Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

Once Wolfe finished with the luncheon meeting, he bid farewell to the Coven Council and prepared to head back out again, intending to get as many of the villages added to the road as possible today. The radio had been abuzz with the intentions of traders from Forest Grove and the surrounding area who wanted to head down the new road, but didn't have any orders from the new stops yet.

That had led to a flurry of panic buying as shops saw the possibility of being the first in their town or region to get their hands on certain foreign goods. Which had, in turn, led to an increased influx of merchants willing to make the journey in the next day or two when they could get loaded.

The Witches were overjoyed with the news. They had been greatly concerned that others would balk at trading with them, but from the radio chatter the other villages in Sylvan Coven had no issues placing orders for what they wanted and needed, and the Council was ready to place their own order, using Priya's command codes to contact Forest Grove directly and place an order for things that weren't available from the average merchant.

Hopefully, the town would arrange shipping for them, and they could build from that transaction and form a working relationship with the merchants that Priya's friends trusted.

But that was all of no concern to Wolfe as he kissed the dark-haired witch goodbye and headed back down to the tunnels to begin working eastward.

It was a bit of a stretch to the first town, as Sylvan City was right on the coast, and none of the villages wanted to be too close to the unpredictable gravity of the ocean, or the fortress city. But fifty kilometres was under an hour of work, and the Bear Kin village was ready for him when he arrived with drinks prepared and a staging area already dug at the edge of town so they could prepare to send out a convoy as soon as the tunnel was open.

They didn't have a lot of production of their own, but with the Fae fixing the gravity magic that had been plaguing the waters, they had taken to fishing, and fresh fish needed to be moved or processed on the same day.

With the others holding back and going for the closer villages in Sylvan first, they were fairly certain that they would be the first to the Fortress City, and nobody would turn down an entire truckload of fresh fish at a reasonable price.

"It looks like you all know an opportunity when you see one. But how did you get so many fish?" Wolfe asked.

"Water Fae. We've got a Rank Five one here in town, and he has been helping us with boats and herding the fish to our nets. We haven't eaten this well in, I can't say. But possibly never before." The village chief explained.

"Well, since they're busy, please say hello for me. I know that keeping a village of bears in line can't be easy, so I'll be on my way." Wolfe replied.

"It's easier than you think. Bears are solitary by nature, so everyone just does what they want unless they need more people for the task, like fishing. Do you think that Sylvan would like some of our coral carvings as well?" The chief replied, getting a bit excited at selling more than fish.

"They likely will. I don't know how big the market for art is, I don't deal with that myself, but everyone loves trinkets and keepsakes."

The bear nodded, then wandered away, while Wolfe smiled at the big man's back. That was how they usually were. Once they were done talking, they just left to do something else, they didn't hang around for idle chatter.

So, he moved on along the coast, where he found that his task was getting easier by the village. Not only were they ready for him, some of the Earth Fae had already plotted routes to the surrounding villages in preparation for his arrival.

Wolfe would make the main route, they would make the others as soon as he passed.

So, with that level of efficiency, he found himself nearly at the Grand Dutchies border sometime around midnight, instead of on the morning of the third day, as he had expected.

"You know, if you turn north, there are some villages not too far from here, maybe thirty kilometres, and then you could loop back to Forest Grove. We will work out the rest of the route ourselves, but if we can go north toward the mountains, we can get many things that don't grow in the heat above us." The Fae at the last village suggested.

As Wolfe recalled, most of the villages to the north were Demon run, and it was a shock to hear the Fae suggesting that they be directly linked to one another. But if they had goods that the others wanted, both sides were willing to set aside their animosity and pretend that it was the villagers' request.

"Alright, I will have to look at my map and make some adjustments. The villages nearby won't be expecting me, as I didn't send the north a notice yet. I was going to do them next week instead of tomorrow. There aren't nearly as many villages up there, but some of them are rather large." Wolfe explained.

"Just let me know when you're leaving in the morning and I will send the message with the route. We will show you to a room now, and there will be breakfast in the morning. I am certain that the people will want to thank you for linking us to our neighbours.

Being this close to the border is still somewhat dangerous, as the Grand Dutchies are on edge about the whole situation with first the One World Army, and then the Demons and Fae showing up and announcing that they're taking over.

The leadership knows what's going on, but the common people are mostly just terrified and aggressive toward outsiders, especially after the other human nations turned on them the last few years. Honestly, their whole nation is a mess."