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Chapter 816: [Deep Sea Demons]

Translator: TransN Editor: Meh

Now everyone in the Third Border City knew that a God's Punishment Witch could regain her appearance and feelings when she entered the Dream World by cutting off her consciousness. Roland had repeatedly heard Phyllis describe their enthusiasm for the Dream World. According to her, every time she got back to the underground, they would follow her and keep asking about her experiences in that world.

He wondered whether they would still be eager to merge with shells when they found out this new method to restore their feelings.

However, it was not a perfect solution to their problem, as they could only regain their appearance and feelings in their sleep. By contrast, being in shells, they could always have some feelings, and these shells were almost immortal unless they were heavily damaged.

It would be difficult to make a choice between these two alternatives.

He thought of another possibility for them. If they had kept the news about the Dream World a secret, they would have been able to send the instrument and God's Punishment Witches there to carry out their Soul Transfer. This way, the volunteers would never be able to go back even if they regretted afterwards. However, he believed that Pasha would not delude her witches into accepting the shells. Based on his observation in the past month, though the Taquila witches had lived in seclusion for hundreds of years, they did not turn into a conservative organization. They were still open to new things and had abolished class inequality in their group. Apparently, the sacrifice of the Three Chiefs had deeply moved them, and the threat posed by demons had kept them working to make greater progress.

Pasha seemed to read his mind. "You don't have to worry about this problem. With more shells, we'll be better equipped to defeat the demons. Original carriers can operate the magic core, and devouring worms can speed up the construction of the defense line. They'll do everything to win the upcoming Battle of Divine Will without hesitation. In fact, the volunteers have decided to go to the Great Snow Mountain together with the instrument."

"Volunteers aren't afraid of any sacrifice..." Roland thought while biting his lips. "It seems that I've worried too much. I'll send ships to transport the instrument for you when the exploration has finished."

"Thank you for helping us," she said happily.

He nodded and laid Soraya's pictures on the table. "All the information I've sent you before were written materials. I finally received these pictures of the ruins today. I would like to know your thoughts on this monster."

"Please wait for a moment." She waved her tentacles to summon Celine and Alethea, who had been repairing the Instrument of Divine Retribution. Three blobs came to the light curtain to study the pictures together."

With their tentacles connected, they remained silent for an unexpectedly long time, and communicated though their minds. As they were not able to show any expression on the outside, he felt as if this video call had already disconnected.

After a long time, he finally heard Pasha in his head again. "Sorry to have kept you waiting. We're shocked by some pictures, so we have to discuss them thoroughly."

"It's neither a demonic beast nor a demon, right?"

"Yes," said Celine, "and the skeleton that fell into the water has appeared in Lady Natalia's description about the Divine Land."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. We've stayed underground for hundreds of years, but we would never be so foolish as to forget such an important piece of information. In fact, carriers have a much better memory than human beings," said Alethea, grumpily. "Lady Natalia saw the sea and skeletons in the third painting scroll. This thing in the pictures matches her description. More importantly, this lake is connected to the sea. We can be sure it's the thing mentioned by Lady Natalia."

"So, now we can say it's from the unknown civilization?" He asked while touching his chin. He was not surprised at their conclusion. When he had found the devouring worm also swallowing things in the Devil's Town, he had suspected that it must have been sent by some neutral party who had decided not to help anyone in the Battle of Divine Will. Alternatively, it could also have been the unknown enemy in the upcoming battle. He had made up this exploration plan not only to help the Taquila survivors but also to eliminate hidden threats for Neverwinter and spy on the unknown enemy.

He had read a similar description in Zero's memory fragment, but it was vague. Now, as the Taquila witches also thought the monster belonged to the unknown enemy, he could confirm that suspicion.

"It's highly possible, but..." Pasha hesitated for a while and continued. "There're still many things we don't understand, such as the demonic beasts."

"These beasts across the Land of Dawn are mutated animals. They should have been affected by the Erosion of magic power, just like witches. But why did they follow this monster's orders? It's different from the demons who enslave the demonic hybrids. The beasts seemed to willingly obey this monster's orders."

Roland had also pondered over this question. He thought that if the unknown enemy were intelligent creatures who had demonic beasts as part of their civilization, they would have accumulated these hybrids first and then used them to eliminate both human beings and demons. He could not understand why the unknown civilization wasted these beasts in the Months of Demons every year.

