History Literature / ReleaseThatWitch

* DreamWorld: Roland eventually gains the ability to enter an illusory world that is a recreation of the contemporary Earth he came from whenever he goes to sleep [[spoiler:after consuming Zero by turning her magical [[TheAssimilator assimilator]] ability against her]]. All the souls [[spoiler:Zero]] consumed, and an innocent child version of [[spoiler:Zero herself]], also reside in this world with him, though they all no longer remember their past lives and act like they've always lived in this modern dream world.
** [[spoiler:It's later revealed that the demons also have access to their own version of DreamWorld, but only the more powerful members can use it, or risk losing their individuality and their souls. They use it to get information or communicate with other demons.]]

** Roland leverages his eventual DreamWorld ability into a PhotographicMemory ''and'' functionally turning himself into TheSleepless, who can continue planning all the specifics of his OneManIndustrialRevolution even in his sleep.

* MentalWorld: Zero's magical assimilation ability allows her to pull herself and her target into an imaginary world based on her target's memories. Roland eventually gets his own mental world based on his memories [[spoiler:after defeating Zero and absorbing her instead,]] though it takes on a more DreamWorld quality as he can only access it in his sleep.

* CurbStompBattle: In almost every battle (before hell itself comes out to play), we get ADayInTheSpotlight of Roland's enemy of the week, boasting about how they're going to use 'courage' or 'tactics' or 'diplomacy' to squish the upcoming peasant army. [[RealityEnsues Then they're torn apart by advanced warfare.]]

* RealityEnsues:
** It doesn't matter if you have the biggest army or a clever strategy [[spoiler:or even a witch on your side]] - if your enemy is armed and well trained with better weapons and technology, has an emphasis in long-term logistics and strategy, ''and you don't bother to learn about them'', you're going to die horribly.
** Even a prince can run out of money if he doesn't budget properly.
** For the "Contest of Worth", usually the protagonist will have to destroy his competitors one by one. However, some competitors (Timothy & Garia) are as hungry for victory, some (Tilly, Roland and maybe Gerald) feel the victory itself is not worth the risk and other outside factors (the church). Thus for the entire contest, [[spoiler:Gerald executed by Timothy at the earliest stage, Garcia is killed by Zero, Tilly chose to ally with Roland since there are bigger priorities to focus on]]. In the end, Roland only has to beat Timothy to win.

* UsefulNotes/PeaceThroughSuperiorFirePower: [[spoiler:Roland implied this during his first official conversation to Valkries when he asked for information of the Demon Western Front.]]

* AdaptationalDumbass: In the original source, Roland has his archers and gunners target the Wolf-Turtle hybrid demon beast's heads before it rammed the wall. The beast responded to head-shots by tucking its heads within the shell, where the bullets could not reach. In the manhwa, Roland makes no such order and everybody simply wasted their ammunition by attacking its shell.

* AllLovingHero: Discussed. Roland believes in giving equal rights to witches, commoners and serfs alike. Though he also notes these are for largely selfish purposes: Industrialization requires massive amounts of human capital, specialized skills and so forth. By bringing in more and more people and giving them the same incentives (improved quality of life, protection from foreign powers, etc.) to pursue industrialization, he's just doing what he has to to make sure his plans succeed.

* EasyLogistics: {{Averted}}, The story stresses the importance of logistics in warfare that it prompted Roland to invent [[spoiler:[[CoolTrain Blackriver, a heavily armored railway artillery during the Taquila War]] and the Hump Steam Truck]] for the logistics aspect in the [[ForeverWar Third Battle of Divine Will]].

* TheEngineer: Roland was a mechanical engineer by trade in his former life, and he uses his knowledge of the field and other random knowledge from years of studying various subjects for fun to help him design guns, engines, factories, and so forth.

** [[spoiler: Evelyn's ability evolution]] led to the creation of Chaos Drinks, a kind of premium drink so good they are often used in lieu of money in bets or bribes.

** Eventually played straight with Ancient witches [[spoiler:and the current Demons]], who developed actual magic based technology, like PowersAsPrograms magic stones.

* MediaTransmigration: After three straight days working non-stop to meet a work deadline, Cheng Yan, a mechanical engineer and long-time bookworm, collapses. However, when he awakes, Cheng Yan finds he's no longer himself, but stuck in the body of Roland Wimbledon, the 4th prince of a Kingdom called Graycastle.

