A sail peeked over the end of the light gray horizon. There were no other merchant s.h.i.+ps around, so it had to be a s.h.i.+p from Sleeping Island.

"Uh-huh," Tilly gently replied, her voice m.u.f.fled by the sounds of the sea was.h.i.+ng onto the shoals. She had turned her back to Roland, so he could not see her face.

"We're leaving now," Andrea said regrettably. "I really liked your domain, and I've no idea if I can make the same delicious ice cream bread as you have here when I'm back at Sleeping Island."

Along with a bolt rifle, Roland had given her the ice cream recipe as well. "As long as you have eggs and milk, it won't taste too bad. When you come back to Border Town… no, City of Neverwinter next time, I'll have more delicious food for you."

"Will it be even tastier than ice cream?" Andrea held her stray hair and said with a laugh, "You'd better not lie to me. I have your word."

"If you're reluctant to leave, you could stay here," Ashes laid out her hands and said. "Princess Tilly definitely won't mind leaving such a gluttonous witch like you behind—you won't be allowed to eat as much as you want on Sleeping Island."

"Is that true? I won't give you any ice cream when we get back." Andrea stared at her. "You should just eat your dried fish and drink your fishy soup every day."

As they continued to bicker, the sailboat neared the coast. The flying pink flag on the top of the mast told everyone it was the Charming Beauty.

Shavi summoned the invisible barrier, which allowed her to travel and move between the shoal and the s.h.i.+p, enabling her to carry all the books, goods and materials to the s.h.i.+p, without docking. Then, she carried the card-playing three and Princess Tilly, but as Tilly was stepping into the barrier, Roland called her name.

"… What?" She turned her head, her eyes revealing a complex mixture of emotions.

Roland was not good at saying goodbye and had stopped her without forethought. He took a deep breath and shouted, "If you have any problems on Sleeping Island, you can tell me. I'll do my best to help you. And remember that you're always welcome in the City of Neverwinter."

"... " Tilly smiled after a moment. "Thank you, and you too."

"Goodbye, everyone." Andrea and Shavi shouted while waving their hands.

Ashes did not say anything and just waved her hand too.

After their farewell, the barrier carried the witches to the Charming Beauty quickly.

"What's wrong? You don't want them to leave?" Nightingale asked from behind him.

"I just think it's a pity. There are 300 witches... It would be wonderful if they all moved to the Western Region," said Roland with a fake casualness.

"Yeah, and then you'd feel even more guilty." Nightingale rolled her eyes at him.

"Guilty?" Roland felt terrified and asked.

"Why? Living here is better than living on Sleeping Island, isn't it?" Anna was also confused.

"You wouldn't understand, even if I told you." Nightingale turned around and walked towards the hot air balloon. "And that's the most irritating part."

Watching her walk away, Roland felt a sense of relief. Nightingale had disappeared for the last two days, and now she was finally back to normal, so he had nothing to worry about.

"Let's go. There're a lot of things for us to do," Wendy said while smiling.

"OK." Roland and Anna smiled and walked to Cloud Gazer while holding hands.

...

Back in his office, Roland opened his notebook and thought about how he would develop his domain in the coming year.

Undoubtedly, there were two things of the utmost importance that needed addressing.

The first thing to do was to dethrone Timothy and stop him from diminis.h.i.+ng the countrymen with the Berserk Pills. This could also greatly expand Roland's reputation and prepare everyone for the unification of the Kingdom of Graycastle.

The second was to absorb Longsong Stronghold as soon as possible to put the City of Neverwinter on the track for construction.

Iron Axe, Carter, Theo in King's City, and he had already discussed the former many times, and they decided to launch the spring offensive at the end of April, which would be at the end of this month. It was the plowing time in many cities, which would not affect the professional First Army, but would affect the traditional n.o.ble, because people would be constrained by their crops and unwilling to start a war at the risk of starvation. If the army suddenly appeared at the outskirts of King's City, Timothy would be totally unprepared.

The steam engine plant, ammunition factory, and concrete boat plant were all busy producing resources for battle. Meanwhile, logistics operations were at full speed. Plus the City Hall boasted enough manpower, and the First Army was experienced in battles. Roland had a good grasp on the necessary resources and their deployment, so he was not worried at all about either.

The most important thing at the moment was to utilize the resources of Stronghold.

Thinking of this, Roland told Barov to come to his office.

"Have you cataloged all of the industries in Longsong Stronghold and its surrounding territories?"

Barov pulled out a notebook. "It's all in here, Your Highness. The primary income was from the mining industry and salt industry, especially the former—there was a high-quality gem mine to the west of Longsong Stronghold near the Impa.s.sable Mountain Range, whose output accounted for more than half of the Stronghold's income."

"Gem mine?" Roland was not interested in luxuries. "Isn't there also a gem mine in the North Slope Mine? Why did that town appear so poorly last time I visited?"

"It's not the same, Your Highness." Barov rubbed his hands and said, "The gems of the North Slope Mine are the byproducts of other mineral veins, so the quant.i.ty is very small, and they might not even be good enough to be made into jewelry when they're cut. But the gem mine in Stronghold is full of colorful stones on the prism, and each of them can easily be made into a high-quality multicolored stone. The gems are worth dozens of gold royals once sold in King's City, and the output and quality are far better than that of the gems from the North Slope Mine."

"A multicolored stone?" Roland asked curiously, "What does it look like?"

"It's generally transparent and has no fixed color. It reflects many different colors under the sunlight, from light green to orange-red, and it shows multiple colors after being cut. It's more like crystallized sunlight than a normal ruby or sapphire." Barov paused. "The multicolored stone of the Kingdom of Graycastle, the Ice Stone of the Kingdom of Everwinter and the luminary stone of the Kingdom of Dawn are the most popular gems among the n.o.ble."

"That gem sounded pretty luxurious." Roland thought. "Maybe it could be used to make a ring for Anna. But, the gem mine has little value when talking about the improvement of people's livelihood.'" Roland asked, "Any other mineral resources?"

"The Maple Family and the Wild Rose Family each have an iron ore mine," Barov said, "but, they're both smaller than the North Slope Mine."

"The domains of the two families are both surrounded by the Impa.s.sable Mountain Range—these mountains crossing the Four Kingdoms may be full of treasure," Roland thought. "Maybe I can explore along the foot of the mountain with Sylvie to find an ore reserve for the City of Neverwinter. After all, steel is a powerful resource for industrial manufacturing."