Maybe the origin of those mutated beasts might not be as simple as they had believed.

"We'll know the answer when the Battle of Divine Will starts." He shrugged his shoulders, pretending to be relaxed. "They'd better be the monster's relatives. In that case, we'll never see these ugly beasts on the snowy plains after we have defeated all our enemies in the battle."

Pasha was stunned and then started to chuckle. "Yes, you're right indeed. No matter where they come from, we'll still have to defeat them in the Battle of Divine Will."

After that, they discussed the defense line construction project and the method to block the underground river in the newly discovered ruins. When the meeting was about to finish, Roland suddenly raised a question.

"Ah, yeah, as we've caught some clues left by the hidden civilization now, we have to give it a name, don't we?" He cleared his throat. "Just like what we did with the first painting scroll. We call the guys in it demons."

"Is this important?" Pasha tilted her main tentacle. "Demons is just their most widely known name. They were also called Blood Beasts, the Deformity or Polluters back in the Union."

"Of course, a proper name is very important for propaganda and motivational campaigns. We should make it sound as evil as possible so as to arouse the people's indignation."

"So... do you have any idea?"

"Well, since these hidden enemies stay in the sea for most of the time, shall we call them 'Sea Monsters'?"

"..."

All the people in the meeting fell silent.

"Uhm... isn't that good?"

"I thought the name 'the Third Border City' was bad enough. I never expected you to make up something even worse," Alethea mocked, "'Sea Monster'? It sounds like a giant octopus."

"Alethea!" Pasha moved her main tentacle to give Alethea a knock on the head. "Your Majesty, if you think it's alright... I think... we don't have a problem with it."

The ancient witch agreed on the name, but reluctantly. Roland picked up his cup to sip some tea whilst trying to conceal his embarrassment.

"Ahem." Scroll who was by his side and taking notes for this meeting coughed suddenly. "Your Majesty, how about calling them Deep Sea Demons?"

"Deep Sea... Demons?" He repeated.

"Yes, since the concept of demons has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, they'll understand what this new name refers to without us clarifying. This way, we don't need much efforts to describe the unknown civilization for the people. It's better for the City Hall to carry out the propaganda campaigns, and the people won't feel that we've got to fight many enemies at the same time," explained Scroll, with a quill in his hand.

Though he was unwilling to accept the fact that someone else came up with a better name, he still twitched his mouth and said, "It seems to be a little better... Let's use this name."

Now the civilization depicted in the second painting scroll got a formal name.

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Chapter 817: Meeting Ashes Again

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Lorgar slowed down when she saw the first forest in her journey.

For the first time ever, she set foot in the domain of a northern kingdom. She had heard many people describing the evergreen woodlands, flourishing grasslands and steadily flowing water in this place. According to them, one would feel how soft and moist the soil was by simply inserting a hand in it, and would never have to worry about being bitten by some hidden sandworm when fetching water. The north was said to be a place full of life and vitality, like the Southernmost Region in the past.

However, she did not feel the same way about this place.

She thought perhaps it was still the Months of Demons, so this domain did not look any greener the Iron Sand City's big oasis. The trees here had nothing but stark branches, and the ground was covered by withered weeds. Only the dark brown soil under her feet reminded her that this place was not a desert.

She looked around and quickly found a place of shelter from the wind. In this shelter, she transformed back into a girl and put on her clothes. After that, she continued to track the caravans by following their smell that was left in the air.

That was how she traveled these days. When night fell, she would transform into a wolf and run toward the north. She lived on sandworms and Giant Scorpions and had even attracted some Desert Wolves along the way. In the daytime, she would walk on the Silver Stream trade route in her human form. This way, she could get her water bag refilled when she ran into some merchants there.

Her journey was not smooth sailing all the time.

Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan was always generous, thus she would attract some people who were coveting her bag of gold royals. But she had vigilant ears that were erected on her head, so she was always able to know the merchants' ulterior motives in advance. At the very beginning of her journey, she had made all the vicious guys pay a bitter price, but now she decided just to follow those caravans from a distance and used the smell they left to confirm their direction.

Half a day later, she heard the sound of sea waves.

