A week later, Roland returned to the Border Area from Longsong Stronghold.
As soon as he entered the castle, he received two pieces of good news. The first one was from Barov. "Your Majesty, the astrologers from the old king's city have arrived in Neverwinter three days ago. Together with craftsmen, apprentices, and their families, there are 312 of them. I've arranged for the nine astrologers to stay in the Foreign Affairs Building and the others to stay in the reception area. "
"They're finally here." Roland thought for a moment and then ordered, "Hold a welcome banquet in the square in the evening. I want to let the people know that there's another school of sages in Neverwinter."
Like alchemy, astrology had a high reputation among the people. Generally, only the king's city would have both of them. Now that all the Astrology Association had gone to the Western Region, it was easier for people to accept Neverwinter as the new king's city.
However, Roland did not need this school of astrology. What he really wanted was the astrologers' ability to calculate. They were definitely at the forefront of mathematics in this era. Whether it was calculating the calendar or estimating the orbit of the stars, they needed a lot of calculation. With the relevant knowledge of intermediate and advanced mathematics, they would undoubtedly be able to further improve their original foundation.
He planned to set up a school of mathematics so that these people could devote all their time to calculation except for the occasional observation of the Star of Extinction. In this era without computers, it was the most efficient choice for many scholars to complete some complex calculations together. Whether it was laying rails, building large ships, installing Longsong Cannons on the mountains, or writing shooting manuals, he would need their help.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Barov nodded and then asked, "May I know about your trip to Longsong..."
"There were a lot of problems." Facing the director of City hall, Roland did not need to hide it. "The second-level City hall of Longsong has been found to have malfeasance and corruption. Scroll found a lot of falsified accounts. Even among the batch of officials transferred from the Border Area, she caught two embezzlers."
Hearing this, Barov could not help but swallow his saliva. "Are they my disciples?"
Roland was amused by the other party's cautious look. He shook his head helplessly. "Even if they are your disciples, I won't blame you. Don't worry."
"Your Majesty is wise," said Barov hastily. "Then are they the subjects of the old town?"
"Yes, the second batch of graduates passed the examination and entered the City hall. Then they were transferred to the Longsong Area along with the whole team." Roland sighed. "It's been less than a year since then."
At present, City hall had trained a group of semi-leaders. One of them was the Longsong District, which was almost completely copied from Border Town. With the addition of the local Honeysuckle Pérot, the Elk Rennes, and some minor nobles, the Longsong District had everything, except for the slightly smaller number of people.
The other half was the batch that went to Fallen Dragon Bounty. Besides assisting Countess Spear to maintain the political situation, their secondary task was to try to establish the framework of a secondary City hall.
As the Northern Region scholars brought back by Edith Kant participated in the administrative study of the City hall, Roland might be able to find another half in a short period of time.
He had already reserved this group of people for the Southernmost Region.
The most scarce talent was undoubtedly the local officials who could carry out his edict.
Without them as the foundation, even if Roland conquered the entire Graycastle, he would not be able to quickly centralize the kingdom's resources. The local government was an important part of the centralization of power. He could use the witches to quickly advance the level of science and technology, but he could not create a large number of middle-level and grass-roots officials out of thin air.
Those feudal nobles would never obey his orders obediently. In the eyes of the feudalists, the only important thing was the land they occupied.
Therefore, every person with administrative experience was a rare treasure. Now that he had lost several people, Roland naturally felt a little depressed. Although the corruption of the organization was inevitable, he thought it could at least last for more than a decade. He did not expect such a problem to occur in just one year. And the two greedy people were both civilians, which in a way proved that once they had power, they might be more likely to lose their way than the nobles.
"Those who violated the law …"
"They were punished severely." Roland spread out his hands and said, "To set an example for others."
This should be able to last for a few more years. With the ability of Nightingale and Scroll, it was not a problem to temporarily maintain the integrity of the organization. But he also knew that this could not continue, otherwise the witches would be easily pushed to the teeth of the storm again, and the next enemy would come from within.
"Tomorrow, gather all the people in the City hall in the castle hall. I will personally hold a short meeting with them to talk about the importance of discipline and responsibility."
Of course, there would also be rewards and punishments. In the face of the high pressure and broad prospects of the Battle of Divine Will, they should know how to choose.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Barov bowed.
Looking at the back of the old director, Roland was satisfied and took a sip of tea.
He knew the purpose of Barov's loyalty — to pursue power while enjoying the satisfaction of power itself, and at the same time, to better use power. Barov was undoubtedly a person who was very suitable for the new political system. Perhaps in the future, in the City hall, only he could compete with Edith.
The second piece of good news came from Vendy.
"Evelyn's ability has evolved?" Roland was slightly surprised when he heard the news.
In his impression, Evelyn's various magic indicators were very balanced and did not seem outstanding. He did not expect that she would become the first witch on Sleeping Island to evolve, which was really a surprise to him.
"Yes … Agatha has confirmed this, but …" Vendy smiled bitterly. "After the evolution, her ability is too strange. I don't know how to describe it."
"Bring her to see me in the office," he said with great interest.
…
Evelyn walked into the third floor of the castle with several glass bottles.
Roland noticed that each bottle contained a liquid of different colors.
"Her magic power looks like a gray ball …" Nightingale's voice came into his ears. "But the shape is not fixed."
"What about the total magic power?"
"The degree of growth is good. Currently, it's between Leaf and Agatha."
Roland nodded and looked at Evelyn. "What's in it?"
"The drinks I created with my ability these days." Her tone seemed a little depressed. "They taste different, and I can't control the final result … The only thing in common is that they can all be drunk."
"Drinks?"
Roland's curiosity could not be suppressed.
He found a few teacups and poured himself a cup of each.
When he took the first sip of the light blue drink, he tasted an indescribable delicacy. It was like a mixture of many kinds of fruit juices, with a trace of refreshing coldness.
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