Chapter 358: Invitation

Translator: Meh/TransN Editor: - -

This was not a wild guess, but it could be best proved by the development of human civilization.

It took mankind nearly a million years to enter the Iron Age from the Stone Age, but only 3,200 years from the Iron Age to the Age of Steam. From the Age of Steam to the Electric Age, it merely took 150 years, and the world directly stepped into the information era in another 50 years.

From the information Agatha disclosed, demons were not an invariable race. Over 800 years ago, they combatted in a close range with knives and shields made of bronze and pig iron, fighting in a similar way to mankind. In order to compete against witches, some Senior Demons would also wear God's Stones of Retaliation. Every time they attacked a city, demons generally did not have any effective countermeasures for long-distance weapons such as crossbow bolts and mangonels, and therefore always suffered great loss before conquering a fortified city. If they were not born to possess such immense power, perhaps mankind would have become the ultimate victor of the first Battle of Divine Will.

Nevertheless, demons had already been able to mass produce Magic Stones in the second Battle of Divine Will, and their groups had also experienced differentiation. Demons of various forms took on diverse operation missions, and even Mad Demons who outweighed in number had also developed measures for long-distance attack. According to Agatha, they even created transportation tools and engineering instruments driven by Magic Stones! Now more than 400 years had passed, how far had they evolved?

Roland originally thought Agatha would bring him the Magic Stone technologies from Taquila's Quest Society, and based on them, he would be able to wedge a new path of industrial development, but he did not expect that such technologies were from the enemies. In that way, the competition against demons would very likely become a war between industrial and Magic Stone technologies.

"Only the one that develops technologies faster will win in the end."

At this thought, Roland could not help but heave a sigh. It seemed necessary to have a thorough discussion with Tilly.

...

Roland met Tilly Wimbledon at his office after dinner.

He felt pleased when he saw she came alone—at least there had been great progress in terms of trust between them.

"Nightingale told me you want to discuss something with me." she took a seat and came straight to the point.

"Yes." Roland poured a cup of tea and handed it over to her himself. "It's mainly about how to cope with the third Battle of Divine Will and our future."

Tilly took the tea cup and blinked, seeming to wait for him to continue.

"According to Agatha, the Four Kingdoms was merely a tip of the Land of Dawn and that even the Barbarian Land used to be the most prosperous Fertile Plains. It was after being defeated by demons twice that human beings had to retreat to this place. Based on the time the Stone Gates opened, the third Battle of Divine Will is at the corner." Roland hesitated for a moment and stated bluntly, "I hope you can stay."

Tilly smiled faintly after a short pause and said, "I didn't expect you would say that."

"The strength of demons is unpredictable, and we must gather all the powers available to win the war. Although Agatha said the first Battle of Divine Will was operated by both mortals and witches, it was very likely that their cooperation was only on the surface, which essentially had no difference from the second Battle of Divine Will." He addressed in a sincere tone, "As you've already seen, the excess of the memories in my head possesses weapons sufficient to defeat demons. Once these memories are converted to physical entities, mortals can also burst out powers beyond imagination. The right choice is to have witches take care of the operation of war machines, while ordinary people fight in the war. Upon a big war, one more person means one more source of strength."

"..." Tilly took a sip of the tea and did not answer for quite a while. Roland felt his heart was in his throat.

Yet under such circumstances, there was no use feeling vexed. He put on a composed look, waiting silently for Tilly to speak.

After seven minutes or so, Tilly finally heaved a sigh and broke the silence. "If I stay, what about the witches on the Sleeping Island?"

"Does that mean... she agreed?" Roland restrained his excitement. "Ask them to come to the Border Town. They are totally welcome here. I'll mark off a plot of land for your witches, and each of them will be equally paid as those in the Witch Union—ah, I don't mean making them members of the Union. They'll still be led by you. It's like establishing a special autonomous district in the Western Region. This is not only convenient for our cooperation, but also helpful to boost the mutual understanding between us."

"Will they be equally paid?" She could not help but smile, "You don't mind their abilities? You know most of them can't fight for you."

"No, no," Roland waved his hand repeatedly and said, "In the cooperation model I have conceived, assistant witches, on the contrary, can play a more important role than combat ones, because it isn't themselves that are strengthened, but hundreds of thousands of ordinary people—nature doesn't lack power, but lacks people who discover and make use of them. In this regard, the abilities of assistant witches are far greater."

"Is this your real purpose?" she asked slyly.

"Um..."

"It's indeed a generous offer." Tilly smiled, shaking her head. "In view of the public concerns, I can't refuse your request to jointly fight against the intrusion of demons; in view of the personal concerns, I also want to stay here to learn the interesting knowledge. However, I can't give you my consent now."

A bit surprised, Roland immediately asked, "Why?"

"Since I am the leader elected by the witches on the Sleeping Island, I can't decide their future based on my personal preference. Once moved to the Western Region, the organization will inevitably lose its independence. If something happens, they'll be too vulnerable to resist. If one day there're conflicts between us, should all the witches have to pack up and return to the the Sleeping Island again?"

"No, I'll never..."

"I can't put their future in an oral promise," Tilly interrupted, "If you were me, would you surrender everything of yours to me simply because we are allies?"

Roland was instantly speechless. He knew the answer even without thinking about it. If he himself was in such a situation, he would never agree with others easily. Most of the time, the closer two people are, the more likely they'll have conflicts. That's exactly what the so-called "befriending a distant state while attacking a neighbor" means. The same applies to powers and lovers.

"See? You are worried about the same thing as I am."

"But... you are my younger sister. I won't hurt you." Roland had no choice but to make the last effort.

"Really... but for the reason you just said, I still can't trust it," Tilly closed her eyes somewhat melancholy, "this is probably why I can't promise you right away." She paused for a little bit, as if she wanted to leave those thoughts behind, "Let's just treat each other as an ally for now—I will give my full support to the construction of Border Town. If you need witches, I'll try to meet your requirements as much as I can... If it's really hard to resist the attacks from demons, you can still return to Sleeping Island and spend the rest of your life in peace. This is all that I can do so far."

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