Chapter 949: The Future of Witches

The new Sleeping Spell was not a building. It was a neighborhood.

Nearly seven thousand square meters of frame construction — four-story concrete-poured houses, the technology fully tested, using the same interior plan as the Witch Building. The roads had water and heat. In the middle of the residential cluster stood a two-story conference hall, built specifically to give the Sleeping Island witches a space for organizing their own gatherings. The welcome banquet had been held there on their first night in Neverwinter. Now, half a month later, the hall was full again.

Tilly stood at the podium. The room was quiet in the particular way that rooms go quiet when the person speaking has everyone’s attention before she opens her mouth.

She read out the recruitment order from Roland Wimbledon and the details of the new salary system.

“Thirty percent of the revenue generated by your work will go to the Sleeping Spell. That money will expand the district, improve conditions here, cover what the community needs.” She spoke with the easy energy of someone who had done the math and liked what it showed. “Your first thought might be that my brother has undercut me — we pooled all income on Sleeping Island too, after all. But there’s a difference. On the island, the merchants attached conditions: grain purchased at their prices, goods purchased at their prices, the commission effectively clawed back from underneath. Here, there are no strings. The amount Roland is offering will exceed what we actually cleared on the island, for work that requires only magic and carries none of the danger.”

Soft laughter moved through the room.

“But there’s more I haven’t mentioned yet.” Tilly let her voice sharpen slightly. “On the island, however much we earned, it went into the pool and came out as bread and cotton. You never held it in your hands. Now you will. And you’ll decide how it’s used.” She looked out across the rows of watching faces. “Open the envelopes on your tables.”

Molly had been watching the envelope marked with the Graycastle High Tower seal since she sat down. She’d left it untouched, waiting, though she wasn’t sure why — some instinct that this moment deserved to be held properly. She tore it open the moment Lady Tilly spoke.

“Is this… Gwent?” Shadow leaned over from the next chair. “The card game?”

“Look at yours.” Molly tilted her body to block Shadow’s line of sight.

“Fine.”

Inside the envelope was a single sheet of paper — palm-sized, impossibly glossy on one face and subtly uneven beneath her fingers. It bent easily without creasing the way ordinary paper did, which was the first thing she noticed. The second thing was that it was beautiful. Not decorated-beautiful, not in the way expensive cloth was beautiful — but made-beautiful, as if every element of it had been considered.

The front bore the High Tower and Spears emblem of Graycastle. The back showed a mountain rising toward a rising sun. Below each image, small and precise: Issued by the Graycastle Royalty and For exclusive use by witches. At the four corners, three numerals — each a “10” — and a symbol she didn’t recognize.

When she rotated it slightly, the patterns caught the light and turned gold. Not printed gold. Actual shimmer, as though threads of metal had been woven invisibly into the surface.

“It isn’t a Gwent card,” Shadow said, already holding her own up to examine it. “The numbers on the Gwent cards are all on the same side.”

“Is it a gift from His Majesty Roland?”

“Lady Tilly said it’s a reward—”

“Mine looks the same as yours.” Orbit had come over from across the hall. She held hers alongside Molly’s in comparison.

“What does the symbol mean?”

“I’ve seen it somewhere. I think.”

“Maybe it means ten royals?”

The room buzzed. The witches turned the papers over, compared them, angled them for the light. Several had clearly never seen anything printed to this level of precision and couldn’t stop looking.

Lady Tilly waited. When the noise began to settle, she resumed.

“What you’re holding is called a note. It functions as currency — like coins, but made of paper. The difference is that this kind is issued only to witches and can only be spent by witches.”

“It’s a paper gold royal?” someone asked from the back.

“You could think of it that way. But it can buy things that gold royals can’t.” Tilly nodded. “The ten-yuan note in your hand is good for one full bottle of Chaos Drink, or five servings of strawberry ice cream, at the shops in the Castle District.”

Molly’s mouth watered before she’d finished processing the words.

She still thought about the welcome banquet. Most of it — the sheer variety of it — had been unlike anything she’d imagined food could be. But the ice cream had been the thing she kept returning to. The color of it. The texture that was somehow both dense and yielding. The flavor that seemed to encompass every version of sweetness she’d ever tried and then exceed them without effort. She’d eaten the one serving she was given and spent the rest of the evening not thinking about asking for more. She’d thought about it almost every day since.

Five of those. For one piece of paper.

The hall’s energy was rising around her, and she wasn’t immune to it.

“There will be more than food available,” Tilly continued. “Clothing, daily goods — every new product made in Neverwinter will be available in Castle District shops to note-holders before anywhere else.” She spoke over the growing murmur with practiced ease. “Notes are your compensation for joining the recruitment drive. The more hours you work, the more you receive. But I want to be direct about one thing: this is not a requirement. It isn’t a necessity. Those who choose not to work will still be well provided for — that won’t change. Think of notes as an additional quality of life, not a baseline. The choice is yours individually.”

The room didn’t break into noise after she finished. The witches kept their attention on her. Something in her posture said she wasn’t done.

“But this isn’t only about enjoyment.” Tilly’s tone settled into something quieter and more careful. “Do you remember what you thought when you first awakened? What most of you wanted, more than anything — just a place where witches could live alongside ordinary people without being hunted. Just that.”

She let it land.

“So this concerns the future of every one of us. There won’t be a better opportunity than this one — to let more people truly understand who we are.”

Chapter 949: The Future of Witches

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

The new Sleeping Spell was not just a single building, but a residential district of nearly 7000 square meters.

As a key construction zone, it was not only equipped with water and heat supply, but the buildings were four-story frame houses that utilized the fullytested concrete-pouring technology. The interior plan was exactly the same as that of the Witch Building.

