Chapter 368 (1/2)

Chapter 368: Filling in the Gaps

Translator: Meh Editor: – –

…

“Do you really think he’ll agree?” asked Nightingale after Petrov left, whispering into Roland’s ear.

“I’m not sure. In addition, even if he does, he’ll still need to persuade Count Hull for it to be of any use,” said Roland as he took a sip of his hot tea, “If his father still insists on his position as a noble, then there’ll be nothing we can do.”

“You can’t bear to see him go, can you?” she teased.

“Of course not.” Roland pursed his lips. “As a noble, he’s both intelligent and humble, as well as having a penchant for managing commerce. As long as he studies in Longsong Stronghold for a year or two, he’ll definitely become an capable government official.”

“If he manages to persuade Count Hull, you’ll really hand the Royal Capital over for him to govern?”

“If I manage to conquer Graycastle, the capital will naturally need to be moved elsewhere… In addition, cities that are far from the Western Region will need to be managed by officials sent from the west. As such, the terms I laid out may have sounded fantastical but were nevertheless legitimate.”

Towards the end of his conversation with Petrov, Roland informed him that from henceforth, he would not appoint any nobles. In fact, after consolidating Graycastle, he planned on establishing a brand new model for society throughout the kingdom based on that of Bordertown. He planned to consolidate and create a central government with a single word of law and judicial policy. Should Petrov decide to stay, Longsong Stronghold would be far from his final destination. Be it a mayor of a major city or chief bureaucrat of the new central government, neither was impossible for him.

As for how far he’ll go in reality, it’ll be up to none other than himself.

Roland sincerely hoped that Petrov would understand his implications and anticipations from the conversation just now.

“Alright then, it’s not as if I understand these things anyway,” Nightingale patted his shoulder and continued, “in any case, the new witch is coming over soon. It’s best if you go elsewhere for a while.”

“You’re going to question her by yourself?”

“I’ll call Wendy over.” The sound of her laughter rang out beside him. “She’s better at these things than I am.”

The Witches Union for the sake of safety (a cause mainly championed by Scroll), had established a rule: prior to any further interactions with an unknown Witch, their identity had to first be confirmed by Nightingale. Doing this required her to enter her mist, and therefore also take off the God’s Stone of Retaliation. Thus, it was best if Roland was not present, lest the outsider revolted and anything unexpected happened.

Scroll even managed to come up with a series of 10 questions specifically to determine one’s identity, such as “Where are you from”, “What is your real name”, “Do you recognize the prince”, “Do you hold any hostile intentions towards the prince”, etc. Since Nightingale could only determine the veracity of someone’s statements based on the target’s own beliefs, this battery of true/false questions aimed to establish the target’s true intentions without leaving any loopholes. Even if they could deceive her once or twice, there was no way they could pass every single question.

Roland didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when this was brought up, but in consideration of the witches’ good intentions, he could only go along with this plan.

…

After leaving the main hall, he returned to his office and immediately sent for City Hall Director Barov.