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Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 65 – Scene of the Crime
🕑 Added 2023-10-22 05:57:58 +0000 UTC
The first sensation Elania became aware of was the feeling of something warm and soft pressed against her. Then the soft thing elbowed her in the side and moved. Her eyes fluttered open to find a pair of curious emerald eyes staring at her from a nose-length away. Yolani was awake.
“Hey,” Yolani murmured softly, her voice carrying an underlying strength that hadn’t been there the previous night.
Arm still around the other girl, she felt absolutely frozen from the proximity. Elania swallowed. “You feeling better?”
Yolani examined her face for a few seconds before replying. “Still tired, but… yeah. Better.”
A rush of relief washed over Elania as she took in Yolani’s improving condition. In the back of her mind, she partly blamed herself for things, and the guilt had been secretly hitting at her. She reached out instinctively, brushing a few loose strands away from the other girl’s face to tuck them behind an ear. “That’s good.”
Yolani’s cheeks took on some color as she sat up. “Did we… did we get the mana shards?”
Elania sat up, too, both of them facing in opposite directions. “Do you not remember when we talked last night?”
“Nothing much after the blast… a fuzzy bit where you carried me,” Yolani answered.
[Memory loss is an expected symptom of the received physical damage and degree of soul exhaustion.]
Yolani head turned to the sword. “The sword talks,” she said matter-of-factly.
Elania filled her in quickly.
They were left with the serious question of what came next.
“I think we ought to go after Relain,” Elania declared decidedly. “If we can get back those mana shards, or prove that he was involved with the Black Candle and the shortage somehow, then it might be enough.”
Yolani looked at her skeptically. “The Magistry is probably the most guarded place in Neftasu, with tons of artifice wardings,” she pointed out cautiously.
An impish grin tugged at one corner of Elania’s mouth. “I can’t think of a better person to be teamed up with for dealing with that.”
Yolani huffed but didn’t deny it—instead, there was something almost calculating in her gaze, as if gears had started turning in her mind despite everything they had gone through. It was fascinating to watch, and Elania couldn’t help but feel a twinge of admiration.
“What would we need?” Elania finally prompted, leaning back on the headboard as she studied Yolani with interest.
Yolani considered it for a while before relaxing back on the bed as well, her fingers tracing patterns on the bedsheet absently. “We lost most of my kit. We would need some of my equipment from the shop if it is still there,” she finally admitted. “We’ll have to go back…”
Elania tilted her head, feeling confident in that, at least. “I think we can manage that. We’ll probably want to wait until night, though.”
“There’s curfew at night,” Yolani reminded her.
Elania nodded. “Fewer people, too. I got a new skill, and your invisibility cloak is resilient.”
Yolani’s eyes lit up. “It survived? Wait. Who named it ‘invisibility cloak?’ That’s not what it does!”
Elania laughed.
Night found them still at the inn, having spent the day resting. Elania had even managed to pay Jark several silvers to go get them a meal. He grumbled but came back with two plates of [Ralfot] meat and some kind of starchy vegetables that Yolani liked. It was simple fare, but wholesome.
As Elania collected Eziel and their belongings, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of apprehension. Their plans tended to get derailed.
Jark grunted as they came down the stairs. “No refunds.”
Elania waved acknowledgement and followed Yolani out onto the street.
The journey back into the sewer system was considerably less challenging, simply because of Yolani’s improved condition. This time, they both had two small pieces of paper to plug their nose to combat the smell.
When they reached the shanty town they had stumbled upon before, they found a scene of desolation with visible signs of destruction strewn everywhere—bloodied pieces of clothing, splintered wood from the shelters, ravaged metal and scattered belongings.
But no bodies.
They passed through the area in a hurry and without talking. When they reached the narrowing tunnel that marked the transition between the Artisan and Mercenary Districts, Elania grunted.
“It’s weird,” she mused aloud as they were forced to splash into the muck as the walkway disappeared. “For a city that prides itself so much on the gate security… why leave such a glaring weak point like these sewers?”
Yolani shook her head absently in agreement. “I never really thought about it,” she admitted, with a slight frown creasing her forehead. “Probably someone benefits from it.”
