Chapter 530: The Wheels of Time

The First Army completed its resupply efforts and was soon ready to set off again.

This was the second half of the Spring Offensive – to capture Willow Town and Dragonfall Ridge. The former would unite the entire Western Region, while the latter was the most convenient route to the Southern Region.

Considering that neither town was particularly easy to defend, Roland handed over command entirely to Iron Axe and no longer accompanied the team on the expedition. Since the royal capital had just been captured, the army's morale was extremely high. In addition, professional soldiers were gradually emerging, resembling the rudiments of a modern army. Therefore, Roland had no worries about the outcome of the battle, as they would faithfully execute combat orders even without the lord's personal leadership. As long as reconnaissance was done well and artillery units were used to advance steadily, the enemy would not be able to make any waves.

The reconstruction of the post-war order was the focus he needed to pay attention to.

Fortunately, Willow Town was not large, so there was no need to set up a fully functional sub-municipal government like in the Longsong area; it was only necessary to arrange corresponding department offices. Now, the Border Area could provide a group of basic management personnel, and it should not be difficult to incorporate Willow Town into Neverwinter's political system.

As for Dragonfall Ridge, it would be handed over to Countess Spearber to manage. After Tiffeco's downfall, she had sworn allegiance to Roland and agreed to fully accept the Western Region's management model. To assist her in taking over the entire city and clearing out the rebellious nobles, it was necessary to send the First Army to garrison the area.

What's more, whether it was further annexing the Southern Region or capturing Iron Sand City in the future, Dragonfall Ridge was a key transportation hub. Therefore, another purpose of stationing troops was to prevent accidents. In any case, Roland would only feel at ease if this city was under his control.

"In this way, the number of the First Army will be stretched thin," Iron Axe frowned after setting the plan. "Five hundred people are currently left in the royal capital, and Willow Town and Dragonfall Ridge will occupy another thousand people. We only have less than fifteen hundred troops that we can freely mobilize. Most of them are artillery, and Neverwinter City may temporarily lose its ability to take the initiative."

"How is the training of the new recruits who were recruited during the Month of the Demonic Moon?"

"They are still far from the level of regular troops," he shook his head. "They will need at least two or three more months of training."

Roland smiled wryly. When he initially formed the militia to resist the demonic beasts, they had only trained for a month and a half before they had to bite the bullet and go to the city walls. Now that the army's construction was becoming more comprehensive, even the qualification standards had increased a lot. In fact, being able to hear instructions, line up, and pull the trigger at the target was considered a strong army in this era. After all, firing in ranks required advancing against the enemy's firepower, but here, it was just aiming at the enemy and shooting.

"Don't worry, the garrison troops can be replaced with these new recruits at that time, letting them fight the nobles' guards will also be a kind of exercise," Roland said easily. "When the envoys who recruited refugees return, Neverwinter City will usher in a new population peak. At that time, we can continue to expand the size of the army."

Breaking through the royal capital was far from the end, and capturing Dragonfall Ridge was just the beginning. If everything went smoothly, he hoped to incorporate the entire Far Southern Region into his territory before the arrival of the Month of the Demonic Moon this year.

If he could obtain a stable supply of blackwater resources, he might be able to push Neverwinter City's industrial level to a new level.

Not long after Iron Axe took his leave, Nightingale appeared silently in front of Roland.

"Iffi wants to see you."

...

Looking at the Bloodfang Association witch slowly walking into the office, Roland felt some changes.

Her steps were not as steady as when she first arrived, and her long black hair was slightly disheveled, apparently without taking care to groom it. The alert and proud expression on her face had faded a bit, replaced by a sense of confusion and loss.

At this time, she was more like a girl with the expression she should have at this age.

Iffi first bowed and saluted, and after a long silence, she said, "Your Majesty, what weapon does Maisie use...?"

Roland had guessed that she would ask this, and nodded to Nightingale, who took out the revolver gun from her waist and placed it on the table.

"She uses a gun, which uses gunpowder to propel projectiles to injure the enemy,"

He skillfully disassembled the cylinder and poured out the bullets, "The projectiles used against you have been specially modified and will not penetrate the body, otherwise you would have died at that time."

Iffi's lips moved, as if she wanted to say something, but finally swallowed it back.

Roland picked up a bullet and held it in front of him, "Do you see this thing? It's not much bigger than a little finger, but producing it requires a very complex set of steps - in this process, hundreds of ordinary townspeople and three witches need to participate, and none of them can be missing. And those witches are the non-combat witches that you think are useless. Do you still think so now?"

"I..." She hesitated, and didn't say anything for a long time.

Roland didn't give the other party too much time to think, and continued, "Maybe they can't directly confront you with their abilities, but what does that mean? An ordinary person also finds it difficult to knock down a ferocious beast with his bare fists, but it is still humans, not those beasts, who occupy this world."

"I prefer to call non-combat witches support-type witches. They can use their abilities to give most ordinary people new powers, just like the guards who wield long swords and sturdy shields to fight - with the help of these, humans can easily defeat beasts. In a sense, support witches are greater than combat witches."

"But your weapons... can play a more powerful role in the hands of combat witches," Iffi said in a low voice.

"This gap is not obvious, at least it cannot sway the outcome of a war," Roland shook his head. "You can imagine, when you face ten ordinary warriors who use the same weapons as you, how much chance of winning do you have? My territory can produce seven of these guns every day, and how many combat witches are there? Moreover, having weapons alone is not enough. To maintain the operation of these weapons, you must equip a huge production and logistics team, in which the role of support witches is irreplaceable."

He reassembled the gun and returned it to Nightingale, "I know it's hard for you to understand this fact for a while - the reason why humans are greater than beasts is that they can use their wisdom to create powers that have never existed in this world. Magic is undoubtedly the best tool, but you are wasting this talent." He paused for a moment, "By the way, the First Army reserve team will conduct live ammunition training with guns in the afternoon. I can arrange for you to visit. At that time, you can use your own eyes to observe what true power is."

"Times have changed, Iffi."

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Some people say that there are too many witch names and it is difficult to remember them, and they want the author to list a single chapter to explain. In fact, everyone can go to the Baidu Encyclopedia of Release That Witch to view it. There is a detailed list of witches and ability introductions, which is very detailed.