Chapter 666: The Good and Bad News
A week later, Roland returned to the border area from Longsong Stronghold.
Barov was waiting in the castle hall with the first piece of good news, delivered with the contained satisfaction of a man who has organized something difficult and knows it.
“Your Majesty, the astrologers arrived in Neverwinter three days ago. Three hundred and twelve people in total—nine astrologers, their apprentices, and the families. I’ve housed the nine senior astrologers in the Foreign Affairs Building and put the rest in the reception area for now.”
“They’re finally here.” Roland thought for a moment. “Arrange a welcome gathering in the square this evening. I want the people of Neverwinter to know they have a new school in the city.”
As with alchemy, astrology commanded genuine respect among the general population. It had always been the province of king’s cities—the kind of institution that announced a place’s seriousness. With the Astrology Association relocating to the western region, Neverwinter’s claim to be the new center of the kingdom became harder to dismiss.
But the association’s symbolic value was not the reason Roland had invited them. What he actually needed were their minds. For this era, astrologers stood at the very front of mathematical practice—calendar analysis, orbital calculation, the kind of sustained numerical work that required both discipline and facility. Feed them proper mathematics, and they would become something the kingdom had never had: a corps of trained calculators, capable of handling the computations that lay ahead. Railway surveys. Ship design. Artillery tables for the Longsong Cannon. All of it required calculation on a scale that one mind, however capable, could not provide.
“A School of Mathematics,” he said. “That’s what I intend to build around them. Sustained observation of the Star of Extinction can continue on the side, but the core of their work will be computation.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Barov nodded, and then ventured: “If I may ask—the Longsong inspection…”
“Encountered problems.” Roland saw no reason to conceal anything from the City Hall director. “The secondary City Hall is already showing signs of corruption and negligence. Scroll found falsified accounts, and two officials from the original border area batch were arrested.”
Barov went still. “Were they my students?”
Roland kept his face neutral. The wariness behind the question was perfectly understandable, and the loyalty it implied—a man anxious that his own people had failed—was, in its way, reassuring. “Even if they were, I wouldn’t hold it against you. Rest easy.”
“Your Majesty is wise,” Barov said quickly. “Are they from the original border area?”
“The second graduating cohort. They passed the assessment, entered City Hall, were transferred to Longsong with the team—and in less than a year.” Roland exhaled. “Less than a year.”
The arithmetic was depressing. City Hall had taken years to develop the administrative class it now possessed. One half had grown out of the Longsong area, trained on the Border Town model, supplemented by the local nobility—Honeysuckle Petrov, Elk Rene, a handful of minor lords—who had proven flexible enough to serve. Another batch had gone to Fallen Dragon Ridge, helping Countess Spear maintain order while establishing a secondary City Hall framework. Scholars from the Northern Region, brought back by Edith Kant, were learning the system. He’d already allocated people toward the Southernmost Region.
And none of them were easy to replace.
It was officials who actually carried out his will that were the rarest resource in the kingdom—rarer than iron, rarer than engineers. Without them as a foundation, it didn’t matter how much territory he held; he couldn’t concentrate the kingdom’s resources, couldn’t deliver his policies to the places where they needed to land. The witches could advance science. He couldn’t produce grass-roots administrators out of nothing.
Sub-aristocrats were useless for this—in the feudal imagination, the entire world contracted to the small patch of land one happened to occupy, and anything beyond it was an imposition. Every person with genuine administrative experience was irreplaceable, and he’d expected to lose a few over time, as any organization inevitably did. He had not expected to lose them so quickly, or to find that commoners, once given power, could fail as readily as nobles born to it.
“Those who violate the law…”
“Have all been dealt with severely,” Roland said. “To set an example.”
That would buy a few years. Nightingale and Scroll’s presence preserved the integrity of what remained. But he knew this couldn’t be the only mechanism—the moment it became the only one, the organization’s health would depend entirely on the witches who policed it, which was its own vulnerability.
“Summon all of City Hall to the castle hall tomorrow morning. I’ll address them personally—on discipline, on responsibility, and on what the coming years require.”
