She Is Not a Witch

Northern Cransia, outside Red Gravel City.

A wide gravel road wound through the mountains like a giant serpent. The road was extremely even, with thick layers of gravel covering it, leaving no mud.

A long caravan moved steadily along the road. Some wagons bore the iris flower pattern, representing the Mnemosyne Merchant Association’s fleet.

The Mnemosyne Merchant Association primarily dealt in clothing and furs. They originally started in Vegar, but in recent years had shifted their focus to the north, as it was closer to the raw material source in the Gufia Grasslands. Their wool coats and sweaters were mainly sold in the north.

This caravan carried many finished garments. They were headed to Red Gravel City, then east along the Laijiang River, passing through Emenas to transport the goods to the Verdant Empire in the east.

The western continent was divided by the Sigh Mountain Range, with only the Laijiang River cutting through the middle and the Golden Strait to the south of the Sigh Mountains allowing passage. As the Laijiang River was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and Emenas was a permanent neutral territory, Verdant would usually use the southern Golden Strait if they wanted to invade the Snow Flower Seven Countries.

Besides the Mnemosyne Merchant Association’s wagons, there were some unmarked wagons at the rear carrying passengers also headed to Red Gravel City. Fearing instability on the road, they often paid a fee to be allowed to follow the large merchant caravan and receive its protection.

In one of the wagons sat six people. Some dozed off tiredly, some rested with closed eyes, and some carefully checked their luggage.

A girl in a light brown trench coat leaned against the window. She wore a black dress and stockings underneath, her black eyes gazing at the scenery outside.

Towering mountains almost blocked the entire view. The mountain bodies, hundreds of meters high, looked as if they had been sliced like a cake, revealing dark red rocks inside. Layers of rock alternated in shades of dark red, light red, and reddish-brown, like a thousand-layer pastry.

At the foot of the mountains, many miners worked in open-pit mines, placing rocks into baskets that were then carried away by ox carts. If not mistaken, these red gravels were iron ore.

Red Gravel City had uniquely advantageous open-pit iron mines nearby, producing abundant steel. It was also close to the Blue Creek River, once a stronghold in northern Western Wind. However, after Nid County’s independence, they immediately sent troops to take this city from the neighboring province. Now it was Cransia’s planned industrial center, with much manpower and resources concentrated here, greatly increasing iron ore production compared to before.

“Is this your first long journey, young lady?” asked an old man sitting opposite the girl. His face was wrinkled, but his arms were thick and strong, with many scars and calluses on his hands.

“Yes, it is,” the girl nodded.

“How brave. I have a granddaughter about your age, but I wouldn’t dare let her travel alone at this age,” the old man sighed.

“Is the public security in Cransia good now?” the girl asked hesitantly.

“Well, compared to Western Wind times, those in charge now are indeed different. You can see soldiers patrolling in orderly formations every day in the city, and public security is particularly good. But it’s hard to say about the countryside.”

“Are there bandits in the countryside?” the girl asked with curiosity.

“Yes, those people were originally just thugs and hooligans. They were used to loafing around in Western Wind times. If you ask them to work, they can’t stand it. So they ran off and joined up with former soldiers and unscrupulous mercenaries to start robbing on the roads.”

“Doesn’t the Cransia government do anything about it?”

“They do. They send out patrols to eliminate them, but these people are all local snakes in the grass. They escape quickly and often change locations. The mountain situation is also complex, so they often manage to get away,” the old man’s tone seemed somewhat helpless.

“I see…” the girl pondered.

“Are you going to Red Gravel City for work, grandfather?”

“Yes, the Cransia government recently gathered many skilled blacksmiths to Red Gravel City. I heard they’re holding some big conference, wanting to gather ideas to improve craftsmanship.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“It sounds good, but who knows what the result will be. Western Wind did this before too, but in the end, all the benefits and achievements were taken by the nobles, and we craftsmen just ended up working even harder,” the old man shook his head.

“It shouldn’t be like that this time. I heard they will reward craftsmen who propose effective improvement methods and increase the treatment of excellent craftsmen,” the girl said with certainty.

“Oh? You seem very sure, young lady. Are you from the capital?” The old man didn’t care much about the outcome of this conference. He had experienced similar things many times before; it was just about doing the work.

“I’m from a small mountain village on the border, but I’ve been through many places on the way here. Everyone’s life seems better than before.”

The girl recalled what she had seen and heard along the way. The smiles on people’s faces couldn’t be fake.

“That’s true. My son, for example. He used to forge swords for nobles, earning at most 15 silver coins a month. Now he works in a workshop, earning 30 silver coins a month, double what he used to make,” the old man laughed heartily as he said this.

“Come to think of it, I should look forward to this conference. Hope I can see those old fellows again, haha.”

As they talked, the carriage slowly turned past several large mountains, and a magnificent city appeared before everyone’s eyes.

Built against the mountain, the city was divided into several large terraces. Tall chimneys from numerous workshops belched out rolling black smoke. Thunderous roars came from within the city. At the foot of the city, several large water wheels, about 200-300 meters in diameter, were built along the river. Driven by the river’s flow, these wheels turned, carrying carts of ore and coal up to the city workshops. Finished steel products were also brought down in cargo boxes as the wheels turned.

There was a wide dock by the river where large river boats were moored, constantly unloading boxes of coal and loading boxes of steel products.

As the carriage approached the city gate, passengers could hear the sounds of molten iron being cast and cooled. Intense white steam billowed from some workshop chimneys.

After entering the city, the sound of steel being hammered and struck could be heard everywhere. Many of the stone slabs on the streets were covered with black coal cinders and ore powder. The air was filled with the smell of coal smoke.

Smelling this somewhat acrid odor, the girl sneezed as she got off the carriage.

“How is it? A bit hard to get used to, right? Haha, but people like me are long accustomed to it. I can barely smell it anymore.”

The old man smiled at the black-haired, black-eyed young girl, then continued to ask,

“Well, we’ve reached our destination. This old man will probably be busy again. My name is Anbo. If you want to forge any weapons for self-defense in the future, you can come find me. I still don’t know your name?”

“Thank you, Grandpa Anbo. My name is Loran.”

The girl waved goodbye to the old man, then walked towards the other side of the street, where there was an open space halfway up the mountain. A beautiful white airship was parked there.