The fire rose up from under her feet but soon faded away.
This was already her twenty-third attempt.
And she had failed again.
On Anna’s forehead beads of sweat constantly arose, but she just used the back of her hand to swipe them away, and the crackling sound of rising flames immediately sounded out again.
With no stops to rest, the end of an exercise was followed by the start of the next one. The witch uniform lied at the side, neatly folded, If Anna had not insisted on doing so, her new uniform would have already been burned to ashes.
Fortunately, with Roland’s identity as the 4th prince, getting a few spare robes for her to use was not difficult. He had his maid Tyre deliver a whole bucket of robes, gathered by the maids for Anna to use.
The twenty-fourth practice had finally been effective, the flame was no longer rising from her feet. Instead, it appeared on her hand. She gingerly moved her arm, to try and have the flame go to her fingertips, but the flame suddenly shook twice and rose up her arm setting her sleeve on fire, even spreading from the sleeve to engulf the whole robe.
Anna dismissed the flame but her robe was already completely burnt, so she turned to the bucket and got a new one.
This wasn’t the first time this had happened, but whenever it did Roland would look away, so that his eyes were staring at other places, even if Anna herself didn’t care about it.
As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for Roland’s strong objections, she would probably have taken off all her clothes and practiced in the nude, in broad daylight! But even if Roland were to get a good view of her great figure that way, he wouldn’t be able to calmly work with a naked girl, especially when the girl turned into flames and her body gave off an entirely different kind of charm.
Roland shook his head, leaving his dirty thoughts behind. For the moment, it seemed that it was not easy to master the power of magic. The actual goal he had set for Anna was that she should control the flame to such a degree that she could release her flames from her palm or her fingers without destroying her own clothes. However, he also wanted the flames to have a high enough temperature to melt the iron ingots that were in the yard.
After Anna’s thirtieth attempt had failed but before she could make the next one Roland stopped her and told her to take a break.
Anna looked at him in a startled fashion but she gave no other response.
Roland had to walk over, he even had to pull the girl by her hand, leading her to the chair and forcing her to sit down.
“You are tired; when you are tired you should rest. Do not be too impatient, we still have some time.” He helped her wipe the sweat off of her moist forehead and said, “let us consume an early afternoon tea.”
Roland knew that the nobility of the Kingdom of Greycastle did not have the habit of drinking afternoon tea and this world’s productivity was so poor, for ordinary people it was hard to have the opportunity to taste such delicate food. The people in this world were not familiar with three meals a day, not to mention a fourth meal. As for the noble sons, they generally gathered together around this time to have some fun in bars or casinos.
The prince himself had to temporarily take over for the maid and cook if he wanted to create the custom here since they weren’t familiar with it. Since he had to prepare some light refreshments and they didn’t have any tea he was forced to substitute ale, it would be important to get some tea in the future..
So in the castles rear gardens, in a wooden cottage, the first afternoon tea party of the Greycastle Kingdom was held.
Anna looked at the dishes of exquisite snacks, not believing her eyes. Since when could something to eat look so good?
Although she did not know the specific name of the cake she ate, it was pure white in appearance, and the bright red collection of fruit could make people feel their appetite increasing. Especially seeing the edges of the pastry decorated in an exquisite pattern, all of this forced her to change her worldview once again.
Roland proudly observed Anna’s bewildered expression, she looked like a country bumpkin, but also slightly frightened. Although the strawberries on the cream cake were marinated in sugar and didn’t even taste fresh, there was nothing left of the cake.
Roland found that appreciating the witch’s face while she ate was more satisfying than doing so himself. Roland watched Anna, who was carefully placing the cake into her mouth, her blue eyes almost releasing a ray of light, and her hair gently swaying in the wind. Seeing all this his heart suddenly nearly burst and he thought to himself, It’s not good to cook anything worse!
Well, the cultivation of feelings as well as talent was also very important.
Watching Anna while she practiced and accompanying her to enjoy the afternoon tea became Roland’s daily life, not showing any interest in the government affairs. Barov helped him to take care so that everything was clear and orderly.
Three days later, Barov delivered the information of the border town’s industry that he had asked for to Roland’s office. This was an absolutely unbelievable moment, the former fourth Prince actually had never the patience to see such a big pile of complicated reports.
As a matter of fact, even now he didn’t have it. Roland needed only to read two lines of text until he he started to feel dizzy, and he directly said to Barov, “You will read it to me.”
He spent an hour listening to Barov until he found a mistake, “Why were the border town’s annual winter taxes and trade revenues zero?”
Since the winter temperatures were low, the decline in the harvest could be understood, but what was the meaning of directly returning to zero, had the local people the habit of hibernation?
