After a half hour of the witches silently sipping tea and whispering to each other, a set of papers was handed to Reiko, one from each of the council members with their suggestions for changes to the document as written.
She looked them over, shook her head at some, but mostly agreed with what the Council had suggested.
"First off, we can agree to the terms of an autonomous region, but that region must be Morgana, as the boundaries were eighteen months ago." She began.
"I can't force the villages to rejoin you. You can inform them that you have our support, and they can join our alliance through you, but we won't take military action against peaceful villages who have chosen to split off after the corruption issues that the Coven had had in recent years." Wolfe replied, shaking his head.
Reiko made a note of that answer, then moved on to the next.
"We will require you to add a route for the proposed underground highway to the document, along with a timeline for its construction. All of us are in agreement on that point."
Cassie and Ella smirked at each other when that one was mentioned. Wolfe was probably going to do it anyhow, as he had a number of allied villages along the way home, and they would like to be connected to the main highway network that ran into Sylvan.
"That shouldn't be a problem. If you have a proper topographical map, please make copies and I will delineate the route on it for the official agreement." Wolfe agreed again.
The witches were feeling better about their proposals, as Wolfe wasn't even trying to haggle about the last one, but that notion came to a grinding halt.
"We request an amendment to have a thousand rank three or higher military troops from the frozen wastes clear the remaining invaders and rebels from the Morgana Territory." Reiko announced, but Wolfe could see that this one was reluctant, as she didn't agree with the Council.
"No. Next amendment."
The Council members slowly blinked as they tried to process that. They had thought he would agree to a smaller troop, or some sort of conditions about who he would target, but he had just flat out denied their request.
"If that isn't possible, we would like a law enforcement unit to deal with the last twenty-five locations we have identified as involved in human trafficking and violent conflict with the neighbouring villages." Reiko suggested.
Wolfe looked to Cassie and Ella, who nodded their agreement. It was past time to deal with the last of the Grand Dutchies misbehaviour.
"Agreed, I will personally see to it that the situation is remedied within the next month."
When Wolfe stopped speaking, Arthur gave him a nudge. He had some Demonic friends who wouldn't mind a job as protector of those villages under Wolfe's authority. They would gladly send slavers back to the Demon Realms for a prison sentence and clean up the villages.
It was the closest they were ever going to get to having a peerage of their own, as they were far down the succession lists of their home families, but this land had countless villages that wouldn't object to a new Noble taking over their affairs and keeping them safe and provided for.
In fact, most of the rural areas on this continent were being funded by the Demons and the Fae all year, as they tried to get enough production happening that the citizens could actually live comfortable lives again.
"We can discuss who will accompany us once we are back in Forest Grove." Wolfe informed the Demon quietly. The Fae would also want a shot at the area, as it was so heavily forested or covered in swamps, which were the perfect habitat for many of the Dark Fae.
"The next is related to the first, in a way. We would like an amendment that your people will accompany ours and aid in the attempts to reunify the villages." Reiko requested.
They were set on getting back their country, and Wolfe couldn't really blame them. Most of it hadn't truly been theirs for a generation or longer, but they still held on to the claim that Morgana was a unified nation.
"I can agree with that. However, if they reject you, my people will still independently work to bring them in under our guidance."
Reiko frowned, while the Council Members conferred. If the villages refused, it would either take violence or another faction to keep them from being independent villages on the territory. There were a lot of them now, but she had a feeling that Wolfe was making plans to change that.
She wasn't wrong. The larger villages would get a guardian, and they would send out protectors from their personal staff or friend group to look after the others in the region. Those would all be under Forest Grove and the Continental Representatives.
But doing it that way would basically turn all the independent areas into small Baronies for the Guardians. If there was no tie to Morgana Coven, they might as well be part of the Frozen Wastes alliance in fact as well as in practice.
What Reiko didn't know was that there was only a small portion along the west and south coast that didn't already have a trade agreement with Forest Grove, so his people were basically going to show up there like it was Halloween and start passing out candy to the children. Nobody would turn them away once they said they were from Forest Grove and there to help protect the town.
"Anything else?" Wolfe asked.
"There is one more clause that all the Council Members would like, but I am not sure how it will go over." Reiko stammered, drawing the curiosity of Cassie and Ella.
Cassie leaned forward on the sofa. "If they're requesting that he marry a harem of Witch girls, tell them that they're too late, he's got enough witches, and the Demons pulled that stunt already."
That made the old women laugh. It was no secret that Cassie and Ella were essentially his wives, though the legal documentation was unclear. They hadn't known that the Demons tried to force a harem of brides on him, though.
They would be looking at him much differently if they knew that he hadn't actually refused and that the women in question were living their best lives in Forest Grove right now.
Reiko shook her head. "No, what they are requesting is that Forest Grove tasks a group of powerful magic users to renovate the Morgana Fortress City to modernize it to current standards."
The Fae that they had brought as a Guardian option threw up her hands in joy.
"I thought that you would never ask. Oh, I have to bring my designer, and maybe my mom. Oh, and Vallenciago from Forest Grove, he owes me a favour, so I can get him here to help with the architecture." She gushed.
Wolfe just shrugged. "I will put that one down as a non-optional clause. The city is getting renovated."
With the excitement of the Fae, the Witches were suddenly much more concerned about how much of a makeover the city was about to get than whether it would be sufficiently modernized.
"I will have the official documents drawn up for your consideration. If you don't mind, we have prepared rooms for you to retire until the dinner later tonight." Reiko informed them.
"Thank you, Coven Leader. We appreciate the hospitality."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter