Chapter 5 - Section 4 - Summoning
The next hour flew by in a matter of moments, we collected what little was in our rented house before dropping the key off at the guild, making our way towards the Salide Manor, a few blocks away however I was hauled off the main street and into an alley by someone wearing a full length cloak and hood.
"What are you doing here?"
"That voice? Raisa… what am I doing here? What are you doing, we were on our way to see you actually"
"Really with what's going on in this city right now you're just non-chalantly walking about"
"You mean because of the Marquis?"
"Yeah I mean him, wait how do you… never mind I doesn't matter all that does is we need to get out of the city ASAP"
"And how do you plan for us to do that? Prim's not exactly suited to long distance travel by foot" "I can give you a carriage, and with your 'power' you can summon some mounts to pull it right?" "A carriage?" "Yes not like a nobles or anything just a covered wagon really, but can you do it?" "Yeah I think so I've never tried so I'd have to wait to find out" "Good then follow me but keep your hoods up so no one see's us" "Better idea, Shenron cast an illusion so the three of us look totally different and wearing normal clothes" 'Vwoom'
"Oh yeah right I forgot about that" The three of us made our way to the back of the Salide manor where a covered wagon was waiting parked just outside the warehouse/garage.
"You're sure it's ok to take this?" "Yes yes, considering how much profit we made gifting you a wagon means nothing to me" "Well alright then" Placing a hand on the wagon, before casting a Tier 1 Shadow magic spell Cover which enveloped the entire wagon in what looked like a black draped cloth before I pulled it into my inventory, dispelling the cloth right after so it would look like the spell had stored away the wagon, since up till now I'd been using the excuse of having a magic bag to store everything instead, which a wagon wouldn't fit in no matter how large a magic bag it might be.
Now that we had a wagon the three of us headed for the main gate, the closer we got the more people we saw being arrested or chased after by the knights with blue colorings.
As we tried to leave a pair of knights stopped us.
"And just where do you think you kiddo's are off to, huh?" "OH! Um Mister, no ummm Sir Knight" Giving a really deep bow to the point of almost falling over.
"We got this job from the guild on over there to collect plants so we are headed over to the forest to get some now" "Herb collection is it? The forest is dangerous and they let you go alone?" At this point Raisa cut in.
"Geez Ichirou you gotta explain better the hot knights are all bothered now" The knights expressions changed to a hint of embarrassment to receive such a complement from a little girl before I continued.
Prim and Raisa didn't know why but the illusion I had Shenron cast on the three of us was to make us all look like little kids the most inconspicuous of hiding places while in plain sight.
"We gots tah go our mommy is sick and we don't have money for the medicine but they told us if we got the stuff they'd give it to us, along with some coppers" One of the knights leaned in to whisper something to the other, Raisa meanwhile kept up her young girl enraptured act, to the point I swear I could see hearts in her eyes, Prim meanwhile never let go of my sleeve shyly hiding herself behind me.
"Alright you can go, but on one condition young man" Thrusting his arm out the knight held a roughly carved wooden sword.
"And that is that you take this and protect your sisters to the very end if need be you understand? That's the duty of a knight" "Ahhhh" Raisa let loose a little squeal and I just clumsily accepted the sword before we carried on through the gate Raisa waving madly the whole time towards the Knights who turned away pretending not to see.
As we walked on a thought occurred to me.
"So… um Raisa, I got a question here" "Uh huh what is it? Dear Brother" Still keeping the act up she proceeded to poke my arms and shoulder.
"What's your plan to get back to the city now that you're outside? I mean we could fake a monster attack and get you to run back covered in blood until you get home to dispel the illusion, I kinda thought the plan was for you to wave us off at the gate." "What? Wait why would we do that, I'm coming with you wasn't that clear?" Both Prim and Raisa carried on walking as my feet stopped hearing the news.
At once they both turned around to look at me
"Guess you never told him?" "Well you didn't either!" In the end I accepted the situation since Raisa threatened to have me return the wagon if she wasn't allowed to come, which since we were still under the illusion would just look like a small sibling spat from afar but up close Riasa was just reveling in the fact she could break out in a bratty streak in public without anyone other than us knowing it was her.
As our walk continued a discussion was sparked between Raisa and Prim about something I'd said before.
