D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

Mermr clapped their hands together, drawing attention to the fact that they were… sort of half webbed. No that wasn't quite right. Still each finger had a bit of stretchy connected skin that extended up to the first knuckle. All except the thumb it seemed. "Where are my manners.

Let me properly introduce my assistance, Mzmr," Mermr pointed to the female priest "and Mekmr" Mermr switched the other male priest. "Now… we can have you look over the contract and head out… though. Do all three of you need to sign it, or only Kamiko?"

"You still haven't told us what the contract is," said Kat as she combed through her memories to try and figure out the answer to the question. Seeing there was none, Kat poked D.E.M.O.N.S for the answer.

Only User Kamiko is required to agree to the contract but it will not bind User Kat or User Hunter 23HX443 to the terms stated or written. The Summoner in question may be able to tell the difference.

Kat willed the flaming words to be visible to Kamiko and Hunter. Kamiko flinched slightly when the words appeared in her view but Hunter didn't react visibly at all. While Kat was fairly certain they could both see it… Kat couldn't be certain. It seemed very 'on-brand' for Hunter to not react at all, but it did make it harder to know if Hunter got the information.

"Ah yes of course," said Mermr. "We've been getting a number of reports of horrifically mutilated corpses of strong monsters in an area just outside of the Endless Forest. Normally this sort of thing wouldn't be too worrying. the Endless Forest is well known as a home to powerful monsters and most people know to stay away from the area…

"But the Forest Ranger Service has noticed a few odd things about these deaths. The first, is that despite the mutilation of the corpses most of the meat still near the corpse and uneaten, or clearly devoured by scavengers. Worse, some of these corpses look like they've been baked in an oven or something. Completely dry.

"All of this might still be fine… but it's been happening to trees recently as well and whatever it is seems to be moving slowly towards the nearby town of 'Forest Village' every day. It's not expected to actually reach the town for another month or so, but it's getting closer then we're comfortable with.

"So the village petitioned the kingdom, and they approved the funds necessary for a demon summoning. As far as the contract is concerned? It's definitely a scouting mission, and ideally an elimination one… but without knowing further details we understand that our summoning could not call for the correct demon.

Of course, seeing as three of you turned up… when this gets reported there will be significantly higher expectations on the group,"

Kat noticed Hunter twitch slightly at the news. Kat didn't think anyone else had picked it up, but for a brief moment Hunter looked very uncomfortable. Kat turned her gaze away soon after, not wanting to give out hints to the priests.

*Why is it we need to keep things so silent? I mean, I sort of get it… but now I'm wondering if people should know.*

[I suspect that the drake, empowered by demonic energy as it is, could probably take on hoards of soldiers. Every single defeat would empower it further… and if I had to guess it can probably get more out of sentients. Worse case scenario? It's got some sort of regeneration and a Rank 4 fails to take it out massively empowering the thing.]

[Then, there's a few more things to consider. The first, is that we don't know who the strongest person is on this world. They might not even have a Rank 4. Though if I had to guess? And I'm sure we can ask Hunter for confirmation. Ah… right my guess.

It's that if people started to panic it could probably tell somehow. That's just an assumption though.]

"Well that sounds well within our skillset," said Kamiko stretching the truth a bit. The mission as provided by the priest did sound within their skillset. The true mission? That was another question. "Oh, and um… everyone has to accept the mission not just me,"

Mermr let out a sigh, "Urgh that means I need to get more copies of the contract. Sorry for keeping you all stuck in the circle but it's policy you know? I'll be back soon I guess. Mzmr, Mekmr stay here and keep an eye on them. I trust Kamiko but if anyone got word, I left her alone in a summoning room I might just be excommunicated. So, keep a fucking eye on things,"

Mermr vanished from the room, opening the heavy stone door with ease before slamming it shut behind him. Kamiko turned to Mzmr and sighed, "I see Mermr is still giving you a hard time,"

Mzmr shrugged, "He's still a little shit. It feels like it was just the other day that he came he as an acolyte. Honestly, it surprised everyone that he managed to make head priest. The real secret is that he's excellent at paperwork. He's so good in fact that he hasn't noticed the amount of paperwork he's doing has tripled since he took over the job.

It's out big prank on him as a bit of payback for the constant attitude,"

"How… how does he not notice?" asked Kamiko.

Mzmr shrugged and went to say something but Mekmr cut in first, "Personally I think he just accepts the extra work in exchange for us not reporting his shit behaviour. Well that or our crazy head priest just enjoys the extra paperwork. I cannot imagine he doesn't notice."

Mzmr pouted at the interruption and said, "My personal theory is that he thought he was getting it easy when he started the job and that the paperwork naturally ramped up as he got more comfortable in the role. It's even sort of true if you squint. The head office… and a bunch of people around the abbey just… didn't stop ramping up the paperwork. Well, we sort of have recently.

There's nothing else we can really fob off onto him. Wait… shit does that mean we've lost?"

Mekmr groaned. "Oh gods, maybe we have? I can imagine Mermr seeing it as a challenge to his authority, where we provide more and more paperwork to see who breaks first. Us or him… and the fact that we've run out means he might have just one?"

"Hmm… we'll have to give it a month or two to see if he confronts us over it," agreed Mzmr with an even deeper pout.

*This is not the direction I thought this conversation would go.* "So… what exactly do you guys DO at the abbey?" asked Kat. "Kamiko wasn't too clear on it, just that you guys were a religious order,"

Mekmr rolled his eyes and bowed while stepping backwards and gesturing to Mzmr who rolled her eyes at the antics but did look happy to have been asked. "Right so, the abbey studies a few things. Primarily we act as knowledge keepers and historians but we also seek to uncover the mystery of the dark age.

"It is said in the oldest of our surviving text that there was a great age of light that plunged the world into an even darker dark age. The church has dedicated itself to discovering what the world was like in the age of light and what caused it to end. Sadly, the demons have refused to answer even though we KNOW they know.

It's always 'the answer you seek is not the one you want' and 'the answers you find yourself are all the more meaningful' which, yes they might be…

"But it really does suck to know that you're life's work was already figured out by someone else that doesn't want to tell you… and instead you occasionally call over their 'friends' and hope they let something slip. Which, yes. If why we're in charge of summoning demons but we don't really expect young demons like yourself to know. Wait… you guys are young demons, right? If you're Kamiko's friends?"

"Yup," agreed Kat easily. Kamiko is young, and so is she… and really Hunter is as well when you consider the demonic lifespan. "I'm not even two decades old myself,"

"Oh really? That's… a bit strange. I wouldn't have thought demons would send young off to fight monsters…" mumbled Mzmr

"My clan specialises in hunting down monsters of all kinds and we begin our training at a younger age than Kat," said Hunter throwing more confusion into the conversation, implying that her age was closer than it actually was.

"What so your whole family fights monsters?" asked Mzmr.

Hunter shook her head, "My entire clan. Which you can consider to be an extremely extended family, or perhaps a family of families,"

Mzmr shook her head sadly. "You demons are always crazy…"