The flame rose from her feet and quickly faded away.
This was the twenty-third practice.
She failed again.
Anna's forehead was already sweating. She wiped it with the back of her hand, and the hot air suddenly surged and made a sizzling sound.
She did not stop and immediately began the next practice. The witch uniform was neatly folded and placed aside. If she had not insisted on doing this at the beginning, the uniform would have turned into Ashes in the flame.
Fortunately, as Prince Roland, it was not difficult to get a few spare ones. He asked Tyr to send a whole bucket of robes — they were temporarily collected from the maids.
The twenty-fourth practice finally paid off. The flame no longer rose from her feet, but appeared out of thin air in her palm. She carefully raised her arm and wanted to move it to her fingertips, but the flame flickered twice and suddenly rushed up her arm, ignited her sleeve, and swallowed the robe along the sleeve.
Anna put away the flame, tore off half of the burnt robe expressionlessly, and turned to look for a new one in the bucket.
Every time this happened, Roland would look away and let his eyes stare somewhere else — even though she did not care about it at all.
In fact, if it were not for Roland's strong request, she would probably practice naked. But then Roland could not look at her properly. He really could not calmly face a naked little girl — especially when the little girl turned into a flame, her figure had a different kind of charm.
Roland shook his head and put the distracting thoughts to the back of his mind. Judging from the current situation, it would not be easy to control this power. He set a goal for Anna: to release the flame from the palm or fingers, not to harm the clothes on the body, and to maintain a high enough temperature to melt the pig iron ingots in the pool.
When the thirtieth practice failed, Roland stopped her.
"Take a break."
Anna looked at him blankly and did not respond.
Roland had to walk over, take the girl's hand to the chair, and forced her to sit down.
"You are tired. You should rest when you are tired. Don't force yourself. We still have a lot of time." He helped her wipe her sweaty forehead. "Let's have afternoon tea first."
*****
Roland knew that the nobles of Graycastle Kingdom did not have the habit of enjoying afternoon tea. The productivity of this world was so poor that it was difficult for people to have the leisure to enjoy exquisite food. Three meals were not even common, let alone four meals. As for the playboys who had nothing better to do, they were usually gathered in bars or casinos.
If he did not have this habit, he would create one. There were ready-made pastries, and if there was no tea, he could use ale instead. After knowing that he was going to a remote border town, Prince Roland brought his maids, servants, and cooks with him.
Thus, in a simple wooden shed in the castle's back garden, the first afternoon tea party was held.
Anna couldn't believe her eyes as she stared at the plates of exquisite desserts. How could food be made to look so good?
Although she didn't know the specific name of the pastry, the combination of the pure white appearance and the bright red fruit was enough to whet one's appetite, especially when the pastry was decorated with several delicate patterns, which once again left a heavy stroke on her worldview.
Roland proudly looked at Anna's bewildered expression. Isn't it just a strawberry cream cake? Look at how this country bumpkin is scared. Moreover, this strawberry is pickled with sugar, so it doesn't taste fresh.
What was more interesting than eating was to enjoy the witch's expression. Roland watched her carefully put the cake into her mouth, her blue eyes almost shining, and her hair swaying back and forth. In his heart, he suddenly had the illusion that he was watching a food cartoon.
– Dishes that don't shine are not good dishes!
Well, the feeling of cultivating this kind of character is also very good.
So watching Anna practice and accompanying her to enjoy afternoon tea became Roland's daily life. Even if he didn't ask about government affairs, Barov would still help him take care of them in an orderly manner.
Three days later, Barov sorted out all kinds of information about Border Town and sent it to Roland's office. This was absolutely inconceivable before, but Prince Roland unexpectedly had the patience to read such a large pile of cumbersome reports.
In fact, he didn't have any now. Roland only read two lines and felt dizzy, so he directly said to Barov, "You read it to me."
After spending an hour listening to the assistant minister's report, he found something wrong, "Why is Border Town's annual winter taxes and trade zero?"
Winter temperatures are low, so the harvest is understandable, but what does it mean to directly return to zero? Do the local people have the habit of hibernating?
Barov coughed twice, "Your Highness, have you forgotten? Winter is the Months of the Demons, Border Town doesn't have the ability to defend itself, so all the residents have to move to Longsong Stronghold. But please rest assured, Your Highness's safety is definitely the first priority. "
"Months of the Demons"? Roland recalled that there seemed to be such a term – before, he didn't take the ghost legends, the evil witches and so on seriously, thinking that it was nothing more than nonsense in the uncivilized world. But now it seemed that witches did exist, regardless of whether they were evil or not. So … what about the other widely circulated ghost legends?
When he was teaching in the palace, the history teacher had talked about the Months of the Demons in detail. Every year after the first snow fell, the sun would be dim, and the Gates of Hell in Dragonspine Mountain would open at this time.
The evil breath from hell would erode the living, turning them into the devil's servants. Some of the animals would mutate into powerful demonic beasts and attack humans. Most of the witches were born in this season, and their power was far greater than usual.
"Have you seen it? The Gates of Hell, "Roland asked.
"Your Highness, how can ordinary people see it!" Barov shook his head, "Dragonspine Mountain is impossible to cross, even approaching the mountain will be affected by the evil breath, the lightest case is an unbearable headache, the most serious case is loss of mind. Unless … "
"Unless what?"
"Unless that person is a witch. Only witches can see the Gates of Hell, because they have fallen into the devil's minions, so naturally they are not affected by the evil breath. "At this point, Barov also turned his head to look at the back garden.
"What about demonic beasts? Have you seen demonic beasts?" Roland unhappily knocked on the table.
"Well, I haven't seen them. Like Your Highness, this is the first time I've come to the border. In Graycastle, in the center of the kingdom, almost no one can encounter real evil. "
If they move once a year, how can this place develop? Originally, he thought that Border Town was only barren, but still had the potential to develop, but now it seemed that it was simply a big pit.
"Longsong Stronghold can resist the demonic beasts, which means that they can also be killed, they are not invincible! Then why can't we defeat them in Border Town? "
"Longsong Stronghold has a huge wall, and is also stationed with Duke Ryan's elite troops, which is not something a small place like Border Town can compare with," Barov explained, "From the beginning, the purpose of establishing Border Town was to provide an early warning for the stronghold, so it was established between the North Slope Ridge and the Redwater River."
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