Release That Witch - Chapter 567

Chapter 567: Explosive Shells

suburb beyond the west city wall, Neverwinter.

A great roar attracted the civilians to ascend the city wall to watch from up high. The First Army had sealed the entrances to the Misty Forest in case anyone broke into the experiment ground.

Although the location was not close to the city wall, one could clearly see what was happening with a telescope from there. “It seems we have to look for a remote place as a special base for testing firearms.” Roland thought to himself.

“Your Majesty, the second volley is ready!” An artillery soldier reported.

“Everybody goes into the bunker.” Roland waved his hand. “Start the countdown after confirming no one is on the ground.”

It was the test fire of the 152 mm Howitzer. While researching on the Sigil of Magic Stones, Roland included the advancement of firearms. Now with Timothy being killed and the Northern Region having announced submission, the situation in the Kingdom of Graycastle was fairly good. Now Roland had time to put his mind on further promoting the shells.

But he had to admit that the technical difficulties of developing a howitzer with an impact detonator were much greater than those of developing solid shells. Anna would make four howitzer shells for test fire every day. Yet three consecutive days later, none had successfully exploded. What’s worse, on the second day, one shell exploded right after it got out of the chamber, which damaged the new artillery barrel too much for test firing. Fortunately, Roland took precautions by digging several trenches around the experiment ground, which successfully prevented casualties. The eardrums of a few soldiers who stayed close to the artillery were damaged by the roar, but Nana healed them in time.

“Is this thing really like what you said, exploding the moment it touches the enemy?” Agatha could not help but stick her head out to watch. “I’ve asked Anna. It’s nothing but a few pieces of sheet metal put together. It’s not alive, so how can it know whether it touches is an enemy?”

Agatha must be the most enthusiastic witch toward weapon test in the union. Upon hearing the test, she put aside her production work in the chemical plant and personally came to observe the research development of the new shell.

“It doesn’t explode when it touches the enemy, but when it falls into the enemy’s position.” Roland corrected her. “It’s a basic requirement the Howitzer has to meet—if there isn’t a safety to make sure of it, the shell could fire accidentally at any time. That would be too dangerous.”

The trigger safety was the most basic technology for the new shell, at the same time the focal point of the test.

To prevent explosions triggered by collision or accidental drop, Roland made great efforts to set three safety systems.

The first one was to separate, store, and transport the fuses and shells, and install them when needed. The fuse looked like a cone with a handle and was the size of a fist. With the threads on its bottom, it could be conveniently and easily screwed into the notch on top of the shell. The shell was filled with double base chemical gunpowder, a kind of material that was hard to ignite without a detonator, which essentially ensured the logistics work.

The second one was the inertia safety in the fuse.

The safety device resembled a gate lock. Unarmed, it could not move due to being held in place by a stiff spring; when the shell was fired, the tremendous inertia kicked back the lock cylinder, overcoming the resistance of the spring, pulling open the latch, and removing the safety.

The theory was easy, yet hard to put into practice. Roland and the witches spent most of the first two days on it. If the spring was too hard, the lock cylinder could not get enough recoil distance; if it was too soft, it could not guarantee safety. Anna had to gradually adjust it based on the test results. After eight rounds of test firing, they finally attained the relatively reliable statistics on the compressibility of the spring.

The last one was the centrifugal primer-detonator.

It was also the device with the most technology in the fuse. Simply put, it embedded the detonator in a coin-sized half-circle iron plate. Normally, while being fixed by a spring, the detonator would stand in the middle of the fuse at an angle. With such a set-up as this, the firing pin, detonator, and explosive powder were not aligned. This way, even if the shell fell off from high above, the firing pin would not touch the detonator, so as to prevent accidental explosions. Only when the latch was separated from the lock in the second safety, could the iron plate be mobilized.

After being shot, the grenade spun at a drastically high speed because of the rifling in the barrel. Under the centrifugal force, the tilting detonator gradually stood upright, just like a spinning top whose center of gravity gradually closed on its axis line. This process completed after the bullet had left the muzzle for 200 or 300 meters, so even if the muzzle was stuck or the bullet ran into tree branches, it would not detonate prematurely.

When the detonator returned to the upright position, it aligned with the firing pin and explosive powder. Under this circumstance, once the fuse touched the ground, the firing pin instantly inserted into the detonator, and then the explosive powder pushed the super-hot gunpowder into the warhead, which in turn exploded the surrounding enemies into pieces.

The advantage of the centrifugal safety lay in the fact that if the shell failed to explode, without the centrifugal force the detonator would be popped back to its original tilting position by the spring, which made the retrieving work much safer.

Besides, if the entire grenade was grasped or accidentally found by the enemy, it could only be used as a normal solid shell when it could not get enough centrifugal force from not being fired in a conventional manner. As for tearing it apart and replicating it, that would be merely impossible.

“Prepare to fire. Start countdown at five.”

An observer gave the order.

The repeatedly lengthened lanyard was gradually tightened while the gunner in the trench retrieved the rope bit by bit.

“Fire!”

As the gunner yanked on the rope, the ground instantly trembled.

A roar and fierce wind from the muzzle passed across the spectators’ heads. Roland felt numerous soil particles rushed at his collar. Even if he had his ears solidly covered, he could feel tremors coming through his feet.

“Found the falling point. Explosion failed. Repeat. Explosion failed.”

Lightning’s voice came from the Sigil of Listening in Nightingale’s hand.

“I see. We’ll be right there,” she replied and took out a Magic Stone.

“… We failed again?” Agatha said with disappointment.

“Failure is too common while experimenting.” Anna consoled her. “As soon as we find the correct direction, we can guarantee success in mass production.”

“Nicely put.” Roland praised her while patting her head. “Besides, now with the help of Summer and Sylvie, the research and development speed is astonishing.”

Even in modern times, it was common if thousands of shells were fired during the grenade testing, so to find any problems with two to three shots was like mission impossible.

Reaching the falling point of the bullet, Anna cut the fuse with Blackfire to ensure the safety of the payload. The soldiers then collected the failed shell. Either the gunpowder or the metal shell could be recycled, so it would be a waste to throw them away.

“Summer, it’s your turn,” Roland said with a gesture.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Summer nodded. Exhibiting her playback ability, the phantom of a shell that was about to fall to the ground instantly appeared in front of everybody.

Although Summer’s magic power was still at a low level—after four months’ of practicing, she could only use it four times per day—with precise control on the magic power, she could fix the playback image at an exact moment.

