Novel Full 350 350 Departure
The four travellers left right after the Goblin and Christa agreed to join them, avoiding too many more awkward questions and letting the Professors get their classes back in order. They would have a lot to go over in the next few days after seeing the staff and the airplane made, so nobody was too concerned about getting more answers out of Wolfe and Ella right now, and they didn’t try to stop them from leaving in a rush.
“It will be good to go on a grand adventure. Ever since I was brought back as a Paladin, I have been yearning for the chance to defeat Evildoers. Isn’t that insane? I’m a Goblin and have feelings about eradicating evil.” Grok laughed once they were past the first group of guards by the Academy walls.
“Oh, the dark days of my past.” Grok sighed.
“You do realize that was less than six months ago, right?” Christa reminded him.
“But it was an entire lifetime ago.” Grok countered with a very Goblin-like smirk on his face.
“Alright, now that we are out of sight, I will give everyone a proper Armour spell, Wolfe style. It’s a five-layered defensive array, and you can use the armour’s Wind and Gravity aspects to move more easily through the woods.
Combine that with a stamina charm, and we should all be able to jog all day long without issues and make it a fair distance west into the swamps toward the first of the locations that the patrols marked on my map as a suspected rebel village.” Wolfe explained, cutting off their banter.
“Just how much power do you have?” Christa asked curiously.
“Enough that I’m not really threatened by most mundane weapons. But if they start firing artillery at us, it’s probably best if we leave in a hurry.” Wolfe shrugged.
“Speaking of which, I don’t see your rifle. Shouldn’t you have brought your rifle if we’re going hunting rebels?” Ella asked.
“There is actually a fair bit of ammunition and two pistols in my pack. I thought it would be more practical for a road trip with the Headmistress, and being able to hide the weapon makes me look less threatening.
Remember, almost everyone we come across won’t know I can use magic, so they will look for a standard weapon. When they don’t see a rifle, they will think I’m only lightly armed, which should allow us to be underestimated and get the upper hand.” Wolfe explained.
“That’s good thinking, but with our Goblin Paladin, they will know that we have weapons, and a capable Witch, so we’re not going to take them too much by surprise.” Christa pointed out.
Ella gave her a confused look before she realized that the girl didn’t know what had happened in the Frozen Wastes this winter.
“Oh, believe me, Wolfe is far more dangerous than one competent Witch. Just wait until we get into combat, and you will see. He’s a scary level of powerful, and the guns are enchanted.” She explained, hoping that Christa would understand.
They continued to jog until after lunch, covering over forty kilometres down the nearly abandoned side road before stopping for a long break and getting some proper food in them.
Grok collected wood and lit a fire while Ella sorted through the gear in Wolfe’s pack to find something good to eat.
“We are going to have to hunt again tomorrow. How did you go through so many rations so fast?” She asked.
“Oh yeah, I forgot that I traded them to that group near the border. There should still be enough for a while, and we can find a magical beast or some edible fruits easily enough.” Wolfe sighed, realizing his mistake.
“Oh, I have a spell for that.” Christa realized, then activated a bit of Witch magic and pointed slightly to their right.
“Over there is a berry bush that’s edible. The spell says it should have a lot of berries right now. It’s one of the spells that I learned in the recovery camp, but I couldn’t make it work until now.” She explained.
The berry bush in question was a raspberry bush, but with the advantage of an armour spell, the thorns couldn’t damage them, and it wasn’t long before they had a decent-sized plastic bag full of them safely stored in the top of Christa’s pack.
She had packed plenty of dried travel rations from the school, but Wolfe knew from experience that they were mediocre at best, and he would be better off hunting something when they got the chance.
The group jogged for a few more hours before they found a good clearing, just large enough for a pair of tents and a small fire, and decided to call it a day. They weren’t going to find anything in the dark, and the village they were going to investigate wouldn’t be accepting visitors after twilight anyhow.
Ella erected a ring of leaves around the clearing, hiding the light of the fire from others at ground level, and then raised an awning over their heads, sheltering the fire from sight overhead and keeping a bit more of the heat trapped close to the ground level.
Spring in the swamps of Morgana Coven was far warmer than the Frozen Wastes, but they were still in the forests to the east of them, and the nights were going to get fairly cool, though they could offset it with the magic in their armour if they wanted.
“Keep your armour spells active all night. I don’t know if we’re alone out here, but we’ve gotten fairly close to the village, so there might be someone around.” Wolfe reminded the Witches as he got dinner ready.
“Fortunately, Goblins don’t need to sleep. I will be on watch all night, so you can sleep or meditate, whatever it is that you need to do.” Grok informed them happily once he got his hands on a large piece of jerky.
“You’re the perfect sentry, then. If you hear or smell anything suspicious, wake someone up. Even if it’s nothing, having two opinions is best.” Wolfe whispered to the Goblin, not wanting to steal his moment of bravado.
“Got it.”