Roland was sitting at his desk, pondering how to attack the royal palace, when there was a sudden knocking sound from the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Looking back, she saw Lightning lying on the window, looking panicked, and Maisie crouched above her head, pecking at the window at a rapid pace.

As soon as the nightingale opened the window, the little girl flew into Roland's arms.

"What's the matter," he was stunned, "what's going on?"

"Black stone goo, huge snowy mountain goo!" Maisie reported as she landed on the table and flapped her wings.

"Huh?"

"Neither," said Lightning in a muffled voice, "it's the devil, I see the devil!"

"What?" Roland's expression became serious, he touched the other party's head to stabilize her emotions, "Don't panic, you speak slowly." ”

It was a long time before Lightning lifted his head from the prince's arms, his short golden hair was messy, and there were two light red marks around his eye sockets, apparently pinned out by the windproof goggles during high-speed flight, "I was going to draw the border of the Hidden Forest, so I headed west along the Chishui River, and then I found a large mountain......"

After listening to her tell in detail what she had seen and heard, Roland's eyes couldn't help but widen, the red mist that the devil relied on to survive was behind the snow-capped mountains, and it was only more than two hundred kilometers away from the western realm?

He glanced at the nightingale, who nodded, "I'll go and call the other sisters over." ”

An emergency meeting was held at the castle office.

After Roland recounted the situation of Lightning's discovery to everyone, the group of witches who had experienced the night of killing all showed uneasy expressions, especially Yezi, as the witch who killed the two devils with her own hands, couldn't help but cover her mouth and let out a low breath.

"Your Highness, I suggest that the Red Mist be further explored," the scroll spoke first, "after all, the lightning has only glanced at it from a great distance, and it is not certain that the devil must be entrenched under the red mist. In addition, even if this is confirmed, it is necessary to detect whether they will cross the mountains near the sea and follow the coastline to the mainland of the kingdom. ”

"I agree with the scrolls," Wendy nodded, "and while they're powerful, it's better to be prepared than to be captured." ”

As the two oldest witches in the Mutual Aid Society, Shujuan and Wendy have always been the backbone of many sisters' hearts, and although the others are still a little scared, no one wants to sit still and wait for death.

Roland was also inclined to this countermeasure, seeing that no one objected, the matter was basically settled, and the key was how to implement it.

"Scout in a hot air balloon," Anna suggested, "cover the sky with camouflage and fly over the sea under the cover of clouds." ”

"And take Sylvie with you," Nightingale said, "and she's perfect for this situation." ”

"Well," Roland nodded, "and ...... I'm going too. ”

"Your Highness!" as soon as his words came out, Wendy, Shujuan, and Nightingale stopped them at the same time, "You can't take this risk yourself!"

"It's not an adventure," Roland waved his hand, "if they had the ability to fly over the sea or mountains, they would have spread all over the Four Kingdoms a long time ago." The reason why they are still gathered in the far west shows that the devil is not as terrible as imagined. ”

There was another reason he did not say, he had more experience than anyone else in judging the degree of development of a different civilization - if he could see the devil and their cities with his own eyes, it would be of great help in formulating the direction of development and the strategy of dealing with it in the future.

"But......," Wendy hesitated.

"Don't worry, just look at it from afar," the prince smiled, "If it's dangerous to even stay in the distance to reconnoitre, I won't let you go at all." ”

"All right, but you must take me with you," Seeing that the dissuasion was ineffective, Nightingale was the first to change her words.

Looking at the serious eyes cast by the other party, Roland knew that it was impossible for him to refuse her, and after thinking for a while, he announced: "Then the people on this trip, besides me, are Anna, Wendy, Zoroa, Sylvie, Nightingale, Lightning, and Maisie. ”

"The departure time is a week later, and in addition to the necessary food preparations, I will equip each of you with a revolver. Practice it well for a week so that even a non-combat witch will have the ability to fight back against any enemy. ”

Hot air balloons can fly at lightning speeds, and the 200-kilometre journey can take a whole day, so you will need to camp overnight in the wilderness to complete the reconnaissance, and in this regard, dry food, tents and weapons are all necessary.

"Yes, Your Highness," the witches replied in unison.

After everyone left, Roland had the time to check the black ore that Lightning had brought back.

"You say this stone is everywhere at the edge of the forest?"

"Well," said the lightning now, sitting at the mahogany table and shaking his feet, his cheeks still a little red that had not yet faded, "and the closer you get to the foot of the mountain, the more you are, and when you look down from the air, the ground covered in black stone is about a dozen times larger than that of the border town." ”

Roland took it in his hand and flipped it, his heart skipped a slight beat.

In terms of weight, it is much lighter than a regular stone and is unlikely to be a metal ore. The exterior is hard and light, reflecting a metallic sheen and exposed to the ground...... Could it be that this is a coal mine?

Thinking of this, he hurriedly called Anna back again.

Under the scorching of the black fire, the stone quickly turned red and translucent, and looked like iron ore in a smelting furnace, but it did not dissolve because of it. Even if the black fire was withdrawn, the orange light it emitted did not diminish in the slightest, and a faint blue-blue flame could be seen on the surface.

Roland confirmed his suspicion that it was indeed a high-quality anthracite.

"That's what the coal mines look like," Lightning was surprised, "I thought they were as fragile and brittle as charcoal, and there was so much powder that the slightest touch would stain the palms of my hands." ”

"Those are crushed and water-mixed briquettes and briquettes," laughs Roland, "and most coal mines are mined like stones, and of course the higher the quality of the raw coal, the harder it is, and in the end, like these stones, the surface even reflects the luster." ”

This unexpected discovery made him very happy.

Coal is not uncommon in Ashfort, and there are coal mines in Falling Dragon Ridge and Yinguang City, most of which are used for kiln burning and heating. But in reality, it was extremely versatile, and before the internal combustion engine became widespread, it was the burning coal that held up half the sky of steam-power. Coal can be used to make steel instead of charcoal, which is much more environmentally friendly than cutting down trees, and even in the electric age, coal can be used to make gas, hydrogen and asphalt, and can also be used to generate electricity, which is an excellent fuel at a good price.

It is obviously much better to hold an open-pit coal mine in your hands than to rely on imports. The only question is, how do you develop it?

Roland shifted his gaze to Lightning's newly drawn map.

It seems that it is imperative to build more inland steam-cement ships. (To be continued.) )