“What was the new weapon your knight was using?”
“A firearm,” Roland explained, “In the future, all of my soldiers will be equipped with this kind of weapon. Even an untrained farmer, as long as they have a gun, will be able to defeat even a well-trained Judge.”
For a moment, Ashes hesitated but then she still asked, “Can you give one of those firearms to me?”
“Unless you join the Witch Alliance that will be impossible,” Roland said determined, “after all, at present this weapon is still very rare.”
Having already expected his refusal, she slowly exhaled. “I have to meet up with Tilly as soon as possible, so early tomorrow morning I will be leaving Border Town. If you aren’t able to push the church back, you can always move to the Fjord, asking for asylum.”
Roland nodded, “You too, do not forget to tell my dear sister the news, that at the western border of the Kingdom of Graycastle there is a place which shelters witches.
“…” For a moment Ashes fell silent, “I will consider it.”
As she prepared to leave the office, but the Prince stopped her unexpected, “Wait, I have a gift for you. It is behind the door.”
She stared blankly into the air, but when she came back to herself she turned around and saw that there was huge sword placed beside the door and because it had been previously blocked by the open door she hadn’t noticed it when she had entered the office.
“Your sword cannot be used any longer, so I let Anna create a new one for you. This sword, however, isn’t made out of poor quality pig iron, no this is made out of pure steel.”
Indeed, its whole body surface was evenly smoothed, in the light of the sunset, it held an orange-red metallic luster. Stepping forward, she gently stroked the sword, discovering that the blade’s thickness was very uniform. Showing traces that it had gone through a tempering process, there was no doubt that this was a weapon of excellent quality. The only thing which still puzzled Ashes, was its strange shape. Compared with the usual double-edged sword blade system, it only had one blade, while the other edge was about as wide as her little finger. Furthermore, it didn’t possess a tip, instead it end was trapezoidal.
But the most peculiar part of the sword was that within the first quarter of the sword, strange runes had been carved into it. In addition, there was also a half-moon painted at the blunt edge of the sword. The moon was painted in gold, and was thus very eye-catching.
Although she didn’t want show how much she loved it, she still could not stop herself from impulsively reaching out and picking it up.
“Why does it looks so strange…?”
“Because it’s not a normal weapon,” Roland laughed, “it’s called ‘Ashbringer’, and it’s of the
“…” Ashes decided that she didn’t really need to know what those inexplicable words which had come out of his mouth were supposed to mean, “In that case, I will accept the gift from you and in return, I will also give you something back.”
“Oh? What would that it be?” The Prince’s curiosity was picked.
But Ashes however, didn’t answer, instead, she straight went out of the room.
*
On next morning, when Roland opened the door to his office, he once more saw Nightingale sitting at his desk and nibbling on a dry fish.
“They’re gone.”
“Have both of them left?”
“Yes,” Nightingale answered lazily, “They left the moment it was bright enough for them to see the road, Wendy was also there to send them off on their journey.”
Roland couldn’t stop himself from being deeply moved, after all, Wendy was concerned for every sister, not to mention the witches who had helped her escape from the monastery. Because, of this, he had thought Wendy would follow Ashes when she left, never imagining that she would be the first to refused the other party’s invitation.
With this, the Witch Alliance still had all twelve of their members, which left Roland with the feeling as if his whole body was filled with energy.
“Do you think they’re going to spread the news about another safe haven to the other witches on the other side of the sea?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Nightingale said ominously while leaning back in his chair. “But when they meet a problem they cannot solve themselves, they will definitely think of Border Town.”
Closing his eyes, Roland went through the memories of the former 4th Prince in his mind.
Tilly and he had never been very close, or it could be better said that she had always maintained a certain distance from everyone, even her father, Wimbledon III was no exception to this. In addition to her good looks, she had also shown an outstanding sense of wisdom through her childhood, Roland’s mind did not have any more information about her.
