<h4>Chapter 400 400 Travelers Safety</h4>


    Wolfe gave a polite bow to the two vige leaders.


    "We really should get going. I promised John, the leader of the group that I dropped off, that we woulde back to see them once I had everyone else settled in. Then I need to get going back home, with some stops at the viges along the way.


    I''ve already been gone longer than I would prefer, and there are things that need to get done this summer to establish our home vige before next winter sets in."


    That was a concept that everyone understood. They might not be from somewhere as inhospitable as the Frozen Wastes, but everyone needed to prepare for winter, even if it was just a matter of getting things done during the dry season so that they didn''t flood during the wet season.


    "We won''t hold you any longer. We''re in good shape now, thanks to you both, and the alliance between our viges will be a strong one, I''m certain of it." The Mayor informed them.


    E gave her a hug and whispered in her ear. "If you need somewhere to have your children trained, we have a deal with the Academy to bring trained Professors to the Fae Forest to teach young Witches. We''ve got nearly a dozen Rank Two residents as well, so they''ll be safe if you bring them to us. No need to answer now. Just keep it in mind if you aren''tfortable sending them to Peach."


    The Mayor nodded and stepped back to shake E''s hand. "I hope to see you again soon. Would you like an escort between viges? It would save you some time introducing yourselves to the guards in the woods."


    E shook her head. "They''ve already met us, though we were pretending to be humans and letting Christa be our designated Witch so that we didn''t have to reveal our strength before we were sure what army was camped there. If we show up with food, they will dly let us back in to exin ourselves."


    The Colonelughed. "I can''t argue with that logic. It doesn''t matter if it''s magical or mundane. Anyone who shows up with food tends to get a warm wee these days. The Gardens are doing great, but my men never were one for a vegetarian diet."


    Wolfe waved to the duo as he turned the group south, leaving directly from the fields to head to their next destination, and Justine finally let out a sigh, the first noise other thanughter that she''d made in a long time.


    "I thought that they were going to treat me like a servant because you dressed me like a barmaid, but they didn''t say anything at all. You have no idea how nervous I was that they were going to get some strange misunderstanding." She whispered, just loud enough for everyone else to hear her.


    "The Mayor is a skilled Witch. She could tell right away that you were a witch as well and that the dress was an armour spell, so she wouldn''t have taken the appearance as a sign of anything but personal preference." Wolfe reminded her.


    "More likely that it was Wolfe''s personal preference, not yours. Whenever a woman is wearing something strange instead offortable, there is usually a man to me." Christa added.


    "Hey now, it''s not like I designed those sexy schoolgirl outfits. That was all the Witches doing, and you can''t say that those would be normal anywhere but the Academy." Wolfe reminded her.


    "They were a perfectly normal andfortable dress until the men started to fetishize them," Christained while Eughed.


    "No, I''m with the demon on this one. I''m pretty sure that whatever Witch designed that outfit was into Witches." E added, thinking back to some of the people she knew at the Academy.


    They were still bickering and joking when the scouts of the next vige found them, and this group had a Witch with them, whose eyes were bulging out of her head as she stared at E.


    "Oh, this is the point where we introduce ourselves and apologize for hiding her powerst time. As you might know from ourst visit, I am Christa, and that is E. But E isn''t human. She''s a Rank Two Witch, and she hid her powerst time we were here because we weren''t sure that you lot weren''t like the ones from the Grand Dutchies." Christa introduced the group while the men stared at their Witch in confusion.


    "Ari, can you exin what they''re talking about?" One of the scouts asked.


    "Those are the nomads who were here the other day. Plus, one new person. But they''re also the Snow Demon who dropped off John and the others, and the human girl he was with is actually one of the most powerful Witches on the." She stammered.


    "Seriously? He doesn''t look like a dangerous Demon. The Goblin looks more intimidating." The scout questioned.


    "There is no doubt about it. I couldn''t mistake her aura even if I tried since she''s not hiding it today, and he matches the description that the prisoners he returned gave us." She confirmed.


    "Sorry that we didn''t bring food. We got distracted with conversation, and before we knew it, we were here." Wolfe apologized.


    The scout team leader smirked back at him. "Well, since you mention it. We were sent out to find a monster that had been harassing farmers. Care to help us out for a minute?"


    Wolfe increased the sensitivity of [Detect Hidden] and found a creature that clearly didn''t belong in the woods. Arge mountain lion with mes flickering from its eyes was sitting in a tree about six hundred metres away, picking thest meat from its morning kill.


    "Sure, I think that should be workable. It''s right over there; just give me a minute, and I''ll go bring it back for you." He agreed, then darted off through the woods to hunt the big cat, who he had just realized was cleaning thest flesh from a human body.