* NukeEm : [[spoiler: Roland decides to use nukes against the Demons, which [[DespairEventHorizon extinguishes their fighting spirit]] and chances at winning the war against the former.]]

* UsefulNotes/PeaceThroughSuperiorFirePower: [[spoiler: Roland implied this during his first official conversation to Valkries when he asked for information of the Demon Western Front.]]

** For the "Contest of Worth", usually the protagonist will have to destroy his competitors one by one. However, some competitors (Timothy & Garia) are as hungry for victory, some (Tilly, Roland and maybe Gerald) feel the victory itself is not worth the risk and other outside factors (the church). Thus for the entire contest, [[spoiler: Gerald executed by Timothy at the earliest stage, Garcia is killed by Zero, Tilly chose to ally with Roland since there are bigger priorities to focus on. In the end, Roland has to only eat Timothy to win]].

* SpannerInTheWorks: Cheng Yan's transmigration and possession of Prince Roland's body leads to him disrupting several events that were already in motion.
** He ended up foiling Timothy's attempt to seize the throne and rule the Kingdom of Graycastle unopposed.
** He also helps disrupt Tilly's plan to make a new homeland for witches. This is a good thing, as the two working together can bring more prosperity than if they worked against each other.
** [[spoiler:He is a major contributor to the fall of TheChurch and TheReveal of their true mission to fight the Demons.]]
** [[spoiler:It culminates in Roland's innovations giving humanity the edge it needs to stand up to the might of the Demons.]]

* CosmicHorrorReveal: [[spoiler:The entirety of the universe was destroyed by a universal science project gone horribly wrong, and one of its side effects was the creation of magic. 'God' is actually an AI whose final orders were to bio-engineer and cultivate a species that can survive in this new Eldritch universe, using an artificial planet based on the previous universe's physics as their breeding ground. Also, magic stones are the crystallized bodies of the cataclysm's victims.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: The original Roland, generally considered an idiotic, cowardly piece of crap, is slowly revealed to have been horribly bullied by his older siblings as the story goes on, including being locked in the palace dungeon for instance. Similarly, he's said to have not wanted to discriminate against witches as a child, even confessing he wanted to marry a one.

* ChivalrousPervert: Roland's "old friend", [[EmbarrassingNickname Magic Hands]] Yorko, is a notorious ladies man who has seduced dozens of noble ladies. This is mainly because he cares more about gaining their affections than the women's {{Jerkass}} husbands. He also generally shows himself to be well meaning, even if his first priority is seducing beautiful women, after Roland has him [[ReassignedToAntarctica "promoted" to the ambassador of a foreign country]].

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Roland has his previous self's one "friend", Magic Hands Yorko, "promoted" to being the ambassador of a foreign country, basically so he'll be incapable of causing any political scandals while Roland stabilizes the situation in his own country.

* TheEnemyWeaponsAreBetter: {{Inverted}} [[spoiler: [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Even the Demons are interested of learning how Roland's firearms work]], acquiring them and tasking the [[LesCollaborateurs Everwinter nobles to try and duplicate them.]] Not to mention that almost every noble, whether surrendered or still fighting against Roland, tries to learn the secret of creating such firearms.]]
* TheStrategist: Edith Kant, [[RedBaron the Pearl Of the Northern Region]], is Roland's main strategist after her introduction and has scored wins against {{The Church}}, Appen Moya's coalition and [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy the Demons]] with Roland's [[BadassArmy First]] [[EliteArmy Army]].
* TragicBigot: Most, if not all, of the Witches, aside from the ones raised by [[TheChurch the Church]], hated humans due to their persecution until the arrival of the current Roland, who changed the public reputation of the witches to a positive one.

* UsedToBeASweetKid: [[spoiler:After her ability causes her to be absorbed by Roland, and she's freed from the effects of the thousands of souls she assimilated, the formerly sadistic leader of the church, Zero, shows herself to be a very innocent, friendly and caring child in the DreamWorld Roland gains from her.]]

* WackyMarriageProposal: [[spoiler: Roland tells Anna he wishes to hire her forever.]]

