D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

— Kat —

As soon as Miznark had left Kat flopped down on the bed and let out a long sigh. “Do you think that was the right choice? Signing up for a contract like that?” asked Kat.

Lily slipped onto the bed and snuggled into Kat’s side. “Where did that confidence from before go?” asked Lily.

“Hey, let it never be said that I was told the fate of the world rests on my shoulders… and that I said I wouldn’t help. If I’m supposedly the best option to save the world I will happily sign up and do my part, even if it’s not MY world. At the same time… I wonder how much of my suitability comes from the fact I’m friends with Kamiko and she ‘has’ to go along,” murmured Kat.

“Come on Kat, you’ve been my hero for years. Why are you suddenly balking at the chance to be a hero for a whole world?” asked Lily even though she already knew the answer. It was clear as day in Kat’s mind after all. Lily just thought it best Kat say the words. Get it out of her system.

“Because… it’s heavy. This is like nothing else I’ve ever done. I helped raise a bunch of orphans even if it was only for a short time for most of them… I helped you with the bullying, I rescued the xianxia version of a princess, a western princess, TWICE… and yet I’ve never done anything close to this.

“It’s… it’s a whole world Lily. Sure we were told that if we fail it’s fine. That there are plenty of backups in place… but honestly? I feel like that’s making me more worried, if they’ve prepared that much that means this is a big deal. Which isn’t a surprise… but it also feels a bit like they expect us to fail.

“Not that I think they’re setting us up or anything. Logically I know that having people on standby is worth it because even if there’s only a 1% chance that our group fails to kill the drake… that’s still a 1% chance for that world to end if nothing is done about it… but yeah emotionally I guess that isn’t quite getting through to me at the moment,” explained Kat.

“That’s ok Kat… for some reason it isn’t really hitting me like it is you. Perhaps that’s because I’m not one of the ‘main three’ and just your familiar. Perhaps it’s because I can’t imagine you fail… or perhaps it just hasn’t hit me yet. I can’t really say why. Heck, it could be because I’m about to be very busy taking notes… whatever the case I’m calm.

“So just… let me share that calm with you a bit. Normally you’re always helping me out with my nerves. So… for once I can do the same for you. Maybe it’ll all hit me soon and I’ll only be able to help for an hour or two… but even if that’s the case you’ll still have a chance to calm down. Maybe you can even help me through it after the worry hits me,” said Lily with a smile.

Kat’s arms snaked out and grabbed onto Lily. Pulling the smaller girl into a tight hug like she was a plush toy. “This does help… but I’m still worried. It’s just… a lot of pressure I guess. I mean… hang on,” Kat paused in her concern to send off a quick letter to Kamiko in Nira contained roughly the same contents.

‘I have found out about the big quest’ with Nira getting an extra ‘Are you the observer’ line at the end.

“Right that’s sent off…” mumbled Kat. “So… yeah I just. How do I even prepare for something like that? Do I relax so that I’m in top condition? I’d say yes except for the fact that we’re going to have to do some travelling. So maybe I do more katas?

I should I try to practice that trick where I remove my flesh a bit more? I think I’ve more or less got it down, but it’s not perfect and I don’t know if I could do it during a real battle…”

“Wait, why would you want that?” asked Lily.

“Well, my bones are MUCH sturdier then my flesh, which, while pretty strong isn’t all that strong. So I’ve been thinking that if I turn my flesh into water I can catch a blow or two right on my bones and then retaliate without wasting a bunch of demonic energy on regenerating my flesh,” answered Kat.

“Would… but it costs energy to swap into water form so would it even help? Plus without the cushioning of muscles around it I’m pretty sure your bones would take a lot more damage… and it would still rattle your bones a bunch. So like… if you did try that I’m pretty sure you’d end up worse over all, both in energy cost and maybe pain wise too…” retorted Lily.

“Eh maybe… yeah now that you say that you’re probably right. Good thing I ran the idea by you first otherwise it would’ve been a massive pain failing to ‘work out’ what I was doing wrong. I didn’t even consider the ‘jarring’ issue. It’d be especially bad because the muscles to prevent that would be missing or further up my arm where they can’t do as much.

“I’d probably be better off trying to turn the whole arm into water… which I haven’t managed to do yet. My bones are surprisingly resistant to the change. Though, now that I think about it might be useful for scaring people,” said Kat.

“Oh how?” asked Lily.

“Use the technique on my face so that it’s just a skull. I imagine that’d be pretty terrifying if it just happened during a conversation… or perhaps I use that technique and then step out of the dark? I’m sure I can scare all sorts of people like that. Though I wonder if I’d be able to see?” mumbled Kat.

“That’s actually a good question… can you see through your water when it’s just your arm?” asked Lily.

“No, not at all. I’m not sure if it’s because my eyes are still working fine and if I was to pull the skull trick it’d work… or if I need my entire body to be made of water for that to kick in. I guess that’s something I’ll need to test out.

But yeah, do I test out stuff like that and try to come up with a new, functioning technique in a DAY or do I just work on the things I can already do?” asked Kat.

Lily shrugged as best she could with Kat’s arms around her and said, “It’s up to you Kat. You already know I’ll be copying out some notes to take with me. I’ll probably limit myself to the best of five books… or I could spend some time learning the spell to copy books? With my shadow affinity and my paper magic I can probably manage something.

The main worry would be how much mana something like that would take here on Earth but if I’m careful about it I can probably manage a decent amount.

“The real question would be if it’d be more or less efficient then just writing down the notes or not…” Lily really wasn’t sure. The cost of making permanent paper here on Earth was much higher then elsewhere, and keeping all of the notes in her head would be a challenge. That wasn’t even getting into the fact she didn’t know the spell yet.

Then Kat said, “Why not just use both? Copy what you can until you run out of mana and then write down the rest with a pen?”

Lily chewed on the answer for a bit before saying. “I’m not sure if that would work. Sure in theory it would… but I imagine casting a spell that makes copies of notes from your mind will be rather mentally taxing.

I’m not sure if I’d want to tax myself further by writing real notes because if I did… then I can see myself being too tired to keep the next set of ‘magical’ notes properly in my mind for when I try copying them,”

Kat shrugged and said, “Then you’ll just have to test it out. Find something easy to copy and do that. If it all works out? Then move onto making copies of notes that only exist in your head, but short ones. Finally if that all turns out well? Then you can start copying whole pages of notes.

“Also… now that I’m considering it, I can probably help with that. With my memory being perfect, if I take a look at your notes then just hold the image in MY mind you might be able to make a copy using the version that I’m ‘seeing’ instead of holding it in your own head. That’d probably cut down on the mental effort required by a huge margin,” said Kat.

“Huh… that’s just crazy enough to work…” mumbled Lily.