Chapter 9: To Let Nature Take Its Course
Border Town was a town that's not only barren, compared to others it was also undeveloped. It was made with more than half the intention to serve as the front against the dangerous dense forest and cold mountain. The place had been running for years, so it shouldn't be bad, yet it while it might not the worst place, it was still worse than most.
The town's activity seemed not to have any significant change; the horrific public execution even brought a lot of liveliness. But the state of the living for town people was actually at stake, it was dying.
"Months of the Demons," Roland muttered the second trouble that he had jolted down. "What a chaotic season."
The winter in the strange world was not just any winter. On top of having freezing weather, snowfall from the atmosphere, and increasing difficulty to live like poor people, the demonic mutation from ordinary beasts and mysterious phenomenon regarding witches also cropped up all at once.
The odd part was that not every place was like this. At least in the memories of old Roland, the King's City faced only typical winter where snow did not necessarily fall every day.
Roland felt he was a pretty hard-working person, waking up early in the morning and already thinking about all sorts of stuff.
The late autumn was as cold as water, and although the cold water was good to wash away one's face and to start a brand new day, it was a clear indication that the winter was drawing nearer.
Roland played with the maid, ate breakfast, and standby on the drawing room right away. The first one to come to find him was still the assistant minister, Barov.
Looking at the beardy old man who was still nervous about things, Roland also felt hopeless. If he were to talk about the more worrying matter, piling his burden and stress even more, would he resign right away?
Of course, he couldn't and wouldn't be so cruel hearted -- He just asked him to organise a detailed report regarding Border Town, mainly the financial situation. The story didn't talk about it in detail, but he knew it was in an urgent case, more so since the mine had collapsed and thus a valuable source of income had been cut off temporarily.
He had some understanding regarding business so he could assure himself that he won't at least do worse, but steady earning and plenty of assets only mattered when people kept their lives.
Carter came as the next person in line was just the person he needed.
His issue was like Barov from the day before, feeling doubtful and came to confront the prince about his decision. He knew more about the military aspect of things and came to try frightening the prince with the possibility of a group of witches coming and illustrated that they would have the power to flatten Border Town defence easily and quickly. But how could Roland who knew the matter in more details care such trivial imagination challenge?
Still, there were only so many logical excuses Roland could give. The military focused nobleman Carter, fortunately, was easy to sway given the right logic. At least, Roland made him back away to the extent he could expect the chief knight to not slack off from the tasks he gave.
Carter might not be the key to overcome troubles ahead, but he was one of the necessary bridges for Roland to form a stand against the months of the demons and further campaigns.
Alone, Roland wouldn't be able to do much, so someone experienced like Barov who could even run the town alone, and Carter who had authority among the knights and soldiers would be very helpful.
Massaging his temple, he figured out his job for the day was more or less done.
Some things simply can't be hurried up, like the letter he wrote to Gerald. He had ordered Barov to sent the message, copied to multiple notes on expeditions using various method of transportation. Not only it was quite a long journey, but it might also turn out futile and not even reaching the first prince at all.
But at least he had tried.
Unsurprisingly, the old man was very surprised. The fourth Prince was always the odd one out in the royal family, and his connection to his siblings was similarly always bad. Even back in the palace they rarely talked to each other. This fact was an open secret to the servants, and naturally, Barov who got assigned to Roland already learned these things and other notorious deeds of his new Lord.
Roland didn't try to humour his curiosity, but he promised to talk about it if Gerald responded.
Another example he can't precisely rush was the matter regarding the witches.
Witches had power, but because they were hunted more often than not, they usually hid like mouses. Rarely using their power would lead them to their death when the months of demons came. For some reason, the season brought changes to their bodies that could lead to either development or fatality.
The simple solution to use more power to survive was almost counter-productive considering how most witches around worked. Usually, people didn't learn that they became a witch unless they used their power somehow, and it might be shown under many people watchful eyes the first time around.
In this aspect, Anna was quite lucky that she got exposed in the way Roland could found her. Her power wasn't something that can be trained casually and even if her father didn't meet the incident and she had no need to show herself she might not pass the month of the demons safely.
