Chapter 818: The Neverwinter Power Rankings
Drow Silvermoon was overjoyed.
She embraced Lorgar the moment they met — a full, immediate embrace, the kind one chief might offer another chief, or a close blood relative. Lorgar’s hand had been halfway to the formal salute, the one hand-to-chest gesture appropriate for greeting the head of another clan. She ended up standing with her arm raised at an awkward angle, unsure where to put it, while Echo’s arms were already around her.
The chief showed none of the calculated distance that rank usually created between people. Within a few minutes she had insisted on the informal name — “Call me Echo, please” — and begun enthusiastically describing life in Neverwinter, her gestures growing larger as she built toward each new detail.
Lorgar listened and did not believe all of it.
She had heard tales about the northern kingdoms for years. They were organized around the same basic arrangements she already understood: a small number of people in high positions with access to comfort and security, and a large number of people below them who got by on whatever remained. The accounts Echo was giving her sounded like someone describing a Kingdom of God where illness was healed on request and no one went hungry. Lorgar had left the desert for the first time in her life, not because she expected to find paradise, but because she expected to find strong opponents. She adjusted her calibration accordingly and listened for what was factual rather than hopeful.
What she wanted from Neverwinter was simple: opponents strong enough to require everything she had.
When she mentioned the Wildflame clan’s plans — that her father was considering a migration to Port of Clearwater — she watched the room’s reactions carefully. The effect was instructive. Drow Silvermoon was delighted. Iron Axe furrowed his brow and said nothing, which was more informative. Only Echo asked the obvious question, asking it with transparent pleasure: Really? Great! Once Wildflame arrives, the Port of Clearwater will restore its former prosperity even faster!
“Ahem, Lady Echo.” Iron Axe caught her eye. “It’s still only a plan.”
“Ah. Yes, of course. You’re right.” Echo looked slightly embarrassed.
Lorgar had already understood the real dynamic. Wildflame had more than five thousand people — significantly more than all the Mojin immigrants currently at the Port of Clearwater combined. The northerners had arranged things here with smaller, competitive clans: easier to manage, easier to balance against each other. A dominant clan arriving intact would change that balance, and the people who had designed this arrangement had not designed it to absorb Wildflame’s weight. Iron Axe’s hesitation was not personal. It was structural.
She didn’t press the point. She was aware of the implications herself, including the part where her father’s arrival might incidentally benefit her clan at Graycastle’s expense — and that this was, from one angle, not entirely unwelcome. She was still Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan, whatever else she might be chasing.
In the days that followed, Lorgar walked the length of Clearwater Bay when she had no other occupation. She was in no hurry to leave for Neverwinter now that Ashes was here. She wanted to understand what she was traveling toward, and this place offered a partial view of it.
She was surprised by the pace of construction.
On the riverbank she found a row of hemispherical furnaces, dome-shaped and efficient, producing a new batch of bricks each day from a mixture of local earth and river sand. The furnaces burned not wood but a dark grayish stone shipped from the northwest — coal, she would learn, though the word was unfamiliar — that required refueling only once a day and burned for the full duration without requiring tending. The output compared favorably to charcoal in every visible way.
The brick-making operation employed mostly Mojin women and older workers, organized into groups for different tasks — digging earth, carrying stone — with marks pressed onto the workers’ arms by supervisors to track each individual’s daily contribution. The marks determined food allocation. The system was legible, consistent, and apparently accepted.
Construction itself was handled almost entirely by northerners. They used a gray powder mixed with water to produce a binding paste that bonded the stacked bricks into something more durable than the individual components. Every house followed the same design, the same dimensions, the same method. She could see new stories going up on structures that had had no second floor the day before.
The other thing she observed: the reactions of the workers to her appearance.
She had stopped covering her ears and tail when she left Iron Sand City. Most Mojin workers she encountered would avert their eyes when they saw her, pull subtly away. She was not surprised. She had grown up with those reactions; she had trained herself not to need them to go away. She had simply stopped pretending the ears and tail were not there.
But the Graycastle workers were different. They showed no fear. The braver ones greeted her directly. Several seemed merely curious, the way one is curious about a newcomer rather than afraid of something inhuman.
She asked Ashes about it.
“Half-human and half-beast isn’t unusual among the witches,” Ashes said, palms out in a gesture of casual equivalence. “There’s a witch named Maggie who transforms into things that would genuinely alarm you. She’s served as a rescue courier several times. Everyone’s gotten used to her.” She paused. “Even if you don’t look human, they won’t push you out.”
