They didn't need long to introduce the new arrivals to their friendly neighbourhood animal ears. The boat that arrived with a load of supplies for the trading station, intended for the next group from Myrrh Coven who came by to pick up their orders, was one of the badger people, with a fully furred face and his ears clearly visible.
The brown tunic top and green cargo pants were quite normal for the area and blended in well, but the very furry bare feet gave away the fact that there was very little human about the man other than his bipedal stature.
"Oh, we've got guests. Welcome home, Mister Wolfe. Did you bring some new allies to trade with us?" The boatman asked.
"Not quite. I brought new residents with me. They're going to be staying in the village for now. I think one will be happy down below, but I suspect that Sophie here might be much more at home in the treetop apartments than down in the caverns of the Den." Wolfe replied.
After all that she had been through, Wolfe wouldn't be shocked if she was afraid of the dark, so he had already made plans to have her accommodated above ground.
"Oh, that's lovely. More Witches? Or did you find some cute human girls that you just couldn't say no to?"
It took a few minutes for the general laughter to die down, and Ella took up the introductions.
"This is Christa Abilene, the daughter of a former Coven Council Member that we knew from the Academy, along with her Familiar Grok, the Goblin Paladin. Beside her is Justine, who met Wolfe in a Grand Dutchies-controlled city and decided to stay on with him after they went on an adventure together. Then, finally, this is Sophie. As you can see, she's awakened early, so she will be coming here to learn with the others."
The boatman nodded. "Welcome, everyone. I'm certain that you're likely freaked out by my appearance, but don't worry. I don't bite.
It's about an hour back to the village by boat since we don't race through the water like when a certain someone is driving, but we will have a nice smooth ride."
The last was spoken while looking directly at Ella, who was pointedly ignoring the implication that she drove like a mad woman. Even Cassie couldn't back her up on that one, though. Her throttle control consisted of on or off. There was no form of moderation in her riverboat driving style.
"Alright, everyone who is going back, help unload the boat and get these hard-working Witches set up for the afternoon. Once you're finished eating, that is." Wolfe instructed.
Sophie was still slowly picking at her dinner, unused to having so much to eat, but the others were long finished. She gladly took the excuse to set it aside and help out with the unloading, picking up a stack of cloth with a confused look.
"Can't the Myrrh Coven make their own clothes?" She asked.
"They can. But ours are all enchanted, which makes them valuable, and they're in different fashions and brighter colours than most of the Witches make. If you don't have sufficient skills with the Elements, then getting an even colour with anything but green and brown is very difficult. The dyes are tied to the element associated with them when you try to use them in a magical effect.
That's why the village clothes are usually so drab. They rely on the easiest-to-make colours for day-to-day life. But since ours are self-cleaning, we can wear bright colours every day without fear." The badger-eared worker informed her.
"Oh, are they expensive then?" Sophie asked.
"Not really. This outfit came from home, but a dress like the ones in the stack costs about a quarter of a day's wages. We've been using the mana crystal units system for the cost of magical items, so that we can sort out the time and skill pricing here.
I heard that it was a mess when everyone was a Witch since they just made whatever and whenever, but we've got a proper money system going on now. Everyone gets a base wage for essentials and then more for their work. It's a very good system." He explained.
Wolfe could see the girls trying to work out the mental math.
"If everyone gets the essentials covered, and then more for working, wouldn't that mean there is a lot of extra money? Where does that come from?" Sophie asked.
"The markup to sell to outsiders, of course. They pay WAY more for everything than we do." The man chuckled while the witches smirked and nodded in agreement.
Cassie decided to give a deeper explanation. "We charge for everything at a discount rate so we can all have what we want and need. But the Covens want weapons and high-end charms that we don't use much here. Those cost a lot, and they cover the extra, in theory.
In practice, we actually lock the coins in a vault and have the Rank Two Witches make more mana crystals to represent the value. It keeps everything running, and since we do almost everything with spells, it's more practical for us all to carry mana.
Speaking of which, the Kitsune and the Magi girls have a very long list of requests for you, Wolfe. We made them what we could for inscriptions, but they want many more placed around town for them to activate since they can't create their own."
Wolfe sighed as he realized that they had returned to a weeks-long backlog of things to do, but he had done good things this time, and they had gained more solid allies for the Fae Forest.
The twins and the pair on duty waved goodbye as Wolfe helped everyone into the boat. The driver was practically vibrating with excitement over the chance to be the first to see the witches' reaction to Forest Grove, but he had underestimated just how interesting the Forest itself was to them.
The girls were in awe at the massive trees, the flickering lights of glowing bugs and small Fae in the trees, and the abundance of magical plants growing everywhere.
"There's nowhere else in the world like it. Or so I'm told anyhow." Wolfe informed Sophie, who was clinging tightly to his arm as the boat bounced down the river.
"It's incredible. To think that you believe you could improve on this with a city of any sort." She laughed.
"Oh, just wait until you get there. Forest Grove is well worth the wait."
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