As this new harbor town built by the northern kingdom did not have thick city walls, she could see everything clearly by standing on a high slope. Tents stood along the river. Many people gathered near the sea and seemed to be busy with constructing some square, flat buildings. What she found most surprising about this bustling scene was that most of the workers were northerners. She could only see a small number of Mojins there.

Shortly after stepping onto the territory of Port of Clearwater, she found the First Army's camp.

She identified herself to the guards and soon met the black-haired woman again.

This woman she had been eagerly looking forward to seeing was Ashes.

Before she could think about what to say, Ashes opened her mouth and said calmly, "I knew you'd come." Her golden eyes gave the Wolf Girl a feeling of familiarity, making her feel as if they had just said goodbye to each other yesterday.

Lorgar could not help but shake her ears. "How did you know?"

"Because you're just like the old me." Ashes curled her lips into a smile. "In your heart, there's a goal you want to pursue."

Her eyes lit up immediately. "You were pursuing combats, too?"

"No... I just wanted revenge." The Extraordinary shook her head and turned away. "Come with me. Echo will be very happy to see you again."

"Revenge?" Lorgar was stunned and thought to herself. After a while, she finally realized that Ashes had just meant that they both had goals but not the same one. The Wolf Girl caught up with the Extraordinary and asked, "Who did you want to get back at?"

"Church of Hermes." Ashes shrugged. "At first, I did this just to vent my hatred. As time went by, it became a habit until I met Her Highness Tilly. She made me see that there were more important things in this world than killing all the church people."

When Ashes mentioned Her Highness Tilly, the Wolf Girl perceived a feeling of tenderness in her tone, which was rare for the Extraordinary. She guessed this Tilly who was able to change such a determined and strong-willed person must have been very uncommon.

She secretly bore this name in her mind.

When they passed a flat building under construction, Lorgar raised another question. "I heard that the Port of Clearwater has become burned ruins ever since the Queen of Clearwater left this area. These people aren't local refugees, are they? Why do they seem to outnumber the Mojin immigrants?"

"Of course, they aren't. They all come from Neverwinter."

The Wolf Girl could hardly believe what she had heard. "Neverwinter... you mean the domain of King of Graycastle, Roland Wimbledon? He ordered his own people to build residences for the Mojins here?"

"He didn't need to force anyone. All of these people came here voluntarily because the construction project here pays them better. They can get a pay raise of five to ten silver royals by working here. The workers said that soon after the Ministry of Construction issued a recruitment notice for this project, City Hall was packed with applicants."

The Ministry of Construction? City Hall? The Wolf Girl felt lost hearing these strange words. She wagged her tail and asked, "What about... the Sand Nation?"

Lorgar remembered the first batch of immigrants consisted of several small clans and were about 2,000 to 3,000 people. She wondered why the great chief still wanted to send his own people traveling all the way from the north to the Southernmost Region when he had so many Mojins to work for him. She started to doubt his true motives.

"As His Majesty wants to build a new city in Endless Cape, most Mojins went there," Ashes answered quickly, "so did the people from Osha clan. Only by participating in the construction task, could the Mojins get new homes and food supply just like the subjects of Neverwinter."

Lorgar was surprised to hear that the king planned to build a city in the uninhabited wasteland which had no oasis. If it was not for Ashes, a proud person who was loath to lie, she would never believe this.

"What's the King of Graycastle thinking about?" she wondered.

"Then... what about the people who are unable to go there?"

"If they've got to stay due to health problems, they can help the construction team here to build the Port of Clearwater. By doing so, they'll get the same treatment. In other words, as long as you're willing to work, you'll never have to worry about going hungry." Ashes sighed with mixed feelings. "Her Highness Tilly once said that the ideal world in her mind was a place where you reaped what you sowed and made a fortune by your own hard work instead of exploiting the others. It sounded incredible, but her useless brother did make it happen."

Lorgar automatically ignored the last comment made by Ashes. "But... why does the great chief want to build a city in Endless Cape? That place has nothing..."

"There's Blackwater. His Majesty wants to collect as much of it as possible," Ashes said while spreading out her palms.

"That's the reason?" The Wolf Girl was stunned, rooted to the ground. "He did so much work just to collect Blackwater? He can simply buy it from the Iron Sand City, just like the Queen of Clearwater used to do!"

