Novel Full 269 269 Pointy Objects
Dinner passed quickly, and then it was time for the local witches to head back to their homes and start preparing the payments for everything that they wanted to request for Wolfe to have his witches make for them right away.
All that they knew he needed was knowledge and entertainment, but they had seen that he had traded for a particular dress as well, so the options weren’t completely limited, just variable based on his mood.
That wasn’t completely unusual when dealing with Demons, so those who had something that they thought he would like prepared it in addition to the collection of books and comics that they had on hand.
There wasn’t a bookstore in town, but they were a town with a lot of children that weren’t big fans of the Fortress City’s children’s cartoons, so there were a lot of used books around for them to gather.
It was the ones about intermediate and advanced magic that were of the most use to Wolfe, and that he would trade the most for, but everything that they could get to stock the library was worthwhile.
Wolfe could feel the spells activating all over town as the witches prepared their payments for him, and he smiled at the enthusiasm. With his senses open to trying to learn more about the magic that was being used, he could tell that witch magic, not earth magic as he had suspected, was what was used to make duplicates of books, while Earth Magic was used to make the physical book itself.
That was a pleasant surprise. None of the witches at the Den knew how to do it, but it seemed that it was actually a fairly common life skill among those who lived and worked in the villages. Hopefully, it would be included in one of the books that they traded him. If it was, he could obtain it without asking for it specifically, which greatly increased its value.
They were busily making new copies of every book that they thought Wolfe might find interesting, as well as all of the spellbooks that they were willing to part with.
Witches didn’t easily give up their family secrets, but some of the spellbooks were generic, store-bought, or originally intended for trade and were safe to copy for the deal with the Fae Forest.
That was perfect for Wolfe. They needed all of the mundane, day-to-day knowledge that they could get since they didn’t have an older generation to lead the way.
Without those decades of life experience, they were somewhat running blind when it came to daily life things, so they had just improvised and hoped that it worked.
Wolfe was relaxing at the dinner table, enjoying some after-meal conversation, when one of the children from the family snuck in to see him with a question.
“Mom wants to know if there are other things you need other than books. She says that we need a certain charm to finish making the panic room at the house, but we aren’t really ‘book people.’ We run the mechanic’s shop here in town.” The boy whispered.
The boy nodded and ran back home to talk to his parents, secure in the knowledge that they should be able to come up with something that would please the Demon.
“Everyone will be busy trying to make you happy tonight, so why don’t you get some rest, and you can make the deals first thing in the morning before you head home?” The Captain suggested.
“Not a bad idea. I’m usually up fairly early, so I will take Stephanie and retire to a guest room for the evening. Anytime after dawn should be fine. I am used to being up early to get the morning scout reports.” Wolfe agreed, and the Captain motioned for one of the boys to lead him to a room.
“Here you are, Mister Wolfe. It’s the only guest room that faces the outer walls of the village. I thought you would appreciate nobody being able to look in your window.” The boy informed him once they reached the end of the second-floor hallway.
“Thanks. I know you guys really get the short end of the stick around here, but pass me that dagger you’re wearing. I think I can do something for you.” Wolfe requested.
There appeared to be a mana crystal in the hilt, and Wolfe could see that there were inscriptions on it by the residual traces of magic, though the weapon hadn’t been activated in a while, presumably since it was given to the youngster as a gift.
Reluctantly the boy passed the weapon over, and Wolfe admired the workmanship on the blade. Whoever made this had great knowledge of both inscriptions and Arrays, and Wolfe suspected that it was actually a Magi Relic, as Witches had such a hard time getting these complex arrays to work.
He memorized the design as well as he could, then charged the weapon with a bit of magic and found that a nick in the side of the blade had damaged the pattern.
That must be why it was given to a child. It wasn’t suitable as a combat weapon anymore. But it was easily repaired, and with a bit more mana, Wolfe repaired the inscription and charged the mana crystal in the hilt.
Knowledge from the Inheritance flashed in front of his eyes, and Wolfe knew that he had done it correctly. He also knew what he was missing from the other weapons that he had made. Creating a mana crystal to store mana would allow anyone to use the weapon with a simple mechanical mechanism, in this case, a twist of the stone mounting on the hilt, that would activate the spell on the item.
It was the same principle that many magical tools used. Wolfe just hadn’t experienced them since nobody in his neighbourhood could afford them. They relied on mundane tools with enchanted battery packs instead.
“When you get a chance to test that out alone, just give the hilt stone a twist, and the spell will activate for you. It will turn your little dagger into a flaming sword, so be careful which way you’re pointing it. Twist it back to turn it off.” Wolfe informed him with a wink.
It wasn’t the world’s most powerful weapon, but the mana crystal would keep it active all day long, and then any witch could recharge it. Like his enchanted bullets, it was a weapon for the masses.