* PlayingWithFire: Anna's magic ability is control over fire. Her body is completely unharmed by any type of high temperature, and she can create and eventually control the exact temperature and shape of her flames as her abilities evolve.

* ProfessionalKiller: Before her escape to join the Witch Cooperation Association, Nightingale was used as an assassin by her JerkAss uncle.

* GambitPileup: TheChurch is trying to take over all of the four kingdoms by destabilizing them, Roland and his siblings are each coming up with various plans to take control of their own regions of the lands, various witch organizations are trying to secretly find their own places to live free from persecution, [[spoiler:the Demons are getting ready to invade the remaining Human lands, and monsters are evolving to a point where they're becoming a threat to ''everyone''.]]

** First and foremost, {{WitchHunt}}s are an outright war crime regardless of how 'evil' the witch in question is. The witch hunts are frequently used as an excuse to enslave, rape, and/or murder any woman the guard or church chooses, and all blame for collateral damage is automatically pinned on the witches. And even if they manage to catch a real witch, she almost always uses her powers in self-defense or because she has been enslaved to a noble or gang lord, and is tortured to death for kicks. And finally, the general assumption that [[spoiler:witches captured by the church are always killed? That's a smokescreen to amass an army of brainwashed battlemages, along with homunculi powered by sacrificing 'dud' witches. This army, along with the excuse of a holy crusade, is used to destructively conquer the kingdoms]].
** Second, feudalism in general. Corrupt nobles are bad enough, but the effects of MedievalStasis [[WorldOfJerkass have corrupted every level of society]]: The priests undermine royalty and murder unbelievers to strengthen their cause. Lazy knights and mercenaries are generally useless aside from intimidation / RapePillageAndBurn, and are unable to adapt in the face of new tactics and technologies. The guard patrol is paid in bribes because their nobility-sponsored paychecks are atrocious, and they take their frustration out on the people under their jurisdiction. Even the majority of the commoners are forced to join gangs and mobs to keep themselves fed in winter. The main reason why half the continent flocks to Roland's tiny University Town is because until they saw machines replace enslavement, they didn't realize how horrible their lives collectively were.

* HaremGenre: Averted. Despite the title and the witches themselves have more than enough reasons to like Roland, only 2 of the witches (Anna & Nightingale) fall for him [[spoiler: with Roland choosing to marry the former]]. WordOfGod admits it is due to the author's wife intervention of not wanting to be a harem, and instead giving the witches their own stories and roles that doesn't not include Roland. There are implications that other witches are attracted to him, but do not pursue this and cleanly give up very quickly because it's obviously impossible due to their status, infertility and Roland having very obviously chosen Anna.

* CosmicChessGame: [[spoiler: The God in Roland's World oversees the Battle of Divine Will and [[ForeverWar wants it to continue regardless of who wins and who loses.]]]]

* CurbStompBattle: In almost every battle (before hell itself comes out to play), we get ADayInTheSpotlight of Roland's enemy of the week, boasting about how they're going to use 'courage' or 'tactics' or 'diplomacy' to squish the upcoming peasant army. Then they're torn apart by advanced warfare.

* DeathsHourglass: Downplayed. [[spoiler:The witch Momo]] has the ability to estimate the lifespan of any living being based on any observable information. So while it can't anticipate unforseen accidents, and the number will change if observable conditions change, it's incredibly useful for evaluating the benefits or harm a new government policy can have for the population at large.

* DishingOutDirt: The witch Lotus has the ability to control the Earth around her, reshaping it into houses, walls, or any other shape she can imagine. She can't alter its fundamental properties though, so materials with low cohesion like sand will still fall apart easily no matter how hard she forces them together.

* DreamWorld: Roland eventually gains the ability to enter an illusory world that is a recreation of the contemporary Earth he came from whenever he goes to sleep [[spoiler:after consuming Zero by turning her magical [[TheAssimilator assimilator]] ability against her. All the souls Zero consumed, and an innocent child version of Zero herself, also reside in this world with him, though they all no longer remember their past lives and act like they've always lived in this modern dream world.]]

* EasyLogistics: {{Averted}}, The story stresses the importance of logistics in warfare that it prompted Roland to invent [[spoiler: [[CoolTrain Blackriver, a heavily armored railway artillery during the Taquila War]] and the Hump Steam Truck for the logistics aspect in the [[ForeverWar Third Battle of Divine Will.]]]]

