The news that Wolfe intended to remain here indefinitely spread rapidly through the witches as they worked. Nia didn't see any reason to keep it a secret, and the Servant Bond made her want what would make Wolfe happy, so having company in the Den seed like the best route to her.
The idea didn't et any resistance at all from the other Witches. They weren't the pampered children of the upper nobility, and they were also the sort of people who would choose a shorter period risking their lives instead of two years of drudgery as governnt workers.
They were exactly the sort of witches who were perfect to settle a new village on the front lines, or in this case, inside the Wastes, and they were rapidly growing much more powerful than their peers back ho.
"Do you think that we could get Wolfe to do like a weekly cleaning of our aura-gathering pathways? He's done them a few tis for the first twenty of you but only once to heal the worst of the gas damage for most of the rest of us, and we're not growing nearly as fast.
Don't get wrong, we're growing incredibly quickly, and we're very grateful for the inscription that gathers the mana inside the Den, but it's hard not to be a bit jealous when we see the rest of you pulling away from us in power." One of the construction team asked Nia while they worked.
Nia thought about it for a few seconds. More powerful witches were always a good thing, and it would help their reputation a lot if they could do more than just a bit of healing for the locals.
"I will talk to him and see what he says. The ones who have been here longest are either linked to him with a Familiar Bond or a Servant Bond, and we're not going anywhere, so we all understand that our efforts to build strength affect all of us, not just the strongest one individually.
But the extra work with Wolfe is a big advantage to our growth, enough that we would be ahead even without the mana-gathering array, so I think that he won't object to maximizing everyone's potential."
With a dozen workers, a small hut only took them half an hour to perfect, and that included the planning stages where they staked out the footprint of the rooms so that they were all on the sa page when it ca ti to work.
With the actual construction done, they were ready to call Wolfe up and have him add his own special magic to the building so that the witches working inside and the patients on the bed would be more comfortable.
They had changed their original plan a little and had added bunk beds in the corner of the back room in addition to the treatnt bed so that multiple patients could recover at the sa ti, but the furniture of the house was simple, with only a small stove, a table with three wooden chairs, and the beds in the clinic.
That wouldn't imdiately alert anyone who looked into it, but they were working on the spells to block outsiders from using magic to see inside, as well as to reinforce the building and hide the entrance to the Den, which was hidden behind a pantry shelf in the spare room.
That had been the idea of one of the workers who grew up on a farm. Even the smallest house needed a pantry, and if they weren't going to make an underground one as a disguise for their entrance, they should have piles of dried herbs and canned food stacked on shelves sowhere.
It would give the image that they were prepared to survive the winter out here when nothing really grew without magical assistance, and the actual items could be given to the scouts as presents, then replaced from down below the next day.
"It's a bit like a Frozen Wastes convenience store. We have all of the items that they are likely to need all stocked up in one room for them to grab, and they bring us the things that we need in exchange. Loot from the army, intelligence. I've heard they're even planning to bring us so cured monster at since Wolfe gave them magical ammunition for the hunting rifles." One of the witches laughed as they stocked the shelves with items from the closest storage room.
"One-stop shopping. I like it. The house has more than I would expect a nomad to have, especially if you include that chest of healing potion vials, but it's not overkill, and any witch that is on healing duty will be fairly powerful, so it makes sense that they would have more than an average nomad who failed out of the first year at the academy." Nia agreed.
"That's a good point. Most of the witches that we co across during patrols are barely surviving, even with a group. They're very rarely strong since the strong ones tend to do sothing stupid and anger the village guards, which brings a patrol down on them.
Maybe we should all work together. Not as a Coven, since that would just bring Coven Politics back to us, but following Wolfe. He's got the power already, even if he doesn't throw it in everyone's face.
We could just make him the official leader and convince him to power up all of the Witches so we are ready for the next attack to co through the area."
The construction workers fell silent while they considered that. Following a Demon was a Taboo in the Covens, and there really wasn't a precedent for soone like Wolfe, who could barely be considered demonic except for his magical powers.
It was an unspoken fact that he had more than enough power to break the Familiar Bond if he wanted to. They had seen him in action and felt his power when he was renovating the Den. No witch they had ever seen was even remotely close to that level of power.
So, if he was still here, playing along with the Witches to build a nice comfortable village in the middle of nowhere, it was because this was where he wanted to be, and it was what he wanted to be doing.
"First, let's talk to him about working with the rest of the witches to build their power a bit more. We all have active auras, and once our average exceeds that of the front-line military officers, there isn't much that could drive us out of this place, even without using the enchanted weapons." Nia suggested, just as Wolfe ca to join them to begin his part of the work.
Reviews
All reviews (0)