The next day, Roland saw Lian and Honey off in the castle's back garden.
Although he didn't want them to leave so soon, after hearing that the Pretty Maiden was still waiting in the shallows, he decided not to delay any longer—doing so would at least show his magnanimity and wouldn't embarrass Tilly. Putting himself in her shoes, the fact that she had sent important witches to Border Town before the Sleeping Island needed large-scale construction was already a sincere gesture, so he shouldn't be too demanding.
To avoid a long trek through the snow, Anna and Wendy escorted them to the ship, using the Remote Viewing Balloon, which would only take half an hour to reach the shallows.
"Thank you for taking care of us these past few months," the two bowed to Roland.
"I should be thanking you," Roland smiled. "You've made many contributions to the construction of Border Town. I have two gifts for you."
"Gi-gifts?" Lian was slightly stunned, a blush appearing on her cheeks.
Honey touched her chest, glanced at Lian's, and asked excitedly, "Can we have them too?"
Roland took two bags from Nightingale and handed them over. "Yes, you both get one."
Honey couldn't wait to open hers, pulling out a long white strip of cloth. "Huh, what's this? Is it a bodice?"
"Cough, it's a scarf," he stepped forward, picked up the pure cotton knitted strip, and wrapped it around her neck. "This way, you won't have to worry about the cold wind and snowflakes getting down your neck. If you wrap it a little thicker, it can also cover your ears."
"Mmm... it's so warm," the latter exclaimed with a satisfied expression.
He wondered if it was his imagination, but Lian's face seemed to have turned even redder.
"There's something else inside," Honey played with the scarf for a while, then pulled a small square box from the bag. "Your Highness, is this also a gift?"
"That's right, open it up and take a look."
"Wow, it's so bright!" She held up the iron box and said happily, "Lian, look, you can see yourself clearly!"
It was a small mirror embedded in a wooden box, also one of the products introduced to the people-friendly market. In Roland's experience, as long as it was a woman, she wouldn't be able to resist such shiny things.
Honey's exclamation attracted the attention of the other witches. Soon, the Sleeping Island witches gathered around, all examining their appearances in the makeup mirror, unable to hide their love and envy—after all, this crystal glass mirror coated by Soraya had much better reflectivity and overall imaging than silver mirrors, which also showed Roland a new way to win them over.
After the gifts were given out, the hot air balloon was also fully inflated. The two boarded the basket and waved goodbye to Roland and the witches. It was clear that they were a little reluctant to leave the town.
"I have to say, this is indeed a good place," Tilly walked to his side and said softly. "Convenient water supply, comfortable rooms, it's hard to believe that you've transformed this barren land into what it is today in just one year."
"Do you regret it?"
"You mean sending the witches to the town?" She smiled. "How could I? If it can make their lives better, how could I regret it? Don't forget, I'm a witch too."
In the snow-white garden, Tilly's smile was like a pure snowflake, beautifully devoid of any color. If he had such a younger sister in later generations, the rate of heads turning when he took her out would definitely be one hundred percent. But Roland knew in his heart that, compared to the identity of a younger sister, her relationship with him was more like a collaborator, a natural ally. Her decision yesterday showed that, in order to deal with possible threats, she was even willing to go to dangerous places herself.
"Are you really going to such a dangerous place?" Roland asked. "Although you're an Extraordinary Witch, your ability isn't suitable for combat, is it?"
"Don't worry, I'm not completely without self-defense capabilities," Tilly stretched out her hands, showing the prince the ornaments on them—she wore a blue crystal ring on the ring finger of her left hand, and a white silk glove on her right hand, with a red gem embedded in the back of the glove. To be honest, this combination looked particularly strange, the asymmetrical dressing was just like the mixed-and-match style popular on the t-stage in later generations. He was very curious about this yesterday, but didn't ask out of politeness.
"These are magic stones, strange stones discovered in ancient ruins," she explained. "After injecting magic power, you can unleash different abilities. For example, this ring allows me to fly freely like lightning."
After speaking, as if to prove what she said, her feet slowly left the ground, and her body floated in the air as if weightless. This scene startled Roland.
Abilities can be changed through a stone?
He quickly realized the great significance contained within.
If abilities could be customized in batches, the efficiency of the witches' work would be greatly improved—take Lian as an example, if the Witch Union could all have a magic stone that simulated Lian's ability, the construction of a temporary residential area could be completed in just one day.
After Tilly landed, she pointed her right hand at an open space, and a bright bolt of lightning burst from her fingertip, blasting a bowl-sized hole in the ankle-deep snow, revealing the dark earth below.
"So you can have two abilities at the same time?" Roland asked in surprise.
"No," Tilly shook her head. "Magic stones only allow one ability to appear within a certain range. If I inject magic power into two stones at the same time, nothing will happen." Then she smiled. "Originally, I didn't plan to reveal this information to you so soon, but after last night's talks, I thought I might have misunderstood you... I'm very happy that you can frankly tell me about the ancient ruins... and a little sorry."
"It's okay, I can understand."
"By the way, I'm a little concerned, what is the bodice that Honey was talking about just now?"
Roland almost choked on his saliva. "Cough, I don't really know... maybe you can ask Sylvie or Evelyn."
"Okay," Tilly shrugged. "It seems you're still holding back from me."
The prince was a little dumbfounded for a moment.
"Let's not talk about this," she winked. "I've been thinking about a question all night. If these ruins all belong to the church, why would they abandon all the magic stones? According to Ashes' experience, the church is also likely raising witches, and these things are equally important to them. Even if they fought a great battle with the devils and fled in disarray, deliberately burying the results of the war, it wouldn't prevent them from continuing to use these stones—it doesn't make sense at all."
"The church doesn't care about this loss?" Roland pondered, but he quickly rejected his own view. "No, they shouldn't be able to mass-produce these magic stones, otherwise they would have used them long ago when chasing down the Co-prosperity Society witches who fled into the wild. After all, if they could fly, most people wouldn't be able to escape the pursuit of the church's witches."
"Indeed, I recalled all the books about the church and the gods in the royal palace's library, and found a very strange point... Their historical records not only stop more than four hundred years ago, but even the origins of the gods are vague, with no prominent names, no epic legends, and no more details except to promote that it is omnipotent and omniscient. At least compared to the ancient three gods, it seems much more ethereal. Combining the two, one can't help but feel a strange feeling.
"What?" Roland's heart skipped a beat.
"The church seems to have emerged out of nowhere."
.(。)