Such an ability was to perfectly replay the scene. In other words, Sylvie could see the inside of the phantom—except being intangible, it had no difference from the real scene.

With the help of Summer and Sylvie, Roland was able to determine the spring tension after only eight rounds of test firing.

Chapter 568: The Dry Distillation Tower

Um…” Sylvie carefully examined the shell and checked it against Roland’s design for a long time. She pointed at the detonator and said, “It seems this bronze tube is not aligned with the nail on the top.”

“How about the spring?” asked Anna. “Is it still stuck at both sides of the iron pan?”

“One has gone bad.”

“To the left or the right?”

Anna asked about every detail, and then wrote all the problems down in a notebook.

After collecting the reasons leading to the failure, they began the next round of test firing, where Summer’s playback ability could be used four times. Thus the efficiency of the improvement had become unprecedentedly high.

Unfortunately, the next two rounds of test shooting failed again. Roland had to declare that the testing would continue the next day.

To Summer and Sylvie, their work for the day was finished. Afterwards, they could either go back to the castle to enjoy a delicious afternoon tea or go to the Convenience Market to check for novel goods. But to Anna and Agatha, the test firing of the grenade was merely a small part of their tight schedule, especially to Anna. She not only had to improve the fuse based on the reasons that were found to have led to failure, but she also needed to finish the research and assembly of the steam turbine.

Roland had planned to follow her to the North Slope backyard to check the turbine model, yet his guard Sean brought a piece of news from the City Hall.

“Your Majesty, Lesya, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Construction, wished for you to visit the Furnace Area. He said he had completed the construction of the first oven for dry distillation.”

…

As the necessary equipment of the coking plant, 10 towers for dry distillation were planned, and they were to be located around the furnace cluster at the foot of the North Slope Mine area.

Due to the over-cutting of trees for the burning of bricks and iron making, the area that the furnace cluster took up enlarged from the original open space of less than 1,000 square meters to a wide open area stretching along the mountain. If Roland had not strictly prohibited the cutting of trees near the town, none of the trees at the northern part of the Border Area would have survived.

Although coal had been found, charcoal that was easy to get was still the major fuel for iron making. With trees available getting further and further from the furnace cluster, the workers targeted the top of North Slope Mountain. Every day there were hundreds of logs cut off and rolled down from the mountaintop. Watching from a distance, it looked like the green peak had a small “bald spot”.

Normally, Roland would not ask the workers to protect the environment in this matter. As long as the dust that would have risen did not affect the town, he would not care even if all the trees on North Slope Mountain were cut down. After all, to the Impassable Mountain Range, this protruding mountain range was nothing but an insignificant corner. With Leaf maintaining the basic vegetation, there was no need to worry about soil erosion.

As to the ground reclaimed at the foot of the mountain, it naturally became the most suitable building sites for coking plants.

Followed by Nightingale and his guards, Roland walked through the noisy Furnace Area and reached the first tower for dry distillation. Lesya walked up to welcome Roland instantly, bowed and said, “Your Majesty, as you demanded, I’ve constructed this double layer furnace with refractory bricks. According to the drawing, the upper layer should be sealed with an iron gate while the interlayer should be equipped with a mobile iron plate. But I don’t know who can make them. The same is true of the copper pipe and chimney on the small side furnace. Apart from these metal components, the rest has been completed.”

Roland lowered his head and went to the interior of the furnace to have a thorough examination. He was totally impressed by what he saw. He had to admit that Lesya, the former member of the Mason Guild, the old friend of Karl Van Bate, was indeed excellent at masonry. The inner walls of this nearly six-meter high tower for dry distillation was evenly constructed; the spaces between bricks were all of similar thickness; the bricks were all interlaced, without two layers of verticals seams aligned. One could see that Lesya’s laying skill was extraordinary and his working attitude was very serious. After all, the products different people made could be drastically different, even if they referred to the same drawing.

“Well done.” After the examination, Roland praised him saying, “I’ll arrange the cast of the iron gate and iron plate. You’ll only need to cover with refractory bricks on the side exposed to fire.”

“Your Majesty,” hesitating for a while, Lesya asked, “could you please tell me how the furnace operates?”

“Why? Do you wish to become a coking worker?” Roland said jokingly.

“Of course not.” Lesya hurriedly shook his head. “Since I’ve never built such a strange furnace, I had to build according to my speculation for the places that I wasn’t sure of on the drawing. So if I can understand its function and working mechanism, not only can I finish the second furnace faster, but also I can improve the places that I wasn’t sure about before.”

“Ah, that’s his reasons.” Roland thought and said smilingly, “This kind of furnace is mainly used for the dry distillation of coal. You must have seen how the charcoal is burned. The burning of coal is similar but on a bigger scale. The lower layer is for burning, the upper layer is for baking, and both layers use coal as filling.

“Baking coal with coal?” Lesya surprisedly asked.

“That’s right. After the dry distillation, coal can be transformed into coke. Coke can reach a higher temperature while burning, which makes it a better fuel for smelting steel. In addition, the process of dry distillation will create several by-products. The pipes on the tower wall are used to collect them, rather than to exhaust gases as a chimney does.

“Then… why do you build a small furnace at the side of the main furnace?”

“No air is allowed on the upper layer during the dry distillation, otherwise the coal will directly burst into flames.” Roland pointed at the reserved holes between the two furnaces and said, “While burning, the limestone in the small furnace will produce a large amount of carbon dioxide—you can consider it as a sort of non-flammable gas…”

“Your Majesty, I know that,” Lesya said, “I learned it from the night classes.”

“That’ll be easy then.” Roland felt gratified. “It seems that the universal education has broadened its content under the effort of Scroll.” He continued, “Through the pipes, the carbon dioxide will reach the upper layer of the furnace and push away the air, and then the coal can be dry distilled. As for the limestone, the off-white stones burned to make cement, are all over the North Slope Mountain.”

…

After examining the dry distillation tower number one, Roland retraced his steps. On the way back, he took a short break at the Furnace Area.

Seeing this busy scene, Roland could not help but feel thrilled. Standing side by side, the various brick furnaces looked like an orderly red forest. Rising from the forest were tens of entangled gray, white, and black smoke columns, which constituted a rather modern picture when seen together with the plainly dressed workers and outdated equipment. Over ten steam engines were roaring, dragging the conveyor belt to carry chunks of materials and charcoals into the blast furnace. A track system was paved from the mine to the furnace and many mine wagons traveled between the two stops. The speed of transportation had greatly improved.

