Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 48 - Waystation Four (Patreon)

Elania’s head pounded as she slowly woke up. The dim memory of closing and locking the door before stripping and falling into the decidedly plush bed was all she could remember on short notice. Dismay filled her as her mana shard glared in her face as she rolled over in the sheets that somehow turned her into a human burrito.

This time she was fairly certain that the headache—the hangover—wasn’t heralding that she’d been summoned to another new world.

Sliding to a sitting position, she disentangled herself and activated the room’s magical lighting. She vaguely remembered paying with Marcus’ silver for the very best room at some exorbitant rate. A mechanical grandfather clock stood in the room's corner, proclaiming the time to be in the wee early hours of the morning.

That was good. It meant she still had time to call a bath, and she’d been very clear on the point that one was included with the room. That was more important than the offered breakfast and dinner.

She glanced at the dirty bed linen and realized how dirty she’d been. The sheets and pillows were covered in a thin coat of gray dust and grime, even though she’d not slept in her clothes. The housekeeping staff was going to hate her.

But when the monks had eaten in the common room, she had stayed with them…simply because the cost of the dinner was part of the room price. Rather than eat anything, she’d spent her dinner allotment on drinking the sweet alcoholic beverage that had been provided.

A bit too much of it. Apparently, [Regeneration] did not work on alcohol. That seemed a rather large blind spot considering it worked on poisons and wasn’t alcohol just another poison? Just one that humans consumed willingly.

She’d never considered herself an alcoholic before, but the liquid had been freeing and relaxed the stress and worries so well that she hadn’t held back.

Not great. Drinking her worries away was a bad idea. Letting her guard down was a bad idea.

A small card sat on a table beside a pull rope, indicating it was to call a bath. She tugged it once and pulled on her small clothes and a shirt before waiting. A few minutes later, a maid came and confirmed her request and promised to bring up a tub. An almost guilty feeling hit her; she’d be making the woman carry up a tub and buckets of water to fill it.

When the tub arrived, Elania stood up. “I can help carry the water. I don’t want to make you have to do it on your own.”

The maid looked at her with surprise. “Carry the water? No, my lady, there is a faucet for the hot water.”

A faucet? Elania watched the maid drag it over to the corner, then revealed two metal spigots that had been hidden in plain sight. Turning one knob released a stream of steaming hot water.

“Oh my god, I didn’t see that,” Elania sputtered.

The maid gave her a hesitant smile. “There is also a drainage plug and channel for the water to run out. You don’t have to worry about that, though. I’ll see to it after you check out.”

Elania nodded. “Thank you!”

As soon as the door shut, Elania locked it back and gazed around the room. It was nice. It wouldn’t be bad to live in. Stripping down to nothing, she checked the water, which was still too hot, and then looked at herself in the mirror.

A frown slid into place on her face as she took in the sight. Her face was smudged black with grease, her hair was a tangled mess. It fell down past her shoulders in clumps; she needed to find or buy a comb. Her new red colored hair still glistened in the room’s dim light despite how dirty it was, but that wasn’t that helpful when it just revealed what she was.

And her eyes.

They glowed back at her, like a deer in headlights, deep sapphire irises providing their own illumination. No one was going to need [Identify] to tell that she wasn’t a normal person.

Elania bit her lip. The terrifying discrimination that she had feared hadn’t materialized in the waystation. Her demon-hood hadn’t even been remarked on. Joren had told her not to worry too much because the waystation outpost was used to all times of hard folk passing through. Even a demon couldn’t jolt them.

She considered maybe it would be a good idea to stay in the outpost instead of continuing on to the city, but…

The [Monster Core – Ralfot] needed to be sold, and that was done in the city. At least that was what she had been told. Plus, despite her splurging on the room, her funds were limited. A few weeks in a pleasant room wasn’t a stable home.

Testing the water again, it was just right. Not too hot to scald her, but still hot enough to turn her a little red. She slipped into the water, submerging down to her shoulders before relaxing with her eyes closed.