Lorgar did not believe in goodwill for no apparent reason. Most dominators just wanted wealth and lands, but the king apparently was acting contrary to this principle. He gave the land to the Sand Nation and spent a lot to reclaim the desert and to station troops in this place. She believed that the money he spent on these things was enough to buy hundreds of barrels of Blackwater.

"If what Ashes said was true, then the king's deeds were really strange," she thought and then started to worry about her father's decision.

She expected Ashes to refute or explain further, but the Extraordinary just raised her brow and said, "Yes, that's true... Who knows what the hell he's thinking?"

"What?"

Ashes said casually, "Even in Neverwinter, there're only a few who can understand his absurd theories. Andrea may be able to know what he's thinking. After all, they're both nobles, and their friendship is one mind in two bodies. The others probably won't be able to explain this to you. Anyway, who cares. I'm not here for him. As long as Lady Tilly thinks it's a good idea, I'll be fine with it." She stopped walking after saying these words, and then said, "Here we are."

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Chapter 818: The Neverwinter Power Rankings

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Just like Ashes had said, Drow Silvermoon was overjoyed at Lorgar's arrival. The Osha princess immediately gave her a warm hug. The Wolf Girl was surprised and did not know where to put her raised hand. Usually a chief of a clan only greeted another chief with a hug. Lorgar had intended to greet the new chief of Osha clan by bowing to her with a hand on the chest, though Silvermoon was one or two years younger than her.

During their conversation, the chief did not put on an air of superiority. When she heard that Lorgar was planning to go to Neverwinter with them, she immediately regarded her as a sister. She asked the Wolf Girl to call her Echo and happily introduced her to the new life of the witches in Neverwinter.

Lorgar did not believe everything that Echo had said. According to what she knew, no matter how abundant Graycastle's resources was, it could never eliminate hunger. She guessed the chief might be exaggerating by describing the place as a Kingdom of God, where no one worried about hunger and illness which could be cured by witches.

Though this was the first time she left the desert, she had heard many tales about the northern kingdoms. She knew the kingdoms were just like the Iron Sand City where only a small group of people in high places could lead a luxurious life. She believed that as a Divine Lady who was no longer an heiress to the Wildflame clan, she would never be as lucky as the Osha princess who had gained the king's appreciation.

But this was not a problem for Lorgar.

She just wanted to improve herself by fighting all those strong opponents in Neverwinter.

When she told them that her clan also considered moving to Port of Clearwater, they did not appear pleasantly surprised as she had expected. Iron Axe, Osha's faithful dog, even knitted his eyebrows. Only Echo smiled and asked, "Really?" The Osha princess seemed excited and continued to say, "Great! As soon as the Wildflame clan comes here, it won't be long before Port of Clearwater restores its prosperity of the past. His Majesty's goal can be achieved earlier!"

"Ahem... Lady Echo." Iron Axe eyed Echo. "It's just their plan, and it won't necessarily come true."

"Ah, yes, I was too impatient." Echo smiled, slightly embarrassed.

Lorgar immediately understood the reason for their cold response. As the former strongest clan, Wildflame had more than 5,000 people in total, significantly outnumbering all the Mojin immigrants here. More importantly, she believed that the northerners must have found that these small clans who were competing with each other were much easier to control as compared to some powerful big clan. She thought that they probably never expected that a clan in the Iron Sand City would decide that quickly to move here since the six big clans in the city did not have to worry that their oasis would dry up. These bigs clans were considered to be the most reluctant ones to leave the city, and most people even believed that they would never turn to the King of Graycastle.

She did not continue talking about this matter for she knew that the Wildflame clan moving here would increase the northerners' influence and at the same time change the balance of powers in this area. She had to admit that it was not a bad thing if the Osha clan or the king failed to control the situation at that time and let her father grasp the power.

After all, she was still Prince Lorgar of the Wildflame clan.

...

In the next few days, Lorgar would walk along Clearwater Bay whenever she got a chance. As she had met Ashes here, she was not that eager to leave for Neverwinter. She decided to use this period of time to examine carefully this evergreen land where Wildflame decided to settle down.

