Chapter 596 (1/2)

Chapter 596: Home of the Free

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Greatly surprised, Ashes said, “What did you say? I’ve never thought of leaving you.”

“That’s not what I mean. To tell the truth, this place is not bad… and you like it, right?” Tilly explained, finding out that Ashes misunderstood her.

After a moment of hesitation, Ashes nodded and said, “The Witch Cooperation Association must have their reason to stay here and work for Roland, but we’re different. We have our own home…”

Tilly interrupted Ashes, saying, “There are only three possible endings for us in this war. The first is that we get defeated by the God’s Punishment Army and die in the last ditch in the Northern Region. Under such circumstances, neither Sleeping Island nor Neverwinter matters to us anymore.”

“I swear, by my life. My lady, you’ll never die at that kind of place,” Ashes said and hurriedly covered Princess Tilly’s mouth with her hand, and even used the honorifics in her haste.

Tilly kept looking at Ashes with a smile until Ashes removed her hand, and then said, “That’s just a hypothesis. I don’t think I’ll get killed by the church, either.”

“So don’t say it out loud. A frequent saying of yours is that…” Ashes said with worry.

“It’ll become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Tilly added. She walked to the small window of the kitchen to look at the castle backyard which was full of energy and vitality, and she continued, “That’s why I tell you this hypothesis at first. The second possibility is that Roland loses the war but we survive. That way, the Kingdom of Graycastle will no longer be able to resist the church, Neverwinter will be caught in fire and Roland will have only one place to go.”

“Sleeping Island?”

“Yes, we’ll continue to fight against the church on the island until the Battle of Divine Will began. Maybe the human species will be extinct hundreds of years later but there’s nothing we can do as we can’t live that long.”

“What about the third possibility…”

“If we defeat the church and take over Holy City of Hermes, all of the witches will be free from bullying and persecution, and the Sleeping Island’s mission will be fulfilled.”

“Ful-fulfilled?”

“Yes, it’s just the witches’ hide for now. If the church is destroyed, we won’t have to confine ourselves on an island of the Fjords any longer. The Fjords can’t offer us a pleasant environment to live because of its limited supplies and unpredictable weather… But, of course, we won’t abandon Sleeping Island and we’ll continue our Sleeping Spell. The only change is that we’ll be able to choose to live in the cities we like, right?”

“I’ll always stay by your side even in hell and besieged by numerous demons.

“And in the world full of salted fishes and fish soup?”

“Uhm…” Ashes suddenly did not know what to say.

Tilly could not help but laugh. She said, “Relax, eating too much of them makes me feel sick, too. I’ll probably come to live in Neverwinter for a while every now and then. I also want some changes in diet.”

“Hey there, what’re you talking about?” Andrea pushed the door open, craned her neck to look inside and asked. She wore a bathrobe and carried a wooden basin on her head.

“What’re you going to do?” Ashes asked, frowning.

“To take a bath,” Andrea twitched her mouth and said, “I have stunk after staying on the ship for over ten days. Of course, it’s not surprising that somebody just can’t notice even such a strong smell of fish. Lady Tilly, are you going with me?”

“Yes, wait for me. I’ll change my clothes,” Tilly replied.

“Ahem… so am I.” Ashes pretended not to hear the satire and expressed her intention to join the bath.