399 399 Secrets to Success
What they didn’t tell the Mayor or the Colonel was that the Garden Charm in the fields for Palm Oil was an incomplete one compared to the ones that they used at home in the Fae Forest.
Those ones included one of Wolfe’s locally famous mana gathering Arrays so that they never needed to be charged by the Witches and would continue to maintain the perfect environment for their crops all year round.
This version would require a fair bit of work on everyone’s part to keep it charged and to harvest the Palm fruits every few days, but the result should be a more cohesive group of villagers who were making a lot of money together.
To Wolfe and Ella, that was the more important part. They needed everyone to get along in town, or the agreements that they had made with them would be virtually worthless. What was the point of having a trade agreement with a village in a civil war that produced nothing of their own? Or worse, one that tried to subjugate half their population to use as tools the way the Grand Dutchies did.
Ella smiled at the Mayor and leaned against Wolfe’s side to tuck herself under his arm.
“Well, it looks like our job here is done. The fields should start producing Palm Oil in a few weeks, and the sunflowers will be ready in a day or two. By the time anyone comes looking to see how you’re progressing, you should be well on your way to becoming a real powerhouse in the region.” She informed the older Witch.
“It certainly seems like it. I know that there will be trouble eventually about us leaving the Morgana Coven, but we weren’t really part of it in anything but name for the last generation. This way, we should be able to secure enough allies to stand on our own.” The Mayor agreed.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm The Colonel nodded in agreement. “You should offer that same deal to more villages on the way home. I don’t think many of them would turn you down, and it would take a lot of stress off our minds to know that there was at least one force in the area that could be counted on not to be hostile.
The more that we hear about the wilderness areas out west, the more terrified the soldiers get, and the abundance of powerful monsters in the area isn’t helping. Our intelligence said that they were supposed to be really rare in Morgana Territory, but lately, there have been sightings of Second Rank Beasts nearly every week.
If the patrols meet them in the woods, they’re in trouble. It takes artillery or tanks to take that sort of creature out unless you’ve got a lot of magical weapons on your side.
Or something even scarier like that Snow Demon. I swear, half my unit considered defecting when the news broadcasts informed us that he had been involved in a battle in Hertle that ended with thousands dead.”
Wolfe gave him a curious look. “Then you haven’t heard the news from Jakarth village yet? They should have received a number of captured Gormana soldiers and some other civilians, plus one witch who was with a fellow from Gormana.”
The Colonel looked at Wolfe in shock.
“And how did you know that?” He asked.
“Because I’m the one that dropped them off with the patrol. I thought that much would be obvious since there aren’t exactly a large number of Demons quite this handsome wandering around the Forest.”
Christa laughed while Justine covered her mouth with tears of mirth forming at the corners of her eyes.
“Humble as well. You forgot to mention how humble you are.” Ella added.
“No, I’m sure they understand the upright nature of my character.” Wolfe joked while the two village leaders stared at him in awe.
“It really happened then? We thought it was propaganda and that they had suffered some sort of accident while doing military experiments.” The Colonel responded.
“They only wish they were that lucky. I went to the slave auction and picked out the ones that seemed like decent people, but they decided that they weren’t going to let me leave with them afterward. It was unfortunate, really, since nobody needed to die that day. But I freed all the Witches they had imprisoned from their bonds, so I imagine they’re not having the easiest time of it right now.” Wolfe told him with a wink.
The Colonel nodded. “That matches what military intelligence told me. I just never put the two together since all of the reports from the winter said that the Snow Demon was a yeti with a machine gun.”
That comment made all the witches laugh. The thought of that sight would be enough to make anyone smile at the sheer absurdity, but the Auction House certainly wouldn’t have let a monster like that into their establishment in the first place, so the actual Snow Demon couldn’t have been a Yeti.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get from spot to spot so fast? It was like you were warned in advance that the reinforcements were coming, and the attack charts from the winter showed you everywhere along the western frontier of the Frozen Wastes.” The Colonel asked once the witches had gotten themselves back in order.
“I cheated. I gave enchanted weapons to the Mutant villages, and they scouted for me. They informed me over the radio when something was coming, and they attacked it if I was too busy elsewhere. It was a genius system, but I think next time I’m going to give them magical artillery, and we can really get the party started.”
The Mayor shuddered at the thought of magical artillery in the hands of the mutants, who had been in a cold war with the Covens since the Great War but didn’t say anything. If Wolfe could solo an entire city’s military force, it would take a lot more than a few questionable alliances to make her back out of their agreement.