The next day was much slower than expected. Rather than reconvening immediately, everyone just took a little break. The mercenaries must have been exhausted from their journey. I was sitting in the witch hut with Circe and Yuuna. Mira was working on more fertilizer potions. The villagers wanted to see if the harvest could be pulled forward a little. There might be a good chance to grow a second batch before winter if we were able to provide enough magical assistance.

My sister was closely observing the process while I talked through my perception of the magic. Everyone was listening in closely. I realized it was difficult even for the experienced [Witch] to create complicated structures to hold the essence in a more efficient structure so we tried simple variations first. Instead of hexagons and octagons, she was using rectangles to create a layer of boxes and then drew diagonals through their corners. Grunk was sitting next to her, staring at the cauldron as if he wanted to make it disappear.

I had told the others about my nightly conversation with Cerberos. Circe had gotten angry about his stalking but Mira quickly calmed her down. The mercenaries did want a better picture of me which included knowing what I did when nobody watched. And I personally believed being a little open would invite trust as well.

The idea of joining the mercenaries in their travel was pushed down by the [Witch]. She wanted us to stay until the inevitable arrival of the Paladins. I was sure we could catch them on the way to figure things out but that did not change her opinion. Probably because she lacked a bird’s eye view.

I noticed her shoulders lose a hint of tension as she picked up the ladle. There were several empty bottles standing ready and she managed to fill three of them. I knew I could make four in one go so that was a big improvement already. The [Witch] turned around, swirling one bottle in her hand.

“It worked. You insane methods work.”

I bobbed my head.

“Of course! Sanity has never brought progress.”

Yuuna scoffed.

“You’re right on that. Can I try?”

Mira shook her head.

“Not right now. We need to make as much as possible of this. With the waste being so… fluxed, I and Fio will be the only ones brewing for the next week.”

“That might be too much”, I said.

“I hope it will not be. That [Scout] should at least be able to tell us if we release too much flux.”

“I have a better idea.”

At Mira’s doubtful look, I pushed the cauldron into the air carefully. My tendrils were strong enough to handle the weight but if it moved too quickly, they might get pushed through. Once I had it in position, I tilted the cauldron while activating my Skill [Owl Stomach]. Not the normal version that worked as a pocket space but the one that fully adhered to the name. The one that devoured anything to turn into vis for my personal use.

Before Mira could stop me, the remaining water with all its flux poured into the opening in reality. Satisfied, I let it close with a snap and felt inwards. The energy pushed through my body and threatened to turn violent but I could easily suppress it with a flex of my will. Within less than a minute, I had it settled and was feeling perfectly fine. It was not like the flux had disappeared but I could tell it was dissolving into the Empty through my Core. It might take half a day but that still meant we could brew much more than originally expected.

“And where are you going to dispose of that?”, Mira asked when I turned my attention back to the others.

“It’s already done”, I said, “I ate it.”

“You what?”

Circe snickered.

“Insane, alright. Is that another Skill of yours?”

“It’s the same.”

Mira simply shook her head while my sister looked on with interest. I activated [Telepathy] to speak to her mind.

“It’s [Owl Stomach]. You should be able to learn it as well. I’ll tell you the details later.”

Yuuna blinked and nodded softly. With the humans focused on refilling the cauldron, they likely had not noticed our exchange.

We ended up making another set of three fertilizer potions before a knock on the door interrupted us. It was Joachim and Ludwig accompanied by Thomas. Mira bid them in and as she made tea, I introduced Yuuna.

“This is my sister, Yuuna. Yuuna, those are Joachim and Ludwig. They’re with the mercenaries I told you about.”

“Right. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise”, Yuuna said.

“Take a seat, everyone. I will have your tea ready in but a moment.”

“Thanks, Mira”, Thomas said.

“I met one of your parents earlier, Fio”, Joachim began, “Shadeer, I think? Your father, right?”

I nodded.

“Where did you meet?”

“He came by to talk to Thomas as I was there already.”

“Quite interesting”, Ludwig said, “How your family has barely any warp. Not the tiniest bit more than would be expected at their level of vis enrichment.”

“I told you it’s just me”, I said.

“Still good to get confirmation.”

“So, what are you planning, Yuuna?”, Joachim asked, “Do you want to live in this village? Together with humans?”

