“You’ll know when you step inside,” she blinked with her pair of lake blue eyes.
“Keke. What are you…”
Scroll was the first to speak, “Your Highness, with the action you have performed today, you have proven that everything you have told us was true. We sisters are all deeply grateful for this. No words can ever describe our gratitude, please allow us continue serving you.”
“So, it was like that,” Roland sighed in relief. “I almost thought that all of you wanted to collectively say goodbye.”
“Pfft,” Wendy couldn’t stop herself from laughing, “How could that be Your Highness? This place is the Holy Mountain us witches have dreamed of. As long as you don’t desire for us to leave, we hope that we can live here forever.”
“And that is exactly what I want to see… In fact, there is no need for you to be so grateful, my helping you wasn’t a selfless act, it was also in order to help myself. There is no need for you to be so formal, I prefer your relaxed and unrestrained appearances much more than this.”
“Humph! I already said that it wasn’t necessary for us to be so formal,” Lily snorted. “And as you can see, now he thinks we’re being too serious.”
“How can you say that? You also readily agreed to come over,” Mystery Moon whispered, “Traitor!”
“Alright everyone, let’s go to the dinning hall, His Royal Highness still needs to change his clothes,” Scroll ordered while helplessly tapping her forehead, “That’s right, I have heard from Miss Anna that recently you have gone to bed late every evening. Please take care of yourself, you must not fall before that one goal is achieved.”
“Feel relieved,” Roland smiled. “For I am in good health.”
Afterward, the witches left one after another, only Anna stayed behind.
“Why did you stay behind, do you also want to express your gratitude to me?” Roland asked mischievously.
“Ah, I wish to say the same as them,” Anna raised the corner of her mouth, ” ‘No words can ever describe my gratitude.’ ”
“And also… do you want to always live in Border Town?”
“No, not always. ”
These unexpected words startled Roland, and his heart began to jumping fiercely, “Why is that?”
“Because it is unlikely that you will stay in Border Town forever,” Anna said, tilting her head. “…no matter where you go, I will always follow you.”
His heart suddenly filled with warmth, from the first day since he had known her, she had never changed her promise. No matter if she received the invitation from the Witch Cooperation Association, or during the critical moment in the battle against the demonic beasts, she had always chosen to stand by his side.
At this moment, Anna suddenly took two steps forward, then gently hugged him.
“Wait, I’m covered in sweat,” Roland tried to warn her.
But rather than giving him a reply the young woman placed her head on his chest and took a deep breath as if she wanted to imprint his scent into her memory. He finally gave up any thought of pushing her away, instead opened his arms and enclosed her in his embrace, not releasing her for a very long time.
…
After lunch, Roland rushed to the bathroom to take a cold shower and afterward threw himself back into work.
He had called Karl van Bate over, spread a detailed map of Border Town out on the table, then pointed to a position along the Redwater River, “I want you to construct a bridge here.”
“Not a pontoon bridge?” After pondering about it for a while, Karl opened his mouth and said, “Your Highness, please excuse me for being outspoken, but at this place the Redwater River is already close to 100m wide, if you want to build there a stone bridge will be almost impossible to achieve. Even if we consider building an arch bridge, at most it would only cross one-third of the needed distance. Furthermore, the Redwater River’s water flow rate is so enormous, that it is impossible to anchor a bridge-pier for a very long time, even if we used stakes the size of a person, it would still be washed away after a time… With the exception of wooden rafts used as a pontoon bridge, it is impossible to build a bridge across the entire river.”
“This won’t be a stone bridge. You will be building a steel bridge,” Roland answered, “Altogether it will have three spans to cross the river. However, the middle of the bridged piers will be handled by the witches. You only need to get the position of the bridgeheads ready in advance. Construct a slope on both ends of the bridge, so that the whole bridge is raised to such an extent that a river boat can pass it without having its mast touching the bottom of the bridge.”
