“Great Summoner, I’m sorry to …” One of the male dhampirs came and talked to me.
“Just Brian, please. I told you all that already.”
“... yes, Great Brian.”
“Just Brian.”
“... Brian?”
“Better, so what do you need?”
“Yes. There is a group of knights at the village entrance and they are asking for you. Would you go there?”
“Knights? Why would? Well, whatever. I’ll just go and ask.” I decided and got up. “Make sure someone keeps an eye on Lua.”
“Yes, of Gre… Brian.” The dhampir changed what he was about to call me, as I took a sharp glance at him.
It was the afternoon already. We had been in the village since basically sunrise, so we have been here for about 7-ish hours. Lua was still out and my monsters were taking care of her on their 2 hour shifts. The current duo looking over her were Water Omotics and Dancing Fairy.
Spoiler
I made sure one of the lady dhampirs stayed with Lua before I followed the male towards the village entrance.
“Mr. Brian. Are you alright? Is everything here fine?” A knight, or should I call him a noble, whom I was acquainted with asked as soon as he saw me.
“Lord Garner, why would you come all the way out here?” I asked.
Yes, the leader of the group of 10 knights was none other than the … is it knight captain? Commander? Whatever. Mateo Garner, a viscount, Angelina’s husband, Jonathan’s dad and knight captain.
“Answer my question first. Is everything alright? It seems fine, but I heard that you took off in a rush, so.”
“Eh? Is that why you are here? Well then you don’t have to worry. Everything regarding that is as fine as it can be. There are no monsters, or any other problems that I know about.”
“Alright. That is good news.”
“Don’t tell me you came all the way here just for that?” I asked. Sure I can sip here and back with Big Core in a matter of minutes, but having to ride a horse here would take … well depending on the horse probably about two hours or so.
“No, no. Of course not. I’ve been meaning to come visit ever since you told us about … the curing I think I should call it. We’ve just not been able to make time for that.” Mateo said. “And then my wife basically forced me to come, after she heard that there might be some kind of an emergency here. But it appears that was something simple for you.”
“Did she even tell you what the emergency was?”
“No. Just that you left for this village because of an emergency.”
“... alright. Well, I guess I can explain. Also, tell your knights to calm down a bit. They look like they will pass out if they stay that tense.” I told him, after noticing how all of the knights looked like they were basically ready for battle at any second. Their hands on their hilts of their swords, and their shields in their off-hand, instead of hanging on the horse like Mateo had his.
“I tried, but they aren’t exactly excited to be here with no protection from a vampire’s bane pendant.”
“... well, whatever. But they don’t need one. Ever since the curing, none of them have even attempted to … do things to me, and I’ve not worn that pendant once since then.”
“I’ll be sure to tell them that, but I’m not sure that will help at all.”
“... I don’t know if I should be surprised, or terrified by the fact that you summon monsters for something like that. And that your ‘monsters’ are so human looking.” Lord Garner commented, after I showed Lua to him and explained why I was here. Well, I might have cut out the evolution part, just claiming major level up sickness instead. It is up to Lua if she wants to tell people about her evolution.
“Maybe both. But I think most summoners with monsters like mine would do it.”
“Perhaps. But what about the mana? Won’t you run out, if you keep multiple monsters summoned for a long time?”
… does summoning cost mana? I guess it does. It is called summoning Magic. And magic costs mana. Well, Pack Opener doesn’t so…
“Luckily I have plenty, so I can manage.”
“I suppose when you can… do the things you do, something like mana issues won’t be issues.”
“And what would you be referring to?”
“... I think she said you call it … level up?”
“Oh, that. Yeah. Oops. Almost forgot that Angelina heard about that. Yeah. It does help.”
“Did that also cause this case of level up sickness?”
“Yes. It did.” I admitted, even if that isn’t entirely true.
“How many times can you use it, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I generally use two a day, to avoid any symptoms of level up sickness. But sometimes it still causes the symptoms, like with her and the dhampir girl I’m looking after.” I said, referring to both the currently sick Lua, and Ria who was sick a few days ago.
“I meant as a whole. For example, if you had 20 different people to use it on, could you do it?”
“Or ten knights, right? … yes. I can.” I admitted. In total, I have 151 copies of Level Up! in my collection at the moment. But not all of them have toploaders, only 10 do. But I do have a few spare toploaders, as Laura has been in the habit of leaving at least ten of them unused, in case I need some for new cards I want to use.
“Would you..?”
“No, not happening.” I answered, before even hearing the question.
