Chapter 729 (1/2)

Chapter 729: Recasting the Broken Sword

Translator: TransN Editor: Meh

“Welcome to the Witch Union.”

Wendy unrolled the contracts on the desk and said to the witches from Wolfheart happily, “sign after you read the pledge on the back of the contract and then you’ll officially become a member of the union.”

They should have gone through this procedure earlier had Princess Tilly not suggested a hunting contest. Wendy did not care about who the winner would be, but she had been concerned about whether all the preparation work for the hunting had been completed. On the very day of the contest, she had been restless. Every minute had been torturing for her. Due to her concerns, she complained to His Majesty for quite a while and the subsequent cannon exercise further postponed the matter. To her surprise, however, Annie, who was always the more self-controlled one, ventured to see her first.

“Wendy, don’t you usually test our abilities first?” Amy asked.

In the ten days after their group had arrived in Neverwinter, this airy, dainty little girl had won everybody’s affections. Due to her innocent character, Amy soon established bonds with the other witches. She now felt very comfortable calling Wendy “sister”.

“We normally test your ability after you sign the contract,” Wendy answered in a soft voice. “If you have any questions or concerns regarding the terms of the contract, please don’t hesitate to ask me now.”

“Alright!”

Out of the four witches from Wolfheart, Amy was the only literate one. So Annie, Broken Sword, and Hero all sat around her to listen to the terms while exchanging their thoughts on the matter.

Wendy studied the murmuring witches attentively. She recalled the day when she had signed her contract.

At first, she had thought the terms were a little too generous to be true and they were very likely just an empty promise through which the Prince showcased his benevolence. The terms would probably be changed completely shortly afterward, or there would be another set of implied rules that actually regulated the witches’ activities. But as she soon discovered, she had been totally wrong as the basic frame of the contract had gone through very few modifications in the past two years. Thinking back on it, Wendy believed that she had made the greatest decision in her entire life.

“Wow, one gold royal for us each month!”

“Can we buy whatever we want?”

“A paid vacation… Is it true?”

“Witches are entitled to terminate the contract in the event that His Majesty fails to fulfill his obligations to provide safety, food or accommodations… Is this really not a lie?”

Wendy answered all their questions with a smile as they asked the questions that she had done so herself. She pretty much knew exactly when the four witches would utter an exclamation of surprise as she had been equally astonished by the contract when reading it for the first time.

In granting the witches freedom and acknowledgment, His Majesty had given them what they desired most and the fate of the Witch Union had been intertwined with that of Roland Wimbledon’s ever since. Wendy believed nobody in the union would ever abandon His Majesty, even in the event of a crisis in which Roland could no longer shelter or support them.

Such a bond was not explicitly expressed in the contract, but was much stronger than any plain words or language could describe.

However, she could also foresee that these thoughts and feelings of contentment would gradually diminish as newly awakened witches would have a completely different living environment. It would be a time where there was no threat from the church and no hostility from their relatives or their close family members. With that being the case, new witches would naturally feel less grateful for the new life than old witches did.

Following the terms came the pledge and the signature line.

There were no mandatory rules of any kind in the pledge. That part only stated that Roland and the Witch Union should act with honor and utmost good faith as it was totally voluntary to join the union. After the four witches read and signed the contract, Nightingale pinched Wendy to confirm to her that they had signed it with a genuine intention.