After finishing the construction of the steel plant and forge plant, this place would be another core location of City of Neverwinter. Ore exploitation and steel smelting proceeded the transformation of the steel into various raw materials which were then transported to processing plants. These processes symbolized an industrial flower arising from here. The human beings were bestowed with extraordinarily refining powers, which consequently gave them the courage to conquer everything.

Chapter 569: Power Threatened

p>As the desolate spring came to an end, summer was drawing near. The population growth rate of City of Neverwinter enjoyed its first explosive peak.

The mission of attracting refugees in the southern and eastern areas began to take effect. With the experience from the previous year, the working efficiency of the envoy teams greatly increased. Every day, hundreds of refugees gathered in Redwater City and Willow Town, waiting for the boats from the Western Region to transfer them to City of Neverwinter, which was said to be rich and stable.

In order to appropriately accommodate these people, the City Hall also commissioned businessmen to rent temporary barracks at the gathering place, and offered porridge and water, to prevent any accidents before the refugees arrived at the Western Region.

The pier of the Border Area had become the busiest location of the city. Ninety percent of the police were dispatched to maintain order and register the population. There was always a long line of people in front of the barrier for medical inspections. The officers who were responsible for residential control divided the swarmed-in refugees into several categories and moved them into riverbank boardrooms, west-city cave dwellings, and formal residences accordingly.

For this reason, City Hall turned into a bustling place every day.

“Three sailing ships from Redwater City just arrived at the pier, 126 people are on board, a blue flag is hanging on the mast, and Bob is in charge.”

“Again? How many batches have arrived today?”

“Four or five batches? Stop nagging. Go and receive them.”

“Well, who’ll take over Bob’s job and go to Redwater City?”

“I will. Hang on, I’ll be ready right away.”

“Take some soap with you. You can’t buy any there.”

Listening to the noisy chatters outside of his office, Barov felt distressed, not because he was too busy though. Usually, when he worked in the City Hall, more work brought him more pleasure.

But recently, the situation had become complicated.

The reason lay in Edith Kant.

“Director, the Ministry of Justice is urging us for more personnel again,” an assistant walked into his office and said. “His Excellency Carter asked us to recruit another 100 people as backup policemen. He said if he doesn’t get more hands, the city’s order will be out of control. If anything happens and His Majesty asks, we should take the blame as well.”

“Now that he’s the Chief Knight, he could put more words in front of His Majesty.” Barov thought to himself. But for minor stuff like this, he did not have time to attend. While drafting a document, Barov said without raising his head, “Put it on the desk. I’ll handle it later.”

“Yes, sir!”

As the assistant left the room, Edith’s voice sounded in his ears. “Is this the recruitment order? Since you’re too busy, let me help you with it.”

“Here she is!” Barov moaned in his heart. “Not even using honorifics.”

“Of course, Edith is the daughter of Duke of the Northern Region, a status much higher than mine. Before I became the real Hand of the King, she could address me by name without using any respectful form. But no matter what, I’m about half a mentor to her, because His Majesty arranged for her to be an assistant to learn the departmental framework and government process of the City Hall in my office. Yet it seems she doesn’t think so.”

“Um… okay, that’s fine,” he said involuntarily.

No matter how reluctant he felt, he could not find any mistake in Miss Kant’s behavior. If he repeatedly rejected her, he would appear in the wrong. Especially at this crucial moment, he could not risk leaving any bad impression on His Majesty.

He should never forget that Roland Wimbledon was a man with great insight.

“Thanks.”

Soon, rustling sounds of writing came from the opposite desk.

Several minutes later, Edith put the recruitment order back onto Barov’s desk.

“Judging from the drafts I went through recently, such recruitment orders usually require the personnel to be reliable and have a clean slate, but there aren’t many such candidates left in the Border Area. Compared with posting recruitment bulletins on the square and asking for the candidates to apply for work at the City Hall, it’d be better if we extract the files of registered residence in the archives and select 100 unemployed locals. The Ministry of Justice is a large department in the City Hall. It provides relatively good salary and welfare. I think no one would turn down such a job offer. In this way, we’ll save about a week over recruiting through normal procedures, and will, in turn, decrease the complaints from Chief Knight. If you approve it, I’ll reply it on this recruitment order and give it to the archives.”

Her voice was clear and sensible. It was hard to imagine that she joined City Hall only two weeks ago.

In the beginning, she was just quietly sitting aside and watching Barov review documents, seldom saying anything. But now, she could handle all sorts of affairs in the City Hall with high proficiency.

“Um… do it your way then.”

For the moment, Barov could not find a better solution than Edith’s suggestion. With his tight schedule, it would be possible that he ignored such petty things and just handled it in the usual way.

“Is this how a successor turned out to be after growing up in a duke’s mansion and educated by the upper-level noble?”

Barov felt greatly threatened.

Yes, honorifics and respect were just minor details. What he really cared about was the power in his hands. “Now the propaganda that calls for submission is all over the Northern Region. If Edith is sent by His Majesty as an assistant to help set up a secondary City Hall in the Northern Region in the future, it would be no big deal. But what if she stays?”

“His Majesty is not yet married, and Edith is the daughter of a duke!”

At this thought, Barov could not help but feel distressed.

“This won’t work. I must make her know that the management work in the City Hall can’t be mastered that easily. His Majesty needs a minister who’s able to take the whole situation into account.”

When Edith returned to the office, Barov cleared his throat and handed her a statistics form.

“What’s… ”

“We’re in trouble,” Barov said with a low voice. “The grain stock in City of Neverwinter might not last until the wheat bumper harvest day.”

“Um, is it caused by an overflow of population?” Edith glanced at the form and said, “According to the consumption rate, the remaining grain should be able to last until the end of the summer. We can harvest the spring wheat in the middle of July. It should be enough if we stop accepting new refugees.”

“But the City Hall can’t stop accepting new refugees.”

“Because of the population target of 100,000 set by His Majesty?”

“No, that’s not the point,” Barov said while shaking his head. “There’s still a constant flow of refugees from both the east and south sides of the country to the gathering place. If we abandon them, not only will Redwater City and Willow Town face the risk of a riot, but also the image we worked hard to build up will be destroyed overnight. If we ever want to recruit refugees again, it’ll be very difficult. His Majesty once revealed to me that the realization of his development plan needs a large number of people. 100,000 subjects are just the beginning, so the City Hall won’t disrupt His Majesty’s plan because of the grain problem. We must tackle this problem and it’s also my responsibility as a minister.” He paused, and then looked at Edith Kant. “Do you have any good ideas?”

