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

— Kat —

“So who should we be most interested in teaming up with?” asked Green while looking in Nixilei’s direction.

“Skye’s team probably, though… perhaps not Dusk?” answered Nixilei instantly.

“Wait what? Are we not worried about… the betrayal thing from the first time?” asked Kress.

“Perhaps a little bit… but frankly they’re the least likely team to be trying to mess things up from behind the scenes. With the exception of Dusk they just don’t have the connections and I’m not sure Dusk HAS those connections, just that I don’t know for sure he doesn’t,”

“And all the other teams do?” asked Kat.

Nixilei made a so-so gesture. “To some extent yes. Obviously the team full of dwarves with that one human have the deepest pockets but I’m not sure the sabotage we’ve experience is really something you can purchase. At least we know that Skye’s team was caught up in it as well which implies they’re not responsible… but that’s just an implication,”

“And none of the other teams are safe?” asked Gareth.

“None of the other teams are completely safe no. The familiar team has at least a few noble connections that I know of. Through their parents mostly, and it’s possible that there are more that I don’t know about. We didn’t have years to collect info on them just a few months really,” explained Nixilei.

“And the last team?” asked Gareth.

“Eh, they’ve got a few well connected people on their team. Souris is technically the first in line for the mouse chief’s title but they don’t really pass it down through family lines and there’s a good chance she doesn’t end up in the role… but technically she’s quite important herself. Plus with Max adopted into that family he’s technically in the same boat. The rest of them have more distant relations…

“But who knows. Plenty of people like to keep up with extended family and it’s much the same for basically all the teams. The glaring exception is Skye’s team who has no connections besides maybe Dusk, but as I said we’ve got nothing on him. Though presumably someone knows who he is,” admitted Nixilei with a shrug.

“Is Dusk even his name?” asked Kat.

“Probably,” said Gareth. “I think he’d need to officially register for the tournament and if the name he was using didn’t line up with the one on the paperwork that would be obvious but I do know you don’t know last names. Just a first name and adventurer’s guild license or a noble to vouch for you that has their own,”

Kat tilted her head to the side. “Wait… so nobles can stand in for a license but they need to have one to do so?”

“Eh… it’s a little bit more complicated then that?” offered Nixilei. “You need to have some authority of a region AND be in good standing with the adventurers guild, as well as have proof that you’re competent enough personally you can recommend them. It’s usually for like… apprentices and stuff. Technically they don’t need to be the same person in truth. If you have a noble, and a teacher, they can come in together and sign off on the paperwork but… in practice it tends not to be allowed unless they’re the same person,”

“A political thing?” asked Lily as she transformed. Now that they were off in their own room it was time to stretch a bit more. Depending on how things went, Lily knew she’d have to interact with the actors around the place. Perhaps as a sneaky way to grab stuff while Kat was keeping someone busy, or just to save time once things got more serious later on.

“Yes,” admitted Nixilei. “It’s one of the few ways pressure is exerted by both the kingdoms and the adventurers guild. Nobody really minds because getting a guild license is easy… but you can track guild cards. It’s not the most common knowledge but plenty of people do know. Nobody is sure if there’s more to it than just tracking the cards… but that’s the risk you run signing up as an adventurer,”

“And… you signed up?” asked Kat with a raised eyebrow.

Nixilei nodded. “I did. I can do plenty of spying while in a place on official business or simply leave my card somewhere else, or have it carried by someone that isn’t me… though that last one doesn’t work long because the card can tell when it hasn’t been refreshed by your mana for extended periods of time.

“Anyway…” Nixilei shook her head a few times. “It’s one of the few ways in which people force the issue. The idea is that if you’re strong enough to join the tournament, and important enough to win? The kingdoms want to have at least some idea of who and what you are. Nobody who knows truly minds unless they have nefarious plans… and we don’t really care about their opinions for obvious reasons,”

“How did the adventurers guild come about anyway?” asked Lily.

“It’s a bit of a long story if you want to get into the details,” said Gareth. “The short version though? The kingdoms needed a system that wasn’t quite so… limited. If we were to work together we needed a reason for people to cross borders, a way to monitor them and jobs for them to perform. Monsters used to be a much bigger problem. Not to say that they’ve been dealt with… not at all…

“But before it was mostly armies, local militia and the occasional mercenary company that went about dealing with them. It was sporadic and not all that helpful unless you happened to leave near something important. The adventurers system helped fix that and gave a path to power for a lot of people. Helps prevents wars… or so they say,”

Kat could sort of see it. If the strongest power in the land was mostly neutral it would be hard to attack anyone without repercussions. Plus, the adventurers guild was so spread out and… non-intrusive? Not all that political? They stayed in their lane and the kingdoms were fine with it. For now at least. Kat was sure that any one kingdom could deal with the adventurers guild within their lands if they had to. It would be easy. Just don’t also go after the adventurers themselves.

Kress clicked his fingers a few times to grab attention to himself. “Right that’s all fascinating but we don’t have forever to plan this out. Skye’s team is ideal to partner up with sure… but what about everyone else? Are we willing to risk it? Can we afford not to? We’ve got no idea how many others are going to team up or not. Are there individual people we feel safe joining up with? There are plenty of things to cover still,”

Kress waited for someone else to speak up but eventually had to sigh. “Alright fine, I’ll go first. If we see Long then I’m teaming up with him. Nobody who treats a dog as well as he does would be willing to cheat so blatantly. At the very least, they won’t have told him what they’re doing behind his back,”

“He’s an insane combatant,” countered Nixilei. “Like, actually insane. He’s a proper berserker,”

“I fail to see how that contradicts what I already said. Besides, wouldn’t you rather have that on OUR team?” offered Kress.

Nixilei sighed, “I… hmm… well… I guess I could accept teaming up with him even if not for the same reasons,”

“Because you think you can manipulate him right?” asked Kress. Nixilei glared back at him. “Right?” Nixilei sighed and looked away.

“So does that go for the brother sister duo as well then?” asked Kat. “They’ve got wolves after all,”

“I’m gonna say… no. They’re more loyal to their pack then anyone else and if they have to cheat for the good of the pack I’m sure they would,” answered Kress.

“They’re less dangerous then Long! His ‘dog’ is a monster that’s probably caused way more casualties,” interjected Green.

“I once again, fail to see how any of that contradicts what I said. Sure maybe the pair will both be aggressive, and I’m not saying it’d be EASY to team up with them… just that I totally would. I feel like I joined up with the wolf twins-“

“They aren’t twins,” interjected Nixilei.

“THE WOLF TWINS,” continued Kress with a glare. “They’d end up betraying me,” Funnily enough it didn’t trigger Kat’s lie detection, despite knowing they weren’t twins. *I wonder why that is?*

[Probably because Kress thinks of them as the ‘Wolf Twins’ in his head? Like, that’s his name for them even if factually speaking they aren’t twins.]

*I suppose that makes sense.*

“What about the real twins?” asked Gareth, trying to shift the topic. “The fae ones with the rabbit,”

“Hmm…” Kress murmured unsure. “Can’t decide if they’d be super sweet or secretly evil. Could be either,”

“Of course,” agreed Gareth with a sigh. “Why did I think sorting this out would be easy?”