"Wolfe, welcome back. We heard about your heroics. Excellent work. We owe you one." Ella greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.
"You know, when he learns the [Favor] spell, you'll be in real trouble." The more serious of the two Wilderness Protectors warned the petite, blue-haired Tomboy.
"She just enjoys paying them back. I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me." Wolfe told her with a smile.
The Wilderness Protection Witch blushed a little and shook her head in dismay but didn't say anything else.
"We got directions through the woods to the Black Elder trees since we only need one more zombie heart for the group. It will keep us well away from the lake and the monsters that gather around bodies of water, so it's safer than the original plan." Reiko informed him.
"Is there a safer spot to camp along the way? If not, we can rest here. It's best to set up camp well before nightfall." Curtis asked from his spot in the back.
"The woods are thick from here on in, but the trees you need are only a few hours away. We will clean up the area and take the vehicle back to the village now that it is safe, but we will leave a ward on the clearing to help keep monsters and the undead away for the night."
Wolfe did his best to distract the Witches by setting up the tents and building a firepit while the professionals went to load the bodies that were under the ambushers' position into the recovered vehicle.
"Demon, what made you think there were bodies?" The serious one of the Wilderness Protectors shouted.
"They're stacked in a shallow grave. What else would they be?" Wolfe asked.
"Paralyzed, you idiot. Come over here and help out." The Witch demanded.
That was something Wolfe hadn't considered. They didn't appear to be alive, with no aura and no movement, so he had assumed the injuries that he could see meant that they were bodies.
Earth Magic was used to clear the hole, and Wolfe got a good look at the victims. They were obviously beaten, and their uniforms were in tatters, but only the Guardians who had accompanied the witches were actually dead, missing a large portion of their skulls.
The Witches had a ribbon-thin silver bracelet on them that had put them into a type of stasis, but when Wolfe touched the first one, he could feel the potential in her body.
"Can I take those off?" Wolfe asked.
"You can try. They seem to be immune to magic, and if a Witch touches them, they'll also fall under the spell."
After carefully considering his course of action, Wolfe went with simplicity. Inside his pack was an emergency medical kit with scissors, so he grabbed them and climbed into the hole to inspect the Charms.
As it turned out, they weren't even locked. They just slipped over a tab. With a quick twist of the scissors, he had the first one off, and the curse slammed into him, then faded after failing to break his armour.
One after another, Wolfe freed the Witches from the spells and collected the destroyed curse bracelets. As he worked, he realized why he didn't recognize them.
The members of this group were all from the first-year regular class except the leader, but not the same portion of the regular class that he had worked with in the potions class he had been assigned to by Professor Ashcroft.
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The bracelets were off, but the victims weren't waking up, so Wolfe checked them more closely. Each of the witches had been shot with a tranquillizer dart, while the Guardians had taken a real bullet instead.
After he found and removed the darts, then administered a potion that was handed down to him by the Wilderness Protectors, the Witches began to wake up, groggy and wincing in pain, but alive.
"Wolfe, the Demon Familiar from the advanced class? That's you, right? I'm not hallucinating? How did you find us?" One of the girls whispered.
"I scouted out the clearing for my group and found the ambush. They're taken care of, and these lovely ladies of the Wilderness Protection detail are here to take you home to the academy." He replied, grabbing her into a hug when the girl threw herself at him.
"We all owe you our lives. Even if we spend the rest of our time in this world repaying you, it won't be enough." She sobbed while the others nodded in tearful agreement.
[Favor] activated
Yes, Wolfe felt a bit guilty about using the spell in this situation, but how often could you get an entire group of Witches to agree to spend their lives repaying you? Even if he never collected the debt, it was worth saving, just in case.
"I am Mio, and these are Nia, Jenna, Mollie, and Alice." The second-year Witch informed him without releasing the hug.
The group was a strange one. Not a single bright hair colour among them, all long black tresses. Or maybe that was the mud. He would have to check after they were washed up.
Wolfe looked up at ground level and sighed. He could use gravity magic, but he didn't know any real spells like [Levitation] to help him in this situation. The best he could do was pick them up Princess style and pass them to the Witches up above.
He really needed to work on his spell repertoire.
Once everyone was safely above ground, Wolfe climbed out of the hole and brushed the lingering dirt off his armour spell. That was one great advantage of dressing with magic. Nothing stuck to it, and nothing stained.
The actual bodies were wrapped in blankets and strapped to the roof of the Armored vehicle while the Witches were escorted inside. They were still in shock, but the Wilderness Protectors were soothing them, and it seemed to be helping.
Wolfe's group was watching the scene with happy tears in their eyes but keeping a respectful distance so the girls didn't feel smothered by their attention.
"Alright, we are off to the academy. Be safe out there." The Protectors informed them, then cast a barrier over the clearing and raced away in the large vehicle.
At that rate, it wouldn't even take an hour to get back to the Academy, and Wolfe sighed at the loss of the transport. But at least they had a good camp for the night and plenty of firewood for the cool evening air.
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