Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 62 – Guest Rights Don’t Apply (Patreon)

The third tavern they tried was a dingy, poorly lit establishment by the name of The Mucky Puddle. The name fit. Outside, a leaky city works pipe drizzled over a nearby hole that had long filled with filth. Elania watched from across the street as Yolani went about inside and out, mingling with the patrons.

They were an eclectic mix of mercenaries, laborers, and downtrodden folk resigned to finding the cheapest establishment in the district, and the Mucky Puddle fit the bill. It was the perfect place to dig for information in the Mercenary District without drawing too much attention, according to Yolani.

How she knew so much about the underside, Elania wasn’t sure.

A trio of burly men passed by, and she pulled Yolani’s enchanted cloth around her tighter. So far it had worked wonders, and even when walking side-by-side with the other girl on the streets, Elania had been forced to avoid being walked into.

Yolani, on the other hand, had appeared alone and free game, but her hand on her combat wand had been enough to forestall any unfriendly encounters. And when she was actually in the tavern, her charm, wit, and coins kept the other patrons friendly, boisterous, and hopefully giving up the whereabouts of a certain Paladin’s base of operations.

From where she stood, Elania could watch each interaction unfold like a carefully orchestrated dance. Yolani would approach, exchange a few pleasantries before a glint of silver exchanged hands or an order of drinks was placed. Then she’d listen intently as they spoke.

Some conversations were brief and aborted; others were lengthy and filled Elania with the hope of promise. The other taverns had slowly pointed them in a direction, and they’d followed the trail. Supposedly, there had been a number of guards hired in the area, all fitting the timing of when the Paladin had been said to return from his first expedition.

When he’d found her. In the Black Candle’s dungeon.

Elania scanned the streets, looking for any sign of pursuit. Whoever had followed them into the sewers hadn’t shown themselves. Or hadn’t even been after them. Since they hadn’t seen the bloodshed—and she was sure that there had been a slaughter—there was no way to be sure. An instinctual worry that they were being hunted was impossible to ignore, but it was vague and also impossible to pin down exactly what it was.

Other than they were probably wanted dead or alive, emphasis on dead, by the City Guard. Who used telepathy to communicate like modern police radios?

Yeah, that was probably what was gnawing at her, actually.

Elania glanced back at Yolani, who was talking to an older man. The girl was full of tenacity and patience. Despite her haggard state, she’d went straight to work and didn’t show the tiredness that Elania knew was hiding under the surface. That spark of resilience that refused to be extinguished despite the odds against them drew her in and made her…

Fuck. She was fangirling again. What was wrong with her? Chances were, the girl was straight. Crushing on her was going to be a miserable experience. Did Eladu even have the concept of sexual orientations other than straight? She’d not seen any signs of it on the streets of Neftasu, which hinted at scary, very scary things for the acceptance of her preferences.

Yolani stood up, thanked the man, then turned to bee-line toward her, broadcasting an irresistible smile as soon as their eyes met.

Elania’s heart skipped a beat, and she slapped her own cheeks twice.

Now was not the time. Stupid hormones, stupid Elania brain!

Yolani came to a stop beside her and leaned in.

“We’ve got it,” she said in such a hushed voice it barely reached Elania’s ears over the clamor of the tavern’s raucous laughter and clattering mugs. “We have a location to check. It’s not far from here.”

The relief that washed over Elania was tangible, like a heavy burden being lifted off her shoulders. “Let’s go check it out?”

Yolani nodded. “Follow me.”

Elania fell in beside her, one last gaze sweeping the tavern and area behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed. She didn’t notice anyone paying attention to them.

It was only half a dozen blocks to their destination, which placed them almost to the edge of the cavern, where the dark walls loomed ominously overhead.

They found an alley across the street from it, and Elania studied the area intently. A stately mansion was surrounded by a metal fence that was topped with spear tips to deter climbing over it. An ornate gate in the same style was positioned right in front of the building’s two large double entry doors.

