TALES OF A WITCHER - Season 9 Episode 18

Just like Ashes had said, Drow Silvermoon was overjoyed at Lorgar’s arrival. The Osha princess immediately gave her a warm hug. The Wolf Girl was surprised and did not know where to put her raised hand. Usually a chief of a clan only greeted another chief with a hug. Lorgar had intended to greet the new chief of Osha clan by bowing to her with a hand on the chest, though Silvermoon was one or two years younger than her.

During their conversation, the chief did not put on an air of superiority. When she heard that Lorgar was planning to go to Neverwinter with them, she immediately regarded her as a sister. She asked the Wolf Girl to call her Echo and happily introduced her to the new life of the witches in Neverwinter.

Lorgar did not believe everything that Echo had said. According to what she knew, no matter how abundant Graycastle’s resources was, it could never eliminate hunger. She guessed the chief might be exaggerating by describing the place as a Kingdom of God, where no one worried about hunger and illness which could be cured by witches.

Though this was the first time she left the desert, she had heard many tales about the northern kingdoms. She knew the kingdoms were just like the Iron Sand City where only a small group of people in high places could lead a luxurious life. She believed that as a Divine Lady who was no longer an heiress to the Wildflame clan, she would never be as lucky as the Osha princess who had gained the king’s appreciation.

But this was not a problem for Lorgar.

She just wanted to improve herself by fighting all those strong opponents in Neverwinter.

When she told them that her clan also considered moving to Port of Clearwater, they did not appear pleasantly surprised as she had expected. Iron Axe, Osha’s faithful dog, even knitted his eyebrows. Only Echo smiled and asked, “Really?” The Osha princess seemed excited and continued to say, “Great! As soon as the Wildflame clan comes here, it won’t be long before Port of Clearwater restores its prosperity of the past. His Majesty’s goal can be achieved earlier!”

“Ahem… Lady Echo.” Iron Axe eyed Echo. “It’s just their plan, and it won’t necessarily come true.”

“Ah, yes, I was too impatient.” Echo smiled, slightly embarrassed.

Lorgar immediately understood the reason for their cold response. As the former strongest clan, Wildflame had more than 5,000 people in total, significantly outnumbering all the Mojin immigrants here. More importantly, she believed that the northerners must have found that these small clans who were competing with each other were much easier to control as compared to some powerful big clan. She thought that they probably never expected that a clan in the Iron Sand City would decide that quickly to move here since the six big clans in the city did not have to worry that their oasis would dry up. These bigs clans were considered to be the most reluctant ones to leave the city, and most people even believed that they would never turn to the King of Graycastle.

She did not continue talking about this matter for she knew that the Wildflame clan moving here would increase the northerners’ influence and at the same time change the balance of powers in this area. She had to admit that it was not a bad thing if the Osha clan or the king failed to control the situation at that time and let her father grasp the power.

After all, she was still Prince Lorgar of the Wildflame clan.

…

In the next few days, Lorgar would walk along Clearwater Bay whenever she got a chance. As she had met Ashes here, she was not that eager to leave for Neverwinter. She decided to use this period of time to examine carefully this evergreen land where Wildflame decided to settle down.

She soon discovered that the construction speed of Graycastle’s workers was way beyond her imagination. On the bank of the river, they built a row of hemispherical furnaces which could produce a new batch of bricks each day with a mixture of earth and river sand. And these furnaces did not burn wood but some gray-black stones shipped from the northwest. They only needed to be filled with these stones once in a day, since these stones could keep burning all day long, which seemed much better than charcoals.

Brick production was the part where more Mojins, mostly women and seniors, were involved. They were divided into several groups, digging earth or carrying black stones. For each basket a worker dug out or carried, the supervisor would press a mark on his or her arm. According to the Wolf Girl’s observation, the marks determined how much food a worker could get each day.

As for the construction work, she seldom saw Mojins engage in it. The northerners did everything. They mixed the water with some gray powder to make paste and used it when they stacked bricks. Each house was built with the same size, style and method. She could notice new changes in these buildings almost every day.

Another thing that greatly surprised her was how differently the Mojins and the people from Graycastle reacted when they saw her half-animal looks.

Since leaving the Iron Sand City, she no longer covered her fluffy tail and ears. Most Mojins would avoid her eyes when they saw her and try to back away from her, even though they had the same skin color. She was no stranger to this kind of reactions and was prepared for this.

Whereas the people from Graycastle did not show even the slightest bit of fear or hatred in front of her. Some braver ones even took the initiative to say hello to her and seemed to be used to this kind of looks.

She was baffled by their behavior and asked Ashes about this.

“Ah… you mean this. Isn’t it a usual thing for the witches?” The Extraordinary said while spreading out her palms. “Half human and half beast isn’t a rare thing. Someone can even totally transform into a beast.” She continued to explain, “For example, there’s a witch named Maggie. She looks much more scary than you after transformation. However, after she acted as a rescuer several times, everyone got used to her looks. Even if you don’t look human, they won’t ostracize you.”

Lorgar wiggled her wolf ears and thought, “Uhm… Is that true? In that case, my determination to embrace my defects and accept my true self was not necessary at all?”

She suddenly thought of another question. “Ah, are you the strongest witch in Neverwinter?”

“Well…” The Wolf Girl did not know whether it was an illusion, but she did feel that Ashes looked more serious now. “That depends on the types of my opponents. One type of witches can wear God’s Stone of Retaliation. The other type of witches usually don’t wear them.”

“They’re not able to use their abilities wearing God’s Stones, are they?”

“Yes. Without God’s Stone, I’m not sure I can defeat some witches in the Witch Union.”

“Even you can’t defeat them?” Lorgar was shocked.

Ashes nodded. “I believe I could before they evolved, but their improved abilities were beyond common sense. They’re not something you can fight with using just speed and strength. For example, there’s a witch called Leaf. When you fight with her within the area controlled by her Heart of Forest, she’ll become as powerful as the deities. It’ll be extremely hard to escape from her trap in the woods, even if you wear God’s Stone of Retaliation. If I have to fight against the witches of Neverwinter, she’s definitely the last one I want to meet.”

The Wolf Girl was thrilled when she heard this. “Who else?”

“Anna. Although she’s not good at combat, her ability is impeccable. Without God’s Stone, I can’t imagine how to defeat her. I mean in a duel. But since she’s the most important witch in Neverwinter and Roland’s sweetheart, you’ll never get a chance to fight her.” Ashes continued while counting on her fingers. “And Nightingale. If you often challenge the Neverwinter witches, you’ll definitely attract her attention. As she’s touchy and has a really weird ability, you’d better avoid fighting her.”

Lorgar wagged her tail, imprinting the names on her memory one by one. “So… what about Maggie? You said she could transform into a big beast?”

“Yes, she’ll make a well-matched rival for you in a duel, but I’d advise you not to do so.” Ashes seemed to think of something and smiled meaningfully. “That’s because all the people who challenged her could not get rid of bad luck, and if you accidentally hurt her, you’d incur the wrath of the entire Witch Union.”