Roland went back to his apartment after bidding farewell to Garcia.
Phyllis who had been sitting in the living room waiting for him asked, "Your Majesty, who's that person?"
"She's a warrior. You can consider her as an Awakened with magic power in this Dream World." He waved his hand. "You don't have to mind her attitude. No one in this world knows I'm a king."
"But after all, she's also created by you like everything else in this world..." Phyllis still did not want to let it go. She showed him much greater respect after he had granted her request and treated her to tasty food.
He sat opposite to her and explained, "They don't think so. All the people in this world have their own ideas and memories. Their whole lives have nothing to do with me. This world has its own rules which I also need to follow."
When he was talking about this world, Phyllis' eyes shone with excitement. She had been deeply shocked by her experiences here and had been meant to ask something about him. Now, she finally got the chance.
She looked at Zero's bedroom and then whispered, "Your Majesty, is this the real place where you used to live? Please excuse me for being blunt, but I guess you're not Prince Roland of Graycastle, are you?"
Roland raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Why did you say that?"
Phyllis was excited. "Because your Neverwinter looks just like this world! When I first came to your city, I didn't quite understand why you built so wide, flat roads for carriages even inside the city where space is limited... But now I know you didn't build them for carriages. You did it for those fast four-wheeled vehicles! Your amazing weapons, your ambitious plan to build a 10-floor building, your powerful machine powered by boiling water and many other things in Neverwinter all seem to have something to do with this world."
After a little thought, he said, "I'm indeed Prince Roland, but when I came to Border Town, some different memories just somehow popped into my head in a sudden. They're some abstract, incredible knowledge, and I've only mastered a small part of it by now." He decided not to tell her his time-travel story that he only wanted to share with his closest witch.
Phyllis did not doubt what he said at all. "Then those memories must be something from the deities. Taquila witches often said that the deities didn't love human beings, but now it seems that we were wrong. You've got the deities' smile. As long as you are with us, we'll be able to defeat demons!"
Roland was startled hearing her share this idea with a decisive air. He had been trying hard to convince the Taquila survivors that he was able to defeat demons, but it was the first time a Taquila witch expressed confidence in him. He was a little uncertain since he had only brought her to a park and some restaurants instead of a scene of the military exercises.
He subtly mentioned his uncertainty, and Phyllis frankly told him what she thought. "Because of those four-wheeled iron vehicles."
"The vehicles?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Back in Taquila's age, we had to use lots of horses and carriages to send supplies to the front line camps. Some witches did have the ability to move fast but they could hardly complete this kind of tasks. Once the weight they carried exceeded a certain point, the consumption of magic power would increase by many folds. I believe you've know this phenomenon already."
She continued, "We felt great pressure when the Union seized the demons' Siege Beasts. Such a big thing, hundreds of times heavier than a person, could be operated by only one witch. When its iron shield and bolts on the top were removed, its loading capacity was equivalent to that of four to five carriages. Judging from this, we all knew that demons were much better at manipulating magic power than us. At that time, the Quest Society also believed demons' fighting potential was far greater than ours. Given this, Lady Alice started to pin her hope on the God's Punishment Army plan."
"So you guys judge an opponent's potential by their transportation capacity?" Roland asked with interest.
Phyllis nodded. "Yes. The method to transport goods, manually carried or horse-drawn, determines how far we can go. The species who're able to travel farthest are the strongest." She paused here and could not help smiling. "In this Dream World, I saw a four-wheeled iron vehicle several times farther than a carriage could travel. They're as fast as the wind while carrying over 100 people. That shows this world's strength. If your weapons are also created based on something from this world, I believe they'll easily crush demons."
Having heard her explanation, Roland was touched and lost in thought. Limited by their knowledge and era, the Taquila witches failed to defend the Fertile Plains, but that doesn't mean they're stupid. Phyllis is quite smart to infer this world's strength from some crowded bus. Such an insightful observation is really impressive even for people in modern times.
He suddenly thought of a topic frequently discussed by netizens in forums, "How can we defeat aliens who come to invade the Earth?"
In fact, this discussion was meaningless. Human beings worked hard only to send several astronauts to the moon, the closest celestial body to the Earth. This achievement was nothing when the alien invaders were able to travel hundreds of light years or even across the galaxies to the Earth. The energy they had consumed in their travel was enough to burn the Earth to ashes. How could human beings defeat such strong enemies?
He believed that if a civilization was able to travel in space and expand its power to another solar system, it would be strong enough to destroy human beings on the Earth. The moment we saw these alien invaders would be our time of death.
To his surprise, he found Phyllis or the dominators of Taquila also knew this truth about war very well.
In the end, the ancient witch stood up and bowed to him with hand on her chest once again. "Though you aren't a witch and unable to activate the Instrument of Divine Retribution, I still believe you're the Chosen One the deities sent to us."
Hearing this tenuous conclusion, Roland did not know whether to laugh or cry, but he did not point out her mistake. He knew that with Taquila witches' support, his Neverwinter would have a brighter future.
He took a deep breath and rose. "We don't have much time. Let's start testing."
They had to move fast and carefully in case that they would wake up Zero at night.
After setting up a ladder, Phyllis climbed to the top and turned her back to the bed. She fell down from the ladder, but nothing changed after her fall.
That meant she could not leave the Dream World by falling.
Now, there were only two possibilities.
She would leave here when Roland left this Dream World. Or, she would be trapped in this world forever.
When he climbed up the ladder and sat on it, ready to fall, Phyllis walked up to him.
"If I can't leave this Dreamland, don't worry. It's a nice place for me. If I can never come back after I leave here, I'll never forget all the things I went through today and will be always missing this world."
Roland nodded and then fell backward.
In an instant, the world was dark again.
