Before Roland had agreed to the meeting, he had already heard every part of the talk between Wendy and Ashes.
He didn’t expect that the long-lost Tilly Wimbledon would suddenly become the leader of another witch organization. Not only that, but she had set all of this up right in front of all of them. No, she had even gathered most of the witches in the whole kingdom. What was even more intolerable was, that she was now actually wanted to put her claws into his own territory.
According to the information gathered by Nightingale, the witch in front of him was an extraordinary, and her ability most likely belonged to the combat type.
Any witch who belonged to the kind of extraordinary had to be treated with the utmost care. So, when Roland was meeting with Ashes in his office, not only was Nightingale hiding in her fog, no, even Anna was standing by his side. She had placed several tiny black fires around his desk, all of which were completely invisible to the naked eye. Cutting off the area between the two sidewalls. As long Ashes dared to rush towards him, she would definitely end up cutting herself into many thin pieces.
Even so, Ashes was an extraordinary witch, she still wasn’t wearing the God’s Stone of Retaliation, but once she put on one of those stones, she would then turn into an unrestricted destructive power. Fortunately, the God’s Stone of Retaliation was hated by the majority of witches, and she was most probably also taking this aspect into account. So Ashes didn’t carry such a stone when she was trying to win over the witches in Border Town.
“Your witches? Don’t be so arrogant, they are all living people, they aren’t your personal belongings!” Ashes declared coldly.
Roland got shocked by her unexpected words. This was the first time that he had to feel the feeling of defeat during a battle of words. He had already become used to calling them my people, my subjects and the like, but now he had unexpectedly face democratic criticism, letting him feel extremely embarrassed. Although his words were in accordance with the usual practice of this era, the people or items in the Lord’s territory, after all, belonged to the Lord, so calling them his wouldn’t bring any problems. But if he was to now stress this point in front of Nightingale and Anna, it would only show that his EQ was low, and he’d just be jumping into an already prepared pit.
So, he coughed twice, and tried to get the flow of the conversation into a positive direction for himself: “I never thought of them like that, they only stay in the town because they want it. But I have to point out, that I myself believe that this place is still the best place for them to live on freely. As for living in the Fjords as you have offered, not to mention that the trip itself would already be very dangerous, crossing over the whole Kingdom – no, the Fjords climate is also unpredictable, always having to fear tsunamis or perineal storms. That is simply not a suitable place for people to live in”.
“But there at least, the power of the Church would be at a minimal. Furthermore, the witches can rely on their powers to transform their homes, making them safe against any natural disasters. But there is no way in which you could shield them against the strength of the God’s Stone of Retaliation, not to mention the God’s Punishment Army.” Ashes mercilessly countered, “Do you know how foolish it was for you to do what you have done? Spreading the news of your witches will only lead to a visit from the Church.
“With respect, you have no way to win against the God’s Punishment Army. Now, the right choice for you would be to let your witches leave your territory so that you can all avoid the tragedy that your actions is leading you towards.”
Roland had already heard her telling Wendy about the God’s Punishment Army, so he knew that using force to persuade her would be many times more effective than him using words. Of course, he could also simply ignore Ashes, but in that way, he would already be giving up the fight for the witches that are under Tilly Wimbledon’s influence. So, despite only having just a small hope of achieving his goal, he still wanted to give it a shot.