Er Mu - Release that Witch

Tilly, however, didn’t care about this already common conflict between the two, her gaze instead was directed to the other side of the river.

There she had noticed an incredible phenomenon.

At this time the snow was still falling from the sky, the temperature no different than during the winter, so it was reasonable to say that it was a time the town’s people should be hiding in their own homes, either around the fire, or rolled up beneath the quilt. Even in King’s City, she had only ever seen a few people who had intensified their physical strength so as to elapse the bitter cold. If they wanted to keep their body warm, they would have to eat more than usual, not to mention the risk of catching a cold whenever they stepped out of the door. Therefore, apart from gathering the necessary food and drink, the overwhelming majority of civilians would always avoid any sort of action in the winter.

However, on the town’s riverside there were people constantly coming and going, some pushing carts, some carrying big bags on their back, all walking hurriedly as if they were working. Yet, Tilly could not see a whip holding overseer anywhere among them, that was to say, these people were completely voluntary at their work.

How can this be?

After crossing the iron bridge, they were immediately stopped by two guards armed with peculiar spears, the guards were wearing uniform clothes and looked full of energy. Their demeanor completely different from the common patrols in the big cities. “Stop, why have you come from the South?” One of them looked at them for a moment before asking, “Wait, are you… witches?”

This question left Tilly slightly stumped for words. Even though she was already aware that witches were living openly within the town, when personally hearing ordinary people asking such a question in such a calm manner, it still set off a bursts through her heart. “Yes, we are witches.”

“It seems you want to join the Witch Alliance,” the guard assumed laughingly. “Please wait here. I’ll report to the higher-ups immediately.”

“Wait? No, this is —”

“That’s right. Then we will stay here and wait.” Tilly stretched out her hand to interrupt Ashes, “Furthermore, can you tell me what those people there are busy with?”

“Oh them, they are repairing the dock. Due to the abrupt snow, there were a lot of things which have gotten messed up, but in the end I really don’t know much about what is going on over there.”

When the guard stepped back to his post, Ashes asked puzzled, “Why didn’t you inform him about your identity?”

“Aren’t you curious? Aren’t you wondering how he would receive a witch from another city?” Tilly told her with a wink.

It didn’t take long until a tall woman dressed completely in white to come over. She had long blond hair and her looks were impeccable. Even without having seen her magic, Tilly could feel a piercing vigor coming from her body, just like a sharp unsheathed blade.

There was no doubt, that the woman in front of them was a combat witch, and a very powerful one at that.

“I really thought that you were new witches who want to join the Witch Alliance. Haven’t you already gone back to Sleeping Island?” She first said as she looked at Ashes, before sweeping her gaze over the rest of the crowd. When her eyes finally fell on Tilly she showed an expression of surprise for a moment before the sharp feeling suddenly disappeared, to be replaced by water-like warmth.

“Hello, my name Nightingale,” she nodded in greeting. “I presume, you must be Tilly Wimbledon, His Highness Roland’s younger sister.”

“Lady Tilly!”

Guided by Nightingale to the lord’s castle, the 5th princess never expected that the first person to greet her would be Sylvie. She ran over cheerfully, skipping the salute and instead bent over to give her a hug, “How come you’re here, it’s still autumn.”

“It’s no different from winter now,” Tilly laughed, “Where are the others?”

“Lotus is currently building houses for the refugees, Evelyn and Candle are still in the industrial area, and Honey is in the back-garden busy training messengers.” Sylvie counted on her fingers, “His Highness has already sent people to go inform them.”

“Don’t worry, I think you’ll be able to see them soon.” A familiar, yet strange voice came from behind Sylvie.

Tilly raised her head and saw a gray-haired man with a big smile on his face, his appearance was not much different from her memories, his smile and his demeanor however were completely unlike in the past.

“Welcome to Border Town, my dear sister.”

…

Tilly’s thoughts were in turmoil, there were too many suspicions she wanted to blurt out, but she kept a straight face as she followed Roland Wimbledon into a room that looked like a study.

“Please sit,” the other side said as he poured a glass of warm black tea and placed it in front of her. “A whole year has gone by since the last time we’ve seen each other. I know you’ve had a lot of things you want to talk to me about, it’s the same with me… but there’s no need to hurry.” He looked at the falling snow outside the window and continued to say, “The winter is still very long.”

She grabbed the cup, and wordlessly sat down by the mahogany table, quietly sizing up the fourth prince.

Even with only the opening remarks Tilly felt that it wasn’t something she could ever imagine her timid and cowardly brother to say. He had always appeared strong on the outside but was actually weak on the inside. He was always looking for the fastest way of escape, never wanting to face an issue directly. The Roland Wimbledon before her was completely different. He was trying to take the initiative of the conversation, and despite his soft and gentle tone, he completely showed the demeanor of a person fully comfortable in his place as a leader.