Elania nodded. “We probably should scope out your shop from above ground first,” she suggested. “Just to get an idea of what we might be walking into.”
A nod came from Yolani. “That’s a good idea. I don’t like the thought of coming up the sewer drain into a crowd of Guards.”
Yolani diverted them down a different tunnel than Elania remembered them coming through and [Navigation] ensured that she remembered every turn. The exit point they used was up a ladder, emerging in a dark alley. Tugging the noseplugs was a breath of fresh air, quite literally.
They quietly replaced the metal cover, and Yolani tugged the concealment cape around her shoulders. Closing her eyes, Elania focused on the same method as the night prior, pouring a trickle of [Power] into her new [Presence Concealment] skill.
Yolani pointed toward a shadowy side street, and they shared a silent nod. They didn’t have to go far before they were standing across from the security gate on Artificer’s Row. Elania picked out the Ironfist mercenary guards stationed there immediately. She didn’t think they’d give them any trouble.
Before she could make a move, Yolani’s hand rested on her arm to stop her. “Wait,” she whispered urgently. “I don’t want to get them into trouble. I know another way.”
Well, why hadn’t you mentioned it earlier? Elania nodded anyway, trusting Yolani’s judgement. It was possible the gate was being watched, and if there was a way around it, then it made sense to avoid contact anyway.
They weaved their way through the back streets before crossing the main throughway to another mazelike section of back alleys. Eventually, they worked their way around to what Elania expected was the Row. She was right. Yolani pointed to a dead end.
“Up there,” Yolani directed. “There is a flat spot. Can you climb up?”
Elania nodded. It was twice as tall as a person, but a powerful leap let her clear it easily. She laid down on her belly and reached for Yolani’s raised hand, and pulled the other girl up to join her.
Then came jumping down on the other side, which landed them in an alley that led straight to the main street she remembered, just considerably darker.
Elania shook her head. “Seems like security is pretty lax everywhere with all kinds of built in pass-throughs,” she commented lightly.
Yolani grunted before answering. “I only used this one once, when I was in trouble with…dad and avoiding the guards.”
Questions popped up into Elania’s head. Why had Yolani been avoiding curfew? Was she okay? She’d just lost her dad recently. It took an effort to suppress them in the interests of being silent as they exited the alley and pushed up toward the end of the street.
Aetherhart’s Artifice came into view, but it was not the sight that Elania remembered. A large round hole had been blasted through the door, and it looked like part of the front wall had crumbled. Evidence of a clean-up of the debris in the street was strewn about, but no one had done anything for the rubble still inside the shop.
It seemed like no one was around, but as soon as they were about to step through the ruined entranceway, a voice rang out from behind them. “Halt!”
Elania and Yolani both pivoted toward the sound, Yolani pulling her wand and Elania reaching to her back to grab Eziel’s hilt.
A shadowy figure stepped forward, lit by an artifice lamp. The light lit up his face, revealing that it was Lucas.
“What are you two doing here?” He demanded, his eyes flicking between the pair in disbelief.
Both girls visibly relaxed.
“We need some things from the shop,” Elania explained.
“What happened to Henri?” Yolani asked.
Lucas looked between them, a frown appearing on his face. “He was arrested. I’m supposed to be watching this place… Alerting the others and the Guard if I spot anyone suspicious.”
Yolani bit her lip. “Lucas,” she pleaded quietly but firmly, “Just pretend you didn’t see us tonight.”
There was a momentary silence between the three of them that felt like it stretched until finally he nodded once and then turned around. “Must have been the wind.”
Elania immediately raised Lucas’ value in her mind by at least ten points. Once inside, they were greeted by a scene of chaos. Everything was turned over and flung about without any care or consideration. The way Yolani’s shoulders slumped said everything about how she felt.
Patting the other girl’s shoulder, Elania gave her a weak smile. “Hey. Once we get things sorted, I’ll help you clean and sort everything out.”
“Thanks for the support,” Yolani replied with her own sad smile.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Elania asked.
“I’m looking for things. You’re going to go upstairs and see if you can find us new boots,” Yolani ordered.
