Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 703 703 40 Prison_4

?Chapter 703: Chapter 40 Prison_4 Chapter 703: Chapter 40 Prison_4 The two had quite an age difference! Mrs. Mitchell was in her mid-forties. As for Caman? Winters’s first impression of Caman was that of youthfulness, not exceeding thirty years old.

Winters had limited knowledge, but one thing he could confirm was that Caman had always been silently protecting the Mitchell Family. This desire to protect was so strong, it even reached the level of recklessness.

Winters noticed this and took advantage of it, which already made him feel guilty. To him, it was enough that Caman could go to Revodan, he did not want to pry into Caman’s privacy. If Caman didn’t want to talk, he would never ask proactively.

“Pierre and Scarlett are both in Revodan, and the Mitchell estate has been turned into a farm. There’s no point for Mrs. Mitchell to stay in Wolf Town, she might as well have some company in Revodan,” Winters explained earnestly, “Besides, I think Mrs. Mitchell prefers city life.”

Caman sneered, without a word.

Winters was fixing the horse tack and casually said, “Believe it or not, it’s up to you. Whether you go to Revodan or not, I won’t leave Mrs. Mitchell alone in Wolf Town.”

He was telling the truth. Scarlett missed her mother, and Eileen missed her children; it would also be nice to take Eileen to stay in Revodan temporarily.

Caman snorted lightly and climbed onto his horse, “I won’t let you learn any secrets about the Divine Arts, so you might as well give up.”

“Don’t worry,” Winters replied with a double meaning.

Winters recalled the great deeds of Antoine-Laurent, the father of Spellcasters, his attitude as optimistic as ever: guarding a cleric and worried about not getting information? Moreover, who said that information had to be given “voluntarily” by Caman?

On the way back, Winters rode side by side with Caman, gently prodding him with a needle, “Isn’t the dispatch of a priest supposed to be approved by the Pope?”

Caman struggled to defend himself, “I was never really part of Wolf Town Church to begin with, the formal chief priest of Wolf Town Church is Father Anthony. My actions—are somewhat more independent.”

“What about the believers in Wolf Town if you leave?”

“I will write to the bishop of the region and have another priest sent from Revodan.”

“So, are you planning to take up a position at Revodan Cathedral?”

“I’m not going to become the bishop of Revodan…”

As the questioning continued, Caman started playing dumb. No matter how Winters prodded him with the needle, he simply ignored him. In the end, Caman outright avoided riding a horse and took refuge in the student’s carriage, thoroughly evading Winters.

“I wasn’t able to experience the Suppressing Divine Art.” Winters wrote regretfully in his book of spells, biting a feather, and added another note: “The Lethal Divine Art… requires a safer method of testing.”

…

The situation in Samukhin’s area was also interesting.

The prisoners of the labor camp were principally destined for two routes: continue serving their sentences or receive a pardon.

And within those who were pardoned, there were actually two categories. Those like Ivan and the former gendarme sergeant Gulaxi from Revodan naturally wanted to return to Revodan, back to their families.

Sure enough, the two had already agreed to travel home together, providing mutual support along the way.

Many other prisoners were landless peasants; they were not from Revodan and did not know where their families were at present.

“Take me with you, Officer Samukhin,” a prisoner named Leman came to Samukhin, pleading miserably, “I have nowhere to go, and I don’t know where to get food. Winter is coming, I really have nowhere to turn… Please take me with you, let me continue to work for you.”

Samukhin had once been a landless farmer too, he watched in silence as the outline of a holy mark was faintly visible under Leman’s coarse clothes.

“The Protector Officer Montaigne always used to tell me ‘there will be a way out,'” Samukhin patted Leman on the shoulder, “I will apply to the Protector Officer. Tell everyone—if you have nowhere to go, just stay with me, as free people.”

…

Winters had left, Samukhin had left, but things at Wolfwood Prison were not yet over.

The day after Winters left, the former lieutenant Adam was taken to chop wood.

The autumn wind was cold, and wood chopping was hard work. Adam’s hands and feet were still shackled, and his arms soon swelled up. On the first day of his lumberjack career, he clenched his teeth and persevered.

Then came the second and the third day.

On the fourth day, Apel sent word to Bard, asking him to call Adam back to make baskets.

When Adam started learning basket weaving, Winters had just returned to Revodan.

“How is it going?” Winters greeted Senior Mason with a tight hug, “Anything happened?”

“What could have happened?” Senior Mason replied with a laugh, “Everything’s fine. They’ve already extracted a few tons of ore at Iron Peak Mine, Carlos and Sasha are busy with something called ‘roasting’? I think that’s the word. The bricks prepared by the Shaun brothers are also progressing well. If it weren’t for Carlos insisting on waiting for your return before firing the kiln, I would have done the next steps for you.”

Hearing this, Winters almost wanted to kiss Senior Mason in gratitude.

He hugged Mason again, nearly with tears in his eyes, “I knew you were the only one I could count on!”

Mason coughed from the tight embrace, managed a helpless smile, and said, “However, there’s something you’ll need to deal with yourself—the people from Mont Blanc County have come over.”