Rewards and punishments would make the calculus clear. These people needed to know what choosing correctly looked like, and what the alternative cost.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Barov bowed and withdrew.
Roland watched him go. The old director had grown into the role over years in a way that made him increasingly difficult to replace as well—he pursued authority with genuine enthusiasm, but he used it well, and Roland suspected that in whatever future City Hall eventually took shape, Barov might be the only one capable of holding his own against Edith Kant.
That was a problem for another year. He reached for his tea.
The second piece of good news came from Wendy.
“Evelyn’s ability has evolved.”
Roland set down the cup. He hadn’t expected that. Evelyn’s magic indicators had always been moderate and balanced—not the profile that typically produced early breakthroughs. That she was the first from Sleeping Island to achieve an advancement was genuinely surprising.
“Yes—Agatha has confirmed it.” Wendy hesitated. “But the evolved ability is… strange. I’m not entirely sure how to describe it.”
“Bring her to my office.”
Evelyn arrived on the third floor of the castle carrying several glass bottles, each one filled with liquid of a different color. She wore the look of someone who had arrived to report a problem.
“Her magic power looks like a grey ball,” Nightingale murmured from beside Roland’s ear—she had materialized without ceremony, as she always did—“but the shape isn’t fixed. It keeps shifting.”
“What’s her total?” Roland asked.
“The improvement is solid. Somewhere between Soraya and Maggie, currently.”
He nodded and looked at Evelyn. “What’s in the bottles?”
“Drinks I’ve made with the new ability. Over these past few days.” She set them on the desk with the careful movements of someone handling results she doesn’t fully trust. “They all taste different. I have no control over what comes out. The only consistency is that they can all be drunk.”
“Drinks?”
He found three cups and poured from each bottle in turn.
The first was a pale blue. He sipped it and paused. The taste was something between fruit juice and a cold mountain spring—clean, layered, with a quality of freshness that seemed almost structural rather than simply pleasant.
Just drinkable? The description she’d given was not adequate.
Chapter 666: The Good and Bad News
Translator: TransN Editor: Meh
A week later, Roland returned to the Border Area from Longsong Stronghold.
As soon as he entered the castle, he received two pieces of good news. The first was brought by Barov. “Your Majesty, the astrologers of the old king’s city arrived in Neverwinter three days ago. A total of 312 people came including artisans, apprentices, and their families. I’ve arranged nine astrologers to stay in the Foreign Affairs Building, while the others have been temporarily arranged to stay at the reception area.
“This group of people is finally here,” Roland thought for a moment, and then commanded. “Let’s hold a welcome party in the square this evening. I want the subjects of Neverwinter to know that there’s now another school in the town.”
As with alchemy, astrology had a high reputation among the general population. Usually, only the king’s city would possess both schools of thought. Now that the Astrology Association was approaching the Western Region, Neverwinter would become more accepted as the new king’s city.
However, Roland did not need this school of astrology divination. Instead, he really attached more importance to the astrologer’s computing power. For this era, they were absolutely regarded as the forefront of the mathematicians. Both analyzing the calendars and estimating the orbit of the stars needed a lot of calculations. If they had relevant knowledge of middle and advanced mathematics, they could undoubtedly be better on the previous foundation.
He intended to set up a School of Mathematics to allow these people to devote most of their time to calculating, apart from the occasional observation of the Star of Extinction—in this era where there was no computer, many scholars working together to complete some complex
operations was the most efficient choice. Whether it was for laying of railways in the future, constructing large ships, installing Longsong Cannon in the mountains or writing shooting manuals, these all required their help.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Barov nodded, and then asked, “I don’t know if your trip to Longsong…”
“I encountered a lot of problems.” Roland did not need to conceal anything in front of Barov, the City Hall Director. “The secondary City Hall of Longsong Stronghold has already started to show signs of dereliction of duty and corruption. Scroll has found many fake accounts, and two corrupt men were even arrested from the batch of officials from the Border Area.”
At this sentence, Barov could not help but swallow his spittle. “Are they my disciples?”
Roland was amused by the cautious look on Barov’s face. He shook his head reluctantly. “Even if they’re your disciples, I wouldn’t put the blame on you, so you can rest assured.”