“No, no. That’s not it. I didn’t want you to do anything on that level. I just wondered if you would be willing to use one on my son Jonathan. I won’t force you to do something like using them on the knights.”
“One, or one per day? Well, either works with me, as long as it is just on him.” I said. I don’t mind leveling up that kid. He is quite the hard worker based on everything I’ve seen.
“Thank you. How much will it cost?”
“... good question. I don’t really have a price, as this is the first time I’ve sold this service, so … offer something.”
“Would five gold coins per … level up suffice?”
5 huh? One copy of Upstart can get me up to five gold, so yeah. That does sound about right. And with a level up service like that, I might be able to explain where I’m getting all of my Upstart money.
“Sure. I think that will work.”
“Thank you. We will be in your debt.”
“Come on, it’s not that bad. By the way, will you and your knights need a ride home?”
“A ride? We have horses for that.”
“I meant something a bit faster, but whatever.”
“Oh? You meant on your airship.”
“Spaceship.”
“... I don’t know what the difference is. But can it really fit all ten of us? And what about the horses?”
“I think it should, but at the same time, that might be a bad idea. It is kind of a secret still, so.”
“So is the situation in this village, right? I only took some of the more trusted individuals with me. And after your show yesterday, I don’t think much will surprise our knights.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“No, definitely not. Don’t summon dragons because someone gives you slight sass.”
“But it's funny. Did you see the look on the assistant GM’s face?”
“No, I didn’t. And in all honesty, I don’t want to.”
“Oh? Well, that’s boring. But sure, I get it. No more dragons within the city.”
“Good. Thankfully you understand our point of view at least a little.”
“Was the damage that bad?”
“No. I think because of how little time that dragon was out. Most just ended up thinking it was just an illusion or some other magic trick. You know, some aspiring mage trying to show off in front of the guild.”
“Well, that’s kind of true though.”
“At least you will be paying us back with the ride home, right?”
“Yeah. Just do what you’ll need to do here and come find me. I’ll go to make sure my monsters stay summoned while I’m gone.” I said before the two of us headed our separate ways.
“So yeah. I’ll be gone for a bit, so I’ll have you summon the next two monsters to take care of Lua.” I told Ria.
“Of course. Just take care and come back soon.” Ria answered.
I was leaving a White Magician Pikeru and Neo Aqua Madoor with her.
Spoiler
“I’ll be back soon.”
“So, did you complete everything?” I asked Lord Garner.
“Well, I did talk a bit with everyone and they all seem extremely calm and under control, so I suppose what you informed us about is actually correct. Please don’t take that the wrong way. It’s just...”
“Don’t worry. I understand. You can’t trust things that everyone says should be impossible without checking it first.”
“Exactly. I’m actually somewhat glad that you picked up that dhampir girl as your slave. And decided to help her get through the process. In all honesty, she got a bit … infamous after her first two failed attempts, as the second time, we had to have a group of knights take her back here.”
“... was she really that bad?”
“She is strong. That in itself is not a bad thing. But that does make her more difficult to control. And she also picked a bad time to … frenzy, as it happened to involve a noble. Luckily no people got hurt, just a horse was sucked dry, so she was able to keep her head, but she gained a reputation from that. At least among the knights.”
“wow. I didn’t know that.”
“Perhaps you should talk with her more. But back on topic, if she is proved to be stable, I think a lot more people will accept that something really happened here. Most still won’t believe that you did what you did, but it might still help the general opinion.”
“And what is the general opinion about dhampirs?”
“... we, well most, tolerate them. We still need the flowers they grow, so we almost have to. We can’t really afford to not have them around. But still, most will keep their distance.”
“Well, as long as there is no major hate. But hey, I could always walk around the town … city, with a vampire escort squad. Some exposure therapy right there.”
“So you really can summon a vampire?”
“Do you want to see?”
“... is it bad? Or large? Will it cause a problem for the villagers?”
“Of course not. Lua summons vampires here basically every day.”
“The sick girl? She has that skill as well?”
“Depending on what you refer to. She has Card Summoner, a lesser version of my unique skill. It allows her to fully use my cards, but she can’t make new ones.”
“I see. I hadn’t heard about that part. Do you know everyone with that skill?”
“At the moment, I think so. And that skill is kind of useless, unless they get a card from me, so it shouldn’t matter. I do know everyone that has gotten a card.”
“Could I have a list of them?”
“... I’d prefer not. If it really is that important, I will, but you do realize that most of the things I give away are not quite as strong as the monsters I operate with. Because of reasons you would be worried about. Do you know every summoner living in Sawyer and what they can summon?”