"Hey Raisa" "Yeah what's up?" "Do you know the names of all the gods?" "Pretty sure I do, why?" "Have you heard of one called Hecate?" At this mention a cold sweat broke out on my back, at the mention of a goddess's name she'd never heard Raisa's head whipped around to stare at me before returning to Prim.
"Hmm that's not a God or Goddess I am aware of do you know what their domain is?" "I'm not really sure exactly but 'he'" Jerking a thumb towards me.
"Said she was the goddess of magic, and I was just curious cause that's who the mister worships" "Is that riiiiight?" Rolling her head dramatically backwards to once again stare at me.
"So 'Mister' who's this Hecate of yours?" 'Sigh'
"She's the goddess of magic, among other things" Choosing to not reveal a taboo magic practice among the domains of the goddess.
"Which magic?" "Huh what do you mean?" "What do you mean what do I mean? Wind, Water, Fire, Terra, Holy, Shadow?" Starting to list off the six magical veins of this world.
"Uh no she's just the goddess of magic, as in all magic not just a specific type" "WHAT! So she's a High goddess then?" "Nope, from what I know she's just a lesser goddess" "Goddess of all magic but only a lesser goddess that doesn't even make any sense at all" Our discussion continued but it was still limited since the big reveal had yet to occur with Prim as of yet, which since I was still hiding quite a bit during our talks Raisa must've picked up on the fact I hadn't informed her yet.
We walked until the city was no longer in sight, Shenron left my side to fly into the air and act as surveillance to see if anyone was following us.
"The suns are setting so we should make camp for the night in the forest" "I, is that really safe?" "Don't worry about it this guy has plenty of tricks up his sleeve" "You mean those puppies of his?" "Puppies… er well yeah sort of, he has higher tier summons than those like the divine beast he can call upon" "REALLY! That's amazing" Prim's head whipped around so violently I thought it might snap off.
"Uh yeah, once we make camp for the night I'll explain but there are going to be conditions, Raisa here already has agreed to them so it's not exactly anything you need to worry about" "Trust me the conditions are fine, and better yet what you stand to gain will blow your mind" "Heh he well that might be tough my mind's already been blown today" Our party stopped our advance as soon as we'd entered the forest, Shenron placed down a barrier for us so that no monsters could attack us during the night.
After pulling equipment out of my storage via my magic bag we setup a basic camp using the tent I had and strung it up from the tree's rather than setting up in the field, after placing branches and leaves as natural cover. Circling around I saw the girls finishing up the creation of a stone fire pit, with a sizable pile of firewood nearby cut down from nearby trees.
Seeing me emerge from behind the tent, Prim came bounding over all bubbly clearly the anticipation of the big reveal was very nearly killing her.
Not to cause her further torture, but I went about setting up the logs and setting them alight with a simple spell [Firelight], as the flames began to grow and the fire was in full force.
Prim and Raisa tended to it meanwhile I setup my inventory to perform a quick change to swap out my robes for my standard Black with silver, black pants, and black colored shirt once I'd finished reverting to my base Satou form.
Lastly I gripped the Cosmetic orb in hand before crushing it, being enveloped in light before once again emerging as Satou, then crushing a second orb to rename myself.
"Mmm yeah this is a much better look on you Satou!" "Satou…?" "Mhmmm" "Erm yeah that's my real name, nice to meet you again Komtesse thanks for helping me break out of the dungeon" "uh...…" "Oh also best we rip the bandage off early, but I have a unique skill" Her shock was pretty apparent but I think it's mostly because she heard the rumors about how I'd left the city and the person Raisa had led her to was Cyrus which neither of us broke character on.
Pointing over to the tent, since she'd been checking it out already the fabric was foreign to her and blocked out wind so she was super interested but even more so on the bedrolls (Futons) pillows and blankets I'd setup inside.
Prim sat there on a log with her mouth hanging open, so I went about pulling our supper item out of my inventory and handing out wooden carved plates, bowls, and cutlery I'd fashioned myself.
Not holding back I didn't try to hide it having them all materialize directly to my hands rather than faking it, by making it look like I was pulling them out of a bag. As each item came out her eyes opened wider and wider.
Lastly when the pot of store-bought stew came out in a heavy cast iron pot with a sealing lid, with a wooden ladle sticking out the top.
"Oh come on Satou, don't you think we should let the kids eat too?" Tilting my head to the side, at Raisa's request she then started slowly incanting the summoning incantation I'd provided her.
