Tasa had been staying at the inner city hotel these days, anxiously awaiting a reply from Border Town.

The towering inner city walls divided the royal capital into two different worlds, with strict controls on entry and exit. Whether noble or wealthy merchant, everyone needed to undergo a thorough inspection in the small room at the entrance. Anyone showing signs of the disease, such as fever, flushing, or black spots, would not be allowed to enter. After leaving the inner city, they had to return before dusk on the same day, otherwise, once the city gates were locked at sunset, they would have to spend the night outside.

But this still couldn't stop the spread of the evil plague. Yesterday, he had already heard rumors of a noble being infected in the inner city. If the church hadn't finally released the first batch of holy medicine, the nobles would probably have collectively evacuated the royal capital.

On the sixth day after the letter was sent, the Margaret Merchant Guild finally sent word. He hurried to the agreed-upon location, a tailor shop, and was led by a clerk into the basement, where the owner of the guild was already waiting.

Margaret sat upright at a low table, on which was placed a basin of Icemane Water, constantly emitting a cold aura. Tasa, covered in sweat, sat cross-legged opposite her, immediately feeling a gust of cool air coming towards him, which invigorated him.

"His Highness asked me to give you this letter," she handed over a folded parchment envelope, the sealing wax looking intact.

Tasa couldn't wait to open it, taking out the letter which briefly explained the plan of action, the news of the First Army's departure, and the tasks he needed to complete. After reading it carefully, he inconspicuously put the letter into his pocket and looked at Margaret, "Did His Highness mention any requests to you?"

"No, he just asked the messenger to send this letter. Of course, express message delivery requires a fee, which I have already put on the bill."

"Ahem, is that so," Tasa cleared his throat, "His Highness needs to transport all the refugees back to the Western Territory in a very short period of time. Therefore, he hopes you can provide a large number of ships for continuous transportation, rather than just one or two fleets."

"Even if they are infected?" Margaret guessed with interest, "I think he certainly doesn't want to turn the entire Western Territory into a wasteland, so... His Highness has found a cure for the evil plague?"

"Indeed," he nodded, "In fact, there were already patients on the first fleet, but it didn't break out until they arrived in the town. Now they are on their way back to the royal capital, and all the crew are safe and sound."

"Prince Roland is indeed an incredible person, even the church hasn't come up with an antidote so quickly," Margaret praised, "So how many days does he plan to use to transport the refugees? A week?"

Tasa held up three fingers.

"This... impossible!" The female merchant was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook her head repeatedly, "Even if half of these people die, there are still more than five thousand people. Transporting them all in three days means I need to prepare nearly a hundred sailboats. Even if I stop all other shipping for the guild and use them for transportation, it will only just meet this number. But in doing so, my losses may be more than several thousand gold dragons, and the customers I lose as a result are incalculable, even free steam engines can't offset this amount. So... please forgive me for refusing."

"If everyone sits on the deck, instead of lying in cabins with bunks, the number of people a ship can carry can be doubled," Tasa insisted, "If you don't care about comfort, the two-masted sailboats used to transport ore can also be used to transport people, as long as you open the hatch, you can load about two hundred people at a time. Your old friend Hogg should have quite a few of these ships, right?"

"In Silverlight City, he does have several large ships like that..." Margaret looked a little hesitant, "And according to your calculations, I can probably reduce the number of ships to around fifty. But... this is not a good deal."

Tasa thought so too. Gathering dozens of ships on the canal would require a lot of effort in scheduling and coordination, and the cost of renting the ships wouldn't all go into his own pocket. It was a lot of work with little reward, and it couldn't be considered a good deal no matter how you looked at it. At this point, he could only use his last resort.

His Highness wrote a line at the end of the letter: If Margaret is unwilling to provide assistance, tell her that Lightning is here too.

This sentence was a bit puzzling. Could it be that the female merchant had a special relationship with that lively and lovely blonde girl? They didn't look alike at all... But His Highness must have his own reasons for saying so. Thinking of this, Tasa slowly opened his mouth and said, "Transporting them away in three days is also a last resort. What His Highness is doing is like snatching food from a tiger's mouth. If it drags on for too long, the church is likely to come knocking. And Lightning is also in this team. It would be dangerous if they found out there was a witch."

"What did you say?" Her voice suddenly rose a few notches, "Lightning is here too?"

"That's what His Highness said in the letter," Tasa pretended to be an honest man, "Probably to guide the team and provide early warning. After all, this is the territory of the new king, Tifieco."

"I see," Margaret stood up, "When do you need the ships?"

"It should be in four days, if they don't delay on the road."

"I will try my best to arrange it," she walked to the table and began to write quickly, "But I have a condition, you must tell me the location where His Highness's team is stationed. If they want to enter the city, I can also arrange enough rooms."

Okay, it seems this trick really worked, "I don't think there's a problem with that," Tasa rejoiced, "Also, I have something else I need your help with."

"Speak," Margaret sighed.

"I need a cart team to transport wine barrels, the more barrels the better, but don't fill them with ale or wine, but with river water or well water." According to what His Highness said in the letter, the key figure in solving the evil plague was still the witch, Lily, who could transform ordinary water into a medicine to cure diseases. But there was a serious loophole in this plan, which was that the rats must not be allowed to approach the First Army camp. If they knew that someone in the camp could continuously produce "holy medicine," Tasa would bet that the next day the news would be known throughout the city.

"River water and well water?" She raised her eyebrows, "Are you sure?"

"Don't worry, His Highness will pay for it," Tasa smiled.

For the sake of secrecy and security, the journey from the team's station to the royal capital could only be transported by him personally. If he were to carry water bags one by one to eliminate the evil plague, like he did when treating the refugees in the Eastern Territory, it would be troublesome and inefficient. He had to find a way to bring in as much purified water as possible at one time.

The large wine barrels installed on four-wheeled carts were obviously a good choice.