be interested in, and that they may have something to do with the ruins from hundreds of years ago.”

“Wait… is he in King’s City now?”

“Yes, he arrived here yesterday. He made this decision after meeting with me.”

“You don’t seem surprised by his coming back from the dead.” Roland was surprised. “Have you known about it for a long time?”

Margaret nodded.

“So the reason that you came to Border Town to do businesses the first time wasn’t that I sent the guards out, but to find Lightning, right?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this from the start,” she said while holding her hand to her chest. “Lightning wore a Magic Stone, so Thunder could find where she was. He sent me there just to make sure that she was safe. After learning that Lightning was settled in your domain, he decided to hide his information to keep his daughter far away from being an explorer.”

“That’s it.” Roland understood it instantly. “I didn’t ask for more details about Thunder’s death at the time, and Margaret did speak the truth in some sense, so Nightingale couldn’t detect her lies but could only tell that she had no bad intentions towards witches. So there was a reason for this ‘coincidence’. Without Lightning, my steam engine trade wouldn’t have found business routes so quickly.”

“Now King’s City is still a mess, so I can’t leave the palace,” Roland said, after a minute’s consideration. “If Thunder wants to meet me, you can bring him here. I promise I won’t divulge his information to Lightning.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty.” Margaret looked very grateful and she bowed again. “I’ll deliver your reply to him as soon as possible.”

Soon after the servants sent the businesswoman away, Roland heard his guard’s report when he got back to the hall. “Your Majesty, a nobleman outside the palace claimed to be your old friend and made a fuss about coming inside.”

It surprised him a little. He knew the lower noblemen who were not influenced by the spring offensive would come here to snoop, but he did not expect they would come so soon. Logically, they should have waited to see the policy trends, and they should not come forward so proactively before Timothy was beheaded… He also used to be a prince, so how could he be on good terms with a lower nobleman? “What’s his name?”

“Sir Yorko, Your Majesty.”

Chapter 513: [Magic Hand] Yorko

Pfft… ahem.” Roland almost choked on his own saliva. A pale-looking, slightly oversized man with stubby fingers and a curly Mohawk appeared within his mind. Roland had almost forgotten about him, but he quickly realized who he was once the name was mentioned. His appearance was as clear as if they had parted just yesterday.

The visit was not a surprise; Prince Roland had once been so close with Yorko that he would have given him the shirt off his back. Prince Roland had been out of his mind and was self-loathing after being fiercely rejected by Tilly, realizing that he would never fit into Gerald, Timothy and Garcia’s circle. Yorko’s appearance was basically his salvation. Not only did he bring Roland along to the brothel, allowing him a taste of the pleasures of a noble, but he also introduced him to a gang of evil associates to boss around, giving him the prestige that he would never have in the palace. Even though these things were not righteous, he had been Prince Roland’s best friend, at least at that time.

Roland wanted to reject Knight Yorko, but these memories made him realize that he would not do that if he were still Prince Roland. Not to mention that he needed someone to attract the rest of the nobility to serve him. After a little contemplation, he finally decided to meet the popular “Magic Hand” of King’s City.

“Bring the knight to my study,” he ordered, “and remember to confiscate his God’s Stone of Retaliation.”

…

Returning to the Tower of Crown, Roland soon met the “old friend” he was waiting for.

“Oh my God! Your Majesty… I didn’t expect you to come back so quickly and defeat your demon older brother so easily!” Prince Roland used to address his siblings as a clan of demons, and Yorko had gone along with this statement in private. His image was very similar to what Roland could remember. Yorko dashed forward and gave Roland a warm hug as soon as he opened the door and walked into the study.

Roland reluctantly patted his back like he used to and said, “I didn’t expect you to come so soon either.”

Despite the fact that Yorko’s average appearance did not relate to his title of “Casanova”, his round chin always gave people a sense of inexplicable intimacy. Considering his neatly-shaved beard, the clean-as-a-pin attire, the perfect smell of his cologne, and his legendary techniques, it was no surprise that so many ladies fell for him.

“I’m different from them! Those cowards are still worrying about Timothy’s remaining power, but I know that you would never let him off so easy!” Yorko grinned and asked, “Since you’re back, would you like to have a drink tonight at the Golden Lane? Do you want me to make an appointment with Mrs Rother or Miss Kingfisher? Ever since that one-night stand, they’ve been missing you.”

Roland suddenly felt a chill from behind his back, an ice-cold gaze pierced through his body, casted directly towards Yorko.