“... alright. I understand. But most? Does that mean you’ve given away something you consider strong?”
“... yeah. Two of them.”
“And might I ask?”
“Christina and Brandon Watchman. I gave them both decently strong monsters so they could protect Alewatch in case of an emergency.” I guess there is also the Wingweaver which I gave to Zay, but is it that strong? Yeah, I know it is, but as it doesn’t break 3000 attack, I don’t think I have to mention it. What do you mean neither does Buster Blader? It does as long as there is at least one dragon present.
“Oh. I see. Then there should be no issue. Also, I don’t think I need to see these vampires. If you say you can summon them, I might as well believe that. That isn’t the most unbelievable part about you.”
I summoned Big Core and we fitted everyone inside. I did get a bit cramped, because horses are large and we did have to take people up one, well one person and one horse, at a time.
And I don’t think I have to mention how they reacted. They, well, it definitely added to the chaos. Surprisingly, the horses didn’t react much at all. I guess animals are better at the ‘that just happened’ thing.
Animals? Are horses animals? Or are they monsters? Do they have a monster core? And if they don’t, do they have the system? What keeps them safe from miasma?
They are probably monsters, right? The boars around Alewatch are, I think. Even though they are basically free grazing farm animals.
Anyway. I only let Lord Garner into the control room but the rest of the knights, just for safety reasons, were either with the horses in the cargo hold, or loitering on the passage ways, if they didn’t feel like hugging their horse.
I dropped them off little ways away from the city walls, Lord Garner thanked me for it and I drove my ship back to the dhampir town.
“Still nothing?” I asked Ria.
“No. She has been sleeping for the entire time you’ve been away.”
“I guess an evolution takes its time.”
Well, I’ll just have to spend the night here. That won’t be a problem, as I did consider that a possibility. And with Mystik Wok, I have food.
I leveled both myself and Ria up in the evening. I did consider leveling up the villagers, but maybe I shouldn’t. We don’t want another person sick.
For myself, I leveled up Telekinesis. It was either that or Mana Control, but I think one more level in Telekinesis will be better at this moment. For Ria, Power Boost. Just for extra strong punches.
Ria also reached LV.60. I really hope she won’t evolve or something. I don’t want another sick dhampir on my hands.
“Great Summoner, I’m sorry to …” One of the male dhampirs came and talked to me.
“Just Brian, please. I told you all that already.”
“... yes, Great Brian.”
“Just Brian.”
“... Brian?”
“Better, so what do you need?”
“Yes. There is a group of knights at the village entrance and they are asking for you. Would you go there?”
“Knights? Why would? Well, whatever. I’ll just go and ask.” I decided and got up. “Make sure someone keeps an eye on Lua.”
“Yes, of Gre… Brian.” The dhampir changed what he was about to call me, as I took a sharp glance at him.
It was the afternoon already. We had been in the village since basically sunrise, so we have been here for about 7-ish hours. Lua was still out and my monsters were taking care of her on their 2 hour shifts. The current duo looking over her were Water Omotics and Dancing Fairy.
Spoiler
I made sure one of the lady dhampirs stayed with Lua before I followed the male towards the village entrance.
“Mr. Brian. Are you alright? Is everything here fine?” A knight, or should I call him a noble, whom I was acquainted with asked as soon as he saw me.
“Lord Garner, why would you come all the way out here?” I asked.
Yes, the leader of the group of 10 knights was none other than the … is it knight captain? Commander? Whatever. Mateo Garner, a viscount, Angelina’s husband, Jonathan’s dad and knight captain.
“Answer my question first. Is everything alright? It seems fine, but I heard that you took off in a rush, so.”
“Eh? Is that why you are here? Well then you don’t have to worry. Everything regarding that is as fine as it can be. There are no monsters, or any other problems that I know about.”
“Alright. That is good news.”
“Don’t tell me you came all the way here just for that?” I asked. Sure I can sip here and back with Big Core in a matter of minutes, but having to ride a horse here would take … well depending on the horse probably about two hours or so.
“No, no. Of course not. I’ve been meaning to come visit ever since you told us about … the curing I think I should call it. We’ve just not been able to make time for that.” Mateo said. “And then my wife basically forced me to come, after she heard that there might be some kind of an emergency here. But it appears that was something simple for you.”
“Did she even tell you what the emergency was?”
“No. Just that you left for this village because of an emergency.”
