Roland’s heart was deeply moved as he looked upon this diverse group of women all in high spirit as they fired the weapons they were holding.
Even now, he could still remember the appearance of each witch when he met them for the first time.
Previously, Anna’s hands and feet were thin and weak, just like bamboo poles, her eyes had lost all signs of life, and always had a monotonous expression.
The area between Nightingale’s eyebrows always contained traces of stormy clouds. Her smiling expression also had nothing to do with her mood; in other words, its only use was to cover the true state of her mind, so there was always a false smile which was hanging at the corner of her lips.
And Wendy, usually speaking in a low voice, was unable to conceal her exhaustion. Leaves, someone who had thrown away all thoughts of a healthy future and accepted all the misfortunes decreed upon her by fate; and Lily, like a cat, ever on guard.
Furthermore, there was Lightning, Mystery moon, Hummingbird, Scroll, and so on…
After experiencing being oppressed, being framed, and being hunted, they were already lucky to be able to survive. As for where they were supposed to go. They absolutely had no time to ponder over that. Nowadays however, they were already completely differently from how they’d been in the past.
The witches were now emitting a unique charm, their eyes were flashing with rays of intelligence. They no longer seemed unsure about their fate — in addition to being able to live, they now had some effort to spare pursuing some other things, something that was just as beautiful as life itself.
And whenever he came face to face with one of the witches, their eyes would be filled with gratefulness and trust, making Roland’s heart feel as if it was filled with strength.
…
After lunch, and in the afternoon, it was time for the specially developed high-altitude throwing exercise in preparation for the “Autumn offensive”. The number of witches participating in the exercise had been reduced to half, leaving only Anna, Wendy and Lightning.
This was also the minimum amount of people required to complete the air raid.
Setting the attack time at the beginning of the second month of autumn was what he came up with after some careful deliberations. If the time was too short, they would be unable to carry out the mission safely; and if they took too long, Roland feared they wouldn’t be able to stop Timothy from attacking again. As long as he decided to launch a large-scale attack on the Western Region and forcefully fed the recruited civilians with the pills, the air raid wouldn’t be able to achieve its desired effect.
Therefore, the autumn offensive had to be completed before Timothy could complete the recruitment.
To realize his “promise”, Roland planned to drop a 250-kilogram bomb at the top of the castle. That bomb, which was about five times Nightingales’ weight, would be dropped from a height of two kilometers, directly smash through the dome of the palace, then detonate inside.
As the hot air balloon slowly lifted off, it also took a basket that was transporting a solid imitation of the bomb into the sky — as Roland was riding in the basket, the solid iron projectile was a number smaller, probably only around four times Nightingales’ weight. However, its shape was completely the same as the aviation bomb they would be using in the future. It had a streamlined form, with a thin front and a thick rear, together with stable tail wings and a speed reducing parasol. It would ensure that it remained perpendicular to the ground, and that it would control its maximum speed.
The basket they would throw the bomb from had been especially remodeled. They set up an iron trestle so that the projectile could stand upright in the middle of the basket with one-half of it hanging out of the bottom. So as long as someone pulled the valve, the hook would loosen and the bomb would separate from the basket to fall straight down.
With the rising height, Border Town soon became as large as a fingernail, while the Redwater River had turned into a bright silver band.
“This is the first time I’ve been at such a high place,” Wendy said, as she looked out of the observation window. “It seems as if the whole Western Territory has become small.”
“That’s because it is indeed very small,” Rolland said, and lightly chuckled. “Look at the wilderness in the North, that’s the place where we should be going to later.”
“Do you want to go even higher? I already can’t see the target,” Lightning shouted from outside the basket.
“It is more or less right,” he nodded toward Anna, then gave the little girl the ready signal.
Although it was impossible to determine how far away they were from the ground in the end, it was more than a thousand meter — this was an attack altitude that could be described as being entirely safe, while the enemy would also be unable to see the hot air balloon.
However, a distance of more than a thousand meters of empty air meant that the place the projectile hit in the end would depend entirely on fate. If they wanted to hit the target accurately, the bomb needed to have a guidance system.
And it was the little girl, Lightning, who would take over this task.
“Release the bomb,” Roland commanded.
Wendy pulled a valve, the bomb was released and a stream of wind immediately came pouring into the basket. Anna used the cover plate, which had long since been prepared, to seal the dropping hole, then tightened the handle — they had repeatedly practiced this processes while they were on land, which meant that the two women were already very familiar with it.
“Can she hit the target?” Wendy asked while looking through the window.
“We will only know the answer after landing,” Roland said and shrugged.
As the bomb fell, Lightning would drop at the same speed as the bomb while applying a horizontal force against it. In this way she could freely change its trajectory and turn it into a guided missile. By the time it closed in on the target, Lightning would pull on the mechanism at the tail end to separate the parachute from the missile. At the last hundreds meters, the bomb should then gather enough kinetic energy to break through the palace roof.
As a result, the height of the drop-off would be sufficient while the precise control on hitting the impact point would also be guaranteed.
All they now had to do was unceasingly keep on practicing this routine, nothing more.
Chapter 293 The Night before
The week quickly passed, and now it was finally time for the investigation team to set out on their journey.
Roland called Barov, Carter, and Iron Axe over to the castle and informed them that he would be leaving Border Town for two days. During his departure, they were to continue carrying out the affairs of the town in accordance with the general plans and regulation.
Of course, his declaration was met with unanimous opposition from the three of them. Carter wanted to perform his duty as the Chief Knight and stand guard at the Prince’s side; Iron Axe asked that a team of one hundred soldiers be dispatched as an escort; Barov used the excuse that Roland was needed to review and approve some important decrees that the City Hall would be releasing, making it necessary that he remained in the castle. This went on, until he finally felt he had no other alternative than to put out a lord’s airs and command everyone to act in accordance with his orders.
“Your Highness, I do not understand. In the end, what is so important about these circumstances, that you personally must go?” Barov asked in confusion.
“This is a matter which concerns the Western Territory… so much that it might even decide the life or death of the Kingdom of Graycastle,” Roland said, then was silent for a moment before opening his mouth once more, “And only I have the ability to make the best judgment.”