Chapter 1061: Sport Event
The steam whistle blew, and the ship eased away from Shallow Beach.
Joan stood at the stern, watching the Exploration Group grow smaller. A whole winter had passed, and in that time something rare had taken root between her and the witches — the kind of care that came from being noticed, from being missed, neither of which she had known in a long time. The farewell felt harder than it should have.
She repeated the one phrase she had learned before leaving. Goodbye. Dry and stiff in her mouth, but she kept saying it.
Lightning stood on the dock with her eyes fixed on the receding ship, wide and unwavering. More than once, Roland came close to telling her that Thunder was aboard. Each time, he swallowed the impulse back down. He had given his word.
Maggie had her hand pressed over her mouth, shoulders shaking, eyes bright with tears she refused to let fall.
Only Lorgar was steady. She had Maggie balanced on her tail, Lightning’s hand in one of hers, and lifted the other to wave — parting was a Mojin commonplace, as familiar as wind off the sand. But Roland watched her all the same. Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan was not what she had been when she first arrived in Neverwinter. The change was already in her, even if she couldn’t yet feel it.
That was part of why he’d said nothing.
With friends like these, Lightning would find her way back to herself. And the sisters who had left — they would all return, eventually.
The day after Thunder’s departure, the Graycastle Weekly announced the kingdom’s first National Sports Meeting.
One event. Marathon.
The course ran in two directions at once: starting lines at the main districts of Neverwinter and Longsong, both streams converging on the center of Kingdom Main Street — twenty-eight kilometers in total. The first ten to finish would share prizes ranging from ten to one hundred gold royals. The champion would receive a commemorative badge from the king’s own hand.
The announcement shook the entire Western Region.
By the next morning, every street and alleyway was buzzing. The excitement rivaled the release of the magic movie.
One hundred gold royals could serve as a down payment on a house in the district nearest the Castle — running water, heat, electricity. For most Neverwinter citizens who had come after the city’s founding, this was the target they had been working toward for years. Now it was dangling at the end of a single afternoon’s run.
The city had no inner and outer rings, no walls between districts. But everyone understood the quiet social geography of proximity to the king. The closer, the better.
This was different from the Outstanding Contribution Award, which went to those already distinguished in their fields, or the Combat Hero Award, which required you to spend yourself — time, courage, and luck. The Sports Meeting asked only that you have two legs and the will to use them.
Everyone did.
And it was open to all citizens — not just registered Neverwinter residents, but merchants passing through from any city.
Roland’s goals were practical. A sports meeting built cohesion, encouraged people to test their own limits, sent a clear signal in the weeks before the army marched. As the aftermath of Victory Day and a last gathering before the war began, nothing carried more morale per hour invested.
He also had a smaller, private motive.
The bicycle needed to make its comeback.
He had carried quiet guilt about it since the beginning. Chief Barov’s advertisement presentation, the posters plastered across the square, the proud announcement from the King of Graycastle’s own office — and then, after fewer than two hundred vehicles, production had halted. The factory floor was converted to steam engine assembly. Half the finished bikes went to workers as wage supplements. The rest went into a warehouse.
The street scene he had imagined — everyone cycling between districts — had never materialized. Worse, the tooling and dedicated equipment had all been scrapped, and the remaining bikes were too few to issue to the First Army.
Of every project he’d personally launched, this was the only one with nothing to show for it.
He intended to close that account.
The city was different now. Wild expansion had pushed the urban area outward along Kingdom Main Street. Factories, docks, mines — the distances people had to travel every day were real distances. Walking was slow and tiring. But the streets were smooth and flat, and a cyclist could cover the same ground in a quarter of the time.
Meanwhile, Neverwinter’s manufacturing capacity had grown enough to absorb the bicycle’s return without disturbing anything already in production. Rubber worms and improved machine tools meant the factory could match witch-assisted output without pulling anyone from existing work.
The timing was right.
His plan was simple: have the Second Army ride alongside the marathon runners on bicycles, acting as guides and emergency responders. Let a hundred thousand spectators watch a man on a bicycle glide effortlessly past runners who were laboring through their twenty-fifth kilometer.
The advertisement would write itself.
The greatest mistake of his reign would cease to exist.
