Release that Witch

Van’er couldn’t help but think, if this becomes my last destination, it wouldn’t be so bad.

*

“Your Highness,” during the return back to the castle, Carter suddenly began to talk, “what you did… “

“Was inappropriate?” continued Roland.

“No,” Carter thought for a moment, but in the end he only shook his head and answered, “I don’t know how to say it, but I think no one has ever treated his employees like this — they have neither a title nor a family background, and most of them don’t even have a last name.”

“But in the end, do you think what I did was right?” asked Roland once more.

“Well…” Roland smiled and laughed, he certainly knew that this kind of ceremony had a strong appeal to Carter, who was also always fighting for and protecting him. When people start to think who they are fighting for and why they are going to war, such a ceremony could be good motivation. For Carter, this change had an even greater meaning, now this kind of honor wasn’t just a privilege for the nobility. During these times, the common people could already get the same training and teaching the nobility got, but now the civilians could also receive the honor of defending their homeland. The doubled sense of achievement was

absolutely inexplicable.

Of course, the introduction of the public funeral was just the beginning, Roland thought, he still had many ideas that could be used to enhance the collective sense of honor, such as

using flags, playing military songs, establishing a heroic example and so on.

It wasn’t possible to produce such spirit out of thin air. Roland would only to be able to increase their sense of belonging step by step and always instilling the idea, until it gradually took effect. In order to ensure that the pension project was set in motion and reliable, Roland had arranged all of it by himself. Within the Town Hall, he had set up a group of people who were responsible for the payment of the food and charcoal.

The further along Roland got on his way of upgrading Border Town, the heavier the pressure became on his shoulders. Even so, it seemed that the mining project and upgrading the people’s living conditions was on the right track. With sufficient grain reserves, so far no one had starved or frozen to death. Compared to other towns and cities, this seemed to be a miracle, even in Graycastle, some people had to die during the winter. Even knowing all this, Roland thought that Border Town was still lacking in many places.

His goals were much higher than this, but his range of operation had already reached his limit. His Assistant Minister Barov and his more than a dozen apprentices who he had brought with him were now controlling all the financial and administrative management of Border Town. If Roland wanted to further expand the department, just recruiting some management staff wasn’t possible. Roland had already asked Barov if he still knew some protégées colleague or favorite pupils, but the answer he got poured cold water on him:

“Even if I knew some, they wouldn’t want to come. After all, Your Highness should know what kind of reputation you have right?”

Well, that sounds kind of reasonable, but it was really depressing.

When they were back in the castle backyard, Nightingale emerged out of the fog immediately giving Wendy, who was standing in front of the shed, a warm hug. Lightning was walking around the unfinished steam engine, looking at it, but when she saw Roland, she immediately pestered Roland to assemble and install the autonomous machine.

Seeing all this, Roland thought that all his hard work was worth it.

Chapter 69 Cannon System

Four days later in the backyard.

Two deep holes were dug in the ground. Each hole was in a circular shape, and the deeper it went, the narrower its radius became. At ground level, its diameter was around 40 cm but its deepest part expanded to only 26 cm. These holes were the molds that Roland intended to use to produce his cannon prototypes. The inner walls of the holes were baked and hardened by Anna. She burned it so long that its surface was without any flaws, just like a shell. She began to harden the shell at the bottom and took all the air bubbles and scum with her as she moved upwards. During history, there were several sizes of cannons; Roland roughly remembered that the so-called six pound and eight pound cannons got their name from the weight of their shells. Roland’s first step for producing a cannon was to produce several twelve-pound balls, and then calculate their sizes according to the diameter and the wall thickness of the cannon’s shell.