Roland went back to his apartment after bidding farewell to Garcia.
Phyllis who had been sitting in the living room waiting for him asked, "Your Majesty, who's that person?"
"She's a warrior. You can consider her as an Awakened with magic power in this Dream World." He waved his hand. "You don't have to mind her attitude. No one in this world knows I'm a king."
"But after all, she's also created by you like everything else in this world..." Phyllis still did not want to let it go. She showed him much greater respect after he had granted her request and treated her to tasty food.
He sat opposite to her and explained, "They don't think so. All the people in this world have their own ideas and memories. Their whole lives have nothing to do with me. This world has its own rules which I also need to follow."
When he was talking about this world, Phyllis' eyes shone with excitement. She had been deeply shocked by her experiences here and had been meant to ask something about him. Now, she finally got the chance.
She looked at Zero's bedroom and then whispered, "Your Majesty, is this the real place where you used to live? Please excuse me for being blunt, but I guess you're not Prince Roland of Graycastle, are you?"
Roland raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Why did you say that?"
Phyllis was excited. "Because your Neverwinter looks just like this world! When I first came to your city, I didn't quite understand why you built so wide, flat roads for carriages even inside the city where space is limited... But now I know you didn't build them for carriages. You did it for those fast four-wheeled vehicles! Your amazing weapons, your ambitious plan to build a 10-floor building, your powerful machine powered by boiling water and many other things in Neverwinter all seem to have something to do with this world."
After a little thought, he said, "I'm indeed Prince Roland, but when I came to Border Town, some different memories just somehow popped into my head in a sudden. They're some abstract, incredible knowledge, and I've only mastered a small part of it by now." He decided not to tell her his time-travel story that he only wanted to share with his closest witch.
Phyllis did not doubt what he said at all. "Then those memories must be something from the deities. Taquila witches often said that the deities didn't love human beings, but now it seems that we were wrong. You've got the deities' smile. As long as you are with us, we'll be able to defeat demons!"
Roland was startled hearing her share this idea with a decisive air. He had been trying hard to convince the Taquila survivors that he was able to defeat demons, but it was the first time a Taquila witch expressed confidence in him. He was a little uncertain since he had only brought her to a park and some restaurants instead of a scene of the military exercises.
He subtly mentioned his uncertainty, and Phyllis frankly told him what she thought. "Because of those four-wheeled iron vehicles."
"The vehicles?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Back in Taquila's age, we had to use lots of horses and carriages to send supplies to the front line camps. Some witches did have the ability to move fast but they could hardly complete this kind of tasks. Once the weight they carried exceeded a certain point, the consumption of magic power would increase by many folds. I believe you've know this phenomenon already."
She continued, "We felt great pressure when the Union seized the demons' Siege Beasts. Such a big thing, hundreds of times heavier than a person, could be operated by only one witch. When its iron shield and bolts on the top were removed, its loading capacity was equivalent to that of four to five carriages. Judging from this, we all knew that demons were much better at manipulating magic power than us. At that time, the Quest Society also believed demons' fighting potential was far greater than ours. Given this, Lady Alice started to pin her hope on the God's Punishment Army plan."
"So you guys judge an opponent's potential by their transportation capacity?" Roland asked with interest.
Phyllis nodded. "Yes. The method to transport goods, manually carried or horse-drawn, determines how far we can go. The species who're able to travel farthest are the strongest." She paused here and could not help smiling. "In this Dream World, I saw a four-wheeled iron vehicle several times farther than a carriage could travel. They're as fast as the wind while carrying over 100 people. That shows this world's strength. If your weapons are also created based on something from this world, I believe they'll easily crush demons."
Having heard her explanation, Roland was touched and lost in thought. Limited by their knowledge and era, the Taquila witches failed to defend the Fertile Plains, but that doesn't mean they're stupid. Phyllis is quite smart to infer this world's strength from some crowded bus. Such an insightful observation is really impressive even for people in modern times.
He suddenly thought of a topic frequently discussed by netizens in forums, "How can we defeat aliens who come to invade the Earth?"
In fact, this discussion was meaningless. Human beings worked hard only to send several astronauts to the moon, the closest celestial body to the Earth. This achievement was nothing when the alien invaders were able to travel hundreds of light years or even across the galaxies to the Earth. The energy they had consumed in their travel was enough to burn the Earth to ashes. How could human beings defeat such strong enemies?
He believed that if a civilization was able to travel in space and expand its power to another solar system, it would be strong enough to destroy human beings on the Earth. The moment we saw these alien invaders would be our time of death.
To his surprise, he found Phyllis or the dominators of Taquila also knew this truth about war very well.
In the end, the ancient witch stood up and bowed to him with hand on her chest once again. "Though you aren't a witch and unable to activate the Instrument of Divine Retribution, I still believe you're the Chosen One the deities sent to us."
Hearing this tenuous conclusion, Roland did not know whether to laugh or cry, but he did not point out her mistake. He knew that with Taquila witches' support, his Neverwinter would have a brighter future.
He took a deep breath and rose. "We don't have much time. Let's start testing."
They had to move fast and carefully in case that they would wake up Zero at night.
After setting up a ladder, Phyllis climbed to the top and turned her back to the bed. She fell down from the ladder, but nothing changed after her fall.
That meant she could not leave the Dream World by falling.
Now, there were only two possibilities.
She would leave here when Roland left this Dream World. Or, she would be trapped in this world forever.
When he climbed up the ladder and sat on it, ready to fall, Phyllis walked up to him.
"If I can't leave this Dreamland, don't worry. It's a nice place for me. If I can never come back after I leave here, I'll never forget all the things I went through today and will be always missing this world."
Roland nodded and then fell backward.
In an instant, the world was dark again.
