Er Mu - Release that Witch

“The team sent out by the City Hall will be responsible for attracting the nobles, artisans, and other literate people. While the First Army’s main task is to recruit the commoners. Compared with the previous propaganda missions, this time the strategy must be more active, do you understand what I mean by that?”

Iron Axe hesitated a moment and then asked in uncertainly, “You mean… dragging along by force?”

“Keke, such a method isn’t necessary,” Roland coughed twice, the Sandpeople’s style was really straightforward and cruel, “For example by giving away food for free, taking the initiative to convince them using advance payment of living expenses, etc.” He turned his view to Barov, “You should be very clear about this kind of stuff.”

“Of course, Your Royal Highness, previously as a cabinet minister I have aided the patrol to suppress or pacify riots of refugees several times,” the latter said. “This request is quite simple, sometimes it’s already enough to merely feed them until they are full. Therefore, there is no need to use money to rope them in; don’t even start talking about remuneration with them — if the conditions seem too generous, they will become suspicious. However, the arrogant aristocrats will prove troublesome. Although they are currently hard pressed for money and no longer so well-off, they are still experienced and knowledgeable, so their demands will also be higher. It’s unlikely that they will go on a long-distance trek simply to receive a steamed bun. To lure them it’s required that we coerce them with money and promises.”

Roland clapped twice, “It is a pity that there are so many responsibilities for you here in Border Town that you can’t go out in person. Otherwise, the success of this mission would be guaranteed”

“Please rest assured, Your Royal Highness, I shall dispatch the disciple whom I’m the most pleased with,” Barov said with a smile, “To establish Border Town as a city next year; it’d be nice if both sides of the Redwater River could be covered with houses.”

“It’s possible that such a day will come.”

After the two men asked for leave, Roland leaned back against his chair to rest for a short period; he decided to go to the yard at the North Slope to see Anna.

Stepping through the door, the first thing to enter his view was a pile of metal cubes.

Roland picked up one piece and held it in his hand — they were basically all of the same size, about five centimeters long and wide. The surface wasn’t smooth at all. It looked as if they all come out of a press, there was also a number engraved on one side. For example, on top of the piece in his hand was written the number “256”.

“How was it? Were you able to discover any better one?”

“No. 1057 and No. 2284, are exceptionally hard, compared to the others, regardless of their hardness or toughness, both are excellent,” Anna answered after coming over to greet him with a bright smile.

“Were you already able to climb over two thousand?” Roland asked in astonishment; and took the record handed over by Lucia, it was completely filled with data. Seeing No. 2284, he discovered that there were several numbers written on it, ‘carbon content of 0.8 %, 15.2 % of unknown elements.’”

“Well, this is more satisfying than cutting gun barrels,” Anna confessed with a wink, “Whether it is unexpectedly possible to create such earth-shaking changes to its characteristics by mixing iron pieces together with other metals, is something I really look forward to finding out. I want to know how these metal pieces work.”

Anna and Lucia’s current exploration was a far-reaching task.

Roland let the little girl first break down the ore into its raw materials before Anna then mixed and melted them together according to the different mass ratios. Afterward they would then test the performance of these pieces — by stretching and squeezing it under the heat of Anna’s black flame. Through observing the actual time taken and amount of magic power it took, Anna could distinguish between its strength and toughness.

The first material to add had obviously been carbon.

Even though Roland knew that the essence of steel was a type of iron and carbon alloy: with too much carbon it would became pig iron, and without any carbon it was pure iron, when the carbon content was within a certain range would turn into steel, etc. However, even with just a small fluctuation it could already greatly change the metal’s properties, so the first thing they needed to measure would be the size of that range.

Within the history records he had seen, before 1500 they had only used mixtures made out of pure iron and carbon for smelting, but after 1500 they began adding new elements on top of a steel foundation. Roland thoroughly understood that every additional element in the sequence could potentially increase the results many times over, which would turn into a very long process. Therefore, he only allowed Anna to advance her exploration if she had finished all the important manufacturing tasks.

He encouraged the two witches with a few words then sat to the side, quietly enjoying the rear view of the busy Anna.

After entering autumn, the sun was still shining brightly, but it was already no longer as cruelly hot as during the last month of summer. Instead, his body now felt nice and warm, and a long lost feeling of calmness spread throughout his heart.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but the yard gradually quieted down. He felt a soft hand being placed on his forehead, when he narrowly opened his eyes. He saw that Lucia had already disappeared and that Anna was sitting in front of him, “You have something you want to say to me?”

“…”

“It was your eyes which told me,” she said while leaning forward, letting her hair fall down naturally, resembling strands of translucent gold silk.

Roland hesitated, but then shook his head and helplessly replied, “I’m just a little confused.” He told her about his population expansion plan before continuing, “Compared with my original intention of free choice, now in order to seize time, I have to use a combination of half luring and half forcing. Although I’m doing this to avoid Timothy pressing them into his army to die under the eroding effect of the pills. However, if I think seriously about this, my way of handling things isn’t that different from his… the only difference would be the purpose.”