"Summon: Ruby" 'Ah'
"Summon: Kurama" Our summons ended at the same time and two flashes of light appeared until they faded leaving behind the Albino Kobold in a simple dress, and a Fox-Kin Child still dressed in her Noble party wear.
'Thud'
Looking across I could see that Prim had fallen over backward from the log she was sitting on, Ruby quickly rushed over, while Kurama repeatedly pounded her tiny fists on my back in a temper tantrum.
"Kura, please it wasn't his fault, Satou's magic got sealed and then had to go into hiding so he couldn't bring you out until now" "Weally?" "I even saw him cry a couple of times, cause he missed you" That's a lie, sure I was crying a couple times Raisa came over but that's cause I was cutting a ton of orion's which are this world's onions and my eyes were on literal fire, serves me right for offering to cook for Raisa one of my experimental dishes on her many visits to the rental home.
"Aweeee , Forgive" 'Wump'
Without even needing to turn around I could tell this had placated the assault which instead now turned into a body slam/hug.
Without waiting the three of us decided not to wait longer and just started to dish out the soup.
While we started eating Prim had recovered enough to join us being flanked on either side by the kobolds, but she ate slow as she bombarded Raisa with more and more questions about the mysterious summons, the foods, and the fact that Kurama who was re-introduced as a Kobold same as Ruby could talk.
I only half-listened to all this mechanically eating my own stew whilst browsing my way through the store further.
[If we're going to be leaving as a group like's been suggested our carriage will do for transportation, but I should really think about getting a proper driver, since putting any of the girls in the driver seat alone or even together could spur further bandit involvement which I'd rather avoid, since Prim is actually 16 years old and I'd rather not expose her to the trauma of watching people get killed until she can handle watching monsters die first]
'Flash Flash'
[oh look at that, a new section within the store maybe this is a perk of my Rank up? I haven't really been in the store at all lately since I've been working with real work materials in order to level up my skills, and the durability of my equipment is more than enough for the work here]
Clicking the section, which gives a visual like I'm walking down the street and into the noble shopping district, In the game Pay-Shop was separated by Currency value, 1-10$ items could be found in what was commonly referred to as the junk district, the next one was the most commonly used allowing purchases of items that ranged from 10-100$, there was a level beyond that which was the stuff of dreams since items there could cost you 100-5000$ but the purchase of even a single one of those items used properly could catapult you to the top of the gaming charts.
After the animation finished I was presented with two store options, one had the ingame fluttering flag of the Ingame Adventurers guild this was the place you'd go to register for the creation of your own guild.
The other was the Lonely Shop, called that since only solo players ever bothered purchasing from there.
The shop was rare since you could purchase and create Non-Playable Character's (NPC) at first the game was riddled with controversy when the shop was released since everyone claimed they were endorsing Bot's within the game, which ruin the playing experience since bots would just endlessly farm ingredients, or materials completely clearing the hunting grounds making it impossible for regular players to secure what they needed.
But the game fixed this problem, but only allowing you to create your Non-Playable Character's for direct combat, they would be fully customizable by the player, and levels assigned to them but they would only follow the Player as companions as if they were in a party of players.
That being said each one would only react to situations as their programming allowed so unless you were a skilled player/programmer any NPC party creation would be far less effective than creating a player party.
[Hmm an NPC could actually do all kinds of good, since their just a creation that can be replicated there's no real worry if their lost, similar to the summons and they can help just as much but how much they differ here from the game is a big question] Hesitating only for a moment I clicked to enter the shop.
Everything is as it should be, there's a wall of purchasable NPC Skins, the more exotic the Race the more costly it was.
[Human, Half-Elf, Drow, Dark Elf, High Elf, Dwarf, Elder Dwarf…]
As my eyes scanned the choices they finally settled on the cheapest of all the options since this would be a test to see how the system worked.
'Click'
{Homunculi chosen: Please select Gender} [Female]
{Enter Creation Name, and Full Disclosure} To get the process over with since if I took too long I'd get interrupted and have to start all over again, I just picked a boring name, and left the full disclosure as default.
Closing the menu, I looked to the side away from the others.
"Summon: Homunculi 'Tetsuto'" 'Flaaaaash'
A slightly longer protracted light flashed before us, I felt bad for not warning everyone else as they threw their hands up to shield their eyes from the Flash bang grenade that just went off.
