“Why not?”
“Lotus is one of Sleeping Island’s most talented witches. If she is gone, who will build new mud houses or restore our old ones? If you want to create something, or transformation the island’s terrain, not having her ability to remodel the terrain would prove extremely inconvenient. After all, we are currently using less than 30 % of Sleeping Islands terrain, there are still many places which can be transformed,” as she said this she raised one finger.
“There is also Honey, she can order the osprey to catch fish for everyone, the reason we can enjoy a variety of delicious fish soups every day is to her credit. As for Candle and Evelyn, sending them away, wouldn’t be such a big problem… In case you cannot refuse his request, can’t we just exchange those two witches for others who aren’t as useful?”
“What is useful, what is useless? By sending them to Border Town, I hope to obtain a new ally, rather than abandon our sisters,” Tilly’s expression turned grave, “No matter what kind of ability they have, by choosing to come to Sleeping Island, all of the witches have become our sisters. If we want to turn Sleeping Island into the home for witches, how could we afford to filter the already small number of witches according to whether their abilities are useful or not?”
Ashes had already seen her exposing this kind of expression during their time in the palace — it was the expression the 5th Princess would show whenever she was outraged, seeing this, Ashes couldn’t help but change her manner of address, “I’m sorry… Your Majesty, I just —“
Tilly sighed and then started unhurriedly, “Moreover, it’s hard to measure the ability of everyone according to some kind of standard. From among the more than one hundred witches, Roland has selected those five witches. Even including Candle and Evelyn, two that you have regarded as useless.
“Can you be really be certain that they are useless? Perhaps through this exchange, we will be able to figure out whether he choose the two by accident, or if he had seen something within them that we were just unable to recognize.” She paused, “No matter what, we are already such a small number of witches, every witch deserves to be fought for. They aren’t tools to be used, to build our new home. We are comrades holding the same goal in our sights, so you must never say such things.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ashes responded in a meek voice.
At this moment, lightning broke through the clouds, straight over the sea. As if it were a decree given by the Gods, it was immediately followed with an ear-splitting rolling of thunder. And together with the echo of the explosions, the rain also began to fall over Sleeping Island. At first, it fell sparse, but it then quickly turned into a hubbub. And the dense rain soon covered the outside scenery with a layer of fog and rain, even sometimes overshadowing the conversation between the two.
Ashes got up and closed the window, in order to keep the rain from drifting into the room. When she turned turning around, she saw Tilly sway twice, showing a somewhat wan and sallow expression on her face.
“Were you staying up all night?”
“Well,” Tilly called yawn. “All the books we brought back from the ruins were written in the same language. Moreover, I already found some common points, as long as I have enough time, I am sure that I can translate all of them.”
“Yeah, with enough time… now after getting rid of the nagging Church, there will certainly be sufficient time for you, you don’t need to study it all through the night.” Ashes knit her brow, “It could have a tremendous impact on your body.”
“Rest assured, I am a witch, my body won’t collapse so quickly.” The 5th Princess took a deep breath, “Moreover, I have a vague premonition — seeing the scene within the ruins gave me an uneasy feeling, so we have to decipher the content of these books as soon as possible… Oh, by the way, this time when the witches leave for Border Town, they will also bring one of the books along with them.”
“If even you cannot read it, the possibility that the witches from the Witch Cooperation Association will know it is even worse.”
“Well we will just have to take a chance,” Tilly said, “I heard that there have been ancient ruins found in the eastern forest. Furthermore, the origin of the Witch Cooperation Association is located in the Sea Wind Region, which is almost right next to the forest, we can’t say for sure whether some of them haven’t already seen this language. And if we can prove that they used the same language, it should mean that all those remains are from the same group of people.”
“Yes, I got it,” Ashes agreed.
“Also, it’s not the case that I blame you for your previous words, some of the words you said are reasonable — but that isn’t related to the part about the significance of their abilities.” Tilly reached out with her hand to stop Ashes from speaking, “I have reached an agreement with the chamber of commerce of the Crescent Moon Bay Caravan. They will start to migrate some ordinary people over to Sleeping Island by next spring. So if Lotus leaves for too long, it would affect the follow-up construction of the island, so before the winter comes I will have them all return to the Fjord.”
Hearing Tilly’s words Ashes said in relief, “Then everything should be fine.”
“But in order to avoid any kind of misunderstanding, I will lead several combat witches over to Border Town and help them to resist the attacks of the demonic beasts during the Months of Demons.” Tilly exposed a sly smile, “When that time comes, are you willing to go together with me?”
Ashes froze for a moment, but in the end had no other option than helplessly replied, “Of course, Your Majesty.”
Chapter 255 Ways to welcome
The rainstorm left as quickly as it had come.
Two days after the rainstorm ended, the entire group of people who were leaving departed. The ship responsible for sending them back to Graycastle was The Charming Beauty.
Sylvie leaned against the edge of the ship’s railing, took out a slice of dried beef from a pouch, and held it above her head before shaking it.
“Goo —, Goo —“
A huge seagull which was flying alongside them chirped and dropped from the sky, the air current from its flapping wings caused her to squint her eyes. The meat she’d held in her hand was swallowed in one gulp, and by the time she looked up again, the seagull had already flown to the front of the sailboat, continuing with eagerly leading them across this boundless ocean.
This was something Maggie had asked her to do, because when she turned into a bird, there was no way for her to take out the meat on her own.
Even though her current body had looked no difference with an ordinary seagull (except for her body size), Sylvie could still see the magic surging within her and could also see her real from. And if she even took an even closer look, she could even also see the process of how the magic came from all direction to finally gather at a single point, turning into little spots before it disappeared completely.
“I heard that she cannot only transform into different kind of birds, but that she also receives their corresponding abilities?” Someone behind her clicked his tongue in wonder, “As far as I know, seagulls will never be lost at sea, and are also aware of any incoming storms ahead of time.”
“It is indeed like that, Mr. Captain,” even without looking back, Sylvie knew clearly the man who had come over, “Otherwise we wouldn’t had dared to choose a new route and bypass the Endless Cape, landing in the Southwest of Graycastle.”
Not only did her ability allowed her to observe the flow of magic and detect all magical changes, but it also gave her a vast field of view, which didn’t have any gap in its coverage. It gave her She had the ability to observe everything that was around her at all times — even ignoring the obstacles that were able to block her normal line of sight. Her ability was so powerful that she could even see the lazy sailors who were sleeping under the deck, as well as the shoal of fish that were swimming beneath the bilge.