Roland allowed himself to think it with some confidence.
“Huh? So this is the Great Chief’s city?”
Guelz Burnflame stepped out of the cabin, rubbing his cheeks. “That concrete ship is something, but it’s too loud. Another two or three days aboard and I’d be deaf.”
“Father.” Rohan fell in close behind him. “Are you truly not going to cover your face tattoos and change into northern clothes? Everyone at the dock is staring.”
“Let them.”
“But—”
“Are you worried about being discriminated against?” Guelz glanced at him. “If a Mojin traveler’s appearance is that hard for them to accept, what kind of life is my daughter having? The Great Chief said every person in his domain is equal. I want to see if he lied to the Three Gods.”
At the mention of Lorgar, Rohan stopped arguing.
Guelz shook his head quietly. His sister’s shadow was still long over the boy.
He had not come all this way on a whim. The Sand Nation people who had settled at the small oasis had, with Brian’s guidance, finally won the revenge battle that consumed two months — the Wildwave clan and the Cut Bone clan, the masterminds behind the massacre at Silver Stream, were destroyed. The six-clan system of Iron Sand City had become history.
He was carrying Brian’s message to the Great Chief.
A clan leader didn’t need to make this trip personally. But the Wildflame clan had missed the coronation ceremony, caught up in the war, and it was only right to bring news of their victory as a belated gift — a demonstration of sincerity.
Guelz also wanted to see Lorgar for himself.
She never mentioned her troubles in her letters. There was only one way to know how she was.
Whether she had lost weight. Whether they were feeding her properly. Whether there was any Firelantern Wine, or grilled sandworms.
Chapter 1061: Sport Event Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
While blowing a steam whistle, the ship slowly left the Shallow Beach.
Joan was standing at the stern, reluctantly bidding farewell to the Exploration Group—after a whole winter, her relationship with the witches had improved a lot. This rare friendship was particularly strong probably because it had been such a long time since someone had cared for her or had missed her.
Though it sounded dry and hard, she just kept repeating the phrase “Goodbye,” which she had just learned before leaving.
Lightning’s expression looked quite lonely. She looked in the direction of the stern, her eyes wide open. Many times Roland came close to telling her that Thunder was on the boat. However, he thought of the latter’s entrustment and eventually pushed the urge back into the bottom of his heart.
Maggie had covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking and with her eyes filled with tears. She was unable to make any sound for quite some time, probably because she was afraid of crying.
Only Lorgar remained calm. She was carrying Maggie on her tail, Lightning with her one hand and waving at Joan with her other hand—parting forever was something common for the Mojins so she had grown used to it.
In Roland’s eyes, Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan was not the loner she was when she first came to Neverwinter. She had already started changing even though she probably had not noticed it yet.
This was also a reason why Roland decided not to tell her.
With such a group of friends, he was sure that Lightning would return to her previous energetic self sooner or later.
As for the sisters that left, for now, they would all eventually return.
…
On the following day after Thunder’s departure, Roland announced the news of king’s city’s first National Sports Meeting through Graycastle Weekly newspaper.
There was only one event. Marathon.
The starting points would be the main city areas of both Neverwinter and Longsong while the finishing point would be the center of the Kingdom Main Street—a total distance of twenty-eight kilometers. The first ten would win a prize ranging from 100 to 10 gold royals and the champion would receive a commemorative badge from the king himself.
This news instantly shook the entire Western Region!
Soon, everyone in the streets and alleys was inquiring about the event, and the fuss was no less than the release of the magic movie.
If 100 gold royals were used as a down payment, one could buy a home with water, heat, and electricity in the nearest district to the Castle District. Apart from those locals who moved at the very beginning, this was the objective for most Neverwinter citizens.
Although the new king’s city did not have an inner and outer city like traditional cities, and there were no walls between each area, people still wished to be closer to His Majesty the King.
Usually, achieving such a goal would require many years of savings but now there was an opportunity to realize it instantly!
This was different from the Outstanding Contribution Award and the Combat Hero Award—the former was given to masters of their respective fields. Even without the gold royals of the prize, they still would not miss the money. As for the latter, it would require a willingness to sacrifice your own time, courage, and also luck. However, what about the Sports Meeting?
