Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King



Wolfe finished all the robes that night, and they were passed out at breakfast the next day, along with all the staves.

It was like the first day at the Academy all over again, with everyone so overjoyed to get their new gear that they were all happily showing off identical items to each other.

But the real kicker was the hats. With huge brims, pointy tops, and a hat band assembled of woven vines, various bones and sticks from reagent plants, there was no doubt that they were going for the bog witch stereotype.

It kind of fit the Fae Forest, with all the rainfall, but most of the time, the forest was only misty and not at all foreboding. At least, not to Wolfe. Perhaps it was to outsiders who were lost in the forest and desperately trying to retrace their steps to find out where they were.

"You all look very lovely this morning." Wolfe greeted the room as he joined the buffet line, and the witches giggled.

"Oh, he doesn't know yet. I wonder if it works on him?" Katerina, the young witch who served as their door guard for so long, giggled.

She activated a pair of spells, and vines began to shoot out from around her while a dark mist formed, obscuring her face and giving her eyes a glowing red, menacing look.

Wolfe caught the vine as it reached out to wrap around him, and it wriggled impotently in his hand while Priya burst into laughter.

"I should have guessed that it wouldn't be that easy to trap you. During the early stages of the First Rank, the vines aren't all that strong. Most people can tear free of them eventually." She explained while the young witch dismissed her spell.

"It's a very good spell combo, though. I can only imagine how terrified trespassers will be when they see that coming their way, and that's even before they realize how powerful you all are." Wolfe chuckled.

Cassie smiled at the exchange and leaned against Wolfe while he waited his turn for food.

"We have to keep up appearances. We want to start patrolling the whole Forest so that we can look out for all the villages since we're going to be sending out healing teams anyhow. It will be a lot of forested areas to cover, but a few witches patrolling the outskirts and then the teams going from village to village should be enough to keep general tabs on what is happening in the forest.

We plan to station another pair in the northwest corner of the forest where the River exits as well so that they are ready when the Witches from Myrrh come to trade more stuff with us. They definitely won't wait long once they have things that they think we will like."

"I would say that we should invite them to the Festival, but it would only scare the locals and our new workers. But feel free to make a list of all the things that you would like, and then whoever is on duty can work out a deal for what the price should be.

I'm sure that the witches would happily wait a few hours while you retrieved the payment to finish the deals when they come with goods to trade." Wolfe suggested.

"Oh, good point. It's a lot of hassle to bring stuff all the way out to the edge of the forest. What did you do when they wanted witch magic?" Cassie asked.

"I made them provide the reagents and had Stephanie cast the spell."

Cassie smirked at the Familiar Cat, who gave her a dirty look from her perch on the end of the dining table. He had made her work all day, and she wasn't about to forget it.

"The riverboat should be able to move most of the things that we need to ferry to and from the village, but from what I understand, they mostly want Second Rank Charms to help their homes grow better reagents and various smaller enchantments, right? A lot of that can be taken care of just by sending the witch on duty with a small bag of reagents from the garden so she can cast the spells." Cassie suggested.

Jenna and Mollie looked at each other, then at their small Troll Familiars before raising their hands.

"We volunteer for the first week. These guys need a spot to guard, and there really isn't any need in the village. I think that letting them guard the checkpoint where the river enters the forest will be good for them, and we can start building something proper to welcome visitors to the area." Mollie offered.

"Bridge." One of the Trolls agreed and received a high-five from his twin in return.

Wolfe couldn't tell if they were serious or if it was a Troll joke, but they were free to build whatever they liked out at the edge of the Fae Forest. It would eventually have to be moved, though. Over the years, the forest was bound to expand. It was already starting at the edge, with the forest thawing the ground and returning it to a more natural state much earlier than usual and more in line with the rest of the continent.

"Are you sure that you're ready? We're still busy with exams for all the witches who didn't get a chance to finish their training." Priya asked, and the two girls shared a guilty look.

"Yep, we're good. Totally fine without the exams. We've got this." They agreed in unison.

Wolf laughed at the pair. "Way to be subtle. I'm sure you've got the material down, though. So, you should be able to do most of the things that they will ask for, but just in case, bring a spellbook of utility magic with you so that you can look up anything that you haven't cast before."

"Got it. I'm not sure they'll even show up this week, anyhow. It might take them a month or two before they are ready to come looking for more goods at the risk of owing a Demon a Favor." Mollie laughed.

"That's true. But I suspect that once the results of the first batch are in, they will have a much larger request in mind."