Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 64 – Rest and Unrest (Patreon)

The golden light was warm as it bathed the sewer hideout. It was also blinding, forcing Elania to shield her eyes with her arm. When she opened them again, Yolani was awake and staring at her, wide-eyed.

“Elania?” she sounded hoarse but alert.

Filled with relief, Elania sat down Eziel and wrapped her arms around the other girl in a tight hug. “Thank god,” she muttered into the other girl’s hair. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Yolani returned the hug weakly, patting Elania on the back. Elania slid in to sit beside her.

“Did we… did we get the mana shards?” she asked weakly.

Elania shook her head. “Tessa got away,” she said quietly.

“You know who that demon was?” Yolani asked.

“I met her in the Mercenary District the night I met you, but just for a few minutes,” Elania explained.

In her head, she replayed Tessa’s words, and then focused on their meeting. Elania’s eyes widened as she realized something. “I think I know who her master might be. One of the people called her “Relain’s Hound.”

Yolani’s breath hitched. “Relain.”

“Yeah, but I have no idea who it is,” Elania said weakly.

A grim look appeared on Yolani’s face. “I do. It’s the Magister who started all this…he holds the contract for the light stone and was working with my uncle.”

“Wait…and he’s involved with the mana shards? It seemed like Tessa knew they were there. The paladin was laying a trap… for her? And we got caught in it?” Elania asked as quickly as the gears in her brain came to the thoughts.

Yolani hugged her knees. “We failed… I don’t know what we can do now. There is no way we can take on the Magister.”

Elania bit her lip at the other girl’s dejection. She didn’t enjoy seeing Yolani defeated. “I got something.”

Yolani looked over at her, and Elania held up Eziel. “It’s a talking sword.”

“Talking… sword?” Yolani blinked rapidly as she stared at the large blue blade.

“It called itself Arch-Seraph Divine Judgement thing. It healed you after the healing potion wasn’t enough. So… it’s pretty useful,” Elania explained.

[Eziel, Arch-Seraph of Light, Judge of the Divine.]

Yolani’s eyes went wide and slid to an empty spot in the air. “It can communicate through the system?”

[Typically, no. However, your souls are connected via contract and my method of communication utilizes the User’s [System] interface.]

“Any idea what it is?” Elania asked.

[I am present. I am a divine instrument.]

Ugh. The stupid sword was going to interject in every conversation, wasn’t it?

“It’s an artifact. The paladin must have been high ranking… he’s going to be mad and want it back,” Yolani said.

[Previous User’s choices and actions unfortunately led to moral degradation. Current User’s morality values more closely align with projected optimums.]

“Umm. Thanks?” Elania mumbled. That was a compliment, right?

Yolani looked away and mumbled. “Relain. We’re screwed. We can’t fight the Magister.”

Elania frowned, unsure. She’d never seen Yolani express defeat before.

“I don’t think we can stay down here. We need to find a safe place to stay and rest,” Elania offered.

Yolani shook her head and seemed to shrink into herself. “They’ll be searching for us everywhere. Maybe a small inn in the Mercenary District… but they’ll find us, eventually. The city is enormous, but the Guard has eyes everywhere, and the Magister will be urging them after us… Getting the Mana Shards was our only option.”

“We can’t give up,” Elania stated.

Yolani looked at her, and the exhaustion and pale complexion caught Elania by surprise.

“I’m really tired,” Yolani admitted. Almost immediately after speaking, she collapsed to the side. Elania caught her.

“You were supposed to heal her!” Elania’s eyes slid to the sword accusingly.

[Your companion has reached the end of her endurance. A low amount of essence transfer due to User contract has exacerbated matters.]

“That was only for a portion and wasn’t supposed to affect her!”

[Physical healing requires natural essence and being. User’s personal dynamo efficiently converts the essence of other beings into usable stores. Humans do not have this capacity. Beyond her physical exhaustion, her soul is drained from recent events and requires a period of repose.]

“Fuck,” Elania muttered. “We need to figure out how to move without me having to carry you.”

Her eyes slid to Yolani’s pack. There were some more regular tools in it. With a bit of ingenuity, she rigged up two leather straps as a way to secure Eziel onto the pack while wearing it. There was no way they were going to stay in the sewer any longer. Whatever had caused the earlier massacre in the shanty town proved just how bad an idea it was.

There was still a good amount of silver and even a few golds in Yolani’s purse, and Elania stashed it in her inner shirt pocket.

Eziel’s weight caused the pack to sag as she attached him, but it worked well enough for now. Next came getting Yolani up and moving again. Kneeling beside the other girl, she shook her shoulder and said her name.

Two blank green eyes looked up at her, dull and unfocused. With a bit of urging, she stood up on shaky legs. The presence concealing cloak went around Yolani’s shoulders, and then Elania slipped an arm around her back to help support her. That was the best she could do.

Finding a room was going to be a nightmare.

The trudge out of the Sewer and back onto the street took a long time. It was a relief to exit, though; the foul smell disappearing with the sealing of the heavy metal door.

Elania let out a sigh and started down one of the streets. There were inhabitants watching them from the sides, and she bit her lip. They were too conspicuous. [Stealth] wasn’t very effective considering the situation, but the way her skills had begun to work…

She pictured her [Power]being pushed into the skill, making them hidden. Almost immediately, there was a drain, but she wasn’t sure it was doing anything. A sudden pop-up appeared.

