Chapter 319: Autumn Snow
Roland laid out what Lightning had found and waited.
“A crystal coffin in the basement of an ancient ruin. No sign of corrosion despite centuries of flooding. A magic stone that repeats a call for help on a fixed interval. And Devils—four of them, posted as guards—who collapsed into ash at first contact.” He paused. “What do you think?”
Anna was quiet for a moment. “If she’s a witch, and if she’s still alive, she could tell us things about four hundred years ago that no record has survived.”
“She might not be a witch,” Scroll said. “She might not even be from that era.” She hesitated. “And she might not be on our side.”
“She might not be on our side,” Leaves confirmed quietly, finishing the thought Scroll had stopped short of.
Roland absorbed this. The woman’s robes—described as gorgeous, formal—suggested rank. If the ruins had belonged to the Church, then a high-ranking resident suggested a high-ranking Church member. An ordinary person sealed in crystal would be strange; a witch sealed in crystal, placed under guard by Devils who had clearly been instructed to prevent access, was something with a design behind it.
The problem was: you could not predict a witch’s ability until she used it. Nightingale and Ashes had demonstrated that conclusively—the distance between knowing a witch existed and knowing what she could do was the distance where you got hurt. Even if he lined the chamber with God’s Stones of Retaliation, even if they had every combat witch on hand—
Unless we wake her while the Stones are already in place.
“You’re all being ridiculous,” Lily said, slapping her palm on the table. “She’s been in there for four hundred years. The moment we open that crystal she’ll turn to dust, just like the Devils. Witches die young—the Demonic Bite takes most of them before forty, and even the strongest Extraordinaries don’t make it past a hundred.”
“The Demonic Bite is what kills young witches,” Roland said. “A witch’s base constitution is stronger than a normal person’s. Their actual ceiling, without the Bite—it’s higher than forty.”
“The average person lives forty to fifty years,” Lily said. “So what? You think everyone’s going to live as long as a turtle?”
“Average lifespan is low because of malnutrition and poor medical care. Improve both and you add twenty years easily.” He acknowledged her next point before she made it. “I know. Even with twenty extra years, four hundred is impossible. But she’s still in there—Lightning saw it, Maggie confirmed it. We work with what’s true, not what should be possible.”
“She’s real,” Lightning said from across the table. “You’d know it immediately if you’d seen her. She looks nothing like the Devils. Her skin is smooth, her lips still have color. She looks like someone who’s sleeping.”
“Goo! What Lightning said!”
Wendy stood. The room’s pitch dropped slightly—when the oldest members of the Witch Union spoke, everyone listened slightly harder without knowing they were doing it.
“Whether she’s alive or not, whether she’s one of theirs or one of ours—she’s worth investigating. A God’s Stone of Retaliation around her neck before she wakes, Anna and Nightingale within arm’s reach. If she can tell us anything about four hundred years ago, about the Devils, about what the Church has been hiding—that knowledge is worth the risk.” She looked at Roland steadily. “The question isn’t whether. It’s when and how.”
He nodded. “Then we go. Iron Axe—force size?”
“Fifty maximum,” the commander said. His expression carried the apology before the explanation did. “We’ve sent several squads east to assist Barov’s refugee recruitment. Timothy suffered badly at the Redwater River battle, but desperate enemies don’t always behave rationally—there’s still a real possibility of an assault from King’s City. Five hundred soldiers to hold Border Town, fifty for the expedition.”
Small. A hot-air balloon carrying witches could provide observation and overwatch; Lightning and Maggie could run aerial screening; Sylvie’s Eye of Truth would cover approaches that couldn’t otherwise be watched. He would need to bring Sylvie—which meant Tilly’s witches would learn about the ruin and its occupant. He turned this over for a moment.
It couldn’t be helped. Safety first, intelligence second.
“We bring Sylvie,” he said. “Prepare the cloud gazer and plan for a—”
“Heavens,” Mystery Moon said. “What is that?”
Everyone turned.
Through the office window, the cloud-choked sky was doing something it should not have been doing. White specks, fine and purposeless-looking, drifting through the grey air. Silent. Not rain.
Roland crossed to the window and pushed it open.
He held out his hand. Something landed in his palm—six-sided, impossibly precise, and gone almost before he registered it, leaving a cold point of water.
Snow.
Not a flurry. A snowfall. Steady, purposeful, the kind that was already deciding how long it meant to stay.
