Finding the witches the next day was an easy task. They were waiting in the dining room for Cain and his companions to come down. They weren't alone though. The Mayor, the Captain of the Guard, as well as the three other candidates for City Champion were all present in the hotel.
"Don't let the pressure get to you." Cain joked with Prana, who gave him a wink.
Now that she had gotten a not-so-little benefit from him, Prana didn't feel at all disadvantaged against the combat-focused candidates for Champion. Not only could she keep up with them in combat now, but she also had so much more than them to offer, as she demonstrated yesterday.
"Good morning everyone. As you might have guessed, in light of yesterday's events, we have chosen to move forward with the selection of City Champion. There are a number of magical beasts near the walls again, and we are asking the candidates to each take care of one wall worth of opponents. This shouldn't be a problem for any of you here, but the formality must be observed so that the residents of the city see that you can in fact protect them.
You have all traveled to the city for the same reason, to apply as Champion, so we are under no illusions that the defeated candidates will stay, but we will offer you some city benefits for your consideration. As the coven pointed out, we are in desperate need of merchants, so if you would choose to take on that role, we can cut the city tax in half on anything you sell here. That's a hefty profit for any merchant, and hopefully enough that we can encourage you to help keep our city supplied now that the nearby farms have been destroyed."
The candidates all nod in acceptance at the Mayor's speech and grab a slice of the breakfast quiche to take with them to the city walls for the competition.
Prana was assigned to the East wall so that those who were furthest from the Redwood Tree could also see her fight. They missed most of the battle yesterday due to the distance between them and the attack, but today there are a dozen creatures approaching this wall as well.
Unfortunately for Prana, these are an enhanced insect variety that the Echoes have already ruled out as mostly inedible, but they are still good for making armor out of.
She waves to the crowd as she climbs the stairs up to the battlements, accepting the thanks of the citizens who visited the soup kitchens last night, and then summons a mighty Forest Dragon to join her in combat, using the Guild Skill, which is currently set to grant a Mythic Summon, helping the Guild members through the planet's power transition.
[World Event: Gain Title Guardian] Reward: Grants a situational bonus of 30 percent reduced casting cost while inside the City that granted the Title.
The notification came up not only in Prana's interface but in the other candidates as well. The System has finally acknowledged the imbalance and has stepped in with a quest to encourage the best among the System users to step up and help their fellow sentient beings.
They didn't know it yet, but a few other groups who had moved faster had already seen this notice over the past few days, including the Guild Members who were in Long Fang Valley and deciding who should be their official representative to keep the valley safe.
The reward wasn't the same for everyone, in fact, some got much better rewards than others. The other two competitors against Prana were both offered area damage effects to help them clear larger numbers of monsters, while her abilities were already capable, so the Laughing God's Quest offered her reduced casting cost.
It applies anytime she is in the city, so if she wins the competition, she will also be able to more easily create food crops and other conveniences for her people.
Prana likes the sound of that. Even if she was an outcast in the past, these could be Her People, to take care of and watch over.
Prana cast the [Crushing Tentacles] three times, covering the majority of the area in sharp barbed vines that happily tore apart the flesh of the monsters as they crushed their bodies. Then the Forest Dragon swept down from above, withering them with its breath while Prana waited for her Mana to refill a little. As an Epic Quality Demon, she has the mana pool of a Dungeon boss, but casting four Mythic spells in short order still drained quite a bit of her capacity.
For Prana, this battle was a simple waiting game. She could just periodically channel mana to keep the vines active since the monstrous insects lacked the ability to break free for long enough to approach the walls, as well as lacking the area damage effects to eliminate either her or the vines.
Slowly the insects were torn apart, while Prana carefully controlled the vines to not damage the valuable top armor shells. Though they might not get a meal out of these, they would still get a few sets of armor for the guards.
The moment she decided that the area was safe, Prana hopped down to begin collecting the loot, then caught a ride back up to the top of the wall on the back of the Forest Dragon.
From the envious looks she was getting, the Dragon was still more popular than she was. That wasn't really surprising though, Mythic Dragons are always an eye-catching sight.
"It looks like we will have to approach the others about becoming merchants. You are a lock to win this competition." The old witch who had previously been watching from further down the wall congratulated the Demon Dryad once everything was finished, sneaking up and giving the startled Prana a surprisingly strong hug.
"I do hope so, you all seem so nice that I would hate to have to leave and look for another place to settle down." Prana smiled at the wizened woman while wondering how long she was going to be hugged.
"What was your plan for merchants?" Cain asked, distracting the witch when he saw Prana had become uncomfortable.
"Oh, we make storage bags in the Coven. They're not the most amazing ones ever, but they should carry as much as a small wagon. We were going to offer better than wholesale price to anyone who would use our branded bags and make regular loops between us and the other Covens. Between us, we have access to everything we might need, so it would be a win for everyone." The old lady informed him, finally releasing Prana.
"My group of hunters is only a few cities over, and I made it here in a day while hunting beasts. If any of them want a little side gig to go with their hunting I will send them your way. They can bring a large amount of Mythic Beast Meat that they have hunted on the way here as well." Cain offered and the old woman's eyes lit up in joy.
"Excellent, excellent. If they come straight to us, that nasty Merchant's Association can't come back and cut us out either. I'll show them for calling my potions second rate." The witch muttered and Cain sighed at the way her outburst ruined the image she was trying to create.
"I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be an inside thought." Moana pointed out, unwilling to let the witch off so easily after her slip up.
"Oh, drat. You see, the potions are high quality, but they are witch potions and not Mage-created potions, so they tend to smell a little different and sometimes have a mild side effect. The main function is impeccable though. I guarantee it." She hastily explained, holding out a vial of potion for Cain to inspect.
It was a mana regeneration potion. 2 Percent per second for 30 seconds. Very nearly a Legendary grade item in Cain's estimation, and it likely needed Legendary grade or higher ingredients to make it. The only real way to tell if there would be side effects would be to drink it though, and Cain had no need for a mana potion at the moment.
"That is an impressive potion for sure. Not many mages can make a mana recovery potion that high quality, especially a long-duration one. The recovery over time potions have always proven to be more valuable in battle since they keep up the effect instead of leaving you scrambling the next time you get a bit low." Cain agreed with the witch's estimation of her skill.
"I like you, young man. But I've also got a shameless request for you personally. I heard about the assistance you gave our leafy protector over there, and I was hoping that you could do a little something with my appearance. Something a little less bog monster and more elven?"
Does the old witch want to be an Elf? That's not impossible, or even all that uncommon. Cain had thought she might want to be a beauty of the species she started life as, and she's too tall to have been one of the Elves of this world, whose females rarely make it over 1.5 meters tall.
"Come see me later and we can work something out." Cain agrees, seeing that the Mayor is headed their way with the other two contestants in tow. If they saw what the people here saw, this should be a fairly short deliberation.
