The day after the rain stopped, Border Town became boisterous again. Many villagers gathered in the square, waiting for the speech of Prince Roland amidst heavy discussion.
Roland put up the official notice a day before the speech, saying that anyone who came to the square for this speech could get a dish of oatmeal and half a piece of bread. This amounted to a free lunch for the townspeople. Thus, the audience that showed up was much more than those who watched hanging.
When it approached noon, Roland mounted the elevation stand.
He would be deceiving himself if he said he was not nervous while confronting the sea of people. He mainly dealt with computer monitors before. Even at meetings, he just applauded the speaker from below. Therefore, this was the first time he needed to deal with such a big crowd.
But in order to make the townspeople stay in Border Town, he had to do it. There had to be a general mobilization.
