Chapter 747 747 Free Coven Culture
”I need to head out to the coast and find someone. My sources have uncovered another Magi with potential, so we will go there and see if he will come with us for safety and training, then we will be returning to Forest Grove to help them with their preparations for the winter.” Wolfe explained to the guardians.
“Understandable. There aren’t enough Magi to overlook even a single one with potential and let them grow on their own. I wish you luck, and we will be in touch by radio until we’ve got the cell phone network expanded all the way to you.
The production is a little slow, since it takes both regular technology and Fae Magic, but we’re making a steady number of mana resistant phones that can be used by the ranking members without accidentally killing them when we cast a spell.” One of the older Fae agreed.
That was entirely too true. There was currently only one Magi over Rank One on the planet, unless he hadn’t noticed one of the Magi who Ella had brought back to Forest Grove advancing. But there were also under a hundred of them that could use any sort of magic at all, even fewer than the villages that had fled to the Incubus Kingdom during the war.
They were all from bloodlines that didn’t reach above Rank Two to begin with, so they would make decent marriage partners if they wanted to mingle with the Magi of this world, but they couldn’t be counted on to produce a more powerful leader.
“Should we take the plane back home? It’s unloaded now, and there are more flights on the way.” The pilot asked.
“Go ahead. They’ll likely be pushing you to do more runs, since there is so much to be done, but don’t let them pressure you into flying tired. We don’t need any accidents happening.” Wolfe agreed.
“Then I should go with them.” Ella suggested.
“Oh no, you’re coming with me. The boy is in a village of mostly witches, with some Magi blood. If anyone is going to deal with a bunch of snotty Coven Leaders, it’s better if it is not me. They’re trained to respect more powerful Witches, they’ll go along with plans that you suggest without a fight.”
The Demon standing behind Ella snickered at Wolfe’s remark, showing that she was only pretending not to listen, and Ella sighed. She might be a better choice, but that didn’t mean she actually wanted to deal with a bunch of entitled old ladies who would surely make outrageous demands. In the name of sisterhood and witches banding together in times of hardship, of course.
“If that’s everything?” Wolfe asked.
“It looks like it. Have a safe flight, and we will talk to you soon.” The local guardian agreed.
Wolfe took Ella in his arms and flew up over the battlefield, doing one last check for overpowered Undead, and then turned toward the coast.
His protective barrier made it feel like they were laying in bed, on a blanket of Gravity Magic. Unlike his natural instinct, which was to strike a pose like his favourite cartoon hero when he was flying solo, the witches tended to flail around and just look silly if you didn’t give them something to hold on to in flight.
Wolfe knew that they had been practising it, but even now, if they didn’t have their staff, flying from the ground to the walkways in town looked incredibly awkward.
He kept the speeds below supersonic, trying not to disturb the locals down below, but there wasn’t all that much to see. The Free Covens region was a lot like the Frozen Wastes, in that it was only sparsely populated, and most of the Covens were concentrated in small walled villages with gardens packed in as tightly as possible so that they didn’t have to leave the walls to farm.
There were some great examples of vertical agriculture, with plants grown in trellises and layered racks, allowing the witches to grow an entire garden in the two stories of the southern wall of their home, which got the most light.
Even most of the roofs were actually a garden, and the thatch was topped with a layer of mushrooms or other plants that would grow in straw. Their efficiency was commendable, even if it was done out of fear that leaving their walls would leave them vulnerable to monsters.
“How far do we have to go?” Ella asked after the first hour.
“About another hour. He’s right near the coast, and I didn’t want to increase our speed too much. Just enjoy the ride and let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary.”
Ella laughed. “Like a rural village with women gathering water from the town well, but a cell tower on the Mayor’s house?”
Wolfe looked over at what she had seen and smiled. The town’s protector seemed to be a Rank Five Brownie, who was standing on the counter in the Mayor’s home, mixing dough while the old woman mixed pie filling. The Fae looked up as Wolfe noticed her, and waved briefly before returning to her cooking.
“No, I think that one will be fairly normal. The Fae love human technology now that they have found a way to make it work. There are televisions in a lot of the houses, so they must get a signal from the nearest large city, and the mana here is just the ambient for the world, which has increased but isn’t as intense as in the Fae Forest.” Wolfe explained.
They were thousands of kilometres from home, and every bit of the culture here was different from what they were used to. The Free Covens didn’t travel much, so a lot of their ways should be similar to how things were before the war. Or at least as similar as they could keep them, given the destruction and the need to protect themselves from monsters.