Repeatedly she’d been filled with internal heat and pain from overcharging, but the heat that now seeped into her was wholly different. Heat that was relaxing and calming instead of energetic and galvanizing.

When she woke up, the water was almost tepid, and she was face down in the tub. Panic filled her, and she coughed up two lungfuls of bathwater. Stupid!

The coughing fit took several minutes before it stopped. Elana glared at the water like it was at fault instead of hers. There was soap on the nearby stool and she hadn’t even cleaned herself properly yet. She nabbed it then began to scrub herself down seriously.

It took multiple dunks under the water to rinse her hair from all the gunk. By the time she was done, the water was a murky, disgusting black. She drained the water down the channel and rinsed herself down with some fresh water from the spigot. Feeling refreshed and much better already, she jumped out and rubbed herself down with the provided towel.

The fabric was soft and wooly, unlike the stuff the Mushroohums had. Whoever was providing them their ‘luxury’ goods was probably exploiting them.

Checking herself out in the mirror presented a much better image than earlier. That was encouraging. Pulling on her underclothes, she left the breast wrap off for later. It was really nice to finally have some time unrestricted. Roving through the room, she searched for something to use as a comb for her hair but came up short.

Her eyes slid to the rope that called for the bath service. She hated to be a bother, but she pulled it anyway. The maid from earlier arrived within a few minutes. “Is something wrong with the bath?”

Elania shook her head. “The bath was amazing.”

Except for the falling asleep and drowning part. She didn’t mention that. “I just need to take care of my hair and I don’t have a comb…”

The woman’s gaze locked on the horrible mess of hair, understanding filling her face. “We don’t really offer combs…but…just wait here a moment and I’ll be back. I can do your hair for you.”

Elania blinked. “Oh…no I don’t mean to put you out. You must be busy.”

The maid shook her head. “I’m free now. I’ll be back in a moment.”

True to her word, the woman made it back quick with a styled wooden comb in her hand. The way she held it made it seem like a prized possession.

“Is that your comb? It’s very pretty,” Elania commented.

The maid nodded. “It was my mother’s. It’s made from a hardwood from the surface, so it’s rare.”

She had Elania sit on the stool in front of the table and lean back. Her hair wasn’t super long, but it did go past her shoulders and it was absolutely a mess. A brush would have been nice, but the comb worked as well. The other woman carefully worked the tangles and snags free without ripping them out.

A tingling feeling ran through her entire body as the other girl’s fingers worked on her scalp.

The feeling of bliss allowed her to tune everything else out and just turn to putty.

She almost didn’t notice when it finally stopped.

“I think that’s the best we can do.” The woman said.

Elania blinked and turned to smile at her. “Thank you!”

The other girl blinked at the exuberance.

“By the way, my name is Elania. What’s yours?” Elania asked.

A small, responding smile appeared. “Allie. I’m glad you liked it, I think your hair is looking much better now than this morning.”

Elania stifled a giggle. Anything would have looked better than her hair earlier. She stepped forward and slid her arms around Allie for a hug. “Thank you, thank you. This really meant a lot to me.”

The other girl tensed slightly, then patted her on the back before slipping out of the hug. “You’re welcome. I’m glad I could help.”

Elania waved her goodbye and turned back to her belongings. An hour flew by as she cleaned things up the best she could with several of the spare rags and towels and unlimited source of water. Some of it, like the metal, was going to need different supplies for caring for, and she had no idea what she’d need to do with the daggers.

Weapons were supposed to be oiled, she thought, but the weird metal was going to make her wary of doing anything until someone explained the alloy to her. When she reached her mana shard she inspected it and used [Identify].

[Mana Shard (Condensed 687/1456)]

With the excess power she’d been accumulating and dumping into it, the shine was definitely stronger. Not as strong as when she had first acquired it from the cultists, but it was going in the correct direction.

Her passive [Power] costs would possibly be a worry in the city. Since Joren was paying the ‘cost’ of the contract, she didn’t have to worry about that draining her. Yet her [Darkvision] drained some, and just living did so as well. Maybe one or two power points per day if she wasn’t active.

