Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

Not long after, the witches began to fall into a fitful sleep, exhausted from a full day of herding monsters before the attacks, but unable to sleep comfortably inside the slow-moving truck. They could have stayed awake if they just used a spell, but Wolfe wasn't sure if they didn't know it, or if it just didn't interact well with their survival spell that they had to keep active at all times to supplement their diets.

That was going to be one of the big shocks when they got to Forest Grove. These witches didn't really know about real food, other than what they managed to sneak from the wild when they were working, as Wolfe had seen earlier that day.

He slowly drove through the grasslands of the Frozen wastes until dawn, barely covering a hundred of the six hundred kilometres home, but getting safely away from the threat of another group of mind controlled monsters.

It was going to take the witches a while to come up with a new tactic after the failure of yesterday's raids, he assumed, so he should have a few days to get home and come up with a plan before it was time for him to head out again and try to destroy as many of the Cursed Talismans as he could.

Perhaps the Faeries would help with it. They were fairly easily bribed, and Wolfe was certain that he could come up with something that they wanted. The last one had spent the entire trip across the wastes destroying them just to rub her superiority in her former mistress's face, so the price to convince the others shouldn't be too high.

As the sun rose over the horizon, the canvas covered box of the truck began to heat up, and the witches in the back started to rouse, stiff and sore from the uncomfortable sleeping positions, but somewhat shocked that they were unharmed and apparently untouched. Wolfe hadn't even stopped to make them empty their pockets.

For an instant, they were tempted to try something, but Wolfe was still in the driver's seat with his armour spell up, and their chances of getting away from him were dismal at best, even if they managed to break a few of the bracelets before he noticed the auras returning.

So, they held off for a few more hours, waiting for the opportune moment to attack while he was distracted or being ambushed by the many upgraded monsters that should be in the region.

But that moment never came. They waited and waited, but there was a suspicious lack of any sorts of large wildlife, and the small ones only came alongside the truck to get snacks from Wolfe, who had a whole bag of what seemed to be magically grown nuts for them.

That reminded them that they hadn't eaten anything today, and they didn't have their packs to get anything, but when it reached noon, the feeling of the aura in their surroundings began to change to a somewhat peaceful ambience that was completely at odds with the strange grasslands around them where Wolfe stopped the truck.

"We're getting closer now. This spot should be safe enough to stop and get a bite to eat. I will warn you in advance, that you will be breaking your vegetarian diet order, since all I have is monster jerky and magically grown trail mix, or the nuts that I feed the squirrels, but those are magically grown as well.

Without the starvation resistance spell, Witches need magical nutrients, so that is all that I brought for you." He explained.

The witches pretended that they weren't actually excited about the news, but their attitudes were suddenly more friendly and accepting once they found out that Wolfe was planning to give them proper food, even while they were travelling back to his village to become prisoners.

Not that he would complain. They were inside the reaches of the Fae's spell now, and it was advancing across the grassland at over a metre a minute, visibly turning the ground lush and vibrant with new Fae plants beginning to sprout from the sudden influx of mana.

Someone must have adjusted the spell to maximum output while he was away. His bet was Kira, since she was the most capable of altering Elemental Magic Arrays, and the most powerful Demon in the village when Wolfe was gone.

There would be no hiding this effect, not when it was moving at a visible rate, but inside the effect the monsters would begin to calm down, which would undo much of the damage that the Cursed Talismans were doing, and help to keep the locals safe.

They must have done it a while ago as well, since Wolfe was still quite a way from where he thought the boundary should have been. He had passed over this region on the way east, and he was sure that the boundary had been on the other side of the ridgeline in front of them.

Wolfe passed out the rations from his backpack, and the witch beside him in the cab gasped in shock. There had been a whole bag full of magical food between their seats all this time, and not only hadn't they been attacked, but Wolfe hadn't been even the least bit worried about it.

It was good too. Flavourful and well seasoned, perfectly dried so that it was still a bit tender and not tough like boot leather, as the generic fruit jerky they were issued in ration packs tended to be before it was soaked.

"If the food is always like this, then I don't think we will be too upset about being taken prisoner." One of the witches laughed as she chewed the jerky.

One of her companions kicked her in the side of the head, the equivalent of a smack when they all had their hands bound, and Wolfe laughed.

"These are dried trail rations. They're the most basic of foods. We're not on some weird diet in the village, so we have proper cooked meals, not just nuts and jerky. Wait until we get back, I'm pretty sure that tonight is Shepherd's Pie night in the kitchen, and Cook does a wonderful job of it. It's one of the daily specials that there are rarely leftovers of for more than one morning."

The witches sighed, and one of the Sergeants glared at Wolfe.

"You can't turn us against our leaders with bribes of food." She insisted.

"The food isn't a bribe, it's food. Everyone gets fed. The bribery will come later. Maybe I'll find you some nice suites in the trees, or perhaps a cute beast kin husband. I hear that the bear kin have exceptional stamina if you're so inclined. Or there are some very friendly Lamia girls who swing that way. We might even have a male witch or two, but you might have to share."

The angry woman's expression didn't change, but most of the others began to giggle at Wolfe's irreverent suggestions.

"You really don't care about the laws and edicts of the Saints, do you?" The Sergeant asked.

"I don't even know what they are. So, when I give a suggestion, it's not to spite them, it's to tell you how we do it here. You should try lightening up a bit, you're going to be with us for a while at the rate things are going."