* OlderThanTheyLook: The cast tends to look several years younger than they actually are in the manhua, such as Nana being fifteen but looking to be around eleven while Anna is about to hit eighteen but looks around fifteen. Tilly looks like a child, but is actually twenty. This appears to be an art quirk: Even Tilly is never indicated to look younger than her actual age in the novel.

* HaremGenre: Averted. Despite the title and the witches themselves have more than enough reasons to like Roland, only 2 of the witches (Anna & Nightingale) fall for him [[spoiler: with Roland choosing to marry the former]]. WordOfGod admits it is due to the author's wife intervention of not wanting to be a harem, and instead giving the witches their own stories and roles that doesn't not include Roland. There are implications that other witches are attracted to him, but do not pursue this and cleanly give up very quickly because it's obviously impossible (due to their status and more importantly, being infertile after receiving their powers).

* HaremGenre: Averted. Despite the title and the witches themselves have more than enough reasons to like Roland, only 2 of the witches (Anna & Nightingale) fall for him [[spoiler: with Roland choosing to marry the former]]. WordOfGod admits it is due to the author's wife intervention of not wanting to be a harem, and instead giving the witches their own stories and roles that doesn't not include Roland. There are implications that other witches are attracted to him, but do not pursue this and cleanly give up very quickly because it's obviously impossible.

** Second, feudalism in general. Corrupt nobles are bad enough, but the effects of MedievalStasis [[WorldOfJerkass have corrupted every level of society]]: The priests undermine royalty and murder unbelievers to strengthen their cause. Lazy knights and mercenaries are generally useless aside from intimidation / pillaging and are unable to adapt in the face of new tactics and technologies. The guard patrol is paid in bribes because their nobility-sponsored paychecks are atrocious, and they take their frustration out on the people under their jurisdiction. Even the majority of the commoners are forced to join gangs and mobs to keep themselves fed in winter. The main reason why half the continent flocks to Roland's tiny University Town is because until they saw machines replace enslavement, they didn't realize how horrible their lives collectively were.
** And MedievalStasis in general. People inevitably change the world; no matter how oppressive the culture, there's always a need for bigger guns. Even without Roland, the country was on the verge of inventing prototype firearms anyway. So how can millennia pass without any net gain in development? [[spoiler:Because their culture is nuked back to the dark ages when far more advanced alien factions get an opportunity every 500 years to invade their world and wipe them out.]]

* {{GenreDeconstruction}}: Of the Medieval Fantasy genre as a whole.
** First and foremost, WitchHunts are an outright war crime regardless of how 'evil' the witch in question is. In many cases, the witch hunts are used as an excuse to enslave, rape, and/or murder any woman the guard or church chooses, and blame for corruption is automatically pinned on the witches because they are racial targets. And even if they manage to catch a real witch, she almost always uses her powers in self-defense or because she was a slave of a noble, and is tortured to death for kicks. And finally, the general assumption that [[spoiler:witches captured by the church are always killed is a smokescreen to amass an army of battlemages, and homunculi powered by sacrificing 'dud' witches, which they use to violently conquer the kingdoms one by one]].
** Second, feudalism in general. Corrupt nobles are bad enough, but the effects of MedievalStasis [[WorldOfJerkass have corrupted every level of society]]: The priests undermine royalty and murder unbelievers to strengthen their cause. Lazy knights and mercenaries are generally useless and unable to adapt in the face of new tactics and technologies. The guard patrol is paid in bribes because their nobility-sponsored paychecks are atrocious. Even the majority of the commoners are forced to join gangs to keep themselves fed in winter. The main reason why half the continent flocks to Roland's tiny University Town is because until they saw machines replace enslavement, they didn't realize how horrible their lives collectively were.
** And MedievalStasis in general. People inevitably change the world; no matter how oppressive the culture, there's always a need for bigger guns. Even without Roland, the country was on the verge of inventing prototype firearms anyway. So how can millennia pass without any net gain in development? [[spoiler:Because their culture is nuked back to the dark ages when far more advanced factions get an opportunity every 500 years to invade their world and wipe them out.]]