BrightMoon: Path of a Witch King

Chapter 19

I leaned over the side of my bed and drew a summoning circle, once I pushed mana inside I realized that I could fill the thing up almost in an instant. In a bright flash the spell was over, twelve little sprites stood in front of me, I followed my practice of giving them their silver.

Their delightful cheers brought other sprites into the room who guided them to their own room. I talked with one of the sprites and asked them to come up with plenty of silver and as much obsidian as they could get from the goblins. They laughed maniacally as they zipped from the room.

“Those poor goblins.” I said to myself before imagining the storm of sprites descending upon them. 

I rested in bed over the next week. I had to delay my trip back to town, though I was sure Gola kept my furs since I paid in advance so I wasn't too worried about that. My sprites had grown in numbers quickly after advancing to the basic summoning spell to its peak.

With over two hundred sprites and half of them roaming in packs of their own they had been decimating the goblins, I had used all of the obsidian to create a cane to walk with, I would have made a staff but even with all my sprites work it wasn't enough.

I now stood at the side of my ship, we were docked in what I considered my usual spot, the same woman from last time was waiting at the end of the pier. She went to collect the tax but I ignored her and slowly walked past them.

“Sir you must pay the tax!” she called before catching up with me.

I kept walking, “Why should I pay a tax if you can't maintain order? There were several dead bodies on my ship upon my return. Since you cannot be trusted to uphold the peace I will not pay.” I continued on my way with my cane making a solid thunk with each step,

I was still in quite a bit of pain but it was manageable. I hadn't eaten an earth blossom since last week as my body was still filled with mana and I didnt want to risk breaking my body any further. 

When I arrived at the Union I was already feeling fatigued, the inside of the Union building was warm and inviting as always. I spotted Jillian at the reception desk and made my way over, “Good day miss Jillian.”

The attendant looked up and smiled when she recognized me and the girls, “Welcome back mister BrightMoon, you are just ahead of schedule for your meeting with Angelica, if you will follow me I can take you to one of her private fitting rooms while you wait.” She greeted us expertly and had us on our way. 

I was a little worried at first that the rooms would be upstairs but thankfully I was spared having to ask for my apprentices up a flight of stairs.

The room Jillian brought me to was similar to the one in Golas’ shop except it was about three times as big and had a sitting area. Jillian showed us in and brought me some chilled apple cider and waited with us, we made a bit of small talk while we waited.

The main point we spoke of was the increase in bandit and goblin activity, there was even mention of potential troll activity, the biggest news however was that an incredibly large ship was seen coming up the river only to have not docked at the town. 

It was anchored a few miles off shore, it had not moved since it arrived a few days ago but by the flag it was flying it was obviously a major figure in the bandits hierarchy. Most ships flying the same flag orbited the flag ship while only a few stayed docked.

While me and Jillian were getting deep into our theories on who the big bad bandit could be, Angelica came into the room, two young women followed her in while holding a few wrapped bundles.

“That is enough gossiping for you four, let's get you into the changing rooms.” Angelica clapped her hands before coming to me and taking me to the main stage. I looked at her and she didn't hesitate to tell me to strip.

I leaned my cane against one of the mirrors and slowly took off my clothes, “Well atleast my wares will be on a perfect specimen .” I tried not to blush as she examined me.

Angelica kept her face neutral and helped me get dressed, we started with the pants, they were made of a soft cloth that would put egyptian cotton to shame. The pants came in two pieces, socks here were of a similar yet thinner material that went up to the knee and were cinched in with the pants. The shirt was a dark red and sleeveless, or so I thought until a similar material was used for a pair of gloves that were attached at the shoulders.

The gloves were fingerless and the material was skin tight, yet it breathed well, the last piece of the outfit was a cross between a robe and a coat. It had large sleeves and a hood, the hood was large enough to cover my horns and forehead comfortably.

What was surprising was the use of magnets in the seams, they held the coat closed firmly without adding a bulky feeling to the product. I liked the coat and the black with red accenting colors was nice. Angelica asked if there was anything I would like to add to the design or if there was something I wasn't satisfied with.

