"You need to explain more than that. He wasn't in class this morning." Reiko informed the excited little brunette, seemingly quite amused by how much more lively the normally shy Cassie was when she was around Wolfe.
"Well, you know how the Academy is mandatory for Witches, but it's not free, right? Graduates repay the academy either by taking Government jobs or with family influence." Cassie asked.
That Wolfe did know, nothing in life was free, but the failed applicants who dropped out of the first year were exempted from repayment because the Witches didn't want to be associated with them, and they likely wouldn't amount to much anyhow.
"Well, one of the ways that those of us without Coven families pay off the debt is with a two-year position in the city guard. Either working with police or base security. Wilderness Protection is one of those options as well, and a better-paying one.
But that's not the point. The point is that lately, nobody wants to guard the walls because the monsters outside the city have been getting worse. So the officers who showed up today announced that the Commoner Witches who fail out of their second year are being drafted by their home cities that are under the Morgana Coven to serve in the guard.
They're not even giving them time to recover from a bad mark with the end-of-term exams. If they fail any of the next two days' tests, they're gone." Cassie explained.
Wolfe was stunned into silence for a moment until Mary started talking.
"Yeah, that was our response too. Professor Ashcroft told us today that the regular class had like half the second years in their lab cramming for exams. Things must be really bad if they're actually forcing commoner Witches to go fight in the wilderness."
"Or something bigger happened, and they don't want to tell us," Reiko muttered.
"You've been saying that all day, but after the war with the Magi, nobody would be insane enough to start another one. They might not be friends, but none of the Covens or the mundane leaders are that crazy." Ella countered, but the blonde Noble just dismissed her argument, not willing to discuss her concerns.
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"Fortunately for us, we're in the middle of nowhere. There isn't another major nation near the Academy, so unless it really is a surge in undead and monsters, it won't affect us yet." Wolfe consoled them.
"Before all that, we need to ace these exams, and you, little Miss Prim and Proper, have been holding out on us. How long have you known that Wolfe could strengthen your aura through contact?" Reiko asked Cassie.
"Since before we arrived? He was helping me make an amulet to prepare for school, and his power surged into me." Cassie explained with a deep blush at the memory.
"And you? When did you learn that Demon Familiars could do that?" Reiko asked Ella.
"Not long after the Summoning."
Mary giggled at Ella's evasive answer and how she wouldn't look Reiko right in the eyes.
"Come on, spill it. What did you do? There's more to it than just borrowing a bit of power for a temporary boost to your aura, right?"
"If you don't tell them, I will," Ella whispered to Cassie, who shook her head and pointed back at Ella.
"Fine. I snuck into his room for a little bit of sexy time the night of the Summoning and found out that if you do those sorts of things and take in his mana, you get a mark that can hold energy for over an hour."
Ella stopped there, but Cassie prodded her to keep going, despite the fact her face was flushed beet red.
"And, um, exchanging bodily fluids enhances your potential as a Witch. It's actually enhancing my internal mana pathways. I was mediocre by Class A standards during the entrance tests, but after that, I started growing rapidly in power until I matched Cassie at the top of the class." Ella explained reluctantly.
Reiko was staring directly at Wolfe with a look that he couldn't interpret. It looked like a combination of excitement and fear, but there was something else there as well. Maybe now wasn't the best time to mention that it wasn't bodily fluids enhancing their mana pathways. Wolfe was doing that himself while they were meditating.
"What are you thinking, Reiko?" Wolfe asked softly.
"Before I left, I swore that I would do anything to gain power and become strong enough that I didn't have to go back and sacrifice myself for Coven politics, but now that I have the chance, I don't think I can do that to my friends. I mean, I want the power. But do you know what it's like to finally have real friends after a lifetime of everyone being fake to get closer to your family?"
Ella moved forward to embrace Reiko in a hug and whispered in her ear. "If you ask, we will let you join us. For a price."
"A price?" She gasped louder than she had intended.
"It's Ella's rule, you see. We wanted a fair way to share once we accepted that we have the same Familiar. We agreed that there are no exclusive claims, and while you're sharing him, you're also sharing yourself." Cassie replied with a smirk and a knowing look for the buxom blonde's impending mental meltdown.
It was an outright lie. Ella was trying to scare Reiko away from her course of action, and Cassie was in full support of her partner. They both wanted to help Reiko, but not like that, definitely not while having her as another one of Wolfe's Familiars. Maybe she would consider some halfway sort of method that wasn't quite the same or as closely binding, but they did not approve of a Familiar Bond.
After all, Reiko had Flame as her Familiar. She didn't need another one to grow strong. Wolfe was only a cheat code to get strong fast.
Reiko was just as inexperienced with men as Cassie herself was before coming to the Academy but for a very different reason. She was an untouchable Princess of her family, expected to save her chastity for a man of her parent's choosing.
Where Cassie had been bullied and ostracized during her school years, Reiko had been pampered but isolated, with her entire life decided for her.
That had led to her rebelling at the first opportunity, but as the Butler waiting in her room proved, she still wasn't free of her family's influence.
Reiko looked to Mary for moral support, only to find the pink-haired lover of fluff relaxing against Pup and snacking on licorice.
"How can you be so calm?" Reiko demanded.
"For one, I don't even like men in that way, and secondly, according to [Care and Control of Familiars] by Morgana Myrrdin, you can get the same benefits and a very similar binding mark from a spoonful of Demon blood. Plus, it was really fun watching you blush." Mary answered without looking up from her snack.
"No hard feelings, Wolfe. I'm down to cuddle anytime, though. Pup says you're really comfortable."
Of course, Pup would say that. He spent as much time as possible leaning against Wolfe or sleeping on top of him so that he could passively absorb mana and build his strength. It was actually somewhat surprising that a regular dog was such a strong Familiar, even with his help. Wolfe had considered that it was actually a very lazy magical creature, but he couldn't prove it. Everyone who could scan it just said it was a regular fluffy dog.
"Isn't that a forbidden book?" Ella asked with pure curiosity in her thoughts.
"Not exactly. It's just forbidden to sell a copy or read from it in public. It was written during the last days of the war, and Morgana Myrrdin had some very strange things to say about the world that don't fit with modern teachings." Mary shrugged.
"Like what?" Wolfe asked.
"She says that the various species known as Demons don't exist. According to her, the ancient Archmagi used a time dilation spell to preserve the souls of all Magi on death, and the Witches were creating an abomination by summoning the souls back into the world to warp and enslave them as Familiars. But then, she also said that Archmagi could take twenty-five Witches as brides and make them their immortal slaves by bonding their magic together, so who knows if she was right or just spouting nonsense."
Wolfe knew that he could take more than one Witch as a Familiar, which was supposed to be impossible. Familiars couldn't have more than one bond, and witches could only ever have one Familiar. With that in mind, it didn't seem so farfetched that the Familiar Summoning, which frequently pulled Magical Creatures from some unknown location, could actually be pulling out the souls of the dead Magi.
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