Release that Witch

“I see,” Nightingale spoke after a moment of contemplation. “Compared to building a brand new railway, it’s much easier to build a road to connect the rivers. Railway construction needs Anna and skillful workers, but everybody can build a regular road. Even the refugees can do it. In this way, we can save a lot of time!”

“Exactly. This is another strength,” Roland said in approval. “As long as we plan it well, we’ll alleviate the stress of the logistics department in one or two months. This is very important for us considering we have such a tight timeline. It appears that you do, sometimes, grasp the nature of the problem.”

“Haha, of course… hang on,” Nightingale said and her smiles immediately faded out. “What do you mean by ‘sometimes’? I can think, and I can help you with your work and cope with my exam…”

Although she looked pretty frustrated, her voice trailed off.

Roland giggled involuntarily.

Nightingale had to first make sure that she did not fall asleep before she set to study.

Roland shoveled his eyes back to the map on the desk. If he wanted to connect the rivers in Graycastle and the Kingdom of Dawn, the fastest way was to build a road in the Eastern Region near the Redwater River that ran all the way to the City of Evernight. The road should then wind toward the north, reach the Windswept Ridge, and finally connect the Sparkling River in the neighboring country.

The Sparking River originated from the Hermes Plateau and diverged at the capital city into three branches. Two wider ones stretched away between the south and north of the Kingdom of Dawn and flew to the ocean. To further facilitate water transportation, the Moya Family had dug out a canal running from the east to the west over the past 100 years, which not only boomed the business activities along the river but also provided a shortcut for Roland’s road construction plan.

With that being the case, Roland only needed to build two roads, one from the Sparkling River to the Northside River and the other leading to the Cage Mountain. In this way, there would be a passage connecting the two countries. Compared to a costly railway, the two roads were no longer than 200 kilometers put together, and all he needed to do was to set up three ports for freights.

Since loaded trucks were heavy and could easily damage the road particularly on rainy days, Roland decided to use mortar and cement to harden the road surface instead of gravels to avoid subsequent maintenance. The road, therefore, would be of the same quality as those in Neverwinter.

Cement was now widely used in Neverwinter, but it was time-consuming to ship it to the Kingdom of Dawn, so Roland decided to produce cement locally.

After finishing the drawing, Roland wrote a letter to the king of the neighboring country, Andrea’s father, Horford Quinn.

He was going to dispatch some technitians to the City of Glow and taught the three families in the king’s city how to manufacture cement and assemble paddle steamers. Then they would be able to build a plant and mend the road for Neverwinter.

Roland believed that the nobles would see the potential value of cement.

With these two technologies, the Kingdom of Dawn could solve the transportation problem by themselves.

Nevertheless, Roland planned to provide completed steam engines because none of the cities except Neverwinter in this era were industrialized. It would thus be meaningless to send over raw materials.

Roland believed that the Kingdom of Dawn would take action immediately. If the Red Mist had already appeared at the crest of the Impassable Mountain Range, Horford would receive the news soon. By that time, he would know what he should do.

…

Two days later, Roland saw the first batch of immigrants from the roof of the Miracle Building.

Smoke coiled up into the air from the endless fleet and dropped a thick veil at the bank. People trodded on the trestle and off on the dock under the guidance of the police. A colorful sea of heads heaved up and down at the bank of the Redwater River.

“50,000 people… That’s the population of a whole city, Your Majesty,” Barov commented in excitement, although also a little worried. “I’ve never expected to see hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Kingdom of Everwinter and Kingdom of Wolfheart coming to Graycastle. If things go well, we’ll soon reach our target of an increase of 200,000 people each year. Now, I should worry about your treasury.”

“As well as public safety and urban management,” the Chief Knight, Carter, rejoined a little apprehensively. “Those immigrants may not acknowledge your authority. Out of safety concern, I suggest settling them down in a certain area so it would be easier to manage them.”

“Then they’ll never become true Graycastle people,” Roland said while shaking his head. “If the police needs help, ask Barov. Punish the wrong-doers and reward those who make contributions. Send chronic offenders to the mine and subject them to heavy labor. I need workers not imprisoned slaves.”

Without a doubt, the king’s city would be more chaotic with such a huge influx of immigrants. This was an inevitable side effect of his immigration policy. Roland would not have carried out such a hasty plan had he had enough time. Now, the war was around the corner, so he had to implement the policy despite the potential problems it would bring.

The benefits of an population increase overpowered its downside.

For example, he could send 10,000 people out of the 50,000 new immigrants to the plants to increase the production of firearms. Then, the soldiers at the front would have more weapons and ammunition, as well as other new equipment.

Now he had both manpower and technologies and could officially start the project for the Cube-powered steam engines.

…

“Where am I?”

Valkries woke up again and found herself in a snow white room. The ceiling and the wall blinded her. There was a queer instrument ticking beside her. A transparent bag was hung above her, and the liquid in it dripped down the tube and slowly into her vein.

There was so much information unfamiliar to her swarming into her head that for a moment, she could not give a proper response. She had never seen anything like this before. Everything was so different from what she were used to.

For example, the white shirt she was currently wearing had pretty tight stitches, which was complete different from the clothes she usually wore.

Valkries closed her eyes and concentrated. No matter how strange the surrounding was, the only thing she could rely on was her power.

Valkries’ heart suddenly sank to the bottom.

She noticed that she was not in her own body.

Although this body looked exactly the same, the magic stone was gone. She would have died had the magic stone really disappeared.

However, surprisingly, she felt fine.

She could still sense the magic power slowly move within her body in an unfamiliar way.

The murmur of the Realm of Mind was also gone.

No matter how hard Valkries tried to concentrate, there was no response. She even condescended to call upon the Sky Lord, but she heard nothing back from the latter.

This meant that she was trapped.