Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

When they made it down to Priya, she had a long-suffering look of understanding on her face, and a clipboard in her hand with all the preparations that still needed to be made before the festival started.

"I'm glad you could make it back after you dumped even more work on me at the last minute. I think we can get them all off work in time to do the summoning ceremony tonight, but it's definitely going to run past the allotted time." She informed him in her no nonsense working tone.

"That's fine. What I was going to suggest was that the Rank Two Witches go before and after prime time, and the few Rank Three Witches that we have can take the centre of the procession and do their summoning when the time is right.

Then tomorrow, when the conditions are perfect, we will do the resident batch. There should be guests arriving tomorrow, if they keep the same schedule as the last festival, so we will have a lot more people here, and they know the ones who have been here longer.

We can talk to the new arrivals as well, and if they don't want to summon a day early of optimal, then they can certainly wait until next month. As I understand it, their culture does not have the same theory that we developed here though, it sounded like they were just gathered whenever it was convenient for the military, or when they got a promotion." Wolfe explained.

"Alright, you can let everyone know, and ask them to pass the message. But don't pull them off their work until an hour before sunset, and we will start thirty minutes later. Tell them to be sure they're on time, or they'll be going at the very end." Priya reminded him.

"Got it. I'll go and let everyone know. I'm sure they know the advantages of having a Familiar nearby, and it would be great if they managed to actually grow their power to help us keep up with the threats that the army might be sending at us from overseas." Wolfe agreed.

As they were talking, the young witch that Wolfe had whipped with [Wind Blades] came over, leading her small group of prisoners, under escort of the Twins. It was a bit odd that she was leading the group, as she was far from the most senior of them, only among the most outspoken. 

However, that confidence faltered when she got close to him, and she simply stood there, trying to come up with the right thing to say.

Jenna saved her the trouble, and made a sweeping gesture to encompass the group of prisoners.

"These ladies have a [Favour] they would like to ask of you." She explained.

"Already? I thought that our people were treating you well?" Wolfe asked.

"They are." The witch agreed with a hesitant nod.

"But that's the problem, you see. They treat us well, they don't judge us for being outsiders. But more importantly, our own people do. They all wear the Servant's Mark that shows that they have sworn to be trustworthy, while we are prisoners, held until the end of the hostilities.

But you've already broken our link to the Mana Beast, even the others who arrived today can feel it, and they know right away that we're different. We can't go home, we will never be the same that we were without the Forced Awakening, limiting our powers. So, we decided between us, that we would as you to change our status.

If we swear the same oath that the others did, will you remove our wristbands and consider us Deserters as well?"

"Swear the oath and I will do it." Wolfe agreed.

"In exchange for our freedom, we do solemnly swear that we will serve you and be loyal to the people of Forest Grove, and not attempt to harm or betray them or their allies." They responded in unison, as they had practised.

Wolfe smiled. "I agree."

[Servant Bond activated]

"We can take the bracelets off them now. Oh, wait, never mind. A witch can't do that. Come here ladies, and I will remove your shackle. There is a Familiar Summoning tonight, so make sure that everyone comes to the top of the spire when they get off work. I am going to break their Bloodline Curse, the same as I did for all of you, and then you can summon another Familiar.

It will help guide your path and let you advance properly while you are here. It won't harm the bond with your existing Familiar, so there is no downside, except that tomorrow is the theoretically perfect day, so the Familiars that are summoned today might be a bit less likely to be powerful magical creatures." Wolfe explained.

"How likely is less likely?" One of the witches asked as he removed her aura restriction and her power sprung back to life.

"Well, I can't say for sure, but about three quarters of the ones summoned tomorrow by the First Ranks should be magical beasts of some sort. Pretty much all the Second Rank Witches have summoned Magical Creatures as their second so far, so I can't speak to the odds, and the first of our Rank Three Witches will summon theirs tomorrow." Wolfe replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Three quarters of the First Rank Familiars are magical beasts?" The sergeant in the group asked in shock.

"That's right. Would you like for me to prove it to you? There is one of our young students right here." Wolfe suggested, then captured one of the Bunny Witches in his arms and spun her around in a circle, making the little witch giggle.

"Good evening, Mister Wolfe." She laughed.

"Good evening Aria. Can you tell these nice ladies what your Familiar is?" Wolfe asked.

"It's a Flame Winged Sparrow. I know, not exceptional, but I've trained him to fetch my pencil case when I forget it in our room, and he's super smart." She bragged.

"Oh, that is good. Fetching useful items is a valuable skill for a Familiar to have. Thank you, Aria. Have a splendid evening, and there will be special snacks at the tower tonight after the early Familiar Summoning for our new friends." Wolfe agreed.

That would make sure that everyone knew there was a summoning tonight.