250 250 Simple Request
The Column Leader got to her feet and gestured for the others to mount back up.
“I will take you up on that. They will be much more relaxed once they know all the details, and it would set my mind at ease as well. So we will follow you into the Fae Forest and go see how your village is doing.”
Wolfe took a second to charge the bikes, though they had plenty of battery capacity left. Running through the tight trails of the woods didn’t drain them nearly as quickly as a high-speed run through the open fields of the Wastes did.
The column was all mounted on horses, the preferred mode of travel for Witches all over the continent, as far as Wolfe could tell, and with one of his group at each end and the others spread through the convoy, it was easy enough to lead the convoy down the trails without anyone getting lost or out of sight of one of the escorts.
This ride took a bit longer, as they didn’t want to risk the horses getting injured on a tree root or in a sinkhole from a small animal, but the sun was still high in the sky when they reached the gate that marked the entrance to the village.
“Welcome everyone to the Den. There is a spot to leave your horses over on the right, and you can settle into the barracks building next to the stables to get freshened up before exploring the village.
If an area is locked or off limits, it is occupied by someone, so kindly don’t disturb their experiments or their sleep, but mostly, we don’t lock things up here. We have the magic to call our personal items back to us, so finding thieves is quite easy.” Ella explained.
That would be the cleaning spell. The spell tagged the items in your room, so if you activated it, any misplaced items would fly back to where they were called from, and if the missing item was in someone’s pocket, it would be quite the spectacle since it didn’t always want to remove itself, and would just drag the whole person with it.
It was a small glitch that the witches had discovered after forgetting to exempt the clothes that they were wearing from the spell when they activated the tidying function from down the hall.
“Hot and cold running water?” Someone asked as Wolfe heard the showers turn on.
“Yeah, we built a water tower into one of the buildings, so there is naturally gravity-fed water to the lower levels, and the shower spell adjusts the heat but doesn’t create the water. The shower water goes through a filter to the lawn sprinklers to save on mana usage and keep the flowers and hedges green.” Priya explained from somewhere inside the building.
Before long, they were ready to explore the city, and each team found a local witch waiting to be their tour guide. The girls were very proud of their accomplishments here, and they were all eager to show off their favourite parts, as well as the places where they usually worked, to the first outside visitors that they had gotten since they finished the construction.
There was no question in any of the Myrrh Patrol member’s minds at this point that the witches were not being held here by force. They just wanted to see what the witches had made when they had so much power available to them.
The city above ground was incredible, in a very natural, all Witch Magic sort of way, but it sounded like the real wonders were below ground.
They mostly entered through the new main entrance, which was under the main level of the spire, through a spiral staircase under a trapdoor that could be easily blocked or hidden in case of attack, but they had to go in groups since there were so many people in the patrol that they would just block up the hallways.
So instead, most of them had taken the Gravity Magic elevator up to the top of the spire and were beginning to wander the city down the swinging walkways with their guides.
“This place is insane.” The scar-faced Seargeant told Wolfe when her group came back down the spire to visit the underground portion of the Den.
“You have no idea. Wait until you see the functional part of the city. You will love the Gardens. If you get a chance, ask Mio, the witch who is leading the group, to heal your face as well. She’s a true prodigy with healing magic, and there aren’t many scars that she can’t fix, assuming that you want it gone.”
The Sergeant smiled, and the scar pulled at her face. “I suppose that a Second Rank witch could do it. I had forgotten that was even an option. The scar was made by a curse cast by a fugitive while I was working on the police force.”
That would do it. Curses weren’t easily healed, and a simple beautification potion wouldn’t do anything to get rid of that sort of magical damage.
“Just keep it in mind. And try the coconut milk. It’s a house specialty, and our Coconuts grow especially well.”
That made Mio giggle. The Coconuts did grow very well; even with Coconut the Treant moved down by the river, the Treant was still looking out for the gardens under the village.
Witches were coming up from the lower levels to see the city in the trees, and they were all ranting and raving about the level of luxury to be found in the Den itself. They had been told that it was all made with magic, but what wasn’t in their world?
Even if the facade was just a spell, it was what they would look at and touch all day long, so it was no different than any other home decoration technique, and it was a very luxurious one that they were all envious of.
The Convoy leader came over with Colonel Ming, both of them smiling happily and talking about all of the things that they had seen in the Den.
“I have a question for you, Mister Wolfe. There is a Mana Gathering Array underground that has made the density down there nearly stifling for someone at my power level. Is it possible to purchase that design from you?” She asked politely.
“I would say yes, but it’s not possible for a Witch to create and use that Array. However, if I created one, I could make you a magical item that has a Mana Gathering Array on it for the right price.” Wolfe reluctantly agreed.
The real question was, what should he even charge for the sort of magical item that would change an entire village’s future? If that was deployed in the Convoy Leader’s hometown, it would cover the whole thing with triple density or higher levels of mana, and that would totally change the growth of both the young witches and the ones who were already awakened and living there.
There was one thing that he needed, though. Knowledge.
“If you can bring me one relic of the Magi, I will trade you the [Mana Gathering Array], cast and activated on a magical object for you, in exchange. The one thing that I need is knowledge. If you bring me enough knowledge, I can make many things possible.” Wolfe informed her.
“Many things? Like what sort of thing?” The Convoy leader asked, looking to clarify the extent of his offer.
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“I know where there is something. I will get it for you and find a way to return with it.” She agreed.
[Favor Activated]
“In that case, I will take your promise as the truth, and I will create the item for you. Can someone make me a suitable object? Something that can be carried, but at least the size of a dinner plate?” Wolfe informed the witches around him.
Mary smiled, and with a wave of her hand, an object lifted up out of the ground for him to enchant. It was a simple round shield, looking a bit battered on the front surface and made of rough iron.
“That is perfect. It can be hung in any room of any soldier’s house and not attract attention beyond the assumption of sentimental value. Thank you, Mary.”