347 – Doubts– “How is she?” Roland lied down the pen, and looked at Nightingale quietly appearing in the office.
– “She has fallen asleep after eating a bowl of porridge, her appet.i.te seems to be good.” Nightingale went to the desk and sat on her usual position before continuing. – “Right now, Sylvie is watching her.”
– “Well, that’s good.”
– “Do you believe her story?” Nightingale asked him.
– “In any case, the G.o.d Punishment Stone was removed, when we ask again tomorrow, you can tell whether she is lying or not, but…” Roland paused for a moment. – “I think most of what she said is true.”
– “Why?” She was curious about his answer.
– “What would you do if you were to find a man from 400 years ago, using the same language?” The Prince supported his chin with his hands. – “In fact, the two areas, were only separated by the Impa.s.sable Mountain Range, her story would be impossible unless both sides shared the same origin, additionally both are very close.”
– “But she called the Four Great Kingdoms, the Savage Lands”
– “That’s the main point… I don’t know what it was like more than 400 years ago, it may just have been a few villages and some criminals who have been banished to this region by the witch society. The Kingdom’s history books also record that the age every major city was established was generally between 200 and 300 years ago, moreover, the astrologers also appeared around that time.” He was full of spirits as he continued. – “I have always wondered why astrologers, who have no real achievements nor research, are also called “Sages” along with alchemists, now I understand, probably the Federation led the remaining survivors, fleeing into these lands adjacent to them, bringing their language and civilization along. These people blended in with the locals and helped them build a government system, strongholds and cities.”
– “It’s like if you have already seen something similar.” Nightingale smiled as she shook her head.
– “This is the only way to explain why we both speak the same language, because we share a common origin. Also, over the past 400 years, civilization has been rebuilding itself, without any kind of development.” Roland earnestly said.
– “Well. Tomorrow we’ll know the answer, if you guessed wrong… You’ll have to give me one “Luxury lunch”.” Said Nightingale as she extended her hand.
The so-called luxury lunch, was in fact, a set of corn chowder soup, grilled chicken and ice cream sandwich, available only once a week in the kitchen.
– “And what if your guess is wrong?”
– “You can ask for anything you want.” Nightingale tilted her head narrowing her eyes.
Her bright cheeks and perfectly curved and smooth neck, were exceptionally eye catching. In his mind, he gave her “full marks”, no matter what action she took, her movements were extremely alluring, Roland now finally verified how accurate this sentence was.
– “I need to finish this.” He cleared his throat and s.h.i.+fted his attention back to the doc.u.ments.
Because Agatha had just wake up, Roland tried not to force each other with accurate and meticulous questions, and basically let her follow her train of thought, just asking when he wanted to ask something specific, so the information he received was somewhat confusing. What he was currently doing was, rearranging the new information Agatha had provided, trying to find out key points.
Without a doubt, the most urgent problem was the Devil.
Why did the war with the Devil began? and why were they being so quiet now? these reasons were information of vital importance for Border Town. There has never been a war without a motive, but the Devil’s actions were not like those of invaders, seizing resources and expanding; they had not occupied this so-called Savage Lands, nor had they enslaved humanity, it seemed more like just a mere slaughter.
Roland also noted Agatha mentioning the words “War of Divine Will”, were both sides incited by the G.o.ds to start a life and death war? But the Church had not existed at that time, and naturally they claimed to have only one deity, but none of this had been explained to him, so he could not feel at ease.
At the same time, he needed to find out as soon as possible about the Holy City civilization, their food, clothing, housing, transportation and all of their economic basis, since these details could help him measure the level of development of the civilization at the time, and indirectly determine the strength of the Devil.
As for the Federation itself, Roland was not too concerned. The scarcity of witches caused instability and the lack of combat potential doomed the organization. In the experience brought by history, it has been repeatedly emphasized that in the absence of a generational gap, a full-scale war brings about consumption, and even sophisticated weaponry does not restore the overall disadvantages.
The second point of concern were the magic stones.
According to Tilly, the magical properties of this type of stone, could cover up the weaknesses of an ability, allowing the witches display a power beyond their own, enabling even support type witches to even join in the battlefield, but that in Roland’s eyes, was putting the cart before the horse, even he treated the combat witches as support types, having them join the endless production projects.
However, what was strange was the Federation, they didn’t try to have the witches fight this way, but instead, created the G.o.d Punishment Army, this was something really unexpected. Did the magic stones had some unknown flaw? Or were they extremely difficult to produce?
Fortunately, Agatha was a member of the Exploration Society, an organization similar to the current Alchemic Workshop, a gathering of highly gifted witches, specialized in the study and research of magic stones and magical power. Roland vaguely felt that there should be a lot of potential to uncover.
The final question was the Church.
He circled this name in the paper, the establishment and development of this organization clearly could not be answered by Agatha. It was only possible to infer: The Church was established after the defeat of the witches, by those who obtained the secrets of the Federation, and they hid away everything related to the witches, rendering them into the embodiment of the devil. If the people of the Four Great Kingdoms were seen as the descendants of the native people, then the Church would be without doubt an outsider, if the indigenous people themselves had no big civilization, it was no surprise they were able to make a fabricated story and add oracles to it.
All of this, just because the witches had once stood above the ordinary people, so all those refugees who escaped, had regarded the witches as their enemy, and had hunted them down all over the mainland?
Roland frowned, it sounded reasonable, but… it felt like if something was missing.
The Federation had many Holy Warriors and Exceed, even Transcendent… even if the people had G.o.d Punishment Stones, how could they possible even be a match to such opponents?
It is clear that there is a lack of key information, if one wanted to erase a force that was way stronger than oneself, there is no way it could be done just by hated itself.
– “That witch doesn’t seem to like you very much.” Nightingale suddenly said.
– “After all, she was a witch living at a time they were at the top of the world, in her eyes, I’m afraid I’m no different from some weed at the side of the road.” Roland laughed.
– “Don’t you hate her?”
– “Why? She’s just a poor soul left behind by the times.” Roland shook his head. – “She slept in that ice coffin for more than 400 years, only to wake up to a world completely different, the fear of this strange situation will certainly bring her to build a wall to defend herself, by the time she starts to accept this reality, she should slowly change her mind.”
– “That’s like an answer you would give.” Nightingale said as she smiled. – “Don’t worry, I won’t allow her to harm you.”