Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

The last thing that Wolfe did was set a protective barrier around the airstrip, which would activate when any large creature tried to come through near ground level. It would keep wild animals off the runway and away from the tunnels but wouldn't affect the incoming planes unless they came crashing through the trees.

Flying creatures would still be a threat, but Wolfe didn't know who would be in the planes, so he didn't know quite how to set the spell to make it safe for everyone to use.

While he did that, Cassie and Ella set the illusions over the entrance from the river, and Priya marked a few of the trees upriver by having them grow larger, with distinctive branches overhanging the water to mark the entrance to the cavern.

"Last up is the garden, but we don't have any seeds at the moment to get it started. We will have to stock it when we return." Cassie sighed.

"That's it, is it? That's all that it takes for you to create a whole new Den that's equipped and safe for a small clan to stay in. That's crazy; it hasn't even been an hour, and there are ten bedrooms plus a magic coffee maker that keeps coffee hot forever." The mechanic ranted, looking around the magical walls of the new tunnels.

"Those are the advantages of having powerful Witches with you. I suspect that the tunnelling effort will go similarly, as long as they think to have the witches on an electric scooter or something so they don't have to walk the whole way." Wolfe agreed.

Ella and Priya both brightened at the thought.

"That's brilliant. Instead of full-sized trucks, we can make smaller motorized carts to travel the tunnels. That way, they don't have to take up so much excess space or wait for an order big enough to fill the truck.

Do you recall the electric trikes? Of course, you do. They used them as Taxis in the city. If you put a flat deck on them instead of the row seats, you could load them with goods, too. I can make and fix one of those in my sleep. The brushes on the motors were always wearing out on the taxis, so I started fixing them as a little girl." Ella exclaimed, rambling with happiness about the new idea she had come up with.

"We could also put the witches in one to create the tunnel, and they could make them nearly as fast as you can drive them as long as we send Alice or someone else at Rank Two. We wouldn't even need the tunnelling machine." Wolfe agreed.

Priya shook her head. "That would be possible, but it would be extremely tiring to do it all day long to connect the tunnels, and the Witch would have to make all the guidance decisions. It would be better to enchant the tunnelling machine and let the Badger guide it. He knows what he's doing, and we can send anyone who can use mana to help keep him charged."

At that rate, they would connect about one village a day, taking a couple of weeks to finish the job, but that would also give everyone the chance to get used to the idea of being interconnected and prepare for the arrival of the roadway.

"What are your plans after this?" Priya asked Wolfe as they made their way back to the plane to head home for the night.

"I'm thinking that it would be a good idea to make a tour down the coast and visit a bunch of the coastal villages to see what they need.

I won't be able to take the plane, though. I'd never find them that way. So, it will take a while to finish, and I will be constantly calling for more supplies." Wolfe sighed.

Cassie shrugged. "That shouldn't be a problem. We can keep sending supplies to wherever you are. One of us should go with you as well so that we can set all of our new allies up with new gardens. That seemed like it was the most important selling point for a lot of the others.

I know the Witch won't be able to communicate properly, but we can work around that."

Cassie was clearly talking about going herself, but Wolfe had another idea. Stephanie would be perfect for the job. She wasn't expected to speak to anyone in the first place. But she was still busy looking after Sophie, and Wolfe wasn't sure how well the girl was adjusting. Magic was great at healing the body but not the mind.

The flight back was a smooth one, and Wolfe decided to go check up on their rescued charge and the Familiar Cat to make sure that Stephanie hadn't been teaching the girl any bad habits.

They were just what the other one needed, but that didn't mean that they were guaranteed to be a positive influence on each other, especially once Stephanie taught Sophie how to hide from responsibilities. There weren't many people who were better than her at that particular skill.

He found the pair in Sophie's room up in the trees, studying magic theory on the balcony.

"Ladies, good evening. How has the studying been coming along?" He called up to the pair from the walkway below them.

"Excellent, Mister Wolfe. Please, do come up for a cup of juice. I would offer tea, but I don't like it, so I don't have any." Sophie called back.

Wolfe headed up the stairs to her suite, grown into an outcrop on the massive Fae Redwood tree. The cups were out on the counter, and he could see that her glass was empty as well, so Wolfe opened the ice chest, kept cold with magic, and found that the only thing in her fridge was orange juice and leftover cake.

"We might need to have a long talk about your shopping habits. You need to look after your health, no matter how good the cake is." Wolfe informed her very seriously.

"It's not like that, I promise. I eat all my meals at the cafe since it's right down that walkway, so all that I have in the house are evening snacks for after school and some juice." Sophie desperately tried to explain herself, confirming to Wolfe that there really was no other food in the house.