Chapter 159: The Most Powerful Persuasion
Roland had listened to every word of the conversation between Wendy and Ashes before he agreed to the meeting.
He had not expected Tilly Wimbledon to surface like this — not merely alive and in the Fjords but organized, with her own witches, her own plan, and her own agent now standing in his office to poach whatever she could reach. It was not, in itself, a hostile act. But the timing was exactly wrong, and the scale of it suggested his sister had been far more deliberate than the court had ever given her credit for.
Nightingale had confirmed what she could from the fog: extraordinary witch, combat type, ability directly affecting her body and therefore immune to the God’s Stone of Retaliation. Every extraordinary was treated by the Church as a highest-priority threat for precisely this reason. Ashes had not brought a stone with her into Border Town, which made sense — witches who hated God’s Stone didn’t carry it by habit — but the absence was still a precaution worth noting.
Anna stood just behind his shoulder, six invisible black threads hanging at ankle height across the width of the desk. A tripwire of sorts. If Ashes moved fast enough to be a problem, she would stop being a problem in segments. Roland found he wasn’t particularly worried. People who came to negotiate didn’t usually come to kill; they came to win something, which required keeping the other party alive.
“Your witches?” Ashes said, and her voice was cold and precise. “They are people, not your possessions.”
Oh. Roland felt the word land somewhere between his sternum and his pride. In the context of this era, calling them my witches was barely a metaphor — lords held territories, territories held people, people were enumerated. He had used the phrase without thinking. He recovered without letting it reach his face.
“They stay because they choose to,” he said. “But I’ll grant you the point.” He kept his voice even. “What I believe is that Border Town remains the best available option for them — safer than the Fjords crossing, which cuts across two kingdoms under Church pressure, and more stable than islands subject to storms and tsunami. The Fjords climate is not hospitable.”
“The Church is less hospitable.” She met his eyes. “You spread the Association’s existence to Silver City yourself, through a guard. When the Church finds you — and they will — you cannot protect the witches against the God’s Punishment Army. What you’ve done here is generous. And it’s a death sentence for all of them. The correct choice is to let them leave before the judgment arrives.”
“Could you fight three soldiers of the God’s Punishment Army simultaneously?”
A slight shift in her expression. Three fingers extended.
“Then let’s have a test,” Roland said. He sat up straight. “Not words. A demonstration. If an ordinary knight of mine can defeat you — then you’ll have reason to believe I have the means to resist the Church.”
“An ordinary knight.” Her eyes narrowed. “Or a witch fighting on your behalf.”
“Neither. A knight. In fair contest.” He spread his hands. “If you win, I won’t pretend to have leverage I don’t have — I can’t force anyone to stay. But if I win, you carry back to the Fjords the knowledge that Border Town has defenses worth considering. That we exist as an alternative.” He paused. “And if you don’t want to wait a week, you’re welcome to try persuading the witches in the meantime. I won’t interfere.”
“I will never lose,” she said.
“A week,” he said. “Live here. See what we’ve built. You can argue with them directly — I won’t arrange for anyone to avoid you.” He smiled, and knew it probably looked to her like exactly what it was. “Perhaps you’ll find they leave on their own. No fight needed.”
She studied him. The look of someone reassessing without wanting to show the reassessment.
“Very well,” she said, finally. “Seven days.”
She was at the door when he called after her, almost involuntarily: “Have we met before?”
She stopped. Didn’t turn.
Her back was familiar. The line of her shoulders, the particular quality of stillness when she was done moving. It was the palace, he thought. Or a corridor in the palace. Something from the part of his memory that didn’t quite belong to him.
“Didn’t your guard tell you?” she said, still not looking back. “If Tilly hadn’t stopped me, you’d have one fewer hand.”
The door closed.
Nightingale appeared immediately, emerging from the fog with a very specific expression.
“You touched her.”
“I—” Roland searched his memory. The palace. Grey hair, a guard, a corridor. A look that could have cut stone. Something falling. “I don’t remember touching anyone — I remember falling. I thought she tripped me.” He looked at Nightingale’s face and decided this particular line of argument was going to cost him more than he wanted to pay. “To be fair, I also don’t remember not touching her.”
