Er Mu - Release that Witch

“Also, starting from next year, if your harvest next year is the same as those promoted this year, even if the output is not on the forefront, you will still be freed. In other words, as long as you work hard, you will be able to rid yourself of your status as serfs — as I said, ‘labor creates wealth, labor changes destiny’.” He paused for a moment, looked around and then continued, “I hope that in the coming days, there will be no longer any serfs in Border Town, and everyone will be my real subject.”

The moment Roland’s voice faded, the people’s cheers unceasingly resonated throughout the sky above the Redwater River.

Timothy entered the Lord of the Port of Clear Water’s circular room located at the top of the tower.

Different from the more commonly seen castle’s, this tower was both higher and narrower. Apart from dealing with government or for observing the outside, he was afraid that even gathering all of his cabinet ministers here to hold a council meeting was already impossible.

None of the furnishings in the room had been moved, it was as if the owner had just left and would soon return. Facing the entrance was a reddish-brown square table, books were neatly and tidily arranged on it. And in the middle were several unfinished manuscripts and a quill that was inserted into an ink bottle; as if just waiting for someone to come and complete the files.

Taking one step at a time, Timothy walked to the table and sat in the large chair. The seat was covered with a cooling mat that was sewn out of bamboo sticks. Something that was quite suitable for easing the sizzling heat of the final month of summer. A bucket of water had been placed next to the chair, it was evidently used to hold ice, also serving to dispel the room’s heat and lower the temperature. However, today’s weather was a bit gloomy, there were dark clouds over the sea, which lowered the temperature, and made the room appear to be less stiflingly hot.

Timothy leaned forward, placed his face close to the surface of the tabletop and gently smelled it, filling up his nostrils with a faint and sweet scent — this was Garcia’s most loved bluish green sunflower fragrance. It was produced at the Cold Wind Mountain Ridge, and when compared with rugosa rose and rosemary it had a more unique and refreshing feeling, as if it contained some of the ice from the north.

Only after using something for a long time, would it take over one’s smell. There was no doubt that his sister enjoyed sitting on this chair, her hands on this table, either listening to a report or busy writing a decree.

Thinking about this, Timothy couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

“Haha…ha…haha…hahahaha —” In the end, Timothy simply leaned against the back of the chair, raised his head and started to laugh at the top of his voice.

He had finally won!

Garcia had given up Port of Clear Water, and given up the Southern Territory, that was tantamount to giving up the throne of Graycastle.

After receiving news that the Black Sail Fleet was sailing north, he immediately summoned the troops under his command and drove more than five thousand slaves, rats and criminals to the southern border and attacked Garcia’s nest at the Port of Clear Water. The only resistance he encountered came from the Sandpeople from the extreme south. Timothy didn’t know what kind promise they had agreed on, but they attacked him one after another, having no fear for their own lives. Moreover, the troublesome point was that they were also in possession of the Berserker Pill.

The battle lasted for nearly half a month, but by exploiting his superior numbers, and repeatedly disrupting his enemy’s counterattack, Timothy was able to slowly erode the Sandpeople’s defense line. Nearly three thousand of his people had died in this battle of attrition, and if his men hadn’t received the support of the pills, Timothy was afraid that his mob wouldn’t have dared to set even a single foot on this battlefield. Not to mention ever dare fight against the fierce and barbaric Sandpeople here who had fought to their death.

The final result of the battle was that he had to cross over a layer of corpses to be able to enter Port of Clear Water’s Lord Tower.

The title “Queen of Clear Water” was history, the South of Graycastle had finally come back under his control.

“Your Majesty?” Probably from hearing his carefree laughter, the Knight keeping guard outside, pushed open the door and entered the room.

“No harm,” Timothy answered and got up. He pointed to the knight and then over to himself, instructing him to follow, and then went through a side door to step on the balcony.

He was immediately hit by the slightly salty sea breeze, which made his gown flutter. It seemed there was a storm approaching from looking at the dark clouds standing overhead that were growing thicker and thicker.

That’s truly unfortunately, Timothy thought, I was planning to see my third sister’s port, piers, and the Lords Tower all fall victim to the flames, but now it seems this will be impossible.

The last half year he had constantly been on the battlefield alongside his soldiers, there was hardly one month were he had stayed within King’s city. He had entrusted his Imperial Prime Minister to take care of all the government’s affairs — although Marquis Wyke had seemed to be very loyal, but loyalty didn’t mean that the other was able to forever lock their doorway and resist temptation, Gerald Wimbledon being the best example of this.

He needed to return to King’s City as soon as he could to stabilize the undercurrents of political unrest going on over there. The rain in the South would probably go on for several days, days he couldn’t waste with waiting over here.

“I will go back to King’s City early tomorrow morning,” Timothy opened his mouth and declared, “Except for my personal guards and the Knights from King’s City, all the other Knights and mercenaries will be handed over to you. Sir Ed Hawes, please take my place in defending the Southern Border. You must not allow the Sandpeople to even set a single foot within Graycastle’s borders.”

“You… will let me stay here?” The young Knight of the northern Hawes Family asked in surprise, “But I would like to continue to fight at your side, Your Majesty. I —“

“Knight, by defending the borderland you will also fight for me.” Timothy interrupted, “Listen, there are still many things you need to do, so I have to leave the Southern Territory in the hands of loyal and competent people who are able to deal with the aftermath.”

