355 355 Village Life
The Inn they were led to was newly renovated, and the smell of fresh paint and carpeting still lingered in the air, but the building was nearly packed.
It was full of human soldiers and a few local Witches who would have just gotten off of work. It wasn’t in the fashion of the Witches, it was very mundane, and Wolfe could smell the wood stove burning in the kitchen as soon as they entered.
“You have the look of a man who has been too long in the woods and isn’t used to the smell of civilization anymore.” One of the men seated at the bar joked as Wolfe walked past.
“You have no idea. But it’s good to be here. Hopefully, the drinks are hard, and the bed is soft because I could use both.”
The patrons at the bar chuckled, and their escort led them to a table in the back, out of the way of the regular patrons but with a good view of the door. It was a gesture that Wolfe appreciated, though not for the reasons that the man suspected.
They thought that Wolfe would be wary around strangers and want an easy way out of the crowded room with his women, but Wolfe was happy to have a spot to overhear all the conversation in the room.
As soon as they were seated, the local scouts began asking questions.
“Is it true that the magical beast you brought back was nearly ten metres in length? The Witches are saying that they’ll have meat for half the summer.” One of the humans asked.
“It should be close to that. It was certainly much bigger than we were expecting. Good thing we have a competent Witch because it seemed intent on eating me at first.” Wolfe replied with a smile.
“That’s how it goes when you’re hunting with Witches. They’ve got the magic, so you’re the bait. But they’re pretty good at it, and we’ve cleared most of the dangerous monsters out of the area.” The patrolman laughed.
That wasn’t even close to true. As far as Wolfe could tell, they only took out the smallest of the Magical Beasts, and the larger ones had either moved on for lack of prey or were lounging around the forests unmolested.
The giant snake certainly hadn’t been concerned about being attacked until Wolfe started using higher-level magic on him.
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“Sure thing, Guardian.” The man yelled back over the music which was playing behind the bar.
Wolfe noticed that there were also a number of televisions playing sporting events which he was unfamiliar with, mounted on the wall behind the bar, and a few sports jerseys along the other walls. None of them were Familiar, so they must be local to wherever the human soldiers were from.
“I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen a cricket match before. It’s a favourite in Eschbia, which is on the far eastern coast of the continent, but it’s also been catching on in Gormana.
We lucked out here, the high-powered broadcast from home comes in pretty decently when the weather is good, so we record as much as we can and replay it to make the boys feel at home.”
Ella smiled as someone smacked the ball out of the circular field. “It looks like an entertaining sport, for sure. Have you had any problems getting steady power? Back when I was a kid, we used to lose power to the television all the time because the power grid was flaky on the lower levels of the Fortress City.”
“I come from the Fortress City of Onach on the south coast. We’re happy about it if we have three days a week of steady power. The power grid has been rationed longer than I’ve been alive, and the food for most of it.
Compared to home, Sylvan Fortress City looks like a Palace. From what the Witches have described, I’ve heard that the Morgana Fortress City is a bit grim, but it surely can’t be as bad as Onach.”
Ella nodded. “It’s bad, but when I left as a young woman, they still had power for a while every day, even on the lower levels, where the poorest of us lived. The smell, though. You don’t realize how much the Fortress City smells until you’ve been outside for a while.”
The laughter of the soldiers caught the attention of a table of Witches near the door, and the boisterous questioner turned to explain.
“No offence to the lovely ladies, but the Fortress Cities do have a bit of a unique odour. It’s much more pleasant being out here in the villages.” He offered.
“Even with the smell of burning diesel and horse manure?” The witch shot back, clearly unhappy about the village’s new smells.
“Even then. But I hear that they’re working on a new plant so that we’re not running everything off the generators anymore. Once they get that finished, the smell of burning fuel will just be from the vehicles, and they’re not being used nearly as much anymore, now that everyone is settled in.”
The man sounded apologetic, and Wolfe made a mental note that there was still some friction between the groups, but mostly about the balance between technology and nature.
“Well, in that case, I think that we can help you out a bit. I know a thing or two about magical engineering since I grew up in a mechanic’s shop. If I draw the right inscription, perhaps one of you could put it on the generator and keep it charged as we did at home?” Ella offered.
From the look in their eyes, Wolfe knew that they had the Witches hooked. It was too good to pass up, and they would have known how to do it for themselves if they had spent more time inside the Morgana Fortress City.