Chapter 792 792 Looping Back
The room was a surprisingly comfortable one, in a newly built Inn that was built beside the roadway, though Wolfe wondered if there would be enough travellers to actually make it worthwhile for the place to have so many rooms.
But there was no harm in hoping for either a bustling trade industry or tourism, though Wolfe wasn’t sure if they had any sort of tourist attractions here. Perhaps they were counting on the tavern by the entrance to keep the area busy and not forgotten.
A busy tavern with a hotel nearby was always a welcome addition for young couples who wanted to sneak out for an evening of entertainment that wasn’t sanctioned by their parents. That was just part of human nature.
So, Wolfe woke up well rested, then took a minute to enchant the other nine beds in the hotel, as a bit of a parting gift for the staff. If they wanted to attract people to stay there, having magical beds would definitely not be a bad choice.
The whole town seemed to have gathered outside the tavern, and there was a waiting list to get a table, but they had saved Wolfe a spot in the corner of the room, where everyone could see and thank him for linking them to their neighbours.
The communities nearby had become quite tight-knit after last winter’s hardships, and most of them remembered Wolfe from his visits here to the border areas, or from the stories of the scouts who had met him.
“It’s a pleasure to see you all again. The road route has changed, and I have a map ready for the town leaders so that they can let the others know I’m on the way. I won’t be stopping anywhere for long, but you will be able to follow behind me if you like.
The roads will be usable as soon as I finish, though I won’t be putting light spells inside them, you will have to ask the Fae to do that or use the lights on your vehicles. Just remember that it’s best not to use the pilfered Grand Dutchies fuel fired vehicles in the tunnels.” Wolfe informed them.
“No worries, Mister Wolfe. I mean, Saint Noxus.” One of the scouts quickly corrected himself.
“Don’t worry about formality. We both dodged artillery together, I think you have earned the right to call me what you like.” Wolfe laughed.
“You remembered? That was a rough time, but we have some high hopes for this year. I heard that the village to the north, the Arctic Fox Kin, has a Demon leading their village, and he’s worked out a deal with the Grand Dutchies to do some trade.” The scout replied.
That was big news. Last that Wolfe heard, things were chaos there, thanks to the Demons and Fae outlawing slavery, and the other human nations sanctioning them for years.
“I will have a talk with them when I get there in an hour. They should have plenty of safeguards in place, but it’s always good to remind people that some things we put on the restricted foreign trade list for an excellent reason.” Wolfe replied.
“If you can ask the witches to get them some more Garden Charms, I think they will sell very well. The humans have been seen scrounging berries in the Wastes again this spring. We didn’t shoot at them or anything, but they’re still looking pretty rough.” The scout suggested.
“Leftovers from the One World Army that was camped near here, or from the Grand Dutchies?” Wolfe asked.
“Not much difference anymore. The Witches that were still alive fled back to wherever they came from, but they left their humans behind to be taken prisoner. So either they’re refugees too, or they’ve been released into the wild by the Grand Dutchies, who can’t feed them.” The man replied, flicking his rounded furry ears in annoyance with the humans.
Wolfe noticed the Fae leader of the town smiling at the comment, as he could also make the Garden Charms to a very high standard, and he had figured out that if he made them for a smaller area and with good efficiency, he could sell a lot of them, as well as the service to recharge them every month.
Trading them away meant he wouldn’t get the service charges, but he had gained acceptance and currently funded his existence here in town with the recharging of all the various charms he had made for the villagers.
Selling them to the neighbours would also keep the Demon there even busier than he already was, and that brought a little bit of joy to the Fae’s day. Overworking your rival was a great tactic.
Wolfe made his excuses and said farewell to the town to get started for the day, while their first merchants of the morning headed west, intending to make what trades they could on the existing route and pick up things that their town wanted.
Wolfe followed the path marked on the map to the next village, which already had a network of tunnels for military defence, forcing him to go a bit deeper, which made the transport tunnel extremely warm, but that was easy enough to deal with by adding a bit more ventilation.
When he arrived, Wolfe was in for a shock. Not only did he find the Arctic Fox villagers that he had expected, there were hundreds of humans gathered in the town, waiting for him. Most of them had foreign army uniforms on, and the town leader, a Fjaarl Demon, the stereotype of muscular red skinned and horned Demons, with their cloven hooves and long clawed hands, was giving Wolfe an eager smile.
“Welcome. We won’t keep you long, we just wanted to see the infamous Saint Noxus.” The Demon greeted him.
“No hard feelings, war is war and all.” Wolfe replied with a polite nod for the humans.
“No offence taken. We have learned a lot since we arrived here, and the people of the Frozen Wastes have taken us in as their own after the human nations turned us away.” The ranking officer among them replied.
He likely held some civilian position now, as the Foxes were also polite to him, but Wolfe noticed something off about the Foxes. They had signs of recent mana usage that wouldn’t normally be associated with the people of the Wastes.
“Who made this tunnel? It looks like it has been manually mined, not carved with Fire or Earth magic like most of them.” Wolfe asked.
One of the Foxes held up his hand before answering. “We are learning the magic technique now, and we used it to enchant pickaxes. Our village protector captured a mage during the battle at the Fae Forest, and she has been very helpful.”
Wolfe should have known that would happen at some point. He wasn’t the only one that had thought about taking prisoners, and he hadn’t given any instructions to the other groups that had gathered around the perimeter of the Forest on what to do with anyone they captured.
“That is great news. I’m glad that it’s working out for you. Keep in contact with the people in Forest Grove, and you might be able to improve efficiency, as they’re training a bunch of people as well.” Wolfe replied.
“Thank you. We will be in touch soon, once the road is finished, and we can get an appropriate vehicle.” The Demon replied.
“Talk to your southern neighbours as well. They might not have a truck to spare, but they have Fae garden charms for sale. They will likely be along this afternoon to make a deal. There will also be a unified currency issued in the next few weeks, backed by myself and Forest Grove.” Wolfe added.
The Demon smiled, and gestured to the side of the room, where they had created a bunch of fancy dishware and crystal cups.
“We will be ready for them.”