Chapter 612: The Road is No Longer Lonely
After Camilla Dary left, Ashes walked out of the room.
She knelt on the carpet and reached out her hands to Tilly, "Come here."
"Actually, I'm fine..."
"Don't force yourself, there's no one else here," Ashes interrupted.
Tilly pouted, but in the end, she moved her body and leaned back into the other's arms.
Through her clothes, she could hear Ashes' strong and powerful heartbeat, like a rhythmic drumbeat, making her feel a sense of solidity and stability.
"Thank you," Tilly whispered.
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Even if we make a wrong judgment, we can just go back to Sleeping Island," Ashes chuckled. "Roland Wimbledon certainly wouldn't dare to stop you, otherwise the sisters of the Witch Union wouldn't sit idly by." She paused, "Besides, you don't have to say things so definitively, the pressure wouldn't be as great as it is now."
The Fifth Princess shook her head. "To convince others, you must first convince yourself. If I show even a hint of hesitation or confusion, this decision will not be able to be implemented."
Although she seemed confident about it on the surface, it was impossible for her not to feel any unease. It wasn't so much that she was worried about Roland; in fact, when he agreed to let Sleeping Spell continue to manage the migrating witches, it showed his attitude. What she was worried about was whether these three hundred or so witches, who had been detached from the world for nearly two years, could smoothly integrate into Neverwinter, and whether the common people's views of witches would change after the end of the Divine Will Battle.
These were all unknown risks, and Tilly had to consider them. In the eyes of others, she always appeared confident and full of energy, but in reality, only a few people understood her true feelings. After all, she not only needed to take care of herself now, but the fate of more than three hundred people on the island was all on her shoulders. It could be said that after the Church was defeated, all the witches on Sleeping Island felt an unprecedented sense of relief, but she alone felt that the responsibility on her shoulders had become heavier.
"Then do as you think," Ashes hugged her from behind. "Anyway, the great migration won't start until the end of the Evil Moon next year. If you're still worried, use these few months to investigate thoroughly."
"Is the Pretty Lady ready to set sail?"
"Whenever you want."
"Remember to bring textbooks and exercise books, you can also learn some new knowledge on the way."
"Uh... I'll get seasick if I read in the cabin."
"If you want to protect me, of course you have to become stronger, like the legendary Transcendent... How else can you become stronger?"
Ashes let out a painful groan, "Alright, alright, I got it."
"Don't worry, if there's anything you don't understand, you can always ask me—anyway, there's nothing else to do on the ship, right?"
"Yes, yes, as you wish, Your Highness."
Fortunately, she wasn't alone anymore.
No matter what the road ahead would be like, there would be someone by her side.
"Mm," Tilly responded, closed her eyes, and felt the warmth from behind, as if the weight on her shoulders had become lighter.
The cold wind howled outside the window, but the room was as warm as spring.
*******************
The establishment of the United Chamber of Commerce was a complex process, and each contract needed to be repeatedly finalized by all parties. After Roland entrusted this matter to Barov and Edith, he shifted his attention to the winter operation plan.
Undoubtedly, this year's Evil Beast Moon was much later than last year's. Seeing that today was the last day of late autumn, there was still no sign of snow, except for the gray sky outside the window.
This was good news for Neverwinter. The later the Evil Moon came, the more residential buildings the construction team could build.
According to the City Hall's report, the various materials in the Western Region had increased significantly compared to previous years, especially in terms of food. The output of Changge District had reached ten times the average annual output in the past. If it weren't for Peiluo rushing to build a batch of granaries, and transporting half of the wheat to Border Town at the same time, the fortress would almost be unable to hold so much food.
With enough food, he was full of confidence no matter what he did.
The second was the ammunition reserve. Anna's improved new generation of machine tools and processing machinery were first used for bullet processing and loading, which greatly improved production efficiency, and the losses after the battle with the Church had been made up for seventy-seven percent.
With food and weapons in hand, Roland's thoughts began to stir.
Resisting the invasion of evil beasts and defending Neverwinter was undoubtedly the First Army's primary task, but gathering thousands of soldiers in the city seemed a bit wasteful. After all, the main direction of the evil beast attack was the Hermes Plateau, and the Misty Forest side was just some stray fish that had slipped through the net. Moreover, the army's firepower projection capability was dozens of times greater than it had been a year ago, and ordinary evil beasts might not even be able to touch the edge of the city walls.
Another point that made him eager to try was that not only were the evil beasts no match for the First Army, but the entire continent was not much better. If he needed to bring all his troops and fire all his guns when fighting Duke Ryan, now he could probably just pull out a team of five hundred people to sweep away any knight order that dared to charge head-on.
Then, while defending the city walls, would it be feasible to send out a force to open up a second battlefield and reduce the burden of next year's conquest?
Roland found that this was not too difficult a problem—originally, once the Evil Moon arrived, the endless snow would completely seal off the Western Region, but now, for Neverwinter, which had several dozen cement transport ships, the impassability of land routes was no longer an obstacle, and the First Army could still use the Clearwater River to transport soldiers and materials to their destination.
As long as it was planned properly, Neverwinter was fully capable of winning two wars at the same time—well, it sounded like a hegemonic country.
After receiving Hill's letter, Roland's order for the Northern Lands to enter a state of combat readiness was not a pretense. If Anpein Moya, the Lord of Dawn, really disregarded the warning and captured the ambassador and his party, then he would have to change his plan and force the Dawn to release them as a priority. However, cross-border operations required a lot of logistics, and it would be difficult to maintain the supply line with too few troops. In addition, the Hermes Plateau defended by the Church could collapse at any time, so attacking neighboring countries was not an appropriate time.
Fortunately, the envoy and his party were safe and sound, and he could set his sights on a place closer to the Western Region.
"Your Majesty, did you call me for something?"
As the office door was pushed open, Iron Axe strode in.
"Are you interested in going back to your homeland in the winter? It shouldn't be too hot to go back now." Roland spread out a simple map of Graycastle, pointed to the small protruding corner in the south, and asked with a smile, "I remember, you and Echo are both from this desert land, right?"
The territory he wanted to take in the winter was the settlement of the Mojin clan—the Far South.