Chapter 570: Edith’s Reasons

n a sense, there was no solution to this problem.

The reason lay in the fact that the total amount of grain was limited. After the Months of Demons, the circulating grain in the kingdom would enter a state of shortage. Grain prices would definitely soar, and there would be none to be found in the market. The grain shortage could not be relieved until the new wheat was harvested. Autumn was the season in which grain was most frequently traded. After that, when the Months of Demons began, the situation would just worsen again.

Of course, the grain transactions were usually among businessmen and nobles. As for those penniless refugees and Rats, they would have to get through the winter with an empty stomach regardless the amount of wheat present.

According to Barov’s years’ worth of experience as an assistant minister, businessmen in the major cities were waiting for the ears of wheat to mature. Before that, they were unlikely to sell the grains at hand in large amounts. What remained in their hands might be enough to feed a few thousands of people, but never for ten thousands of people.

“Since we can’t find more resources, we need to tighten the consumption.

“Cut the city’s grain supply and reduce each person’s quota for daily purchase. Change the subjects’ diet from bread to oatmeal, and keep it that way till the day of bumper harvest. Those are the possible suggestions that Edith is going to make.

“Then I can refute her suggestions for the following reasons: they’re against His Majesty’s grain promises; they’re contrary to the kingdom’s intrinsic values; they might cause food panic and so on.

“Judging by Edith’s expression, and reading the list with her eyebrows raised, I know she must feel it troublesome.

“It won’t be long before she asks for my advice.”

Thinking of this, Barov could not help but touch his beard. The so-called ‘taking the whole situation into account’ not only meant that the minister needed to be skilled and experienced in governmental affairs, but also needed to clearly know about the characteristics of the city. For example, when he was in King’s City, he could recite the prices of the Alchemist Workshop’s specialties, and the amount of Silver City’s monthly silver ore shipment without hesitation. All those numbers could not be remembered in a short time.

The characteristic of City of Neverwinter was the witches.

Barov knew a green-haired woman called Leaf in the Witch Union who could make the wheat grow at an inconceivable rate. If not caring about the maintenance of the land, she could make the wheat ready for reaping within one day, and the ears they produced were not something that Golden Ones could compare to.

In other words, they only needed to ask her to manage a piece of wheat field for rapid production, and then the grain shortage could be easily solved.

Of course, he also knew that His Majesty had asked Leaf to control Misty Forest in the west, so as to build the early warning defensive line against demons. Given the emergence of such enemies, it needed several years, and so it would not matter much if Leaf took two to three months off.

But there was no way that Edith could know that information.

Even if she was super talented and took part in managing the Northern Region affairs since adulthood, there was no way that she could clearly know the city which was completely strange to her half a month ago, not to mention to know the abilities of each witch.

Also, she could not understand why the office of the Ministry of Education was adjacent to the archives, why the Minister of Education often appeared in the archives and had the authority to look at all the documents.

After a long while, Edith put down the list and slightly smirked.

“Actually, it’s not a big deal.”

“Em…” Barov nodded, then startled. “What?”

“Before the development of Deepvalley Town, most of the land in the Northern Region wasn’t fit for wheat plantation. In every spring, grain shortage used to be very severe in this area, so the local lord set eyes on the Eastern Region and Kingdom of Dawn.”

“You mean…” He suddenly realized something.

“Since they couldn’t grow enough nor purchase any, the only choice left for them was to rob,” Edith said with an easy tone. “Isn’t it exactly the situation we’re in? His Majesty’s army is attacking Fallen Dragon Ridge. I heard Countess Spear’s brother won over a lot of the local nobles in order to resist her. Is that right? Now that we have both the reasons and the means, we should directly go there and kill them one by one. Guess how many gold royals and grain is hidden in their basements.”

“There’s only a grain shortage because the amount circulating is too few. As a matter of fact, most of the grain output in the kingdom has been divided and taken by the nobles. They use that grain to control the freemen and farmers in their domains, and to earn many gold royals in a lean year.” She did not talk fast, but yet her voice gave Barov a chill. “If we rake over Fallen Dragon Ridge, I think the problem of ten thousands of people’s food will naturally be solved. If not, there are several cities in the Southeast Region awaiting His Majesty’s ransack.

“But they’re all nobles…” Barov shut his mouth before finishing talking. “That’s right… After His Majesty took over the Southern Territory, they stopped being nobles. As long as we act fast enough, the captured grain will be able to refill the granary of City of Neverwinter.”

Besides, different from King’s City, Fallen Dragon Ridge has completely fallen into His Majesty’s control, which is also the crucial pass on the way to the Southern Territory. By then, not only will the City Hall send people to assist Countess Spear to establish a new government, but the inner city will also adopt the laws, urban planning, and education system of City of Neverwinter.

What confused Barov was how Edith could accept His Majesty’s will of eliminating the nobles so quickly. Even for himself, it would take a much longer time to get used to wholeheartedly supporting His Majesty’s orders… let alone her who was the successor to the Duke of the Northern Region.

---

Edith returned to the Foreign Affairs Building. Pushing open the door, she saw Cole crouching on the desk and flipping through a thin book.

“What’s that?”

“Um… I bought it from the convenience market. It looks like a picture book but it has stories. It’s very interesting.” The brother looked up. “You look happy.”

“Do I?” Edith asked.

“In City of Evernight, you rarely smiled like this,” Cole said, smirking. “Are we really not going back?”

“Only temporarily. Until father replies, His Majesty should allow you to return to the Northern Region.” Edith sat down in front of him, closed the book to look at its cover and saw the words printed “The Witch Diaries”.

“What about you then?”

“I’m going to stay here.”

“Why?” Cold asked in bewilderment. “Is the City Hall that interesting?”

“What’s interesting isn’t the City Hall, but Roland Wimbledon’s City Hall.” She corrected him, smilingly. “Do you know how I got things done in City of Evernight?”

“You only had to tell father and it was done.”

“More or less. I just gave an order, and then naturally there would be people who did it for me. When I think back to it, they did that not because of me, but because of my identity. They knew father would follow my suggestions… Of course, this only worked in the Kant Family’s manor,” Edith said with great enthusiasm, “but here, my identity not only doesn’t help but rather hampers. There is barely any noble in the City Hall, and no one actually cares whether I’m the daughter of the Duke of the Northern Region. Everybody is relying on his or her own capabilities. Do you understand what I mean?”

