While blowing a steam whistle, the s.h.i.+p slowly left the Shallow Beach.

Joan was standing at the stern, reluctantly bidding farewell to the Exploration Group—after a whole winter, her relations.h.i.+p with the witches had improved a lot. This rare friends.h.i.+p was particularly strong probably because it had been such a long time since someone had cared for her or had missed her.

Though it sounded dry and hard, she just kept repeating the phrase "Goodbye," which she had just learned before leaving.

Lightning's expression looked quite lonely. She looked in the direction of the stern, her eyes wide open. Many times Roland came close to telling her that Thunder was on the boat. However, he thought of the latter's entrustment and eventually pushed the urge back into the bottom of his heart.

Maggie had covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking and with her eyes filled with tears. She was unable to make any sound for quite some time, probably because she was afraid of crying.

Only Lorgar remained calm. She was carrying Maggie on her tail, Lightning with her one hand and waving at Joan with her other hand—parting forever was something common for the Mojins so she had grown used to it.

In Roland's eyes, Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan was not the loner she was when she first came to Neverwinter. She had already started changing even though she probably had not noticed it yet.

This was also a reason why Roland decided not to tell her.

With such a group of friends, he was sure that Lightning would return to her previous energetic self sooner or later.

As for the sisters that left, for now, they would all eventually return.

On the following day after Thunder's departure, Roland announced the news of king's city's first National Sports Meeting through Graycastle Weekly newspaper.

There was only one event. Marathon.

The starting points would be the main city areas of both Neverwinter and Longsong while the finis.h.i.+ng point would be the center of the Kingdom Main Street—a total distance of twenty-eight kilometers. The first ten would win a prize ranging from 100 to 10 gold royals and the champion would receive a commemorative badge from the king himself.

This news instantly shook the entire Western Region!

Soon, everyone in the streets and alleys was inquiring about the event, and the fuss was no less than the release of the magic movie.

If 100 gold royals were used as a down payment, one could buy a home with water, heat, and electricity in the nearest district to the Castle District. Apart from those locals who moved at the very beginning, this was the objective for most Neverwinter citizens.

Although the new king's city did not have an inner and outer city like traditional cities, and there were no walls between each area, people still wished to be closer to His Majesty the King.

Usually, achieving such a goal would require many years of savings but now there was an opportunity to realize it instantly!

This was different from the Outstanding Contribution Award and the Combat Hero Award—the former was given to masters of their respective fields. Even without the gold royals of the prize, they still would not miss the money. As for the latter, it would require a willingness to sacrifice your own time, courage, and also luck. However, what about the Sports Meeting?

One only had to know how to run!

Everybody had two legs after all.

In everyone's eyes, this was another proof of His Majesty compa.s.sion and kindness towards his people.

In the past, all good policies were directed towards official residents. However, this time, what was more gratifying for most people was that this event was for "all citizens", exactly as it was announced in the weekly newspaper.

Not only citizens of Neverwinter but even merchants coming from other cities could partic.i.p.ate.

So it was not surprising that this novel activity had created such a big impact.

Of course, what Roland wanted to do was not just to watch a compet.i.tion and see who is the faster runner—a sports meeting was useful in strengthening cohesion, encouraging people to challenge themselves and work hard. As the aftermath of the Victory Day's celebration and the last call before the start of the war, there was nothing more inspiring than a sports meeting.

Also, he had one more small intention.

To announce the comeback of the bike.

He had always felt guilty about the failure of the product of his early policy—the proud invention of the King of Graycastle, chief Barov's advertis.e.m.e.nt presentation, as well as the posters that had filled the square everywhere at that time. Yet, after producing no more than two hundred vehicles, they had to stop the distribution due to lack of productivity. The factory was converted into the steam engine a.s.sembly plant and almost half of the finished products were given to the workers as salary remuneration.

Not only had he failed to realize the scene he had envisioned of everyone riding a bike between the city's districts, but also lost a lot of resources due to improper planning—for example, all those specific machines and equipment used for producing the bike parts were recycled and the remaining half of the bikes, because they were too few to deliver them to the First Army, were stored in a warehouse in the end.

From all the projects that he set up personally, this was the only one that didn't bring any benefit.

That's why he had to erase this black stigma.

Nowadays, the situation in the city was completely different from two or three years ago—a crazy expansion had brought a dramatic increase of the urban areas. Newly constructed districts had been built along Kingdom Main Street and the distance to major workplaces such as factories, docks, and mines was increasing more and more. Walking had become a time-consuming and tiresome activity whereas the perfection of the city streets had allowed the bike riders to easily reach more places.

On the other hand, the productivity of Neverwinter had also been greatly improved. With the application of rubber worms and new machine tools, they could produce the same results as the witches, without any impact on existing projects.

So, now it was a good time to bring up the subject of the bikes.

As long as he let the Second Army follow the group of marathon runners on their bikes and act as guides and accident rescuers, everyone would naturally realize the benefit of this type of transport.

As a result, the biggest mistake he had made since coming into power would no longer exist.

Roland thought with confidence.

"Huh? Is this the Great Chief's city?" Guelz Burnflame walked out of the cabin and rubbed his cheeks, "This concrete s.h.i.+p is powerful indeed but it's too noisy. I'd go deaf if I had to stay for another two to three days.

"Father, are you really not going to hide your face tattoos and then change to some northern kingdom clothes?" Rohan closely followed him and said, "Those people at the docks...everyone is staring at us."

"It doesn't matter, let them stare."

"But..."

"Are you worried about being discriminated?" Guelz glanced at him, "If a Mojin traveler's appearance is so hard for them to accept then what kind of life my daughter is having? The great chief said that in his domain, everyone is the same. I'd like to see if he has lied to the Three G.o.ds."

After the mention of Lorgar Burnflame, Rohan stopped talking and did not try to persuade him anymore.

The chief shook his head secretly. It seemed that his fight-adept sister was still having a heavy influence on him.

Guelz did not come all the way from the Port of Clearwater to here on a whim—the Sand Nation people who decided to move to the small oasis had finally won the revenge battle which lasted for two months, under the guidance of Brian. The masterminds behind the ma.s.sacre of Silver Stream, the Wildwave clan, and the Cut Bone clan, had been destroyed and the six clan system of the Iron Sand City had since become history.

He was bringing a message from Brian.

Such a task did not have to be carried out by a family leader, but because of the war, the Wildflame clan missed the coronation ceremony of the great chief and so it was only appropriate for him to bring the news of their victory as a late gift in order to show his sincerity.

Guelz was also curious to see how was Lorgar doing.

She would never mention her troubles in her letters so it was best for him to see with his own eyes.

Had she lost weight? As there were no Firelantern Wine or grilled sandworms here.