She soon discovered that the construction speed of Graycastle's workers was way beyond her imagination. On the bank of the river, they built a row of hemispherical furnaces which could produce a new batch of bricks each day with a mixture of earth and river sand. And these furnaces did not burn wood but some gray-black stones shipped from the northwest. They only needed to be filled with these stones once in a day, since these stones could keep burning all day long, which seemed much better than charcoals.

Brick production was the part where more Mojins, mostly women and seniors, were involved. They were divided into several groups, digging earth or carrying black stones. For each basket a worker dug out or carried, the supervisor would press a mark on his or her arm. According to the Wolf Girl's observation, the marks determined how much food a worker could get each day.

As for the construction work, she seldom saw Mojins engage in it. The northerners did everything. They mixed the water with some gray powder to make paste and used it when they stacked bricks. Each house was built with the same size, style and method. She could notice new changes in these buildings almost every day.

Another thing that greatly surprised her was how differently the Mojins and the people from Graycastle reacted when they saw her half-animal looks.

Since leaving the Iron Sand City, she no longer covered her fluffy tail and ears. Most Mojins would avoid her eyes when they saw her and try to back away from her, even though they had the same skin color. She was no stranger to this kind of reactions and was prepared for this.

Whereas the people from Graycastle did not show even the slightest bit of fear or hatred in front of her. Some braver ones even took the initiative to say hello to her and seemed to be used to this kind of looks.

She was baffled by their behavior and asked Ashes about this.

"Ah... you mean this. Isn't it a usual thing for the witches?" The Extraordinary said while spreading out her palms. "Half human and half beast isn't a rare thing. Someone can even totally transform into a beast." She continued to explain, "For example, there's a witch named Maggie. She looks much more scary than you after transformation. However, after she acted as a rescuer several times, everyone got used to her looks. Even if you don't look human, they won't ostracize you."

Lorgar wiggled her wolf ears and thought, "Uhm... Is that true? In that case, my determination to embrace my defects and accept my true self was not necessary at all?"

She suddenly thought of another question. "Ah, are you the strongest witch in Neverwinter?"

"Well..." The Wolf Girl did not know whether it was an illusion, but she did feel that Ashes looked more serious now. "That depends on the types of my opponents. One type of witches can wear God's Stone of Retaliation. The other type of witches usually don't wear them."

"They're not able to use their abilities wearing God's Stones, are they?"

"Yes. Without God's Stone, I'm not sure I can defeat some witches in the Witch Union."

"Even you can't defeat them?" Lorgar was shocked.

Ashes nodded. "I believe I could before they evolved, but their improved abilities were beyond common sense. They're not something you can fight with using just speed and strength. For example, there's a witch called Leaf. When you fight with her within the area controlled by her Heart of Forest, she'll become as powerful as the deities. It'll be extremely hard to escape from her trap in the woods, even if you wear God's Stone of Retaliation. If I have to fight against the witches of Neverwinter, she's definitely the last one I want to meet."

The Wolf Girl was thrilled when she heard this. "Who else?"

"Anna. Although she's not good at combat, her ability is impeccable. Without God's Stone, I can't imagine how to defeat her. I mean in a duel. But since she's the most important witch in Neverwinter and Roland's sweetheart, you'll never get a chance to fight her." Ashes continued while counting on her fingers. "And Nightingale. If you often challenge the Neverwinter witches, you'll definitely attract her attention. As she's touchy and has a really weird ability, you'd better avoid fighting her."

Lorgar wagged her tail, imprinting the names on her memory one by one. "So... what about Maggie? You said she could transform into a big beast?"

"Yes, she'll make a well-matched rival for you in a duel, but I'd advise you not to do so." Ashes seemed to think of something and smiled meaningfully. "That's because all the people who challenged her could not get rid of bad luck, and if you accidentally hurt her, you'd incur the wrath of the entire Witch Union."

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Chapter 819: A Graceful Lady

Translator: TransN Editor: Meh

Lorgar nodded to Ashes as she considered Maggie as one of the top dogs in the Witch Union. In her mind, the witch was still an ugly, cruel, but very formidable beast.

"So... what about the witches wearing God's Stones of Retaliation?"

The Wolf Girl knew that once her opponent used God's Stones, her ability would be significantly limited. Under such circumstances, she would not be able to freely transform all her body parts. If this opponent were just another warrior from the desert, it would be fine. However, if they were an Extraordinary like Ashes, it would be impossible for her to come out on top. Her ability was useless when she was faced with such a strong witch who also wore God's Stone. Given this, she had ranked Ashes as the best fighter amongst the witches from Neverwinter.