When the light finally settled, I was shocked by what I saw… At least for a second until a fuzzy pair of hands wrapped around my head covering my head, from the weight on the back of my head, I can assume Kurama had jumped up and was holding on as tight as she could.
It wasn't without reason, since the other girls were all now scrambling from what I could tell by sound alone they were rushing the newly arrived summon into the tent.
This rush was caused by the reckless summon, a Humunculi is an artificial human creation like a living doll or a flesh golem, but unlike in the game which had minimum equipment applied to all this newly summoned creature was stark naked.
Which did confuse me quite a bit since the summon was made by the system so it should follow the same rules as it, but the summon I chose was female so my eyes needed to be shielded, but I don't know perhaps the group had gotten the wrong idea since from their perspective I just randomly summoned a naked lady into the middle of our camp.
Only a short while passed before my sight was returned to me, as the girls with heavily flushed faces led the young woman wearing a simple set of normal clothes emerged from the tent.
After releasing her hands she just stood there.
True to the Default choices her looks were overly ordinary, no hair on her head, nothing special about the body either.
"What's your name" "…" Running my first test ended in failure as the Homunculi just stood there staring forward without responding after I posed the question.
[Hmm seems a full profile is indeed required, it's just like in the game those who didn't take the time would create was referred to as a blank, or an empty shell at best it would be a bag carrier but couldn't engage in combat at all… But what do we do with her now? She's only level 1, so it'd be easy to just get rid of her but I'm sure the others would be horrified at that, perhaps she's trainable? Or worst case since it's not technically a living thing I should be able to store him in my inventory] Walking up to her, I placed my hand on her shoulder to test if I could recover her like with my other summons, but nothing normal happened.
Instead she just crumpled to the ground my AR display indicated she was now dead.
Ruby, and Kurama had led Primrose off to play after having completed breakfast since Kurama probably noticed I was in an experimenting mood which was boring to her.
"What did you do to her?" "Uh nothing, I just touched her" "Is he dead?" "… Yeah" "...….. So does that mean you can't summon people?" "Um no I don't think so I think it's more just that its complex and I messed it up" Quickly coming up with a lie that should satisfy them, but now that a 'Murder' has just occurred the mood of the night has shifted quite a bit, so rather than continue the party everyone decided to turn in for the night.
The tent was quickly filled up by voices of surprise from prim, the haughty single word replies from Kurama, and the slightly teasing voice of Raisa.
Meanwhile I was comfortably hanging in a hammock I'd strung up between some trees.
Under the pretense of being the lookout I separated myself from the others, Shenron had setup a barrier so no creatures would attack in the night, so my lookout was just a cover so that I could spend as much time as I needed without being interrupted while I create a new Non-Player Character, but this time a real one since I've already wasted 100 large gold coins on that 5 minute Living Doll.
Name: Heracles Gender: Male
Race: Human Age: 35
Level: 1
Skills: Enhanced Durability, Enhanced Endurance, Enhanced Strength
Titles: Devout Believer of Zues
Full Disclosure;
Appearance: 6'4" Caucasian-Tanned
Well built (Solid), and trimmed
Blondish-Orange hair
Blue Eyes
Details: Heracles a hero to the people, who left the public eye after he was betrayed by those he'd committed his entire life to protect.
Countless battles won by the ingenuity of his mind, and power of his blade as a seasoned commander.
But with all that fame grew infamy among those in power who feared what would happen should he turn those tools honed in war against them.
Having his family killed before his own eyes and home burned down with him still trapped inside, only surviving by shielding himself with their corpses.
Choosing now to live in anonymity as a hero in the shadows helping the less fortunate as much as he can without exposing himself.
Placed by the gods to serve another who would help him to get what he desired most in life, one who would never betray him, never abandon him, and just like him strive for the light no matter how dark it got.
Serving this person as a Butler/Manservant he's acquired skills in court etiquette, driving, serving, and inscription along with the ability to speak most common languages of the world.
After completing the bio and making the purchase which was many thousands of small gold coins, as the price increased with each added detail, and line of text in the disclosure.
I moved my way back through the store to purchase equipment for my yet to be summoned companion seeing as how the last one was summoned naked there's no reason to believe this one wouldn't to keep things simple and since his cover is to act as our Driver, rather than choosing heavy armor, I instead selected a dyed leather armor that was further modified with a cosmetic item to look like a Black suit but still offered optimal protection while making him look dignified at the same time.