“... alright. Well, I guess I can explain. Also, tell your knights to calm down a bit. They look like they will pass out if they stay that tense.” I told him, after noticing how all of the knights looked like they were basically ready for battle at any second. Their hands on their hilts of their swords, and their shields in their off-hand, instead of hanging on the horse like Mateo had his.
“I tried, but they aren’t exactly excited to be here with no protection from a vampire’s bane pendant.”
“... well, whatever. But they don’t need one. Ever since the curing, none of them have even attempted to … do things to me, and I’ve not worn that pendant once since then.”
“I’ll be sure to tell them that, but I’m not sure that will help at all.”
“... I don’t know if I should be surprised, or terrified by the fact that you summon monsters for something like that. And that your ‘monsters’ are so human looking.” Lord Garner commented, after I showed Lua to him and explained why I was here. Well, I might have cut out the evolution part, just claiming major level up sickness instead. It is up to Lua if she wants to tell people about her evolution.
“Maybe both. But I think most summoners with monsters like mine would do it.”
“Perhaps. But what about the mana? Won’t you run out, if you keep multiple monsters summoned for a long time?”
… does summoning cost mana? I guess it does. It is called summoning Magic. And magic costs mana. Well, Pack Opener doesn’t so…
“Luckily I have plenty, so I can manage.”
“I suppose when you can… do the things you do, something like mana issues won’t be issues.”
“And what would you be referring to?”
“... I think she said you call it … level up?”
“Oh, that. Yeah. Oops. Almost forgot that Angelina heard about that. Yeah. It does help.”
“Did that also cause this case of level up sickness?”
“Yes. It did.” I admitted, even if that isn’t entirely true.
“How many times can you use it, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I generally use two a day, to avoid any symptoms of level up sickness. But sometimes it still causes the symptoms, like with her and the dhampir girl I’m looking after.” I said, referring to both the currently sick Lua, and Ria who was sick a few days ago.
“I meant as a whole. For example, if you had 20 different people to use it on, could you do it?”
“Or ten knights, right? … yes. I can.” I admitted. In total, I have 151 copies of Level Up! in my collection at the moment. But not all of them have toploaders, only 10 do. But I do have a few spare toploaders, as Laura has been in the habit of leaving at least ten of them unused, in case I need some for new cards I want to use.
“Would you..?”
“No, not happening.” I answered, before even hearing the question.
“No, no. That’s not it. I didn’t want you to do anything on that level. I just wondered if you would be willing to use one on my son Jonathan. I won’t force you to do something like using them on the knights.”
“One, or one per day? Well, either works with me, as long as it is just on him.” I said. I don’t mind leveling up that kid. He is quite the hard worker based on everything I’ve seen.
“Thank you. How much will it cost?”
“... good question. I don’t really have a price, as this is the first time I’ve sold this service, so … offer something.”
“Would five gold coins per … level up suffice?”
5 huh? One copy of Upstart can get me up to five gold, so yeah. That does sound about right. And with a level up service like that, I might be able to explain where I’m getting all of my Upstart money.
“Sure. I think that will work.”
“Thank you. We will be in your debt.”
“Come on, it’s not that bad. By the way, will you and your knights need a ride home?”
“A ride? We have horses for that.”
“I meant something a bit faster, but whatever.”
“Oh? You meant on your airship.”
“Spaceship.”
“... I don’t know what the difference is. But can it really fit all ten of us? And what about the horses?”
“I think it should, but at the same time, that might be a bad idea. It is kind of a secret still, so.”
“So is the situation in this village, right? I only took some of the more trusted individuals with me. And after your show yesterday, I don’t think much will surprise our knights.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“No, definitely not. Don’t summon dragons because someone gives you slight sass.”
“But it's funny. Did you see the look on the assistant GM’s face?”
“No, I didn’t. And in all honesty, I don’t want to.”
“Oh? Well, that’s boring. But sure, I get it. No more dragons within the city.”
“Good. Thankfully you understand our point of view at least a little.”
“Was the damage that bad?”
“No. I think because of how little time that dragon was out. Most just ended up thinking it was just an illusion or some other magic trick. You know, some aspiring mage trying to show off in front of the guild.”
“Well, that’s kind of true though.”
“At least you will be paying us back with the ride home, right?”
“Yeah. Just do what you’ll need to do here and come find me. I’ll go to make sure my monsters stay summoned while I’m gone.” I said before the two of us headed our separate ways.
“So yeah. I’ll be gone for a bit, so I’ll have you summon the next two monsters to take care of Lua.” I told Ria.
“Of course. Just take care and come back soon.” Ria answered.
I was leaving a White Magician Pikeru and Neo Aqua Madoor with her.
