Release That Witch

Roland was finally relieved after interrogating the five families.     

When he leaned against the chair, Nightingale took the initiative to walk behind him and massage his shoulders.     

From defeating Duke Ryan to capturing the lord's castle, they only took one day.     

It went much smoother than he had expected. When the duke died in the battle, most of his people decided to surrender. The mercenaries, particularly, defected and kneeled to express their willingness to serve His Highness.     

Thus the mercenaries watched over the surrendered knights and nobles, while the First Army watched over the mercenaries. Together, they went east and arrived in Longsong Stronghold at 3 p.m. that day. Upon seeing the Duke Ryan's head and the groups of surrendered nobles, the guards immediately opened the city gates to welcome Prince Roland.     

Roland did not immediately summon all the nobles in the city to declare his ownership of the stronghold. Instead, he first went to lord's castle.     

The castle sat in the center of the stronghold at the highest point, like a city within a city. When they broke into the city, there was an outbreak of small-scale fighting. When Nightingale blew up the courtyard gate with explosives, some 20 guards who did not follow the duke to the battlefield put up a struggle. They were shot dead by the First Army. But in their attack, they used hand crossbows and hurt five members of the army. Of those, two were seriously injured, but fortunately, Nana who was with the troop was there to cure them instantly.     

10 guards tried to escape with the duke's family through the back door, but Lightning who was monitoring the situation from the sky noticed them. They were captured at once, including the duke's wife and his two sons. Until then, they were still in the dark about the duke's defeat.     

After capturing the lord's castle, the First Army took over its defense. Doubtlessly, Duke Ryan's castle was three or four times the size of the castle in Border Town. Its design was also much grander, with six lookout towers making up a hexagon outline. The central tower was almost five-story high, an unusual feat at this point in history. The courtyard had everything including houses, warehouses, and stables. There was even a private jail in the castle's basement.     

Roland put the valuable captives and the duke's family in prison and evacuated the civilians. The weapons he had confiscated from the mercenaries were placed in an empty room in the courtyard in batches. In the meantime, he also selected several leaders and paid them handsomely, so they can take care of themselves. In his mind, North Slope Mine was the best home for those opportunists, but he had more important things to do.     

That was the most important thing to "loot" after a battle—commonly known as searching the dead bodies.     

Roland led the witches to ransack the entire castle. They even found the God's Stones of Retaliation in the vault and secret chamber. By the time they were done, their haul was breathtaking. In the basement alone, they had discovered two boxes of gold royals. Even with a conservative estimation, they gauged there were at least 10,000 gold royals there. In a secret compartment in the bedroom, Nightingale found several gemstones the size of eyeballs. Behind a fireplace, Echo found the door to a secret chamber stuffed with all kinds of gold handicrafts like scepters and crowns, but also dazzling jewelry, all neatly placed on a shelf.     

This was a duke's wealth!     

Looking at the massive wealth and considering the revenue of Border Town that was less than 500 gold royals in fall and winter, Roland became emotional. This was the temptation of looting and plundering. If Roland did not come from a highly industrial society, he would have been addicted to the feeling it gave him.     

Despite his profound emotions, these things still have to be taken in. There would be a boom in the working population of Border Town in the foreseeable future, so he needed a lot of money to import food before the development of their agriculture.     

After Hummingbird's magic was used to reduce the weight of the boxes of treasure, Iron Axe and the prince's guards escorted the transportation of the treasures back to their castle through the Littletown. Considering the time spent in enchanting bulky items, it took about three days to ship them all to their destination.     

That was also why Roland did not demand gold royals as ransom the next day. He had benefited a lot from the duke. What he needed most were people and livestock.     

"Your Highness, are you really only staying here for a week?" Nightingale asked.     

"What's wrong?" Roland closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of numbness on his shoulders.     

"This is the biggest town in the Western Region," she said softly, "and compared with Border Town, don't you want to stay at a more prosperous place?"     

"There are too many intricate power struggles in Longsong Stronghold. It's not suited for what I want to do. It's fine if we want to maintain the status quo, but once we want to make changes, we'll face more and more resistance. And I can't uproot those forces in one go right now." Roland smiled. "Of course, what's most important is that the church's teachings have been entrenched in the people here. They won't be able to accept you all so soon. But as I've said, I hope the witches can walk freely on the streets. I've succeeded in Border Town."     

"Yes," Nightingale said softly, "You've fulfilled your promise."     

*******************     

The morning of the third day, Petrov brought his list over in a hurry. As per convention, Roland received him in the lobby.     

"Your Highness, I've made my selection."     

"Let me see." Roland took the list from him. As he had anticipated, most were second-class serfs. There were 800 of them, as well as 100 cattle and 300 sheep. In total, they were equal to 900 points. The rest were craftsmen.     

"Your Highness, is that fine?"     

"Of course, as long as we accumulate 3,000 points." Roland returned the list to Petrov. "When can you gather all these supplies and people?"     

"I can do it today, as per my arrangement with the property and people of Honeysuckle domain. However, Your Highness, it may take half a month to ship them to Border Town."     

"That'll be up to you," Roland said, knocking the desk. "I take that you have experience in arranging caravans?"     

"Yes, Your Highness." Petrov hesitated before adding. "What about my father...?"     

"You can take him back today." The prince smiled and handed him a parchment scroll. "If you don't have any questions, leave your signature and fingerprint on it."     

"This is... an agency contract?" Petrov glanced at the top of the scroll, his voice shaking with excitement. "Are you agreeing to grant the Honeysuckle family the right of agency?" He unfolded the scroll and began reading it carefully.     

Roland nodded with satisfaction at Petrov's cautiousness. The most basic requirement to be his partner was having a keen eye on contracts.     

Petrov raised his head a moment later. "The content is almost the same as what you told me yesterday. But..." He pointed to the bottom of the scroll. "Your Highness, shouldn't it be my father's name? He's the Earl of Honeysuckle and the representative of our family."     

Roland laughed. "Of course not. The one I'm discussing becoming the agent of Longsong Stronghold with is you, not your father. Naturally, it's you who have to sign the contract."     

Petrov was stunned and asked in disbelief, "Your Highness, do you mean you want me to..."     

"That's right. You'll replace the duke and manage Longsong Stronghold for me." Roland nodded. "If the contract is enforced smoothly, you'll continue to govern the city after I become the king." He paused, his smile gone. "But if you violate the contract, you'll end up like the duke. I've invaded this city once and I can do it again. So do well, Mr. Ambassador."