Cole shook his head.

“People are willing to listen to you, not because who you are, but because what you’re capable of. This rule applies even out of your manor. His Majesty is right about one thing: Feudalism seems to give the nobles great power, but it also set an upper limit for their power. Judging from the current situation, His Majesty is totally capable of enlarging his domain into the entire continent, then the City Hall will turn into a huge institution, and its prefecture will expand into every corner of Graycastle. As long as you’re recognized in this organization, this entire kingdom might just operate based on one word you said. So, why would I settle for that small manor?

Chapter 571: The Duke and Father

..

“Edith, you cruel wretch!” Calvin, Duke of the Northern Region grabbed the teacup on the table, wanting to smash it onto the ground but suddenly stopped with his hand in the air. He felt a little reluctant since the cup was made of the best quality crystal glass and worth two or three gold royals.

After a thought, he gradually lowered his hand and put the cup back on the table.

Needing to worry about such minor gains and losses made him even more depressed.

Edith’s letter was also put on the table. He could not believe what was written in it. Beyond all his expectations, His Majesty wanted to reclaim the power of the nobility and his daughter who had always brought him profits before this promised to obey the king without hesitation this time. Besides, she even persuaded him to recognize the fact and stop resisting in the letter.

He felt that she wrote to him as if he were already a captive.

The duke thought bitterly that his daughter must be putting others ahead of her own father.

The guard outside the door probably heard the noise and looked in, asking, “my lord, what happened?”

“Get out, leave me alone!”

As Calvin was unwilling to vent his anger on the cup, he took out his fury on this guard who swiftly closed the door. The duke panted for a long time before he could return his gaze to the letter.

As he had eliminated the Howes Family and Lista Family, now he was in complete control of the whole Northern Region. If he chose to accept His Majesty’s requirements, he would no longer be the ruler who dictated in this region and return to his original condition, or even worse.

But if he did not accept his daughter’s suggestion, what would happen?

Edith also described the result of this choice in the letter.

“If you choose to do so, Cole and I will be doomed. He’ll be held captive in prison forever, just like the heir of Duke Ryan. As for me, I’ll end up even worse. What do you think Prince Roland will do to a defenseless daughter of a duke? I can list a series of tortments that’ll excite a man without too much effort. When he gets tired of me, I’ll be left in his dungeon to rot.

However, instead of worrying about me, you’d better worry about yourself first, since his army will besiege your city and your vassals and knights can hardly resist for half a day. After that, it’ll be impossible for you to be an ordinary person, let alone a duke. How is it? Are you going to make such an unwise choice?”

Calvin was familiar with this tone and he could even picture his daughter writing the letter with a sneer on her face. Whenever it came to failure, she would always describe her fate in an extremely cold tone as if she was waiting for the moment all the time and when she talked that way, Calvin was immediately swamped. He knew that she was apparently threatening him, but he could not lift his spirit up to scold her.

After all Edith Kant was his own daughter and the only child he had with his first wife.

Despite the fact that Edith exaggerated the matter, he still had to admit the possibility.

He himself had also heard lots about that dandy Prince Roland.

The duke gradually calmed down at this thought.

But he was still wondering whether the black steel machines were as incredible as she depicted or not.

He thought in surprise, “Edith used a whole sheet of paper among the three sheets of the letter to describe what she had seen in Border Town, oh no, in Neverwinter.”

The description was even twice as much as that of His Majesty Roland.

Edith claimed that the super powerful machines beyond imagination could easily complete tasks that were considered to be impossible by the ordinary people and that if they surrendered to the new king, the Northern Region would be able to import those black iron machines which would bring an earthshaking change to their domain.

Calvin could tell from the description that Edith thought highly of the machines.

In the last part of the letter, she suggested that Calvin should send His Majesty a formal document to take an oath of allegiance and to show the submission of the Northern Region to the new king, and meanwhile, dispatch servants who could read and write to learn the rules and regulations of the City Hall, getting the domain prepared for the new system.

“Besides, I sincerely hope that you can order Cole to stay in Neverwinter instead of calling him back to the Northern Region. If you agree, you can also send Lance here when he reaches an adult age. Given that the noble titles can no longer be inherited, only the men who well adapt to the new system of His Majesty can succeed the Kant Family and keep it thriving.

Your daughter, Edith”

After reading the letter, Calvin heaved a long sigh and put it away. He spread a new sheet of white paper.

Thinking that as Edith had already made the decision, he had to believe her and write His Majesty a letter showing his loyalty to the new king.

However, as a duke, he had to make his last efforts to ensure the family’s profits. He believed that he would feel much relieved if he could bind the two families’ interests together.

Such as… something like a marriage which would make his own daughter the queen.

---

By the Redwater River, Border Area, City of Neverwinter.

The sun was sinking into the mountains bit by bit, leaving the river afire with golden light.

Smoke rose in front of the shacks, and a faint smell of porridge made Snaketooth’s mouth begin to water.

As he got closer, he could even smell meat.

“I’m back!” He caught Tigerclaw’s attention as soon as he stepped into the battalion. Tigerclaw said, “come up here quickly!”

Snaketooth swiftly walked to him and asked, “what? We have meat today?”

“Yes, you came back late, so you’ve missed the message. This is granted by the lord.”

Snaketooth rubbed his sore shoulders and said, “what for? You guys still need a long time to finish the construction of the residential area, right?

“It’s for the completion of the Kingdom Main Street! Now the Border Area and the Longsong Area are finally connected together. I’ve heard that now it takes only one day to get to the Longsong Area riding a horse. In the past, it would take three days,” someone nearby came up and said.

Hearing that, Snaketooth nodded his head. Every time when a major project was finished, they would get a bowl of meat porridge, just like what he had heard before in the square. He had been in the Border Area for two months, during which the construction platoon had never canceled a meal or deducted salaries. Now, he had already accumulated 14 silver royals and would get 7 more in the end of this month.

When his savings reached one gold royal, he could get a house from the City Hall and become an official resident of City of Neverwinter instead of a Rat, a nobody.

However, to own that house, he still had to work for at least 20 more years.

Nevertheless, he was confident that he could find a better-paid job, such as a furnace worker or a bricklayer.

Everything seemed to get better.

But he had not met Paper yet.

“When you get the meat porridge, remember to eat fast. Otherwise, you can’t get a good seat,” Tigerclaw whispered in his ear.

