22 Winter
Roland explained why Nana was visiting the castle every day and cleared up any possible misunderstanding, still, he felt kind of offended that anyone would think that he would ever touch 14 years old girl. Maybe in this era, it was normal, however, Roland isn't and most likely will never be ready to cross that line.
Nana's father expressed his worries about Nana's safety.
"You have nothing to worry about Mr. Pine. I will make sure to prepare an escape boat for both Anna and Nana in case the wall were to fall. However as long as the wall stands tall, Nana won't be in any danger directly, her task would only be healing people. And if you are afraid of people reporting her to the church, you have nothing to worry about once again. I have already thought about all possibilities that could somehow endanger her or Anna's lives. Plus there is no safer place for Nana as a witch than Border Town. The church has absolutely no authority here and it is also a good strategical place, aside from the demonic beasts, it's very safe."
"I would also like to keep YOU here in this town. You are nothing like other nobles and you strike me as an honest person, having someone like you managing part of my territory would be a great help."
"Do you promise to prepare that escape boat for Nana, Your Highness?" Pine asked with a worried tone.
"I will put their safety into the utmost priority. Please believe in me." Roland said with a smile.
"-utmost priority...After the stunt Your Highness pulled, it is really hard to not believe you." Pine said with a forced smile but inwardly feeling a bit at ease.
Upon the mention of the "stunt" Anna's expression darkened, looking away.
.
.
After the talks were done and everything was resolved, Roland returned to his office with a smile on his face.
"What was that?" Nightingale appeared uncharacteristically in front of his desk and asked with a serious expression.
"What?" Roland genuinely looked confused.
"You really have no clue what I mean?!" Nightingale lightly slammed both her hands on the desk and asked with a shocked expression.
"...Do you perhaps mean, me cutting my palm a bit? I mean...it was really shallow cut, it would heal in a matter of hours even without Nana's powers." Roland took a guess before explaining as if it wasn't the big deal which in his eyes wasn't.
"That's not the point! Getting injured by an accident or by an enemy is normal but cutting yourself is a completely different matter. You really should talk to Anna, she looked really sad and upset!" Nightingale raised her voice. It was his first time seeing her so enraged, however, her last words made Roland's eyes wide open.
"...I guess you are right, it's just that- I am not used to it." Roland looked out of the window behind him before replying with a relatively quiet tone.
Nightingale calmed down after hearing his words
"Used to what?" She asked with a confused tone.
"...Being cared for by others. It might take some time to get used to it but I promise to try my best. I will also talk to Anna." Roland turned back to her and replied with a small smile.
His words shocked Nightingale who lowered her sight, clearly having something to think about on her own.
"Can I ask you something?" Nightingale asked after several seconds of silence.
"Hm? Go ahead"
"What is your goal? A throne?"
Her question caught Roland off guard as he actually never thought about that due to how busy he was.
"I guess I don't really care about the throne. You could say that my dream is...making this town prosper, letting all people have an equal chance to become whatever they want as long as they work hard enough for it. Even if I were to be made a king of the Graycastle, I would still want to remain here. I guess I took a liking to this small place. If others wanted to take this place from me with force, I would naturally resist even if it would mean rebellion against the crown." Roland replied, looking into the cup of tea.
"I see...I apologize for raising my voice like that." Nightingale said, sitting down on the edge of the desk.
"It's quite alright, if you wouldn't have told me, I would have never noticed this. I would notice Anna's bad mood but I wouldn't know the reason behind it. I am far from a perfect person so I need someone to occasionally beat some sense into me, haha." Roland said with a light laugh, causing Nightingale to smile a bit, finally getting rid of the heavy air around them.
"Don't rely on me too much, I will have to teach Anna how to do it in my stead once I leave..." She said with a proud smile before it quickly changed to a slightly sad one.
"I will go talk to Anna, I shouldn't delay this talk any longer." Roland said, getting up from his seat.
"Getting nervous?" Nightingale asked with a teasing smile, disappearing without waiting for his answer.
'...To be honest, yes. I don't know what to say to her.' Roland thought, asking a maid about Anna's location.
When Roland arrived at the workshop, he saw Anna creating more cement despite the fact that she didn't have to do that anymore.