The Extraordinary remained silent for a while before replying. "Suppose there's someone whose strength and speed is in no way inferior to those of an Extraordinary. At the same time, she's an almost unlimited lifespan and will never be harmed by any injuries. Even if she suffers fatal blows, she'll be able to completely recover, given time. How strong do you think she would be?"

Lorgar could not help but gasp in astonishment.

Being an experienced warrior herself, she was well aware of the importance of fighting skills and experience.

In the holy duels, the toughest opponent to deal with wouldn't be those brave young fighters, but instead, the seasoned warriors who were in their 30s. These veterans were usually the backbone of a clan, and they often served as combat tutors and supervisors for a clan's newer generation. She would never underestimate such warriors who not only matched the younger fighters in strength but were also much more experienced, having gone through numerous life or death situations. However, when warriors turned 40, their body would inevitably become less agile, and the wounds suffered over the years would gradually accumulate and worsen. Even if their skills became more and more refined over time, they would no longer be able to move as fluidly as they once had done.

Lorgar wanted to go to Neverwinter to hone her fighting skills was because she knew that there was an overpowered healing witch who could heal all sorts of injuries. Now she was more intrigued by her future trip to the Western Region as there was even a witch who was impervious to pain and had an unlimited lifespan.

She believed that anyone who lived long enough would be able to become a very accomplished fighter. Even just thinking about going against such a warrior made her scared… No, excited.

"Is there really such a person in Neverwinter?" Lorgar asked excitedly.

"Yes, there's this witch in the city who's called Phyllis," Ash replied, "I've never fought her, but..."

"But what?"

The Extraordinary said slowly, "One time when I was practicing with my sword in the castle's garden, she happened to pass by and give me a few suggestions. Later, I tried practicing again while following her pointers and found that my sword strokes did get noticeably smoother. Unfortunately, I left Neverwinter soon after and haven't gotten a chance to ask her for more pointers."

"Did she really only watch you practice for a short while?" Lorgar's tail wagged even faster. Most tutors, even the very experienced ones, had to exchange a few moves with their students to spot the errors in their movements. That was the reason the big clans built their Halls of Military Affairs for their fighters to train in. The more a student matched a tutor in his or her skills, the more difficult it was for the tutor to find faults within the student's techniques. Ashes was undoubtedly an excellent fighter, so the Wolf Girl believed that the immortal witch, Phyllis, was indeed a mighty warrior for quickly finding Ashes' shortcomings just by watching her practice.

Lorgar thought that now it seemed like Phyllis was the best fighter in Neverwinter. Since when it came to a real battle, no one could rely solely on the off chance that the opponent was not wearing a God's Stone of Retaliation.

She ranked Ashes as the second because she was also immune to the effects of God's Stones. This powerful Extraordinary was the ideal role model that she was chasing after. As for the witch who was blessed with infinite life, the Wolf Girl believed that it was some miracle created by the Three Gods and that it was not something that she could ask for.

Lorgar couldn't wait to find out how she would fare against these powerful fighters.

She was now, even more, looking forward to her journey to the west.

Ashes seemed to see through the Wolf Girl's mind and smiled meaningfully again. Instead of ending their conversation right there, she patted Lorgar's shoulder and slowly said, "By the way, I forget to tell you. There are over 100 witches like Phyllis in Neverwinter."

"What?"

Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan was stunned and began to wonder, "Over 100 witches with infinite life? When did the miracles of the Three Gods start happening so frequently?"

"Come on." Ashes curled her lips into a smile. "You've still got a long way to go. You'll never have to worry about finding a suitable opponent there."

...

Beside Ashes, Lorgar also occasionally ran into another witch, Andrea. She had witnessed this blonde witch's powerful Magic Longbow on the Burning Stage. Though she had never fought against her, she thought Ashes was quite right about her. She was a noble just like the King of Graycastle. They were cut off the same cloth. The Wolf Girl always felt distanced from Andrea, as if she was living in a different world.

Every move Andrea made was so graceful, be it when she was talking to the others or when she was gazing far out to the sea by herself. Watching her, Lorgar began to notice that she had a lot of shortcomings in comparison to Andrea.