Lorgar turned this over. The determination she’d made — to embrace what she was, not to disguise it — had been formed in a context where that determination cost something. Apparently the cost was not universal.
She filed it away and thought of something else. “Are you the strongest witch in Neverwinter?”
Ashes was quiet for a moment. When she answered, she chose her words with more care than usual. “That depends on who the opponent is wearing.”
“The God’s Stone of Retaliation? It suppresses abilities?”
“Yes. Without it, I’m not certain I could defeat certain witches in the Witch Union.”
“Even you?” The information genuinely startled her.
“Before they evolved, probably. But their abilities after evolution passed beyond what speed and strength can simply overcome.” Ashes considered. “There’s a witch called Leaf. Within the territory controlled by her Heart of Forest, she becomes something like a deity — you fight the forest itself, not just her. Even with God’s Stone of Retaliation, escaping her terrain requires more than I have. If I had to fight every witch in Neverwinter, she would be the last one I’d want to face.”
Lorgar was already thinking faster. “Who else?”
“Anna. Not built for combat. But her raw ability is without ceiling — no God’s Stone means I can’t conceive of how to beat her. She’s also the most important witch in Neverwinter, and Roland’s—” Ashes paused with a very slightly complicated expression — “sweetheart. You won’t get a duel with her.” She counted on her fingers. “And Nightingale. If you start challenging witches regularly, you’ll get her attention. She’s particular about protecting the people she cares for, and her ability is strange enough that the normal framework for reading an opponent doesn’t apply. Avoid her if you can.”
Lorgar was noting each name, turning it into a record. “What about Maggie? You said she transforms into something large?”
“She’d be a real match for you in a duel.” Ashes paused. A meaningful pause, followed by a meaningful smile. “But I’d advise against it. Everyone who’s challenged her seems to encounter bad luck afterward. And if you accidentally hurt her, you’d have the entire Witch Union to deal with.”
Chapter 818: The Neverwinter Power Rankings
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Just like Ashes had said, Drow Silvermoon was overjoyed at Lorgar’s arrival. The Osha princess immediately gave her a warm hug. The Wolf Girl was surprised and did not know where to put her raised hand. Usually a chief of a clan only greeted another chief with a hug. Lorgar had intended to greet the new chief of Osha clan by bowing to her with a hand on the chest, though Silvermoon was one or two years younger than her.
During their conversation, the chief did not put on an air of superiority. When she heard that Lorgar was planning to go to Neverwinter with them, she immediately regarded her as a sister. She asked the Wolf Girl to call her Echo and happily introduced her to the new life of the witches in Neverwinter.
Lorgar did not believe everything that Echo had said. According to what she knew, no matter how abundant Graycastle’s resources was, it could never eliminate hunger. She guessed the chief might be exaggerating by describing the place as a Kingdom of God, where no one worried about hunger and illness which could be cured by witches.
Though this was the first time she left the desert, she had heard many tales about the northern kingdoms. She knew the kingdoms were just like the Iron Sand City where only a small group of people in high places could lead a luxurious life. She believed that as a Divine Lady who was no longer an heiress to the Wildflame clan, she would never be as lucky as the Osha princess who had gained the king’s appreciation.
But this was not a problem for Lorgar.
She just wanted to improve herself by fighting all those strong opponents in Neverwinter.
When she told them that her clan also considered moving to Port of Clearwater, they did not appear pleasantly surprised as she had expected. Iron Axe, Osha’s faithful dog, even knitted his eyebrows. Only Echo smiled and asked, “Really?” The Osha princess seemed excited and continued to say, “Great! As soon as the Wildflame clan comes here, it won’t be long before Port of Clearwater restores its prosperity of the past. His Majesty’s goal can be achieved earlier!”
“Ahem… Lady Echo.” Iron Axe eyed Echo. “It’s just their plan, and it won’t necessarily come true.”
“Ah, yes, I was too impatient.” Echo smiled, slightly embarrassed.
Lorgar immediately understood the reason for their cold response. As the former strongest clan, Wildflame had more than 5,000 people in total, significantly outnumbering all the Mojin immigrants here. More importantly, she believed that the northerners must have found that these small clans who were competing with each other were much easier to control as compared to some powerful big clan. She thought that they probably never expected that a clan in the Iron Sand City would decide that quickly to move here since the six big clans in the city did not have to worry that their oasis would dry up. These bigs clans were considered to be the most reluctant ones to leave the city, and most people even believed that they would never turn to the King of Graycastle.