“Roland.”
“I genuinely do not recall the specific incident—”
“Keke.” Anna’s voice, from somewhere to his left. She had not moved from her position; the threads were still in place. “Is Carter likely to win? If he loses, it affects confidence in you generally.”
Roland exhaled, grateful for the pivot.
“An extraordinary’s strength is still bound to her body. She cannot move faster than a bullet in flight, or react to what she cannot see coming.” He turned to Anna. “The revolver’s performance is good. The difficulty is the primer — we need something reliable to ignite the charge. If I can solve that in a week, the odds are seventy percent in our favor.”
Then I need to solve it in a week, he thought.
Chapter 159 The most powerful persuasion
Before Roland had agreed to the meeting, he had already heard every part of the talk between Wendy and Ashes.
He didn’t expect that the long-lost Tilly Wimbledon would suddenly become the leader of another witch organization. Not only that, but she had set all of this up right in front of all of them. No, she had even gathered most of the witches in the whole kingdom. What was even more intolerable was, that she was now actually wanted to put her claws into his own territory.
According to the information gathered by Nightingale, the witch in front of him was an extraordinary, and her ability most likely belonged to the combat type.
Any witch who belonged to the kind of extraordinary had to be treated with the utmost care. So, when Roland was meeting with Ashes in his office, not only was Nightingale hiding in her fog, no, even Anna was standing by his side. She had placed several tiny black fires around his desk, all of which were completely invisible to the naked eye. Cutting off the area between the two sidewalls. As long Ashes dared to rush towards him, she would definitely end up cutting herself into many thin pieces.
Even so, Ashes was an extraordinary witch, she still wasn’t wearing the God’s Stone of Retaliation, but once she put on one of those stones, she would then turn into an unrestricted destructive power. Fortunately, the God’s Stone of Retaliation was hated by the majority of witches, and she was most probably also taking this aspect into account. So Ashes didn’t carry such a stone when she was trying to win over the witches in Border Town.
“Your witches? Don’t be so arrogant, they are all living people, they aren’t your personal belongings!” Ashes declared coldly.
Roland got shocked by her unexpected words. This was the first time that he had to feel the feeling of defeat during a battle of words. He had already become used to calling them my people, my subjects and the like, but now he had unexpectedly face democratic criticism, letting him feel extremely embarrassed. Although his words were in accordance with the usual practice of this era, the people or items in the Lord’s territory, after all, belonged to the Lord, so calling them his wouldn’t bring any problems. But if he was to now stress this point in front of Nightingale and Anna, it would only show that his EQ was low, and he’d just be jumping into an already prepared pit.
So, he coughed twice, and tried to get the flow of the conversation into a positive direction for himself: “I never thought of them like that, they only stay in the town because they want it. But I have to point out, that I myself believe that this place is still the best place for them to live on freely. As for living in the Fjords as you have offered, not to mention that the trip itself would already be very dangerous, crossing over the whole Kingdom – no, the Fjords climate is also unpredictable, always having to fear tsunamis or perineal storms. That is simply not a suitable place for people to live in”.
“But there at least, the power of the Church would be at a minimal. Furthermore, the witches can rely on their powers to transform their homes, making them safe against any natural disasters. But there is no way in which you could shield them against the strength of the God’s Stone of Retaliation, not to mention the God’s Punishment Army.” Ashes mercilessly countered, “Do you know how foolish it was for you to do what you have done? Spreading the news of your witches will only lead to a visit from the Church.
“With respect, you have no way to win against the God’s Punishment Army. Now, the right choice for you would be to let your witches leave your territory so that you can all avoid the tragedy that your actions is leading you towards.”
Roland had already heard her telling Wendy about the God’s Punishment Army, so he knew that using force to persuade her would be many times more effective than him using words. Of course, he could also simply ignore Ashes, but in that way, he would already be giving up the fight for the witches that are under Tilly Wimbledon’s influence. So, despite only having just a small hope of achieving his goal, he still wanted to give it a shot.
“Are you able to fight against several soldiers of the God’s Punishment Army at the same time?” Roland asked.
Ashes facial complexion became clearly puzzled, but in the end, she still stretched out three fingers, “Three soldiers, I’m able to defeat.”
