Border Town is the sort of place people get sent to when nobody expects anything from them.
Located near the edge of Graycastle, it is poor, isolated, and constantly short on resources. Merchants avoid it when possible, nobles rarely mention it, and even the people living there have grown accustomed to being overlooked. So when the Fourth Prince, Roland Wimbledon, is assigned to govern the territory, most assume it is little more than a polite way of removing him from more important matters.
They are not entirely wrong.
Roland’s reputation is hardly impressive. Among the king’s children, he is not considered the smartest, the strongest, or the most capable. Few people expect him to accomplish much, and fewer still believe Border Town has any future worth talking about.
The problem is that the man now occupying Roland’s body is not the same person they remember.
Before arriving in this world, Chen Yan spent his days dealing with engineering projects, deadlines, and practical problems that required practical solutions. Compared to palace politics, he would much rather worry about roads, machinery, food production, and why half the town’s equipment seems determined to fall apart at the worst possible moment.
Border Town gives him plenty to worry about.
The settlement lacks manpower, skilled workers are scarce, and the surrounding wilderness creates no shortage of trouble. On top of that, the kingdom itself is far from stable. Noble disputes, shifting alliances, and competition among the royal heirs ensure that even distant territories feel the effects of decisions made elsewhere.
Then there are the witches.
Most people regard them as dangerous and want nothing to do with them. Chen Yan, however, quickly notices that many things about them do not match the stories he keeps hearing.
As Roland gradually settles into his new role, his attention drifts away from simply managing a neglected town and toward a much larger question: if everyone insists that things have always been done a certain way, what happens when someone decides to start doing them differently?
Border Town may be forgotten by the rest of the kingdom, but it is about to become a very busy place.