“What… seat?” Snaketooth was confused and asked.

“To celebrate the completion of the Kingdom Main Street, a new drama will be played in the square. I heard it’s called ‘The City of Love’ and the Star of Western Region will be on the stage too. Oh my goodness… I can’t wait to see it!”

“Go to see it with someone else. I’m tired and don’t feel like going anywhere today,” Snaketooth said in low spirits.

“Really? It’s the premiere.” Tigerclaw paused and then smiled meaningfully, adding, “All the locals know that the lord will take the witches to see the premiere of the Star Flower Troupe. Maybe you can see Paper there!”

Chapter 572: The Song of Praise

p>…

By the time when Snaketooth and Tigerclaw came to the square, a huge crowd of people had already gathered up there. Snaketooth had never seen so many people get together in one place, even when Longsong Stronghold was distributing relief grains.

He counted roughly and estimated that there were probably over 5,000 people came to watch the play.

The square which used to be just a flat land was changed into a giant, sunken bowl in the ground, which was called an amphitheater. According to the locals, this was the third time that the square was rebuilt. Generally speaking, such a huge project would take one or two years to complete, but this amphitheater had been built in merely half a month and during the time, nobody had ever seen where the soil dug out went.

In this amphitheater, the audience could sit on the stone steps to watch the play, instead of standing until their legs were numb. It also enabled the audience to have a better view, as long as you could find a seat. As for those who came late, they could still stand on their tiptoes around the square to have a look.

Tigerclaw squeezed into the last row of the stone stairs and made a space enough for two people, saying, “Not bad, we still made it.”

Snaketooth clutched a cloth bag to his chest and sat beside his friend with great care. As the bag contained all his savings in the past two months, he had to be alert in such a crowded place. In the Longsong Area, at places like this one, Rats would be on the spree. Though the Border Area had no Rats now, he still felt that he needed to watch out for the Rats who were “temporarily transferred to civilian work”.

When the last afterglow of the sunset melted into the darkness of the night, there were only several burning torches giving light to the square. The stage was still enveloped in darkness. Snaketooth could not help but feel quite strange when he found that nobody came to light up the bonfire and that there was no firewood in the center of the square.

He could not help wondering how they were going to play without firelight.

Suddenly, a bright beam of light shone on the stage. It was dazzling but Snaketooth soon got used to this pure light. Then the second and the third beam of light appeared, gradually lighting up the stage. Gasps of amazement that were produced by the audience reverberated over the square.

“They’re the lights used in the plants!” he thought.

“Oh, my goodness! Nightless light! They bring nightless lights here!”

Rumor had it that it was a magic light that trapped the lightning of the sky in an expensive crystal glass bulb. Snaketooth had only seen it several times when he passed by the industrial district.

“Nightless light? Come on, it’s called electric light and consumes electricity. It’s made by the machines created by the witches! His Majesty planned to have every household equipped with electric lights, but the witch who provided electricity was unable to support so many lights. That’s why only the plants are using this kind of lights now.” Someone nearby snorted and said.

“How do you know that?” Tigerclaw asked with interest.

That person shrugged and said, “You aren’t official residents of City of Neverwinter, right? The City Hall has done propaganda about electricity to tell us how to use the electric lights safely. They’re like fire. If you don’t use them properly, it’ll cause disaster.”

“Not like thunder?”

“Uhm… almost the same. Don’t bother so much. When you become subjects of His Majesty and finish the primary education, you’ll understand.”

“Is there any way that I can become a formal subject faster? What’s the primary education?”

Snaketooth asked and wanted to ask more questions, but Tigerclaw suddenly grabbed him up when the crowd burst into deafening cheers.

The Star Flower Troupe stepped on the stage.

“Ms. May! Ms. May!”

“Ms. Irene!”

“Mr. Gait!”

The crowd cried out the names of the troupe members and the atmosphere reached a crescendo.

Seeing that, Snaketooth was filled with admiration suddenly.

He wanted to become someone like them, the focus of people’s eyes. He wanted the audience to cry out his name loudly… They were neither nobles nor sages. They were not out of reach.

After the cheers died down, the play began.

This was the first time for Snaketooth to watch a drama played by Star and Flower of the Western Region. He never thought that he would be interested in such an elegant event usually enjoyed by the nobles, but when the music started, he was absorbed into the story without noticing it.

The leading roles of the story were not the nobles.

Instead, they were just ordinary people like himself… a free citizen, a refugee and a Rat.

They had both dreams for their future and misfortunes in their own lives. They all fetched up simultaneously at the same city, Star City. They met and helped each other. They confided their thoughts to each other. They suffered from the pain of leaving their hometowns and the sense of loss in the new city. After that, they pulled themselves together and found their own ways.

Nothing could be heard except the lines of the actors and actresses on the square. All the audience held their breath, as they were deeply involved in the story played on the stage.

At last, the roles on the stage finally settled down in Star City and lived comfortably ever after. Strangers that had helped each other in the past became friends and lovers in the end. Snaketooth felt being touched when a moving music was played. He pretended to rub his eyes to hide his tears and meanwhile found out that Tigerclaw was all tears though he did not look sad.

He was not the only one moved that much. Everyone around was just like him, lost in that moving story. No one had risen to cheer until the end of the play.

Even if no one said it out, everyone knew it clearly that the “Star City” was City of Neverwinter.

Snaketooth was lost in thought, “Even a Rat could have such a story?”

Right at the moment, a foreign-looking girl from behind the background plate stepped on the stage.

Like someone in a delicate painting, she was tall and had waist-length long bluish-gray hair, wearing a white dress which glinted.

She started to sing.

Totally different from the music played before, her song was powerful, praising the great and glorious workers. She sang in a way different from all the other female singers. She was inspiring and encouraging. Hearing her song, Snaketooth felt that he could even see the sweat of his own labor in the distant residential buildings and that all the foreigners who devoted themselves into the construction of this city deserved to be remembered.

The impact and emotions brought by the play were finally released at this moment. The audience flipped out and applauded with their greatest strength. The song promptly made their emotions run even higher!

They were all His Majesty’s subjects!

The glorious workers!

The builders of City of Neverwinter!

…

After the show, His Majesty left with the witches via a raised platform which was built for temporary use. Snaketooth opened his eyes widely but still failed to find Paper in the crowd. Surprisingly, he did not feel as disappointed as he expected, since the song still reverberated in his ears, filling his heart with hope.