The knight felt the change too. His voice abruptly ceased, and he started to look around in doubt. “How come it suddenly got so cold in here?”

“What one-night-stand? I had nothing to do with them,” Roland immediately objected. “Whatever they’re feeling has nothing to do with me!”

Even if it did, it would only have something to do with Prince Roland… It was totally different from his true self, so what he said was still the truth. Nightingale should not be able to tell the difference.

As expected, the chilling sensation reduced drastically following his response.

“Oh? Is that so?” Yorko stroked his chin, “But you obviously spent a night with them!”

“It was way past curfew time, and I wasn’t able to return to the palace. Otherwise, I would have had to sleep on the street,” Roland emphasized. “Anyway, I didn’t do anything that night, understand?”

There was a glimmer of doubt on Yorko’s face, but his initial smile soon returned. “Well in that case, forget about them. Let’s meet some new ones today. You probably have no idea, but a classier brothel opened up right opposite the Golden Lane. I heard that the quality can be compared to private reserves of the nobles, and they only allow entry by invitation. I haven’t had a chance to try it out myself yet. I’m sure there’ll be no problem for you. What do you think?”

“No, I’m not going anywhere at night. I’m staying in the palace. ”

“Oh, I understand,” Yorko raised his brows and said. “There are quite a few beautiful attendants in the palace as well, so you should enjoy them first. In that case, I’ll teach you my famous skills so none of them will forget about you.” He sighed and said, “You used to be so eager to learn from me, but I thought it would be useless for you back then, even if you mastered the stunt. Now that you’re about to become king, I’m afraid you’ll have more lovers than I do. So, the stunt should be able to come in handy for you. After all, human energy is limited.”

“Stop.” Roland was close to covering Yorko’s mouth with his hand. He dared not let Yorko continue. It was utterly a complete collection of dark histories. He did not want to bear the responsibilities of the awful things Prince Roland had done, especially not in front of Nightingale. “Listen, friend… I’m different now.”

Yorko was stunned, but replied, “Of course. You’re now the king, Your Majesty…”

“I don’t mean that,” Roland interrupted, “but you can also interpret it that way. As a king of the country, I definitely can’t be as ruthless as I used to be, understand?” He recalled Prince Roland’s way of intimate conversation, hooked his arm around Yorko’s neck, and said, “Speaking of which, just tell me what you have in mind. I don’t believe that you came here, simply to reminisce about the past. You don’t have to hide anything from me.”

As expected, Yorko laughed and said, “In that case, I’ll be straightforward. Your Majesty, can you please grant me an official position?”

“What?”

“What about making me your minister? I don’t need to be in a key position, such Treasurer or Minister of Justice. Just let me manage the patrol team, like Steelheart Knight.” He patted his bulging stomach and said, “I can assure you that the Rats would be obedient under my watch.”

Roland could not help but silently roll his eyes. How dare he mention that? The reputation of King’s City would be ruined if he held the Minister of Defense position. He would bring the patrol team to fool around and summon the men to beat up other Casanovas if he had any conflicts. It was scary to even think about it.

However, it could be good publicity if Yorko was given a suitable position. He would have a chance to be promoted during the throne alternation as long as he was willing to serve Roland. After all, Yorko had a clean background; he basically did not have any bad habits other than the fact that he could not control his sexual desire. The key question was what kind of position was suitable for someone like him.

Roland contemplated for a while and said, “I see. There’s no problem with granting a simple official position, however, I’ll still have to discuss the specific details with the City Hall. After all, it’s an official job.” He patted the “old friend” on his shoulder and said, “I’ll send someone to inform you after I decide.”

Chapter 514: The [Hypothesis of the Spirits]

ightingale appeared from behind him once Yorko left the study.

“Who are Mrs. Rother and Miss Kingfisher? What’s the famous stunt?”

“Uh, this is a really tough question to answer.” Roland walked towards the window and pretended to be contemplating, but he was actually preventing Nightingale from seeing his expression. “Just two ladies whom I was acquainted with. I don’t know them very well, and I don’t even know their real names. This is the way of interactions among the nobles. They’re always hypocritical. Everything’s simply for show most of the time and they forget all about it after that.”

“But he said both of them are missing you dearly.”

“Ahem… about that, they’re not missing me, but my gold royals, status, and power. After all, I was still a prince back then. So they lost contact with me after I was assigned to Border Town. They would not be so cold to me if they really missed me, would they?”

