Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

The reporters were even more efficient than Wolfe had expected, and they were setting up cameras by the time that he had the first ten pallet loads of cards prepared.

They only had sketchy details so far, but they were met by Reiko, Cassie and Ella, all of whom were powerful witches from the city. Mary had evaded the reporters and had split off to meet with the courier companies, who were just starting to show up from the upper levels.

She was good with organizing people, and with her help, they would get the trucks loaded and gone nearly as fast as Wolfe could make them.

A bit of wind magic to wrap them up and lift them into the van boxes and onto the flat decks, with clear instructions to drop off as many cards at an address as there were people. Not just adults, one for everyone. Then they were given a smaller case of blank cards, with no charge, to pass out at businesses.

They would be paid for the deliveries, and for the ones that were coming in the next few days, as the people who were missed in the first batch went to the courier companies to get their money.

The instructions were to hand them out directly into peoples' hands. Not to leave them in mailboxes or under doors. If they weren't home, pass them out at work.

"Trust me, the reporters will do the majority of the work. We're telling everyone to stay right where they are so that the roads are clear for the couriers to deliver the money. The faster they comply, the faster they get paid." Mary assured one of the drivers.

"It's a good thing that we brought extra people." The driver laughed as he gestured toward the cab of the truck, where three other people were crammed in.

"It's every business and home. But remind people that they can't activate a second loaded card once they have used the first one, so trying to hoard them will only slow down the process and leave them with unusable cards." Mary added.

"We can get ours first, right?" One of the other drivers asked.

"Of course. I will pop open a box." Mary agreed.

She began tossing the cards to the drivers and the helpers in the trucks, so that they would be the first to have money, and they could explain to everyone else.

It would take a bit for businesses to get used to the transaction system, despite the fact that it was similar to the existing Mana Crystals. That was the job of Reiko and the others.

They were putting on a demonstration for the cameras of the news teams, who were alternating between the footage and playing the emergency alert, so that everyone in the city would know to tune in and where to bring their mana crystals to get them converted.

That would keep the Coven employees busy for ages, but Reiko had a plan. Wolfe would charge a couple of cubes for the Coven, which would be used to pay for the crystals, then the stored mana would be fed to the power grid.

But they weren't the first ones to have that plan. Once everyone realized that it would be a huge hassle to trade in their crystals, they began to either head for their local Crime Family to make a transaction, or they poured the mana into their building, and paid off their power and water usage in advance.

When you were broke and expecting to get a bonus payment that afternoon, the last few units were no big loss if they paid your bills.

"Saint Noxus, do you have a moment to speak to the cameras?" An obnoxious female voice demanded from behind Wolfe as he was creating another set of cards for the delivery couriers.

"If you would like to get in on the official announcement, they're right behind us. I am a bit busy at the moment." Wolfe replied.

"Surely, you can spare just fifteen minutes to do an interview?" The reporter asked.

"Does it look like there are fifteen minutes to spare right now? My apologies, but until the shipments are finished, I will ask you to refer to the other Coven Leaders for public relations."

Mary rolled her eyes at the idiot reporter, and a Coven Security team came over to move the angry reporter out of the way.

"Why won't you answer my questions? The people have a right to know! What is the Council hiding?" The woman shouted.

One of the couriers stood up on the deck of his truck and shouted back at her. "Shut your great thundering blowhole, you ditsy witch. Can you not see that he's busy making and loading the cards for everyone's payment? I'm not waiting here fifteen bloody minutes while you get some inane story. Come back later when we're done, and you can talk until your teeth fall out."

Dozens of cameras were turned to watch the drama ensue, but Wolfe did his best to ignore them and kept working on the card shipments so that they could be passed out before everyone arrived to get money converted and cubes charged.

That part of his day was going to be annoying enough without the reporters, but it looked like they were unavoidable.

"How about this. I will hold an hour-long open mic press conference once the real work here is done. No closed event without the press, I will stay right here to answer questions for you all.

My team is going over the final draft of the agreement now, and we should have good news very soon, so nobody leave." Wolfe offered.

A black taxi cab stopped at the edge of the auditorium, and three men in business suits stepped out, making an odd spectacle of themselves with their choice of transportation. Those were the VIP sedan cars, normally only used on the upper levels when someone was visiting a Coven Family.

They were cleared in advance to enter the upper levels, and you couldn't book one without an invitation, but the three men appeared to be from one of the Families of the lower levels of the city.

"Patriarch Noxus. I see that the cameras are already here. How about we give you a hand?" One of the men asked with a smile as he set his jacket aside and rolled up his sleeves.

"Alf Bonadio, owner of the Bonadio taxi and courier company." The man introduced himself.

"Johnny Slipko, of the Sloan Courier Company." The second man added.

"And Donny Noxus, recently married into the Noxus Family and operating the Samgyeop Eaterie beside the Family house. I just happened to be visiting the courier company when the message went out." The last one added with a soft laugh.

"Well, we can always use more hands. Come on over and bring a couple of cameras with you. The other floors will feel more relaxed if they see familiar faces helping with the project." Wolfe agreed.

The owners of the courier companies might be less well known, but the restaurant owner was a familiar face to nearly everyone on Wolfe's home floor. Wolfe hadn't known he was engaged to someone in the family, and it made him wonder.

"Who did you marry? You're still a young fellow, and there weren't many young women in the main family that weren't already spoken for." Wolfe asked.

The man looked a bit embarrassed, but kept a smile on his face.

"I believe you know Melody, the Lady Cassie's sister."

Oh, that poor, unfortunate man. Nobody deserved to be married to that woman.

"Of course, I will make time to visit the main Family house before I leave. I do hope that you and your lovely wife will have time to join us for dinner." Wolfe agreed.