10 Finalizing the Agreement

Everyone was gathered in Roland's office for the meeting. The first person who spoke up was Zero. "It is time for the truth", she announced. "I am actually Zero, and the one pretending to be me is actually Isabella".

Roland was completely unsurprised by her statement. "I know", he said.

Zero sighed before saying, "I have come to the decision that we do need to work together. But we must first work out the specifics of our agreement."

"You must end the persecution of witches", Roland said authoritatively.

Zero let out a long sigh and said, "I am afraid that will be most difficult. That policy has been deeply ingrained within the church and it would be very hard to reverse our position on it. There would be a great amount of instability and many believers would lose their trust in us."

"I don't care. You must stop killing witches", demanded Roland. "This is non-negotiable. If you do not comply with this demand, then there is nothing else for us to discuss. The killing of witches will end, be it by your actions or mine."

"Fine", spat out Zero. "We will reverse our policy. However, I cannot guarantee that local lords will not do it on their own."

"That will be sufficient", Roland responded. "As long as the church stops sponsoring those actions, then that is fine. I will deal with anyone else who continues to hunt down witches."

"During my time here at Neverwinter, I have seen how you have put the people to use. Your weapons are as astounding as you say. I will admit that I did not account for these advancements. The pills are obsolete and they will no longer be used", said Zero.

"Good. Now we will discuss how to uplift your people technologically", Roland said. "I can provide you with a few steam engines as well as the blueprints to build more steam engines. I will also give you some plans for other devices. Lastly, I will give you the blueprints for the Longsong cannons and I will give you a single Longsong cannon to be used for the defense of the Holy City."

"That is quite generous", Zero responded. "I suppose that you will want us to pay for it with gold?"

"I am willing to send you the information and technology because we must help each other so that we can defeat the demons. This is not the time to be squabbling over little things. However, we are running a bit short on cash at the moment. I know that the church has quite a bit of wealth. I would like you to send some gold over since it would help out our development." Roland paused for a moment and then added, "we don't need too much gold though. If we received too much then it would simply cause inflation."

Zero seemed confused. "Inflation? What is that and how could having too much gold be bad?"

Roland looked a bit embarrassed. "Uhh, don't mind what I said then. It would take too long to explain it".

"Well… Alright then", answered Zero.

"Also, the batch of Golden Ones have recently been completed. We need most of the seeds for our own uses but I can spare you some. Once you get a surplus of food you can start moving people into the cities to make industrialization easier."

"What are these Golden Ones?", asked Zero.

"The Golden Ones are seeds that have been modified by Leaf to produce wheat that has greater yield than normal. They will help to increase food production because each field will produce more wheat", Roland answered.

"Is there anything else that we need?" asked Zero.

"The path to advancement will not be simple", Roland said. "The basis of a technological society relies on an educated workforce. I will provide some books to you." Roland took out a stack of books. "Here are books on chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, and other important subjects. These books will teach you of the secrets of the world. You will need to have your people educated in these subjects so that they can work in an industrial society."

Zero looked at the large stack of thick books. "So do I just read them and I will know everything? That doesn't seem too hard. I could probably finish those books in a couple of days."

"Learning all of this won't be easy", said Roland. "Many of these topics are quite difficult to understand. It is entirely possible that you might be unable to understand it even after spending months trying to learn it." Roland then turned and looked like Nightingale. "Like a certain person here."

Nightingale's face flushed red in embarrassment as everyone started laughing. "Shut up! I will understand it eventually. I definitely will. Definitely!", Nightingale yelled.

Roland began speaking again. "This looks like it will be quite a problem. It will be very difficult to learn the material by yourselves. Also, we are tight on teachers as it is. It will be hard to spare multiple people to send since none of the people we have know every subject. We can't really send away our experts at such a time."

Suddenly, Steven spoke. "I have thought of a way to resolve this issue. We need someone to help teach them the material and to guide them through the process of industrialization. I will be willing to go and help them."

"It seems that I forgot about you", said Roland. "Are you sure that you want to travel to Hermes and leave Neverwinter?"

"It is the best solution to the problem that we have", Steven answered. "I am willing to do it so that we can have a better chance at saving humanity."

"Very well", said Roland. "We will dispatch technological aid to the church. Steven, you will be in charge of helping them understand the technology and to guide them on what to do with it. With this, we will stand together in facing the threat of the demons."

Roland stood up and said, "Here's to a finer future".