"I guess... Machines are kind of strange... But if you talk an' remember things and are smart...?"

"Mmhmm," she nods. "We can do almost anything humans can do, if we're made the right way."

"There was a flying droid I saw in the book. You can be lots of shapes if you're a droid."

"...What if the Neuroi are people???"

The prospect is actually really alarming. Grenadine stands up and grabs her branch - and - hesitates and stands still, looking around.

"The who?" Daisy looks from Gren to Maris.

"It's okay, hun, they probably aren't. And they aren't here, anyway, dangerous things aren't allowed."

"...You're right. Neuroi don't talk. And if they were people they're evil anyway. They're monster demon things. The Neuroi."

"Oh, dear."

"Yes; I'm working on it."

"I'm probably gonna join the Witch Knights when I'm older. The Witch Knights are heroes. I got my magic really little, though."

"And I'm sure you'll be a great one."

(Daisy takes a seat nearby and starts reading her book.)

"Maybe. I don't know what Witch Knights have to learn yet."

"We could find out, maybe. Do you want to know?"

"Yeah! Maybe there are Witch Knight books!"

"I expect so!" Bar?

There are dozens of orders of magical knights with long and short histories. Pretty much every one of them, plus equivalent organizations from other culture groups, have gone out to fight the Neuroi and are recruiting much more aggressively than in the past and do not hesitate to brag about this in written works and ask for donations. An advertisement suggests that if you are willing to fight as a witch you don't even need to pay for your equipment and training to join these old noble orders anymore, in fact, you can get paid, they're collecting enough protection gifts to do that!

The ones that are succeeding enough to put out the advertisements will hire any adult witch who can use a magical shield and a bow as a mercenary, and are looking for children to train up in the next three to five years, though the exact requirements they judge candidates on vary a lot.

The Royal Order of the Rose, based in England, has published a book on how to make simple shotguns. The opening line is "All warriors who be brave enough to stand against the demons which currently despoil our world, all of which is under the eyes of God, must fight with weapons suitable to the task and the enemy, no matter that the weapons be inelegant and dishonorable. We wouldst fail in our duty if we do not do our utmost to destroy the enemy. With that in mind this text contains instructions for the manufacture and best use of a weapon which has proven adequate against the foes known as Neuroi in recent battles."

Maris skims them and passes a couple of the advertisements over. "You can definitely be one, see? But that wasn't really what you were asking - Bar, can you get any of their training materials?"

I'm afraid very little of those are widely used enough to be considered 'published'. This is the best I can do.

One of the advertisements declares a list of things Witches will learn. Flying, archery, fighting in a team, navigation.

"Well, thank you anyway." She passes it over.

"That sounds good, though. Thanks for finding these for me."

"You're welcome."

"What do you need to learn?"

"Fighting stuff and working-together-stuff and magic stuff."