359 359 Southward Bound
Following Christa’s advice and the map that they had gotten from the Headmistress, the group turned south through the woods and began making their way to the coast.
It would be a long journey from where they were, over two hundred kilometres, but there should be small villages all along the way, and the changing mood in them would give them an idea if they were on the right track or not.
Once they got to villages which objected to Christa travelling with the seemingly human Ella and Wolfe, they would know that they had found their targets and that it was time to start looking for the prisoners.
Wolfe’s hope was that they were still here and not transferred to the Grand Dutchies. That would totally ruin his plans and leave them with nobody to rescue and a lot of angry soldiers in the vicinity.
That night they set up camp in the trees, just like the one before, surrounded by a wall of leaves with a natural awning overhead, and waited to see if anyone came looking for them.
The village that they just left didn’t seem like the sort, but you could never be too sure, and they should be getting close to another village at the rate they were going.
The five-layered armour spells that Wolfe used on everyone let them move at what would be a running pace without them all day long, and they had covered quite a bit of ground down this overgrown dirt road.
Fortunately, nothing came near them during the night. The magical creatures could sense Wolfe even when he didn’t have his mana cores full and they weren’t on a patrol route for the next village that night.
At first light, they set off down the road again and almost immediately came across a convoy of farm wagons that were setting out for the day. The two groups couldn’t have camped more than a kilometre apart, and if they had kept going even a few more minutes, Wolfe and his group would have come across these farmers last night.
They slowed their pace to the fast trot, which was common for soldiers at a double-time march or travellers on foot with no trade goods, then stopped to talk to the locals.
“Good morning, Noble Miss.” The closest merchant greeted them, treating Wolfe as their paid bodyguard.
He likely assumed that Ella was the maidservant as well, but he didn’t say anything about who he assumed was the Witch. Wolfe scanned the group for magic users with [Detect Hidden], and though there were Witch blooded men in the group, they had no women and no Magi.
“Good morning, Honorable Merchant. Might I ask, which market are you off to today?” Christa asked.
“We’ve got two days to Hertle Market. It’s a monthly affair, and the fortress is said to be desperate for supplies this spring, so we’re hoping to get a good price.
Would you care to accompany us? We might not move as fast as you’re used to, but there is safety in numbers.” The Merchant asked.
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“Your guard looks capable, and I can see that you’re a Witch by your clothing, but we’ve got three more hired Mercenaries with us who would appreciate a fourth.” He suggested.
It would be strange to turn down the offer unless you were in an extreme hurry. He was right, it was safest to travel in a group, and a fourth mercenary was best for a convoy, so you could have one in each cardinal direction as they travelled in case of attack.
“We will take you up on that. I might not be on the Coven Leader’s level, but I can cast a few charms to make things easy on your oxen.” Christa agreed while Grok nodded.
The Goblin looked at the group in approval, then turned to his mistress. “There are five wagons and ten oxen. I think we can manage that between us.”
Grok focused for a moment and activated an Earth Magic spell called [Sled] that would create skis under the wagon wheels, which would slide smoothly over any ground.
Christa followed that up with a group [Endurance] Spell that left her panting for a moment due to her weakened aura, but with that, the carts would move like they were empty, and the Oxen teams could pull them all day at a trot.
“There we go. Now you’re set for the day. Just keep a steady pace, and let anyone who can’t keep up ride on the wagons. If we are attacked, I will extend armour spells to anyone with swords.” She explained to the overjoyed merchant.
With the magic, they could likely make Hertle today and get set up in a prime location before the market got too busy. The faster that they were in and sold out, the better.
They had families at home who needed their help and supplies to bring back for themselves and the village.
“You mentioned that they needed a lot more than usual this spring. Did they send a lot to the front lines for the monster tide last winter?” Christa asked.
It wasn’t uncommon for nomads to be way behind on the news, even with Radios, so the Merchant just shook his head.
“Nah, they got a whole bunch of new people after that fighting up in Sylvan Coven. They just don’t have enough stockpiled to feed everyone, and from what I’ve heard, only the Citadel still has Witches in it. Everything else is humans.”
That was a promising lead for the four of them. They were looking for places where the witches and humans didn’t mingle as they did in the forest, and Hertle was one of the biggest towns in the area, with a solid city wall and room for roughly five thousand residents.
“In that case, we might make a few coins as well. I’ve got some charms to sell for growing gardens and crops. A bit of magic to bump up production should sell fairly easily.” Christa suggested.
The Merchant shook his head. “Don’t go showing that around town. Take them straight to the farmers. The humans get touchy about magic since they can’t recharge it. They’d rather use fertilizer and water sprinklers for everything.”
“Thanks for the advice.” Christa sighed, seeing her chances of making a quick fortune diminishing rapidly.