Nightingale could only differentiate the truth of the statement, but she could not directly determine the truth of the matter. Thus, Roland decided to use the art of misleading and dispelled Nightingale’s doubt with winding statements. Not to mention that he indeed had nothing to do with this nonsense, so he was not at all stressed about it. “Regarding the famous stunt… It’s a little bit more complicated. Simply put, Yorko can make a woman fall for him with the skills within his hands, as he is named the ‘Magic Hand’. I used to be curious because I knew nothing about it, but I don’t need any of these skills now, do I?”

He turned around and looked at Nightingale. However, she quickly avoided the eye contact, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. “I, I guess,” she said.

“Phew… I should be safe now.” Roland silently sighed in relief. Even though he could always ask Nightingale to wait outside in the beginning, it would not only hurt her trust but also put him in potential danger. After all, Sylvie was still inspecting the entire palace, and the gem list was still missing; it was better to be safe than sorry.

…

After dinner, Roland finally got to meet with Thunder, the great explorer from the Fjords.

His body was solidly wrapped up, with his head in a hood and a gauze wrapped around his neck. The guards would probably not have let them pass with the way he was dressed if Nightingale had not personally picked him and Margaret up.

Thunder took off his coat and gauze after creeping into the study. He respectfully bowed to Roland and said, “I’ve heard of your name from Margaret and Her Highness Tilly a while ago. My respected Roland Wimbledon, Your Majesty, thank you for taking care of Lightning.”

“I’d like to thank you for taking care of Tilly as well,” Roland excitedly answered, observing him from head to toe. “I heard that you’ve helped her a lot since she moved to Sleeping Island.”

Thunder had the typical short blonde-colored hair of Fjords locals, just like Lightning. He was brown-skinned and had a stocky body, rugged-looking appearance, and thick sideburns that were conjoined with the stubbles covering half of his face and his chin. His tone was full of energy, and he clearly spent most of his time on the sea. He was completely different from when he first walked into the room without making even the slightest noise.

“Don’t mention it. She was a great help to my adventures. If it wasn’t for her help, I’m afraid that the fleet would have been limited to exploring the Shadow Islands.” Thunder smiled and said, “And, of course, I wouldn’t have been able to reach the sea that I’ve never seen before and witness the existence of Sealine.”

“Sealine?” Roland curiously asked, “What’s that?”

“A wall that’s formed by the sea water that still allows the boats to cross over freely.” Thunder narrated what he had seen in detail. “It’s also what brings me here.”

Roland was shocked to hear that sea water could overcome gravity and form into ladder-like height differences, allowing boats to sail vertically upwards and cross over smoothly. It sounded incredible! He felt a great wave of emotion in his heart; it would be difficult for him to believe any of these if he had not heard them from the most famous explorer, Thunder.

It implied that the gravity here was distorted, forming a unique gravitational field. However, Roland was not able to make any conclusion at this time, as the principle of gravity formation was still unclear. Since magic power was everywhere in this world, he could only guess that perhaps magic causing the formation of Sealine.

However, he could faintly feel in his heart that the answer was more profound than he could imagine.

The planet looked very similar to Earth at a glance, so he quickly referred to the theories he learned as scientific enlightenment and guidance. This was not a surprise, since the existence of human beings and carbon-based organisms led to a rough judgement: The law of substances here was basically similar to the previous universe.

It was not metaphysics. The existence of life could be traced back to the speed and direction of atomic spin; it was so precise that none of the machines in the world could be compared. Any change in the constants would cause life to fall apart. Just like a wise man once said, “Life is just like a set of flush in hand, so it’ll no longer be there once the cards are shuffled.”

He even speculated that the past world might also contain magic, but it had never been discovered due to the lack of witches as terminals.

“I heard that you can make steam-powered boats without sails that are faster than any sailing ship,” Thunder continued after Roland completely processed the news. “Therefore, I’d like to ask for your help to build such a ship for me, so that I can sail against the current and the sea wind. Money is not a problem. Please feel free to state your price.”

Roland said after a while, “Regarding this matter, gold royals are indeed not a problem… No worries, I’ll put the best technology into the ship construction and charge you only the cost of production.”

“Your Majesty, no, you don’t have to…”

“Listen. It’s no longer your personal matter. Exploring the unknowns of the world is as significant as changing the fate of mankind,” Roland interrupted and said. “I’ll fully support your adventure with only one condition—remember to update me at once with any new discovery.”

The discussion of the follow-up details continued for another half an hour. However, Thunder probably noticed that it was very difficult for Roland to settle down and concentrate, so he left after setting the next appointment time. Afterwards, Roland continued to sit in front of the desk, frowning and feeling unsettled.

