Release That Witch

He conferred Tigui Pine with the title of Viscount and granted him the domain of the south Redwater River, opposite to the river that separated the town. It was a densely-grown forest, an area still waiting for development. In order for him to give up the autonomy of territory, Roland had promised to prioritize the development of Tigui's territory and divide a certain stake of the industrial land established to the viscount and his descendants. Of course, Roland tactfully described it as an underlining benefit that there would be no work needed to manage the property, he could just sit and wait for the money to roll in.     

Tigui happily accepted it. He had never liked these, as nothing was more meaningful to him than fighting on the horse. However, he had diverted his attention to hunting since his daughter was born. In addition, Tigui asked Prince Roland to sell all his land in the east of Longsong Stronghold and move his family to Border Town as the properties within his domain had long been declining. Roland agreed.     

The other one was Brian. Roland awarded him identity as a knight and asked him to choose either land or serving in the army.     

If he chose the land, he would not be allowed to join the First Army of Border Town again. If he joined the army, he would be promoted according to his military exploits to obtain land like the others. Brian chose the latter, without hesitation.     

Roland had a rough picture of how he would use the land.     

Using the Redwater River as a border, there was a wide space of seven to eight kilometers and a narrow space of about three kilometers. The land in between the Impassable Mountain Range was the residential area. It could be used as a construction area or a reward for promoted officers.     

Opposite the Redwater River was the future industrial and agricultural area, the land could be extended all the way to the Southern Territory. However, it was still covered by forest and hills could be seen some distance away. Roland would have to reclaim the forest when the population fulfilled its demand.     

Misty Forest, to the east of Border Town, was an important development point. There were all kinds of treasures in the forest, such as wood, edible fungi, wild animals, and herbs. Wood could also be used as fuel, not just for construction and industrial use. The forest was incredibly huge. Roland had sent Lightning to explore and even after flying 30 kilometers, the end was still not seen. If it were only used for the firewood, it could be used for a long time.     

Finally, the empty space in between the Misty Forest and the Impassable Mountain Range was also a restricted area that no one ever set foot on. Judging from the boundary of mountains and forests, the tundish area was vast, a lot larger than the Kingdom of Graycastle. Roland was very tempted looking at the abandoned land. However, he knew that he could not attend to it for the time being as the population growth of Border Town was more necessary.     

When he was back in his office in the castle, Roland summoned the artist, Soraya.     

"How's the completion of the task on assisting the City Hall?"     

"I've never drawn so many pictures in one day." She looked much better compared to their initial encounter. "I've almost finished drawing for today. However, it felt a little strange to only see from a window the size of a head when I was drawing."     

"It's to prevent your Magic Pen from scaring the people," the prince smiled and said, "Although they know witches exist, such close contact could easily cause an accident. Thus, I would rather take a hidden approach to prevent them from knowing you're a witch. It'll improve it in the future."     

Soraya's photographic skill had brought Roland's citizenship registration scheme to a new level. The City Hall had vacated a house for the plan as the archives to store the information of the people. They recorded their name, age, address, relationship status and other information on paper. Barov had briefly totaled the information once during the winter, and the record showed it had expanded a lot in this time. The biggest change was that there was now a "color photo" attached on each personal account.     

According to Roland's request, the City Hall had built a single-access small house in the hall. It was covered with linen from the outside, leaving a square window at the front that allowed Soraya to see the appearance of the other. It prevented them from seeing the magic pen when the witch was painting the portrait.     

Roland had come up with a very simple method to get the people of the domain to come forward and register, they would be subsidized 10 bronze royals. The money would be paid by the City Hall.     

"I've summoned you here today to draw something else," Roland said. He laid the ready-cut papers in front of Soraya.     

She noticed that the size of each paper was exactly the same. They were all square in shape and only half the size of her palm.     

"What would you like me to draw?"     

"A few recreational props," Roland said.     

He’d had this idea for a while. The witches had basically nothing to do other than their daily practice. Life was getting a little mundane, even to the prince himself. Especially before the snow melted, his range of activities within the castle was limited. Therefore, it was imperative to think of recreational activities and get a few witches to accompany him to relax. ..     

The simplest, of course, was poker cards. However, the normal soft paper was not suitable for holding in the hands and shuffling would be troublesome. He could consider making something more advanced with Soraya's help.     

"Recreational?" she wondered with her head tilted. She did not understand what kind of recreational thing was to be drawn on a square paper. "Alright, tell me about it."     

"First, you have to draw a soldier holding a heavy crossbow on this paper."     

"From my imagination?"     

"Yes, his armor, body-build, age, the surroundings. It's all up to your imagination. The only requirement is he's holding a heavy crossbow."     

"Uh... I'll try," said Soraya. She closed her eyes and contemplated for a moment. A set of colorful magic pens appeared in her hands.     

Soon, an archer who looked like a middle-aged man appeared on the paper.     

"That's great." Roland praised. "Let me think what to draw next, ah... Draw a small circle on both the upper left corner and the center of the card. The first circle has a white color base with a gold frame and the second circle has an orange color base with a gold frame." He tried to recall the look of the cards in his mind.     

When the painting was completed, Roland asked her to add a number in the first circle and the symbol of a bow and arrow in the second circle.     

Soraya's magic power was that she could ignore the material she was painting on, so blank paper and the patterned paper did not make a difference to her. The formal pattern could be perfectly covered by the newly painted pattern like a cover.     

Hence, an exquisite "Archer" card appeared in front of Roland.     

"Is that all?" she asked.     

"This is just one unit of the cards, there are still more similar cards to be drawn. I'll teach you how to play when it finally forms into a deck of cards."     

Looking at Soraya painting with her eyes closed, Roland felt a hunch from the bottom of his heart. Perhaps such a conversation would soon fill his castle...     

"What are you going to do? Let's play Gwent first!"