“Then let’s have a fight,” Roland said, sitting straight and becoming seriously. “Let the test tell you if I’m able to win against the God’s Punishment Army or not.”
“What do you mean?” Ashes became stunned for a moment, her cold face finally showed a different expression than her usually cold face.
“A fair test, a fight one-on-one,” Roland said, stressing word for word, “If I’m able to beat you, you have to accept that I have the ability to resist the Church.”
“You and I? Or… or do you want one of your witches to take your place?”
“Of course it won’t be me, but it won’t be a witch either. The soldiers of the God’s Punishment Army will all be wearing a God’s Stone of Retaliation,” Roland smiled, “Your opponent will be an ordinary knight.”
Although he regretted it a bit that he would not personally be taking part in it, the other side was a witch with a military strength completely off the charts, from the description he had heard from Wendy, she alone was powerful enough to make her way through a whole monastery, and in the end, was even able to escape from the pursuit of the God’s Punishment Army.
Even fighting empty-handed or with only a wooden sword, she would still be extraordinarily lethal. The actual effectiveness of a revolver was still unknown. And for the sake of safety, he had decided to give this great task to Carter. If he had been able to lay his hands on an ak47, then Roland would have tried to take her on by himself.
“Ordinary Knight…” Ashes face once more turned back to her original expression of indifference. “If I win, you will let the witches follow me?”
“Of course not, after all, you cannot offer the same. In the case I would win, you surely wouldn’t go back to Tilly and bring all of her witches to Border Town, right?”
“In that case, what would be the significance of your suggested duel?”
“I already said it previously, it’s not a duel, it’s a test,” Roland corrected her, “the significance lies in the fact that you will know, that in the face of the Church’s power I’m not without any possibilities to resist. Furthermore, when you later go back to the Fjords you will remember, that outside of the Fjords, there is also the Western Territories, and more precisely Border Town, that can provide a place for witches to live. Of course, if you win, it could be that Wendy will start to persuade the others, which would be many times more efficient than you doing it by yourself.”
“I will never lose,” Ashes declared. “Now call your knight.”
“Not now,” Roland waved his hand, “we will hold the test in a week. I have to make the necessary preparations first, until then you can freely live in the castle. Experiencing with the other witches, how it is feels to live in Border Town. And as a witch with a feeling for the town life, perhaps you will even change your opinion without us having to have a fight.”
“…” Ashes looked at the Prince coldly for a long time, but then she finally nodded, “You are right, maybe I won’t have to wait for seven days, they will change their view even earlier, freely leaving Border Town together with me.”
Roland just shrugged his shoulders in answer.
When the other was already at the door, he suddenly called to her once more, “Hold on… Can it be that I already have seen you from somewhere?”
Although he was certain that he had never seen her face before, her stature as he looked at her from behind, he got a strange feeling of familiarity. Roland could also slightly recall something, a sense of familiarity that seemed to be coming from… the time he had been living in the King’s Palace.
“Didn’t your guard already tell you?” Ashes didn’t even look back at him. “If it were not for Tilly who stopped me at that time, I’m afraid you’d now only have one hand left.”
The moment the door was closed, Nightingale appeared in front of him, and asked with a frosty voice, “You touched her ass?”
“What?” Roland became startled, “I can’t remember to have ever seen such a person in the palace, and what do you mean with ‘touched’? ”
Nightingale showed a dissatisfied look, there was naturally “Tyre” – to hell with it, although I really have touched the maid’s ass, if I answer this question I’m afraid I would be showing some flaws, furthermore what is wrong with feeling something up with your hands! After all, I also don’t care about your peeping habits!
“Keke,” Anna interrupted their conversation. “Are you sure that Carter will be able to beat her? If he fails, it may affect the others witches confidence in you.”
Fortunately, it seemed that Anna was still calm, Roland discovered in relief, “Even though an enhanced witch is not affected by the God’s Stone of Retaliation, she still has to fight with their own body. Comparing this with the quick fire of hot weapons, the limitations of the body will always be too big in comparison, I think the odds that we win is at least around 70%.”
But for that I will have to finish the development of the ammunition by next week, Roland thought.