Barov coughed, “Sir, did you forget? In the winter months it’s the time of the ‘Months of the Demons’, the town has no ability to guard its borders, all the residents must evacuate to Longsong Stronghold. But rest assured, your safety is certainly the first priority.”
“Months of the Demons?” Roland seemed to recall having heard that phrase before. He didn’t take the take of ghosts and the legends of wicked witches seriously, he considered it as part of this uncivilized world’s nonsense. But now it seems that the monsters are not a fantasy since the witches actually do exist. Then… what about the other famous legends like ghosts?
When he got his education as a noble his history tutor had explained the “Month of the Demons”’ in detail. Every winter, after the first snow fell and the sun had gone behind the mountains, an intense darkness without light would descend. At that moment the gates of hell would open.
The evil spirits from hell would corrupt living creatures, and turn them into the slaves of the devil. Some of the animals would change into powerful demon beasts with only one goal, to attack humans. Most witches were born in this season, and their power would be far stronger than usual because of it.
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“Have you seen them? The Gates of Hell,“ Roland asked.
“Your Highness, how can ordinary people go see them?” Barov shook his head again and again, “don’t say nonsense, the mountains they come from cannot be conquered, even being close to the mountains you will be affected by the foul miasma, first getting a mild headache, and then in severe cases even losing your mind. Unless……”
“Unless what?”
“Unless the person doing it is a witch. Only a witch can go and see the Gates of Hell because they have fallen from grace and became the devil’s minions. Naturally they don’t need to fear the touch of evil. Mentioning witches, Barov glanced in the direction of the garden.
“The demonic monsters, have you ever seen one?” Roland knocked on the table to recapture the assistant minister’s attention.
“Well, I haven’t see them. Like your highness, this is my first time coming to the kingdom’s borders. In the center of the country, in the castle, only a few people would have encountered the real demons.”
If he needed to evacuate once a year how would he be able to develop this place? He initially thought that the border town was a barren land, but that it still had the potential for development, but now it seemed to be a pipedream.
“When we resist the demonic beasts in Longsong Stronghold, when they aren’t invincible and when they can be killed, then why can’t we defeat them in this border town as well?”
“Longsong Stronghold has a high wall. Also, the Duke Ryan’s elite troops are stationed there. It is nothing like this border town, this small place definitely cannot be compared to it,” Barov explained, “from the start, the establishment of the border town was to provide an early warning to the stronghold. Therefore the town was set between the slope of the North Mountain and the Chishui River.”
So, his town was only cannon fodder to block the enemy. The only path they could cross, Roland laughed grimly as he heard this.
If Roland wanted to develop his territory well, he had to build strong roots in this place. Even though this land was a wasteland it could be easily reclaimed, when the territory was too small it could be expanded outwards, but all talk was useless if the people weren’t willing to stay.
If they could be forced to abandon a plot of land at any time, then who would be willing to purchase it? Who would want to improve its production?
After the assistant minister left, Roland called in Knight Commander Carter and ordered, “Assemble your men, go and find some of the local guards, hunters and farmers, they must have lived here for more than five years, and experienced the Months of the Demons. If there is someone who can fight it would be even better.”
After the knight saluted and left, Roland rubbed his forehead, continuing to look at the data compiled by the Assistant Minister.
The main exports of the border town were from mining and hunting, and the bulk of the imports were food items. Everything would be transported through Longsong stronghold or directly through the Chishui River in Willow town.
The mining exports contained all kinds of minerals, like iron, copper, sulfur, rock crystal, ruby, sapphire… This was completely against the concept of associated minerals. He thought of what Anna had said to him, that the North Mine had been rumored to be an unknown underground lair, until now there was no proven bottom to the mine and it was also unknown how many forks the mine had.
The minerals exported by the town weren’t paid for with the kingdom’s gold royals, instead they were paid for with the foodstuffs that arrived. It stands to reason that, since the gems could be regarded as a high priced luxury, that in these last five years the border town could save a surplus of grain, but in the end there was no surplus.
In other words, the annual output of the mining of the border town was only enough for two thousand people’s yearly rations. Before the prince arrived here, the border town was governed by the duke who also took charge of Longsong stronghold, and he had set up this arrangement. In his point of view, he could save food and had a warning for the monsters.
The fur trade was part of the local people’s own proceeds, they ventured into the westward forest, hunted some birds and other animals, maybe sold them to the Longsong Stronghold, or to the residents of the small town of Willowleaf. Because of this no transaction would be made in the border town and so no tax could be collected.
