Gift

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[You have slowly started planting the idea of witches not being evil. This action will slowly and inevitably spread rumours through the Border Town]

[+ 2 CHA over the accumulation of experiences from speeches and training of the new recruits.]

[+ 1 Undistributed stat points for raising 3 stats naturally]

[+ 10 Witches' affection and trust]

[Your charisma reached 10 points without a bonus from the title. New books unlocked in Store and wider section of food ingredients unlocked!]

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Roland's screen for once started spamming messages which slightly surprised him.

'What the hell is "Witches' affection and trust"? Does it mean that any new witch will naturally trust me a bit more or is it that the witches will support me to become a new king? Unlocked new books sound good but...food ingredients? Well, I am not going to complain about new things unlocked for free plus this might actually help me a lot! I was thinking about what to give Nightingale but I could simply make something for her. If I don't know any physical gift that would make her happy, I can always cook something up that will definitely bring a smile to her lips.' With that thought, Roland made his way to the kitchen.

Thankfully, no one was yet there when he arrived at the kitchen and he quickly took a look at the new ingredients and bought some chocolate chips, vanilla, brown sugar, and other stuff. The stuff he bought didn't even cost over 10 Gold Coins so it didn't even hurt him spending so little on ingredients that can be used several times.

"Mm~ Y-Your Highness?!" When Roland was done buying things and storing them in the kitchen's storage, a maid came in, visibly in high spirits despite how early in the morning it was. When she noticed Roland inside, she immediately panicked, thinking that Roland was hungry or maybe because she never saw Roland up so early.

"Oh?! Good timing, eh, Nina! Please come to my side." Roland's eyes shined when he saw that someone finally arrived and after a few seconds of thinking, he even recalled her name, unfortunately, it was from his memories and not from the original Roland's memories who only cared about Tyre, ehm, more like Tyre's ass.

"Y-Yes, Your Highness." It was evident that the maid's emotions were all over the place but at least she was more surprised than afraid, mostly due to Roland knowing her name.

"Relax a bit, I just want to teach you one recipe. It is a sort of dessert or snack, popular with most people due to its rich and sweet taste...will you be the first one to taste it for me?" Roland said before asking with almost pleading eyes.

Seeing Roland's enthusiasm, Nina calmed down and nodded her head with a smile.

...

After an hour of helping Roland around and learning the recipe and the process, Nina tried Roland's final product.

"Oh! Mmm~" Roland could swear that the maid released a quiet moan when she tried normal Ice cream which made him slightly embarrassed since he didn't think it was THAT good but thought that standards must be just lower here.

"W-What is this bitter-sweet taste? It's amazing, it's not too sweet or too bitter...it's just perfect." Nina immediately turned enthusiastic after tasting Ice cream without even realizing it.

"I am glad you like it. Do you think you can make it on your own?" Roland asked.

"Oh...I should be able but I am not sure if I can make it as tasty as Ice cream made by Your Highness" Nina finally grew a bit conscious that she is still in Roland's presence.

"I believe you can, thank you for helping me, you can keep this portion, I will take the rest with me. You shouldn't eat it all alone or you will experience brief pain in the head. Share it with the other maids." Roland said before giving a few spoons of Ice cream on the plate.

"A-Are you sure we can eat it all, Your Highness?!" Nina asked with a shocked expression since she assumed that most of the ingredients must be very expensive since she couldn't even recognize most of them.

"Yes, don't worry, this won't impact your pay" Roland replied with a joking tone before taking his leave.

'Ice cream in the morning maybe isn't exactly a norm but who is going to judge me? As long as it tastes good, it's fine. Now...where should I go to find that invisible woman?' Roland thought before going straight to his office.

When he opened the door, he didn't see anyone but once he closed the door behind him, Nightingale appeared, sitting on his desk with a wide smile.

"Slept well?" She asked before looking curiously at Roland's plate, most likely surprised that he is carrying his own breakfast to the office.

"Thanks to certain someone, yes" Roland gave her honest reply with a genuine smile.

His honesty slightly caught her off guard as she looked to the side to avoid his eyes.

"It was nothing...it would be problematic for both of us if you caught a cold. Anna would be simply too worried and she needs to be strong right now."

"Whatever your intentions were...you already helped me many times without asking for anything in return. Don't make me feel like I owe you, sit down and have a go at this. I made this for you." Roland said and put the plate on the desk next to Nightingale.

"This is for me? W-Wait, you said that YOU made it?!" Nightingale asked pleasantly surprised before inspecting it with a joking dubious look as if she was trying to find any traces of poison.

"HEY! I wasted an entire hour making this, if you don't want it, I am going to eat it!" Roland said with crossed arms, trying to look offended but he understood her behavior. It was completely unbecoming of a prince to do such a thing but he also needed to teach someone how to make it next time if he doesn't want to become a cook instead of a prince.

"I apologize, I will at least try it...MHPH~!" Nightingale said, bringing a small spoon to her mouth still with a dubious look on her face but once it entered her mouth, her eyes widened.

She quickly closed her eyes and just focused on the taste in her mouth with a content smile on her face. Seeing her reaction, Roland sighed in relief.

"...Are you a prince or a cook?" Nightingale narrowed her eyes and asked with a suspicious look.

"...I am pretty sure you already know" Hearing her question, Roland clenched his right shaking fist and replied with closed eyes and a wide smile but the right corner of his lips was occasionally twitching.

"...Yes, Your Highness" Nightingale replied while shielding the ice cream with her entire body to prevent Roland from taking it from her.

A silence followed when Roland sat down on his seat, quietly looking over the papers stacked on his desk with Nightingale curiously casting glances at him from time to time.

"Wasn't it too sudden, revealing Nana's existence?"

"So you were indeed there...I don't think it's going to be a problem, as I said, I intend to protect her and changing people's opinions at times when they face their worst threat is just ideal. Right now, only a few people are aware of witches hiding here but it's going to slowly spread around the town, it's impossible to keep such a secret. Nana is essential to change everyone's opinion since her power is to soothe and chase away pain. No one right in their head will say that Nana is a demon when she can save lives."

"I wouldn't be so sure...the church influenced a lot of people and even though there is no single church here, they still treat us as evil." Nightingale said while feasting on the Ice cream.

"Since the church isn't here, most people are more open-minded, they believe in what they see and what can bring food to their table. If some of the locals will dare to speak up against witches I am going to remind them of what Longsong Stronghold had done to them and ask them if any witch ever hurt them. The real evil in this world is corrupted nobles. I will make sure locals understand this fact." Roland said with a serious expression.

Seeing his seriousness, Nightingale couldn't help but show a warm smile on her lips.

"That could actually work but you never know..." Nightingale agreed that redirecting the blame to someone else could work but she was reluctant to believe it after all she has been through.

"We will never know if we won't even try. Don't be afraid of a change, Nightingale" Roland said and looked at her with an encouraging smile.

"...I am not afraid of anything" She replied after a small delay with an odd tone. Roland assumed that there was some story behind it.