Enjoy

"Do you think he will agree?" after Petrov left, Nightingale asked next to his ear.

"I do not know, and the light promise he did say is not that useful, he has to persuade his father, Count Hull, first," Roland took a sip of his hot tea, "If despite everything, he still intends to be a fief lord, it would only be a pity."

"But you're not going to give up, are you?" she jokingly said.

"Of course not," the corner of Roland's lips curled upwards, "As a n.o.ble person he was never pompous, and he has always tried grasping opportunities. In business and trade he was also exceptionally good, so as long as he has practiced a year in Longsong Stronghold, I was sure he would become an excellent official who could single handedly take care of issues."

"If he manages to persuade Count Hull, are you really going to leave the management of King's City to him?"

"If I unify Greycastle Kingdom, the kingdom's capital will naturally have to be moved&h.e.l.lip; And for a city that is far from the western region, it is best to leave its management to someone who was dispatched from the west, so the pledge that I did was not only empty words." Roland, later in the conversation, disclosed to Petrov that from that point onwards, no land would be given to any n.o.bility, and after the consolidation of Greycastle, the entire ruling system of the kingdom will be based on a new model. Together with the enforcement of the law, policies, and regulations, all the power and authority would be centralized. If he decided to stay, Longsong Stronghold wouldn't be the peak of his political career, and being in charge of a big city, or becoming a chief bureaucrat of the central administrative committee, was not impossible.

As to what he could achieve, it would be up to his own ability.

Roland could only hope that Petrov would be able to understand the expectations of him placed in his remarks.

"Well, in any case, I don't really get it," Nightingale patted him on the shoulder, "but the new witch is coming soon, so it would be better if you could leave for a while."

"Are you going to question her alone?"

"I will call Wendy over," she answered next to him, then smiled as she continued, "She is better at these things, compared to me."

For security reasons, the Witch Union (which was mainly Scroll's proposal), when accepting a foreign witch, would have her ident.i.ty confirmed first by Nightingale's ability. Because in order for her to identify the lies, the G.o.d Punishment Stone locket had to be removed, by not having Roland present, it lowered the chances of a witch going ahead and attacking, causing an accident.

Scroll even came up with ten common questions in order to confirm ident.i.ties, for example, 'Where do you come from?', 'What's your real name?', 'Do you know the prince?', 'Are you hostile towards the prince?', etc. Considering that Nightingale could only judge if a person was telling the truth, and could not see the authenticity of the statement with certainty, these questions were made so they would inquire from every point, leaving no blind spot. Even if you could find a way around one or two of them, it was impossible to reply to all of them in detail if you were lying.

Roland himself was quite distressed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, but considering this a gesture of kindness from the witches, he just went along with them.

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After leaving the reception room, he went back to his office and immediately called for the city hall's Chief Minister Barov.

Petrov's report about the discovery of a new witch in Longsong Stronghold, made him realize his own negligence. Although he awarded Nana a decoration in the stage he set, therefore officially declaring the existence of witches in Border Town, he had not prepared a policy or statement to directly explain the treatment and status that the witches would receive. So maybe Border Town may also have a situation like the Stronghold—where a witch who has awakened to her powers, would still choose to hide her ident.i.ty, instead of actively taking the initiative to stand out.

After Barov crossed the doorway, Roland immediately said, "I'm going to issue a long-term recruitment announcement, its contents will be those drafted in this paper."

He received the draft and after taking a quick glance at the doc.u.ment said, "You&h.e.l.lip; will recruit witches at a monthly salary of a gold royal?"

"Yes," Roland nodded and continued, "this is also the standard salary in the Witch Union." In this time and age, a salary of gold royals was without doubt one only the top positions would get, the wages in Border Town were generally higher than those of other cities, even the highest paid job in the acid manufacturing factory had climbed up to 20 silver royals, but even then, a witch received five times that amount.

This recruiting notice not only showed the witches' treatment, but also served to confirm their status.

"Since your goal is to get more witches, why not have people look for them?" Barov asked, "Like when you used the citizens to report on possible spies, they have the sharpest eyes after all."

Now even Mister Chief Minister had learned the tricks of the 'way of the people's war' The prince kept a neutral face, but was happy from the bottom of his heart, and after waving his hand he said, "Then, won't I have to pay them a bonus too? Isn't that the same trick the Church uses?

"But&h.e.l.lip; it will be in order to attract witches, not to hang them."

"Although that's the idea, the witches exposed by the people might think that I'm forcing them, and although those who have recently awakened to their powers this past year had not suffered from persecution, this cannot be compared with the situation of those outside of Border Town," Roland openly stated, "I want them to come up voluntarily, and contribute to Border Town with their strength."

Aside from the witches' personal preference, what he was more worried about was that, if a decree declared that those who found a witch would be rewarded, or those who gave birth to a witch would receive a prize, it would likely cause a wave of "whistleblowers", or maybe they will regard giving birth to a witch as a "business". But hard work is better than having a witch, although in the short-term, this could dramatically reverse the witches' position, in the long-term, this type of policy would have a negative impact on the slogan "Hard work leads to wealth" from Border Town's propaganda. Therefore, by simply aiming for the witches' recruitment, this situation would effectively be avoided.

Barov just bowed and went back, afterwards Wendy came in to hand over the results of the new witch's questioning and placed them on the table, "Your Highness, I have confirmed her ident.i.ty, it is basically the same as what the Honeysuckle's eldest son said, there is no problem."

"See?" Roland said with a smile, "You were too cautious."

"But this level of prudence is necessary," Wendy insisted in saying, "your personal safety is the matter of most importance, so we need to make sure."

"Alright," he was feeling a little touched, and after taking a deep breath he said, "Then, bring her in."

The girl was about fifteen or sixteen years old, she had dirty dark-brown hair, and her eyes revealed some timidity and restlessness. This was probably the first time she had walked into a carpeted room, so she looked around in panic, it seemed that she didn't know where to put her hands and feet.  

According to what was written in the doc.u.ment, she called herself Paper, and was born on the outskirts of Longsong Stronghold. She became an orphan after a heavy snowfall three years ago, which was kind of a similar experience most of the western region's homeless children had gone through. They would either die while scavenging for food, or would join the underground street mice, becoming either a thief, a goon or a scapegoat.

"You&h.e.l.lip;" Roland couldn't think of anything good to say for a moment. She didn't have the ability to adapt like Agatha, nor was she strong-minded like Anna, and even Mistery Moon and Lily, they had been companions and sisters of the Cooperation a.s.sociation before. As a young girl in a new and strange place, she was probably still in a state of panic, so he was afraid it would take some time before she could get used to this new lifestyle. And from the report Petrov gave him, her ability to quickly melt the snow was most likely related to temperature.

In any case, there is no hurry to test her ability, after she feels more comfortable I can slowly comprehend it. Thinking up to here, he turned to look at Wendy and said, "The long voyage should have exhausted her, lead her to take a shower, then have her take a good rest. Her housing should be arranged in the witches' building, and as for magic-related matters, I leave it to you to teach her anything needing attention, okay?"

"Of course," she smiled, "as you wish."