He believed that they would meet again sooner or later.

Like those foreigners, they would meet again right in this city.

Chapter 573: The Battle of Fallen Dragon Ridge

OOM!

When the fire blasted out of the 152 shipboard artillery, Iron Axe felt the steel ship he stood on wobble slightly.

A few seconds later, a cloud of smoke and dust exploded on the foreign city wall, and then the roar quieted down for a while. After all the smoke and dust dispersed, he looked through the telescope and found that there was a now large breach in the lower portion of the stone wall.

Different from King’s City, Fallen Dragon Ridge seldom encountered attacks from external enemies, being located in the central south of the kingdom. Thus, its city wall was quite low, not even half as high as that of Longsong Stronghold. The narrow wall at the top allowed only one person to pass, and they could not set up large defense equipment like mangonels. Therefore, the Artillery Squad had expanded field artilleries to the open space 500 meters away from the wall.

To make sure that the several hundred soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion could enter the city efficiently, Iron Axe decided to make three openings in the city wall before action. Any enemies trying to fill in and defend the open spots would be bombarded mercilessly by the twelve pounds cannons. Now that the gate and the north wall had been chiseled through, he would make a final command to attack once they seized the last entrance.

“If only the witches could’ve come with the army.” Iron Axe thought rather regretfully. It was a waste to use these precious shells on the stones.

If Lady Nightingale were here, they would only need three packs of explosives to destroy the whole city wall. After all, their defense was much weaker than King City’s.

He was amused to realize the change in his belief. Half a year ago, he had insisted that the army should complete His Majesty’s task independently. However, after conquering King’s City with the help of the Witch Union, it suddenly occurred to him that the perfect way to fight was to use witches as their eyes or commandos.

“Sir!” a soldier on the observatory shouted. “Attention to the gate! They seem to be gathering horses!”

Iron Axe looked at the ruined gate through his telescope. With limited vision, he could only vaguely see the dust behind the wall.

“Do I need to adjust the naval artillery and fire in that direction?” Van’er asked.

“Not necessary. It’ll waste at least two or three more shells.” He shook his head and said, “Since they’re horses, I think their plan is to gather knights and try to open the blockade line of field artillery through assault. There is nothing to worry about. While for you…” Iron Axe turned back to see Countess Spear. “After this assault, I’m afraid there will not be many knights left in your domain.”

“They decided to stand on my brother’s side. These people are no longer my knights.” She answered quietly. “That’s the price they have to pay for their betrayal.”

“I see.” Iron Axe paused for a moment and said, “Have you decided what to do with Redwyne Passi?”

Yesterday, he received a secret letter from the City Hall, which demanded all the noble except Spear’s relatives to be escorted to City of Neverwinter. Anyone who resisted would be executed on the spot, and their domain would be blocked by the First Army. The officers from the City Hall would arrive and seize their properties.

Based on that letter, the nobles would probably be sentenced to the mines with heavy labor. Currently several mines in Stronghold Area lacked sufficient labor forces. There should be hundreds of people, including family members, cronies and servants. It appeared there would be more iron ores in City of Neverwinter this year.

As for the culprit, Redwyne Passi, the letter instructed that he should be handed over to the countess herself.

The hesitation on Spear’s face showed that she had not made a decision yet.

Iron Axe sighed in silence. If he were her, he would chop off his head without hesitation. Nothing was more unforgivable than betrayal.

“They’re coming!” the observer shouted suddenly.

Putting aside these trifles, he continued to look at the battlefield through the telescope.

As he had expected, a group of knights rushed out from the gate heading directly to the edge of the artillery field.

The sound of gunshots suddenly echoed in the wilderness and forest. Puffs of smoke floated in the air in front of the battlefield. More than 20 knights and their squires fell down to the muddy ground in succession after rushing out less than 100 meters.

If Duke Ryan had led his troops to attack Border Town, the knightage might have still been able to cause a small threat to the First Army by acting in unison. However, now these iron turtles were almost living targets with no ability to strike back.

Revolving rifles and two HMGs (heavy machine gun）alone could firmly block the enemies on their way to attack. The field artillery did not even need to reload with grapeshots.

After another round of shots from the naval artillery, the thin wall finally collapsed. Iron Axe commanded to blow the whistle and attack immediately.

Soldiers in the Vanguard Battalion poured out from the alignment and separated into three groups targeting to the three openings.

The battle for recovering Fallen Dragon Ridge had officially been launched.

…

Two hours later, the First Army took the castles and churches.

The enemies had been too frightened of the booming weapons for any resistance. The last batch of knights, who were destroyed immediately when they left the gates, had been all the soldiers the Redwyne could gather.

The church people did not show up at all, and all the goods and materials were cleared. Priest Rosad was also missing.

There was no secret tunnel or hidden side door in Fallen Dragon Ridge and there was no way to escape in a city of this kind, which was backed up by the mountains. Soldiers searched for the usurper and blocked him at the top level of the castle.

Iron Axe commanded to take away the ministers who were on their knees begging for mercy and ordered the soldiers to leave Countess Spear and her brother alone in the chamber. Of course, Redwyne was tied to the chair tightly, so he could not do any harm to the countess.

“I don’t understand…” Spear said after a long silence. “What can you gain by being the lord? Our little brother and you know nothing about administration or trading. Even if you sit in this position, you just hand over your power to other feudatories. You think I’m less important to you than those strangers, don’t you?”

“You’re a witch, a demon’s underling!” Redwyne craned his neck, crying. “Father was wrong about you. You cheated him!”

“But I’m still your sister!”

“You aren’t!” He gritted his teeth and said, “You’re just the bastard adopted by father!”

“Wh-what?” Spear was stunned.

“I heard with my own ears when he was drunk. You were the mistake he made when he was young. And you aren’t a Passi!” Redwyne shouted with anger. “Why is it that you should inherit the family instead of me? I’m just taking back what was supposed to belong to me. You’re the real stranger!”

Spear covered her head but she could not remember anything about her childhood. “The mistake he made?”

“If not, why do you look so different from mother? Can’t you remember how you came to Fallen Dragon Ridge?”

“So… you are not my brother either.”

“Exactly, I’m the true heir of my family, the Earl of Fallen Dragon Ridge! Release me immediately. I demand to be treated as a nobleman!”

Spear stumbled out the chamber. Iron Axe held her promptly and said, “Are you OK?”

