Chapter 535 535 Refugee Familiars
lightsΝοvεl ƈοm
With the first few witches up on the stage, the evening's ceremony was ready to begin. The witches were all intently focused on their summoning, adding mana to the circle while either closing their eyes to focus, or repeating a mantra that they thought might bring them luck.
Wolfe smiled as he heard the words [Not a Leprechaun] being silently muttered over and over among the crowd, but it looked like her wish was going to be granted, the cloud in front of her was a dark grey, not the white of a Fae.
With all of them being Rank Two witches, the summoning did not take a long time, less than a minute in and the first of the clouds was beginning to coalesce into a small ball by the caster's feet. It looked like that one was going to be a dud, a nonmagical creature for a Rank Two Familiar, but as the witch reached down to pat the badger's head, a thin wall of earth spikes sprung up and formed a cage in front of its face, blocking its head but leaving the rest of the creature open to petting.
It wasn't among the strongest of Magical creatures. Wolfe would place it on the lower side of Rank One, even with its magical power, but it was a magical creature, and its power should grow rapidly now that it was here.
The next few were all Flame Winged Sparrows, the most common of the Familiars in Forest Grove, and the next witch looked like it would be the one that had a run in with the Leprechaun.
Wolfe could see the small creature standing off to one side of the room, and it turned to smirk at him when it felt his gaze.
Why it had decided to come watch the witches summon Familiars was a mystery, other than the fact that one of them owed him a debt, but that smile suggested to Wolfe that the creature had more in mind than passively watching the process.
If Wolfe recalled the legends right, the Leprechauns had an incredible affinity for chaos, or luck as many had termed it. Their magic had a way of making the wildly improbable into the most likely outcome, and the small man was intently focused on the witch who owed him a debt.
At the last second, right before everyone had expected the cloud to coalesce into a small Familiar, the cloud suddenly turned inky black, and grew to an enormous size, overflowing the summoning circle and nearly reaching the ceiling of the hall.
Wolfe carefully made his way to the Leprechaun to whisper in his ear.
"If your prank breaks my spire, I am going to have the elf whoop your ass." He whispered, only loud enough for the Leprechaun to hear.
"It's fine, it's fine. He will fit. She owed me a debt, I owe him a debt, and now we will be even, with just a touch of the rainbow's luck." He laughed, then vanished from sight, only to reappear up in the rafters, looking down at the massive black cloud that had everyone's attention. nOVe-lB-In
It was forming now, and Wolfe realized that it wasn't a bipedal creature, but an overly large four-legged one that was standing upright in order to fit in the summoning circle.
With the body and head of a black panther, leathery wings with thick black scales and a scorpion's tail, it was clearly a chimera, but of an unconventional sort that wasn't directly mentioned in the history books.
It was also a Rank Two monster, and intelligent enough to gently step out of the circle and down onto flat ground without bumping into anyone, before grabbing the stunned witch in his mouth and tossing her on his back between his wings.
The teeth didn't leave marks, so it didn't look like he was intending on harming her, but that begged the question: What sort of debt did the Leprechaun owe him, and why would making him a Familiar repay it?
"Good evening, little witch. You smell lovely, so innocent and sweet. Tell me, what is the name of the actress who played Gloria on the Obsidian Witches during the third season?" The Chimera asked.
"Maria Tropes?" She replied in confusion.
"How many Flame Winged Sparrows does it take to lift a sack of rice?" The beast continued.
"Four." She replied with some confidence.
"Who created the [Kind Intentions] spell that glows above our heads?"
"Wolfe Noxus." The witch replied with a smile, while looking in Wolfe's direction.
"Drat. That's a dead end. It is good to meet you, Little Witch. I think that I will enjoy it here."
While they talked, more of the [Familiar Summoning] spells were completing. The witches all had intensive training not to get distracted during spell casting, much more than the Witches on this continent did. The foreign witches cast far more curses and dangerous charms, and unlike Elemental Magic which would fail to activate, those would often twist into something unintended, which could be life-threatening for the caster if they were distracted.
"We hope that you will enjoy it here as well. But would you mind stepping to the side of the room? We're almost ready for the next group to take the stage, Mister Chimera." Cassie requested.
"Of course. Do you have a Library? Perhaps television reception? My magic says you are quite rural, but surely, you still have satellite TV, right?" The demonic creature asked.
"Unfortunately no. The mana level here is too high to get the television to work, much less get satellite reception. But we do have a good library, and there is a festival starting tomorrow that will have all sorts of live shows and bands." Cassie offered.
"That will do. I haven't been allowed in a Library since the last time I was on this planet." The Chimera informed her.
That phrase seemed to startle everyone in the room. He had been here before, and he knew classic television series. But where did he go afterwards, that he didn't have access to a library, and who would keep such a creature from reading if he wanted to?