“What’s the matter?” Nightingale anxiously asked. “You look pale.”

“Nothing…” Roland shook his head and sighed. “I just have a bad feeling about this.”

“What feelings?”

“Do you know about the spirits?”

“Uh, do you mean those tiny, glowing, heavenly individuals that could bring moisture and recovery to all things on earth in the epic biography?”

“No, I’m talking about the creatures with pointed ears and human-like bodies, who are elegant, long-lived, and generally prefer to live in the forest.”

Nightingale contemplated for a moment and said, “I’ve never heard of them.”

“I’ve only read about them in a storybook,” Roland slowly explained. “These fictional species basically spread their footprints through the entire continent. However, they were forced to hide in the deep forest after the rise of mankind, putting them on the verge of extinction. As intelligent as they were, they were far less in number compared to the latecomers. Facing the Coalition of mankind that was a hundred times larger than they were, the spirits appeared to be totally defenseless, trapped themselves within the deserted mountains, and became increasingly outdated. Their technology was eventually taken over by mankind, and they ended up as pets… What do you think?”

He continued without waiting for Nightingale’s answer, “We’re just like the spirits now.”

As a member of mankind himself, Roland had totally neglected this, but now he shuddered at that thought. Although mankind was indeed a thriving race comparing to the spirits, it did not mean that they would always thrive the most among the intelligent creatures. Nowadays, mankind was actually the minority, and they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. They were trapped by the demons in a corner of the continent and were totally oblivious to the outside world.

He decided to fully support Thunder in exploring the new maritime space for this reason as well. If mankind was not more foresighted and did not actively assess their situation within the world they were in, they could only be eliminated like the spirits.

“Both Battles of Divine Will wasted nearly a thousand years. Hopefully, it’s not too late for all this,” Roland thought to himself.

Chapter 515: The Magic Painting

“Good morning, Miss Soraya!”

As Soraya stepped into the bicycle factory, Jilly came up and said, “You’re so early.”

This made Soraya feel a bit embarrassed because she had stayed up late last night playing Fight the Landlord with Mystery Moon and Lily which made her wake up half an hour later than usual. When Wendy was not around, everyone became slightly lazy, of course… except for Anna and Agatha. Whether it was work or learning, they had always set a great example for the other sisters, especially Agatha. She always arrived early and stayed late.

Soraya asked Jilly, “Is the material ready?”

“Yes, please follow me,” Jilly replied

As a student in the first graduating class, Jilly became Soraya’s assistant after graduation. Her main job was to inform Soraya of her daily schedule. A year ago, Soraya would have never believed that ordinary people and witches could work together in harmony.

“Are those the finished bicycles?” Soraya asked since she suddenly noticed that the factory was a bit different today. The steam machine was not in operation and everyone stood around and stared at a row of brand-new vehicles.

“Yes, these are the first batch of products,” Jilly said with a smile. “20 bicycles in total. It’s not easy to make, especially the chains and wheels. The rate of the finished products was less than 50%.” She finished.

“It’s not easy indeed,” Soraya thought. The factory was built last autumn, but since then, it had experienced all kinds of difficulties, such as the equipment not being ready, a serious shortage of human resources and so on… It was clearly less prioritized when compared to the steam assembly plant and chemical plant next door. Both of the neighboring plants operated in three shifts and people were working at all times. However, the bicycle factory only operated during the daytime. Once, even Jilly complained that her friend, who had worked for the chemical plant, had a salary three times more than hers, but she had never seen a single bicycle made.

Now Jilly finally obtained a bicycle of her own.

As Soraya walked into her office, she saw that the ground had already been paved with a layer of white paper that was about 40 square meters. The white paper made the floor look as if there was snow on the ground.

“Sorry to disturb you, the part we need to process today is the inner tire,” Jilly explained to Soraya and then bowed.

“Okay,” the witch nodded and said, “You may go on with your work.”

“Well, please call me if you need any help.” She laughed. “I’m just around the door.”

Seeing Jilly leave excitedly, Soraya knew that she could not wait to ride the bicycle.

Soraya smiled and shook her head as she took off her shoes and stepped on the tiled paper floor.

Soraya usually painted the inner tires, outer tires and bicycle frames based on the demand of the bicycle factory. Soraya’s painting speed was faster than the factory’s production speed, so there were a lot of such things in stock. Given that magical powers grew every day, it was a waste not to use it, so Soraya came to the factory every three days to finish her painting tasks.

