303 303 Peach's Time To Shine
“Wait, how old are these girls? Some of them look like freshmen, but the one with the fluffy ears and the one next to her might not even be teenagers.” Peach asked.
“Well, I didn’t ask, but they’re all old enough to have their aura forcefully awakened once the curse was cleared. As we said, those seven are our freshmen since they never went to any Academy, and they’re the pride of our village.” Wolfe informed her with a smile.
“I have seen plenty of half-witch students in my years, but never one that was half beastkin, and she’s so powerful. Is that innate to her species, or is it the result of living here?” Peach demanded.
“It’s mostly her, but the progression rate is because she lives here. The extra mana density, the Faerie as a Familiar, and the fact that I fully cleaned out her Mana system before the curse could dry and become permanent damage are working together to make her an excellent student, possibly the top of the class if we had graded papers and a power measuring stone.” Wolfe informed her proudly.
Peach moved forward to hover over Katerina until a toothpick-sized sword appeared in front of her eye as the young witch’s Faerie intervened to enforce the concept of personal space.
“Sorry about that. I was trying to examine her aura more closely. She’s so young for a witch, but she’s growing at a phenomenal rate, and there is something different about her aura.” The Headmistress explained to the irate Fae.
“No touching my Witch. She’s clean, and I don’t want her all dirtied up.” The Faerie complained.
“I just got out of the shower. I’m clean, see.” Peach tried to explain, but the Fae wasn’t backing down.
“She means her aura. Our fluffy friend is a White Witch, she has never cast a harmful or offensive spell in her life, and her Familiar intends to keep it that way. She also seems to think that corruption from using Black Magic can be transferred by contact, so she doesn’t like anyone touching her.” Wolfe offered.
“Interesting. I have heard of White Witches from my Familiar, but I didn’t think that they actually existed, much less that it was a state which could be sustained simply by a choice of spells.” The Headmistress replied, now intensely focused on the Faerie and the answers she might be able to give.
“How about we arrange for you two to sit across from each other? That should allow you to ask all the questions that the Fae will answer, and it will keep to her standards of only allowing certain people near her Witch.” Mary suggested.
The spire, unlike the dining room underground, had a large number of small round tables set up for residents to eat, relax or work at on the upper of the two balcony levels.
That placed them a level above the walkways, out of the way of most of the traffic, and a level below the summoning altar at the top of the spire. It was a calm place, and where the meals were usually served.
The Faerie raced around the room, looking for someone, and came back with one of the Noxus Elders, a large man with PAIN tattooed across his knuckles and very little unmarked skin showing.
“There, I found us a fourth person with a relatively clean aura.” The Faerie declared proudly.
Wolfe and the Elder shared an amused glance. The heavily tattooed man had likely killed more people than most of the witches here, but he didn’t use magic and chose targets that he felt deserved it. That seemed to be enough of a difference that the Fae viewed his aura as only slightly sullied.
Wolfe would have to cleanse his system and help his Mana Veins later so that he could improve the tiny Mana pouch that hadn’t entirely formed into a proper Mana Focus yet, but if it made the Faerie happy, the Elder could join them for lunch.
“Headmistress Peach, this is Elder Larry Noxus and Freshman Student Katerina, who I believe doesn’t have a family name.” Wolfe formally introduced them as they took their seats.
He was about to let them talk so he could get the food, but Ella motioned to tell him that she would take care of it, so he settled in for the show, with the two witches across from each other, with the two Magi blooded men as a buffer.
“How is it that you’ve never used a harmful spell? Have you not started the first-year curriculum yet?” The Headmistress asked.
“Oh, I did, and I’m most of the way through it. But I only did the defensive spells, the Witch Magic that isn’t harmful, and the beneficial potions. Did you know that the vines are not considered black magic?
They can harm people, and you will start to turn dark by doing it, but just using them to restrain people won’t count as black magic, according to the Fae.” Katerina explained happily now that she had a pair of guardians to protect her ears from strangers.
Living around Mary had traumatized her on the subject of strangers, and she initially hadn’t intended to take her hood down at all, but the wind had blown it back, and it was making her ears itch, so she had removed it as soon as she got up the spire.
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“That would be locally brewed Peach wine. They use magic to make it ferment faster. It’s pretty good, isn’t it?” Wolfe asked.
“Incredible. But it won’t distract me. I need to know how this happened to so many children in the area.”
The Faerie giggled and then pointed at Wolfe.
“It didn’t just happen. He does it on purpose because he thinks it’s funny to see people’s reactions. When the Demon forgives the witch for their ancestors’ actions and cleanses the bloodline curse from a child, they return to how Witches were before the war, when they awakened at puberty.” The Faerie explained.
Then Katerina repeated it word for word since her Familiar had spoken too fast for the Headmistress to follow.
“Seriously?” Peach asked, turning to Wolfe.
“Here, I’ll show you, though it won’t do much at your age and power level.” Wolfe agreed.
A simple tap on her wrist and a gentle trickle of mana to clear the lingering blockages, then blow the remains of the curse out of her body, followed by the most subtle stretch of her mana veins later, Peach’s eyes shot wide open.
Her aura suddenly began to compress, and the advancement to the Second Rank began on its own. The Headmistress had been so close to advancing on her own that when Wolfe removed the last few blockages, the process became inevitable.
So, he added mana to her system, filling and stretching her veins while the advancement of her aura made her too numb to notice, and a new Rank Two witch was born.
The Faerie flew over to land on Wolfe’s shoulder while Peach recovered from the process, and the Noxus Elder held her to prevent her from falling out of her chair.
“I guess nobody’s going to be all that concerned about how my Witch stays pure anymore. Good job, Demon boy.” THe Faerie cheered, giving Wolfe a thumbs up that he couldn’t see with her beside his head.