13 Liberation Day

When Roland heard about the announcement from the church, he was somewhat surprised. He didn't think they would go so far as to reveal the full extent of the threat of the demons. He himself had planned on revealing the demons as humanity's true enemy and an existential threat, but he had still been making preparations. He had been afraid of causing a panic and hurting morale, but it seems that the situation had been resolved. After the proclamation had become known amongst the populace, Roland decided to make an announcement confirming the threat of the demons and urging everyone to remain calm and work hard for the kingdom.

He also said that this validated his belief that witches were innocent. The recently conquered areas still had some amount of anti-witch sentiment despite his efforts to end discrimination. However, now that the church itself had reversed its position, the last holdouts of people who tried to hunt down witches disappeared.

After the church made its announcement, Roland held a celebration for the witches in Neverwinter. He also decided to make it a holiday and called it "Liberation Day". The witch union were at the happiest of their entire life as they now knew that the last vestiges of their oppression are disappearing and that witches everywhere would soon have a better life.

There was a magnificent feast with steaks and pork ribs, seasoned with the best spices and with mushrooms. The celebration went on for an entire day and for once the witches were all able to relax and be happy without any worries or concerns. Many of the witches came up to Roland and hugged him while shedding tears of gratitude.

Some time later, the news reached Sleeping Island as well. Even though they were far away, they still were in contact with the mainland. At first many didn't dare to believe it, or they thought it was a trick to lure out the witches, but Tilly soon backed up the news and told them that it was the result of Roland's plan. This caused even more commotion.

While the witches of Sleeping Island were glad that the persecution of witches was coming to an end, many were still somewhat fearful of returning to the mainland. Furthermore, some of the witches still felt angry at the church and wanted to take revenge. Chief among them was Heidi Morgan and her Bloodfang Association. They were unwilling to let go of their hate and they were determined to strike back at the church eventually.

Throughout the lands which the church controlled, the people were quite shocked by the reversal of the policy on witches. Many riots soon broke out and some people were even claiming that the church itself had been taken over by demons. As the situation became more serious, the Judgement army was deployed to suppress the rioters. After several days of fighting, peace was restored. The church also had the local priests begin giving sermons to persuade the people to go along with the church's new position and to maintain their faith in God. Although support for the church had hit an all time low in the Kingdoms of Wolfheart and Everwinter, the Judgement Army was able to maintain control.

A little after their first announcement, the church also officially recognized Roland Wimbledon as the King of Graycastle. Most people were still focused on the issue of the witches and the demons, so this development had mostly gone unnoticed amongst the common people. However, others have begun thinking about the implications of it. A possible link between the church and Roland was suspected, but the pundits were baffled by how it happened and who was actually influencing who. While it looked as though the church was now being influenced by Roland, that thought seemed ridiculous as the church was a much larger and more powerful entity than Graycastle which was still embroiled in civil war.

After the fall of Timothy, Duke Wilion refused to capitulate to Roland, who he saw as an illegitimate usurper. He began fortifying the city of Valencia and called his vassals in the Eastern Region. Him and the other nobles of the Eastern Region had holed up in Valencia, determined to persist in their resistance. As time passed, some of them were already feeling uneasy. After news came that the Northern Region had submitted to Roland, many felt that their chances at victory were slim.

Now, the news that the church had also allied with Roland was devastating. Out of everyone, they felt that the church would be the one group that they could count on as Roland made extensive use of witches. With their last hope gone, many of them began to despair. Several nobles fled the city with their retinue, and soon the nobles were abandoning Duke Wilion in droves. Duke Wilion wanted to force the remaining nobles to stay, but he soon realised that it would be a recipe for disaster. There would be a great deal of discontentment and in the worst case scenario, those that he forced to fight for him might even betray him and turn over the city to Roland. So, many fled the city until only the diehard supporters remained. Morale was low and even Duke Wilion was beginning to lose hope.

In the Kingdom of Dawn, King Moya IV pondered over the recent developments with concern. He had been hoping to ally with Graycastle against the church, but it seems like that plan was no longer viable. In truth, he had started to lose confidence in being able to protect his kingdom as the Kingdom of Dawn looked like it would be alone.

Then, Graycastle sent an ambassador to the Kingdom of Dawn. The king did not know what they were here for, but he would receive them. After Ambassador Yorko entered and they exchanged pleasantries, they started talking.

"So why were you sent here", the King asked. "With what the church has been saying recently it seems that you would no longer be interested in an alliance against the church."

"The church? They are not the enemies anymore", answered Yorko. "As you have heard, the real enemies are the demons and we all need to stand together to face the threat."

"So it is really true?", asked the King. "It isn't just propaganda from the church?"

"I'm afraid it's true, all of it", said Yorko.

"Well, what is to say that the church won't still decide to attack us and take over the Kingdom of Dawn?", said the king.

"King Roland told me that it is very unlikely that the church would attack you", answered Yorko. "Apparently they are going to be very involved with domestic matters and that they are going to focus on developing their own resources first before trying to go acquire land they can't fully utilize. I don't know what they are doing, but Roland told me that this 'industrialization' thing is going to occupy all their attention. Don't ask me what that is, I don't know either."

"I see…", said the king. He was still uneasy about the situation, but hopefully this meant that he had more time. "And what does the church and Graycastle want us to do?"

"Just keep doing what you are doing. Keep the kingdom stable, that's all", said Yorko.

"Really?" The king appeared quite surprised. "I would have thought they would demand that we contribute our military forces to help them. Surely our knights would be of great use against the demons."

"Apparently, you don't need to worry about it", said Yorko. "And don't ask me the reasons behind it, I don't know about that either. I am just a messenger."

After this meeting with the King of Dawn, Yorko spent his time in the City of Glow enjoying the various amenities and engaging in pleasure. The name of the "Magic Hand" soon became well known in the city. Meanwhile, Hill Fawkes was doing work for Roland.

Fawkes had managed to get into the Black Money, but he had hit a snag with the next step. Apparently, he was supposed to get into contact with a group called the "Taquila witches", but he had no idea how to find them. Black Money was pretty secretive and most of the workers had masks and codenames. So, Fawkes didn't know where to begin. So, he had to do Plan B.

Roland's instructions to him were baffling. If he couldn't get into contact with them, he was just supposed to walk around the building and say certain phrases. So, he started saying things like, "we wish to discuss the relic of gods and the deities' legacy". Fawkes didn't understand what these phrases meant, but he suspected they were probably high level secrets. He was quite uncomfortable yelling them out loud in a place like this.

Fawkes was walking around one day when he was suddenly kidnapped and brought into a secret room. They put him in a bag and took him away. Once he was finally released, he was met with the sight of a monstrous creature with tentacles. Fawkes fainted in shock. After he woke up again, his captors started questioning him.

"I don't know", said Fawkes while sobbing. "I don't know what any of what I said means, I was ordered to say it by King Roland. He wanted to meet with the Taquila witches and he just told me to start saying these things if I couldn't find them. I am guessing I found them now, didn't I."

His captors talked amongst themselves for a while, before finally telling him, "We will meet with this Roland. He seems to know more than he should. Phyllis will bring you back to Graycastle."