Chapter 715 The Mood of a Combat Witch
The sky remained a hazy gray, as if covered by a thick curtain. Countless tiny white specks fell with the wind, seemingly wanting to fill the entire world. However, before the sea that embraced the firmament, even the all-encompassing snow appeared small and powerless.
The Pretty Woman was gradually approaching the shallows in this wind and snow.
Roland had been waiting there for a long time. He faced the biting sea breeze and opened his arms to Tilly, who was stepping onto the pier. "Welcome back, sister."
The latter took off her hood, revealing her soft gray hair, and smiled as she gently embraced him. Everything seemed so natural. "Evil Moon seems to have arrived a step earlier than me. I hope I'm not too late."
As the two talked, the pier suddenly became lively.
"Your Majesty, there will be a welcome banquet tonight, right? Can you arrange a hot pot again?" Andrea asked, her voice full of anticipation.
"Ahem, mind your manners," Ash reminded.
Whether it was because they were getting more familiar, or influenced by Nightingale, the composure of a noble seemed to be gradually disappearing from her – of course, her looks determined the basic score. Even when actively asking for hot pot for dinner, her expression still appeared elegant and charming.
"Of course," Roland nodded. "In fact, winter is the most suitable time for hot pot."
"Just what I was thinking," Andrea's eyes lit up. "As expected of royalty, and as expected of the man Nightingale has her eye on..." Halfway through her sentence, her mouth was firmly covered by a pair of invisible hands.
Ash rubbed her forehead and turned away as if she hadn't seen anything, starting a conversation with Wendy.
Tilly seemed a little surprised. She glanced at Roland, then at where Nightingale was, her expression thoughtful.
Roland felt his face heat up. Taking advantage of the fact that she hadn't asked yet, he coughed twice and said, "It's windy here. Let's go back to the castle and talk."
...
The witches who followed Tilly this time were still the card-playing trio, as well as Iffy, Youyu, and Rimuru from the original Bloodfang Association. It wasn't their first time in the Western Region, so even the process of assigning rooms was skipped. After putting away their luggage, Roland gathered everyone in the drawing room and recounted what had happened in the Kingdom of Evernight recently.
As a partner in information sharing, he believed that the witches of Sleeping Island should know about the survivors of Taquila as soon as possible.
Hearing the end of the story, all the witches present couldn't help but smile, and Ash even asked directly, "So you are the… Chosen Witch that Taquila was looking for?"
"Or the first male witch in history," Tilly joked. "My brother is always so unique."
"I don't have any magic power at all. Let's skip the witch part," Roland spread his hands helplessly. "And the Chosen One is just what the witches of Taquila call it. We still need to interact with them further to find out what the Celestial Punishment Instrument is. Before that, I plan to hold a cannon exercise outside the walls of the Western Region to try to restore their lost confidence."
"And a deterrent at the same time, right?" Although Ash wasn't as unrestrained as she was when they first met, she still spoke without reservation. "Like the evil beast defense battle you showed us back then."
"I just don't want there to be any misunderstandings between us," Roland said noncommittally. "Moreover, the exercise isn't just for the witches of Taquila. It will also be open to the public, so that the people of Neverwinter can see the power they possess. This way, they will be full of courage even when facing demons."
Having no misunderstanding meant letting the other party clearly understand their strength, thereby dispelling some unnecessary thoughts. This was the foundation of diplomacy in the new era.
"Since it's an exercise, it's impossible to choose to carry it out when the evil beasts are attacking, right?" Andrea suddenly said, "I have a good suggestion."
"What is it?"
"How about changing the targets to evil beasts when shooting?" She raised her eyebrows. "Compared to those monotonous wooden targets, replacing them with real evil beasts would be more impressive."
Roland was slightly stunned. That was indeed a good idea. Considering that he had to organize the masses to watch the performance, he naturally couldn't wait for the evil beasts to attack before arranging for everyone to go to the city wall. He was afraid that something would go wrong, and besides, by the time everyone had arrived, the evil beasts would have already been blasted into meat paste. So for the initial precision shooting session, he was indeed planning to use some wooden targets, combined with Soraya's painting skills, to create some fake targets.
Obviously, Andrea's suggestion was more spectacular. For the residents of Neverwinter, nothing was more exhilarating than seeing these evil enemies that had plagued the Western Region for many years annihilated in the flames of artillery fire.
"Then the evil beasts used as targets..."
"Leave it to us to catch them," Andrea patted her chest.
"Eh, isn't it better to stay in the room and play cards?" Sylvie said with a bitter face.
"I'm willing to help too," Iffy always took the lead when it came to matters related to combat.
"But wouldn't it be dangerous to capture evil beasts?" Wendy asked worriedly.
"If the range is limited to the Hidden Forest area controlled by Leaf, there shouldn't be any safety issues," Nightingale seemed eager to try as well. "She can monitor the movements of all witches and evil beasts in the area, and drive away overly powerful hybrids. Even if we encounter a Hellbeast, we still have the Divine Will Imprint."
"Why not hold a warm-up competition before the artillery exercise?" Tilly smiled. "Divide the sisters of Neverwinter into three groups and see who can catch more evil beasts, how about that?"
"Divide into... three groups?"
"Sleeping Island, the Witch Union, and the Taquila witches," she raised the corners of her mouth. "Let's use a month's worth of Chaos Drinks as a reward. I'm really curious to know how delicious something you call far better than ice cream bread can be."
"Wait... let Phyllis participate too?" Roland asked in surprise.
"This will help her gain a more intuitive understanding of the power of firearms, won't it? Solving an evil beast may not be a problem for a God's Punishment Warrior's body, but when ordinary people can easily do it, and more efficiently, she will naturally have more confidence in the power of Neverwinter."
"Of course, she doesn't have to participate if she doesn't want to," Andrea shrugged. "Since it's a competition, it should still be based on personal willingness."
I see... Roland looked at the expectant Ash and others, and roughly understood the reason why they made this suggestion. Although Tilly's statement did make some sense, their original intention was more to satisfy themselves - after all, they said they came to help resist the Month of the Demonic Abyss, but with the First Army's force, there was very little they could do. Most of the time, they could only stay in the castle and pass the time by playing cards. Compared to the auxiliary witches who were busy with work, they were more like idle people.
They were, after all, combat witches.
In this nationwide mass production, he may have indeed overlooked the mood of these witches.
"I understand, let's do it that way then," Roland finally decided.