"No surprise. He must have negotiated with Timothy in King's City before coming to the Western Region." Roland smiled. "It would be very strange if he came directly to me first. A diplomat always hedges his bets. If I were him, I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket either."

"You mean... they might not stand on our side?"

"At least, they won't hurry to make a decision." He picked up the kettle to refill his tea cup. "When the King of Dawn receives this news, how much of it do you think he will believe?"

Nightingale searched for an answer for quite a while until she finally said, "I... don't know."

"Me neither." At these words, Nightingale pinched Roland's shoulder. He was not telling the truth. "One thing is obvious though. The King of Dawn is probably not going to swing to us because of this news. It sounds terrifying but it's something that will only happen several years from now. Besides, we can't even give him an exact date. The threat of the church, however, is right under his nose. Given that the church may launch the attack in the coming spring, he's most likely to stand by watching battles between Timothy and me until either of us wins. If he's clever enough, he'll probably be on good terms with both of us for future returns."

Politicians often handled these kinds of issues this way. They preferred smooth gains to risky investments, especially in the case of wars which were normally highly profitable. If there had been no threat from demons, Roland would have been happy to join this game, setting a trap for his opponent and then reaping some profits. But he was not in the mood for this diplomatic game now. In the following year, Border Town would have to launch an attack and stabilize the situation. A storm was brewing, and the ones who had a narrow vision and concentrated on immediate interests would have no future.

"Is it... good for us to tell them the news?" Nightingale asked in doubt.

"The Kingdom of Dawn isn't our real enemy, after all. I'm not sure how much the n.o.bles there will believe the story about demons, but they'll definitely spread the word about the church's ambition. It'll weaken the ruling of the church," Roland explained. "Without people's support, the church won't be able to use the kingdom's resources that easily."

When he broke the news to Otto, he only mentioned the part about demons, but not the part about the witches' empire and the two Battles of Divine Will.

The former was even more unbelievable than the existence of demons and might cause unwanted effects. It could be purposely distorted into a "witches' scheme" because of people's general hostility towards them.

The latter might shake people's confidence in fighting against the demons. They had failed twice before. What were their chances of winning this time?

Anyhow, he had already hinted that the two kingdoms should fight the demons together. As to the result, it would depend on the reply from the Kingdom of Dawn.

...

Three days later, Roland met Otto Luoxi again,

He could guess the answer from the disappointment in Otto's eyes.

"Personally, I'm more inclined to the alliance, but the priority now is to send the news to the Kingdom of Dawn as soon as possible instead of talking about the agreement details." Otto bowed and said, "so I'm here to bid you farewell."

"Hope to hear good news from you then." Roland nodded.

"Besides... Your Highness," Otto hesitated for a moment and said, "I would like to ask you a personal favor."

"What is it?"

"Please take good care of Andrea Quinn for me."

"Andrea was a witch from Sleeping Island. You should actually ask Tilly Wimbledon to do that, not me," Roland thought with a sigh, but still he gave his promise.

*******************

At the top of the castle, Andrea stood, facing the howling wind and looking south toward the Redwater River.

"Aren't you... going to the dock?" Shavi s.h.i.+vered in coldness, hiding behind her invisible barrier. "I hear he's going to lea-leave by boat. As a childhood playmate, you shou-should go to wish him a good trip."

"I can wish him one here, too." She heaved a sigh.

"A-Ashes said he never stops thinking about you."

"Don't listen to anything she's said," Andrea grunted. "She even praised that guy in front of Lady Tilly. A filthy mouth will never utter decent language."

"Eh, is, is that so?" Shavi said, her teeth chattering.

"Yes." She snorted. She noticed Shavi s.h.i.+vering. "If you feel that cold, go down now. You can come back to fetch me later."

"It’s, it's OK, I'll wait for you here." Shavi shook her head. "If, if I catch a cold, Miss Lily will cure me and I can take two, two days off. Then I'll have more time to play cards."

"That sounds reasonable." Andrea gave her a thumbs up and turned her gaze to the Redwater River. Through the falling snow, she could vaguely see some rising sails and something red fluttering at the top of a mast.

It was the sailing signal.

This was good. Time would dilute all the attention and forgetting would be better for everyone, she thought.

Andrea somehow knew Otto's love for her, but she still chose to avoid him. Both he and Oro Tokat should marry someone more suited to their status. They were the most famous n.o.ble families in the City of Glow. A relations.h.i.+p with either of them was doomed from the start. Besides, she was not willing to return to the land which had abandoned her.

Avoiding him was the best choice.

"Farewell, my friend," Andrea thought.

The looming sails soon disappeared on the horizon.

*******************

After sending off the messenger, Roland threw himself into the construction of Border Town.

The Tee Project which included a water supply, a power supply, and a heating system had officially launched. The three pipes were embedded in underground tunnels, reaching every residential community. It was easy to adapt each household because every residential house had been designed with reserve openings for the pipes. The key lay in the location of boilers and water towers.

In order to save materials and reduce loss during transportation as much as they could, Roland changed the plan. Instead of drawing water from the Redwater River, they would draw from underground springs. Given that Border Town was rich in underground water and the it was not deep, it was easy to dig wells. Besides, in this era, there was no need to take water pollution into consideration. With the help of Sylvie, Roland quickly picked out four spots as water access points for the town. They could purvey water not only for daily uses such as drinking and cleansing, but also for the heating system and boilers.