Spoiler
“I’ll be back soon.”
“So, did you complete everything?” I asked Lord Garner.
“Well, I did talk a bit with everyone and they all seem extremely calm and under control, so I suppose what you informed us about is actually correct. Please don’t take that the wrong way. It’s just...”
“Don’t worry. I understand. You can’t trust things that everyone says should be impossible without checking it first.”
“Exactly. I’m actually somewhat glad that you picked up that dhampir girl as your slave. And decided to help her get through the process. In all honesty, she got a bit … infamous after her first two failed attempts, as the second time, we had to have a group of knights take her back here.”
“... was she really that bad?”
“She is strong. That in itself is not a bad thing. But that does make her more difficult to control. And she also picked a bad time to … frenzy, as it happened to involve a noble. Luckily no people got hurt, just a horse was sucked dry, so she was able to keep her head, but she gained a reputation from that. At least among the knights.”
“wow. I didn’t know that.”
“Perhaps you should talk with her more. But back on topic, if she is proved to be stable, I think a lot more people will accept that something really happened here. Most still won’t believe that you did what you did, but it might still help the general opinion.”
“And what is the general opinion about dhampirs?”
“... we, well most, tolerate them. We still need the flowers they grow, so we almost have to. We can’t really afford to not have them around. But still, most will keep their distance.”
“Well, as long as there is no major hate. But hey, I could always walk around the town … city, with a vampire escort squad. Some exposure therapy right there.”
“So you really can summon a vampire?”
“Do you want to see?”
“... is it bad? Or large? Will it cause a problem for the villagers?”
“Of course not. Lua summons vampires here basically every day.”
“The sick girl? She has that skill as well?”
“Depending on what you refer to. She has Card Summoner, a lesser version of my unique skill. It allows her to fully use my cards, but she can’t make new ones.”
“I see. I hadn’t heard about that part. Do you know everyone with that skill?”
“At the moment, I think so. And that skill is kind of useless, unless they get a card from me, so it shouldn’t matter. I do know everyone that has gotten a card.”
“Could I have a list of them?”
“... I’d prefer not. If it really is that important, I will, but you do realize that most of the things I give away are not quite as strong as the monsters I operate with. Because of reasons you would be worried about. Do you know every summoner living in Sawyer and what they can summon?”
“... alright. I understand. But most? Does that mean you’ve given away something you consider strong?”
“... yeah. Two of them.”
“And might I ask?”
“Christina and Brandon Watchman. I gave them both decently strong monsters so they could protect Alewatch in case of an emergency.” I guess there is also the Wingweaver which I gave to Zay, but is it that strong? Yeah, I know it is, but as it doesn’t break 3000 attack, I don’t think I have to mention it. What do you mean neither does Buster Blader? It does as long as there is at least one dragon present.
“Oh. I see. Then there should be no issue. Also, I don’t think I need to see these vampires. If you say you can summon them, I might as well believe that. That isn’t the most unbelievable part about you.”
I summoned Big Core and we fitted everyone inside. I did get a bit cramped, because horses are large and we did have to take people up one, well one person and one horse, at a time.
And I don’t think I have to mention how they reacted. They, well, it definitely added to the chaos. Surprisingly, the horses didn’t react much at all. I guess animals are better at the ‘that just happened’ thing.
Animals? Are horses animals? Or are they monsters? Do they have a monster core? And if they don’t, do they have the system? What keeps them safe from miasma?
They are probably monsters, right? The boars around Alewatch are, I think. Even though they are basically free grazing farm animals.
Anyway. I only let Lord Garner into the control room but the rest of the knights, just for safety reasons, were either with the horses in the cargo hold, or loitering on the passage ways, if they didn’t feel like hugging their horse.
I dropped them off little ways away from the city walls, Lord Garner thanked me for it and I drove my ship back to the dhampir town.
“Still nothing?” I asked Ria.
“No. She has been sleeping for the entire time you’ve been away.”
“I guess an evolution takes its time.”
Well, I’ll just have to spend the night here. That won’t be a problem, as I did consider that a possibility. And with Mystik Wok, I have food.
I leveled both myself and Ria up in the evening. I did consider leveling up the villagers, but maybe I shouldn’t. We don’t want another person sick.
For myself, I leveled up Telekinesis. It was either that or Mana Control, but I think one more level in Telekinesis will be better at this moment. For Ria, Power Boost. Just for extra strong punches.
Ria also reached LV.60. I really hope she won’t evolve or something. I don’t want another sick dhampir on my hands.