“Your Majesty is wise,” Barov said hurriedly, “So are they the original people from the town?”
“Well, they were the second batch of graduates. After passing the assessment, they entered City Hall and then they were transferred to the Longsong Area with the entire team.” Roland sighed. “As of today, it has only been less than a year.”
At the moment, City Hall had cultivated a group of semi-leaders. One group came from the Longsong area, which followed the exact model of Border Town. Together with the locals Honeysuckle Petrov, Elk Rene and some minor nobility, they were a well-equipped group, just slightly smaller in numbers.
The other half was a small batch that went to Fallen Dragon Ridge. In addition to assisting Countess Spear to maintain the political situation, their secondary task was to establish a framework for the secondary City Hall.
There were also scholars from the Northern Region that came back with Edith Kant to learn about the management of City Hall. Together with these scholars, Roland could probably make up the other half in a short period of time.
He had already allocated these people to the Southernmost Region.
It was undoubtedly the local officials who could carry out Roland’s will who were the rarest of talents.
Without them as the foundation, even if Roland conquered the entire Kingdom of Graycastle, he would not be able to centralize the kingdom’s resources quickly—local governments were an important part of the centralization of authority. He could use the witches to promote science and technology, but he could not create a bunch of grass-roots officials from thin air.
The sub-aristocrats would never obey his orders willingly. In the eyes of the feudalists, the only important thing was the small acreage that they occupied.
Therefore, every person who had administrative experience was a rare treasure. After losing a few of them, Roland naturally felt depressed. Despite the inevitable corruption of the organization, he thought that they could persevere for more than a decade. He really did not expect to encounter such a problem in less than a year. The fact that the two corrupt people were born civilians also proved in some ways that once they had the power, they might be more likely to lose their way than the noble.
“Those who violate the law…”
“All have been dealt with severely.” Roland conceded. “To set an example for everyone else.”
This should help to maintain everything for a few years—Nightingale and Scroll’s ability temporarily preserved the integrity of the organization. But he also knew that the situation should be resolved in an alternative method, otherwise, the witches could easily be at risk again. And this time the enemy would come from the internal departments.
“Summon every one of City Hall to gather in the castle hall tomorrow. I’ll personally give them a briefing to talk about the importance of discipline and responsibility.”
Of course, there were also rewards and punishments—they should know how to choose when faced with the pressures and prospects of the Battle of Divine Will.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Barov bowed.
Looking at the old director’s back as he left, Roland was satisfied and had a sip of his tea.
He knew the reason for Barov’s loyalty—Barov enjoyed the satisfaction that the power brought whilst chasing power, and also made good use of his power at the same time. Barov was undoubtedly a very suitable person for the new regime. Perhaps in the future of City Hall, only he could contend with Edith.
The second good news came from Wendy.
“Evelyn’s ability has been evolved?” Roland was a little surprised when he heard the news.
As far as he could remember, Evelyn’s magic indicators were very balanced and did not seem prominent. He was quite surprised that she actually became the first witch on Sleeping Island to evolve.
“Yes… Agatha has confirmed this, but…” Wendy bitterly smiled. “The evolved ability is so weird that I don’t know how to describe it.”
“Take her to my office,” he said excitedly.
…
Evelyn went to the third floor of the castle, together with several glass bottles.
Roland noticed that each bottle was filled with different colors of liquid.
“Her magic power looks like a gray ball…” Nightingale whispered in his ear, “but the shape isn’t fixed.”
“What’s the total amount of magic power?”
“The level of improvement is good. At the moment, she’s between Soraya and Maggie.”
Roland nodded and looked at Evelyn. “What’s inside the bottles?”
“The drinks that I’ve made with my ability in these days.” She seemed a bit dejected. “They taste different, and I absolutely lose control of the last result… The only thing in common is that they all can be drunk.”
“Drinks?”
Roland’s curiosity grew immense.
He found a few cups and poured himself a glass from each bottle.
When he first tasted the light blue drink, it was indescribably delicious, like a fruit juice mix, but also with a hint of refreshing coldness.
Just drinkable? This is way too good a drink!