"Anna..." Roland called out to her but she remained focused on making cement.
"Your Highness, is it important or can it wait until I am done?" She used a polite tone, much more polite than usual.
'This is worse than I thought...'
"Yes, it is important. I need to talk to you right away." Roland said.
"Then please talk, I wouldn't want to waste this batch of materials."
Hearing her words, he frowned.
"I don't care about any materials, I need to talk eye to eye with you." Roland said and took several steps closer, feeling the high-temperature air hitting his entire body.
"?!" Anna immediately stopped using her powers in time before Roland could get burns from getting too close.
Roland took the handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the sweat off her face before taking hold of both of her hands.
"Y-Your Highness?!" Anna seemed surprised by his actions, completely forgetting about the cement.
"I apologize for upsetting you but please try to understand that I can't change in 1 day nor 1 week, not even 1 month." Roland said with an apologetic smile, gently squeezing Anna's hands.
"...I- I am not upset about that anymore." Anna lowered her eyes and replied.
"Then what is exactly wrong?" Roland asked with a confused expression since he could tell now that Anna really isn't upset. She remained still for a while before raising her head, looking straight into Roland's eyes with strong resolve.
"I am just sad...Sad, thinking about what could have caused Your Highness to be like that. I am sad that I can't help you in any way." Anna said with a depressed expression.
"Anna, it's alright. I am getting better ever since meeting you, Nana, and even Nightingale. Maybe one day, I will tell you what is exactly wrong with me but for now, I would like to keep it for myself. It's not that I don't trust you enough, I just don't wish to talk about those things to anyone I care for." Roland said with a smile but his words weren't the full truth. His condition was getting slightly better ever since he found himself in this new body, new era, or even world.
"-Therefore, don't waste your time worrying about me. If it was truly something I couldn't solve or bear alone, you would be the first person to know about my troubles." Roland said and both of them pulled themselves into a quick hug.
"Then I will be waiting for as long as needed." Anna said with a satisfied smile but Roland had no idea what she actually meant by waiting. Whether it was him being ready to tell her about his past or something else...
.
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After their talk, everything was just like before as if nothing happened before. Roland focused on his individual training and manufacture of muskets and musket balls. Occasionally, he even when to train together with the recruits to see their progress and also to motivate them once more or humiliate them in case they would start thinking that they are making big progress. It was important to be confident but the line between confidence and arrogance was too thin to tread upon it.
Just like this, a few weeks passed...
---
[Name: Roland Wimbledon
Titles: Fourth Prince (+2 CHA)
Stats:
STR: 9
AGI: 13
END: 8
STA: 11
INT: 11
CHA: 13 (15)
??? [locked]
Undistributed stat points: 10
[Current money: 3112 Gold Coins]
---
'With the higher END, my needs for food and water come at longer intervals. I also feel much healthier both mentally and physically. Wouldn't it be possible to become practically a god with high enough endurance? What would happen if I invested all my free points into endurance? Would I just need an hour of sleep a day to become fully rested, eat and drink every other day? No...The effects will probably get weaker each point the higher my endurance is.' Roland thought while walking towards the training field where others are practicing shooting with the muskets.
Until now, Roland managed to make 10 fully functional and safe to use muskets, excluding the original one and the one used by Iron Axe. This was also possible thanks to Roland secretly stocking the materials of the blacksmiths. He also made his first steam engine together with Anna's help but he admitted that it was kinda crude so he decided to place it into the mines to help mine ores much faster.
"Hm? So it is finally here..." Roland stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky.
'At least the snowflakes look normal, it would be troublesome if it was somehow affected by that evil miasma or whatever. In this case, the salt I spread around the traps should work just fine.'
*Boom* "Clean hit again! Haha!"
As Roland got near the training field, he could see Iron Axe and Carter practice with the muskets.
'Muskets are not bad but what I want my regular army to be equipped with is bolt action rifle Springfield that was used in both world wars, however, making these will be much more complicated and the bullets will also be more expensive to make. I am also not sure whether the blacksmiths can make high quality springs but I highly doubt that. Well, for now, muskets are more than enough.'