[You have gained the skill Presence Concealment!]

Maybe it was doing something.

“Eziel, can you, like, help us locate a room or something?” Elania asked.

[I am a divine instrument, not a concierge.]

“Okay, sorry for asking. I should have known the inert piece of metal would be useless,” Elania hissed under her breath.

[I suggest using your [Bribery] skill.]

What the fuck did she really know about [Bribery]? She’d gotten the skill from eating assholes. Throw coins at someone and hope it worked?

“Can’t you, like, use your judgement thing to find an innkeeper who isn’t morally bankrupt and won’t sell us out?” Elania asked.

She froze as the sensation of a invisible hand took hold of her soul and yanked, causing a flow of [Power]out of her. Was that what mana shards felt when she drained them? She reacted instinctively, clamping down on the drain and strangling the connection.

[A wide search will require a constant donation.]

Oh. It had been Eziel. “Fine. But not too much. I’m already low.”

[I will let you know if someone who meets the criteria comes into range.]

They continued down the street, Yolani mindlessly following directions. The sensation of a slow bleed of [Power] gnawed at her, the fuel for [Presence Concealment] and Eziel’s requirements trickling her numbers down.

As they turned around the corner, panic filled her; a trio of guards were walking straight down the street in their direction! Elania aborted her first instinct to turn and go in the opposite direction when they looked right at her and didn’t seem to notice anything.

Okay. The hide in plain sight things were working. She could deal with that. There was just a time limit on how long she could maintain it. They meandered down the street. Then another.

Thirty minutes of aimless wandering through the squalor of the near ruins. They neared the district’s hub, then went down a different spoke. Eziel was silent, which was rapidly eroding her faith in humanity that had already been punctured badly since arriving in Eladu.

Just when she thought that she needed to change tack, Eziel interrupted.

[Ahead and on the left. An innkeeper would likely be favorable.]

Elania’s eyes slid onto that side of the street. At first, she didn’t spot the building. Most of the houses were dark and uninviting, but a lantern inside a window lit up one of the buildings with a sign outside with a bed etched on it. It looked run down and poorly maintained like everything else around, but it was better than nothing.

She headed to it directly. The door was unlocked and there was a single ding from a sharp bell as they slipped inside. The interior was in much better condition. The outside was a façade?

The room was long and narrow, with steps leading to the second floor on the left, a door to another room on the right, and a large desk at the end of the space. There were a few chairs near the door beside a potted mushroom that glowed blue.

A burly-looking man sat behind the desk, but he stood up as his eyes took in the sight of them. A cudgel came out from under the desk, banded in iron.

“I don’t take trouble. See yourselves out,” the man said clearly.

Elania paused, then helped Yolani sit down. “We need a place to stay.”

“So do a lot of people,” he replied. “Your master looks like she’s on her last leg. I’d prefer her croaking somewhere else.”

“My friend needs rest and a bed,” Elania said. She fished out a single small gold coin, which was a hundred times what she had been told a room should cost. “We only need a night or two.”

He stared at her, then looked to Yolani, and then back at her and then the coin. She could see the cold calculation going on inside his head. She wanted to shake Eziel. This was what he had come up with?

Greed seemed to finally win. “One room, one bed, third floor. No board, no bath. Two nights only.”

“Deal,” Elania responded immediately.

The man put away the cudgel and pulled out a ring of keys. She passed him the coin; he scrutinized it, then grunted. “This way.”

He led them up the flights of stairs and to a room on the top floor. She was pleasantly surprised by the room. It was small, but clean and, most importantly—private. “My name is Jark. If there is a problem, you come see me. If you need to store your things while you are away, bring them to me. The only lock is a bolt. I’m not responsible if anything is stolen from the room while you are gone.”

Elania nodded, and he disappeared. She hurried to deposit Yolani onto the bed. The other girl moved like a marionette, increasing the amount of her worry. Was she going to be okay?

[The girl’s state is a classic case of soul exhaustion. Rest will allow her to recover.]

Elania pulled off the other girl’s boots and tended to removing the bulky belt still wrapped around her middle. Half the wands were missing, and it looked like whatever had been in her pouch had spilled out, but there was no helping that. It all went in the corner by the bed, along with Eziel and the big pack.

After tucking the sheet around Yolani, Elania grabbed the wooden chair in the corner and sat by the bed. Exhaustion ran through the back of her neck as well.

[Soul exhaustion recovery could be hastened by returning essence to her.]

Elania’s head perked up. “How?”

[It is the same as charging or draining a mana shard, except you do so to her directly. Do note that you should use a tiny, precise amount of power over a period of time, or you will simply immolate her, which would have a negative effect on recovery.]

Elania frowned. She had been getting better and manipulating the energy, likely thanks to her S+ rank [Mana Manipulation] but messing this up would be very bad. She didn’t need Eziel to tell her that.

Getting up, she made sure the door was securely bolted, then tugged off her own boots and belt. Then slipped into the bed with Yolani. Sliding an arm around the other girl’s middle, she closed her eyes and put her forehead on her shoulder.

It was easy to feel her body warmth like that, which made pushing the trickle of [Power] into her easy. It eventually stopped requiring her concentration to regulate the flow.

Her mind drifted. She was so tired.

Sleep claimed her as well.