I Only Summon Villainesses

After I interrupted, the disagreement between the two of them died down for a moment and silence followed. But the silence was still very loud, and this time I was convinced it had to do with the nature of this place rather than with us.

I finally took a proper look at the daggers Maggie had handed me a while ago. They lay on the seat now, gleaming in the darkness.

’She left these here?’

I wondered for a moment, just staring at them. They reminded me so much of Tristan that I didn’t want them. I didn’t want to look at them every day and be reminded of the one great guy in my life.

He was questionable in other areas, but of good character.

’Come to think of it... after Lira and Clara died, Tristan sort of stopped. Or cut back on the way he talked to women.’

Perhaps, with no Lira or Clara left to rein him in, he simply couldn’t keep it up.

’Ah, I see... so you too had been grieving the whole time.’

Of course he had. He’d known them far longer than I had, so he must have hurt far more. And yet he was the one who comforted me, the one who gave everything to save me.

’Why?’

The question felt easy to answer, but the answer only posed another, and that one led me back to what Tristan had told me about the man called Brutus. To find justice for the mercenary guild, I had to find Brutus and demand those answers.

Perhaps no one would ever care for me the way Tristan and the mercenary guild had. And even if someone could, well, they’d all just died... again.

I chuckled to myself.

’I really have to be cursed.’

It was an insane experience, one I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

I eventually took the daggers up in my hands and stared at them. The grips were cold and heavier than they looked, the leather worn smooth by hands that weren’t mine.

’Instead of trying to forget... maybe what I need is to make sure I never forget.’

The thought of facing those memories every day made me hesitate. But I closed my fist around the grip and steadied myself.

Afterwards, I checked the daggers’ information... and was completely bedazzled.

[SPIRIT GEAR]

Name: Gregory

Grade: Legendary

Type: Dagger

Base Effect:

[+75% Physical Damage]: Your attacks are increased due to the vicious and tenebrous nature of the blade that had been reforged in divine flames.

[Elemental Resistance (50%)]: Due to the nature of the divine flames that had been used to melt and reforge the steel, the attack from this blade can neglect almost all elemental defenses and resist elemental attacks.

[Intimidation]: This blade remembers, and can release a threatening bloodlust accumulated from years of brutal slaughter for survival.

[Dark Vision]: This blade has survived only in darkness, was born in darkness, and only thrives in darkness. Because of this, the user is granted absolutely clear vision in deep darkness.

[The Crippler]: Can imbue paralysis on whatever it draws blood from for at least fifteen minutes.

Reading through all of it left me somewhat speechless.

’Absolutely beautiful.’

And the crux of it all was the [Dark Vision]. This dark world had been especially grueling for me, because I’d had to rely on sight the whole way down. That had made a lot of things harder than they should have been.

Fighting, attempts at sex and whatnot, even walking, honestly. All of it had been miserable, and now this shows up.

’Finally, some good luck in my life.’

I smiled, brightly, the brightest I’d managed in a while. This felt like a sign. A sign that the future was finally going to be good. I would climb out of this darkness, return to the surface, and do what I should have done long ago.

’But first I have to find White Feather. And Lady Ilse... and her summon.’

I held one of the daggers and focused into the night. Slowly, my vision adjusted. The darkness was still darkness.

However, my eyes had adjusted unbelievably well. Paths I couldn’t have made out before, the ones swallowed whole by the black, sharpened into something I could actually follow. The grain of the stone floor, the far wall, the fine grey dust hanging in the still air — all of it surfaced out of the nothing. Not bright. Just unhidden, as if a veil had been lifted off the world.

’I guess this is what nocturnal creatures see?’

The temple I sat in was little more than a row of broken columns. A few still stood, one or two even holding their place in the aisle between the pews. Most had cracked apart low on their shafts and lay scattered across the floor in pale chunks. The far side of the pews had been flattened outright, and a large hole gaped in the ceiling above it.

Yet no light filtered down through it, so everything stayed bare. And dark. Cold air pooled between the columns, carrying the mineral smell of broken stone.

I smiled. It felt refreshing to see again. Maggie wasn’t seated near me anymore. She’d moved to the altar and stood over it, studying it, while Kassie patrolled the area again.

Maggie from behind was nothing short of wonderful. She had an hourglass shape from the front, sure, but from behind it was jaw-dropping. Maddening, even.

Her ass was shaped like two worlds, maybe the moon, merged together into something vicious beneath that body-fitting habit of hers.

’How did the male Grand Inquisitors even survive going on jobs with her? And how does any priest focus on his sermon without thinking about that? She must have been the prime of destruction in her day, without even realizing it.’

’Well, she realized it. Just not that kind of destruction!’

I stared a few seconds longer, and then I heard a voice.

’You know what... why not start with Maggie? I want to smash her. Let’s try.’

The voice was hesitant, and yet, when I made to step back, it even reproached me.

’Look at you, chickening out again. Running away. You’ve been literally running since the day you came to this world. At this rate, no more running from you could surprise me.’

I sat there, staring, and staring for a while. Eventually I exhaled and stood.

Afterwards, I walked toward the altar.

’Oh God, I am definitely going to regret this.’