He locked himself in his room for the rest of the day, thoroughly recalling everything about this world, even having his servants bring dinner directly to him.

Driven by the strong desire to survive, Roland forcefully suppressed his fear and discomfort with the unfamiliar environment after transmigrating. He knew very well that grasping more information as soon as possible would reduce the risk of exposure.

It had to be said that the Fourth Prince's mind was occupied with nothing but hanging out with those young masters. Roland couldn't recall any valuable information, such as aristocratic anecdotes, political situations, or foreign diplomacy with neighboring countries. As for basic common sense, like city names and major event years, he couldn't connect them with the European history he knew.

It seemed this guy was absolutely not destined for the throne. Perhaps the King of Graycastle was aware of this too, which was why he threw him to such a godforsaken place – even if he acted willfully, he wouldn't cause much damage.

And those siblings... Roland recalled them slightly, and could only laugh wryly.

The eldest brother was highly skilled in combat, the second brother was very cunning, the third sister was frighteningly fierce, and the fifth sister was too clever. These were the impressions the Fourth Prince had. What could he say? After more than a decade of interaction, the final impressions were summarized in just a few words. He knew nothing about the powers they cultivated, who their capable subordinates were, or what they were good at.

Having only been in Border Town for three months, the nobles here no longer bothered to conceal their contempt, showing the Fourth Prince was indeed not leadership material. Fortunately, Wimbledon III had sent two assistants, one civil and one military, to help him when he left the royal city; otherwise, he would have been completely in the dark.

Early the next morning, the maid Tilly repeatedly reminded Roland that the Minister Assistant wanted to see him. It seemed he couldn't delay any longer. He groped the maid's butt twice as was his habit, and told her to inform Barov to wait in the reception hall.

Seeing Tilly walk out with a flushed face, Roland suddenly remembered, since he was going to do farming, would there be a system attached? He yawned and silently recited "system" dozens of times in his mind, but nothing happened.

Turns out it was all a lie.

*******************

Barov, waiting in the reception hall, was already restless. As soon as he saw Roland appear, he went up to him, "Your Highness, why didn't you order the execution yesterday?"

"What's the difference between sooner and later?" Roland clapped his hands and ordered the servants to serve breakfast. "Sit down and let's talk slowly."

It seemed to match his memory, he thought. The Chief Knight always liked to question him face-to-face when encountering problems, while the Minister Assistant would explain things to him privately. In any case, their loyalty to him was reliable – although it was likely for the sake of the king.

"A day later might attract other witches, Your Highness! This is different from those trivial matters before, you can't just act willfully!"

"Why are you saying this too?" Roland asked with a frown, "I thought you could distinguish rumors from facts."

Barov looked bewildered, "What rumors?"

"Evil witches, messengers of the devil," Roland said dismissively, "Isn't that all church propaganda? If we want them to stay out of here, I think it's better to do the opposite. They promote witches as evil, so we just won't hunt witches, and we will promote to the people of the territory that these are all shameless rumors spread by the church."

Barov was stunned, "But... but witches are indeed..."

"Indeed evil?" Roland retorted, "For example?"

The Minister Assistant was silent for a moment, seemingly wondering if the prince was deliberately making fun of him, "Your Highness, this kind of question can be discussed later, I know you don't like the church, but this kind of resistance will only backfire."

It seemed that changing established ideas couldn't be done overnight. Roland curled his lips, but didn't continue to dwell on this point.

At this time, breakfast was served on the table: a plate of fried bread slices, a plate of fried eggs, and a can of milk. He first filled a cup for the Minister Assistant and pushed it in front of him.

"Haven't had breakfast yet? Let's eat while we talk." According to the maid, Barov had rushed to the palace early in the morning, so he probably hadn't eaten anything yet. Although he had decided to imitate the Fourth Prince's way of doing things first, change had to be done little by little. The Minister Assistant was a good target, he thought, making your subordinates feel valued will motivate them to work for you.

Subjective initiative is always the most efficient, isn't it?

Barov took the cup but didn't drink, he said anxiously, "Your Highness, we're in trouble. Three days ago, the guards reported that they found a camp suspected of being used by witches in the western forest. They left in a hurry, without cleaning up the remaining traces. The guards found this in the camp."

He took out a coin from his pocket and placed it in front of Roland.

It wasn't a common currency, at least in Roland's memory, he hadn't seen such a currency – it didn't even look like a metal product.

Holding it in his hand, he was surprised to find that the thing was heating up. It was definitely not the residual heat from the Minister Assistant's body. The temperature was at least forty degrees, which reminded him of a heat pack.

"What is this?"

"I thought it was just an evil object made by a witch, but things are more serious than I thought," Barov wiped his forehead, "The pattern on it... is the sigil of the Holy Mountain and the Magic Eye, the emblem of the Witches' Co-operation Association."

Roland stroked the uneven surface of the coin, guessing that it was probably made of ceramic. The center of the coin did depict a "mountain" shaped pattern – three triangles side by side, with an eye in the center of the triangle. The outline of the pattern was very rough, it should have been polished by hand.

He recalled the two terms "Holy Mountain and Magic Eye" and "Witches' Co-operation Association", but couldn't find any relevant information. It seemed the Fourth Prince had zero points in occultism.

Barov didn't expect Roland to know, he continued, "Your Highness, you haven't seen real witches, so you don't take them seriously. Indeed, they can be injured, they bleed, and they are no harder to kill than ordinary people, but those are witches who can't resist. Witches who receive the call of the devil have very short lifespans, but they also gain terrible power that ordinary people can't match. Once witches reach adulthood, even armies will pay a heavy price. Their desires are almost uncontrollable, and they eventually become the claws of the devil."

"The church has therefore formed the Judgment Army. If a woman is found to be likely to turn into a witch, she can be arrested and executed. The king also agrees with this. In fact, these measures have been very effective. Witch rampages have been much less frequent than they were a hundred years ago. The rumor of the Holy Mountain, or the Gate of Hell, comes from the ancient times of that era."

Roland munched on the bread, sneering in his heart. Although the background of this world was very different from what he knew, the trajectory of historical development was still surprisingly similar. The church, it's always the church. He knew that religion was the claw of the devil, the real source of evil. Execute upon discovering the signs? Gathering lawmaking, arrest, trial, and execution in the name of God, this in itself was a kind of depravity. The Fourth Prince's memory of the church's abuse of power also verified his own view.

"Ancient records say that witches can only find true peace by going to the Holy Mountain. There, there is no backlash from magic, nor will they be trapped by surging desires. Undoubtedly, the so-called Holy Mountain must be the origin of evil, the entrance to hell on earth. I think only hell will not punish these fallen ones."

"What about the Witches' Co-operation Association? What's the relationship with the Holy Mountain?"

Barov said with a bitter face, "Before, whether witches fled or lived in seclusion, they acted alone. But the Co-operation Association, which has appeared in recent years, is different. It wants to gather all the witches together to find the Holy Mountain. For this purpose, the people of the Co-operation Association will even actively lure others into becoming witches. Didn't a collective disappearance of baby girls occur in Clearwater Port the year before? There are rumors that they did it."