None of the Witches bought Wolfe's excuse that the overload of mana was actually necessary. They didn't even entertain the thought for a second. But the awkward silence faded quickly after Justine unnecessarily straightened her skirts and steadied herself on her feet.
The girls chatted happily about anything and everything, and Ella gave Christa and Justine a basic rundown on how things worked in Forest Grove, but the concept of a city so heavily magical that money had basically beco obsolete was a hard one to process.
"Think of it this way. Money has great value for items brought from the outside. But other than that, it's all about ti. Everyone trades an equal amount of ti to keep things operating, other than the children, so you could really say that we're all making the sa wage. It's just that local items are so cheap that they're pocket change and not the majority of your inco.
I imagine that's how the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the big families feel. They never pay for anything, they ask, and they get it. They only don't ask for anything in excess because it would ruin others' image of them."
Christa giggled. "Oh, so we're all big shots from the Coven Families. Is that how it is? No, wait, that sounds like exactly it. The Family buys all the items we need and then hands them out as they see fit. The houses belong to the Family, but that ans there is a Family Head who all the decisions go through."
Ella pointed at Wolfe. "We treat it like the Coven. The most powerful one makes the big decisions. Well, with one exception, nobody asks Stephanie to do anything, even though she's likely the strongest of the Rank Two magic users."
Neither Christa nor Justine understood the reference. It was obvious in their expressions, but they nodded along in acceptance anyhow.
But Ella continued so they weren't left in the dark. "She's a Familiar Cat. But as she's already Rank Two, there is no way that she shouldn't have gained the ability to transform yet. She just refuses to do it and lounges around all day in cat form, pretending to be a normal house pet."
Christa looked confused. "Whose Familiar is she? It's basically unheard of to have a Familiar Cat with no ambitions. They love new things, and they can use Witch Magic, so they usually love to taunt and show up their Witch. If she's that powerful, she must have at least so desire to be treated as a proper Witch."
"Through so unknown circumstances, she's Wolfe's Familiar. He's not talking about it, but the rumour is that she was given to him by the Headmistress herself, so she might have lost her original mistress and didn't want to go feral. Familiar Cats can cast the spell themselves since they can use Witch Magic, so it's plausible, but she is definitely hiding sothing, and she didn't just appear out of nowhere." Ella agreed.
Wolfe nodded. "I asked her about when she would transform not too long ago, and her answer was that being a cat was the best thing ever, and she wasn't about to ss it up."
Christa smiled at his answer. "Maybe she's like so of the Library Club girls. You know, the ones who spend their lives hiding in the back of the library reading and consider waving at each other from across the room to be peak socialization between friends. When I ca back with almost all of my aura stripped away by the gas attacks, I hid in the library for a while, too ashad for people to see how far I had fallen.
They're good people, and they consider each other friends, but so of them don't even know each other's nas because they have never spoken. They just sit vaguely near each other, and it's all they need to be comfortable and not feel alone."
The happy chatting didn't distract the group from watching their surroundings, and just as the light faded, Wolfe found them a nice spot to set up camp. It was an evenly spaced stand of trees off to the side of the trail, with thick canopies. It was the perfect place to hang hammocks, and with Grok on guard, they didn't have to take various watches through the night.
It should be more comfortable than sleeping on the ground, and any of the Witches could make one in seconds.
"Don't block all the light from the area. There is a village not too far away, and it wouldn't be terrible if their scouts found us. I will keep armour spells active on everyone as we sleep, so we don't need to worry about arrows catching us off guard, and if they see us resting, we don't have to worry about catching them off guard and raising suspicion." Wolfe directed.
"If you think that's wise. But maybe set a barrier around the camp as a whole, just in case. I don't want bugs or snakes coming into my blankets while I sleep." Christa replied with a shudder.
Grok looked excited at the prospect, but Goblins would eat nearly anything, so bugs and snakes in his camp were basically a al delivery service.
Wolfe set a gravity barrier, blocking anything that would try to co inside without harming it, and then let Ella set up the hammocks around a campfire. They would have to take down the outer barrier if the scouts approached them in a friendly manner, but normally, they wouldn't try to invade a camp while the Witch was sleeping unless they had hostile intentions.
"I think we should go hunting again in the morning. We're all out of at, and there should be so good edible roots this far into the woods." Grok suggested, with a heavy emphasis on 'at.'
"Alright. We do need to keep our supplies up, and it's not that far to the next village. We can stop in there on the way to where I dropped the others and see if they're friendly. A fresh magical beast should help make a good first impression, I think." Wolfe agreed while he rummaged through his pack for the last of their supplies.
Ella nodded. "It's either that or we stay in one spot for a few days so that I can grow enough to restock us with vegetables. I've got plenty of seeds with . I want to know how the village received those prisoners you rescued from the Grand Dutchies though."
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