…
"Do you think he will agree?" Nightingale asked after Pérot left.
"I don't know. His promise alone won't help much. We still have to convince Earl Hull." Roland took a sip of hot tea. "If he still intends to be a feudal noble, then I can only say that it's a pity."
"You can't bear to, can you?" she teased.
"Of course not," Roland curled his lips. "Among the nobles, he is not inflexible, he knows how to seize opportunities, and he is also very good at business. As long as he trains in Longsong Stronghold for a year or so, he will definitely become an excellent official."
"If he manages to convince Earl Hull, do you really intend to hand the King's City over to him?"
"If I unify the Kingdom of Graycastle, the king's city will naturally have to move to another place... Furthermore, the cities that are too far away from the Western Region should be managed by people from the Western Region, so my conditions are not empty talk." At the end of the conversation, Roland revealed to Pérot that he would not enfeoff any nobles in the future. Furthermore, after the integration of Graycastle, the whole kingdom would follow the model of the new city and implement the same laws and policies. All power would be vested in the central government. If he decided to stay, Longsong Stronghold was far from the end of his political career. It was not impossible for him to take charge of a big city or become the chief bureaucrat of the Central Administrative Office.
As for how far he could go, that would depend on his own ability.
Roland hoped that the other party could understand the expectation contained in his words.
"Well, I don't understand these things anyway," Nightingale patted his shoulder. "But the new witch will be here soon, so it's better for you to leave for a while."
"You're the only one asking?"
"I'll call Vendy over." The voice beside him chuckled. "She's better at this than I am."
For the sake of safety (mainly due to Scroll's suggestion), the Witch Union had to first have Nightingale confirm the witch's identity before accepting a foreign witch. Due to the need to remove the God's Stone of Retaliation to detect lies in the state of fog, Roland could not be present, in case the other party suddenly launched an attack and caused an accident.
Scroll had even come up with ten general questions for identification, such as "Where are you from", "Your real name", "Do you know the prince", "Do you have any hostility towards the prince" and so on. Considering that Nightingale could only judge the truth of her own beliefs and was unable to see through a lie that she was certain of, these questions were probed from all angles, leaving almost no blind spots. Even if he could fool one or two of them, he wouldn't be able to answer all of them.
Roland himself didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but considering that the witches had good intentions, he could only let them be.
…
After leaving the reception room, he returned to his office and immediately called for Barov, the City hall manager.
Pérot's report on the discovery of a new witch in Longsong Stronghold made him aware of his own negligence. Although he had sent Nana to the ceremony and officially declared the existence of witches in Border Town, there had never been a government decree that directly explained the treatment and status of witches. Therefore, it was also possible that a situation like the one in Longsong Stronghold would occur in Border Town — after knowing that he had awakened as a witch, he still chose to hide his identity, rather than taking the initiative to stand out.
As soon as Barov entered the door, Roland ordered, "I want to issue a long-term recruitment notice, the content will be written on this draft paper."
He took the draft document and quickly looked through it. "You … want to recruit witches with a monthly salary of one Golden Dragon?"
"Yes," Roland nodded. "This is also the standard salary of the Witch Union." The monthly salary of one Golden Dragon was definitely the highest salary in this era. The salary level of Border Town was generally higher than that of other cities. The highest starting salary for an acid factory worker had already climbed to 20 silver royals, while a witch's salary was five times that. This recruitment not only explained the treatment of witches, but was also equivalent to affirming their status.
"Since you want to get more witches, why don't you mobilize the people to find them?" Barov asked, "Just like before when you let the people report spies, they are the sharpest eyes."
Now even the Chief Steward has learned the "people's war in the vast sea" trick. The Prince held back his laughter and waved his hand. "Then I will give them a bonus? Isn't that the same as the Church's practice? "
"But … you are doing this to recruit witches, not to hang them."
"Even if that's the case, the witches who are exposed by the public may think that I'm forcing them. You should know that this year's new witches haven't experienced persecution, so their situation can't be compared to that of the witches outside," Roland said noncommittally, "I hope that they will voluntarily come forward and contribute their strength to Border Town."
In addition to the individual wishes of the witches, he was more worried that if the government decreed that there would be a reward for the discovery of a witch, as well as a reward for the birth of a witch, it was likely to lead to a new round of "reporting", or to turn the birth of a witch into a "business". Giving birth to a witch was not as good as hard work. In a short period of time, it could greatly change the status of the witches, but in the long run, this policy would have a negative impact on the slogan of "get rich through hard work" in Border Town. Therefore, a simple recruitment of witches could effectively avoid this situation.
Barov had just bowed and retreated when Vendy came in and handed the results of the inquiry to the table. "Your Highness, the identity has been confirmed. It is basically the same as what the eldest son of the Honeysuckle Family said, there is no problem."
"See," Roland said with a smile. "You are too careful."
"But this caution is necessary," Vendy insisted. "Your personal safety is the first thing we need to ensure."
"Well," Roland suddenly felt touched and took a deep breath. "Then bring her in."
The girl was about fifteen or sixteen years old, with dirty dark brown hair and eyes that revealed timidity and panic. It was probably the first time she had walked into a carpeted room, and she didn't know where to put her hands and feet.
According to the results recorded on the paper, she called herself Paper and was born on the outskirts of Longsong Stronghold. Three years ago, after a heavy snow, she became an orphan. This kind of experience was probably similar to that of most of the homeless children in the Western Region. They would either die fighting for food, or join the underground rats and become thieves, thugs, or scapegoats.
"You …" Roland didn't know what to say for a moment. She didn't have a strong ability to adapt like Agatha, nor was she as strong-willed as Anna. Even Mystery Moon and Lily, who were similar to her, had sisters from the Witch Cooperation Association as companions. As a little girl in a strange place, she was probably still in a state of panic, and it would probably take a long time for her to adapt to her new life. Moreover, from Pérot's report, it could be seen that the ability to melt snow quickly was related to the temperature.
In any case, he wasn't in a hurry to test her ability, and he could slowly understand her through getting along with her. Thinking of this, he looked at Vendy. "The long voyage must have exhausted her. Take her to take a bath and let her rest for a while. Arrange her room in the Witch Building, and as for the matters related to magic power, I will leave it to you to teach her, is that okay? "
"Of course," she smiled. "As you wish."
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