All of the new arrivals marvelled at their surroundings as they had a quick snack before the dinner service was ready and tried not to laugh at the interactions between Pup and Ember. The two clearly had a lot to say to each other, but they had no real way of communicating, as Ember was too new to the bond for verbal communication since Hell Hounds weren't a talking species, to begin with.
Mary could do a pretty good job translating for Pup at that point, but that only solved one side of the conversation.
ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm "At least they're getting along. I was worried that the little one might get territorial. But when did Cassie get a new Familiar, and what about Wolfe?" Mary asked.
"I guess you didn't notice that a second Familiar became possible at the Second Rank. A lot of our witches here are eagerly awaiting their advancement so that they can replace the Familiars they lost due to the army's treachery. If you want to summon one, we can set it up again when the moon is up.
We had very good luck with the last batch, and every one of the four that we summoned was a Magical Creature, including the new young witch that awakened early after Wolfe worked his magic to heal her system." Ella explained.
"She awakened early? That's incredible. I will hold off on getting Pup an assistant until we're all settled in though. He's been getting cranky about all the changes lately.
The constant class changes at the Academy, since they were pushing me through as fast as they could, and then the chaos in the city and in the villages. There are no more gathering missions.
You can only use what the Academy has because it's too dangerous to go out with the rebels wandering all over the place pretending they're the real army and hunting so-called deserters. Honestly, Morgana is a mess, and Reiko has her work cut out for her, but Pup just misses having more people to sleep on top of."
That made the other witches laugh, especially the few who had been with them at the first camp along the front lines and remembered Pup's love of warm and soft places to sleep.
"Um, I think you all need to hear this. There is something very strange going on over the radio. I can't really make sense of it, but it sounds like a third party has been kidnapping witches from the retreating human units, then running away from the Coven Armies that have come to rescue them." One of the witches who were monitoring the radio shouted from the other room.
All eyes turned to Wolfe, and he wasn't sure if he should laugh or facepalm. He had told the villagers that if they rescued captured witches, they should bring them to him, and he would reward them.
It hadn't occurred to him that they would snatch them out from under the nose of the Coven Forces so that they could bring them back for more Minor Healing potions and such.
"It's a bit late to make them stop now, but if it's happening all over, that means the humans are in full retreat, and the locals are defeating most of them," Wolfe informed the sea of amused faces.
"That's just it. They're not even defeating the humans anymore. They're just robbing them. They fire the [Fireball] rounds at a few vehicles and then in the portion of the convoy around where the witches are being kept, then let the humans run away so that they don't have to waste the ammunition to fight them." The radio monitor laughed.
Most of the witches in the room were doing their best to hide their amusement at the situation, but they all knew that the humans wouldn't get off that easily. It was the middle of the day, and an attack now was dangerous. But if the army left most of their gear behind, it was still a long trip back across the wastes to get home.
"Well, we can just wait for them to get here and then let them return to their Covens. It's not like any harm will come to them while they're being brought here, and the mundane army isn't going to try to get them back any time soon. I'm sure the locals will give up on the reward and run if the Covens actually attack them." Cassie shrugged.
She was only half paying attention to the conversation, as Ember was trying to bring her over to meet his new friend and didn't understand that Cassie and Pup already knew each other.
Ella was giving the situation a smug look. The Reaper she had summoned as her new Familiar just lurked in the shadows and waited. It wasn't a social creature by nature, and it was more interested in waiting for any sign of imminent death in the area than dealing with the witches.
It had already helped them make plans for more attacks, and they had sent out some teams, but those weren't back yet.
It was a sad thing for the little Reaper. He had gotten to help plan the ambush, but he hadn't gotten to kill anyone all day. If it weren't for the abundant mana and the warm life force here, he would have been in a very bad mood after not collecting a soul for so long.
Wolfe could sense a hint of its emotions through the Familiar bond that it shared with Ella, but the undead Familiar wasn't actually mad, just bored.
"Well, ladies, if you've finished your snack, let's show you the rest of the Den and then get you settled into some rooms. You will want to freshen up before dinner. Everyone here is a relatively powerful witch, and that means a lot of sensitive noses." Priya joked.
Wolfe left them to their own devices and decided to go experiment with some new magic. Somewhere Katerina and her Fae Familiar of the same name were hiding out, and he wanted to borrow the Faerie for a moment since she knew more about magic and could help him make a proper repulsion barrier around the Den.
It was an intricate bit of magic since you only wanted to make it difficult for certain species to approach and easy for others, but you also couldn't block radio signals coming in and out, which were naturally affected by a strong barrier.
He found the two of them sleeping in their room with the door open and smiled at the matching happy looks on their faces. His project could wait.
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