Er Mu - Release that Witch

“If all the people were sitting on the deck, rather than lying in beds in the cabins, the number of individuals a ship could carry would be doubled,” Theo insisted, “Furthermore, as long as we don’t pay attention to their comfort, the two masters which are used for the transportation of ore can also be used to move the people. As long as the top of the hatch is opened, one ship can then load about 200 people at the same time. This kind of vessels, your old friend Hogg should have a lot of it, right?”

“He should definitely have several ships of this type, in Silver City…” Margaret still looked a little hesitant, “Moreover, according to your arithmetic, it should probably be possible to reduce the number of ships needed to 50. But… this really isn’t a good deal.”

Theo also had the same thoughts, allowing dozens of ships to converge on top of the canal, just the scheduling and coordinating would require an enormous amount of energy. Also, all the charter costs would be paid out of their own pocket. After expending such a large amount of effort and taking all that trouble, the ‘harvest’ wouldn’t account for all the work that was needed. This really couldn’t be regarded as a good deal. At this point, he could only put forth the final resort.

At the end of the letter His Highness wrote a short line: If Margaret doesn’t want to help, tell her that Lightning is also coming.

Reading the sentence had made him a little puzzled, is there any particular relationship between the businesswoman and the cute, little blonde girl? Looking at their appearances it doesn’t seem like that ah… but His Royal Highness must have his own reasons when he speaks so certainly of it. Coming to this conclusion, Theo slowly opened his mouth, “There is a reason why there is no alternative than concluding the transportation within three days. What His Highness is doing is the equivalent of going into a tiger’s den to seize its food. If this is dragged out for too long, the Church might be coming to their door and Lightning is also within their ranks, if they discover the existence of a witch, it might become dangerous for her.”

“What did you just say?” Her voice suddenly rose up. “Lightning is coming?”

“His Highness’ letter did indeed say so,” Theo put on his most honest face, “Probably, in order to guide the troops and offer an early warning. After all, we are currently within the domain of the New King.”

“I got it,” Margaret stood up, “When do you need a vessel?”

“They ought to arrive in four days in case they aren’t delayed on the way.”

“I will go to my greatest extent to arrange it,” she went to her desk to the side, took up her pen and began to write, “But I have a condition, you have to tell me the position of His Highness troops. So that in the case that they want to enter the city, I can arrange adequate rooms for them.”

Alright, it seems that this trick is indeed useful, “I think this point shouldn’t be a problem,” Theo was secretly delighted, “In addition, I have one more thing I will need your help with.”

“Speak,” Margaret sighed.

“I need a procession of carts with wine barrels, the more barrels there are, the better. But they mustn’t be filled with ale or wine, but with river or well water.” According to His Highness’ letter, the crucial person to solve the demonic plague is the witch Lily; she can transform ordinary water into a cure for the disease. But there is a dangerous flaw in His Highness plan, if the street rats were allowed to come near the camp and get to know that there were people who could continuously produce the “Holy Elixir,” I bet that on the next day everyone in the city would come to know about it.

“River and well water?” Margaret raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure?”

“Rest assured, His Royal Highness will pay for this.” Theo declared laughingly.

In considerations of confidentiality and security, transporting the water from the troops’ camp to King’s City could only be done by him personally. In case he would just carry a water bag to cure the fugitives from the Eastern Region of the demonic plague, it would not only be troublesome, but its efficiency would also be very low. Because of this he had to come up with a method which allowed him to bring as much of the purified water through as possible in one round.

Installing a large barrel on a cart was clearly a good choice.

After learning that His Highness’ side had a method to cure the demonic plague, Theo’s irritable mood finally calmed down.

Once there was something he could busy himself with, the following days seemed to go by a lot faster.

In addition to his visits to the wine estates at the outskirts of King’s City, he also planned the route for the convoy, while keeping the topography of the area around the canal’s pier and the city gate in mind.

Nowadays, wanting to enter the city had become quite a hassle, using the refugees outside of King’s City as the reason, all the major city gates had been sealed. In this way prohibiting any outsider from entering the city, especially after the Church had begun to distribute the Holy Elixir. After the refugees became aware of this, they began to desperately attack the city gates every day. Hoping to be allowed to go to the church for treatment. However, the guards stationed at the wall responded without hesitation and flocked them with crossbow bolts. The result was, that by now many corpses were lying in front of the city gates and rotting under the scorching sun, spreading an unpleasant odor.

The only open gate was a side gate limited to the use of the nobility and the merchants who brought the food. Fortunately, Theo had worked in the patrol for some time and because of that he was known by most of the guards as a native of King’s City, allowing him to go through the gate with just a simple greeting.

It was precisely because of this quarantine, that both the inner and outer city lost almost all contact, so even when they had transported the refugees away with great fanfare, the news of it had difficulties spread into the inner city. Not to mention that the upper nobility were anxiously waiting for someone to ship all the refugees from the Eastern Region away. And save them from later having to suppress a rebellion.