She recalled the color the inner tire should be painted and lifted her hand to summon the Magic Pen.

As a film material that contained gas, it must be light, soft and ductile enough and could be fused at high temperatures. From past experiences, she chose shaving coating method for it. After hundreds of tests, she found that sky coating was too flexible and ripple coating too thermal-resistant. When she was collecting raw materials, she noticed the wood shavings left by the carpenters and finally found the ideal painting materials.

Unlike Lucia, she was unable to break down materials into elementary substances and then mix them at any proportion. She had to understand the materials’ characteristics by painting it out and she was unable to remember thousands of materials and their properties. Therefore, the simplest way for her to remember was to make a color card. She would choose the appropriate coating from the color card when needed.

Of course, as the paint used for the inner and outer tires were common, Soraya was able to draw without referring to the color card.

The Magic Pen gradually widened to six meters as Soraya was standing at the center of the brush. Actually, the magic pen could expand at most to ten meters, but in that condition it could easily get out of control. So, she would rather spend more time drawing with a smaller brush to ensure the quality.

…

Within two hours, the 40 square meters of paper was coated with a layer of wood shavings. Of course, the paint was not real wood shavings. It was just like her steel painting was not real steel, but a material that was breakable like glass. A thing could never be extremely hard and extremely ductile at the same time.

Inside the wood shavings, Soraya engraved her name as a signature. This is a tradition among artists. Initially, Soraya signed at the lower right corner of the coating, but later, she found out that after the coating was cut, her name would only appear in one inner tube. So, she decided to sign everywhere. By doing so, no matter how the cutting was, people could always see “Soraya’s work”. At first, Soraya panicked when His Highness noticed it. She thought she would be punished, but instead, his Highness praised her as a watermark inventor.

Although she did not understand the meaning of watermark, Soraya still felt happy for a few days after being praised by His Highness and decided to continue to sign her name on her work.

After the painting was completed, the next process was to burn the paper at one side of the coating to obtain the raw materials for the inner tire. It then would be sent to the cutting room to be cut into strips which would be welded into tires by hot iron. All these tasks were performed by dedicated workers, and Soraya just needed to prepare the raw materials for them.

The painting she made today almost consumed one third of her magic power and reminded her of the importance of training. Training would greatly upgrade her magical powers. In the past, this workload would make her exhausted, but now after she said goodbye to Jill, she still had energy and power to go to the North Slope Mine alone.

After entering the mountain, there was a sentry stationed almost every 100 meters as well as a bunker and watchtower set up at the entrance. Even the lord’s castle was not so tightly guarded.

As Soraya entered the yard, the soldiers saluted her. She saw Anna thoroughly focused on cutting some strange parts as usual. At this sight, Soraya suddenly felt a bit ashamed of herself and at the same time felt some admiration for Anna who was so talented and still so hardworking. Anna was also the favorite witch of His Highness.

“Hey, Sister Soraya, you’re here.” Lucia announced and smiled as she heard Soraya’s footsteps.

Anna also put down the parts in her hand and waved at her. “Please, here are some copper wires to be painted,” Anna requested.

“No problem.” Soraya smiled and walked towards them.

Chapter 516: The Music of Recovery

hat Soraya did was to cover the cut copper wire with a layer of hard anti-corrosion coating so that it could be used for the City of Neverwinter’s Three Supplies Project.

This process was easier than coating the inner wire, as the thickness did not require much accuracy.

After choosing the color card, Soraya turned the Magic Pen into a round tube. Once scanned from top to bottom, the “pigment” will become solid on the metal surface. It was a trick she learned from Anna—to make better use of magic power by changing its form.

However, there was still a big gap between them because Anna’s ability to control magic was almost perfect. Soraya witnessed the Blackfire as it was cutting metal ingots. It seemed like a performance instead of a task… The three types of Blackfire were in different forms, and they cut through the metal from different angles, making a number of parts that were all the same size, or directly created a complete machine. It was easy to remember the characteristics of the black fire at different lengths. It was, however, hard to control the many types of it and make them work together while maintaining the different characteristics of their magic power. In order to do that, there should be no difference between magic power and limbs, and the magic power might need to be more flexible.

“Is it… a vine?”Lucia asked as she stared curiously at the colors painted by the Magic Pen.

“Exactly, this is a 10-year-old grapevine.” Soraya explained, “It’s hard and difficult to break, very close to His Highness’ requirement.”

“10 years old… Is that necessary?”.

