Chapter 689 Welcome Back
Chapter 689 Welcome Back
With everyone gathered for the trip back to Forest Grove, Wolfe said his final goodbyes to the Demon King, and the portal array in the Palace was opened.
“This one will be shielded, and we follow it with a portal into the air far above the Palace, so if the Fallen try to follow you, they will get to go skydiving instead. Good luck at home, and I hope to see you soon.” The Demon King informed them with a smile.
He was definitely looking forward to someone trying to go skydiving.
Everyone waved as they walked through, and Wolfe took a moment to get his bearings. They were certainly in Forest Grove, but the question was exactly where they were in the city. They were underground, in one of the tunnels, but there were so many people moving around that Wolfe couldn’t figure out what was going on.
The empty storage rooms, he decided. That was where they were dropped.
“Alright, everyone follow me, and we will head down to my room to see if the Witches are there yet. There is some sort of event going on right now, and the whole city is packed.” He explained to the others.
“It should be the harvest Festival, right? It’s that time of year, if your seasons are the same.” Nimue suggested.
“That’s right, I totally forgot. That explains why there are so many people here that it looks like every house in town is double bunked with someone sleeping on the patio.
Well, at least I’ve got a set of rooms reserved, and they’re likely not overfilled at the moment. They might be once we’re all there, but normally it’s just two witches and a cat, sometimes a hellhound.”
The others gave him a confused look about having pets sleeping in his bedroom, but Wolfe wasn’t going to explain the concept of a Familiar Cat to them right now. Once they met Stephanie, they would understand well enough.
“Honey, I’m home!” Wolfe called as he swung the door to the bedroom open.
Stephanie leaped on him, nuzzling against his face, then pausing when she took in the coterie of Demons behind him.
“It’s a long story, and I’ll explain when everyone is together. Meet Dana and Rail, then Carmine and Nimue, with Risa, Millie and Chloe in the back.”
Stephanie waved at everyone, and her voice whispered in Wolfe’s mind.
[You are in so much trouble. Especially after bringing back not just one but two succubi. Everyone has missed you, and things have been chaos. If you don’t do a good job smoothing them over, you might need to find a new spot to sleep.] Stephanie teased him.
[Well, I can use Earth Magic now, so I can at least carve myself a doghouse to sleep in.]
While Stephanie was laughing at his upcoming misfortune, the sound of footsteps alerted them that someone was coming down the hall.
“There is a small woman with blue hair, do you know her?” Risa asked.
“That would be Ella, one of my two favourite witches. She shares a consort bond with me, so she’s probably not going to kill me yet.”
Risa chuckled. “You think that a consort bond means she won’t kill you?”
Wolfe shook his head. “No, a consort bond means she won’t kill me quickly. Welcome back, Ella. How was your trip to the city?”
“Don’t you ‘how was your trip’ me. It was a shit show even before the Fae showed up and decided that they would be taking over the Morgana Fortress City. They’ve nearly completely converted the swamps into a Fae Swamp, optimized for water and wood element Fae, and the Headmistress is now the honorary ambassador between Reiko and the Fae who are actually running the country.
At this point, she might as well be called Mayor instead of Coven Leader. She only controls the city and the witches in it, everyone else answers to Headmistress Peach or the Fae.” Ella ranted.
“Well, at least the coven’s territory is safe. I had heard that the Fae and the Demons were competing to see who was going to take the duties of looking after which regions, but they shouldn’t cause much damage with the orders they are under.” Wolfe shrugged.
“That might be true, if it wasn’t for the fact that their arrival has more than doubled the mana density on the entire continent. Do you have any idea how fast the monsters are growing?”
“Again, that’s not my fault. But it’s also a good thing for the witches. It looks like you’re about to break through Rank Four, which means both Pentacles are at that level, and now I’ve got another Pentacle here with me to give you all some additional feedback.
You’ll all be gliding through Rank Four before you know it. How are the juniors doing now that there is Mana Purification in effect cleansing their bloodline curses?” Wolfe asked.
“Some of them are getting near the halfway point of Rank Two. The underage Witches, I mean. We had our first homegrown Rank Three from outside the Pentacles the other day.” Ella explained, slowly getting distracted by Wolfe’s questions.
She was almost caught up in his pace when she noticed the smile on the face of the Succubus in the business suit. Well, most of a business suit, since she wasn’t wearing a shirt under her blazer.
“You’re diverting me, aren’t you? You’re not getting off that easily. I’ve already called Cassie over.” She added with a smirk.
“Well, at least I’ll get all the yelling out of the way right at the start. Where is Priya?” Wolfe asked.
“Sylvan City. She got roped into spending the holiday with her family after the chaos with the Demons. They want to make it a port city again, now that they’ve broken the curses on the ocean near the continent, and the Coven Council wasn’t up to dealing with them, so she was picked.” Ella replied with a laugh.
That was classic. They considered Wolfe a Demon Lord, and Priya his servant, so when the actual Demons showed up, she was first in line for the job of negotiating with them.