333 333 Good to his Family
The team heading back to the city today came in while Wolfe and the Headmistress were talking, according to the flashing light from her secretary that alerted her to guests waiting.
Wolfe stood up to greet the Elders, who all took their glove off to shake his hand, earning them a suspicious look from the Headmistress.
“That’s some sort of Crime Family signal, isn’t it?” She asked.
“It’s not common knowledge, so kindly don’t share it, but all Noxus Elders wear gloves in public. We only take them off to greet each other, so if someone doesn’t take off their gloves, we know they’re impersonating an Elder and not newly raised from a branch Family.”
Peach shook her head. “That’s barely half true, according to my truth spell. But I will let it slide since it doesn’t really matter. We need these inscribed discs taken back to the Coven Leader and then installed into the power facilities in the city. They will keep the lights on for the entire Morgana Fortress City, according to Wolfe, so there will be no more power outages or rationing.
Well, perhaps there will still be rationing, but not as severely as there is now. I know some of you Elders are from branch Families on the lower levels, so this should be a very pleasant change for you.”
One of the Elders, a whip-thin man named George, nodded happily. “Anything is better than having the power out for half the day. Even the overhead lights go out, so we’re on stored mana almost all the time. We can’t even properly recharge off the grid without risking collapsing it again.”
The four Elders picked up the four large copper discs with a grunt at the weight and shook their heads at Wolfe.
“Did you have to make them so bloody heavy?” Darryl asked.
“Hey, don’t blame me. Peach made them, and they’re sized for the receptacles in the power grid room.” Wolfe explained.
“Well, no changing that then. Anything else before we leave?” The Elder asked.
“No, that’s all we needed.” Peach agreed.
“Don’t forget to head down to the camps this week and do what I told you,” Wolfe added.
“Don’t worry. We’re on it. We’ve already contacted the Patriarch, and he’s making arrangements to get everything taken care of.” Elder George agreed.
Peach sighed as the group left to get into the transport to head home, leaving her with Wolfe and a very large gathering to plan.
“Will they be able to make a real difference in the City?” Peach asked once the vehicle had passed the Academy gates.
“After a whole week of intensive training with me, I can assure you that they will. Three of them will be going to the Recovery Camps to spread goodwill for the alliance between the Coven Leader and the Crime Families. They’re going to pretend that it was Coven Leader Reiko’s orders to have them all healed.
The last is going to go through the city looking for promising children and purging the bloodline curse from the ones about to head to the Academy.
That way, you will get more accomplished students next year, and he will work his way backward from eighteen, so over the course of the following year, expect more and more students to start awakening early.
The Families are going to pretend that they have no idea what changed, and they’re not going to mention anything about having the Noxus Elder help them. It would look bad on them for not being able to do it themselves.”
That news shocked Peach enough that she had to sit back down. “So, you taught them to purge the Bloodline Curse from witches? At what price?”
Wolfe smiled benevolently. “That’s the best part. They get to name it as they go. Most of the early awakeners will be from the lower levels. That’s just simple math. There are more of them than there are children on the upper floors. But nothing in life is free, and there will be a price for every Curse purged.
Some prices will be significant, and some will be negligible and easily fulfilled, but I suspect that the Noxus Family will be the largest Witch Family within the next generation as they marry the cleansed Witches into the fold.
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The deal they proposed was that the cleansed Witch would have to pick a husband from a specific Family. Not a specific man, that never ends well, but choosing from the curse-free Families would mean not introducing new Curse levels into the children’s heritage, even if it diluted the Witch Bloodline even further.”
Peach nodded along with a knowing smirk. “And then in the next generation, you would hold a monopoly on Witch men without the Curse that you could marry off to the next generation of cleansed female leadership.”
“Genius, isn’t it? Each of the Crime Families is actually made up of a dozen or more different bloodlines, and some have no Witch in them at all, but they’re still allied under a name. No inbreeding issues, only Family loyalty and Curse free witches.”
Peach shook her head. “So, you get a Harem in the Woods while they get the Morgana Coven handed to them on a silver platter. You’re too good to your Family, Wolfe Noxus.”
Wolfe shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a nice guy like that. But it won’t just be the Noxus Family. It will also be Families that are allied with them.
There are a lot of us, but eventually, we will run out of sons from the nonmagical branch families that any sane Witch would want to marry, so it will have to include others.”
“And why would the Witches go along with it, other than the extra power? After this year, they’ll already know that they can get that here at the Academy.” Peach reminded him.
“Because of the Family. The money, influence and protection that come with membership are life-changing on the lower levels.
The Coven can promise them a title. The Crime Families can promise that their friends and families will get priority for purchase orders and an easy time building up their own businesses in a way that throwing money around can’t buy.”
“The Morgana Mafia Fortress, that’s what it’s becoming. I swear, letting you loose was the final straw for the city. But maybe it will be for the best, even if the Coven isn’t in charge anymore.” Peach sighed.
“Not in charge? Who said anything about that? Morgana Fortress City has an abundance of adorable Witches with sharp minds who are perfectly suited to leadership roles. We just need to get them all working together. Plus, who doesn’t dream of marrying a Coven Princess?” Wolfe laughed.
Peach frowned at his question, but Wolfe was right. Even among the men of the Noble Families, the competition for a powerful Witch as a wife was intense, so she could only imagine how it would be for the men in the lower levels if they had a legitimate chance.