She didn’t see any posted guards patrolling as had been promised. The yard was deserted.

“The door’s ajar,” Yolani whispered.

Elania frowned and looked closer. The other girl was right. The front door was slightly ajar. Combined with the absence of guards, that was concerning.

“How can we be sure it’s the right place?” Elania asked.

Yolani grunted and then pulled her pack off and set it on the ground. “I brought something for that.”

“What?” Elania asked.

“A detector. If there is a cache of mana shards in there, it’ll tell us,” Yolani explained.

Elania’s brow furrowed. “But the mana shard chest belonged to the Black Candle. He’s their enemy!”

Yolani shook her head. “I know you said he was on the losing side of things when you escaped, but… he made it back, see? They wouldn’t have let him live if he lost.”

“Maybe he ran away,” Elania offered weakly.

“I’m not sure that type run away, but you could be right,” Yolani admitted. The detector was a wooden sphere on a round base, with tiny little specks of colored crystal embedded into the wood. There was a dial in the side of the base and Yolani turned it to the right.

Almost immediately, the sphere began to spin before snapping into position; a blue arrow pointing directly at Elania.

Yolani looked up at her with a frown.

Elania’s eyes widened a bit. Was it detecting her mana shard? “Sorry, maybe it is—”

“You must be really dense with [Power]. Can you go to the back of the alley so I can calibrate it?” Yolani asked.

Elania nodded mutely and retreated, Yolani raising a fist in the air once she was far enough away. When the black-haired girl waved for her to come back, the device had a glowing orange square on the base while the sphere pointed towards the mansion.

“What’s it mean?” Elania asked.

“It’s…it’s detecting mana shards,” Yolani replied. “A lot of them, hidden behind a detection blocker. That’s why it is orange. But we are so close, and there are so many, that their signal is leaking anyway.”

A chill ran down Elania’s spine. She looked back at the mansion again, her gaze lingering on the slightly ajar front door. Still no visible guards, or any signs of life whatsoever. Even the usually inhabited streets of the district were vacant.

Everything about it screamed ‘trap’, yet their target lay within reach just beyond the doors.

“We have to be careful,” Elania murmured under her breath. “This is what we wanted, but we aren’t out of the woods yet.”

Yolani shot her a confused look. “Out of the woods?”

“It’s an expression. We aren’t out of trouble yet,” Elania explained.

Yolani nodded. “Why don’t you do a walk around, see if you can spot anything from another angle?”

“Okay, on it.” Elania tugged her hidey cloak and aimed for the street corner. Almost immediately, she saw a person walking down the street and her hand instinctively reached for the dagger at her belt. But they were going away and didn’t even notice her. She spun her attention back to the mansion.

The area between the building and the fence was a well-curated garden of green shrubs that was growing under the artificial light of artifice lanterns. Shaped stone rocks stood like little soldiers in some places, while a small, paved walkway weaved through the décor. A few stone benches served as seating, and opposite the main entrance was a small white gazebo.

It was pretty nice, but there was still no sign of the promised guards as she worked her way back around to Yolani.

The other girl looked at her expectantly. “Well?”

Elania shook her head. “Nothing much. Just more of the same. Ghost town.”

“I don’t think we have much choice. We go in,” Yolani replied.

Elania nodded. “Agreed.”

Yolani pulled out some items from her pack. The first thing she proffered was a small red vial. “Healing potion.”

“What? No, I don’t need it. You keep it,” Elania said.

Yolani didn’t relent. “I know you heal. I have more. Just hold on to this one. If I get hurt or something, you can pour it on me.”

Taking it hesitantly, Elania stuffed it in her belt. “That’s a red flag. Don’t raise red flags.”

Confusion filled the other girl’s face. “What?”

“Nothing. What else do you got for us in there?” Elania asked.

Yolani sighed. “Not much. You have your artifice wards already. Do you want a combat wand?”

