342 – Countermeasures

I don’t guarantee a 100% perfect translation.

Feel free to correct me in the comments.

Im not sure about earlier chapters, but in this one, and in several others further ahead, Roland makes small references to MMOs (specially one), i could change it to something different that made more sense for everyone, but decided to leave it as is.

Thank you for everyone’s support. Next few chapters have a lot of lore, so look forward to them.

Enjoy.

Edit: Changed the format to a more easy to read for english readers. Many thanks to Kristina H. for the assistance.

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– “Me too.”

Lightning threw herself to Roland.

– “I want a hug too.”

Nana exclaimed as she joined.

– “Guuu!”

And Maggie followed.

Roland simply stood in place, so that all the members of the Witch Union could hug him one by one, seeing such sight Tilly couldn’t help but to laugh.

– “It seems like your relationship with them is quite a harmonious one.”

– “Do you also want to hug your dear older brother?”

Tilly shook her head and said with a smile.

– “No, thanks. I can still remember clearly the last time you tried to hug me, you threw me into the ground.”

Roland innocently shrugged his shoulders, then moved to check on the sea-blue haired woman Ash was carrying on her arms, she didn’t seem to be too young, her body seemed more similar to that of Anna. Her eyes were closed, she had slender eyebrows slightly upturned, her skin was fairly white, and had a mole next to the corner of her eye making her particularly eye catching.

Looking at her from the outside, she didn’t look like a prisoner trapped at the basement of a stone tower at all, but just a simple sleeping beauty.

However, contrary to her appearance, what Roland cared the most were her clothes, he found rare to find such intricate and exquisite patterns, because the lack of dyes on the current society, the base color of the robe being purple was extremely rare, paired with the interlaced stripes and talismans, it was a magnificent robe, like the ones you would see in a movie.

This is definitely orange quality equipment.

– “Is she still alive?”

Nightingale then responded to Roland.

– “Yeah, but the magic in her body has been all depleted, it looks like a condition similar to what Anna experienced in her coming of age. But unlike Anna, her magical recovery is very slow, it may take around 34 days to reach normal levels.”

Roland then nodded as he spoke.

– “That being the case, let’s assume she is just in a deep sleep. I will have a room cleaned up on the third floor of the castle, the others should return to the main hall first.”

He paused for a moment and said.

– “I would like to hear the stories of your trip.”

 

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After listening to Tilly and Nightingale, Roland couldn’t help but to feel worried about them.

Although Sylvie was there to offer a whole picture of the situation, going underground in pursuit of a never seen before huge demonic beast was a very dangerous thing.

If I was thrown into that situation, perhaps I’m afraid I would hesitate to act.

He would never have imagined Tilly would be so decisive, she selected the appropriate witches, and personally lead the team… He could see she didn’t became the leader of so many witches just because of her identity as a princess.

– “Do you believe this worm is related to the Devil?”

– “I don’t know, but it’s a possibility, the Devils the witches of the Cooperation Association encountered were riding some kind of hybrid demonic beasts, they had their meaty wings chopped off, and were obeying the Devil’s commands, like some sort of tamed animal. Also, behind the snowy mountains, you could see flying beasts with a shape different from the Devils, perhaps those are also demonic beasts.”

Tilly answered and after pausing for a moment she continued.

– “So, it is possible to guess the relation between the Devils and the demonic beasts is one of subordination, like how humans and hounds are. Could they possibly make these monsters obey their order by some method and have them perform more complex tasks?”

Roland responded with a nod.

– “Indeed…  it does seem like it”

But he had this feeling of confusion and incomprehension in his mind. It is only in the Months of Demons that the demonic beasts will attack the human inhabited areas on their own accord, but that does not mean they can only live for a year since the moss and weeds found on the carapace of the siege demonic beasts showed it had been alive for dozens of years.

If the reason the Devils can’t occupy the open land, expelling humanity from the mainland, is because they are confined to the region with red mist, but they could always send the demonic beasts to harass the four kingdoms, rather than having to wait until winter each time.

Another thing was… 

It was hard to forget the first year’s Months of Demons of Roland, the Wolf Lion hybrid demonic beast that Iron Axe fought with, was different from a clever animal, it had been able to learn, analyze and choose the best course of action to attack its prey, an intelligence the vast majority of wild animals could never reach. If the hybrid species of demonic beasts had grown to display such intelligence, it would be impossible for another race to tame them.

Tilly sighed with a worried face.

– “But rather than the underground beast, I feel more worried about the enemy Miss Nightingale met with outside the stone tower. If it can conceal its body during daytime and act quietly, it would be virtually impossible to guard against it. It’s a pity we have such little knowledge about the demonic beasts, I have no idea how we should dead with this terrible enemy.”

Roland relaxed his hands as he spoke.

– “If not for Nightingale personally seen it, I would not have believed such thing existed, but they never seem to have appeared in the western region, otherwise, with each passing winter, Longsong Stronghold should have turned into ruins.”

– “But the longer the Months of Demons are, the stronger the demonic beasts become, this is the conclusion reached by the history books. This year, the snow began to fall in the autumn, the enemy we will face may be very powerful.”

This we made Roland’s heart feel warm, whether Tilly looked onto him as a brother or not, at least she viewed him as an ally, she wanted to aid this small town, and regarded it as for the sake of the witches.

– “So, the only one who can monitor the defense line is Nightingale.”

Tilly stopped him.

– “No, let Sylvie in charge of the vigilance this winter. The city wall is divided into two sections, even if the patrolling time took half a quarter of hour, the workload of Miss Nightingale would be too big. As long as Sylvie stays in the castle, she can observe the entire region of the city wall, and if she discovers a demonic beast, she can inform the other witches immediately.”

Roland nodded in acknowledgement.

– “Sounds reasonable.”

Scroll hesitated for a moment before speaking.

– “This new witch…  I still have the same opinion, until we confirm her identity, she could very well be an enemy.”

Roland faced her and said.

– “I know; therefore, I will have her wear a God’s Punishment Stone for the time being as a countermeasure, I hope this will not make her misunderstand us.”

 

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Roland entered the room of the sleeping witch, inside only Anna remained, taking care of her.

– “How is she?”

Anna shook her head.

– “Still no response.”

– “Ok”

Roland arrived at the bedside, the woman lied quietly under the bedding, although the eyes were still closed tightly, her countenance was getting better. Nana and Lily had used their abilities on her, so the only thing they could do, was to quietly wait.

– “It’s really incredible that after being frozen for so long, her body still remains in perfect condition.”

Anna chuckled a little.

– “Although I’m proud of my flames, her ability is definitely significant.”

Roland approached and patted Anna’s head.

– “I heard you cut open the ice coffin. You are awesome, Anna.”

She honestly expressed her thoughts.

– “I’m not the awesome one here. This witch used her ability very cleverly, first she lowered the temperature of her body so that the body cycles stopped and was frozen solid, then she completely sealed the cold ice inside with an ice crystal of a temperature closer to the outside, so that the interior ice would not melt down. As for her ability to control her powers, she certainly had reached a very high level.”

Ice close to ambient temperature, huh… this sounded very illogical, but Roland understood the Summoning type witches’ ability was the manifestation of magic power, like shapeshifting and the temperature of the black fire.

Anna paused for a moment and the continued.

“Just as I was cutting the outer layer of the ice crystal, the whole ice coffin was immediately torn apart, as if she deliberately left a flaw in the ice. So, I think she had expected this to happen someday.”

– “You mean… “

– “She will certainly wake up.”

 

 

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