“Has it ever snowed this early?” He looked at Iron Axe.
“Seven years in Border Town,” the man said. His face was careful and flat. “Not once.”
Snow in the last month of autumn meant the Months of Demons. Not a metaphor: an observation confirmed by every record in this world. The sun would not be seen again until spring. The skies above the Concealing Forest would be full of things that hunted. And the expedition to the Stone Tower—the wounded witch in the ice—would have to wait.
He told himself it was probably an anomaly. The temperature had not yet fallen to winter levels; it would likely pass. He told himself this while watching the white thicken over the castle yard.
Three days later, Border Town was silver under three inches of accumulation, the distant mountains sheeted in white, the forest a smudged line at the edge of the world. Roland stood at his window and could not bring himself to call it beautiful.
The snowfall had eased. It had not stopped.
The First Army had moved to full alert—regular patrols on the new wall, a temporary camp at the wall’s foot for rapid deployment. The soldiers had exchanged their unlined autumn jackets for wool. The camp stoves in the temporary shelters burned through the coal reserves faster than Barov’s projection. The temperature had shifted in a single night, the way temperature sometimes did here, as though seasons were not gradations but decisions.
On the fourth day, the report came from the western wall.
Demonic beasts had attacked.
The Months of Demons had come more than a month early, and Roland stood at his desk and looked at the map and said nothing for a long moment, because there was nothing useful to say.
Chapter 319 Autumn Snow
After the others arrived, Roland informed them about Lightning’s discoveries from beginning to end. “A transparent crystal coffin in the basement of an ancient ruin, without any sign of corrosion even though the environment is damp and moist, a magic stone which regularly released a call for help, and Devils broke into countless pieces upon contact… What do you all think about this?”
“You mean she could be a witch?” Anna pondered, “If she is still alive, we can probably learn more about what happened four hundred years ago.”
“It is also possible that she isn’t a witch, or even from that era,” Scroll said after a moment of hesitation, “Furthermore…”
“Furthermore, she might not necessarily be on our side,” Leaves added.
This sentence left Roland slightly shocked. Indeed, if these remains had been left by the Church, it is more than likely that the other side could be a member of the Church. Also, according to Lightning’s description, she was wearing a gorgeous gown, which could mean that she was a high-ranking member. In the case that she was an ordinary person everything would be alright, but if she really is a witch, then dealing with her would be quite tricky.
Looking at the fights Ashes and Nightingale had been in, it could be seen that it was impossible to predict the kind of attack a witch could perform beforehand. Furthermore, there was no clear dividing line to rank witches by strength. The extraordinaries might be unable to contend against witches with unique abilities even when they were wearing the God’s Stone of Retaliation, and if combat witches were surprise attacked by support witches the situation would be equally worrying.
No one can guarantee that her ability won’t pose a threat to the Witch Alliance if she held any malicious intent towards us… unless, we wake her
within the influence of a God’s Stone of Relation.
“You’re all crazy, how can you even think that she won’t be on our side?” Lily, grasping her forehead, could no longer sit still and decided to interrupt, “She should be from more than four hundred years ago, how could she still be alive today? It goes without saying that witches all die young, even if they possess the strong body of an extraordinary witch, they might never exceed a hundred years of age. All of you are thinking too much. Most likely it’s just like I said, the moment we free her, the person inside will be just like the Devils and turn into dust.”
“The reason why most witches die young is because of the so-called Demonic bite,” Roland corrected, “A witch’s physical fitness is generally much greater than the average person. Thus their actual lifespan should also be longer.”
“The average person’s lifespan is forty to fifty years, ah,” Lily grunted, “Do you think everyone can live as long as a turtle can?”
The reason why the average lifespan is merely forty to fifty years is because of an inadequate food supply and the low level of medical care; as long as the standard of daily living is increased, it should quickly increase by another twenty years. However, what she said is by no means utterly unjustified, Roland conceded, even if I add those twenty years, there still remains a gap to reach four hundred years… Even if we were turtles, I’m afraid we could never live for that long.
“But she is still alive, really,” Lightning cried aloud, “If you could’ve seen her, you’d immediately understand why I say so. Compared with the dead Devils she looks entirely different, her skin is smooth, and her lips are full of color. Tell them Maggie!”
“Goo! What Lightning said is true!”
“Alright, don’t fight,” Wendy stood up and interrupted. “No matter if she is still alive or already dead, it’s worth a try.”
“Are you sure?” Scroll asked unsure while knitting her brows.
“If she really is one of those Church’s witches, as long as we hang a God’s Stone of Relation around her before she wakes up it should be all right. Moreover, we also have Anna and Nightingale, so I believe she won’t be able to cause much of a problem.” Wendy calmly said. “The key point is, it is possible that she might know about the incident that occurred more than four hundred years ago. The possibility that she can bring light into the darkness is worth the risk of rescuing her.”
Indeed, gathering more information about the Devils is very critical for the survival of Border Town. Moreover, any news the Church desired to hide so much will surely be extremely unfavorable for them. Thus, if we can take hold of this knowledge ahead of time, there’s a chance that it might help us take the initiative in the future battle.
Soon after, Anna and Nightingale also agreed to Wendy’s view, so even though she still thought that it was wrong, Scroll no longer opposed them and the Witch Alliance came to a consensus.
“The First Army?” Roland looked toward Iron Axe.
“At most, you can send up to fifty people,” the latter started to talk, “Your Highness, you already sent out several squads to assist City Hall to recruit refugees from the other regions, by now there are only around 500 left in Border Town. Even though Timothy has encountered Heaven’s wrath, there’s still a chance he might become desperate and launch a large-scale assault on the Western Territory. Thus, the First Army needs to have enough soldiers to guard against a possible attack from King’s City.”
“I understand,” Roland said while nodding. A size of fifty people is a little small, if they happen to have to face a long-range attack from the Devils who can throw their spears from out of view, the damage caused could be quite serious. If I want to make up for this, in addition to Lightning’s and Maggie’s air surveillance, Sylvie’s magic eye ability will also be essential. The ideal force to send out would be a ground force, supported by a team of witches stationed in a hot-air balloon. The witches will be responsible for observation and close combat battles, while the First Army will use their flintlocks to suppress the enemy over a long distance.
But then, the witches from Sleeping Island will also learn about the existence of the Deep Sleeper in the ruin. Roland thought through all the possibilities again and again, but in the end, he still decided to bring Sylvie along. After all, during this rescue mission, their safety would still be the most important consideration.
Just when he planned to arrange the rescue plan, Mystery Moon exhaled loudly before exclaiming, “Heavens… What is happening?”
Hearing her cry, everyone followed her gaze and looked out of the window, only to freeze up immediately.
Roland not daring to believe what he saw opened the window, then was finally forced to accept what he saw, beyond any of their expectations white flakes had begun to fall from the gloomy sky. They were hiding the sky and covering the earth, but completely lacked any sound. He stretched his hand out, catching a handful of white drops, which made an ice-cold sensation spread through his palm.
It’s snow.
This is not normal… According to his knowledge, it would only snow in the Western Territory during winter, but now, it wasn’t winter yet!
“It is normal for it to snows during the last month of autumn?: He looked at Iron Axe, but the latter wore a serious expression and said, “I have been in Border Town for seven or eight years, and until now I have never experienced something like this.”
Once the snow began to descend from the heaven, it meant that the Months of Demons had arrived, and the sun would be buried behind a wall of clouds until its next brilliant bloom. During this time, the entire Western Territory would face the threat of demonic beasts. Not to mention the First Army, even when using a hot air balloon, the witches would still be in danger – at this time, the Concealing Forest was full of savage demonic beasts. So leaving the protection of the wall was an incredibly risky matter.
For now, he was forced to call a stop to the rescue mission and wait for the sky to clear up.
At the bottom of his heart, he felt that the early snow was likely an accident and would soon end. After all, the temperature was still at the average level of autumn and it also hadn’t dropped by much.
However, three days later, the town was wrapped in silver, the distant mountains and woods were covered by a layer of white gauze. A beautiful scenery like this was definitely a rare view in his past, but Roland wasn’t in the mood to appreciate the landscape.
Although the snowfall had weakened a lot, there were still some snowflakes falling from the sky. The First Army had also entered a state of full alertness, and has established regular patrols along the new wall. Furthermore, they had also erected a temporary camp at the foot of the new city wall, so that the soldiers would be able to quickly enter into battle. The temperature had changed almost overnight, forcing Roland to change his clothes from his unlined garment to a knitted cotton coat.
On the fourth day, hearing the news from the front made Roland’s heart drop.
The western city wall had suffered an attack from demonic beasts.
The Months of Demons had arrived more than one month ahead of time.