“No, I agreed to his request,” Tilly smiled, “Furthermore, I also briefed him about the abilities of the non-combat witches and said in the letter that as long as he can guarantee the safety of the witches, I will consider sending some witches to Border Town. What was it that he said? Oh, that’s right. Deepening our friendship by learning and observing together, both of us progressing hand in hand.” She paused, “If it becomes necessary, I can even go over to Border Town myself.”
“Your Royal Highness!” Ashes could not stop herself from shouting out her former honorific title in shock.
“I know what you are worried about, but right now the biggest enemy of us witches is the Church. What this means is, only by having more allies can we have more power. That we have dealings with the various Islands of the Fjord is because of the beneficial relations it brings, while the Witch Cooperation Association in Border Town can be seen as a natural friend to us. So why don’t you show them some goodwill?” Tilly laughed, “Moreover, according to Maggie, it is possible to evolve your ability again by learning knowledge about it. If the witches we send there learn this technique, Sleeping Island would also benefit from it.”
“But for you to go in person, in case the other party…”
Tilly reached out with her hand to cut her off, “Rest assured, I did not mean that I will leave immediately. As long as the situation isn’t clear, I won’t take the risk and go there. And also do not forget that Sylvie can see through all kinds of camouflage, no matter if it is fine make-up or a magical illusion, nothing can escape her eyes. As long as she belongs to the first batch of people we send over to Border Town, she will be able to help me find out the truth behind the 4th Prince. Besides, even if there was any kind of danger, won’t you still be at my side?”
Ashes looked for a long time into her eyes, until she finally nodded.
“Of course, we can wait until Maggie returns next month, before we speak about this any further.” Tilly laughed. “Right now we have more important things we need to do.”
“What?” Ashes asked somewhat surprised. Now, after all the strongholds of the Church in the Fjords had been destroyed, it seemed that the rest of their objectives would just be to peacefully continue to develop Sleeping Island… but when she looked at the expression of the other, it didn’t look like that was the case.
The 5th Princess pointed to the white silk gloves with the red gem on it, “There aren’t only ruins to be found in the kingdoms of the mainland, there are also ancient ruins on the Fjord’s Shadow Islands. Most likely the sea folk’s magic stones are coming from there. Taking advantage of the destruction of the Church, I want to go and take a look for myself. ”
“Is this about the legend of the Ghost Shadow Red River?” After having to do with the Fjords for some time, Ashes had also heard of this legend, “The remains were hidden in the sea, appearing and disappearing from time to time. Moreover, within the surroundings are many dangerous undercurrents and sea monsters, which makes it impossible for ordinary people to reach it. Since they were discovered for the first time, many explorer, in order to look at this inconceivable marvel, were hit by misfortune and were now buried at the Shadow Islands. You also do not know the certain position of the ruins, so how do you want to enter them?”
“Maybe I do not know where it is, but I know someone who can take us there. In fact, this great explorer is currently on Sleeping Island, and it was also he who first discovered these ruins,” Tilly smiled.
Chapter 223 Premeditation
During these days, Theo stayed in an inn of King’s City, anxiously waiting for the reply from Border Town.
A towering inner wall divided King’s City into two separate worlds, and the people would be strictly controlled when entering or leaving. No matter if they were aristocrats or wealthy merchants, everyone could only enter after going through a thorough inspection inside of a small room. Once they had any sign of disease, such as fever, flushes, or dark spots, they were not allowed inside. In case they left the inner city, they would have to return in the evening hours at the latest. Otherwise, when the sun went down, the gates would be closed and they would have to spend the night outside.
But this still couldn’t stop the spread of demonic plague, yesterday he had heard the rumors that there were also nobles living in the inner city who had become infected. In case the Church had not finally released their first batch of Holy Elixir, Theo believed that the nobles would have soon started to evacuate from King’s City.
Six days after sending out the letter, he was finally informed by Margaret’s Chamber of Commerce that news had arrived. He hastily rushed to the agreed location a tailor shop, where on arrival he was led into the basement by the clerk, and there he met the the Chamber of Commerce’s owner who had been waiting for a long time now.
On entering he saw Margaret sitting at a low table, a pot of ice water was placed in front of her, which continuously emitted bursts of cold air. Theo who was sweating from rushing over, sat himself cross-legged on the opposite side, only to suddenly feel a surge of cold breeze on his face, which immediately lifted his spirits.
“His Highness asked me to give you this letter,” with this words Margaret handed him a sheepskin envelope, taking a closer look the envelope’s sealing wax seemed to still be intact.
Theo was impatient to open the message, the letter he had taken out gave him a brief account of the operation plan, the news that the Army had set out, as well as the tasks he himself had to complete. After carefully reading through it again, he put the letter into his pocket, looked towards Margaret and asked, “Was there anything else His Highness requested you to do?”
“No, he just asked me to send a messenger informing you about the letter’s arrival. Of course, since it was an express delivery there are some extra charges, I was free so I already wrote it into the account.”
“Keke, all right.” Theo cleared his throat. “His Royal Highness wants all the refugees to be transported to Border Town in the shortest amount of time, so he wants you to supply a lot of ships for an uninterrupted transportation, not only those two fleets.”
“Even if they are already infected?” Margaret asked with great interest, “I do not think he wanted to turn the whole Western Territory into a death zone, so… has His Highness found a way to cure the demonic plague?”
“He did indeed,” he nodded, “In fact, there were already infected people present on the first transport, at the time we send them out the disease had merely not broken out yet, only when they came close to Border Town, was it discovered. They are already on their way back to King’s City, with all crew members on board, safe and sound.”
“His Royal Highness is indeed an incredible man, even the Church wasn’t able to come up with an antidote so quickly,” Margaret exclaimed, “Then, how many days does he intend to use for the boarding of the refugees? A week?”
Theo stretched out three fingers.
“This… impossible!” For a moment, the business woman was stunned, only to repeatedly shake her head soon after, “Even if half of those people died, there will be still be more than 5,000 people. Being able to transport them within three days means that I will need to prepare nearly a hundred ships. Even if the Chamber of Commerce stops all its other shipping transportation, I would just about to meet this number. However, this way the losses I would suffer will be in the thousands of gold royals or more. And the loss I would make by losing because that is uncountable, even if the steam engine was to become free of charge it still wouldn’t be enough. So… I am afraid I have to refuse. ”