Well, she had gained the Artifice skill, but… “Does it work with Rank E Artifice skill?”

“When did you learn anything about Artifice? I mean… I didn’t have time to teach you anything!” The surprise in the other girl’s voice was very pointy.

“When I ate Master Ranolf,” Elania said matter-of-factly.

Yolani froze. “You get skills from eating people?”

“And things. Darkwalkers give [Stealth], and Ralfot give [Crisis Management]. That’s how I got most of my S+ Rank skills,” Elania explained.

Yolani’s mouth opened wider before she responded. “You have an… you have multiple S+ Rank skills and you were summoned a few weeks ago??”

“Yes?” Elania scratched her cheek. Maybe her situation was more special than she had thought.

The other girl’s shock seemed to snap as she looked over at the mansion. “Now’s not the time, let’s get back on track.”

Nodding, Elania led the way. When they reached the iron outer gate, it was still sealed. A brief burst of [Power] let her shear the bolt off with a snap.

Yolani hissed, “I had a wand for that.”

“Wasn’t that loud? No one around,” Elania replied as she led them straight up the front path to the main doors. There had been a few side entrances, but what the heck, she just wanted to get this over with. If it was a trap, it was a trap. The mana shards were inside, they just needed to punch their way to them before running off with them at worst.

She slipped inside, prepared for a fight, but the inside was just as silent as outside. A grand foyer greeted them, multiple large hallways stretching out in three directions, with multiple doors lining each one. Dimmed chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, their small crystals giving off only a bare hint of light. Two massive curving stairways led to the second-floor landing.

Glancing around, Elania spotted no sign of life—no guards, servants, pets, or anyone, really.

Elania glanced at Yolani. “Where are they?”

Yolani nodded with a frown, “Don’t know. There should be people.”

“Yeah, I don’t like it, but I meant the mana shards,” Elania clarified.

Yolani raised her hand and pointed upwards. “Somewhere on the second floor.”

The staircase was solid; it didn’t creak or groan like Elania had worried. Two branching hallways went in opposite directions from the landing, but the center axis held two ornate double doors. “Well, I guess we have a good idea of where to go first.”

Yolani gently grabbed her wrist. “Wait.”

Elania looked at her and raised an eyebrow, but the other girl had already pulled out her detector thing. It pointed toward the room, sure enough. Then she brought out a new wand and waved it over the door handles. It flared blue once before going dark.

“Huh. Not booby-trapped,” Yolani stated.

“I’ll go in first. You stay behind my back?” Elania asked.

Yolani nodded. “I think that formation suits our particular talents best.”

Elania grinned. Their formation. Ha. There were just the two of them. Yolani was making it sound like they were an army or an adventure game party. Actually, the latter probably fit the bill a bit too accuracy. Except things were a lot less fun and more stressful.

The door handle turned easily, and the door opened inward with a click. She didn’t hesitate to press forward, and Yolani followed close behind.

The dimly lit room was massive, the tall walls lined with rows upon rows of books. A large ornate desk dominated the center, and Elania’s eyes were attracted to the box sitting on top of it like it was a lodestone. She recognized it. It was the box the Bishop had offered her upon her summoning. She pointed it out to Yolani.

“That’s it,” Elania said.

A large swivel chair around the desk turned to face them. The Paladin in his bulky silver armor comically oversized for the furniture. The chair actually creaked like it was ready to snap and he stood up before being dumped on his ass.

Elania blinked. Oh fuck. It was the paladin.

Well, what else had they expected to find?

He spoke first. “I see my trap has finally netted me results, but you took your sweet time dealing with the guards.”

His gaze swept over them appraisingly, and Elania pulled off her stealth cloak and shoved it in her side pack. No need to risk getting it shredded now.

“I’m surprised they tracked you down,” he said, looking at Elania.

Elania shook her head. “No one tracked me down.” She pointed toward the chest. “The city is in trouble and needs those. Why don’t you hand them over?”

