I Only Summon Villainesses

After Kassie dropped the suggestion, Maggie and I were vehemently against it for some reason. Having Kassie follow the elf lady and the man back was too risky… actually, there was nothing risky about it, except the risk of having the company torn down before we got to do anything properly.

It was just too difficult to let Kassie out of my sight. I didn’t want to.

But she was the only one I knew who could keep the man in check and use her intelligence to really observe what was going on from the inside. If I sent Maggie, the whole place would probably be on fire within the hour.

’I don’t want to see it go all up in flames.’

Kassie might be dangerous, but she had more self-control than Maggie.

I hesitated so much, but eventually I had to agree because it was the right thing. Not without shooting the man with a death glare though.

That bastard was going to enjoy the company of my own Kassie for who knew how long. The thought made something twist unpleasantly in my chest.

The best thing to do was to not let it drag out long.

After letting them go, and Kassie with them… oh my dear Kassie. I managed to go to sleep with Maggie standing guard over me. Since Kassie was gone, that was her job now, and I was quite surprised she didn’t object to it.

The next morning, Tristan and Levi were briefed by Nisha and I about what had transpired through the night, and they weren’t so surprised, just as Nisha wasn’t.

If there were surprises, it was the fact that I was willing to let go of the two costly spirit cores that were in my possession for someone I didn’t know.

These people had no idea how great the power of breast was.

We got to El Gran Caravanserai, a waystation teeming with hundreds of travelers even though it was only around seven in the morning. The smell of dust and horses hung thick in the air, mixed with the sharp tang of something cooking over open fires. We climbed onto a wheeled cart drawn by mundane horses, and it carried us all the way to Los Arcos.

It took about two hours to get there. The first thing I saw was the massive stone arches that stretched over the skyline of the city, like they were built by people who were really tall. Or let’s save ourselves some breath and say giants.

Then beneath the interconnected weave of stone arches was a narrow maze of streets. Each street had these fearsomely large pillars that received one arch and sent out another, curving over several buildings at a time. The whole city looked like it was caged beneath a skeleton of stone.

Although this structure seemed decrepit and ruined now, there were several chips at the arches, cracks everywhere, and vines and plants growing out of them. Nature reclaiming what the giants had left behind.

We passed several streets, the carriage journeying from corner to corner, until we reached a straight line that led us down a main road. At the end of the road was what I undoubtedly saw as a dark and ruined cathedral.

There was a signboard just above the door that said:

“Welcome to the Black Snow Company.”

This was certainly not what I was expecting.

’Why does it always have to be a cathedral?’

“This is La Calle de los Fundadores.” Levi spoke with a smug look on his face. “It’s the first settlement of the crusader families. It’s safe to say this is the place that Recimiras began before it expanded and continued to expand over the course of the past two hundred years.”

I glanced at him. “Why does he look so smug about it?”

Nisha chuckled.

“That’s because his family was a core part of the beginning of Recimiras. For many of us, Recimiras is a place of refuge. Somewhere that accepted us when nowhere else did.” She paused, her eyes going distant for a moment. “But for few people like Levi and some others like himself, this place is home. A different kind of meaning to home than we can relate. Well, I’m speaking for myself since I haven’t really had a home.”

I observed Nisha for a minute. The way she said that last part, casual but hollow underneath.

“Nisha, you’re an Asharan, aren’t you?”

She looked at me with an arching brow.

“Based on?”

I looked around. The street was scant, the carriage drawing toward the cathedral in front. What I presumed would’ve been the garden and compound of the cathedral building was now used as mini farming areas with small stalls next to them. Another path led to another narrow alley that most likely linked to another street.

“At Ashara and even since we’ve gotten to Recimiras, I’ve seen a lot of dark-skinned people. We didn’t meet a lot of people in Ashara so I was skeptical with the few people I saw. But all of them had a spectrum between brown and dark skin. And when we got to Recimiras, there were a lot of those kind of people so you kind of didn’t stick out like a sore thumb anymore.” I looked around again. “I figured since this place was a criminalistic trade city, and its closeness to the Ashara continent, many Asharans would be found here.”

I met her eyes. “And I don’t think I was wrong.”

Nisha shrugged.

“Yes, you aren’t. I’m an Asharan…”

I looked at her with excitement.

“What’s your story? Were you extracted too, like me?”

She folded her arms and closed her eyes. I saw her squeezing her face and immediately pulled back.

“I guess you don’t want to share.”

“I’m not ready to.”

Fair enough. Everyone had things they weren’t ready to talk about. I had plenty of my own.

We finally pulled up in front of the cathedral. Levi paid the chauffeur and we all came down.

As we stepped down, there was a group of people standing in front of the large stairs waiting for us.

There was an upright man that looked about Levi and Tristan’s age. There was a girl with blue hair who was jumping excitedly. There was an old woman and two others too.

“Levi! Levi! Levi!” The lady jumping was shouting.