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Release that Witch - Chapter 9

Published at 5th of July 2016 09:10:13 AM


Chapter 9

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Chapter 9 Months of the Demons (Part 2)

“Not many, your highness, every in time of the Months of the Demons there will only be two or three mixed species, otherwise the Longsong stronghold would be in huge trouble.”

“Well, you seem to observe very carefully,” Roland ordered Liehu to stand up, “what’s your name? Apparently you don’t look like a man from my Kingdom of Graycastle.”

“Half of my linage is from the Mojin Clan, the town people called me Tie Fu.”

Mojin Clan, the people from the Shamin Kingdom, placed southwest of the barren land, it is said that they were the descendants of the giants. Roland searched in his brain for related memories, he did not use the name of his clan, rather using his name given by the people of Border town, and apparently he did not want to have a relationship with the Shamin Kingdom. As for why, since it was obvious that he was from the south west border of the desolate land, he estimated, that there were a series of sad stories.

But those were not important; everyone was welcome to the Border town, regardless of his or her origin.

Roland clapped his hands, “That’s not why I asked you to be here, Carter, bestow to each of them ten silver royals, then let them leave.”

“Thank you very much, your highness, for the reward,”  the three said in unison.

Afterwards the people were taken away by Carter. When he finished his task, Carter returned once again, “Your Highness, you ask for these, do you want to stay here?”

Roland didn’t express any opinion “What do you think?”

“This matter is out of question, your highness!” Said the knight loudly, “according to the statement from the hunter, even with a wild demon bear it would be difficult to cope with. Outside of fifty yards a shoot with the crossbow would have no effect; we would have to wait until it crossed the forty yards, or even until thirty yards and then shot, only our elite soldier can accomplish this. Plus they are too numerous, and we can’t rely on strong walls, only standing side by side with the local guards to stop them, I’m afraid that the casualties would outstrip the accomplishment, the defeat would be destined. “

“You saw the witch before and you still say so, can’t you think positive?” Roland sighed.

“This…… The witches are evil, but Anna…… Miss Anna does not look so, as your knight, I have to seek truth from facts.”

“It is, what would be if I give you a city wall?”

“What?” For a moment Carter suspected himself listening wrong.

“If I give you a wall, between the northern slope of the mountain and the Chishui River,” Roland stressed every word he said, “although they would not be like the enormous walls from Graycastle, but to stop animals, they should still be able to.”

“Sir, do you know what you are saying?” The knight didn’t know whether to be angry or to laugh, “Even your nonsense should have a limit, if you don’t stop, you will have to excuse my lack of manners”

“We still have three months, isn’t it? I looked at the past records, the first snow falls here at the end of the second month from now.”

“Even three years would not be enough! Building a wall would require many workers, for setting the foundation they have to compress the earth. Every one up to two feet would have to be reinforced; otherwise it would have a high risk to collapse. This would be the simplest of the earth walls,” Carter shook his head again and again,”brick and stone walls are even more slowly to build and it would need hundreds of masons who would prior cut stone chisel into a square. Afterwards they would need to build it block by block. Your highness, any walls were set up in this way, without exception. Building a city in the time of a day and a night, that is only story of legends.”

Roland gave him a hint to say nothing more “I see. You don’t need to be so upset, if there will be no reliable wall, I will evacuate with you to Longsong stronghold. I’m not going to give away my life in this place.”

The knight knelt down, “I will protect you!”

 

*

 

Afterwards in the beautiful castle garden, Roland nipped the bitter ale, looking at Anna who was intently eating cream cakes, his mood recovered a lot.

He has decided to stop the demon beasts at the Border town – joining the elite soldier with the town guards, he would also intensive the farming. If he wanted to build the wall, connecting the north slope and the Chishui River within three months, he must use a reasonable technology from the modern time.

It was not the case that Roland had suddenly thought of this, previously he had checked the periphery of the Border town (although he didn’t go personally), in his memory remained a clear picture — the northern slope of the mountain and the Chishui River smallest path was 600 yards, it was a simply natural bottleneck. And due to the all year round mining in the north slope mine, it was surrounded by rock gravel mined from the cave.

These gravel section was ash gray, containing plenty of calcium carbonates, can be used as limestone after grinding. With the limestone he had his solution, it would be equal to cement.

Yes, this would change the history of mankind, to be able to build with a water hardening material, with raw materials which were easily to obtain, which were simple to prepare, it truly numbered among’s one of the efficient tools for tilling the fields.

Roland estimated the needed time, even if he would implement new technology, even with cement he was sure if it was possible, the amount of cement they actually needed was too big, he wasn’t sure if in three months they could calcine (TN: purify by heating) so much cement powder. And concrete toughness would be inferior, in the end they would need to reinforce it with steel, thus the probability to succeed in building a concrete city wall was not that great.

They had to maximize the usage of the existing materials and save cement, so building a field stone wall would be the most appropriate to select.

The so-called field stone, was a stone which had not undergone any grinding, it was just a natural byproduct of mining. This stone, because of the irregular shape of the edges and corners, there was no way to directly using it to build, instead it first need to be processed by the stonemason into usable bricks. But building a field stone wall while using cement as binder was possible, regardless of how oddly shaped the stone was it could be used, the gap between the stones was filled by the cement, saving cement and using leftover materials.

With this the big direction was set, but the actual implementation, he was afraid he would have to do it by himself, thought Roland. Regardless of whether it was the calcined cement or field stone wall, both were new things. In addition to himself, no one had seen these things, and also no one knew how to make them. He was afraid he would be very busy for the next three months.

“You, look here.”

The sound of Anna’s clear voice came from behind.

As Roland turned, he saw a small cluster of flames in her palm quietly burning, there was clearly no wind, but the flame tip was rising up and down, as if it would nod to her. She shook her finger, and the fire was like a toddler, moving slowly towards the tip of the finger. In the end, it stood at the top of the index finger, simmering down,

“You did it.”

It was an incredible scene, Roland felt admiration from the bottom of his heart. This was not illusion magic, nor a chemical trick, but it really was a supernatural power. But this was not the most attractive thing to Roland – many time more dazzling than the flame, was Anna’s look.

While she was intently staring at her fingertips, the lake water limpid eyes were reflecting the vibrant flame, as if an elf sealed within a sapphire. The traces left from the prison torture had already faded, though she rarely smiled, but her face was no longer lifeless. On the young lady’s tip of her nose was a speck of sweat, the rosy color on her white checks emitted vitality, even looked at also can let a person feel cheerful mood.

“What happened to you?”

“Ah…… Nothing, “Roland noticed he looked at her for too long, he removed his line of sight and coughed.” well, then, try using it to melt the iron. “

In the past few days, except for eating and sleeping, she always repeated her practice, in front of the hardworking enthusiast Roland could only endlessly blush in shame — even in the face of the college entrance examination he did not work so hard.

“Apparently she will not need long, until she completely grasped this power”,Roland thought. As in the following, his ideas of new projects can be set on the agenda.





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