A week later, Border Town ushered in the last month of autumn in a heavy snowfall.
Roland looked out of the office window and saw black figures moving on the snow-white roofs. This was the daily work of the townspeople. They shoveled the snow from the roofs to the ground, so as not to collapse the roofs.
So far, it had been exactly one year since he came to this world. But the autumn of the previous year was far less cold, and from here he could not see so many neat and dense houses.
At that time, it was not strange to say that the town was about to be abandoned. In addition to a circle of decent-looking wooden houses around the square, there were only broken mud houses and thatched houses. Most of the nobles' residences were concentrated around the square, and the only stone road was from there to the castle. Apart from that, there was no flat ground in the whole town, and human and animal excrement was everywhere.
Now, all the roads here had been replaced with water-stable pavement. Even without covering it, it was still an excellent quality hard road. The dark lines divided the silver-white town into many squares of different sizes. On both sides of the spacious main road was the planned commercial area, and on the periphery was the residential area.
In addition, Border Town's industry was gradually taking shape, or in other words, it had finally changed from workshop production to self-recycling production lines. Of course, it was only limited to the steam engine. The High Furnace Area could produce iron ingots that met the processing requirements, and the steam plant could process them into parts. The blacksmiths were no longer unfamiliar with all kinds of machine tools, and at the same time they had a large number of apprentices. Although the extremely accurate steam machine tools had to be made by Anna, it was still a very rare progress for them. After all, before this, this group of people had only touched a blacksmith's hammer, or were simply miners or hunters.
For the time being, it could be seen that the workers relied on their own strength to produce.
In addition, the production of bullets and gunpowder were all handled by ordinary people. At present, Anna still needed to personally produce firearms. The reason was not because of the lack of processing machines, but because the town's blast furnace could not produce stable quality steel. This had been listed as an urgent problem by Roland in the next stage.
The achievements in the chemical industry were much more surprising. Probably because he did not have much hope, any results were a pleasant surprise. Now that sulfuric acid and nitric acid had begun to be mass-produced, and chemical explosives had begun to take shape, as long as the production of bullets could be increased, it wouldn't be difficult to switch to a new generation of repeating guns.
It didn't matter if the town's production method was outdated, but for the town's current situation, solving the problem was more important. When Paper's abilities stabilized and she could control her own magic accurately, the chemical industry might reach new heights.
The most important thing was that, whether it was in terms of production, education, or construction, Border Town was now moving towards a benign stage of development. As long as there was enough time, the number of educated people would increase, and breakthroughs in various fields would become faster and faster.
Using a year's time to turn a barren land into what it was today, he felt a sense of accomplishment from the bottom of his heart.
Standing by the window and observing the town, Roland felt that he could look at it for an entire day.
At this moment, a melodious bell tolled from the northwest.
It was a warning that the demonic beasts would attack.
After the arrival of the Months of the Demons, the alarm would ring every three or four days. However, the First Army was already used to dealing with this situation, and there was no need for Roland to personally go to the city wall to supervise the battle. Thinking back to a year ago, if he hadn't appeared in the field of vision of the militia, it was hard to guarantee that they wouldn't throw down their weapons and flee.
"The demonic beasts are here again. Should I go take a look?" Nightingale's voice sounded in his ears.
"Yes." Roland nodded. "Be careful."
"Don't worry, they can't touch me."
Then he felt a slight warmth on his cheeks, and the voice disappeared.
Roland shook his head helplessly. It was probably because of the heavy snow that the witches were bored to death. Although they said they were observing the situation, they were actually looking for something to do. In particular, the combat witches brought by Tilly would always go to the city wall to watch the battle, waiting for the hybrid demonic beasts that could rush up to the top of the wall so that they could show off their skills. Since knowing about this, Nightingale also became interested. Whenever the alarm rang, she would go with them. Perhaps she wanted to compete with the other party to see who was the strongest combat witch.
Roland sighed in his heart. He had never seen her so diligent in her studies.
However, since fighting side by side could improve the understanding between witches and ordinary people, he was too lazy to stop them. The current revolving rifles could deal with ordinary demonic beasts, but they were still somewhat inadequate against the hybrid demonic beasts. With the powerful witches on the scene, they could effectively stabilize the line of defense and reduce the possibility of casualties.
So far, the First Army had not had a single death.
Nightingale's departure made his heart move. The combat witches had their own activities to relieve boredom, but the assistant witches didn't have so much fun. Probably, it was time to create some new entertainment activities.
Thinking of this, he called Soroya.
"Your Highness, is there a new task for me to complete?"
This painter, who had made great contributions to Border Town, seemed to be in good spirits. The freckles on her face had faded a lot, and there was an unconcealable youthful vitality in her smile.
Her initiative to ask made Roland slightly suffocated. Why did he suddenly feel a sense of guilt?
"Uh, have you been busy with work recently?"
"No, why do you ask?" Soroya brushed the hair in front of her forehead. "Recently, the number of people going to the factory to work has decreased a lot. I can finish the coating in only half a day, and the alchemist Mr. Kyle was busy making those strange metal boxes." She paused, tilted her head and smiled. "But compared to the days when I stayed in the camp of the Witch Cooperation Association, I prefer this fulfilling life now, and I am very happy that I can help you with my ability."
Oh … this smile is so dazzling.
Roland couldn't help but feel a little guilty. "Ahem, I called you here to draw some new cards."
"More Gwent cards?"
"No, you're probably tired of those," he waved his hand. "After all, the rules are very simple. If you know the cards in your opponent's hand, there won't be many changes."
"Well, that's true …"
"You see, the new cards are like this, very simple." Roland took out a piece of white paper and drew a rough sketch. "They are divided into four suits, and then count from one to thirteen. Finally, add a king and a queen, a total of 54 cards."
Soroya's ability had made great progress. She directly used the sketch as a base and quickly drew a hard-coated card. "How do I play this?"
"There are many ways to play it, but let's start with the simple one." Roland tried the feel of the poker cards, and immediately found the feeling he had before he traveled to another world. During the Spring Festival, the most common thing for the family was to sit in the fire barrel, watch the Spring Festival Gala, play poker all night, and light firecrackers in the morning to welcome the arrival of the Spring Festival.
Compared to another traditional entertainment, mahjong, poker didn't have any requirements for the venue. It could be started by putting a board on the leg, and there were many ways to play. It was probably the most popular game in the world.
"Go and call Anna," Roland said with a smile. "I'll teach you Fight the Landlord."
(To be continued.)
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