“Can’t you explain your purpose to them?” She asked softly.

“But…”

“I know what you want to say,” Anna covered the Prince’s mouth. “You are worried that they won’t appreciate your act of kindness, furthermore you also can’t guarantee that your objective will forever stay so proper in the future — being misunderstood because you used the wrong method while trying to achieve a good goal, or using the right methods but committing an irrevocable mistake… In the end, you do not know if it is more important for you to use the correct method or to hold on to the right objective. Am I right?

“Be at ease,” Anna immediately answered her own question, not even giving him the chance to say anything. She put her hands on his cheeks, softly whispering into his ear, “I’m here… I’ll always make sure that you look good.”

Sleeping Island’s living environment became better by the day. The further Tilly rose into the air, the more she could see of the coming and going crowd and the bustling market.

This place was no longer the secluded place where three hundred witches had all been living in isolation. Through negotiations and agreements, some of the Fjord’s Islands like Crescent Moon Bay, Twin Dragon Island, Sunset Port and Shallow Water Town had all established trading routes with Sleeping Island. Even going so far, that some ordinary people from overcrowded island villages had decided to settle down on Sleeping Island.

Although they were currently living in the outer region of the island, far apart from the witches, Tilly believed that there would come a day where Sleeping Island would become one big city. The fusion was a slow-moving process, but it left one brimming with expectation to see the result. The best news however, was that no matter if the witches, were living on other islands or were already locals when they awakened, they would all become members of Sleeping Island. Which meant that Tilly and her migrants would be able to regularly obtain new supporters.

“Come down, the wind is rising,” Ashes shouted from below, “And be careful not to fall!”

“I’m fine!” Tilly waved her hand. But all of a sudden, her body dropped down. Only after falling a short distance was she able to stabilize herself again, “Oh… it is still a bit hard for me to control.”

“I knew that your control isn’t good enough to fly so high!” Ashes stamped with her foot, “Next time you will only fly at a lower height or go over to the sea! If you don’t come down immediately, I will climb up the roof and catch you myself.”

“Alright, alright, I got it,” Tilly indeed felt the wind growing stronger and stronger. So she decided to no longer to show off or try to be brave, instead gathering her magic and releasing it so as to slowly land in the garden.

“Next time, if you want to do something like this, call Molly first.” Ashes’ eyes were wide open as she reprimanded her, “At least her magic servant could catch you if you were to fall.”

“As long as I keep up the magic supply, it is impossible to fall. The worst that could happen is that I couldn’t control the direction,” she took the glove with the blue magic stone off and handed it to Ashes, “You also have to try it, next. The feeling of flying is simply incredible. When you overlook Sleeping Island from up high in the sky, it will feel as if the whole world has become something entirely new.”

“I’d rather not,” Ashes waved dismissively, “From the beginning, I have always been unable to activate the lightning magic stone, so don’t even mention continuously providing the stone with magic. Furthermore, there is also only one, even if I’m able to grasp the control skill, there is no way for me to fly with you.”

“Then let it be,” Tilly regrettably said, taking the gloves back. “I always believed that if we could figure out the principle behind it, there is the possibility that we can manufacture similar magic stones.”

“Do you think those stones are man-made?”

“Without a doubt,” she nodded without hesitation. “No matter if it is their polished exterior appearance or their particular applications, it is unlikely that those stones were formed naturally. It seems that the group who inhabited the ruins had a much deeper understanding of magic than we did, it’s just a pity that they didn’t leave any more clues than a bunch of incomprehensible scrolls.”

At this moment, a huge white figure suddenly fell from the sky. Due to the speed at which it fell being too fast, it practically smashed into the ground with a thud, lifting out a circle of dust.

“Maggie?” Ashes lifted her eyebrows.

“Ooooh… that’s extremely painful, goo,” The little girl that was lying on the ground said as she rubbed her head and stood up. “Just now, were my eyes playing tricks on me? Lady Tilly can actually fly in the sky! If it wasn’t that you had the wrong color of hair, I would have believed you were Lightning.”

“You were not mistaken, I just flew in the air,” Tilly said while rubbing her cheek with a smile, “how about… are the witches who went to live in Border Town doing well?”

“All fine, goo, they asked me to deliver a letter to you,” Maggie said, flipping her bag over to find some letters. “This is Lotus’s, this is Evelyn’s, and this one… is from His Highness.”

For a moment, Tilly could only stare dumbfounded when she saw the one foot and half a finger thick letter which had been sent by the Prince. It was wrapped so tightly, that it resembled a parcel more than it did a letter. It was even so heavy, that it caused her hands to drop down a bit, which made it obvious that this wasn’t just a simple letter.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Ashes took out one-half of a wheat cake, broke it into small pieces and handed it over to Maggie. However, the latter merely shook her head, put a dried fish into her mouth and vaguely said, “I’m off to play with Molly.” Then she turned back into the large white pigeon, flapped her wings and flew out of the flower garden.

“Why do I get the feeling, that after one month she’s somehow become bigger?”