Release That Witch

Theo and the 100 soldiers from the First Army set out for the king's city together.     

During the past few days, Roland and Margaret had reached an agreement: Theo could come to Margaret's stores to request for as many gold royals as he wanted, whereas Margaret would deduct the amount withdrawn from the payment made for the steam engine. In addition to this, Roland would need to pay a 1% interest as well.     

Notwithstanding that the amount of saltpeter and ingots Margaret brought was nearly two times those last time, Roland had still earned over 2,200 gold royals, including the deposit for modifying two inland river ships. Such a number would be unimaginable prior to the Months of Demons, as the profit for a one-month mine sale would be no more than 300 gold royals.     

After the departure of the caravan, it was also about time for Maggie to leave Border Town temporarily.     

As what had been agreed on with Ashes, Maggie would have to bring news related to the Western Region to Fjord Islands.     

Roland even wrote a long letter and handed to Maggie, in which he particularly expressed his intention of mutual assistance and collaboration, as well as his hope that Princess Tilly could send some of her assistance witches to help him. In the letter, he did not address the matter as Tilly's brother but as the Lord of Border Town, the ruler of the Western Region. Although Roland knew the chance that Tilly would consent was slim, he wanted to give it a shot anyway. At any rate, it did not take much time to draft a letter.     

All the witches gathered at the castle backyard to send Maggie off.     

Nightingale gave Maggie a small pack of dried fish, whereas Lightning gave her a pack of pepper.     

The other witches all felt sorry for her departure. They stroked her feathers and hugged her as if they would have never seen her again.     

"Don't worry, coo!" Maggie raised her head. "I'll be back soon, coo!"     

"What if Tilly doesn't let you come back?" Lightning was quite concerned.     

"Coo..." The pigeon ducked her neck and pondered for a while. She then waved her tail feathers and said, "Then I'll fly back secretly, coo!"     

"So that's the deal." Lightning made a serious promise. "If you do come back, I'll barbeque some birds for you. Also, as for that beehive which we found the other day, I won't touch it until your return."     

"Coo!" Maggie nodded vigorously. "Deal, coo!"     

Roland was amused and had no comment on what had just happened. It only took Lightning a month to bond with Maggie. Good job, Lightning!     

"Well, see you guys later, coo!" Maggie spread out her broad wings and slowly took off after a short run-up. She hovered in the air for some time and then gradually disappeared in the southeast.     

"Will she get there safe and sound?" Looking at Maggie's slow move, Roland could not help worrying about her.     

"She should be fine," Lightning replied immediately, but soon crooked her head and added, "I... think she will."     

Roland returned to his mundane routine of everyday busy life after seeing Maggie off.     

This time, he had to draft a complete set of blueprints for the two ships that the Crescent-Moon-Bay Caravan had left here for modification. They would become the first two paddle steamers powered by steam engine in this world.     

As the paddle steamer would have only one power source, the drive shaft of the steam engine would be directly connected to the paddle without relying on a gearbox. Several air intake ducts would be used to control the amount of air pumped in and thereby adjust the speed of the boat. If someone wanted to slow the boat down or pull it over, he would only need to shut the air intake ducts and air out the excessive steam through the exhaust. At the meantime, it would be still fairly easy to speed up the boat, as the ventilation would not affect the boiler.     

The mechanism was not difficult. Roland soon drafted out a rough model. To make the design more precise, however, he needed to take specific measurements on the spot.     

Just at that moment, Anna entered the office with a book in her arms.     

"What's the matter?" Roland put down his quill and immediately smiled at her.     

"I finished the book." Anna put the book on the desk. It was exactly that Natural Science Theoretical Foundation.     

Roland's smile faded away in a second. This was unbelievable! How could it be possible that Anna was able to learn everything about high school mathematics and physics within just a few months? Roland did not ask her whether she had fully understood the contents because he knew Anna would read the book over and over again or come to ask him had she not. By "finishing", she meant a complete comprehension.     

"The model you drew... Are you thinking about replacing sails with steam engines to power the boat?" Anna was instantly drawn to the draft on the desk. "But..."     

"But what?"     

"The two wheels are similar to paddles, right?" "When the wheels are in motion, they'll push the boat forward. But since half of the wheel is exposed to the air, a part of the power generated is wasted. Why not put the whole wheel into the water?"     

"..." Roland was speechless for a second and did not know how to respond. Nobody in the world was born to know everything. Anna must have made the judgement the moment she glanced at the drawing. Roland was suddenly intrigued. He asked, "So, what do you think I should do?"     

Anna thought for a while and then started to draw on the paper with a pen.     

Roland rested his chin on his hand while at the same time gazing at Anna with great interest. The latter was currently absorbed in her work. Roland could see a strand of unclipped fringes dangle in front of her face as she moved. Her dainty lashes fluttered occasionally. A rosy blush glowed on her fair cheeks. Although Roland could only see her side face from this angle, he could capture the perfect, soft contour of her face with the help of the light, including the arch of the bridge of her nose, her delicate chin and her elegant neck.     

"Want some dried fish?" Nightingale suddenly came over and thrust her hand between them.     

"Yes." Anna nodded and put the snack handed by Nightingale into the mouth. "Thank you."     

As his view was blocked, Roland coughed to conceal his embarrassment. His attention was back to the drawings on the desk again.     

At first, Anna tried to place the paddle down in the water horizontally. But then it would be pretty hard to see where the paddle was when the boat landed. The placement would thus easily cause a collision between the boat and the dock or trestles.     

Therefore, she tried to put the paddle at the rear, which was actually a common practice. This arrangement, however, required a more complex power system. A steam engine, after all, was too cumbersome to be placed at the rear, for its drive draft and gearbox would take a lot of space of the boat.     

When Roland saw Anna's new design, he was once again amazed by her terrifying intelligence and insightfulness.     

The draft Anna was working on had indeed become very close to a uniaxial propeller, where a steam engine was placed at the bottom of the hull, with its drive shaft sticking out from the waterline and its tail connected to four square paddles that looked like a windmill.     

"I don't know whether it'll work," she said hesitatively, "Technically, there should be a horizontal component of force if the dips of all the paddles are the same. But I've reduced one wheel, and it may not be enough to mobilize the boat with merely four paddles."     

"Of course it'll work, with some modifications though." Roland took the quill in Anna's hand and drew a real propeller. "Compared with the shape of a windmill, the paddle in this shape works better under the water. You're on the right track. However, the agreement requires us to turn the ships into paddle steamers. So, we have to stick to the first design. This has nothing to do with technologies but is simply a business strategy." Roland paused for a moment and then asked, "Do you want to measure the actual boat with me?"     

"Yes!" Anna blinked her azure eyes and gave an affirmative answer.     

The best learning method was to test theories in practice.     

...     

"Nightingale?"     

When Anna followed the prince to the doorway, she turned around and saw Nightingale was looking at the design on the desk meditatively.     

"Ah, you guys can go first. I'll be right there."     

She compared with the two drawings repeatedly and eventually made her conclusion: Didn't she simply switch the location of the wheel?