Release That Witch

Since the end of the Months of Demons this year, the Western Region had multiple sunny days in a row, with only two rounds of rain. These nice days made up for the gloomy weather of the past winter. The musty smell in Roland's office had gone. He was able to breathe fresh air now. Sometimes, he could even smell a pleasant, faint scent of flowers in the garden if he opened his window.     

As the road between the town and Longsong Stronghold had restored its service by now, Roland started to pay particular attention to the development of the stronghold.     

Based on what he had observed last year, he had expected that after the traffic was back to normal again, merchants from Longsong Stronghold would have come to Border Town to sell daily necessities. However, he had not seen a single merchant from the stronghold to this day. He ordered Lightning to patrol twice a day, as a way of making sure that the town would be well prepared when his enemy came.     

In the recent week, the First Army had been busy with a comprehensive military manoeuver including defense line battling and field attack. The former was relatively easier, as the artillerymen and the Flintlock Squad only needed to act according to the signals given by Lightning. She would stay up in the sky to observe and would raise different flags to report the target distance to the soldiers when she spotted an enemy. After seeing different signals, the team leaders would give corresponding commands to their soldiers. They would shoot solid shells when the target distance was between 500 to 800 meters and grapeshots for enemy forces within 300 meters. If the enemy was less than 50 meters away from them, they would directly fire with flintlocks.     

As for the field attack, it was a key part of Roland's plan. It generally took three days to reach the town from Longsong Stronghold by land, so Roland calculated that his enemy would need the same amount of time to flee back to the stronghold when they were defeated. Even if the knights left all the militia and mercenary soldiers behind, they would still need at least two days to withdraw. That meant, they would have to spend at least one night camping in the wild. Roland planned to order the First Army to secretly follow the enemy on foot and take this chance to launch a surprise attack at them. He would let Lightning monitor the whole process, in case that the First Army got too close to alert the enemy. Meanwhile, cannons and ammunition would be transported by the Littletown. The first army soldiers would surround the enemy's battalion at night after they pitched their tents, and the next morning, his soldier would besiege and crush the enemy.     

It was not a complicated plan, but without radio communication, it was almost impossible to oversee the situation where his army had to be divided into two parts to besiege the enemy. Roland had to put a witch in his plan to make up for the communication inconvenience, but he was still not fully confident about this arrangement.     

Another problem that he faced was the low reserves of gunpowder. Given that, the recent comprehensive military exercise did not shoot live ammunition. Instead, the maneuver just focused on training combined actions of the Flintlock Squad and the Artillery Squad and coordination between the witch and the First Army. Roland had sent people to farther Fallen Dragon Ridge and Redwater City, hoping to find more saltpeter suppliers. If he failed to replenish the gunpowder stock for the First Army in time, the soldiers could only use the flintlocks as spears after two more battles.     

Roland wrote down his new purchasing plan on a paper, which included saltpeter, grains and seeds. He intended to ask Barov to send one of his apprentices to the king's city of the Kingdom of Graycastle, as there were plenty of goods, especially saltpeter. Summer was near, the niter plant of the king's city must be in full operation now, as nobles and wealthy merchants there would consume a huge amount of saltpeter in hot weather. Roland hoped that he could find a long-term supplier who could constantly purvey this gunpowder material for Border Town.     

Before this, he had already sent two of his guards to implement two plans respectively, which were "Calling for Witches" and "Seeking Seeds". One guard under the guise of a traveler or a merchant went to spread the rumor that Border Town was calling for witches in streets, taverns and black markets. Of course, he would not say that Prince Roland was accepting witches. He would say it was the Witch Cooperation Association who finally found Holy Mountain and welcomed witches to join. The other guard went directly to Port of Clearwater to buy seeds of extraordinary plants from the Fjords. If he found some other rare crops, he would also bring the plants and their seeds back to Border Town.     

Roland gave Scroll the purchasing list he made and asked her to give it to Barov in the City Hall. When Scroll left, he stretched out to relax and wanted to drink some water, but found his cup was empty.     

When he was to rise and get the kettle, Nightingale had already brought it to him. With a smile on her face, she stood in front of his desk to fill his cup and then put the kettle back.     

Roland took a sip slowly, feeling really puzzled. "Nightingale's attitude has somehow changed. She smiles at me a lot and now even voluntarily serves as a tea girl. Is she suggesting a pay rise to me? She used to sit on the couch and spend the whole afternoon eating her dried fish."     

Roland had asked Nightingale about her change, but instead of answering him, she had only given him a smile. After that, Roland just let her do what she wanted.     

An idea suddenly struck him. "Is it because of Gwent? If it can really attract and please the people of this era that much, I should build a Chess & Card center offering poker games and mahjong later. It'll definitely bring me considerable profits... No, stop. It's not the time to enjoy my life yet." Roland shook his head to banish those thoughts and focused on what he was going to do after he seized the stronghold.     

He had thought for a long time whether he needed to relocate to Longsong Stronghold. Moving the capital to a more prosperous place seemed very enticing, but might not be a good choice in this case. Unlike Border Town, the stronghold had a history of over 100 years. There were many nobles, making the situation quite complicated. In a feudal system, each domain was controlled by its own lord. Under such circumstances, even the lord of the stronghold could hardly have a say in the domains of his subordinate nobles. If Roland wanted to make the stronghold his own, he needed a radical revolution. He thought he had better not move to the stronghold where fish swam with dragons and where he could not even guarantee his own safety. He did not want to get shot by arrows in the back when he was taking a walk on a street there.     

Border Town, however, was completely under his own control. It also offered him a vast territory, saving him the trouble of expanding his domain. Most residents of the town were miners and hunters, making the situation quite simple. With his success during the Months of Demons, he had won wide recognition among the people here. More importantly, most of his subjects had already accepted the witches due to the propaganda of the First Army. Compared with Longsong Stronghold and the other cities which were heavily influenced by the church, it was easier for him to develop the town into a home for both ordinary people and witches. After careful consideration, Roland decided to make Border Town the central area of his domain.     

As for the stronghold, he could appoint an agent and let him manage the place for him, as long as the agent could offer him workforce and taxes that he needed most right now.     

Roland had an initial plan to use Longsong Stronghold's wealth to hire its people for the development of Border Town. He conceived to return the gold royals he got from the defeated nobles to the people of the stronghold, and then he would collect taxes through the stronghold government and spend them again. Besides, he also decided to carry out some favorable policies to attract people with desired skills to settle down in Border Town.     

That was a general frame of his plan. He would not have time to consider the details of the plan, such as how to appoint and supervise an agent, and how to make specific tax policies, until the end of the upcoming battle.     

At the moment, a golden figure dashed into the room through the window and landed steadily in front of the prince's desk. That was Lightning.     

"Drink some water first," Roland gave her a cup of water and said. Lightning picked up the cup but did not have the time to drink. She hurriedly reported to Roland, "Your Highness, they're coming!"