“I’m fine.” She took a deep breath. “Send my, no, send Redwyne Passi to City of Neverwinter. He has lost his mind. The mine is where he should be.”

“As your wish.” Iron Axe answered and nodded with agreement.

Chapter 574: The Expansion of Education

ummer began with a heavy rain.

Raindrops spattered on the windows, making the outside scenery a blur. One could only distinguish between the town and the remote mountains through the silhouette of the colors.

Standing in front of the French window and looking at the blurry sceneries in the rain, Roland still felt the singing of “The City of Love” reverberating in his ears.

He did not expect that, combined with Echo’s ability, the first drama show performed three days ago could have such a striking effect.

The whole room had fallen into silence when the show finished. The audience had been so touched that their eyes had been filled with tears. Roland thought this scene could only be seen in the high-end opera house of the era where he came from. Even the audiences in the commercial cinemas aimed at the masses of his era could seldom be moved that much, let alone the ordinary people who lived in this backward era.

Even Roland himself who had seen all the scenes that made people shed tears, could feel the shudder deep down in his heart.

That was the strength of the “Resonance Song”.

Roland recognized the importance of the inspirational singing during an enduring war in which the machines would not tire, but people would. Even if the guns and ammunition could be unceasingly transported to the battlefield, people would still be struck down by the endless pressure of survival, especially when the tide of battle was unfavorable and the army suffered heavy casualties. This kind of emotion was easily magnified, causing the soldiers to lose their faith in the ultimate victory.

Throughout history, people had thought many methods to boost the morale of the army. This first type of method included making sure the soldiers could eat as much hot food as possible or air dropping ice cream. The second type was assigning a commissar or an army chaplain to go with the army. But these methods were impractical for Roland. The former required a very good logistical supply ability and the latter was hard, in such a short period of time, to cultivate a group of core members who had strong faith that were also good at encouraging people.

Echo’s ability let him see a shortcut to boosting morale.

It might sound a little absurd, but it was more reliable compared with other methods.

While he was thinking, he heard a knock on the office’s door and then Barov walked in.

“Your Majesty, the recent house purchase statistics are available now.”

“What’s the result?”

“Just as you expected.” He excitedly unfolded a list on the mahogany table. “Since the first night of the new drama, people who come to the City Hall to apply for house renting and purchasing has significantly increased, even the people who apply for marriage registration has increased a lot too.”

“Really?” Roland went back to the table to look at Barov’s statistics. “The City of Love” was not just meaningless entertainment. Apart from advocating that labor was glorious and construction was great, it also transmitted another opinion which linked marriage with a stable residence. Instead of letting the outsiders develop a sense of belonging slowly and making the locals accept those foreigners step by step through daily contact, it was better if he set a simple standard himself to advance the fusion of the refugees.

That standard was housing.

“You’re one of us if you have a house in our place.” This saying might seem a bit rude, but it saved a lot of time in this special period.

To gain people’s recognition and build up their own families, the foreigners had to have a house. And once they owned real estate here, they would defend everything in this place voluntarily. Of course, these ideas were unsuitable to speak out directly, but they would be naturally born in mind by the audience seeing the drama stories.

It was just like diamonds.

The classics advertising verbal’s “A diamond lasts forever” made it the king of jewelry, and everyone would want one when they got married, making people completely forget its true nature which was not rare or precious.

Compared with diamonds, housing at least was far more practical.

However, in order to realize his goals, he could not set a too high standard, making people feel it was impossible to reach. In his city, now people could apply for renting a house with one gold royal and after that, they only needed to pay one gold royal as rent every year. When the rent they paid equaled to the house price, the house would belong to the renter spontaneously.

The target was not easy to achieve, as even the cheapest single room would cost 20 gold royals. That meant all the workers, for example, the temporary workers and handymen, would take 20 years to afford such a house which was less than 15 square meters and could only contain one bed, one table and one bathroom. People would call him a black-hearted realtor in the era where Roland came from.

All in all, according to Barov’s statistics, “The City of Love” was undoubtedly successful in promoting his idea.

Most of the renting applications came from the several batches refugees and serfs who arrived in the Border Area first, and house purchase requests were mostly proposed by the craftsmen with higher salaries and the broken nobles who had carried properties with them. After they all settled down here, they would become part of the City of Neverwinter forever.

Based on this successful experience, Roland had already figured out the contents of a new drama whose theme was getting married and working hard to buy a big house.

“Well done.” He rolled up the list and gave it to Barov. “Besides, the recent solicitation of the refugees should continue to expand its scope, the plentiful population is the base for the development of the City of Neverwinter and other tasks can be put aside for it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Barov laughed till his mustache was curled up.

“By the way, go and get Scroll. I have something to tell her.”

…

“Your Majesty, did you want to see me?” Scroll walked into the office in a black skirt and white blouse, looking very capable.

“I want to expand the education scope, which will cover the refugees who have just arrived at the City of Neverwinter.” Roland poured a cup of tea for her. “If the education only aims at the official citizens, the refugees would have to wait at least one more year to receive primary education.”

“I’m afraid this is untenable now,” Scroll said after several minutes consideration. “There’re too many of them. The current teacher couldn’t take care of them all and the classrooms are not enough either. If we do as you ask, the number of the education ministry’s staff would need to be doubled or tripled.”

“I have a method which can reduce the teachers’ pressure.” Roland paused for a while and continued, “Let them study by themselves.”

“Self-study?”

“Yes, every week we give one public lecture which only teaches them the basic reading and writing, and let them use the booklets with pictures and pronunciations to do some exercises by themselves in the rest of the time. There are no achievement tests and no mandatory requirements, and they learn according to their own free will.”

“This…” She ran her fingers through her hair which was soaked wet by the rain unconsciously. “It’s unlikely to have any effect. Your Majesty, without supervision, nine out of ten people won’t learn well.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just want to offer them an opportunity,” Roland laughed and said.

There was always someone who was unsatisfied with boring, low-paid jobs and was eager to achieve their goals quickly. In order to prevent these people from stepping aside, he must guide them to improve themselves in the right way.

In the future, more and more jobs would have literacy requirements, and the salaries for these jobs would be much higher than the handymen’s. Given that, for those who wanted to buy a house and get rid of their poor and exhausting lives, it would be a better choice for them to learn how to read and write by themselves.

Through this method, those hardworking people could participate in the city’s construction quickly.

To keep the new regime’s vitality, the most important thing was never, ever blocking the way of promotion from the bottom layer.

That was what Roland believed.