For weapons I chose a spear that was mounted hidden but accessible from the coachman stand, and a golden dagger he could wear on his person at all times.
Once all the preparations were completed I moved a ways away from the camp before committing to the summoning.
[Summon: Human Heracles] *Bzzzzzeeeerrt*
A pillar of Yellowish white light flashed in the forest rising up into the sky illuminating the night before fading revealing the bare form of a middle-aged man before me.
Not quite the pure depiction of Heracles I know from mythology but the perfect form of a well-bred and solid natured person to fill the role of a butler/manservant.
Without standing around just to gawk I quickly walked over to him with my hands full of clothing and equipment.
"And you are?" Turning his head upon seeing my approach a deep but oddly calming voice came out.
"I'm called Satou, at least now I am. You're Heracles right?" "Satou… Mmm yes that is right, I am he who will serve you as per the will of my father" "Glad to hear it, I hope you will take good care of me, my friends, and help in our endeavourers of this otherworld" "Otherworld?" "Yes but more to that later, for now it's best if we get you dressed and head back to camp where I can further explain what is going on" [This feels weird it's like I know I'm talking to myself but at the same time I have a deep sense of satisfaction seeing my custom creation come to life before my eyes]
Handing over all the equipment I'd purchased for him, giving time for all of it to be equipped, while I was waiting I quickly added him to my Party which included Raisa and Prim.
So my party now consisted of four humans, and two summons, Which weren't listed as party members per say but rather as pets or similar in the menu.
Quickly checking to confirm my other suspicion my Monster book still showed that I only have a single summon active so I can still use either magic or cards to pull another five into the field whenever I choose, since I only have Kurama active at the moment having dispelled the messenger bird I'd given to Raisa in the city.
"I am ready to go Master" "urgh, how about just Satou?" "As your Servant I could never disrespect you so by speaking to you so casually" "Well how about this, since you know the terms of the deal yes? When we are in private alone or with our party you will call me Satou, or whatever cover name I use at that time, but in public you can use Master, Lord, Sir or whatever to keep up our appearances?" "Hmmm still feels wrong to me but I will humbly accept your proposal" "Good now we should head back to the camp so I can start explaining" Our return happened only a moment later as both of us took seat across the still burning flames of the fire pit.
"You called this another world before right? So then this isn't Gaia?" "Gaia… oh you mean Earth no this is not" A quick misunderstanding since I knew Gaia to be the Titan and spirit of the earth not the name of Earth herself which was a part of Greek mythology that the earth was born from the titans and maintained by Gaia.
"This world is named Terra" "Hmm Terra I see, so then Sir Satou" "Just Satou please" "Urgh Satou… How does this world differ from our own?" "To put it plainly I don't fully know yet since I'm rather new to this world myself, but there are various human kingdoms, and many races who live in relative peace, then there are monsters who roam in the wilderness with varying degrees of difficulty from pests to legendary but so far with little to no intelligence and lastly are those like us who are foreign to the world." "To think there are other planes out there beyond the three known" "Planes?" "Yes of course I mean first the underworld, then Gaia or rather the Earth, and lastly the realm of the gods Olympus" Ah I see since I wrote his backstory broadly his personality and memories must've filled in the blanks on their own with the information given.
"Well this world has its own planes, and its own pantheon from what I've learned thus far" "Truly? Other gods than those of Olympus?" "Yes, though I know the name of only one so far but from what I've learnt there are only five great gods, and then a multitude of lesser gods, and goddess's but their domains differ greatly from our own" "Oh how so?" "Well Zues is Ruler of Olympus, after having won the war with the Titans, but here the corresponding God is known as the God of Creation or more commonly as the World God, and a Separate Greater God is the God Of Air" "So their weaker having to separate out the powers than consolidate them?" Our talk went well into the night until the suns started rising up from the horizon as I described what I knew of the world, it's people, and most importantly to him the gods.
By the end of it all, he ended the talks with the statement that the gods of this world would hold no sway over him, and that his belief would always reside with Olympus and more importantly his father Zeus.
I didn't have any place to object and if he chose a peaceful method of proselytism I wouldn't object him spreading the Hellenic religion into this world, he'd have an easy target I think with Raisa, and Primrose judging by their reactions to my earlier remarks on the Earth's gods.