Release That Witch

"The number of demons increased day by day, but our numbers grew smaller. The Holy City of Taquila had fallen and the only option left to us was to flee in all directions. We fled over the mountains and across the rivers, getting as far as possible from the Gates of Hell. But next time, where should we flee?"     

"What's your opinion?" Back in the office, Roland closed the Book of Illusion and turned to Scroll.     

"If the knight remembers correctly, then this would be a really incredible coincidence." Scroll waited for a moment. "The content in the treasure map is the same as the recordings in the ancient book. It proves that the church had indeed constructed a city in the Wild Places to defend against the demons. As for the marks on the map, perhaps they were defense towers, posts, warehouses, or whatever else they had built there."     

"You mean, it isn't really a treasure map?"     

"Of course not. After all, the church isn't like bandits or pirates. They don't need to hide their treasures, not to mention leaving a drawing for future generations."     

Roland nodded. "You're right, so… is it a legit map?"     

"Most probably. Although it's not clear why the church didn't record this period of history, I believe that there are more ruins in the forest east of King City," explained Scroll. "If the locations marked on the map are just constructions above the ground, there shouldn't be much left after all these centuries, but if they include underground facilities such as basements, underground remains must exist, and through them we might be able to discover some clues."     

"What kind of clues?"     

"For example, why the church wants to hide the existence of the demons? Why are they so secretive about it when they've previously fought them?" She paused, her voice becoming deeper. "And, why do they hunt us, witches, as if we were demons?"     

Roland did not know how to comfort her. After a long silence, he slowly said, "Unfortunately we're not sure how accurate the drawing is. According to him, the original map was so precise that it didn't look to be drawn by hand."     

"How about asking Nightingale to check the knight's home?"     

"That's not very appropriate." Roland disagreed. "The treasure map has already been passed down for hundreds of years in their clan. It's highly probable that the basement is filled with God's Stones of Retaliation and other traps. Let's discuss this another time." He measured the sides of the triangle symbol. "Anyway, for now, this place is out of our reach. Assuming that the foot of North Slope Mountain is our mines, then the location of the hexagonal star is at least 50 kilometers away from us, almost as far as the distance between Border Town and Longsong Stronghold. Apart from Lightning, who could reach it within a day, the rest of us would need to walk for two or three days. Not to mention the chance of encountering demons. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."     

"You could let Lightning explore the area from the air, maybe she'll discover something." Scroll proposed.     

"That's a good idea." Roland stood up. "Once she comes back, I'll talk to her. I need to go to North Slope Mine now, and you can start preparing your teaching materials for the lessons. If you need more copies, turn to Soraya for help. You have to continue their lessons this evening."     

Roland had combined what he had learned in primary school with the teaching methods of the palace, and passed everything to Scroll, including classic memorization, phonetic reading, writing and reciting phrases. With all of these, he believed she had everything needed to become a good teacher.     

"Yes, Your Highness." Scroll saluted and left.     

The firing area behind North Slope Mine was double the size it had been before, and the two holes needed for the production of the 12-pound cannons were still visible on the ground. When Roland arrived, he saw Anna practicing her new ability. On the table, there were two finished products. They looked like steel pipes.     

He held one up examining it. The steel pipes were perfectly round and had a smooth surface without any pores. The hole in the middle was equally wide on both sides, and sunlight passed through without any problems. Roland used his nails to measure the thickness of both sides, only to find that they were nearly identical.     

"How were you able to make it?!" Roland praised her.     

"Watch." Anna picked up a freshly cut steel bar, laying it flat in her hand, and then a thread of her black flame was inserted into one end, slowly burning through the whole bar. Then she rotated the thread around the center, and soon the hole was created.     

What a great ability, he thought. With the high temperature of her magic, Anna was capable of taking the industrial production of Border Town to a new level all by herself. Trying to contain his excitement, he said, "Let's try some basic tests first."     

The basic tests included the range of her ability, her ability's strength, and its duration.     

Nightingale came out of the Mist. She was responsible for observing any changes to the magic power inside Anna's body.     

The results showed that other than a substantial increase in the strength and the duration of her ability, the range of her dark flames still remained at around five meters, and only within three meters was she able to control them with precision.     

At the same time, her ability still belonged to the summoning type. Her dark flames could still be affected by God's Stone of Retaliation, as they would immediately disappear once inside the range of one of them.     

[Unless she could evolve to the point of directly utilizing magic power, it would be impossible to get past this hurdle,] Roland thought.     

However, Anna's new abilities could turn Heaven and Earth upside down. With her Blackfire, it became much easier to produce industrial machines, all kinds of machine tools, and it quickly improved the quality of machining levels.     

But a large-scale industrialization could not be achieved by one person alone. For example, the task he gave Karl of building furnaces next to North Slope Mine was underway, with one furnace already constructed. However, by the time they tested it, they discovered that although they could use it to produce clay bricks for the creation of cement, its temperature tolerance was not up to standard. So, in the end, they still had to rely on Anna to produce the required cement. Fortunately, since her day of adulthood, she could complete the calcining process without the need to be inside the dusty room.     

Roland could solve the temperature problem. For instance, they could use the steam engine to create enough wind to improve the furnace's temperature, and they could then let the heated air circulate to minimize heat loss. But without Anna, the steam engine would not even exist. After all, only she could produce the key components.     

It could be said that the industrialization of Border Town relied heavily on Anna's ability. Without her, the so-called industrial revolution would be nothing more than a dream.     

During the Months of Demons, everything Roland did had been to survive, but now that the threat of the demonic beasts no longer existed, and Longsong Stronghold had provided them with enough manpower and funding, he naturally intended to change the current situation.     

Starting from the basics.     

He let Anna cut a two-finger wide, one-millimeter-thick steel sheet then measured a centimeter-long distance on it, marked it and repeated this until he had a ten-centimeter-long ruler. Then using the black flames, they created vertical marks at a regular distance. Under her control, the distance between each vertical mark was almost identical.     

Roland intended to start with a ruler, and then continue with the creation of all kinds of measuring tools, in order to define all weights and measurements. These standard units would then be written as the norm into manuals, becoming an indispensable part of his imminent plan for universal education.