Chapter 366 (1/2)
Chapter 366: Paper
Translator: Meh/TransN Editor: – –
After the snowfall during the Months of the Demons, the Redwater River became the only path in the entire Western Region that could still be traveled.
Compared to the small sailboat Petrov used before, the Lionheart was much more spacious. It had room for a simple kitchen, so that even during travels, the passengers could eat piping hot food.
His bedroom naturally was the single bedroom at the stern that the Duke used to live in, which was essentially the poop of the boat. It had windows that allowed Petrov to see the currents and floating ice running under his feet.
“Sir, the egg soup you demanded.” The knight carried a clay jar and a ceramic bowl into his room.
“Thanks for the trouble.” Roland nodded and said. “You should sit down and have a bowl to warm yourself up.”
After His Highness drafted all the knights of the other four noble families to Border Town, the first thing those nobilities did was to send the knights’ families over as well. All the empty lands left behind were used for soliciting new knights, or directly taken up by the nobilities themselves.
Only the Honeysuckle Family didn’t suffer too many losses in this war, and they actually expanded swiftly after they were placed in charge of Longsong Stronghold. Now, they were high above the other four families and still owned a relatively complete platoon of knights. Sise, the knight next to him, was a member of this platoon. Although he was not as well-known as Morning Light, he was still one of the more outstanding young knights.
“Yes, Sir.” He smiled, opened the lid of the jar, and poured a bowl of soup for Petrov. “But… Sir, do you really think this is alright?”
“Are you talking about the witch?”
“Yes. Even though the church was burned down, it’s pretty easy to rebuild it, and the church will surely return to the Western Region someday. If you place all the blame on Prince Roland, there won’t be anything they can do. However, you rescued a witch in public and arrested the believers of the church…” The knight hesitated and continued, “That’s an outright opposition to them.”
“If it’s easy to rebuild it, then why is that place still a pile of rubbles?” Petrov blew on his fragrant egg soup. “The church won’t ever come back to the Western Region again.”
Sise blinked confusedly and didn’t seem convinced.
After the egg soup had slightly cooled, Petrov took a little sip and puffed a cloud of smoke in satisfaction. “As an escrow, my most important duty is to figure out the true intentions of my superior. The real purpose of His Highness’ efforts to normalize education in the Stronghold, utilize the newly trained Border Town soldiers, and act out plays with obvious messages was to weaken the church’s influence. Since I’m the caretaker of the Stronghold under His Highness, I have to follow his intentions in governing this area. If I can’t even figure this out, he’ll probably replace me with someone else.” Petrov shrugged. “Preventing the church from being rebuilt is as easy as lifting a hand—the stonemasons and carpenters should have all gotten their warnings. Even if the believers want to rebuild the church on their own, the Rats won’t let these artisans work for them.”
“But the church…”
“Since His Highness did it, he’s not afraid of the church’s retribution, which is to say that he’s confident that he can fend off the church. If they can still set foot in the Western Region, it’ll mean the prince has failed. If he fails, I won’t be able to sit on the Stronghold throne anymore. I think you can understand this.”
“Do you think Prince Roland can defeat the church’s army?” Sise asked.
“Who knows?” Petrov shook his head, smiling. “A year ago, no one thought that he could fend off Duke Ryan’s knights.” He stood and lifted up the jar. “I’ll go check on the little girl, who may be hungry.”
…
The girl’s name was Paper.