The New Civilization of Witches

Chapter 22: The Declaration

The next day the rain finally stopped, and

Border Town came alive once again.

Many villagers gathered in the square, speaking while waiting for the 4th prince's speech.

The day before, Roland had posted a notice regarding this presentation on the bulletin board.

Whoever comes to the square and listens to his speech will receive a bowl of wheat porridge and half of bread.

For the townspeople, this was equivalent to a free lunch, so there were more people here to watch than when witches were hung.

When it was almost noon, Roland went up to the stage he had prepared earlier.

Faced with the dense mass of people in front of him, he would be lying if he said he was not nervous.

Most of the time in his previous life he only dealt with computer monitors, even if he attended meetings he always sat in the audience to applaud, so facing such a battle was his first.

But he had to go on stage, if he wanted most of the people to stay in Border Town, they would need a bigger defense, and without motivation they would all leave.

Roland waved with his hand, and everyone fell silent.

|She has practiced this scene many times, but when she stepped on stage, her mouth was still a little dry,

"People in my territory, good afternoon. I'm the 4th Prince of Graycastle, Roland Wimbledon.

At this moment we are gathered together, because there is an important message that I must convey to you!" "Four days ago the ambassador of Langsong Fortress arrived, his mission was to receive the mined ore.

We all know that a month ago, we had a catastrophic accident, the collapse of a mine on the North Mountain Slope.

Even today, the mining area has not fully recovered so we cannot produce as much as we used to?

As a result of the accident, we only produced the equivalent of two months in the last quarter.

"

“I explained the situation to the envoy, because I hope he will lend us food for three months,

and we will pay for the lost ore at the end of winter, but he refused!

There was no room for negotiation, he refused to set aside any more food - as they did two years ago.

The crowd exploded in fear, clearly the suffering of everyone from two years ago is still remembered.

"This time will be even worse.The Diviners of Longsong Stronghold told me that this time the Demon Moon will be longer, even longer,

most likely to last more than four months.

This time, we will all face two months of food inequality. Two years ago, we lost 20% of the population.

Someone lost a brother, someone lost a child, but this time, how much will we lose? "

"No! Your Majesty, you must save us!"

Someone shouted from below, then more people shouted,

"Your Majesty, I beg you to help us!"

It seems that planting a few people among the crowd, who will speak for its sake is the right choice.

Roland raised his hand again, suppressing the voices of the people,

"Of course, I'm not going to abandon the people I trust,

I would never do that! You may not know, but Longsong Fortress annually sends us grain and bread,

and they carry all the ore that we mine, but it's not equivalent to the normal market price.

According to the market price, two months of ore should be enough for half a year of food!

I have sold that ore to Willow Town, their cargo ship full of food will soon arrive at Border Town.

In addition to bread, there will be cheese, honey, and meat! All winter, everyone can eat!"

The square exploded into cheers.

"However, this was equivalent to severing ties with Longsong Stronghold, so they would not accept anyone during the winter.

As a result, this winter, we all have to stay in Border Town. Most people have been on the western border of our city, there we are building a strong wall.

I know many people are anxious about the invasion from demonic beasts, but we can block them.

I want to tell you, that demonic beasts are not much stronger than ordinary forest beasts.

Despite having rough skin and thick flesh, they could not climb walls nor could they eat stones.

They have thick skin but they are just a bunch of animals that are easy to aim for!"

"Tell me, my dear ones, are you willing to hide in Longsong Stronghold, stay in the hut and starve to death?

Or under my leadership will you protect your loved ones and children, guarding the Border Town until the last minute?

I promise, all those who stay until the end of the Demon Moon and protect the citizens of other cities on the city walls will get a reward of 25 silver nobles.

If one sacrificed himself while defending the city, his family would receive the compensation of five golden nobles!"

Under the guidance of his own people stationed in the crowd, more and more people vowed to fight.

Seeing the atmosphere soar,

Roland in time ordered to take out lunch.

He did not expect that everyone would stay in Border Town.

As long as half of the people were willing to stay, he would have a chance to block the demonic beasts from moving forward.

*

While Petrov brought back messages to the six noble families only to be greeted with laughter,

he naturally had no idea that the 4th Prince was inciting the townspeople.

"You're saying an incompetent prince actually wants to kill a demonic beast alone?

Dare to build a wall before winter, I don't know, should I praise him for his bravery or mock him for overestimating himself?"

"His Royal Highness' lack of courage is a known fact, when did the 4th prince find his guts?

He was just a fool, and nothing more!"

"Yes, he doesn't even have a mason, he just leans on the pile of unpolished stones and sticks wet mud in between, he said,

I'm afraid this piled up stone wall is about to collapse"

"Anyway, that's a good thing. escape to

Longsong Stronghold, we will be under the mercy of nature.

But if he dies in the border town, we can end this joke immediately."

After he pondered his problem, the duke suddenly spoke, "Prov, what do you think?"

Petrov was surprised, he did not think that duke Longsong Stronghold would ask for his opinion, he did not think that,

"Well, I originally wanted to maintain the monopoly, as long as we could get the ore thirty percent below the market price, it would still exist.to be a viable deal for us, but .."

His mind calculated some ideas," but His Majesty had no intention to sell all the ores to Longsong Stronghold, either,

he even sold the ore at a price 50% lower than the market price, which meant, he had plans to make a substantial increase in ore production next year.

As long as they are able to increase production by double from previous years, we can get more than before.

But he also intended to sell them his own iron production, hot iron production selling, and resale would also be very easy.

But.this is not an important point. "

"Oh?

What's that important?"

“If he can take control of Border Town, that will also be good news for us.

We don't have to focus on dealing with demonic beasts every year, which can save us huge amounts of expenses.

The second advantage is that a large amount of land between the fort and the Border Town will be open to all of us.

Whether it's cultivating the land or using it to settle new people, both options would be good.

This could greatly alleviate the current status of the overcrowded fortress population ."

Petrov recited his ideas one by one,

"And the 4th prince will not always stay in Border Town. The seizure of the throne will only last for five years,

after five years we will get the more prosperous Border Town, and then we can enter Border Town into the fortress.

Then the territory of the fortress would become the third largest territory of the entire kingdom. So my advice is."

He glanced at the Duke, and said carefully, "The fortress must send staff to help His Majesty, please,

and we must cooperate in defending Border Town."

"That's right" said the duke,

"but they are the thoughts of a trader, interested only in profits and losses.

When he got to this point, he straightened his body, his eyes slowly sweeping across each participant and his tone became astonishing, astonishing,

"However, I did not gain my status today by weighing all the benefits with the losses.

Why do I have to deal with people who are out of my control?

Some rules must be adhered to, and if broken, offenders must be punished.

The Border Town prospered or was broken down unimportantly, which mattered

is no one ever thought of taking control of me - even if he's a prince, he's no exception. "