“Yes”, she said without hesitation, “I want to be a [Witch].”

The man’s eyes widened.

“That’s a proper profession. May I ask the reason?”

“It’s fun!”, she said, “And I like Mira and Grunk.”

All eyes turned to the resident [Witch].

“She is a great student. There is still the fact she will need to drop her current Class or reach 100. After that, I am very willing to have her as an apprentice.”

“Are Circe and Fio not enough work?”, Thomas asked.

“Circe is ready to upgrade anytime. As is Fio, technically. And both of them want to travel the plains. I will need a new successor just in case.”

“That makes sense…”

“A young girl like this travelling? Anyone else coming along?”

“Fio is plenty by the way of protection. They will have company until Brookfrid, and hopefully beyond.”

I nodded.

“I talked to Cerberos. We want to see the Cathedral and he’s from there. If you guys don’t mind, it would be great to have him be our guide.”

The mercenaries looked at each other.

“We’re a little understaffed without a dedicated ranged attacker”, Joachim said, “You’d have to make it worth our time.”

“I can pay”

“I don’t doubt that but how much? We’re not the top mercenaries around but we’re decent. Can you spend several gold just like that?”

I blinked.

“How many dwarven gold coins would you need for a month of Cerberos’ time?”

“Dwarven? Oh, fuck…”

Joachim was at a loss. Luckily, Ludwig seemed to have better knowledge of the topic.

“A Cathedral gold goes a little lower than a dwarven right now.”

“Wait, really?”, Joachim asked, “Hmm… That makes it… let’s say twelve gold?”

Ludwig nodded.

“Seems fair”, I said, “I can pay seven months in that case.”

The incredulous looks from everyone in the room were absolutely worth the bragging.

“I didn’t know you were rich!”, Circe near-shouted.

Mira raised an eyebrow at me. Thomas stared open-mouthed while the mercenaries looked a little downtrodden. Yuuna simply tilted her head, not understanding the commotion. I was glad Mira had started to teach her maths. Maybe she would figure it out one day.

“We could’ve asked for a lot more…” Ludwig mumbled.

“Look at it like this. If only Cerberos is coming with us, you guys basically get a paid vacation.”

“Right”, Joachim said, “We can even still take on simple missions. But so much gold…”

“I take you earned it from the dwarves”, Ludwig said, “What did you do for it?”

“I sold vis crystals, mostly.”

“Are they worth that much?”

“A standard size vis crystal of medium quality goes for five gold. Any aspects. Artificing needs a lot of them.”

“I suppose with wings it would be much easier to find remote locations untouched by others. It makes sense.”

“Right”, Joachim nodded, “We’ll see about that deal. When are you leaving the village?”

I shared a glance with Circe.

“Soon-ish?”, she said, “We wanted to hitch a ride on the cart that sells our over-produce and buys necessities. But I guess we could just travel with you guys?”

Mira cleared her throat.

“We will have to talk about that, Circe”, she said.

“How long are you guys staying?”, I asked.

“We planned for two weeks originally but I think one will be enough. There’s not too much we can do here. Our goal was to make sure Greypeak wasn’t under threat by a [Thaumaturge] or a node nearby. The second goal is to figure out the deal with the sapient beasts which is basically done by now. We’ll talk to the people for a bit to get a better picture but then it’s time to get back and report.”

I nodded.

“We could travel together if you don’t mind”, I said.

“She’ll fit on the cart just fine and you don’t need much space either so I don’t see why not.”

“It is a risk”, Ludwig said.

His team captain nodded.

“One I’m willing to take.”

The [Scout] narrowed his eyes but decided to let it go.

“I figure we have a lot to figure out”, Mira said, “So why not break up and talk things through properly?”

“Good plan”, Joachim said, “But I’ll need to talk to the owls a little more. All of you guys.”

I nodded my agreement.

“I’ll see where everyone is. Meet at the tower after lunch?”

“Yeah, sounds good”, Joachim said, “I’m starving.”

With that, we said our goodbyes for the moment. Circe was held back by her master and brother to talk while everyone else left the hut. I took to the air as the two humans looked after me.

“She’s way too reasonable”, Joachim said, “If only every job was like this.”

Ludwig nodded.

“Still dangerous.”

“Yup.”