37 Day of Adulthood - Airy, Abby
When Roland arrived at the dining hall, the rest of the girls were already waiting for him except for Nightingale who arrived a moment after him. There was no hint of redness on her face however everyone had put their hand in front of their faces while looking at her bright smile.
"What happened for you to be so happy?" Wendy asked, sounding almost frightened as if her friend has been switched for somebody else.
"I am just hungry and happy that it is already dinner time!" Nightingale replied and her smile never disappeared even for a second. Roland began doubting whether she was even aware of that.
"Are you alright, Your Highness?" Anna's voice woke Roland from his thoughts as he was secretly looking towards Nightingale.
"Hm? Of course, why do you ask?" Roland replied completely naturally.
"It's just that you were never so quiet. I hope there is nothing troubling you." Anna replied with a really concerned expression which only made Roland feel more guilty.
"No, I am still a bit out of it from drawing the new blueprints...let's just eat the dinner, and then we can discuss how far you got with that book I gave you, alright?"
"Yes!" Anna's reply was full of enthusiasm, showing that she was interested in discussing the book with him. However, her enthusiasm was slightly different than the one when she wanted to discuss new knowledge. In Roland's eyes, she seemed slightly like someone who was thrown into a completely alien world without any memories or knowledge in their head. He already knew that it would be quite a long evening.
After they finished dinner, Roland and Anna decided to discuss the book here at the dining hall which gave the opportunity for other witches to remain seated and listen. Nightingale felt like leaving when she heard the word "book" however when Anna put the fantasy book she received from Roland on her day of adulthood, she stayed with the others and was prepared to listen attentively.
'Witch-king...' Nightingale still couldn't forget the name Roland said before and now even more than before after seeing that he can use magic.
"Your Highness, the first thing I wanted to ask was about the immortality of those "Elves" and Nazgûl. I also find it quite unfair for all the other races to have a set lifespan while elves can live indefinitely." Anna asked several questions which were easily answered by Roland who had some knowledge about this book series, however, this new issue made him think more deeply about it.
When he looked around, he noticed that everyone was attentively looking at him which made him feel like a teacher.
"Anna, immortality is not always a good thing. Also, once elves lose their desire to live, they die. You might think it's unfair however Men when heartbroken, for example by the loss of their loved ones, can still find some reason to live. On the other hand, Elves have only one partner in their entire lifetime, their sense of loyalty is extremely high. Their feelings can't be compared with that of Men, they can even sense whether someone is already taken or not. Men can't feel such things and might even try to take someone's partner. Those two races are nothing alike, they are at completely different spiritual levels."
"As for Nazgûl or Ringswairths...they are neither alive nor dead. They suffer for eternity, corrupted by their own greediness for power or...the said immortality." Roland said and even though he had no idea if what he said was 100 % true, at least it sounded like a good explanation.
"Are the Elves something similar to witches? Anna said that once they reach maturity, their body no longer age. Scroll from Witch Cooperation Association is in her forties yet she has no wrinkles." Wendy asked curiously since she was quite interested in Anna's book.
"Elves are a fictional race therefore comparing them with you is quite hard but in your case, the magic must be slowing the aging process. However, you can say they are similar to witches since in general Elves are very graceful and beautiful. In that book, people even sometimes misunderstood a male for a female." Roland said with a smile but when he looked around and saw most of the witches blushing with exception of Nana and Lightning, his eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Have I said something wrong?"
"Ehm, I also have one question. Was it possible for Men to mix in with Elves and have children?" Nightingale cleared her throat and asked with a serious expression which surprised everyone for various reasons. One of them was most likely the nature of the question itself however the more they thought about it, the more they found the concept of mixing different races together interesting.
"Um...Of course, it was possible which resulted in half-elves, however, if half-elf had a child with a human, the child would be human. Half-elves had a choice to choose Gift of Elves or Gift of Men which was respectively immortality and mortality. You may question how mortality is a gift however it is precisely thanks to that gift, the Men were motivated to create destinies for themselves, to keep moving forward and advance." Roland explained, although he never talked so much about this series with anyone before, he found it quite interesting and fun.
"To keep moving forward... I think I now understand the advantages of mortality and immortality. Thank you, Your Highness." Anna thanked him with a grateful smile.
Anna went back to her room and the others followed her, clearly being interested in discussing the book further. Only Nightingale remained at Roland's side. As he was planning to leave for his room to get some rest, Barov entered the dining hall.
"Your Highness, as requested I sent one ship to King City to evacuate the relatives of people working for you. Also, several blacksmiths recently arrived at the town upon hearing your terms. They are more than motivated to work for Your Highness." Barov reported.
"Good! The production of muskets should increase exponentially. By the end of the winter, I want every recruit to be armed with one musket." Roland replied, visibly pleased by the news.
"I have also sent a batch of ores to Willow Town and additionally asked them if possible to hire as many skilled men as possible. Ever since those steam engines were installed into the mines, productivity increased several times which means our income should also gradually increase." Barov continued his report.
"Well, I don't intend to sell the ores in the future as our main source of income. We should start turning raw materials into our own products and sell those. Be it weapons or tools...they are going to sell for more than raw iron."
"Oh? Is that why Your Highness gave any blacksmith who would arrive and work here such good terms?" Barov asked to which Roland just nodded since he didn't want to explain the details.
.
.
The next day, Roland called Airy and Abby to his office and instructed them what they should do since tonight was supposed to be their day of adulthood.
During the day, he also checked on the road leading out of the Border Town to Longsong Stronghold and he found that Karl was making great progress with building the bunkers based on Roland's design.
'He should be finished by the end of the winter, Duke Ryan is in for a surprise if he will truly attack me. Considering the personality of Garcia who tried to kill me, it is safe to say that she will openly resist Timothy, therefore he will be focused on her. The letter I sent to him wasn't openly opposing him but I left subtle hints here and there, I hope it will be enough for him to order Duke to capture me...However, if it won't be enough, I just have to confiscate all properties of those nobles who ran away' Roland thought with a slightly crazy and excited smile while pressing his right hand against his face.
'I also have the greatest excuse to do so! None of them actually informed me when they ran away to hide inside Longsong Stronghold, they probably thought I would not press the matter or have balls to accuse them of desertion but... Haha, how wrong they are. Angering all nobles plus not responding '
.
.
In the evening, everyone gathered inside the twins' room to watch over them during their day of adulthood. Roland expected them to look more nervous when he arrived but all of them were talking about Anna's book. They were so absorbed in their discussion that they almost missed him walking inside.
"Airy, Abby, how do you feel?" Wendy asked.
"Exhausted...I feel like those steam engines are going to be silent forever" Abby said with an exhausted smile.
"Yeah, I have never used up all my magic like this before. We almost passed out since we wanted to make sure we spend it all." Airy added with the same exhausted smile.
'I wonder if their powers will get an upgrade like Anna's flames. If yes, I wonder what kind of...Airy might be able to control all small creatures even those that are not considered insects. As for Abby...I don't even have a general idea what kind of upgrade her power could get. I hope they are going to get through it without any suffering since it would impact everyone.'
