Release that Witch

“It’s really you, Anna, I… I…” Karl only felt his eye socket warming up, and then something started flowing from it. He knelt powerlessly on the ground, constantly repeating, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry… very good, too… well…”

After Karl van Bart was able to calm his mood, he slowly stood up and then bent over once more to pay tribute to Roland again, “I’m very sorry, your Highness, I forgot my manners.”

“This, in the end what is going on? Aren’t you a mason?”

“I used to be,” when Karl had regained a calm mood, his speech became very fluent. His Highness had not killed Anna! The one who was hanged on the execution ground was substitute — being aware of this point, he already knew how he had to progress further. Although it was unclear why the other party rescued a witch; but regardless, even if his Highness wanted to take her as his concubine even that would be much better than being crucified. This showed that the prince wasn’t afraid that the witches were the evil incarnation as described in the rumors.

He described his experiences of living in this Border Town, since the time he fled out of Graycastle. Including the fact that he had opened a college here, and that he had found out that Nana Pine, one of his students, had also become a witch. Finally, he pleaded with his Royal Highness, that he would also take Nana into his palace, so that she would be safe from exposure.

Anna, who stood to the side had a caring expression on her face, while listening to the plea for Nana, but from the beginning to the end she never said a word.

Yet another new witch! This truly was important news, and good news too, but he seemed to remember the name Pine. When Roland quietly asked the assistant minister, he found out that it was in fact, the small aristocratic family of Border Town.

“You can take her to see me, if she is a witch, I will make sure, that she doesn’t get hurt,” Roland promised, “But I cannot take her away from the Pine family, especially when she had not suffered any threat from her maternal family. Also, me rescuing Anna is not what you think …”

He considered it and thought that telling the truth would be better, “I need her help. The idea that they are the Devil’s force is absolutely nonsense. I believe that the power of a witch, regardless of whether it is good or evil, can be controlled. So Anna, Nana or any other witch, as long as they do not break any other laws, I won’t condemn them to death. “

“Next, we will turn to the town business, did you participated in the construction of the Graycastle city walls?” The prince quickly changed the topic back to the construction matters.

“Yes!” Karl nodded. Although, his Highness the fourth prince did not resemble his prior knowledge of the prince; he did not expect that the prince would need a witches’ assistance, however, his wish to protect Nana was accepted, that was enough.

“Well, I’m going to build a wall from the Chishui River to the foot of the northern slope. The goal is to ward off the demon beast invasion. From now on this project is your responsibility.”

Chapter: 14 Ability

“Your Highness, how tall and wide should the city wall that you’re planning to build be?”

“It should be at least fifteen feet high, six feet wide, allowing for four men to advance side by side on top of it,” Roland had to nod inwardly, professionals truly weren’t the same as ordinary people. They would first ask about the technical parameters and then determine the construction program.

“So it will require for us to dig a trench one man deep to stabilize the upper part of the wall, in addition, for a six foot wide top of a fifteen foot high wall, the width at the base will need to be at least doubled.” Karl replied quickly, “Thus just digging the trench also will consume a lot of manpower. Your Highness, if you give me a hundred and fifty workers, I should be able to dig the trench the months prior to the demons’ arrival.”

“A trench cannot stop the evil beasts,” Roland answered noncommittally.

“That’s true, but if we build the upper section of the city wall with stone masonry, it will take three years time. In order to only stop the evil beasts, you needn’t build the wall so high, approximately 12 feet high should be enough. The width can also be reduced by a third, resulting in a six-foot wide foundation. With simultaneous digging of the trenches and the building of the wall, as well as an increase of the workers to two hundred… In that way, I should be able to finish it by January, in the next year, before the arrival of the demons.”

Karl paused, then said, “Please forgive me, Your Highness, this really isn’t a good time to start. In case the construction of the wall is not on time, even if the trenches were dug well, they will still lose their original form after the soaking rain and snow throughout the winter. When you return, instead of finishing it, you would only need to spend more time and manpower to clean up the softening trench, excavating and deepening it one more time. “