“Of course.” She could not help laughing. “Young vines are obviously softer and less resistant to corrosion and heat. It’s not just about their ages. Materials, such as wood, paper, and cloth have different properties in wet and dry conditions. That’s why I need to use color cards to record them.”

“If this is true, there’ll be more color cards than metal formulas!” exclaimed Lucia.

“Not really,” Soraya thought for a while and said, “‘Elementary Chemistry’ states that the characteristics of a material might undergo huge changes while its composition has subtle changes. But, the color card of wood has no noticeable changes when it’s mixed with 10% or 15% water.”

“Wow, you record the whole world with just a pen.” Lucia was amazed. “This is really an enviable ability.”

She smiled but did not answer. She was thinking of Anna, who really had an enviable ability. If the Magic Pen was recording the world, then the Blackfire was creating the world. Most of the changes in the town were related to Anna. Several of the machines at the corner of the courtyard displayed proof of that. As long as they were connected to the steam engine, they were able to produce strong bursts of power. The workers became an add-on to the Blackfire through a machine. In a sense, Anna’s creation enabled the ordinary people to have power close to the witches’.

Today’s job was considered done after coating five bundles of copper wire—Soraya’s working life was very consistent. She would go to different places to complete partial coatings every day. Since her painting speed had improved, only about half of her magic power would be exhausted by midday.

When a witch consumed all her magic power, she would feel tired or even faint. Therefore, they would usually retain 30% of their power during the daily training—Typically, as additional training to consume more magic power, she would continue to collect color cards and capture new colors. Still, Soraya became less productive because Wendy and His Highness were not around. For that reason, she decided to join Mystery Moon and others in Fight the Landlord game later.

She thought that this was definitely not slacking off. It was just a temporary entertainment.

…

Time always flew fast while playing a game. The whole afternoon passed within a wink. After dinner, Scroll announced some unexpected news.

“Today’s evening course has been canceled and changed to Echo’s ability test.”

“Well, hasn’t she done her ability test before?” Lily wondered and said, “Why does she have to do it again?”

“This is great,” said Mystery Moon almost immediately while covering Lily’s mouth with her hand. “I’ve never tested anyone else’s abilities!”

Lily stared angrily at Mystery Moon till she stopped covering her mouth and muttered softly. “The point is the class has been dismissed. Why don’t you feel happy…?”

“Teacher Scroll, what should we do?” asked Ring, the only non-witch in the hall.

“You just need to focus and listen,” replied Scroll with a smile.

“I fancy not everyone needs to attend the test.” Agatha stood up. “If not, I’ll go back to my room.”

“That won’t do.” Scroll shook her head. “You’re one of the reasons for the test.”

“Me?” She asked frowning.

All of the witches looked at Agatha, including Soraya.

“Yes. You’re too stressed and your body won’t be able to bear it if you consume all your magic power every day.”

“In Taquila, senior witches do the same,” said Agatha carelessly, “Are you not aware of the brutality of the Battle of Divine Will? It’ll never stop until the opponent collapses. I believe that the Union is willing to sacrifice all its members if they’re able to find the path to victory.”

“But His Highness said before, simply forcing yourself will reduce your efficiency. Resting is necessary for doing things, both studying and working,” Scroll said softly. “I have told him your situation, so the test is an attempt.”

“Test what?”

“The recovery skill of Echo.”

The phrase surprised the witches. “Can she heal the wounded like Nana?”

Soraya doubted it. Echo’s ability was to simulate all kinds of sounds. She was useless in the Witch Cooperation Association. She would not have been despised by Cara if she could heal others.

Scroll paused for a moment. “I don’t know the exact reason. It’s His Highness’s idea.” She looked outside. “Are you ready? Let’s begin.”

Echo walked to the hall and ascended the podium. She was a little nervous. Everyone was holding their breath and waiting for her to exercise her ability.

The music rang softly, like a clear spring ringing in everyone’s ears.

Then she sang a melodious song in her own voice instead of simulating one.

Suddenly, Soraya felt that everything around her had changed. The stone castle gradually faded into the darkness and her body was surrounded by warm springs… It was as if she were enveloped by a white mist, and upon her was a sky full of stars. The cool breezes blew through her warm body. She could not help humming out loud and was completely relaxed and immersed in this very comfortable spring.

At the end of the song, Soraya slowly opened her eyes after a long time. She understood the meaning of “Recovery” without any explanation. There was no increase in magic power, but the fatigue of the day was swept away. Her body became active and strong.