Theo roughly understood why His Highness had set out on the same day he had received the letter. All these people outside of the city felt as if they had been abandoned by their King. So, in case the Church sent out some priest to heal them, they would become their most faithful of believers.

But if His Highness could arrive before the Church could grab them, these people would instead be pulled to his side. There was no doubt that after healing them and offering them a new place to stay, they would become His Highness most fanatical of supporters.

On the morning of the fourth day, the returning first fleet arrived at the canal’s pier on time. Theo was surprised to discover that His Highness had sent as many as 300 soldiers of the First Army. Who were furthermore all dressed in their standard uniform and armed with revolver rifles. With this powerful contingent as a safeguard, even if the Church came to know about them, he estimated that they would still be unable to prevent the refugees from leaving.

“Lightning!” Margaret who also waited at the pier immediately shouted when she saw the little girl’s figure, unable to containing herself from going forward and hugging her.

“This is…?” Iron Axe asked.

“The owner of the Grand Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Margaret,” Theo explained, “All the ships we need for the transportation will be provided by her or a partner of her’s, without her we would never be able to implement His Highness plan.”

“So, it was like this,” After understanding the situation Iron Axe nodded to her. “Thank you for your help.”

“I’ll deduct all my expense from His Highness fee,” Margaret merely shrugged. “But when you’re thanking me, you should also thank Lightning.”

Lightning crooked head and asked confused, “Why me?”

“Keke, it’s nothing.” Theo coughed twice. “What are you going to do next?”

“Next we will set up a camp in the south of the dock to control the area, and then in the afternoon we will start the rescue mission.” Iron Axe said, “If the ships could be here by then, that would be for the best.”

***

When Brian led his men into the refugee area, he could not help but frown.

Everywhere he looked he saw dying people. Their skin had split open at many places, with black blood continuously flowing out of them and attracting swarms of flies. However, those ill people didn’t even have the strength left to drive the insects off, simply letting these flying insects crawl all over their body and drink of their blood.

Seeing all this, he couldn’t help but think of the Months of Demons, when the people of Border Town were trapped in the slums of Longsong Stronghold. Having to face death by hunger and coldness, but being utterly helpless against it. If all this was really done by the Church, it was a simply unforgivable crime.

“Let’s call the first group,” Brian said. “We depend on you, Miss Echo.”

If they rashly went within the crowd and announced that they were in possession of medicine to cure the ill, it would most likely cause a ruckus. And when a large group of refugees went into the direction of the docks all at once, their small group of dozens of people would simply not be enough to suppress them. Because of this, they had to make sure that the information was always only spread to a select small groups at the same time. Considering this problem, His Highness had decided to specially sent Miss Echo along. With her ability, Echo was able to control the area within which her voice would be heard, or she could also just put her voice next to a person’s ear.

Even though Brian saw how she opened her mouth to speak, he was unable to hear any sound, while the fugitives turned around and looked over.

Soon, a group of them came over, more stumbling than running, “Your honor, is what you said really true? As long as you can cure the disease, I am willing to follow you to the Western Region!”

“Of course it’s true. Our ships have stopped at the pier, so gather your family and come with me!”

Other soldiers also stepped forward to help the patients who laid on the ground and were unable to move. Their small group instantly expanded to several hundred people, who walked together in the direction of the pier. Many people who noticed this scene, also began to follow, doing their best to catch up with them.

Back to the pier, soldiers of the First Army had already filled with bags with purified water and placed them on a long table. At the gangway to board the ship stood Iron Axe with a squadron, only letting only two people through at the same time, and ensuring that all the people who wanted to embark had first drunken the curing water.

“Everybody listens, these water bags are filled with medicine that treats the illness, so as long as you drink from it, you will immediately recover.” Next, to the long table, they had set up a stage on which stood the one with the highest standing amongst the soldiers, constantly preaching His Highness’ manuscript, “What the church has called the ‘Demonic Plague caused by witches and could only be dispelled by their Holy Elixir’ is a groundless statement, nothing more. They just want to earn more money and also make you kneel to them, thanking them for their graciousness in saving your life. Instead Lord Roland not only brought the medicine, he also doesn’t charge you any fees for it! Yes, you don’t even have to pay a copper royal for it!”

These words immediately heated up the crowd, but when the first person drunk the purified water, he quickly felt how his body changed. Unable to believe it, he tore open his clothes only to see how the dark spots quickly faded away, “This medicine is indeed effective! I’m healed, I’m healed!”

“Me too, God above, the wounds no longer bleed!”

“God you say, where is it? I only see a group of liars!”

“That’s right! This medicine has nothing to do with the Church!”

“Long live His Highness, Roland!”

As more and more people were healed, the witnessing crowd also became more and more excited. If the First Army to hadn’t been there to control the order, the water bags placed on the table would have immediately been washed away by the flood of fugitives.