He chuckled. “I need them,” he said before looking to Yolani. “To catch more well-hidden cultists.”

Yolani stepped forward. “I’m not a cultist, I’m an artificer. The mana shard shortage is causing things to break down and we need them.”

The paladin reached behind his back and pulled off his massive blue hued sword, causing Elania to stiffen. Although she didn’t have a lot of data points, she remembered the man not really listening to anything when he was attacking.

It was going to be a fight.

Yolani seemed to realize the same thing and leaned in close enough that her breath tickled the ear. “You grab the shards; I’ll hold him off and then we’ll run.”

It was as good a plan as any she could think, so Elania nodded in agreement.

“We don’t want to fight. We need the mana shards to clear Yolani’s name, finish her contract, and relieve the shortage,” Elania offered quickly as the Paladin stepped around the desk.

The paladin didn’t pause, but proffered a question. “Is she accused of stealing the city’s mana shards then?”

“Uh, no. Her uncle tried to steal her home, and we killed him. We need the shards to bribe the Magister that was backing him to drop the charges. Plus, finish the light stone,” Elania said as she stammered through an attempted explanation. Yolani shot her a sharp glance.

What? It was mostly accurate, right? And making up reasonable sounding lies on the spot was hard!

The blue sword came to a one-handed ready position in front of him. “Murder and bribery. Even if you aren’t cultists, it should be fine to cleanse the city of a little darkness that has had its greed grow unbound.”

“The sword shoots magic,” Elania directed to Yolani.

Her combat wand flared white as the paladin took another step forward, a bolt of white energy slashing through the space between them. He swatted it aside contemptuously.

Yolani wasn’t deterred, pulled a second wand, and began to let loose, casting bolt after bolt toward him. Some flew around to attack at different angles to strike at him behind, but blue mana flared around him, causing them to dissolve into clouds of gas that rapidly dissipated harmlessly.

It didn’t even slow him down. Elania remained rooted, unsure whether she should leave the other girl’s side.

Yolani didn’t look away from her target as she hissed in annoyance. “The plan!”

Elania took a deep breath and nodded. She took a hundred points of [Power] from the mana shard in her pocket as a buffer.

[Power: 488/396]

He didn’t let her pass him by, lunging to the side, bringing her within sword swipe range. Elania ducked the blow, but a rapid overhand strike came swiftly. That forced her to roll to the side to avoid being bisected, and she drew a [Vorpal Dagger] to strike back.

He backpedaled the strike as several while bolts of energy struck him in the back, but Yolani’s magic was ineffective, like chiseling at a mountain.

Elania surged a pulse of [Power] through her legs and shot toward him low to the ground, aiming to slash a leg. His sword accurately swiped for her, and she parried the strike.

The dagger shattered into shards like it was made of brittle glass instead of the strange poisonous alloy. Anton’s sword smashed into her side.

A voice echoed inside her head. “You’ve killed freely, but not irredeemably.”

A line of sharpness lit up on her side and she was catapulted into the ceiling, smashing into the rafters. She had the presence of mind to grab on to one and her free hand flashed to her side. It came back bloody, but by all rights the blow should have chopped her in half.

The memory of the sword bludgeoning her before came unbidden. Maybe the sword didn’t like her as much anymore?

The Paladin turned and swatted a large red bolt sent hurtling toward him by Yolani. The energy split in two, but then arced back together and slammed into his faceplate. It knocked him back several feet, and Elania spotted her chance. She swung and braced her feet against the ceiling and then pushed off, sending herself toward the desk like an arrow.

She landed with a crash, smashing into the desk but rolled to her feet quickly. The Paladin turned toward her, but once she had the mana shards, she didn’t think he’d be able to hurt her at all if she started dumping their contents in his face.

She reached for the box.

Only for it to be snatched away.

Two glowing blue eyes glinted at her, a yellow mop of hair and razor-sharp teeth shining a wicked grin.

“Thanks for distracting Anton for me,” Tessa giggled maniacally.