Release that Witch

As the Charming Beauty slowly approached the harbor, Tilly walked out to see that the dock was filled with witches who had come to welcome her.

”Lady Tilly, you’re finally back!” Molly rushed up to Tilly first with the help of the Magic Servant.

”Wow, how sneaky!” Honey complained.

”Yeah, where’s Orbit? Open the door so we can go over too!” shouted Shadow.

”Stop it. My ability isn’t for you to harass Lady Tilly!”

The crowd immediately erupted into a fit of laughter. Looking at everyone’s genuine smiles, Tilly felt her worries from the past few days disappearing.

No matter what, this was her real home, a kingdom built by witches.

Camilla Dary greeted her on the dock. ”You’ve gone for so long that I was even worried you wouldn’t come back.”

”No chance,” Tilly said with a smile. ”I just didn’t expect the Months of Demons to last so long this time. How has Sleeping Island been?”

”Of course, since you entrusted me with it, I wouldn’t let you down,” said Camilla with one hand on her chest. ”The situation has improved overall. Using the Sleeping Spell was a good idea. I’ll report the specifics to you later, but now... I’ll hand you over to the witches.” She blinked. ”Otherwise they’ll eat me alive.”

As a great noble from King’s City, Camilla was very skillful at managing things and played a key role in recruiting witches for Tilly. She was the reason why Tilly felt confident leaving the Fjords for a long time and investigating the Western Region.

Tilly shook her head helplessly, passed the Chief Butler of Sleeping Island, raised her hand to the crowd, and was heavily surrounded by a sea of witches.

”Your Highness, did you see your brother? How did he treat you?”

”I heard that the town also has a witch organization, so will they come and live with us?”

”Is it true that in that desolate little town, people don’t have to worry about food and clothing, and they all live in new houses?”

”I’m so glad you’re back. Everyone really missed you.”

Tilly responded to their questions and concerns one by one until Shavi flew onto the dock with a pile of books, and everyone directed their attention to these ”priceless treasures”.

”What’re they?” someone asked curiously.

”Documents from ancient ruins?”

”They don’t look like ancient documents. The pages are new, so they’re probably legends.”

”Or maybe they’re play scripts? Honestly, I haven’t seen a play for a long time.”

”Um... but what should I do since I can’t read?”

Tilly clapped her hands to silence everyone. ”This is His Highness Roland Wimbledon’s presents for you—they include reading and writing pamphlets, basic mathematics, and natural science! Simply put, these are full of knowledge!”

”Knowledge?”

Most of the witches looked confused, while Camilla and some other noble witches were surprised. ”Do you actually want to spread knowledge to everyone?”

Tilly nodded. ”This is the only way to improve our abilities.”

Roland once mentioned that universal education was not easy to achieve and needed a great amount of money and time—when people put their jobs on hand to learn, it meant that the domain would temporarily lose some laborers. Also, encouraging them to study required the support of money, which, combined with teachers’ salaries and the cost of building school houses, was not a small amount. Most importantly, it would not have instant profits like businesses and needed to be carried out in the long term by the ruler.

However, it brought profound changes, even more so for witches and normal people. Tilly had already witnessed this at Border Town. Before she went to the Western Region, she could never have dreamed that a group of commoners could have such vigor and vitality.

After returning to the keep, when she was about to arrange the plan for universal education according to Scroll’s methods, Ashes knocked on the door. ”Thunder wants to see you.”

”Ah, it’s been for a long time, Your Highness.” Thunder smiled as widely and genuinely as usual. ”How did it go? Did your trip to the Western Region address your confusion?”

”Honestly, I didn’t get my answer.” Tilly shook her head with a smile. ”He was still reserved towards me. But in our current circumstances, these issues aren’t so important for the moment... by the way, do you know about demons?”

”Monsters from hell?” asked Thunder, raising his eyebrows. ”I’ve heard a lot about them in epics and legends, where brave knights killed these terrifying enemies with spears dipped in dragon’s blood.”

”This time, they’re no longer just enemies in books.” She sighed.

”Um... what do you mean?”

”I don’t know if those dragons exist, but demons... are real.” Tilly briefly explained the Witch Union and Battle of Divine Will to him. ”Where the Four Kingdoms settle on is used to be Barbarian Land, so if we lose again, humans will have nowhere to retreat.”

”How could this be?” Thunder exclaimed after listening to her silently. ”All the ruins in different locations are the works of witches, and an ancient witch from 400 years ago was discovered in Border Town? This, this is unbelievable! The mysteries you uncovered in one journey are more than I did in a lifetime!”

Tilly was shocked. ”Aren’t you afraid?”

”Afraid? Of course, I am...” he said excitedly, ”but compared to the burning desire for exploration in my heart, this fear means nothing! Damn it, I wish I could go to the Kingdom of Graycastle to see this living fossil with my own eyes!”

Princess Tilly wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry—his motivation to go to the Western Region was to see Agatha instead of his own daughter. She did not know how to feel for Lightning.

”If not for my recent expedition, I’d probably have to give you the title of the greatest explorer of the Fjords,” said Thunder after a fit of exclamations, ”but... I also found something quite amazing.”

”Please, go ahead.”

”I sailed to the east of the Sealine again.”

”Sealine?” asked Tilly confusedly. ”What’s that?”

”Ah, I forgot that you were still in Border Town the last time I returned.” He stroked the back of his head. ”It’s a cliff made from seawater that splits the sea into two surfaces, but boats can still sail freely on it like... spiders climbing a wall.”

”What? That’s impossible!”

”I had the same reaction as you did the first time I saw it, but the Sealine does exist.” said Thunder with great pride. ”What’s more incredible is that I sailed on the Courage over the Sealine and was lucky enough to witness the tide rise—you have to see it to believe how majestic it was. The flow of the sea water gradually quickens and eventually rushes downwards like falling off a cliff. If Molly’s Magic Servant hadn’t protected the boat, the Courage would have been snapped into two!”

”I turned the rudder to steer the bow directly towards the current, which formed a delicate balance with the wind. The Courage couldn’t move forward, but also couldn’t be brought down the cliff by the current.” He panted as if he were reliving the excitement. ”Of course, the Sealine isn’t a real cliff. We all know what a waterfall looks like, with water dropping straight down, splattering droplets everywhere and creating a loud rumbling sound—but there, there wasn’t any of that except an accelerating current. I was sure that even if the Courage fell over the Sealine, it would have returned to the lower side, just like how it climbed up.”

”What happened next?” asked Tilly impatiently.

”And then the Swirling Sea was filled—I could only clearly see this standing on the Sealine,” said Thunder with a low voice. ”By the name of Three Gods, I don’t know how to describe my shock at that moment. The height of the Sealine shrunk from over 200 meters to about 100 meters as the sea below rose up. This is the reality behind tides!”