Princess Lorgar decided to give it a try anyways and said hello to Andrea when nobody was around. The blonde witch greeted her calmly, not showing as much warmth and hospitality as Drow Silvermoon did.

However, when she put forward the question that Ashes failed to answer, Andrea suddenly became enthusiastic.

The blonde witch said, "As for this question... of course, Ashes wouldn't be able to tell you anything. That muscle-brained witch can barely count to a hundred, she knows nothing about managing a city. His Majesty Roland's policies are way too complicated. I had to ponder about them over and over before understanding their logic." She paused for a moment and asked, "But are you sure that you really want me to tell you? It's much harder to understand than fighting."

"Yes." Lorgar nodded seriously. "My father said that there's a common truth in everything. Learning knowledge in other fields can also promote my fighting skills."

"It's obviously nonsense..." Andrea rolled her eyes back and slightly sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you. If the king just buys Blackwater with gold royals as you suggested, Neverwinter will have to spend some of its wealth to get what it wants, right?"

"All transactions in the world are like that," Lorgar confirmed.

"So let's assume that these deals go flawlessly one hundred percent of the time, and 20 years later, the king will see no change in his kingdom, except the loss of a large number of gold royals."

"Lo-Loss?" The Wolf Girl was startled. "Why do you call it a loss? Doesn't his current plan cost him much more?"

"Of course not." Andrea put her hair up, bent down, and started drawing on the ground with a stick. "Now that the Mojin immigrants in the Southern Territory have been assimilated into Graycastle, any expenses they make will eventually be circulated back into Graycastle's economy, this is because all the things the Mojins need to buy come from Neverwinter, therefore, the income they receive will eventually make its way into His Majesty's hands in a process known as "the circular flow of income". During this process, the overall amount of wealth circulating in the kingdom will gradually grow and eventually reach an astonishing amount over that 20 year period. To achieve this, His Majesty only needs to invest in this initial stage, but even this initial investment can't be considered a loss as the wealth is circulating through the cities of the kingdom."

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Chapter 820: The Journey

Translator: TransN Editor: Meh

Lorgar stared at the circles drawn by Andrea on the ground for a good while before she voiced out her thoughts. "But if you want to keep this circulation going, you've got to keep investing money... so, there's still a large amount of wealth that isn't in the hands of the great chief."

"That's it... This is what makes His Majesty different from all those other nobles, and it took me a while before I could figure out this point." Andrea then drew a larger circle around the small circles. "From the very beginning, he's regarded the entire Graycastle as his own domain. Given that, no matter which city accumulates the wealth, it still belongs to him."

"But he's the king, so shouldn't it be natural for him to think that way?"

Andrea retorted, "When Wildflame was the strongest clan, were you able to lord over clans in the Silver Stream Oasis? I'm guessing you couldn't even control the other clans inside Iron Sand City. It's the same for the Four Kingdoms. The nobles are like your clan chiefs. They won't let anyone else intervene in the affairs of their land and neither would they consider any other noble's domain as their homeland."

"..." Lorgar remained silent for a while. "We can't control our subjects simply by thinking them ours."

"Yes. You're much smarter than Ashes. Stay away from her in the future or your brain will be slowly filled with mud, like hers." Andrea patted Lorgar's shoulder. "The key lies in the combination of military might and the implementation of His Majesty's policies. The former can discourage the nobles from having any second thoughts, while the latter will gradually help to centralize the kingdom's power. This is a brilliant innovation. What's even more amazing, is that the king had already put this into practice since the beginning. Only having stayed in Neverwinter for so long can I now recognize the intricacies of this plan."

"It's indeed a bit... complicated." Lorgar scratched her head, and she was a bit surprised. She never expected that this blonde-haired girl who usually distanced herself from the others would answer her question so enthusiastically and in such great detail. Her guess was that Andrea might have been eagerly looking forward to sharing her findings and thoughts with someone else, but had failed to find a person to talk to.

"Of course, politics is 10,000 times more complicated than fighting." said Andrea, proudly, "and that's just one part. The other part is that the king is going to acquire more than just wealth—he'll also have you guys. "

"Us?"