Elania nodded without protest, and they split up. The crunch of footsteps filled the shop as they both went about their own tasks. It didn’t take long for Elania to find a few pairs of boots; the wardrobe had been slashed to pieces and the things that had survived were strewn about in the open.
Matching the boots up was the challenging part. Trying on a pair, she was very pleased to find that Yolani’s shoe size was nearly identical to hers.
That left her with finding a new spot to hide her mana shard. Maybe Yolani would have an idea.
When she came back down, Yolani had a large bag already stuffed with things.
“What do we got?” Elania asked, holding up the boots.
Yolani didn’t look up at her as she pulled some stuff out from underneath a tipped over shelf. “Disarming wands, detection spells, combat wants.”
Elania blinked and looked at the massive bag. “But… what’s all this?”
Yolani looked up at her. “Bombs. Wall breakers. Portable Walls. Deployable Negation Fields.”
Those things sounded good. “Do you have a chain or something that I could use to hold my mana shard?”
“What?” Yolani replied sharply.
Elania pulled the shard out of her pocket and held it up. “I need to be able to wrap it and keep it close to my skin.”
Yolani stared at the shard like it was unthinkable. “You managed to grab one of the shards from the chest?”
Elania shook her head. “No. I’ve had it since I was summoned.”
“I…that’s what I needed to solve the contract. You had one the whole time,” Yolani whispered.
A frown appeared on Elania’s face. “You needed one? You didn’t mention it. I didn’t say anything about it because…well it’s saved my life more times than I can count and I wasn’t sure whether to trust you or not.”
Rubbing the side of her head, Elania frowned at the shard, then held it out to Yolani. “You can have it if you want.”
“No, no. It’s okay,” Yolani said, obviously distressed. “It stopped being the thing I needed when I blew up and assaulted my uncle.”
She went and began to dig into another pile of stuff before coming back with a silver chain with a loop. “You’ll want to wrap it in something and tie it to that.”
“Perfect,” Elania mumbled.
Yolani slipped on the clean pair of boots and then the dirty ones got thrown in a corner. “Before you wrap that up, I have something for you.”
Elania looked at her curiously. A tray of mana crystals came out. Then a second one. And a third.
“They left everything in here. You’re low on [Power] right? You can charge up, and we can put whatever excess we have left into the shard, too,” Yolani explained.
That was a lifesaver, and Elania pinched each crystal until her [Power] reached its maximum.
[Power: 409/409]
Yolani stuffed a handful of crystals into her pocket, then began to tap the shard against the remaining crystals. It quickly charged up to a quarter of the way as well. Considering it had been nearly depleted completely, that was a sizable amount.
“We’ll spend a lot of days recharging all of these,” Elania mused.
Yolani glanced at her while she wrapped the shard up, then handed it back. “You think we’ll make it back?”
Elania tried to give her an encouraging smile. “What’s your plan for getting into Relain’s office? Are we going to scope the place out before going in?”
Yolani shook her head. “We can’t afford to spend any time,” she replied. “Our resources are dwindling, and we’ll have to spend your energy to cloak ourselves through the entire district. Spending that time checking it out would just drain us further for when we get inside.”
Elania bit her lip. “We are not working with the best odds,” she admitted. She glanced at Yolani carefully before continuing. “What about leaving? Just…escaping Neftasu altogether?”
Yolani froze mid-step at Elania’s question, turning towards her with a frown that held an undercurrent of fear beneath its surface. “You could…” she began tentatively after a long pause, only to shake her head firmly, as if discarding an unwelcome thought.
“But I can’t run forever,” she added stubbornly, meeting Elania’s gaze fiercely despite the tears welling up in her eyes. “We’d be fugitives, and the shop…it was…it meant everything to us.”
Elania reached over and squeezed Yolani’s hand. “I’d only go if you went with me,” she confessed softly, leaving the unsaid the remainder of her thought—that she would follow Yolani wherever she chose to go. Even if that was straight into some scary place called the Magistry.
A confused look filled Yolani’s face as she squeezed Elania’s hand back. “But…why? We’ve only known each other a few days.”
A smile appeared on Elania’s face. “Because I like you.”
In more ways than one.
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