Of course, she’d hardly had a single ‘inactive’ day yet. So, it wasn’t a precise measurement, just her best guess.

Elania licked her lips and pulled up her [Status] since it seemed like a suitable moment to look it over after all the changes that had occurred.

She blinked and pulled up her [Status] looking for anything contract related.

[Status: Elania Reyes]

[Level 58 Lesser Demon (Summoned Potency 9999+)]

[Karma: 12345]

[Power: 318/326]

[Perks: (Select) (Summoned from Another World!) (Regeneration) (Demonic Transformation)]

[Class: Huntress]

[Skill Slots: 4]

[Slotted Skills: Mobility (Rank E), Improvised Combat (Rank S+), Stealth (Rank S+), Mana Manipulation (Rank S+), ]

[Affinities: (Demonic), (Mana), (Darkwalker)]

[Magical: Demonic Aura (Rank A) (Deactivated)]

[Physical: Body Conditioning (Rank D), Darkvision (Rank B) (Activated), Throwing (Rank S+), Tracking (Rank S+), Archer (Rank E), Martial Bladesmanship (Rank E)]

[Mundane: Basic Handcrafting (Rank E), Identify (Rank B), Universal Speech (Rank S), Reading (Rank A), Writing (Rank B), Crisis Management (Rank S+), Navigation (Rank E), Negotiation (Rank E), Intimidation (Rank E), Bribery (Rank E)]

Her class had changed back to just ‘Huntress’ and her new skills were all listed. All of them Rank E, but with the rate she’d been leveling up skills, she wasn’t too worried about that. Although a lot of her Rank S+ skills had come from absorbing things that gave the skills instead of any…learning or practice on her part.

That was still a funky thing to wrap her head around. For some skills it sort of made sense, but others like [Tracking]? She didn’t have much knowledge on how it worked…just that if she focused, she could spot glowing footprints. Plus, that strange sixth sense of knowing where things had gone while she stalked them. Although that might have been the [Darkwalker] stuff coming through.

She needed to find a way or place where she could level up her new combat skills. [Martial Bladesmanship] seemed incredibly promising, and she had a scary dagger to use it with, too. The way it was worded hinted that it was versatile, working for any bladed weapon instead of just swords, so that was great. It didn’t lock her into trying to find a specific weapon to learn.

Turning to her belongings, she started to take care of them and pack them up before piecing back together her armor outfit. This time it felt like she had much more time to work with, and she carefully adjusted and fixed things so it would fit better. The room even had a small kit with scissors, thread, and a needle, which was incredibly handy.

The room was proving to be worth all the silver she had spent on it.

Her mana shard got a more secure chain to go along with the cloth wrapping she had buried it in, while the ragged cloak got a trimming before she hemmed the new straight bottom. Now it didn’t look like someone had set the bottom of it on fire.

By the time she was done and checking herself out in the mirror, a knock at the door arrived.

She almost jumped. For a short while, she’d forgotten about the world outside of her cozy room and its temporary nature. A second knock came just as she reached the door.

It was Joren. “Elania? Are you awake ye—”

He stopped mid-sentence to stare at her.

Heh.

Maybe all the hostility had just been because she was a dirty little demon, instead of a nice clean one?

Nah, probably not. Still, she enjoyed his jaw dropping.

Not that it would change her opinion of him and the enabling of his shitty monk brother’s ways.

“I’m awake and packed up,” Elania said.

Joren nodded. “We are going to eat breakfast first, then head out to the city. We should arrive before the end of the day.”

Elania swallowed. Finally, they were going to reach their destination.

The nervousness in her stomach returned with a vengeance.

But…

If the city was bad, maybe she could find a way to make enough money to come back to Waystation 4 and live in the inn with Allie. The girl seemed nice.

There were nice people in the world.

Somehow, she just needed to avoid the bad ones.

Elania grabbed her things and turned to Joren. “Let’s go.”