She did not continue talking about this matter for she knew that the Wildflame clan moving here would increase the northerners’ influence and at the same time change the balance of powers in this area. She had to admit that it was not a bad thing if the Osha clan or the king failed to control the situation at that time and let her father grasp the power.
After all, she was still Prince Lorgar of the Wildflame clan.
…
In the next few days, Lorgar would walk along Clearwater Bay whenever she got a chance. As she had met Ashes here, she was not that eager to leave for
Neverwinter. She decided to use this period of time to examine carefully this evergreen land where Wildflame decided to settle down.
She soon discovered that the construction speed of Graycastle’s workers was way beyond her imagination. On the bank of the river, they built a row of hemispherical furnaces which could produce a new batch of bricks each day with a mixture of earth and river sand. And these furnaces did not burn wood but some gray-black stones shipped from the northwest. They only needed to be filled with these stones once in a day, since these stones could keep burning all day long, which seemed much better than charcoals.
Brick production was the part where more Mojins, mostly women and seniors, were involved. They were divided into several groups, digging earth or carrying black stones. For each basket a worker dug out or carried, the supervisor would press a mark on his or her arm. According to the Wolf Girl’s observation, the marks determined how much food a worker could get each day.
As for the construction work, she seldom saw Mojins engage in it. The northerners did everything. They mixed the water with some gray powder to make paste and used it when they stacked bricks. Each house was built with the same size, style and method. She could notice new changes in these buildings almost every day.
Another thing that greatly surprised her was how differently the Mojins and the people from Graycastle reacted when they saw her half-animal looks.
Since leaving the Iron Sand City, she no longer covered her fluffy tail and ears. Most Mojins would avoid her eyes when they saw her and try to back away from her, even though they had the same skin color. She was no stranger to this kind of reactions and was prepared for this.
Whereas the people from Graycastle did not show even the slightest bit of fear or hatred in front of her. Some braver ones even took the initiative to say hello to her and seemed to be used to this kind of looks.
She was baffled by their behavior and asked Ashes about this.
“Ah… you mean this. Isn’t it a usual thing for the witches?” The Extraordinary said while spreading out her palms. “Half human and half beast isn’t a rare thing. Someone can even totally transform into a beast.” She continued to explain, “For example, there’s a witch named Maggie. She looks much more scary than you after transformation. However, after she acted as a rescuer several times, everyone got used to her looks. Even if you don’t look human, they won’t ostracize you.”
Lorgar wiggled her wolf ears and thought, “Uhm… Is that true? In that case, my determination to embrace my defects and accept my true self was not necessary at all?”
She suddenly thought of another question. “Ah, are you the strongest witch in Neverwinter?”
“Well…” The Wolf Girl did not know whether it was an illusion, but she did feel that Ashes looked more serious now. “That depends on the types of my opponents. One type of witches can wear God’s Stone of Retaliation. The other type of witches usually don’t wear them.”
“They’re not able to use their abilities wearing God’s Stones, are they?”
“Yes. Without God’s Stone, I’m not sure I can defeat some witches in the Witch Union.”
“Even you can’t defeat them?” Lorgar was shocked.
Ashes nodded. “I believe I could before they evolved, but their improved abilities were beyond common sense. They’re not something you can fight with using just speed and strength. For example, there’s a witch called Leaf. When you fight with her within the area controlled by her Heart of Forest, she’ll become as powerful as the deities. It’ll be extremely hard to escape from her trap in the woods, even if you wear God’s Stone of Retaliation. If I have to fight against the witches of Neverwinter, she’s definitely the last one I want to meet.”
The Wolf Girl was thrilled when she heard this. “Who else?”
“Anna. Although she’s not good at combat, her ability is impeccable. Without God’s Stone, I can’t imagine how to defeat her. I mean in a duel. But since she’s the most important witch in Neverwinter and Roland’s sweetheart, you’ll never get a chance to fight her.” Ashes continued while counting on her fingers. “And Nightingale. If you often challenge the Neverwinter witches, you’ll definitely attract her attention. As she’s touchy and has a really weird ability, you’d better avoid fighting her.”
Lorgar wagged her tail, imprinting the names on her memory one by one. “So… what about Maggie? You said she could transform into a big beast?”
“Yes, she’ll make a well-matched rival for you in a duel, but I’d advise you not to do so.” Ashes seemed to think of something and smiled meaningfully. “That’s because all the people who challenged her could not get rid of bad luck, and if you accidentally hurt her, you’d incur the wrath of the entire Witch Union.”