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

— Kat —

Mermr eventually returned with the extra contracts. They all seemed to be identical, even down to the handwriting, and it was handwriting not something typed up. There was also a stick with a bit of a point on it that made it seem like a fountain pen, if lacking in space for the ink. *I wonder how this was copied.

I’m sure there’s a paper mage spell for it, but I’d guess none of these guys are paper mages. Unless someone else that lives here is?*

[Kat they probably just have an enchanted device that acts like a photocopier. If you look closely you can see this was written with a fountain pen, or perhaps a quill no never mind it’s probably whatever the ‘pen’ you’ve been given counts as. The reason this is important, is you can even see the slightly too large full stops where the writer let the pen too long and they are ALL the same.]

Kat nodded slightly in agreement with Lily as she checked the pen over. It looked to be somewhat old… which in a magical world implied that it could be patient. Kat was tempted to ask about it but held her tongue. Contract first, questions later. The contract was basically everything Mermr had said before and all written in very plain and obvious language.

Kat wondered if that was to prevent angry demons, or if it was to prevent tricky demons trying to twist the contents of the contract somehow. Perhaps both? Kat shrugged and signed the paper then waited for something to happen.

For a moment, nothing did. Kat started to wonder if she still needed to say something aloud just as Hunter finished signing the sheet of paper. In the next instant there was only chains. Large pink chains from Kamiko, purple from herself and the chains coming from Hunter all directed at Mermr. The chains from Hunter were strange.

It was like someone had cut a hole in the air and only the outline of the chains could be seen.

Kat also noticed that while most of the chains were heading towards Mermr, her earlier assumption that ‘all’ of them were was misplaced. Kat could see individual chains from Kamiko and Hunter working their way towards her. In the same fashion, Kat’s purple chains were reaching out to wrap around the other two girls.

When the chains vanished Mermr took the chance to ask, “Kamiko, are you interested in taking any of the abbey’s horses? As this was a royal request we can provide you more assistance then normal… though I’m not sure if Hunter would be capable of riding them hm…”

“It is of no concern,” stated Hunter 23HX443 “I am much faster than I appear. Without investigating the horses myself I can only assume, but it is likely that both myself and Kat can travel further in a day then any horse you can offer. Our endurance is quite extensive and I myself am much faster then I appear. Kamiko however, may be best to take one. I am unaware of the standard for your horses,”

“Ah, well that’s one worry less I suppose,” said Mermr as he looked towards Kamiko.

“Oh… um…” Kamiko looked from Kat to Hunter. “I… I don’t actually know if the horses are faster then me? The contract was close by and… I don’t think you made the offer? Um… yeah I know Kat and Hunter are faster then me… so I might want a horse?”

“I can easily carry you throughout a day of running,” added Hunter.

“I can do the same,” confirmed Kat. “I’m not sure about flying, but running along a road? I can do that at close to my maximum speed without issue. Your weight likely won’t slow me down at all… but it might be uncomfortable regardless of how I hold you… can you even ride a horse?”

“Ah… yes I can. I mean… the triplets got into it as a sort of… compromise. My family never actually purchased a horse ourselves, but we do somewhat regularly visit a ranch and ride around. Technically we don’t ride horses… but it’s not all that difference and I have ridden proper horses before…

“I’m just not sure about the speed thing. Um… Mermr how would you rate them?” asked Kamiko with a shy look on her face.

“Ah you don’t ask the easy questions do you?” said Mermr with a shake of his head. “As for how I rate them? Eh not the best. The abbey mostly uses them to deliver messages and turn over paperwork… but for rush jobs we usually head to the nearby town and ask for a courier to do the work.

They’re not bad horses, we take care of them well and we have special dispensation to take in the top breeds… but only the older horses or those that didn’t quite make the cut to stay on the ranch for the next generation or for the nobles so… solidly above average I guess?”

“Um… that’s neat and all but how much ground can they cover in a day?” asked Kamiko, trying her best to look firm in asking the question.

“Oh, oh… um… about five hundred kilometres in a full day of riding? That’s if you start early, pace them well, and make sure they take breaks for water and a bit of food throughout the journey though,” said Mermr. “At least, that’s my best guess? I think I remember hearing that somewhere…”

Kamiko sighed and looked at Kat who shrugged. “I’ve never timed myself that closely but I can in fact run all day without rest. And all night too for a day or two before I imagine I’d start having issues. Maybe longer… I’ve never tried…”

“I can certainly outpace that,” stated Hunter with her same deadpan and perhaps, a touch of steel. “I do not regularly time myself over such extended distances but I know from what testing I have done that I can easily cover thrice the ground these horses are purported to cover. I do not know if I could do the same with a passenger, or if the passenger would be comfortable though,”

“Well, no sense thinking about it down here, come on,” said Mermr as he turned and headed for the door. The three demons followed, with the other two priests taking up the rear. “Personally, I can’t say that I’ve ever rode someone shoulders for days at a time. I mean, I had plenty of fun as a child riding on my dad’s shoulders, but nothing like this,”

“Actually, if this isn’t rude. Can you all fly?” asked Kat, partially to give Kamiko more time to figure out what she wanted to do.

“Sadly no. Or… not really. If you’ve got the right affinity for it you can usually work something out and technically we CAN fly… but not far off the ground and it’s exhausting over long distance. We’re limited to… around five metres of the ground? It’s a bit faster then sprinting, but it’s also about twice as exhausting so not a good idea long distance.

“We’ve had plenty of people trying to fix that issue… but nothing has worked out just yet. There’s always some problem. The most common design requires wind affinity… but that’s been shockingly rare for us. We know that before the dark age the elements were balanced, or at least, the main four.

Now most people have fire or earth affinity, with water doing alright and wind being by far the least common,” explained Mermr.

Kat gave a nod as they left the stone room. They climbed a short staircase which opened out into a corridor that was also mostly stone. It did have some nice windows, and quite a few more stone doors lining the sides, but Mermr was heading for one at the end. It opened out into a large garden with a lot of climbing plants attempting to take over statues.

A second glance revealed that this was clearly intentional. The biggest indication was a statue of a woman that used the vines as ‘clothes’ to keep some modesty. Other statues were less obvious, but the greenery always seemed to contribute at least somewhat. The only exception might have been the walls. They were still covered in vines of course, but they were just standard walls.

The fountain was much more interesting. The vines had been trimmed in such a way as to look like a series of reaching hands were trying to go for the water.

“It’s a shame you guys can’t fly. Does it make clothing annoying?” asked Kat.

Mermr shook his head, “No because our wings are only half real. Just about anything can pass through them, clothing included… which is likely a large reason we can’t use them to fly properly. They are a magical organ and not a physical one,”

“Huh… that’s interesting,” said Kat. *And not something I’ve heard of. I wonder how common something like that is?*