Release that Witch

In spite of the many incredible things he had seen during the last year he had worked for His Royal Highness, this new order felt a bit inconceivable and had also left him feeling… puzzled.

Announce the attack on the imperial palace as Roland Wimbledon’s punishment on Timothy Wimbledon?

At the time the militia which had attacked the Western Territory returned to King’s City, he had naturally also heard of the “warning” that they had brought along with them. However, Theo had merely thought that it was His Highness’ bluff, or perhaps a plan to threaten the east and strike the west — getting Timothy to increase the defenses while he sent out troops to attack other cities. Just like Garcia had done, going out to loot one of the enemy’s cities before the approaching winter.

But the following orders sent from Border Town gave him the impression that he’d been mistaken. In fact, it seemed that His Highness really did intend to attack King’s City, and had thus asked him to be ready to spread some propaganda. This latest command had made it clear that the attack would be launched on the first day of autumn, at exactly the same time as announced in the “warning” message.

Taking a look at this sentence, “The attack on the imperial palace could be considered as punishment”, in other words, His Highness would forcefully enter the King’s City inner city — but how could that be possible? King’s City possessed Graycastle’s mightiest city walls, with a thickness that could accommodate two houses set side by side, which even for His Highness’s artillery would be difficult to destroy. Furthermore, with the kingdom’s best Knights, personal guards, as well as the enlisted militia as defenders, it would be hard to set even one step into the city without already having an army that was more than ten thousand people strong.

Even using witches to initiate surprise attacks would have a similar outcome. Within the imperial palace there were as many God’s Stone of Retaliation as there were hairs on an ox. In addition, in the palace’s grand hall and in the other parts of the palace all had giant God’s Stones of Retaliation installed in them. So as soon as a witch set even one foot inside the room, she would immediately be stripped of all her powers. This was also the reason why Timothy could hunt and kill witches wantonly while being fearless of any retaliation — wishing to ever assassinate a member of the royal family was simply an unattainable dream.

Furthermore, even if there was a method, it still held some hidden dangers to it. If Timothy Wimbledon really was to die under a witch’s hand, most likely the Church would be the party to receive the greatest benefit… With only a little bit of guidance, they could start to claim that the 4th Prince, a pawn of the Devil’s minions would sit on the throne, which would result in all of the other nobles unifying against him. But Theo believed that a person like His Royal Highness already possessed enough intelligence to see hidden dangers such as that.

So, in the end, how will His Highness get into and attack the inner city?

“Sir, what kind of instruction do you have for me to come over?” Opening the half-closed door, Hill Fawkes walked into the living room.

“We are waiting for a new order,” Theo said and spread out his hands, “So go and take a seat first.”

“…Yes.”

Theo could only smile helplessly when he saw the flabbergasted expression on the former member of the acrobatic group. Usually he would only inform these people when he had received precise orders; but this time, it would be inconvenient for him to inform them of His Highness’ mission ahead of time — in case they were unable to launch the attack on the imperial palace, this seemingly absurd instruction could easily reduce the other party’s level of trust.

But on the contrary, if His Royal Highness was able to be true to his claim it would become an unprecedented shock to them, which could also greatly enhance the confidence of these people — especially if they could see with their own eyes that His Highness was able to shake Timothy’s throne even from a thousand miles away, and thus cause a real threat to the throne. Compared to spreading propaganda from mouth to mouth, this kind of action would be several times more effective.

So, Theo chose to go with a compromise and called Hill over to the house in the inner city before waiting for His Highness to fulfill his warning. If they were successful, it would naturally be to everyone’s delight, but if they failed, he just had to lie and say that the messenger had been delayed during the journey.

“Have some tea,” Theo offered laughingly, “Don’t always show your doubt all over your face, as an intelligence officer the most important thing is —“