Speaking of the witches, Border Town should have one other witch beside Anna at the moment. Even so, Roland felt Anna should be prioritised first. For some reason, he thought it was just right to do so.
It just happened he had an off-duty meeting with her. Officially, it was for her to train. Like Roland in the story, he would accompany her.
It was nearing noon, and the cottage in the castle backyard had undergone a quite significant change from the night before. For example, the messy and dry trench that was supposed to be a pond was now a real pond with water carried directly from the nearby river. A pile of iron ingots from smithery was placed neatly in front of the entrance, creating a strange but nevertheless luxurious imaginary.
When Roland lead Anna to a moonlit stroll to the dwelling, it was very crude and very rough. Though he knew it was because he ordered it hastily and only had some few hours of working the workers could spend to it, he was still at a loss after seeing the place.
Still, using the small light peeking from the disorderly wooden planks placed on top of the stone walls making a makeshift roof, he held barbeque with Anna inside.
The various meats were all very juicy and yummy, and the colourful vegetables cut the greasiness on top of contributing to a more balanced nutrition intake. Though there were only so many spices Roland could utilise, the charcoals were something he was not familiar with, and overall he felt a little bit of dissatisfied... the scene where Anna tearing up from taking a bite wouldn't be so easily forgotten.
Not only that, he talked with her regarding his opinion about witches. It was something she was curious about, and perhaps she just wanted to know why she was let off. To him, witches were hunted indiscriminately, but he thought they shouldn't be treated that way.
Not only Roland thought the society of ordinary people would just sow the seeds of disaster upon themselves; it was simply cruel to do when most witches were genuinely innocent. Anna was a prime example where should she was just a normal woman who managed to kill the looter to save her father and others; she's definitely going to be hailed as some sort of hero and a figure of inspiration.
But the story was not like that, she was a witch, and if not for Roland intervention, her fate for not resisting was to be hanged at the public square after losing everything.
Seeing Roland again, Anna's confused face had been replaced with an indifferent expression. Looking at the clear eyes, however, he felt there was more life in it than before.
Roland only said he had something to ask for her, and since Anna was a very decisive person, now he had come she directly asked him.
"Your Highness, what can I do for you?"
Roland remembered this was indeed what Anna had said in the story. It was unknown whether it was his recall of the matter or something else that triggered a wide smile to form on his lips.
He forgot about it the day before, and after mulling it over and seriously thought that some clarity wasn't all that bad, he worked out a contract with Barov's help.
As she was reading the contract, Anna's indifferent face slowly crumbled the more she read. She wasn't very well educated, but reading was something she happened had the opportunity to learn. Knowing that the prince wanted her to work for her for a gold royal per month, yet the contents basically gave her full freedom since she can even object his order, she can't help doubting her own eyes.
After reading through a couple of times, Anna closed her eyes like she was resting. Roland wasn't in a hurry; he waited until she put down the parchment herself, along with her agreement.
In the first place, this kind of thing, contract, something like this was not even necessary. There was nothing to actually binding the parties involved, more so for a royal member like him and a witch like her.
Anna looked at the prince who so far had shown an eccentric behaviour one after another.
Her release, the luxurious treatment, him personally cooking... And now this. Without her realising her mouth opened slightly.
Before her mind caught up, her red lips uttered a question softly.
"Your Highness, what can I do for you?"
For a moment, her question only met with silence.
For that moment, Roland could only blink his eyes.
"Live," Roland smiled, he couldn't help petting Anna's head who was shorter than him. "... and survive even if I don't."
Anna was stunned by his sudden petting and didn't catch his latter part of the sentence. Roland didn't try to make her listen either. He laughed and straightforwardly told her to learn to control her power.
The training session would last until something urgent came up, or she got tired.
It was his first order as an employer to her the employee.
And thus, Roland watched as the newbie witch clumsily practising her power.
Although Roland felt hot watching her, he was a hardy gentleman who knew how not to show any expression that might worry about the other party.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone