Release that Witch

”Otto Luoxi is our ally and he deserves better. They’ve harassed the Eastern Region this time, next time they may dare to cross the boundary and invade the kingdom!” Brian said loudly. ”Your Majesty, please give the order! No matter how far the enemy is, the First Army will crush them for you!”

”Invading us?” Barov raised his eyebrow. ”If the army of the Kingdom of Dawn could enter Graycastle so brazenly, why on earth would you be here?”

”My lord, it’s just an example—”

”A baseless example won’t convince anybody,” Barov interrupted. ”More importantly, why do we need to involve the army in a problem that could be solved by diplomacy? Do you remember His Majesty’s primary goal for this year? Do you think the eldest son of a noble family from the City of Glow would be more significant than our king’s enthronement?”

For a moment, Brian was speechless.

”Alright... let’s take a break.” Roland clapped his hands. ”Eat something before we continue.”

As the clapping sounded, a servant waiting at the doorway entered wheeling a trolley. Some officials in the hall started to help themselves to snacks while others went to the bathroom. Thus, the tension within the room subsided.

This scene had come up repeatedly in their discussions during the three-day meeting. After Roland had received the intelligence reports from the spy, Hill Fawkes, and the garrison in the Northern Region, he had summoned all of the relevant officials to the castle to plan out a solution to the current situation.

Roland could clearly see two different factions forming among his men. The City Hall faction, headed by Barov, was more conservative. They preferred to concentrate on the development of the kingdom and were more focused on the Western Region, and they planned to gradually expand the population and increase the strength of Graycastle until the unification of the kingdom. To make the King of Dawn, Appen Moya, pay the price for his action was in their plan, but it was not considered urgent.

The other faction consisting of the First Army under the leadership of Brian, favored by the Adviser Department, was more aggressive. But they were not as united and as close as the City Hall faction. The men of the First Army were influenced by Brian, who boasted of new concepts like ”defending against the enemy abroad”, ”acting before the enemy even notices,” and ”striking the enemy unprepared”, so they insisted on taking immediate action, delivering retribution upon the Kingdom of Dawn and saving the detained Otto Luoxi. As for the members of the Adviser Department, they probably chose to stand with the First Army for their own benefit as they had no way to earn themselves rewards unless there was a war to fight.

Additionally, some members of the Adviser Department were from Longsong Stronghold, so they were not as familiar with Neverwinter as the men of City Hall. More often than not, their ideas were refuted and unappreciated, making their voice seem even less important.

Hence, there were several times that Brian’s speech was countered by Barov easily. Honestly, in terms of eloquence, Brian was far behind Barov, so he had already done a great job of expressing his ideas in front of the ministers in the meeting so far. After all, Brian, the leader of the Gun Battalion, was young. He grew up as an ordinary villager of Border Town, less tested and inexperienced, which was something that could be seen from his report of the defensive battle in the snow mountain.

Roland had kept silent during the discussions. For the moment, the aggressive side was at a disadvantage and was losing control of the debate. To Roland’s surprise, Barov’s ability had grown greatly in the past three years. He might have been well trained while serving the previous Treasurer and all he needed was a chance to take off.

The only thing that surprised Roland was that Edith had made no speech and kept silent over the three days of the meeting.

Among the officials, she, the Pearl of the Northern Region, might be the only one qualified to argue with Barov.

To prevent internal conflict between Edith and Barov, who both liked to compete against each other, Roland had deliberately set up a new department in City Hall, the Ministry of Defense, specializing in external military affairs. This new department included the Adviser Department as one of its subordinate organizations. The Ministry of Defense would be responsible for the external military affairs and the Security Bureau. In this way, the framework of Graycastle’s brute strength was roughly finalized.

As expected, Roland was the minister of this new department, just like he was for the other departments. Edith used to be Barov’s assistant, learning to deal with affairs in the City Hall. She had done her job very well, but it was not until now that she got her formal approval and became a member of the new department. To be given a such an honor so easily would be so great that no other reward would be a match in the future and other newcomers would take her as an example, believing that they were also qualified to get such a title easily.

After all, times had changed. Roland was no longer in a shortage of people and would not appoint anyone of little competence to a major position again.

So, Edith now worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Defense, playing the role of an adviser to serve Roland.

Roland believed that a person like the Pearl of the Northern Region would never feel frustrated at such an arrangement which could give an impression that she had to start all over again to gain power and that she would surely understand his intentions. Although she left the chief’s office, she earned a chance to be promoted without interference. So, it was very unusual for her to keep quiet on an occasion that fit her skills and interests, and let Barov control the topic.

...

Roland glanced at Edith, who looked relaxed as she enjoyed her Chaos Drink. It was as if Barov’s imposing manner held no interest to her.

”What a strange woman,” he thought to himself.

He shrugged and said to Scroll beside him, ”Show me today’s meeting records.”

”Okay,” Scroll said as she put down the quill and handed a notebook over. ”Here’s all the records.”

After three days of discussion, they had come up with a mutual conclusion to the information Roland had received.

Hill Fawkes, who had sent back the secret messages, had placed the three pieces of news in order according to their importance. That meant the enemy harassing the Eastern Region required the most concern and the thing about Otto in custody was less important. Given that, the meeting members believed that the eldest son of Luoxi Family was not, for the moment, in mortal danger. Appen Moya, who was new to his throne, still needed the support of the three big families.

Even though Appen Moya wanted to replace the Luoxi Family, he needed time, and they thought he would need at least a year or two. Otto might suffer in the prison, but he would survive.

The news Roland got about the volatile situation in the Holy City was confirmed by the report from the garrison in the Northern Region, so the meeting members thought it must have been true. Now even the City of Glow started to stir, they thought that Moya family might also be aiming at the church. The Moya hated the church, and they were eager for the large amount of wealth in Hermes that the church had collected and saved for centuries.

As for the harassment, the meeting members thought it might refer to secretly provoking and supporting the rebels. Other than that, the things the enemy could do, that was practical, was very little. No one believed that Appen would dare to march his army upon Graycastle, for defeat was nearly guarenteed. But the rebellion truly happened within the domain of Graycastle, which meant it could not be ignored. No matter how weak the rebels were, their action would cause damage to the kingdom, so it was reasonable for Hill to regard this piece of news as the most important.