“Nightingale,” Roland tilted his head.

“But Your Highness…” the guiding witch’s voice came from somewhere within the room.

“It doesn’t matter, she is my little sister.”

“Very well,” Nightingale was silent for a moment, then her body appeared, before she unhappily left the room.

“Now the only people here is you and me,” he laughed a little as he returned to the table.

Tilly was silent for a while, “In the end, who… are you really?”

She thought that the other party would hesitate or pretend to be mysterious, never would she expect that he would answer her so quickly, “I am your older brother, Roland Wimbledon, Graycastle’s 4th Prince.” Then he laughed, “I know I changed a lot, but I’m willing to explain it to you slowly.”

Tilly suddenly remembered what he had written in the latter. ‘As for what let me make this decision, and what made me no longer indifferent to this as I was in the past, these small trifling things can be slowly discussed at a later opportunity.’ It probably had been this sentence that prompted her to decide to come to this remote town.

She couldn’t help but open her mouth, “I’d be happy to hear what you have to say.”

The whole story wasn’t complicated, but was very exciting. After Roland told her of his experiences after being given Border Town, Tilly discovered that her cup had long since been emptied. She let out a long breath, then reviewed his story once again. Simply put, a witch named Anna moved Roland, and through the saved witch, he became aware of the evil acts of the Church and the sinister lies they told the people. Then, with Garcia’s assassination attempt it brought him to realize the dark side of the royal power, even when he hid in the corner of the kingdom he still would not be able to evade their viciousness, so finally he decided to change it all.

Even though this sounded somewhat dramatic, but with some difficulty, it could count as an acceptable explanation. However, there still remained the question about the strange knowledge, whether it’s the steam engine or the guns, it’s impossible that it came from a moment’s perception and awareness.

“So, you are saying, that the ultimate cause of all this is the memories which suddenly appeared in your head?” Tilly asked.

“Indeed,” Roland said honestly, “I know this is hard to believe, but it’s a fact… After I luckily evaded 3rd sister’s assassination attempt, that was when I woke up from the coma and came to realized these things. If we say that meeting Anna was the impetus, then the content of the memories was the driving force behind my wish to change the status quo.”

Was it a witch? Tilly thought, the possibility of either replacement or control are both slim, Sylvie has already confirmed that the Witch Alliance’s abilities weren’t unknown, every day they would undergo a special practice, none of them have powers relating to those two areas, not even remotely.

The only possibility left was possession, she didn’t eliminate the possibility that they had this kind of ability, which allowed them through invade and occupy the body and obtain the other person’s thoughts. But this speculation is equally uncertain, no matter how father thought about Roland, he is undoubtedly one of Graycastle’s princes. Therefore, always wearing a God’s Stone of Retaliation was normal for him, and there were always knights and personal guards around to protect him, which made it impossible for a witch who has no hiding ability to get close to him.

But, even with such a witch, how can she possibly know so many things that are out of the ordinary? When she was a child, Tilly besides liking to rummage through the Palace Library, she also received teaching from several white-haired, erudite and multi-talented court mentors, but even they had never talked about using the power of steam and snow powder to replace animal power and swords.

So it seemed that his quirky knowledge had something to do with his bizarre encounters.

“How will you prove that you are indeed Roland Wimbledon and not just the part which appeared with those extra memories?”

Tilly knew that this question was quite rude, if he were to act like the former 4th Prince she knew, he would undoubtedly have exploded into a rage by now, flipped over the table and stamped out of the room.

“Because I still remember the matters which happened on the court,” the other party’s tone remained calm. “I think it is a person’s unique memory that distinguishes the essence of a person. If a well-known witch was to become exactly the same as you, with only her memories not the same, she would still essentially be another person. Even though I have a lot of strange memories, I do not remember where these came from. However, your weeping expression as you left me when I threw you onto the broken glass is still vividly embedded in my memory, so there is the proof.” He paused, “Of course… I haven’t had the time to apologize to you, but I still hope that it will not be too late.”

Tilly fell silent, the Roland before her eyes wore a clean attire and an expression of sincerity. As if to tell her that it was needless to doubt since it was all true. Obviously, no matter from where she looked at him, the new him was much better than the dandy Prince from before, but there were some doubts remaining within her heart.

“Truly… hard to believe.”

“That’s normal,” Roland said as if he had seen through her thoughts. “There are a lot of things which are unthinkable before you personally experience them. For me, I would never have expected my younger sister would have awaken as a witch, even concealing it from all the people within the palace. However… As I’ve said at the beginning, this winter is still very long, we will have a lot of time to slowly come to understand each other.”

It’s probably the best solution, at the moment, Tilly nodded, “Then for the next few months… I’m sorry to be troubling you.”

“Let me handle it, you’ll love it here.”