Roland thought, since he came, it couldn’t go on in this way; the minerals could no longer be paid for with food. The Chishui river ran through the whole kingdom, and the traffic was not blocked. There was a transportation artery, even if we would no longer buy food from the Longsong Stronghold, there were still other places to provide them.
This was all built on the premise that he could stay here in the Border Town, blocking those damn monsters.
Carter worked quickly, by the next day he had found two local guards and a hunter and reported, “These two men are from the town patrol, every year they are responsible for lighting the beacon. The hunter said he and the demons had crossed paths, he returned with a demon beast head, which he cut off with his own hands.”
The three people bowed simultaneously.
Roland nodded, permitting them to stand up; one of them stepped forward to speak.
“Honor… respected prince… Your highness”, the first guard who was called up, was too nervous to even speak clearly, “Brian and I are… are the people, uh… When it begins to snows, we… We will go to the north slope of the mining area… to the Beacon Tower。 There it’s first possible… it is the first point to see the demon movements, if they cross over in great numbers… we will conceal ourselves in the forest… ignite the flames, from childhood… The road we will withdraw at and the boat is prepared previously… then we leave.”
“Since you both were together, let your partner answer it”, Roland covered his face to hide his disapproval,” the demon beasts, can they be killed? ”
The other guard was also very nervous, but at least he did not stammer, “Your Highness, it should be so. They were just ordinary animals in the forest, but through the influence of the evil miasma they become manic and ferocious, but they can still be killed. Every Months of the Demons in the past, Longsong Stronghold would sent cavalry, cleansing the land from the stronghold to Border Town of the remnants of the demon monsters. ”
“The Months of the Demon last how long?” Roland asked.
“Generally two to three months…… it depends on the sun, “said Brian.
“Depends on the sun?” Roland asked doubtfully.
“Yes,” the guard explained, “Your Highness came to this town not long ago , so you do not know. In this Border town, once the snow begins to fall it will not stop, until the sun shines again, then the snow will be gone.”
“So the snow indicates the end of the Months of the Demon?” Roland recalled that at least in Graycastle it was not like this, basically the next day it would end to snow, also the sun would seem to be different .
“It is exactly like this, the longest time I experienced the Months of the Demon was two years ago, that lasted nearly four months, many people starved.”
“Why, shouldn’t be the grain reserves in Longsong stronghold be large enough to support the town?” Roland asked.
Brian’s face got a little angry, “They had enough. But Reynolds the municipal administrator who is responsible for managing such things declared that the amount of ore and minerals mined was only enough to buy food for three months, for the fourth month we had to deliver a new shipment of ore. But the Months of the Demons had not ended, we couldn’t leave the fortress.”
“So that was what happened … I got it.”
They were simply alienating the fool people. If Longsong stronghold treats these people who were living on the frontier with this kind of warmth like a spring wind, the frontiersmen would most likely want to stay and not leave, but at the moment it seems that the group of people behind Longsong stronghold were not the good natured sort. Roland beckoned the last person forward to answer, while putting the name of the administrator into his heart.
The third man looked courageous and strong, with a height of over 6 feet making Roland feel great pressure. Fortunately, he came forward on his knees.
“You said you killed the beast?”
“Yes sir,” his voice was low and hoarse, “a wild boar species and a wolf species.”
“Species”?” Roland repeated, “what do you mean?”
“This is the name of the demonic beast, your highness. The more fierce the variation of the animals was before, the more difficult it would be to deal with variation after. And they will emphasize the advantages of the body. The wild boar, it’s back fur would become extremely tough, even within a range of 50 yards it would be difficult to hurt it with a crossbow. The wolf species becomes more cunning, the running speed becomes amazing, to kill it, you need to set up the trap in advance.”
“Stronger would become stronger and faster even faster,” Roland nodded as he heard this, “But they are still animals.”
“They are, but they are not the most terrible kind of enemy,” the hunter said until here and then he had to swallow his saliva, before he was able to talk further, “The worst ones are the mixed species.”
“They are devils incarnate, only hell is able to create such a horrible monster. I have seen a hybrid. It had not only beast like strong limbs, but on his back was even a pair of huge wings, allowing it to fly short distances. And it always knew where I was, no matter how much I tried to hide, it could always detect me. It was not hunting its prey, your highness, it was just teasing the prey.” The hunter Liehu lifted his clothes, showing a large scar extending from the abdomen to his chest as he said, “I lost my consciousness and fell into the Chishui River, I was lucky to survive.”
“Such a monster exists,” Roland felt that the world became more and more like a fantasy; a strong wall can block all ordinary kinds of demonic beasts, but if they could fly what should he do? “Mixed species should be very rare, right?”