Peach shook her head in dismay. "It looks like you have an easier time than I do finding students, and I''ve got a whole city''s worth of witches to work with."


    Wolfe gave her an apologetic smile and shrugged. "Nobody thought to look here before. I''m sure there are a few in the older generation who could have awakened with our help if we were here when they were young. The ability to cleanse the curse makes it possible to awaken so many more.


    With a skilled Elder on hand, there won''t be any more duds in the regr ss unless they have absolutely no talent. By the end of the next semester, you''ll have more skilled witches than you know what to do with, and many of them will be able to pass the Second Year sses."


    "Won''t that be fun when they return to the city, and someone has to decide who gets Noble titles? It''s already a mess with all the politics, and they only gave Mary a Knighthood, despite her power and finishing the third-year courses in under a year." Peachughed.


    "Should we go down so you can meet some locals and report back on what they''re like now that everyone canmunicate properly?" Wolfe asked.


    Peach smiled down at the influx of people arriving for the Festival.


    "It wouldn''t be a proper festival if we didn''t mingle and walk through the stalls while they were busy."


    The witches of Forest Grove had set up simple games, food stalls and various other forms of entertainment along all the major walkways on the ground level and had designated an area for everyone visiting to set up tents.


    They had a lot of guest rooms, but they would be for the newly arrived staff this week, and the rest of the visitors would be able to set up with hired family members or in tents away from the central area of the festival.


    That was plenty for them to be happy with the hospitality, though, since it was all still within the walls of the vige, so there was no danger of attack, and there were witches on guard at all times.


    Wolfe and Peach made their way back down the spire to the main level, where hundreds of families hade to visit the vige for the first time and make friends among the Witches of Forest Grove.


    As soon as they reached the ground level, they were spotted by a number of vige children from one of the towns close enough to have brought them along. These ones were Bunnies, which only startled Peach, as she wasn''t aware of the sheer number of young Bunnies that existed within the Forest.


    "Hi, Big Boss Guy. Good afternoon Miss Witch." The kids greeted them and then grabbed Peach by the hands and dragged her away.


    "Might I know where we are going?" The Headmistressughed as she followed along behind the kids.


    "Oh yeah, we forgot that part. There is a ce selling good-smelling food, but they can''t see us. Can you order for us?" One of the boys asked, pointing to a stall selling the Den''s signature coconut milk ice cream only a few metres away.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    There was a huge crowd, and being so small, the kids couldn''t get the shopkeeper''s attention, and they had managed to lose their parents somewhere.


    "Miss Peach, it''s good to see you again. What can I get you?" The witch running the stall called as the older woman came close to the front of the crowd.


    "I need eight bowls for the group here." Sheughed, bypassing most of the crowd to take the dishes of ice cream, which turned out to be waffle bowls andpletely edible, including the spoon.


    "Thank you, Miss Peach." The kids cheered as they got the frozen treat and retreated to a safe distance to eat.


    "Were you expecting such a crowd?" She asked Wolfe as she admired the swarm of people who hade to check out the food stalls.


    "This is a better turnout than I had expected. It''s a good thing that we started some of the kitchen staff who arrived early at their jobs already. I don''t think those stalls will slow down all day long, so they will need to be resupplied from downstairs at least a few times a day.


    We hired a lot of workers and invited everyone who wanted toe to see us, though, so I wouldn''t be shocked if even more of them were stilling. They won''t all be able to stay away from their viges the whole week, but they wille for at least a day or two to say goodbye to their family members who are working here and then return home.


    With luck, that will be enough to keep the numbers constant and not get overcrowded. This is our first time hosting anything even remotely like this."


    The Headmistressughed as a few of the Witches flew overhead, dodging the crowd to make their way across the vige with bags of supplies and gathering the attention of all the visitors.


    The staves had be a real fan favourite among the Witches, and they were bing more used to flying around town instead of walking everywhere. There were still some who were terrified of heights, but they were in the minority, and it was bing normal to see bags of supplies hanging from levitating staves, even if the witch was walking behind them to save mana.


    Today, that wasn''t an option. There was no room to walk through the crowd, so supplies had to be flown in, or they wouldn''t reach the stalls.


    As the visitors began to settle in, the troubadours started to y, singing and dancing along the edges of the crowd to add to the festive atmosphere and getting trinkets and coins in return.


    Then as dark began to settle in over the forest, the real show began. The Witches had been working all week on a fireworks show using magic, and this was their first live demonstration in front of a crowd.


    Now, for witches at their level, this was child''s y, but as the explosions began above the spire, lighting up the sky in various colours and sending sparkling animal figures streaking through the sky, nobody cared about the difficulty, only the result.