Chapter 905: Battle Alert (Second Half)
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
According to His Majesty Roland's plan, the City Hall, the Security Bureau, the First Army, and the Witch Union were the four major organizations that constituted the administrative body of Graycastle. Except for the Security Bureau, for the other three organizations to take action, they would first have to get approval and support from the other departments.
This set of rules was initially made to utilize the full potential of the kingdom. When His Majesty was around, hardly anything would go wrong. However, the problems would usually arise whenever when His Majesty was absent from Neverwinter; it was difficult for the three parties to reach consensus on any given topic in a short time. Hence, when Wendy heard "demons are coming," she thought the best course of action would be to sound the alarm first and ensure the safety of Neverwinter before going through the process of holding a meeting.
It wasn't as if she didn't know how much trouble this would cause for the City Hall. There were wheat fields in the Misty Forest that produced hundreds of bags of Golden Two seeds every day. Those seeds need to be transported to the docks by workers before they can be shipped to the Northern Region, the Southern Territory and the other newly conquered territories of His Majesty. Also, the supply of timber, mushrooms, and fruits from the forests would be negatively affected. The livestock farming in the grassland pastures would also be stalled. Barov's scolding was not entirely uncalled for.
Originally, the plan was to build a new city wall before the third Battle of Divine Will. This new wall would cover the north side of the City and encompass half of the grassland. They would form multiple layers of defense together with the existing walls, thus effectively improving the defense line of the Impassable Mountain Range. The ore smelting area and factory in the north of the city would then be much safer. The flow of resources from the forests and the North Slope Mine would not be cut off even after battle commences.
But this plan was after all still, a plan. No one expected that news of the demons would come so soon. Compared with the financial and trade losses, Wendy made this decision out of caution.
"Are the demons not a good enough reason, mortal?" The curtains hanging down the walls of the conference room started to sway as El's voice resounded in everyone's mind. "You cannot slack at all when dealing with the demons. They're no foolish demonic beasts. They won't wait for you to prepare before attacking—I don't think you're aware of how terrifying our enemy is. That's a real pity. After witnessing your King's brilliance, I thought you common people have made significant progress over the past few hundred years."
As an ally in the fight against the demons, Taquila survivors and members of the Sleeping Spell naturally had the right to attend the meeting. Both Pasha and Tilly expressed their approval regarding Wendy's decision to sound the alarm of the highest level.
Barov was so angry that he nearly laughed out of frustration. "Yes. It is true that I do not know how scary these demons are because I've never actually seen them myself. But are you saying that these guys can launch an attack out of thin air? You kept mentioning how we have to be well prepared for their attack, and that I agree with. However, the problem is that we can't even spot the enemy's shadow right now! There's the witch controlled Misty Forest to our west and the Watchtowers on the Impassable Mountain Range to our east. Between the two is a flat, coverless grassland. Any movements made by the enemy will be seen from miles away. Do we have to be even more cautious?"
It was clear that the City Hall Director was wholeheartedly devoted to Neverwinter's expansion tasks that were entrusted to him by His Majesty himself. Wendy remembered that at the last meeting, Barov dared not even breathe loudly in front of the monstrous original carrier, yet now he even rebutted her directly. Not to mention the obvious sarcasm in his voice.
"I think it's necessary," said Ashes. "In fact, I was the one who suggested the idea to Wendy."
"And what's your reason? Is it still because of the mumbo-jumbo of a half-asleep witch that came from who knows where?" Barov slammed his palm on the table. "Don't tell me that you believe her. If her words can actually be trusted, or if your relationship is that close, then why isn't she a member of the Witch Union yet?"
"That's not the reason. I judged the situation based on facts," Ashes explained calmly, "I have fought with her before, and I am aware of her capability. If it were just one or two hybrid demonic beasts, she wouldn't have ended up in such a dire situation. According to what we know, a Mad Demon without the support of the Demon Stone is about the same with a demonic hybrid in terms of combat prowess. Furthermore, even if Lorgar couldn't overpower them in a confrontation, she could have simply just turned into a wolf and escaped."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"She most likely ran into more than ten demons. There must have also been a flying Devilbeast that could track her from the air that caused her to be so severely injured." Ashes said matter-of-factly, "Besides, we also found a map on her. If we are not mistaken, the characters on it were written there by Lightning. Although we don't know the details of her trip, one thing was certain: She had ventured out into the wasteland after she left Neverwinter. If there were suddenly so many demons in the Barbarian Land, then we'd better start preparing to deal with whatever they are planning."
"I also agree with this judgment." Pasha's voice was much softer than El's. "Distance means nothing to the Devilbeast. If they really wanted to attack Neverwinter, the news of their attack might still be on their way from the watchtowers when the Devilbeast has already landed in the city."
"Not to mention that most people don't even know about the demons. If the enemy were to just drop into the city without any preparation on our side, the result would be catastrophic." Tilly added and said, "The alarm would at least give people the time to go back to their homes home and hide. This allows us to control the panic to a certain extent."
"Uh, but..." Barov was at a loss for words.
To him, compared to the first few people who voiced their opinions, the words of Princess Tilly certainly held more weight. It was not because she was the leader of the Sleeping Island witches, but it was due to her being part of the Wimbledon family. As she was a member of the royal family and the sister of the ruling king, the City Hall Director naturally had second thoughts about blatantly refuting her words.
He turned toward the head of the First Army garrison, who was a quiet, middle-aged hunter, trying to pull someone to his side. But the man remained silent and just stared straight ahead as if he was not paying any attention to the argument.
Seeing the atmosphere tense up, Wendy took a deep breath and stood up. "I've already sent the message to the Northern Region, so His Majesty should be informed about Neverwinter's current situation and issue countermeasures soon. Lorgar could also wake up any moment now. So I hope the Director can stop worrying so much—as long as we gain a clearer picture of what's happening, we can easily call off the martial law. But before that, everyone should still be more cautious." She paused and said, "As for the tasks set out by His Majesty beforehand, we can make it up through other means."
Barov frowned and asked, "Such as?"
"We might be able to use the devouring worm to transport the wheat. All the Neverwinter workers would have to do to is transport the wheat from the Misty Forest to the Third Border City." Wendy looked at the Taquila survivors in the light curtain and said, "This way, the wheat can still be loaded onto the transport ships even without having the workers leave the perimeter of the city."
"What?" El was displeased and said, "We're soldiers, not porters."
"But as allies, this is something we can do." Pasha stretched out her tentacles and curled them around El's body—although El did not appear to have a mouth at all.
Wendy nodded thankfully and said, "Livestock can be transferred in the same way, and since Honey has a lot of control over animals, we don't have to worry about them being scared by Fran. The Western Region has an abundance of grasslands, and the lands along the shores of the Redwater River can be used as temporary pastures."
Barov's expression still did not look satisfied, but his frown had loosened up a bit.
"I know these measures can't completely erase the damage caused by imposing martial law, but right now, Neverwinter's safety is our utmost priority." Wendy knew perfectly well that it would not be enough to rely on tenderness if she did not want to let His Majesty down and carry out her role as head of the Witch Union... She must step up and become a person that people can rely on. "If there are any losses caused by this decision, I'm willing to take full responsibility!"