Release that Witch Chapter 16: The road ahead

The fire in the fireplace was burning hot, dissipating the coldness seeping through the gaps in the doors and windows. At the top of the fireplace is a deer head with huge horns. Under the light of the fire, the projection of the horns on the wall behind it is like a giant minion.

On the opposite side is a long dark red wooden table full of sheepskin paper roll and books, mostly an administrative order waiting to be signed. Usually, Roland is here to handle business --. After transforming the three-story house into an office, he gradually fell in love with it.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, he can see that small town extends in front of the field of vision, and at the end are continuous mountains. It was Impassable Mountain Range that almost penetrated the continent, separating Kingdom of Greycastle and the barren land from the east and west. And Northern Slope Mountain is just a branch of Impassable Mountain Range.

Under your feet, you can see the garden surrounded by wooden fences. The wooden shed for Anna training has been demolished and the brick pool has been turned into a long table for convenient tableware during afternoon tea. If the weather is good, he will also go down to bask in the sun, or lie down on a custom-made rocking chair.

Although the castle is not large, it is a medium-sized villa with an independent garden. In my last life, if I wanted to sit on a real stone steps castle, it was almost fantasy story, and I had to pay for the tickets first. But now, he not only owns the castle, but also a town.

"His Highness, the recent cost of recruiting craftsmen and handyman is quite large. This money is all taken out of your pocket. I am afraid that this will not last next spring." Barov held a stack of parchment paper and reported to Roland recently Financial situation.

Border Town's original income and expenditure were very simple. One line was the trade of ore and gem. This line is monopolized by Longsong Stronghold, the output of Northern Slope Mine is replaced by wheat or bread, there is no tax in the middle, and stronghold sends someone to preside over the natural resource exchange. In layman's terms, Northern Slope Mine is a joint-stock project of Longsong Stronghold large noble. Those who are stationed at Border Town's noble can be regarded as supervisor sent by shareholders. Most of their fief are east of stronghold. They come here only for temporary residence, and the people who come here are different every year.

In fact, Border Town's has less than thirty years of history. Compared to Longsong Stronghold, which has been nearly two hundred years old, it is almost a newborn baby. Originally, Duke Ryan was only intended to establish an outpost here to provide an early warning of Evil Beast invasion. But unexpectedly, the wastelanders found a rich mineral natural resource in the Northern Slope Mountain vein, so they set up a town here and named it Border Town. In a sense, it is Northern Slope Mine that makes small town.

In order to prevent illegal mining, Duke did not adopt the proposal that each noble sent its own mining. Instead, it uniformly hired local residents and nearby refugees and even criminals to act as miners. The ore output was distributed according to the proportion of each natural resource . stronghold only needs to provide the employer's annual grain and a few commissions. These remuneration are fixed amounts and will not change due to the amount of mining site output. Border Town's more than 2,000 residents, most of them serve mining site.

The other line is -- of other industries in the town such as blacksmiths, taverns, textiles and so on. Border Town's The meager tax mainly comes from here, and it is difficult to have much left over the year. The incumbent feudal lord did not take this barren land seriously. Since Roland was sent here by King of Greycastle, he simply stayed in stronghold but could not come.

So, Roland can only hire money from its own pocket if it wants to hire someone to repair the wall. If it was the previous Fourth Prince, it would definitely say nothing, but for Roland, as long as you can gain a foothold in Border Town, it is worth all the property spent. Anyway, the ore trade in the future will no longer be settled with grain. If you settle with currency, this investment will be drizzle.

The only problem is that Longsong Stronghold is willing to abandon the monopoly, and the normal trade -- with Border Town is quite a bit of a snatch, but the inventory data provided by Barov shows that it is limited to inefficient manpower extraction and inconvenient transportation. In fact, mining site annually The value of the ore produced is no more than a thousand gold royal, which is only a fraction of the total revenue of stronghold. The only interests that are damaged are those nobles that have invested in partnerships.

For the long-term development of Border Town's, this line must be taken back. Roland knew that even if the investment of those people had been fully recovered more than ten years ago, they would not let go easily. Mosquitoes are as small as flesh, not to mention that it is a good thing to lay money when lying down. He is willing to give certain investors preferential treatment and compensation, such as half-price purchases. However, such a thing as dragging a ship of ore back for only half a ship of grain is not allowed to happen again.

While Roland was staring at the list, Barov was watching him.

In the past three months, to be precise, in the last month, some inexplicable changes have taken place in Fourth Prince. Outsiders may not know, but he follows the prince every day, and this change cannot be hidden from him.

As early as Greycastle's, he had heard of Fourth Prince Roland Wimbledon's infamous. I do my own thing, wantonly, without noble style ... and so on. In short, not making big mistakes and making small mistakes is far worse than his two brothers.

When he was sent here by Your Majesty, he was disappointed. If it wasn't for Your Majesty's promise to compete for the king, he would be appointed as the official Minister of Finance.

In the first two months before Border Town's, Fourth Prince, as always, showed extreme childish behavior, offending all the local noble who could offend. Fortunately, the town itself is extremely small. Even if all administrative posts are vacant, he and the dozen or so civilian personnel he brings can fill it.

Further things will change.

When did the change begin? He thought, probably ... from the rescue of that witch.

Barov is not without doubting the possibility of Devil possession, or the prince himself was controlled by another hidden witch. But this possibility is very small. If Devil and witch have such ability, why do you want to find Fourth Prince? Wouldn't it be better to control Your Majesty or the Pope directly? Another thing that dispelled his doubt was that he saw the prince holding the God Punishment Lock with his own eyes.

This is the trump card of Church against witch. Any demonic power will collapse in front of God Punishment Lock, but Roland directly held it. In other words, if he is not Fourth Prince, but a demon who does not need to be afraid of divine power, is there still a need to reveal it? Keeping your own life comes first.

The prince's style is still his own way and wanton behavior, but the two don't feel the same to him. No, Barov thought about it, it should be the opposite.

The biggest difference is purpose. He noticed what Roland was planning, and in order to achieve the goal, he must use some means that are difficult for ordinary people to understand. Just as the other party tried to convince himself why he should save a witch, the plan may be immature and full of loopholes, but the prince is indeed moving towards the plan and is convinced of the result.

This is the most confusing place. The throne may be born in Roland brothers and sisters, but it will never be Fourth Prince himself. He should be very clear about this kind of thing. Talking about development in a small place like Border Town? Even the gods can't do it! In the end, Roland conceived a crazy plan, so crazy that it can make a small town established outside the border defense develop better than Golden Harvest City, but also have to convince yourself that this plan will be successful?

If it's just a lunatic delusion, Roland's vigorous construction of the wall shows that this does not seem to be the case. He really intends to stay here, relying on the "cement" alchemy products to build a city wall that is almost impossible in common sense.

Barov's family has alchemist, but he has never heard of alchemical workshop making such a thing. Building a wall plan on something that no one has seen before. Is this self-confidence or random? Expanding to the entire plan planned by Roland, how many things do Fourth Prince hide that I don't know? He found himself faintly interested in the days ahead.