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

— Kat —

The silence after Bower’s long story was heavy. Everyone turned back to their food just to have some excuse not to focus on it. This atmosphere persisted until it was broken by Bower “Actually, I think I see a path forward,”

Everyone waited for him to say something… but Bower just grinned and flexed his smile as they kept starring and starring, clearly waiting for someone to ask. Kamiko folded first. “So… um… what… what do you see yourself doing?”

“I’ve decided to become an annoying grandfather figure!” announced Bower, treating this as if he was declaring his right to rule the realm.

“What?” asked Kat confused.

“See, I realised hanging out with you lot was fun. You treated me with dignity… but also a bit like I was an old man that could fall apart at any moment, and sure, compared to you four I probably am. Now, most of the little hunters know better then to treat me like that. I could still tan their hides while shooting bullseyes with my other arm…

“But my family? They don’t. Even if we assume they actually read my letters… something I wouldn’t bet on at all… I doubt they’d really think I’m hot shit. Just that crazy grandpa that sends them money from his old investments.

I’m going to rock up and pretend to be a bit crazier then I actually am, and that my poor old and battered body is… well maybe not worse off then it is, but admitting to my pain every now and then,” explained Bower with a grin.

“And… this is supposed to be fun?” asked Hunter confused.

“Oh I’m sure it will be loads of fun. I’ve got money to burn… but I’m going to see if I can force myself into their houses anyway because it’s more amusing that way. See how long they can put up with me before kicking me out… and then move onto the next relative.

I’ll leave behind a good chunk of money for putting up with me if they do it well… and probably leave a few little things for the kiddos regardless.

“Depending on how fast I get kicked out I could be doing that for upwards of a decade… which honestly sounds good. Might help me regain some of my desire to be a teacher again and even if it doesn’t ten years is a long time. You never know what could happen. Maybe I can find a healer good enough to fix me up,” explained Bower.

“Um… I could try?” offered Kamiko.

“Eh, you can try if you want but I don’t expect results. Most of it is old age and older wounds. I imagine you’d need to rebreak the bones that didn’t set quite right and I’m not really sure what you can do for my old and worn ligaments. Honestly, I doubt you can use those bubbles of yours on anything internal until you get the reserves to just bubble someone completely,” said Bower.

Kamiko winced. “I… I don’t know if I’ll ever get that strong. I can hardly manage one the size of my hand as is. It’s so much easier to release a bunch of little bubbles…”

Lily patted Kamiko on the head and said, “I’m sure you can get there… and even if you can’t maybe you can figure out a workaround? Like keeping a bubble around and slowly adding to its size. Is that a thing you can do?”

Kamiko frowned in a rather adorable way as she carefully blew out a bubble and focused on adding size to it while it was still attached to her mouth. This is where she ran into an issue. Once she was out of demonic energy she needed to rest and recharge… and breath. Something she couldn’t do with a bubble covering her mouth and maybe a bit of her nose?

Kamiko tried to breathe in just through her nose and confirmed that yes, yes it was covered by the bubble, or at least close enough to still cause problems.

Kamiko fumbled with the bubble for a bit, trying to carefully push it away from her nose without letting it disconnect from her mouth. Kat had to bite back her laughter, not wanting to discourage Kamiko but her flailing was sort of adorable.

Kamiko continued to try for the next few minutes and while she did manage to make the bubble a bit larger in that time… eventually her need to breath caught up to her and she released the bubble to take in a deep breath.

Kat quickly spoke to divert attention somewhat, “That was a good attempt. You know that theoretically you can make the bubbles larger if you manage to find a way to keep breathing. Technically you already DID just not that much larger…”

“Mou… I bet it looked silly… but you are correct. It could theoretically work. Maybe if I put a hand over my nose before I start? I didn’t want to risk popping the bubble until later on but I sort of forgot to test it right at the end when I was running out of air. Though… I think it was costing me some demonic energy to keep it attached?

I’m not sure… I feel like my energy wasn’t regenerating as fast as normal but it might just be because I was focused on not suffocating and time seemed slower…” mumbled Kamiko.

Kat shrugged, “Might be best to test it with your mother around then,”

“I guess… but I wanted to see if I could help Bower,” admitted Kamiko.

“Eh don’t worry about me too much lass,” said Bower with a wave.

“Actually,” said Lily. “While Kamiko might not be able to fix Bower… can’t he just summon another demon that CAN fix him? If Bower’s to be believed he should have plenty of money to deal with the main obstacle. The costs,”

“Eh… the kingdom tends to guard the secrets to summoning demons very carefully. I think they’ve got some bigshot contracted via emergency beacon to ‘deal with’ anyone outside of the church that manages to steal the info. Guess I could try and figure it out… but it may be illegal? I’ve actually never checked.

Summoning a demon didn’t feel like the answer to my problem before… but I suppose it’s not that strange that you have doctors as well,” said Bower.

“Hunter is there any way we could offer Bower healing in exchange for his help with the drake?” asked Kat.

“No I’m afraid not,” stated Hunter shutting down that line of thought quickly. “Perhaps if something was arranged before we met the drake… and certainly if something was arranged beforehand, such as a scouting team decided his help was necessary. As it stands? We can offer some of our healing supplies in our rings but nothing I can find at a quick glance would have any effect on Bower’s condition.

“The best we had was the salve to help prevent any scarring on Bower’s face, and even that much was only possible due to the fact it was a recent wound. I suppose we could try rebreaking things but I do not have sufficient medical training to do such a thing,”

“I don’t either,” admitted Kamiko. “I mean… I sort of know of it. Vaguely? Like in theory I might be able to do it, but I’m sure I’m missing a whole bunch of important details. I certainly wouldn’t risk it in this case. Sorry Bower,”

“Bah, it’s fine. Besides, I can’t properly complain about my relatives not caring for me if I don’t actually need care now can I? Just the push to call up a demon healer is plenty in my books. Probably start saving up for it? Or perhaps investing more aggressively…” mumbled Bower.

“Why would investing help? Surely you wouldn’t have enough time, right?” asked Kamiko.

“I don’t plan on even trying until after I’ve gone through with my ‘annoy the relatives’ plan. Not sure how illegal it is. I’ll probably make an attempt regardless of the legality… but the ‘how legal’ part is important. Wouldn’t want a demon summoned to kill me for trying to summon a demon after all. That’s a fight I know I can’t win.

“So I could invest heavily in the next year or two before relaxing with the family. Which I’m hoping can keep me busy for upwards of a decade. Can really stretch it out if I duck back to my current home and check up on all the hunters’ progress. Make sure they’re not slacking off, and keep me busy a bit longer. Yes… I’m liking the idea more and more as I consider it,” said Bower with a nod.

“Well as long as you’re happy with it I suppose,” said Kat with a shrug. “I can sort of imagine Gramps doing the same thing if it wasn’t for the fact he has plenty of kids to take care of already,”

“Oh?” prodded Bower.

Kat smiled and began her tail “Right… so MY Gramps, or rather, the man I call Gramps, runs the orphanage that I was raised at. Let me tell you a bit about him and his weird obsession with rugs…”