Wendy

The next morning, Roland started experimenting with Abby and Airy's powers, testing their limits. Abby's silencing magic was certainly a mystery for Roland since she couldn't use it on humans to silence them even if they wanted to speak, however enchanting the boots made the sound of steps disappear, only if one kicked something would produce a sound since it wouldn't be the boots themselves making the noise.

Airy's insect power was quite hard to test out since in the winter, not many insects are active and she said that if they are not active, she cannot command them to just wake up, however, there are still some that are active during the winter like dragonflies. For the moment, he had Airy try to command as many insects as she can. He also gave her a book about insects and highlighted the pages about Honey Bee and Silkworm so she would pay special attention to it.

It seemed like Abby's power made some kind of bubble around the thing that would make any noise from it disappear. Apparently, the bigger the thing is, the more magic it consumes. She tried using a lot of magic on a few steam engines in the mines and it worked perfectly till now. Roland's only problem was that the sound usually also indicates danger or at least it warns humans, therefore he would be happier if the steam engines weren't completely silenced but that was just a luxury. After her day of adulthood, her ability might develop further

"Your Highness, did something happen when you were away with Nightingale?" Nana asked curiously.

"Well...something major happened but no one was hurt and it was resolved peacefully. Why? Is there something wrong?" Roland replied with a thoughtful expression.

"*It's about Nightingale...she acts a bit different around you than before*" Nana whispered while inconspicuously glancing at Nightingale who was standing a few meters away while looking at Roland.

'This kid...she actually noticed it?'

"*Yeah, I have noticed that, however, it doesn't look like there is something wrong with her. I will try to talk to her tonight and see what is going on.*" Roland whispered before an alarm rang out twice which caught his attention. He decided to go outside and look at the situation on the wall.

"Your Highness! The demonic hybrid that caused my scar came!" Iron Axe immediately informed Roland upon his arrival and others quickly greeted him.

'With that build, it definitely agile. No other demonic beasts are coming behind it, we should let it enter before dealing with it.'

"Let it jump over the wall, just observe its movements." Roland ordered and started asking Wendy a few questions.

"Wendy, can you make a little whirlwind?"

"A...whirlwind?" Wendy asked with a confused expression.

"air moving rapidly round and round in cylindrical shape." Roland explained what exactly he wanted from her.

"Uh, I can try but I am not sure if I can achieve it, this will be the first time I try it." Wendy replied with an uncertain tone but that was enough for Roland.

"It's going towards the weakest section and very quickly!" One of the recruits reported after seeing the hybrid speeding up.

'That's here in the middle since I had every recruits retreat from there...Good'

"Wendy and Anna, get ready!" Roland shouted and Wendy was surprised that even Anna was mentioned since she had no idea what was her role.

When the hybrid easily jumped over the tall wall Roland immediately shouted for Wendy to start.

"Wendy, now!"

Wendy immediately started using her powers, blocking the hybrid's path and vision by the wind combined with snow.

"Anna!" Roland shouted and Anna added her flames into the small whirlwind, instantly evaporating the snow creating a bizarre scene, however her new green flames mixed quite well with Wendy's wind.

"Close it, Wendy!"

Instead of using her palm to control the wind, Wendy clenched her hand into a fist and the wind started closing in on the hybrid from all sides, engulfing it in wind and green flames before she stopped using her powers.

'It worked just as intended!' Roland thought as he was looking at the mist in front of him.

*Clap* *clap*

Wendy finally sighed in relief before the clapping sound woke her from her thoughts. She looked around and saw that the recruits were clapping to both Anna and Wendy with impressed expressions.

'His Highness commanded them as if he was commanding an army he has been fighting with for years, knowing it from head to toe.' Carter was surprised at how well Roland could direct witches despite one of them being completely new.

"Are you alright?" Roland asked with a concerned expression, putting his hand on Wendy's shoulder.

"*gasp* Yes, it's just that I never tried to control the wind to such extent...it took a lot more magic than I expected." Wendy nodded her head, subconsciously okay with his touch.

