274 274 The Brave and the Wise
“Is it really alright for me to wield this? I’ve never seen an attack spell that powerful before.” The Hunter asked as he took the blade from Wolfe.
“Of course. Your father, or at least I assume that is your father, paid for it to be created for you. I think it will do you well since it is made specifically for you. Would you like to have it cursed in case someone steals it from you? It wouldn’t be hard for Stephanie to put a Bloodline Curse on the blade to affect thieves.” Wolfe offered.
“No, that would be a very bad idea. Most of the town is related. A curse like that could backfire in spectacular fashion if someone snatched the blade. You said that it isn’t the most powerful of weapons, but I’m sure it will be tempting to at least a few of the Hunters anyhow.”
Wolfe shrugged. “If they want, they can ask me to do the same for them. But there are so many witches in town that I don’t think that you are actually short on magical weapons, just on interesting ones.”
He had a point. There were a lot of enchanted blades in town, the army gave them to every soldier, but they needed a Witch to activate them with every use, and these ones with a Mana Crystal in the hilt, which were made for Civilians, were rather expensive, as well as not being a necessary purchase for most townsfolk.
A large man stepped through the crowd, nimbly avoiding the gathered witches, then took off the sword and armour he was wearing. He set it on the table, then dug into his backpack and pulled out a small black crystal with inscriptions on it.
He didn’t say anything at first, but Wolfe knew what the item was. A knowledge crystal, like the Inheritance Stone, or the one he had pulled out of the tomb in the ruins.
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This one was clearly damaged, with a large crack in it and a piece missing, but when Wolfe touched it, a rush of magic flowed through him to the stone.
It was still somewhat working, which meant that he could learn what it held later. So, Wolfe accepted the payment before he examined the steel chest and shoulder plates, as well as the well-worn blade, all of which housed mana crystals.
Some of the witches were giving him a strange look, and Wolfe realized that he wasn’t a family member. He was just a visitor who had heard about what was going on and had snuck in to make some sort of deal.
The locals hadn’t made a secret of what was going on, so he might have just been at the tavern last night or staying at the hotel and overheard them talking.
There was no rule that only locals could pay, though, and this man had what Wolfe wanted.
“I can do a layered enchantment on the Armor, it takes a bit more to activate and won’t last as long, but it’s much more powerful than the basic enchantment. Or I can just do a simple Elemental Armour at a Rank Four effectiveness, which will be much better and not take any more mana than what is already there.
What sort of work do you need to do with the sword though?” Wolfe asked.
“I am a merchant’s guard. So anything from monsters to renegades to foreign soldiers is a possibility. I can recharge it with these.” He replied in a gravelly voice.
He showed Wolfe a few charged Mana stones, which anyone could use a simple payment machine on to transfer energy to the stones in the equipment as if he was paying for goods at a shop, so as long as the guard had the money, he could keep going without a witch.
It was a great idea that Wolfe hadn’t thought of before. They didn’t really use the monetary crystals for anything in the Den, so they hadn’t made Mana Crystals in ages and didn’t have a stockpile, but if they did, they could do the same sort of thing and store a bit of mana to recharge items.
A storage Amulet held much more, but you needed to be a Witch to use it, and if you were a witch, you didn’t need to use it to recharge items. You could do that on your own.
“Understood. I will get you something good.”
There was some grumbling that he had snuck into the house without even announcing himself, but the brave interloper could take that up with the Witches later. Wolfe had his payment, and the inscriptions would only take a minute.
He could do the blade the same as the last one, but with [Lightning Bolt] instead of [Wind Blades] since he wasn’t usually hunting for food but defending the caravan, and the shock effect would immobilize enemies even with a poor hit.
Wolfe didn’t go all out and use a five-layered spell on the armour, which would be too attention-grabbing, but with three layers combined in a minor Array, he could reduce the energy consumption compared to the spell which was previously on it while keeping the effectiveness of a single Element armour spell.
“Stephanie, can you repair and shine these up for me now that I’m done?” Wolfe asked as the Arrays were inscribed.
[It would have been better if you asked before you started the work, but yes, I will give them a shine before you give them back.]
Her magic engulfed the items, and they returned to the smooth surface of a new item without the shine, which had been carefully blurred out with what seemed to be a mixture of charcoal and boot polish.
“There you go, one armour plate and a revamped sword. The blade has a Lightning spell on it to electrocute enemies, which is also useful in less lethal attacks, and the armour is a Three-Element Array, which will be stronger than the previous inscription and use much less mana, so you can keep it active longer without recharging.” Wolfe explained.
“Thank you very much, and my apologies for intruding, Madams. I will just be on my way now and out of your sight.” He apologized, then nearly ran from the room before the witches decided to make him test his new armour.
“Alright, who is next?”