“But…” Ed was still a bit hesitant.

“I know what you are worried about,” the new King smiled understandingly and patted his shoulders. “Rest assured, you won’t stay here forever. When the matter regarding Port of Clear Water is finished, I will immediately recall you back to King’s City. After all, Graycastle is not unified yet, I still need to recover the Western Territory, and for that, I will need even more Knights who can charge in and break through the enemy’s lines. So, how could I ever forget you here?”

Hearing these reassuring words, the young man looked up with shining eyes, knelt down then said, “As you bid, Your Majesty!”

“Get up,” Timothy said while nodding with satisfaction. “There are three things you have to do next. First, you have to take all the remaining inhabitants of Port of Clear Water into custody and escort them back to King’s City.”

“Don’t you want to hang these traitors?” The Knight asked surprised.

“No, they cannot be considered as real traitors. If they had indeed joined Garcia’s side, they would have long left with the Black Sail Fleet. If I kill these people, it would only suit her more.” However, my third sister’s influence is really beyond my expectation, of the more than 10’000 inhabitants of Port of Clear Water, plus the captive slaves from Eagle City, there were actually only 400 people who didn’t want to leave with her. If not for the Sandpeople’s resistance, the Port of Clear Water would have been no different from an abandoned city.

“Your Majesty is benevolent!”

“The second thing you have to do is burn all the docks, shipyards and the Lords Tower, I want to let everyone in the South see that Garcia, the Queen of Clear Water, has ceased to be. Even if she comes fleeing back, only ruins will be left for her to return to.”

“Yes,” the Knight agreed.

“The last thing I ask is that you gather all the refugees for me.” Timothy looked at the horizon over the sea, then calmly said, “Furthermore, any homeless man, rat, bandit, and even the Sandpeople are acceptable. From the battle of Eagle City until today, the dispute in the Southern Territory has never been quietened down, so you should be able to find a large number of refugees living in the surrounding villages and towns. What kinds of methods you use to gather them doesn’t matter, only that before the war against the West begins you will need to provide me with at least 5’000 men.

Garcia’s escape proved the correctness of his strategy, as the ruler of more than half of Graycastle’s population, he should use them to fight against the rebels — under normal circumstances, with a team of 100 Knights leading an army of several thousand commoners, the Knight’s usually wouldn’t even need to participate in the battle. Their only responsibility would be the distribution of the pills and commanding the battle. In front of an enemy who had the advantage of absolute numbers, as long as they unceasingly attacked, the enemy would be unable to resist them. If Garcia had shown an unwavering will and decided to defend Port of Clear Water to the death instead of retreating, she would have been bound to be swallowed up by the masses of people turned mad by the pills.

Now he only had one enemy left, Roland Wimbledon in the western territory.

“Your Majesty, do you know why there isn’t any news from my older brother?”

Ed’s question surprised Timothy for a moment, indeed, it had already been two months since he sent Lehman Hawes over to loot the Western Territory. No matter if he traveled further or decided to return, he should already have reported on the situation by now, or returned to King’s City.

Although one of the missions given to Lehmann was “take as much control of the Western Territory as possible”, Timothy thoroughly understood that after the 1500 people took the pills they would become almost entirely useless. Wanting to only rely on them to occupy the Western Territory was a very unlikely situation, so the main mission was to seize Longsong Stronghold, loot the pills in the church, verify the details about the Duke’s battle, then lastly go out to attack Border Town thereby consuming some of Roland’s strength.

He had already used this trick to deal with Garcia, so it could be described as a well-tested tactic of his. Even in the case that he was unable to capture the Port of Clear Water, and his militia was wiped out during the attempt to eliminate the enemy, most of his Knights would still be able to return safely. So as long as he assembled a group of useless people afterwards, they would be able to set out on an attack once again.

But why is there absolutely no news about Lehman Hawes and his group of Knights?

Timothy opened his mouth and slowly said, “Maybe his return was delayed because of the attack on Border Town, or he may be on his way back by now.” He knew, that his reasoning was clearly quite weak, but he still did not want to tell Lehman’s brother the most likely answer.

“Maybe when I get back to King’s City, there will be a message from him waiting for me.”

“Then Your Majesty, at that time, is it possible that I can ask that you…”

“Tell you the news?” Timothy nodded, “Of course, I will send a messenger to deliver it to you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

The new King leant on the railing, watching the occasionally rays of light which appeared within the black clouds. The sound of thunder came from a far-off place, it wasn’t loud, but rather deep and resounding, as if it struck directly into the heart.

Ed’s question had caused the joy in Timothy’s heart to largely fade away. If it was said that Garcia Wimbledon’s rebellion was as it was meant to be, and that Tilly Wimbledon’s departure had disappointed him greatly, then the action of Roland Wimbledon was something completely unimaginable to him. He had always thought that it would be absolutely unnecessary for him to spend any of his energy on his incompetent younger brother. As long as he waited for some time, Roland would become fed up with Border Town’s impoverished lifestyle and come back to King’s City on his own, thus today’s very real situation was completely unimaginable.