I Only Summon Villainesses

The attendant, Shuǐyáo, led me out of the hall, then out of the inner compound. Outside there, everyone was waiting for me.

They lounged around, Tristan and Nisha sitting down on the one-inch barricade that demarcated the main path, while Levi and Gilbert rested beneath the shade of a tree with scattered pink flowers.

’How did they manage under that?’

Practically, the waterlands lacked a sun of their own, but that did not stop the intense penetration of light, which sort of caused heat and could be too much to beat at times. So I could understand seeing Levi and Gilbert run for shelter.

’I wonder… was Gilbert the one that brokered them this job?’

The moment I stepped out, Levi and Gilbert leaned away from the tree, while Nisha and Tristan also stood up and reached me first.

Tristan asked, scrunching his dark-circled eyes,

“How did it go in there?”

I lingered on the question for a moment—just enough for Gilbert and Levi to join us—then I explained the situation to them as Shuǐyáo escorted us to where we would be staying for a while.

Of course, I left out a great deal of the conversation that happened there, explaining only what White Feather had initially said to me before I opened up her skirts of lies. Then, in order not to make Levi catch up on the lie like I did, I sprinkled a little of the truth there instead.

The fact that the Crystaldeep clan was turning her customers against her, and she was in great debt to top that.

I managed not to portray her as desperate as she seemed, but even Levi cut through my intricate web that she was. I got off easy since he seemed to think that I simply wasn’t seeing it, but he wanted us to increase the prize pool to ten million spirit crystals.

’Greedy!’

It was indeed quite ravenous of him. But he was a child compared to my dear little Kassie.

I was still trying to wrap it within my head.

’Asking for someone’s clan is way too much…’

The unbelievable part was that it actually worked… or at least had the potential to work. When we were leaving, I was already tasting an air of submission, which I suspected Kassie had seen, and that was why she asked me not to press any further and let her be.

The mind was a treacherous element; put in the right ingredients and leave it to marinate, it would convince a beggar that riding a horse was not that big of a deal.

’I’m sure she’s there right now, giving herself reasons why my offer made sense…’

She was in a vulnerable position, and I had not hesitated to feed on that.

’I feel like a bad person. No, this isn’t you, Cade, it’s all Kassie.’

Finally, after what looked like quite the walk, we entered a space that insidiously stole my attention.

I found myself gazing at the grey trees with crimson leaves that spread across the skyline of this quarter of the Boundlesswave manor. The pavement paths, in fact, had become white and smooth, like they were an outgrowth rather than a work of construction.

And in the center of the yard stood a larger tree of crimson leaves that stretched over the rest like their mother. There were squirrels with scarlet backs and eyes running all over the place and away from the sound of our steps.

We climbed an arching white bridge to the left and were led to an even larger yard. At the four corners of this yard were different buildings, all with roofs that had curved eaves, and large circular, doorless entrances carved in front of the buildings.

Shuǐyáo stopped in the plain center of this yard and said,

“This is where you’ll be staying for the meantime.”

Tristan looked around, his eyes finding it difficult to believe what he was seeing.

“Oh my… great darkness! This is luxury! No, this is not just any kind of luxury, Levi. This is a rotten, wrong, and punishable luxury!”

Gilbert shouted and ran around. He sat on the raised entrance floor of the building to his left and laid on the floor by his side like he wanted to just hug the place and never let it go.

“Isn’t Nightyell a much better choice of luxury though?”

He raised his head and gave me a disgusted glare.

Then he leaped up and flipped his ragged clothes behind him.

“Well then, I shall disappear into my abode.”

He walked into the homestead like a young master that had every right to be here, despite not really looking the part.

The rest of the four of us stared at each other, wondering who got to pick the remaining three and who got to share.

Levi pointed to the building beyond me, the one in the center.

“You stay there alone… you’re posing as our leader, so you must look the part. I will stay with Gilbert to keep him in check; that guy has issues keeping his hands in one place.”

He turned to Nisha and lingered.

“You stay with Tristan. And make sure to keep your ears up. We could be walking into a trap, so we can’t afford to be a bit languid.”

He stretched his hands up and yawned.

“As for me… I’m going to sleep. Cade, you are in charge from now on!”

My eyes shot at him with disbelief.

“You can’t just dump it all on me, I’ve never even been here before.”

He chuckled and gave me a wicked look, complemented by a mischievous grin.

“You’ll do just fine.”

“Hey, I don’t think you’re even listening to me. I said I’ve—”

Before I could even complete my statement, he was already whistling and walking inside. Tristan tapped my shoulder with a sad look on his face and also walked inside. Nisha gave me a wink and went away too.

I was left standing in the yard and staring at the sky of water bodies.

’What the actual hell?’