Seventh Chapter 56 Magic Tide

Roland paused. "Is there a problem?"

"It's like this..." Phyllis hesitated. "I heard that only one witch awakened in your territory this year?"

He rummaged through a stack of papers in the drawer—it was a list Wendy had compiled for him, recording the awakening and coming-of-age dates of each witch, so that he wouldn't miss their second birth.

"That should be right," Roland checked the list and nodded. "Although Nian Xieyue joined two new witches this year, Bai Zhi awakened three years ago. Counting the ones who awakened this year, there's only Xia Xia... and her awakening date happens to be her coming-of-age date."

"That shouldn't be, Your Majesty," Phyllis frowned. "How many people are in your city in a year? Twenty thousand or thirty thousand?"

"It should be fifty thousand," Roland couldn't help but feel a little proud when it came to population. "The population of Neverwinter City has exceeded one hundred thousand this year."

"One hundred thousand is about the same as Annelise in its early days. Even before retreating from the Fertile Plains, Taqila was only about two hundred and fifty thousand, but... do you know how many people awakened in these two holy cities each year?" Phyllis said in a deep voice. "Even during the most magic-poor period, Annelise never had fewer than ten people, and Taqila was close to three times that number."

"Magic... poor period?"

"That's right, the magic that fills this world fluctuates, like a tide," Agatha explained. "The two years after the Red Moon's arrival were also the most magic-rich moments, with new witches appearing almost every day. Afterwards, the drifting magic will slowly weaken. The period between the two Red Moons can be regarded as a poor period. Awakeners will only appear around the Devilish Moon."

Roland had heard Agatha mention before that the more vigorous the magic, the easier it was for witches to awaken. It's just that he originally thought that magic would usher in a peak every year, but he didn't expect it to fluctuate greatly over a period of centuries. "But we're not far from the Third Battle of Divine Will."

"This is the most worrying thing," Phyllis said with a worried look. "The appearance of Hellbeasts means that the Red Moon is approaching, and the magic trend should be getting more and more active. According to Celine's tests, this is indeed the case. But why is the number of witch awakenings so low? Even if no one awakens in the city, there should be many witches born in the surrounding towns and villages—for example, during the Taqila era, the surrounding territories provided even more witches to the holy city. Generally speaking, the larger the total population, the more witches there are. This is a rule that the Association has summed up over several centuries."

"At first, I thought Neverwinter City intentionally excluded women when recruiting people. Later, I thought that the influence of the Church made new witches afraid to reveal their identities easily, which prevented them from joining Neverwinter City immediately... But it seems that's not the case," Agatha said slowly. "Pasha also conducted discussions and ultimately concluded that perhaps some factor is affecting the awakening of new witches, and it is gradually expanding."

Roland pondered for a while before saying, "Assuming this guess is correct, do you have a way to find out what factor is causing this?"

The two looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.

"Since we can't solve it, let's treat it as a temporary rest for the gods," he spread his hands and said, "Anyway, no matter how the awakening probability changes, we have to drive the devils out of the Land of Dawn, right?"

Fortunately, once industrialized production has laid a foundation, the demand for witches is not as strong as it was for the God's Punishment Army or the Chosen Ones Program. Otherwise, this would really be a fatal piece of news.

"What you said... is indeed correct," Phyllis was probably surprised that Roland's confidence in fighting the devils was not affected in the slightest, and it took her a while to regain her senses. "In any case, we must defeat the devils."

"That's right," Roland smiled. "Ah, that's right... I asked you to come here because I wanted to ask about something." He recounted his worries about the potential harm that could be caused when witches awakened. "In Taqila, how did the Association deal with such incidents?"

"It's very simple, Your Majesty," Phyllis's tone became more respectful. She no longer looked directly at Roland, but lowered her head slightly. "Everyone in that era understood the Half-Quarter Hour Rule."

"The Half-Quarter Hour Rule?"

"Yes, there are warning signs before a witch awakens. The process of magic gathering from a wandering state to gathering within the awakener will last about half a quarter of an hour," Phyllis replied. "At first, there will be a faint tingling and burning sensation in the abdomen, which will then become more and more intense until the first backlash occurs—the specific degree of pain varies from person to person. People with strong bodies may not even be affected too much, but subtle tingling can still be noticed."

She paused. "And the Half-Quarter Hour Rule is: As long as the witch loudly announces that she is about to awaken during this period, the people around her must leave her side immediately. If there are casualties due to not taking evasive action, mortals shall not seek compensation from the Association; if damage is caused to a fixed location, the Association will compensate for it."

This is a novel approach, Roland thought to himself, provided that everyone is very familiar with witches, especially underage girls—when they encounter a sudden stabbing pain, their first reaction is to make an announcement, rather than suspect that they have eaten something bad.

"What if the injured person is also a witch?"

"Those who do not announce in advance will face punishment—whipping or fines, depending on the consequences. If they have announced in advance, the Association will bear all responsibility. However, such situations are rare. After all, combat witches themselves are already a minority, and even fewer are capable of causing harm in the early stages of awakening."

In other words, in the Taqila era, mortals could only consider themselves unlucky if they didn't avoid them in time. In that special era when witches were superior, it was understandable for them to do so. Roland obviously couldn't copy this method, but he could learn from it to some extent.

Undoubtedly, aside from the punishment part, the Half-Quarter Hour Rule has one advanced point: it at least promoted an idea, making everyone understand that witches are born within humanity. Whether they accept it or not, every underage female has the potential to awaken as a witch. It's like red lights mean stop and green lights mean go in later generations. All everyone can do is abide by the rules to avoid damage.

Of course, complete exemption from responsibility is impossible, Roland pondered. If this rule is taken a step further, treating witches and ordinary people equally, and having the city hall cover the harm caused after the announcement, while those who do not make an announcement and cause serious consequences will be tried for negligent injury... or a law specifically regulating witch behavior could be formulated, like traffic laws in later generations, which may be able to alleviate this conflict to some extent.