She glared at Chronos with murky green eyes as she spoke and spirit energy gathered around her.
"Well, answer me wolf. What are you doing with the noisy brats?"
Looking at the old woman in front of him Chronos felt that she was more like a part of the world rather than a person. Her appearance and presence reminded him of something he had read about when he was a child.
She couldn't be one of them, could she?
"Before I answer I would like to know are you a swamp hag?"
Her eyes narrowed as more spirit gathered, "I am, what of it?"
That was a surprise. Hags were rare but powerful beings. They had a bad reputation for kidnapping children, but the truth was that they only kidnapped children from abusive parents. Land bound hags absolutely loved children and would take good care of them until they reached adulthood.
Most children would rejoin society at that point but some of the female children chose to remain and begin training in a witch's circle under the hag's guidance. If they lived long enough and met the requirements, they could eventually become hags themselves and start their own circle but not many witches succeeded in this goal.
On the other hand, if a hag had been rejected by the land they chose to bond with, they could sometimes become violent malevolent beings that caused harm to others. But there was a theory that they had always been that way and that was why the land rejected them.
Luckily no hag could lie about being bound to the land and this one had confirmed that she was a swamp hag.
Lowering his axes Chronos said, "We aren't kidnappers. These kids come from a destroyed village in the wasteland. The black robed priests and knights killed their families, but we managed to find them before the enemy did."
The swamp hag glared at him for a few more seconds then lowered her staff and stomped the ground.
"Those damned black robes again. I've been chasing them out of my part of the swamp for weeks and they are still causing trouble elsewhere." Huffing she looked closer at the kids then nodded. "Well at least they aren't injured, do you have enough food for them? What about clothing and blankets?"
Putting his axes away Chronos answered, "We have a priestess of order that knows the [Measured Table] spell, it might not be tasty, but it will feed us until help arrives. But we could use some help with bedding and expanding the treehouse if you're willing to help. If you would like payment I can create an item bag for you."
It was never a bad idea to get on the good side of a land bound creature.
Nodding she began casting spells on the ground. "Alright, I'll help. It doesn't take much to grow a few more branches and as for bedding I can grow a few heat ferns. They aren't large enough for adults, but they can cover a child's body without issue."
"I thank the land's messenger." Chronos responded with the traditional thanks for a hag and a bow.
Watching her grow the plants Chronos noticed that she had grown some extra fruits for them but said nothing about it.
"Don't forget they're for the children wolf." She grumbled at him.
Because of how hags were abused in their childhood, nearly all of them would speak harshly to adults and favor children, so Chronos just nodded and accepted what she said.
Walking over to the tree she looked at the spacing of the branches and began growing more wherever she thought it necessary.
By the time she was finished there was a full ring deck with an intricate railing circling it. She also grew a large number of leaves around the outside to prevent others from seeing it and a few medicinal herbs on the ring deck to treat childhood illnesses.
"Wow."
"That's so cool."
The exclamations and praise from the children made her smile at them.
For a moment they watched the kids climb the ladder and run around the ring deck exploring everything they could reach.
"Don't run near the railing. You might fall." Lyla called out as she chased after them.
"There that's everything. Now what is this item bag you talked about?" The swamp hag asked.
"I use the power of space to expand the internal area of a bag or chest for carrying items. It takes me a few hours to make one and I'll need a monster core if you want a space larger than 1 meter but it's a very useful thing to have." Chronos explained.
"A space-altering bag!? If the world has stuff like that in it maybe I've been out of society for too long." She mumbled.
"It's not a well-known item yet. And right now, the Beklaedning werewolf clan are the only ones that are capable of creating it." Chronos explained.
"I see." She relaxed after hearing that. "Then I want one."
She grew an unknown pitcher plant and plucked it.
"Use this for the bag. And you said help was coming, who is it?" She asked while handing over the plant and a monster core.
Taking the bag and core Chronos got to work expanding the internal space.
"The dragon paladins, the leybound crucible knights, and an army of 12,000 soldiers." Her mouth dropped open in shock. "A war has started between an army of trolls in the wasteland who have an agreement with devils and the Leighla Kingdom. We suspect that the Vhalic Empire is involved as well but we're only able to confirm one duke having joined the devils so far."
Chronos watched as her shock slowly turned into anger, then she exploded at him.
"What are you people thinking!? Do you have any idea how many people are going to die? How many orphans will be created because of this!?" She yelled at him.
Ah so that's what she was angry about, the loss of life was one thing but a sure way to anger any hag was to make life harder for children.
"We don't have a choice. With the emergence of tears and the return of dark beasts the devils somehow convinced the trolls to attack our kingdom. We didn't start this war, and I don't think the king wants to involve civilians in it. That's why he's sending the leybound crucible knights to create several castles on the edge of the swamp to stop the invaders here." Chronos said.
The swamp hag looked like she wanted to yell at him some more but couldn't refute that it wasn't their choice. They were just making the best of a bad situation.
Sighing she changed the subject, "Haah, what are you going to do with the kids?"
"Once the dragon paladins arrive, they'll build an orphanage nearby. We'll leave the kids with them but until then could I ask you to help us out? We still have a mission in the wasteland, and it'll be more difficult if we have to leave someone behind to watch them."
Looking up at the children running all over the new treehouse she couldn't help but feel sorry for them. They had just been living their lives and now they were war orphans caught in the middle of a war.
"I can. I still remember what it was like the last time the dark beasts appeared."
"You were there! Do you have any advice on how to deal with them?"
She shook her head, "I was just a little girl at the end of the previous war. They might have also changed since then. I can remember the adults talking about how they changed halfway through the war, but I don't know what the difference was."
Chronos looked thoughtful at that.
"Just knowing they can change at some point is already more than what we knew. For now, why don't you spend some time with the kids while I finish your item bag. That way they know who to go to for help if we're not around."
"Alright." She stood up but instead of climbing the ladder she just walked into the tree and out of it on the ring deck above.
"So that's how she snuck up on me. I'll need to remember that my awareness only detects space but not things occupying the same space right now." His eyes glowed as he watched her move.
It was interesting to watch as he could partially see the spike of energy as she entered and exited the tree, but it happened so fast that he could only see it when he focused on her movements.
Turning back to his work he continued expanding the internal space as much as he could. A couple hours later he had an item bag with 3 meters of space inside.
Looking up he saw the hag playing a board game with some of the kids.
"I've finished your bag, come get it when you're ready."
She waved at him without looking up from the game. Climbing the ladder, he set the item bag down in the entrance.