"This principle is much simpler. When Mojin immigrants get food and houses through working for the king, they would become part of this circulation. You'll gradually get used to this lifestyle of using your wages to buy all kinds of goods and comforts produced by Graycastle. In the end, you'll never be able to stop living in this kind of a comfortable manner and will eventually become a genuine citizen of the kingdom."

Andrea impaled the wooden stick into the ground, wiped her hands clean, and stood up. "This is inevitable. The oases are shrinking, and the survival of the Mojin clans are being threatened. Under this circumstance, the king has offered you a way to survive without fighting each other for water, so more and more Mojins will choose to leave the desert. Meanwhile, there are many deserted lands lying in the Southern Territory. It's only natural for the king to bring the Mojin people there to reclaim those lands—and create wealth for him."

She paused for a moment and asked, "Now do you understand? By doing so, 20 years later, His Majesty Roland will not only get all the Blackwater that he desires but also an accumulated wealth as well as most of the Mojins of the Southernmost Region. Do you still think that buying Blackwater from the Iron Sand City would be a better option?"

Lorgar did not answer but instead faintly felt her heartache. As compared to the answer itself, what shook her more was Andrea's attitude—She believed that Andrea revealed all the reasons behind the king's arrangements probably not out of trust, but because no Mojin could reverse this situation.

Lorgar admired this intelligent blonde witch who could actually figure out the king's true intentions. However, she respected the great chief himself even more. He always thought of the bigger picture and was able to become an irreplaceable figure in his subjects' hearts through meticulous planning. Not to mention his revolutionizing ideas. She believed that if he had been born in Iron Sand City, he would have definitely become an outstanding warrior.

Perhaps he was the example she should chase after.

"Thank you for your guidance, I feel my fighting skills have been further enhanced!" Lorgar said while making a fist.

"My pleasure, as long as you can understand... wait, what? Did you just say fighting skills?"

"Yes. I'll go practice now, so please excuse me." Lorgar said before she turned around without a moment to spare and hurriedly ran for a nearby dune. There just happened to be an open and gravelly ground that was suitable for combat training.

"So you turned out to be just like Ashes... an idiot."

After running for more than a hundred steps, the Wolf Girl still could hear Andrea call her an idiot, but the blonde witch did not sound as cold as she had been before.

A week later, Echo informed Lorgar that the Wildflame clan had officially decided to move to the Southern Territory. As agreed by both parties, this immigration plan would be carried out in three phases to reduce Graycastle's burden, and the lands the clan was granted with were the most fertile fields near the estuary in the old town, which were located between Clearwater Bay and the port.

The whole migration process would last more than a year, and the first batch of immigrants would arrive in several weeks. In order to properly settle the former ruling clan, the Osha Princess, who was missing Neverwinter the most, volunteered to extend her stay in the Port of Clearwater. Her decision was approved by the king, but Ashes, Andrea and Hummingbird would still leave as planned, taking "The Roland" to the Western Region.

As for whether Lorgar would leave with the witches or stay behind to wait for her clan, Echo allowed her to choose for herself.

The Wolf Girl did not think twice before she chose to leave with Ashes.

She believed that her father and brother could properly handle inter-clan affairs without her. The Southern Territory was no longer a place where survival opportunities needed to be won by force and duels. In this place, even small clans could manage to get their stomachs full, not to mention the Wildflame clan. More importantly, she did not want to cause any misunderstanding by meeting them shortly after she abandoned her right of succession. As she had to leave sooner or later, she decided to leave earlier with the witches.

The things about Neverwinter and the Witch Union which she heard from Ashes and Andrea, filled her heart with wild expectations. Be it the legendary combat witches, the formidable enemies in the wilderness hiding under the cloak of the Red Mist, the great chief who did not have enough strength to strangle a chicken(according to Ashes), she looked forward to meeting them all.

The next day, Echo sent them on to the steel ship with a smile.

Standing on the deck, Lorgar felt that those large Concrete Boats were nothing as compared to this steady steel ship. The amount of metal used to build the hull for this ship might already exceed that of all the Mojins' weapons and armors. With mixed feelings in her heart, she held the railing on the deck and dropped her fluffy ears as she nodded to Echo to say goodbye.

With a deep whistle from its horn, "The Roland", carrying the witches and Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan, slowly but steadily sailed towards the Western Region.