"?" The other witches looked confused when Roland just continued staring at Wendy as if he was love-struck.

"W-what is it?" Wendy naturally noticed his strange stare so she asked in a nervous tone. It wasn't the stare that made her uncomfortable...she naturally glanced towards Nightingale's direction.

"Can you let me train you?" Roland asked with a serious expression and in a low voice so only the witches could hear him.

"Huh?!" Everyone exclaimed, it was one thing getting instructions on how to use their powers but Roland wanted to supervise Wendy's training personally! There was something in her powers that caught his attention.

However, the one who was the most surprised was Wendy herself as she had no idea why she gained such attention.

.

.

Everyone got back to their posts and the witches went back to practice while Anna and Red Pepper went to help melting metals for the construction of the cannon.

As for Wendy...she was currently with Roland in his office.

"May I ask why would Your Highness be interested in teaching me?" Wendy was still confused so she wanted to clear it up as soon as possible.

"When we are talking about the combat ability, Nightingale and Anna are the strongest ones in your group currently, however, I see the biggest potential in you!" Roland explained, pointing his index finger at Wendy with a smile.

"Biggest potential? Me?!" Wendy asked with a disbelieving expression while pointing at herself.

"Yes, Anna's flames might be extremely hot however the things you could learn to do with wind control are countless. You could easily counter her flames with just wind alone. You could make yourself fly like Lightning with the wind currents. You could make air have such high pressure that no one would be capable of breathing. You could create wind sharp enough to cut things." Roland said a few examples with a serious expression.

When Wendy heard his words, she felt a chill down her spine.

"But why would you want to train me when I still haven't officially joined, Your Highness?" Wendy admitted that the life here was extremely comfortable, incomparable to the life in the mountains and even the soldiers were just impressed by her powers, not scared. She still wanted to hear his reason.

"I am sure Nightingale told you what kind of person I am... I noticed how much you care about your sisters. You even made friends with Anna and Nana so fast. You need to be strong to protect those you love. You are already mentally strong unlike me, we only need to work on your magic." Roland said with a smile.

"I would like to explore the limits of your powers. I also need someone like you to look after everyone. You have strong maternal instincts despite not being a mother which is very rare to see. You can sense whether someone is doubting themself. I don't have those senses and if they won't make it obvious, I can't help them. I also doubt they would like to come to me to resolve all their issues therefore I desperately need someone like you here." Roland said with a regretful expression.

"Your Highness...You shouldn't doubt yourself either, you are strong. You have ventured into a cave full of witches to save Nightingale. All I could do was to plead for her life plus even I, her best friend didn't fully believe her words." Roland's words touched her and she replied with a grateful smile.

"However it is undeniable that some parts of me are broken and damaged, I need you to fill in for them. Also, don't belittle yourself just to make me feel better, I noticed that you were ready to make a move when Cara wanted to kill Nightingale. I just thought it would only cause harm if chaos broke out among your ranks." Roland said with a faint smile making Wendy slightly shocked before she remembered what he told her about his past. She knew that such life must have given him strength but at the same time it must have left a few scars.

'Then he probably also saved my life...' Wendy thought while looking down at the ground before looking back up at Roland.

"Then...I will become the spare parts to repair Your Highness." Wendy said with a warm smile, keeping her right hand on her heart.

Her words caught Roland off guard as he never asked her to "repair" him.

"Therefore, please guide me well!" Wendy continued and kneeled with a still visible smile. She had no idea why a prince could understand a witch's powers so well and teach them how to master it, however this time, she believed in his words.

"Please stand up, Wendy...I will try my best to make you stronger, strong enough to protect those you love." Roland said with an awkward smile since he didn't want to see her kneeling in front of him.

Unknown to both of them, there was one more person inside the room.

Nightingale was simply too curious about what Roland wanted to talk with Wendy so she secretly listened to them but their entire conversation made her feel uncomfortable.

'Hmph! Get a room you two!' Nightingale wanted to say aloud but they practically just did that, it was just her being sneaky.