Apart from that, Roland also established in the middle of the neighborhood a two-story conference hall for the Sleeping Island witches to organize activities.

On the first night that migrants arrived in Neverwinter, their welcome banquet was conducted here. And now, half a month later, the hall was once again packed full of witches.

Under the gaze of the audience, Tilly walked on to the podium and announced the recruitment order from Roland Wimbledon, as well as a brand-new salary system.

“… Work arrangements will be like this. 30% of the revenue brought in by witches shall be granted to the Sleeping Spell. This money will be used to improve everyone’s lives, expand the scale of the district, and for other necessities,” she spoke fervently with a slight smile. “It may seem, on first impression, that I’ve been undercut by my elder brother. After all, you may know that when we were in Sleeping Island, we collected all of the commission paid by the Fjords’ merchants, but in reality, they took the opportunity to put forth several conditions, such as making sure we purchased their grains and products at high prices, and thus the money we

obtained at the end of the day was heavily reduced. There aren’t as many strings attached over here.”

“This amount that Roland is offering will certainly exceed our income in Sleeping Island. Plus, the work will generally require nothing except magic power, and there won’t be any excursions to dangerous places. Hence, our work lives will be much easier. On comparison, it’s clear that I didn’t get undercut, and I can even be said to be the one taking advantage instead.”

Her words induced soft bursts of laughter from the listening crowd.

“But!” Tilly abruptly raised her voice. “There’s more reward which I haven’t mentioned. In the past, no matter how much money we received from the Fjords’ merchants, the money had to be pooled because of how destitute Sleeping Spell was. In the end, the only things handed out to everyone were bread, cotton, and other such common things.”

“But now, everyone will receive substantial rewards and not a bunch of intangible numbers. It’ll be up to each person to decide how these rewards are used. Please open the envelopes on your tables now.”

Molly had long noticed the envelope marked with a Graycastle High Tower stamp but had held off from touching it. She wasted no time tearing it open at the instant Lady Tilly made the request.

“Is this… Gwent, the new card game?” Shadow, who was sat beside Molly, bent her head over curiously.

“Take a look at your own.” Molly turned her body sideways to block the latter’s sight.

“Gee.”

The envelope contained a palm-size paper which could not be any more glossy on appearance, yet that felt uneven on touch. Although it could be bent easily, it did not leave creases like normal paper.

Molly knew she liked the paper from her first sight of it.

It was, quite simply, a work of art.

Although it was much alike the Gwent cards which were popular within the Witch Union, she could tell the difference between them. It was extremely exquisite in design; the patterns on it were not just gorgeous and colorful, but also highly intricate, as if the lines were drawn using threads of hair. More than simply filling up space, they formed a variety of images and words.

For instance, on the front side of the paper was a High Tower and Spears emblem, while the rear side displayed a high mountain being shone on by the rising sun. Under each image were written the captions “Issued by the Graycastle Royalty” and “For exclusive use by witches”, while the four corners of the paper were inscribed with three “10”s and an unknown symbol.

The thing that Molly was fond of was that the images on both sides would reflect golden light when the paper was rotated slightly, as if the patterns were lined with gold.

“Uh… I guess it isn’t a Gwent card.” Shadow had also discovered the paper’s uniqueness. “I remember that the numbers on the cards were all on the same side.”

“Is this a gift from His Majesty Roland?”

“But Lady Tilly clearly said that this is a reward.”

“Oh… yours is the same as mine?” Orbit came over from the other side of the hall and joined in the conversation.

“Everyone’s should be the same.”

“What does this symbol mean?”

“Not sure, but I seem to have seen it somewhere…”

A flurry of whispering voices emerged in the conference hall. The witches were all fascinated by these lovely pieces of paper they had just obtained. It was only when Lady Tilly began to speak again that the discussions abated.

“The thing you’re holding is called a note. It has the same function as coins, the difference being that this type of note is only given to witches and can only be used by witches.”

“Lady Tilly, you mean that it’s a gold royal made of paper?” Someone asked.

“You may understand it that way. But it can be used to buy certain things which are hard to purchase with gold royals.” Tilly nodded. “For example, the 10 yuan note that everyone’s holding can be used to obtain a full bottle of Chaos Drink or five servings of strawberry ice cream in the Castle District.”

Molly began to salivate irresistibly.

She still fondly remembered the few types of delicacy she tasted at the welcome banquet; they were above anything she had ever imagined. In particular, the latter’s rich pink color, soft texture, and luscious flavor seemed to bring together the finest descriptions she could conceive of. When compared to it, the salty fish soup of the Fjord Islands could not even be called food.

And now, this beautiful piece of paper could be used to redeem a whopping five portions of the delicacy she could never forget.

Judging from the fervent reaction of the crowd, she was not the only one who was hugely excited about this.

“And, of course, there’ll be more than just food to redeem, such as things to wear and use. Any new goods produced in Neverwinter will be first available in the Castle District’s shops.” Tilly continued aloud. “To put it simply, notes will be your reward for responding to this recruitment drive. The amount that you receive will also be adjusted according to your number of working hours. I should, however, point out that it isn’t a living necessity. Even those who choose not to work will be well looked after. It can more accurately be seen as a prize that adds a little extra to life. Thus, whether or not to accept recruitment shall be left to each one of you to decide.”

Surprisingly, a boisterous discussion did not ensue. All of the witches continued to place their attention on Lady Tilly, perhaps knowing that their

leader had more to say.

“But, my sisters, this matter isn’t only about enjoyment.” Tilly slowed her tone. “Remember the unfair treatment we faced after our awakenings? At that time, most of us had the same thought – that it would be good enough for there to be a place where witches may live together with normal people.”

After a short pause, she continued in an assertive tone. “So, this concerns the future of all our sisters. There won’t be a better opportunity to allow more people to understand us.”