I smiled and found a piece of paper to draw on, I drew a simpler version of my witchcraft cultivation method onto the page and handed it to her. “This symbol, on any clothes I order, I would like it embroidered or dyed onto the clothes.”

She looked it over before placing the symbol into a leather binder, the quick peek I saw showed the designs of the outfits we were wearing.

“No worries, I will have the clothes taken back and the ones we have will be slightly adjusted to fit a bit better. We will get to work, if you care to wait we can have it all done in a few hours.” she offered while taking off the coat.

“Of course, the underclothes can have a much simpler design but I would ask that the robes are more intricate.” I told her my preferences and she nodded back. I ordered quite a few extra pairs of the outfits for the apprentices and myself, I expected them to get dirty and having a few extra pairs couldn't hurt.

I gave back the robe and shirt but when I looked for my boots I found they had been replaced by a tall pair of black boots that had a cuff of leather at the top that curved out and around the entire boot. Except for the triangular cut at the front of the boot, the leather for the boot was supple enough to run around in, I pulled the boots on and moved my legs around.

“I prepared a few more sets of those boots, though the girls have a more feminine design.” Angelica said before ringing a tiny bell.

My apprentices all came in from the smaller dressing rooms, they wore similar outfits to my own but their robes only reached a few inches past their waist in the front.

The back of the robe went to the back of the knee, Angelica explained that this way it would be easier to tell who was an apprentice and who was a full fledged witch. I agreed with her, once my students finished their studies they would earn their robes.

I was also thinking of a right of passage, a token of my approval, but we were still far from that. First would be their initiation, if they followed my method then they would also create the same symbol for them to store more mana in their bodies, just like I had a week ago.

Once they were capable of manipulating mana it would be their time, but I had already given them a few magical trinkets so they would get a taste of magic. That and to keep them safe, this world was anything but kind to the weak.

The girls twirled around in their outfits and showed them off for a while before handing them back to angelica. Once they had changed I sent them off to Gola to receive the furs and have them loaded onto the boat.

I decided to wait in the common area while listening to the performers and having a light snack. I was enjoying myself when an incredibly attractive figure sat down at my booth.

“Well if it isn't my favorite witch.” she said.

Looking up I saw the elven manager Ashala, except she wasn't wearing the union's uniform, well she wasn't wearing it properly to be exact. Her hair was down and tucked behind her long pointed ears, the tie to her uniform was missing and the top three buttons on her blouse were undone which created a pleasant sight.

I swallowed before forcing my eyes up, “It is nice to see you Ashala, I didn't expect to see you, Jillian said it was your day off and you wouldn't be in until the day after tomorrow.” I said while focussing on her face.

She took off her glasses and hooked them in the V of her blouse and smiled back at me, “That's true, it is my day off, but I needed a drink so I came down and found you here to my surprise. So what are you drinking?”

“Just chilled cider.” I took another sip of my drink.

“Oh then I have a special treat for you.” she said before waving at the waitress, Ashala whispered something to her, the waitress smiled and ran to the bar. She returned quickly with two pints of a golden liquid, I could smell apples and honey coming from the glasses. My mouth watered a bit, “What's this?” I asked but Ashala took a sip while just watching me.

I could see the challenge in her eyes. I smirked and picked up the cup and took a large swig, I swallowed down the liquid and though the taste was wonderful the alcohol inside it burned its way down my throat. I put the cup down and coughed a bit.

Ashala let out a chuckle, “That is apple and honey ale, just got off the boat this morning, apparently there is a massive orchard outside the city where it is being produced in massive batches.” she said before taking another sip.

I felt all warm and took another drink from my cup, “Well it's certainly delisush.” I laughed as I slurred my words and drained my cup. “More!” I shouted jovially.

“BrightMoon have you ever had alcohol before?” 

“Nyope!” 

“Okay, another round!” 

“Another round On me!” I cheered, the other patrons cheered back.