However, three days later, the town was wrapped in silver, the distant mountains and woods were covered by a layer of white gauze. A beautiful scenery like this was definitely a rare view in his past, but Roland wasn’t in the mood to appreciate the landscape.
Although the snowfall had weakened a lot, there were still some snowflakes falling from the sky. The First Army had also entered a state of full alertness, and has established regular patrols along the new wall. Furthermore, they had also erected a temporary camp at the foot of the new city wall, so that the soldiers would be able to quickly enter into battle. The temperature had changed almost overnight, forcing Roland to change his clothes from his unlined garment to a knitted cotton coat.
On the fourth day, hearing the news from the front made Roland’s heart drop.
The western city wall had suffered an attack from demonic beasts.
The Months of Demons had arrived more than one month ahead of time.
Chapter 320 “Sleeping Spell”
Fjords, Sleeping Island.
“I never expected that the first guest of the ‘Sleeping Spell’ would actually be you,” Tilly smiled and said as she handed over a cup of boiling hot fish soup, “It was only due to your help that we could explore the Shadow Islands.”
“You are too polite,” Thunder answered as he received the fish soup, “Regarding the Mysterious Sea, even if I don’t receive any more commissions from you I would still like to go there a few more times for myself. To be honest, without your witches’ support, exploring the sea east of the Shadow Island would definitely be very dangerous for an explorer.” He sipped his fish soup, then let out a sigh, “Ah… it’s boiled black-tailed fish soup, it’s really delicious.”
In the Fjords, black tea and barley wine from black tea were considered to be unpopular, she was used to the custom of eating a bowl of ice cold frozen fish during midsummer, while here they drank a bowl of boiling hot fish soup when it got cold. They used a different method to cook the fish so the taste was not at all the same, this was something Tilly had gradually come to understand after arriving at Sleeping Island.
“Therefore, you were impatient to come and visit the Sleeping Spell?”
“The right thing to say would be that I can’t wait to go on the next expedition,” Thunder straightforwardly stated. “The scene I saw last time when I looked through the observation mirror left me stunned — what is there on the land and for what reason is there a stone gate embedded inside that overhanging cliff? I wish I could fly there and go take a look.”
“Is that it…” Tilly also poured a cup of fish soup for herself, “You should already be aware that I’m planning to personally go to Border Town. One reason is to personally speak with the feudal lord and Witch Alliance, another reason is so that I can increase my knowledge by experiencing the Months of Demons in Border Town. You… don’t you want to come with us and take a look?”
For a moment Thunder was silent, but then he said with a broad grin, “Not yet. She should be having quite a good time over there. The way it is right now is also good… After all, the thing with exploring is, an accident can always happen one day. I already lost her mother, I really don’t want to also lose her. When that time comes, I ask you…”
“I will,” Tilly nodded, “After all, she is also one of our members.” Speaking until here she stopped and showed him a smile before continuing, “But business is business. Even though you have helped us a lot, you still have to take the costs to employ our witches on the table.”
“Of course, business is business, that is the way of the Fjords.” Thunder drained his bowl of fish soup before he laughingly agreed.
…
“So, who did he hire?” As she saw that Thunder had left the palace, Ashes entered the hall from outside, sitting cross-legged before Tilly.
“’Magic Servant’ Molly, ‘The Door of Random‘ Orbit, and ‘Puppet’ Remote Shadow.” Tilly spread out the contract, “In the end, the fee was set at four thousand and eight hundred gold royals. The payback is very generous, right? “
“Four thousand…” Ashes’ eyes became big, “Where did he get all the money from?”
“Don’t forget, Thunder is the most famous explorer in the Fjords,” the 5th Princes said laughingly, “No matter if it is the discovery of new routes or finding treasures when exploring new areas, all of it can bring in plenty of money. It was only because of this that he was repeatedly able to recruit such a large group of experienced sailors who would be willing to follow him to explore those mysterious and dangerous zones. But, with witches, he can greatly reduce the risk, and ever since ancient times it has always been thought as a good bargain when one can offset risk with money.”
“However, is that really okay?” Ashes asked unsure, “The establishment of a bounty guild will indeed bring a lot of wealth for Sleeping Island, but, at the same time, the abilities of us witches will be exposed; if this ever spread to the Church’s ears… “
“Sleeping Spell” was a new guild that Tilly had formed. From it, explorers could hire suitable witches to help them complete their expeditions. Of course, in addition to the main project, they would also provide many convenient services, such as repairing damaged items, producing exquisite works of art, quickly constructing houses, providing insecticide for growing flowers and so on — as long as the witches don’t use their ability to do anything evil, ‘Sleeping Spell’ will come to be accepted.”
Of course, all this was only possible under the premise they announced their abilities publicly.
Tilly took Ashes’ hand, “Didn’t I already tell you? I do not care about those gold royals, but I hope that through the bounty guild more people will learn about Sleeping Island, and thus reach out to us to make a deal. Thunder has a saying I agree with, ‘Fear comes from the unknown’, the same is true for the witches. The fear of the people of the Fjords and the Four Kingdoms is nothing more than the slander of the Church and the result of their own ignorance.
“I can’t force them to take the initiative to come in contact with us and try to understand us witches. Therefore, we can only step forward and actively go and promote ourselves. Telling them again and again that we witches aren’t the Devil’s messengers and that our abilities aren’t strange and unpredictable — that they awaken from ordinary people, and that our essence is still that of a human being. ‘Whenever there is a complete understanding of each other, there will no longer be anything left to fear’.” She paused for a moment, then continued, “As for the Church, they have never cared what we are capable of. They simply send out their Army of Judges to capture us, they even occasionally send out the God’s Punishment Army. Furthermore, regardless of our abilities, in front of the God’s Stones of Retaliation, they are all the same.”
“I hope you are right,” Ashes whispered, “I only know how to fight and kill, but regarding this matter I’m unable to help you.”
“You have already helped me a lot,” Tilly said showing her a reassuring smile. “If we want to further develop Sleeping Island, the most important thing for us will be to associate the Fjord’s inhabitants with us witches from the island. The creation of mutual understanding will be a slow process, and I’m only doing all this in order to shorten the process as much as will be possible. In addition, the bounty guild can also play a special role in achieving our goal,” she stuck out her tongue and revealed a sly smile before saying, “That’s to find new uses for the seemingly useless abilities, so that support witches will no longer be discriminated against or think of their abilities as useless.”
Hearing her reasoning Ashes began to laugh, “There are always so many reasons for your actions, whenever you reveal so many layers one after another it makes it hard for other people not to come to accept them.”