Roland was startled. "Is there a problem?"
"It's like this..." Phyllis hesitated. "I heard that only one witch awakened in your territory last year. Is that true?"
He took out a list from the drawer, which was given to him by Vendy. It recorded each witch's Awakening Day and Adulthood Day so that he would not miss the witches' second rebirth.
"That should be it." Roland looked through the list and nodded. "Although two new witches joined in the Months of Demons last year, Paper had already awakened three years ago. Summer was the only one who awakened that year... and the day of her awakening happened to be the day of her adulthood."
"That shouldn't be the case, Your Majesty." Phyllis frowned. "How many people were there in your city last year? 20,000 or 30,000? "
"About 50,000." Speaking of population, Roland could not help but feel proud. "This year, the number of people in Neverwinter has exceeded 100,000."
"100,000 is almost the same as the number of Arrieta in the early days. Before they withdrew from the Fertile Plains, the number of Taquila was only about 250,000, but... do you know how many people awaken in these two Holy Cities every year?" Phyllis said in a low voice. "Even during the period when magic power was at its lowest, there were no less than 10 people in Arrieta, and nearly three times that number in Taquila."
"Period when magic power is... low?"
"Yes, the magic power that fills this world fluctuates, just like the tide." Agatha explained, "The two years after the Bloody Moon is also the time when magic power is the most abundant, and new witches will appear almost every day. Then, the free magic power will gradually weaken, and the period between the two Bloody Moons can be regarded as the period when magic power is low. Only during the Months of Demons will there be witches awakening. "
Roland had heard Agatha mention before that the stronger the magic power, the easier it was for witches to awaken. However, he had thought that the magic power would have a peak every year, but he did not expect that it would fluctuate greatly in a cycle of hundreds of years. "But we're not far from the third Battle of Divine Will."
"This is the most worrying problem," Phyllis said worriedly. "The appearance of the Fearful Beast of Hell means that the Bloody Moon is coming and the magic power should be more active. According to Celine's test, this is indeed the case. But why is the number of witches awakening so low? Even if no witches awakened in the city, there should be many witches born in the towns and villages in the suburbs. For example, during the Taquila era, the surrounding territories provided more witches than the Holy City. Generally speaking, the greater the total population, the more witches there will be. This is the law that the Union has concluded for hundreds of years. "
"At first, I thought that Neverwinter deliberately abandoned women when recruiting people. Later, I thought that the influence of the church made the new witches not dare to easily reveal their identities, so they didn't immediately join Neverwinter... It turns out that it wasn't the case." Agatha said slowly, "Pasha has also discussed it, and the final conclusion is that there may be some factors affecting the awakening of new witches, and the trend is gradually expanding."
Roland pondered for a while before saying, "Assuming that this guess is correct, do you have a way to find out what exactly caused this?"
The two looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.
"Since we can't find a solution, let's take it as a temporary rest for the gods." Roland spread out his hands and said, "Anyway, no matter how the awakening rate changes, we have to drive the demons out of the Land of Dawn, right?"
Fortunately, once the foundation of industrial production was established, the demand for witches was far less than that of the God's Punishment Army or the Plan of the Chosen One. Otherwise, it would really be terrible news.
"What you said... is right." Phyllis probably did not expect that Roland's confidence in fighting against the demons was not affected at all. She was stunned for a while and then came to her senses. "In any case, we have to defeat the demons."
"That's right," Roland said with a smile. "Ah, by the way … I called you here to ask something." He told them about his concern about the possible harm caused by the awakening of witches. "How did the Union deal with this kind of thing in the Taquila era?"
"It's very simple, Your Majesty." Phyllis's tone became more respectful. She no longer looked directly at Roland but slightly lowered her head. "Everyone in that era knew the rule of half an hour."
"The rule of half an hour?"
"Yes. Before a witch awakens, there are signs. The process of magic power drifting from the state to gathering in the body of the Awakened will last about half an hour," Phyllis replied. "At first, there will be a faint tingling and burning pain in the abdomen, and then it will become more and more intense until the first backfire occurs. The specific degree of pain varies from person to person. Those who are strong won't even be affected much, but they can still feel the slight tingling."
She paused. "The rule of half an hour is that as long as a witch loudly announces that she is about to awaken within this time, the people around her must immediately leave her side. If there is any injury or death caused by failure to evade, the common people can't ask for compensation from the Union. If there is any damage to a fixed place, the Union will pay for it."
"This is a new method," Roland thought. The premise is that everyone is very familiar with witches, especially underage girls. When they encounter a sudden tingling pain, their first reaction is to announce it, instead of suspecting that they have eaten something bad.
"What if the victim is also a witch?"
"If they don't announce it in advance, the newly awakened will face punishment such as whipping or money, depending on the consequences. If they announce it in advance, the Union will take full responsibility. However, this situation is not common. After all, combat witches are already a minority, and there are even fewer witches who can cause harm at the early stage of awakening. "
In other words, in the era of Taquila, if the common people did not avoid it in time, they could only blame themselves. In that special era where witches were superior to others, it was understandable for them to do so. Obviously, Roland could not copy this method, but he could use it as a reference to a certain extent.
There was no doubt that, apart from the punishment part, the rule of half an hour had its advantages: it at least promoted the idea that witches were born within the human race, and that every underage girl could awaken as a witch, regardless of whether they accepted it or not. This was just like the red light in the future, and the green light in the future, the only thing everyone could do was to abide by the rules to avoid damage.
Of course, it was impossible to completely exempt witches from liability. Roland thought, "If we take a step back from this rule and treat witches and ordinary people the same, and the City hall will be responsible for the harm caused after the announcement is made, and if there is no announcement and serious consequences, they will be tried as negligent wounding... Or we can make a special law to regulate the behavior of witches, just like the traffic laws in the future, maybe this kind of contradiction can be alleviated to a certain extent."
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