One only had to know how to run!
Everybody had two legs after all.
In everyone’s eyes, this was another proof of His Majesty compassion and kindness towards his people.
In the past, all good policies were directed towards official residents. However, this time, what was more gratifying for most people was that this event was for “all citizens”, exactly as it was announced in the weekly newspaper.
Not only citizens of Neverwinter but even merchants coming from other cities could participate.
So it was not surprising that this novel activity had created such a big impact.
Of course, what Roland wanted to do was not just to watch a competition and see who is the faster runner—a sports meeting was useful in strengthening cohesion, encouraging people to challenge themselves and work hard. As the aftermath of the Victory Day’s celebration and the last call before the start of the war, there was nothing more inspiring than a sports meeting.
Also, he had one more small intention.
To announce the comeback of the bike.
He had always felt guilty about the failure of the product of his early policy —the proud invention of the King of Graycastle, chief Barov’s advertisement presentation, as well as the posters that had filled the square everywhere at that time. Yet, after producing no more than two hundred vehicles, they had to stop the distribution due to lack of productivity. The factory was converted into the steam engine assembly plant and almost half of the finished products were given to the workers as salary remuneration.
Not only had he failed to realize the scene he had envisioned of everyone riding a bike between the city’s districts, but also lost a lot of resources due to improper planning—for example, all those specific machines and
equipment used for producing the bike parts were recycled and the remaining half of the bikes, because they were too few to deliver them to the First Army, were stored in a warehouse in the end.
From all the projects that he set up personally, this was the only one that didn’t bring any benefit.
That’s why he had to erase this black stigma.
Nowadays, the situation in the city was completely different from two or three years ago—a crazy expansion had brought a dramatic increase of the urban areas. Newly constructed districts had been built along Kingdom Main Street and the distance to major workplaces such as factories, docks, and mines was increasing more and more. Walking had become a time-consuming and tiresome activity whereas the perfection of the city streets had allowed the bike riders to easily reach more places.
On the other hand, the productivity of Neverwinter had also been greatly improved. With the application of rubber worms and new machine tools, they could produce the same results as the witches, without any impact on existing projects.
So, now it was a good time to bring up the subject of the bikes.
As long as he let the Second Army follow the group of marathon runners on their bikes and act as guides and accident rescuers, everyone would naturally realize the benefit of this type of transport.
As a result, the biggest mistake he had made since coming into power would no longer exist.
Roland thought with confidence.
…
“Huh? Is this the Great Chief’s city?” Guelz Burnflame walked out of the cabin and rubbed his cheeks, “This concrete ship is powerful indeed but it’s too noisy. I’d go deaf if I had to stay for another two to three days.
“Father, are you really not going to hide your face tattoos and then change to some northern kingdom clothes?” Rohan closely followed him and said, “Those people at the docks…everyone is staring at us.”
“It doesn’t matter, let them stare.”
“But…”
“Are you worried about being discriminated?” Guelz glanced at him, “If a Mojin traveler’s appearance is so hard for them to accept then what kind of life my daughter is having? The great chief said that in his domain, everyone is the same. I’d like to see if he has lied to the Three Gods.”
After the mention of Lorgar Burnflame, Rohan stopped talking and did not try to persuade him anymore.
The chief shook his head secretly. It seemed that his fight-adept sister was still having a heavy influence on him.
Guelz did not come all the way from the Port of Clearwater to here on a whim—the Sand Nation people who decided to move to the small oasis had finally won the revenge battle which lasted for two months, under the guidance of Brian. The masterminds behind the massacre of Silver Stream, the Wildwave clan, and the Cut Bone clan, had been destroyed and the six clan system of the Iron Sand City had since become history.
He was bringing a message from Brian.
Such a task did not have to be carried out by a family leader, but because of the war, the Wildflame clan missed the coronation ceremony of the great chief and so it was only appropriate for him to bring the news of their victory as a late gift in order to show his sincerity.
Guelz was also curious to see how was Lorgar doing.
She would never mention her troubles in her letters so it was best for him to see with his own eyes.
Had she lost weight? As there were no Firelantern Wine or grilled sandworms here.