After nearly four months, Lotus had a different feeling when she returned to Border Town.
The town had developed rapidly, and even the heavy snow did not stop its expansion. She had this particular feeling every time she was on the Redwater Bridge.
The factories located on the south bank of the river were arrayed like a neat square, and the dock area across the river had expanded more than several times. Concrete boats with black smoke moving back and forth on the river almost covered the glittering surface of the river.
"It"s much more crowded than Sleeping Island. There are a lot of people, and they look like ants down there." Honey leaned against the railings of the bridge looking down.
"I agree," said Lotus. She had not understood why His Highness had wanted such a broad bridge and felt that it had been a waste of materials when the bridge was being constructed. Now, however, she thought that his decision was proven to be right.
Occasionally, people moving across the river via the bridge would glance up at them, curious about their odd dress and appearance.
In other cities, Lotus would think about how to escape at moments like this, but she did not need to worry about her safety here.
In addition to the changes one could see, there were still many more improvements in life, naked to the eye.
For example, the heating system that made people feel warm, the electric lamps that lit up the night and new, delicious food like ice cream and so on. Evelyn and Candle could talk about those changes in their life with her for a whole day, but those were not what surprised Lotus the most.
She thought the biggest change was the relation between witches and ordinary people.
And this could be seen in Evelyn"s tavern.
The tavern was funded by the Witch Union. Evelyn was the manager and bartender, serving guests who visited the Western Region delicious blended wines. It was His Majesty"s idea that they should spend some of their savings on business instead of keeping it hidden inside their drawers.
Lotus had been invited by Wendy to have two gla.s.ses of iced apple fruit wine. The taste was exquisite, much more aromatic than oat wine and mixed with a delicate fruit flavor. The drinks also looked quite attractive, and you could see the clear pale green liquid through the transparent crystal gla.s.s. The environment there was not like that of the ordinary pubs which were often noisy and chaotic. Instead, the guests were sitting elegantly in their own seats, and the floor, tables and drinking vessels were all clean and tidy. She would not consider the place a pub, if it were not for the row of barrels behind the counter.
Of course, the experience corresponded with the high prices of the drinks.
Evelyn stood in front of the counter, having conversations with her guests and n.o.body reproached her because she was a witch. Instead, many foreign businessmen came over to drink due to curiosity. Lotus had seldom seen Evelyn smile so happily, and she knew Evelyn really liked the job.
Lotus recalled that most of the activities of witches had been basically within the castle area before she had left, and the witches had often been protected by His Majesty"s bodyguards when they needed to go out. But now they were gradually being a.s.similated into every part of the town.
It was incredible that such changes could be made within just one season.
Talking with Wendy that evening gave Lotus a deeper understanding. She believed perhaps that was the reason why the witches of the Witch Union were willing to do their best.
They were not only building Neverwinter for His Majesty Roland, but also building their home.
"Let"s go. Today we"ll complete the transformation of the estuary if everything goes smoothly," Lotus said to Honey.
"Yay!"
When the last piece of rock sank into the ground, Lotus wiped the sweat off her forehead and took a deep breath.
"Awesome, you really made a road through the mountain." Honey applauded.
Meanwhile, the row of birds crouched in the treetop above her head tweeted.
"Of course, there"s nothing I can"t do," said Lotus proudly.
Unlike the reefs surrounding Sleeping Island, the rock layer here was much deeper and harder, so it was much more difficult to transform it. Fortunately, she did not need to transform the entire mountain into flat ground. According to His Majesty"s plan, she just needed to build a pa.s.sageway that could allow five or six carriages to pa.s.s side by side. Thinking of the iron bridge, this time she did not consider such a s.p.a.cious road a waste.
Since the hills were more than forty meters above sea level, the easiest way to build the road was by sinking the ground gradually until it turned into a long, gentle slope.
In order to facilitate the pa.s.sage of carriages, she purposely pressed the rock layer on the surface of the hills into a level road surface. By doing so, even if it rained, puddles of water would not form on the surface of the road.
Now, if you were standing on top of the slope, you could see the golden shallow beach and the blue sea, and you could feel the cool sea breeze blowing along the slope with a familiar salty smell.
"Did you bring fire?" Honey bounded toward her.
"No, what do you want to do?"
"Roast fish, of course!" Honey smiled and added, "How about you drive them out to the top of the water"s surface when I attract them here? We can just put them under the sun for two days if we don"t have fire."
The birds above her head tweeted even more merrily.
Lotus rolled her eyes and said, "I don"t want to smell salted fish everywhere! Besides, haven"t you got bored of it? You ate so many on Sleeping Island!"
"Hmm? I feel it was quite good," Honey said while tilting her head.
"Anyway, putting fish under the sun is forbidden here. His Majesty doesn"t like the smell of fish, either." Lotus suddenly remembered Ashes and was not sure whether she was still plagued from eating fish soup on Sleeping Island. "His Majesty said he plans to build a harbor, so Lady Tilly can come here anytime she wants, and she won"t need to come by hot air balloon anymore."
When Lady Tilly was mentioned, this attracted Honey"s attention. "So... will she come?"
Her expression was even simpler than that of an animal. Lotus patted her fluffy hair, saying, "I have no idea, but soon His Majesty has to fight against the church, so she must come to help her brother."
Actually, Lotus was not sure, especially after she had heard all the details of the Bloodfang a.s.sociation and Heidi Morgan. In the past, she had not liked the pompous att.i.tude of the combat witches, but now it seemed that they were also quite pitiable.
After she stopped holding prejudice against them, she realized that they were actually not that different from herself. At least now, she could have a short conversation with Iffy once in a while. The combat witches on the island, however, would not be persuaded by Tilly easily.
"Yay, that"s great!"
Lotus sighed inwardly. This little girl knew nothing about war. If Lady Tilly failed to solve the Bloodfang a.s.sociation"s problem, and the church attacked His Majesty Roland at the same time, it would mean big trouble.
Despite that, she still wished that Lady Tilly could come to Border Town again.
And she also wished Lady Tilly could stay here forever.
Then the wish she had made in the winter would come true
"Thus, all the witches including myself could live happily in Border Town," Lotus thought.