I Only Summon Villainesses

I sat down on the bed, my legs crossed in a lotus position while the two of them stood in front of me. Kassie positioned herself directly ahead and Maggie lingered near the entrance of the barricade, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed.

Kassie spoke first… not that I expected Maggie to at all.

“Going to that man’s manor undercover has helped me realize a great deal of missing detail and misconception about the growth of the world from eight thousand years ago. First and foremost, knowledge about us is treated as folklore, and we are the evil in those folklores… we did tear down nations and massacre tens of thousands…”

Kassie paused for a moment, her expression almost wistful, but then it became neutral just as quickly and she carried on.

“But it was not done with selfish intent… Second, I see that my effort and the effort of many people like me in the past… my past, has gone absolutely futile. Rot spreads in the mind of humans and I think I have come to the conclusion that regardless of what time or place, what era of the world… as long as humans exist there, corruption will as well.”

She folded her hands beneath her breast, causing them to jiggle and almost distracting me for a fraction of a second. But I did not succumb to the crude claws of distraction and paid attention to what she was saying.

“I am not averse to corruption. Even though it is merely a nourishment of greed, it’s still none of my business. But its unbridled effect is what bothers me. As far as I live, I will not watch girls suffer because of the greed of wicked and unjust men.”

She paused and frowned, her gaze dropping from my face to somewhere lower.

“Where are you looking?”

“Hm?!”

I quickly raised my head.

“I was lost in thought! You know, just thinking about how cruel and unfair corruption can be… especially to the powerless people, you know…”

Kassie raised her chin slightly.

“What did I say last…”

“The powerless…? No, sorry. Unjust men!”

She gave me a long glare and sighed, the kind of sigh that carried eight thousand years of disappointment in it.

“This brings me to the matter of the Manhattan Company.”

I gulped and waited…

“They’re merely pawns…”

“Oh?”

Kassie nodded and continued.

“Their structure, while it was as fierce as your people described, was too easy to tear down.”

“Maybe that’s because of the person doing the tearing?”

Kassie shook her head.

“I’m not talking about the quality of men. No one can of course match my strength. But there are more than one ways to fight a battle, Cade. And for a company like Manhattan, I expected several ways to restrain me… however… it seemed like they gave up the moment I wrenched their building and tore it to the ground.”

I narrowed my gaze at her.

“You do not mean that literally, right?”

“How else would I mean it?”

My mouth fell open. “You tore an entire building to the ground?”

Kassie gave me a look of disdain for a moment, as though the question itself was beneath her, and her face became serious again.

“Whoever is moving the Manhattan Company gave up not because I attacked… I feel that strangely enough. This means that they don’t consider me a threat. And that… it unsettles me.”

Maggie entered the conversation at that point, grinning like a nun straight out of a horror movie.

She usually looked like that, but right now she was more in character than ever.

“Bother you? Why should it bother you? This is an era of weaklings. Shouldn’t you welcome people like that with open arms? It’d be good to have some fun.” She cracked her knuckles absently. “If you don’t want them, send them my way. These things I’ve been fighting are too fragile, breaking under a couple of punches.”

I gulped looking at Maggie.

Kassie glanced at her too and shook her head, pitying the Pyre Saint.

“I find it baffling how you could have survived as a Saint in your era… I don’t know who was more demented. Those that elected you, or those that actually worshipped you as a figure of faith.”

Maggie glared at Kassie, her crimson eyes radiating death.

“You must have a death wish…”

Kassie merely smiled and treated Maggie’s hostility like a little baby girl trying to lift her foot.

“Ho? Wanna go?”

Amidst it all, a cold air radiated from between them, causing both their expressions to darken and turn forward. Kassie looked most baffled while Maggie clicked her tongue and bit down on her teeth to resist the pressure pushing against her.

When I had gotten both of their attention, I finally exhaled and dismissed [Emperor’s Presence].

“Let’s not fight, okay…?”

’And certainly not in my room!’

Kassie curled her lips upward.

“You have gotten better at handling that. One would think you are a Sovereign tier at this point.”

I looked at her, blinking with slight disbelief.

“That’s a compliment, right?”

Her face was dead serious the next instant.

“I’m simply saying what is…”

I grinned internally.

’I’m very sure she just complimented me!’

But we had to get back on topic, so I made no further big deal of it and looked between Kassie and Maggie.

“So how does all of this evoke an immediate sense of danger?”

Kassie nodded, a ghost of a smile escaping her lips before she could catch it.

“Well, for one… I told you, right? We need an army.”

I blinked.

’I’m starting to fear I’m not going to like this…’

“We need a base too… preferably I would like it if we started working to conquer a nation and take their resources for ourselves. That is the fastest way to build an army. The other route would of course be by growing with your current company and gaining their trust. You will eventually rise above them and set out on your own. Then they shall become your subordinates.”

Kassie shook her head.

“But I do not think I have enough patience in me to wait and see how that pans out for you.”

Her gaze landed on me.

“So conquering a nation it is…”