“What’s the problem?”
“It’s… too big,” Tilly slowly said, small beads of sweat already began to appear on her forehead. “It feels like it is unceasingly absorbing my magic power. Apparently, the mechanism it has to fuel is utterly enormous.
“Then forget about it,” Ashes said with a frown. She knew the moment a witch had thoroughly exhausted her magic power; she will most likely immediately fall into a coma. And right now, in this dangerous place, it would definitely not be a good idea to deplete all of one’s magic power here.
“No, it will be fine. I can feel it.” Tilly’s voice had not even fallen, before a loud rumbling sound came from inside the wall that was like unceasingly rolls of thunder, and eventually the whole room began to shake.
“It this… an Earthquake?” Thunder grasped the metal pipe to keep himself from falling. Ashes instead immediately seized Tilly and pulled her into her embrace. The dust began to fall from the books, and the three people began to cough.
This kind of earthquake continued for nearly a quarter of an hour until finally calming down.
When the vibration stopped, Molly came up, stuck her head through the door and asked. “What happened?”
“We activated a new mechanism,” Ashes replied, “Is everything okay below?”
“Everyone was frightened, furthermore many roof plates began to fall, and I had to cover everyone with my servant.” The little girl answered while curiously coming over, “Tilly, what are you looking at?”
Surprisingly, Tilly didn’t give her an answer, instead she had closed one eye and pressed the other in front of the lens, staying quiet for a long time until she exclaimed in amazement, “This simply incredible…”
Ashes becoming curious also stepped in front of the lens, and when the scene in front of her eye became clear, she was left speechless.
At the other end of the “observation mirror” a vast piece of land appeared. The edge of the land looked like an overhanging cliff of which the end couldn’t be seen. But erected within the center of the cliff was a gigantic and incomparable arched stone door which internal seemed deep and dark, as if it was an enormous mouth which was choosing the next person it would be devouring.
Chapter 235 A Letter beyond expectation
Roland opened the letter while simultaneously handing a piece of jerky over to Maggie.
“Googoo!” The latter opened her beak and grasped the meat with it and delivered it with two to three swallows into her belly. Then obediently placed her belly on the edge of the table, and embedding her head into her feathers.
“I hope this letter finds you well, my dear older brother, or should I say Your Royal Highness, Roland Wimbledon.
“I have received your letter, I agree with your opinion, and whole heartily approve of it. Even though I do not understand why you have suddenly changed your temper and corrected your previous dandy lifestyle. Even going so far as to be willing to help the witches, but now that you’ve done it, the Church has become our common enemy.
“Maybe you already know this, I have become a witch, this is also the reason why everyone is willing to believe me. However, you, in fact, are a Prince, a noble to the core, and yet you were also able to obtain the trust of numerous witches, it is indeed inconceivable. Ever since I received your message, I often wonder how you managed to do that? If you were simply like the other nobles, who regarded witches as tools and nothing more, then it would have been impossible for you to obtain Ashes’ approval, and she also never would have chosen to let Maggie stay in Border Town.
“Apart from this, Maggie also mentioned a steam engine, as well as the theory that knowledge could boost a witch’s possibility to evolve her magic, which also sounds fascinating to me. Especially the latter, which I would like to have the opportunity to discuss with you in detail.
“As for your invitation, after pondering it over and over again, at present, I have no reason to refuse it. The establishment of an alliance needs trust and gives trust in turn, and in the event that we act both indecisively and cowardly, we would only be helping the Church in the end. So I will attach a list to this letter which contains most of the abilities of the witches’ living on Sleeping Island, like this you can pick those abilities you need the most for yourself and inform me through Maggie about your decision. If everything goes well, they will be able to leave for your territory by next month. But for safety reasons, it is better to only send five at the first time.
“Furthermore, please specify a reliable transfer procedure, and send some people out in advance who will act to protect them. Each witch lost, regardless of whether she lives in Border Town or on Sleeping Island, would be great loss and also cast a shadow over our cooperation. I hope you will take care of them as well as you take care of your own witches. And if you will, please also allow them to participate in the evening basic knowledge lessons. I believe that every witch that is able to evolve her ability will be good news for us.
“As you have said, the Church has already shown their plan to backstab us, and it is only a matter of time until the Four Kingdoms will be annexed. I hope when that day comes, you will be ready to deal with them. But in case you will be unable to resist, Sleeping Island will always act as a safe harbor for you. Of course, I will give you as much help as possible in your fight to repel the Church’s invasion.
“Finally, may we end the Church’s oppression and build a new order — a kingdom in which not merely witches, but rather no one has to suffer under groundless persecution.
“Your sister, Tilly Wimbledon.”
Putting the letter down, he felt an unspeakable pleasure coming from his heart. After he smilingly put the letter away, he took another piece of jerky and held it in front of Maggie.
Who immediately stretched out her head, to peck away the food. “Goo, cuckoo!”
As he gently stroked the smooth feathers at her neck, she narrowed her eyes in satisfaction.
“It must have been tough on you, but currently Lightning has followed the fleet to King’s City, and it will still be a few more days before she comes back,” Roland said with a smile. “However, you can go look for Nana or Leaves to play with, or go to the bathroom to take a bath, or just lie down and sleep.”
“Goo… goo!” Maggie spread out her wings, jumped off the table, and then flew out of the window, soon disappearing.
The cries she had just issued should mean something like ‘I’m not tired, I want to find them and play,’ Roland suddenly discovered, that now, even when she was speaking in her pigeon form he could still understand her general meaning.
Is this the power of habit?
Beside that, he also never imagined, that Tilly would actually agree to his invitation, furthermore even attach a list of their witch’s abilities, this was simply a big treasure house, ah! Although the letter never specified how long they would stay for, in case they wanted to attend the complete Primary Education Curriculum, they would at least need to spent half a year in Border Town. Furthermore, if he added additional content to the course, expanding the length to a full year, how much change could the witches bring to Border Town in that time?
Moreover, in case they were able to evolve, his benefits would be much greater than his losses — if they stayed in Border Town, they could help him improve this place further, but even if the witches went back to Sleeping Island, they would still be a living symbol of propaganda for him. With word of mouth to mouth publicity, the number of witches who would want to go to Border Town would only become more, and Tilly wouldn’t be able to prevent this development from occurring. Roland believes that compared with coercing them with promises or intimidation, waiting and showing sincerity was the right long-term strategy to use.