--- Kat ---
Mermr clapped their hands together, drawing attention to the fact that they were... sort of half webbed. No that wasn't quite right. Still each finger had a bit of stretchy connected skin that extended up to the first knuckle. All except the thumb it seemed. "Where are my manners.
Let me properly introduce my assistance, Mzmr," Mermr pointed to the female priest "and Mekmr" Mermr switched the other male priest. "Now... we can have you look over the contract and head out... though. Do all three of you need to sign it, or only Kamiko?"
"You still haven't told us what the contract is," said Kat as she combed through her memories to try and figure out the answer to the question. Seeing there was none, Kat poked D.E.M.O.N.S for the answer.
Only User Kamiko is required to agree to the contract but it will not bind User Kat or User Hunter 23HX443 to the terms stated or written. The Summoner in question may be able to tell the difference.
Kat willed the flaming words to be visible to Kamiko and Hunter. Kamiko flinched slightly when the words appeared in her view but Hunter didn't react visibly at all. While Kat was fairly certain they could both see it... Kat couldn't be certain. It seemed very 'on-brand' for Hunter to not react at all, but it did make it harder to know if Hunter got the information.
"Ah yes of course," said Mermr. "We've been getting a number of reports of horrifically mutilated corpses of strong monsters in an area just outside of the Endless Forest. Normally this sort of thing wouldn't be too worrying. the Endless Forest is well known as a home to powerful monsters and most people know to stay away from the area...
"But the Forest Ranger Service has noticed a few odd things about these deaths. The first, is that despite the mutilation of the corpses most of the meat still near the corpse and uneaten, or clearly devoured by scavengers. Worse, some of these corpses look like they've been baked in an oven or something. Completely dry.
"All of this might still be fine... but it's been happening to trees recently as well and whatever it is seems to be moving slowly towards the nearby town of 'Forest Village' every day. It's not expected to actually reach the town for another month or so, but it's getting closer then we're comfortable with.
"So the village petitioned the kingdom, and they approved the funds necessary for a demon summoning. As far as the contract is concerned? It's definitely a scouting mission, and ideally an elimination one... but without knowing further details we understand that our summoning could not call for the correct demon.
Of course, seeing as three of you turned up... when this gets reported there will be significantly higher expectations on the group,"
Kat noticed Hunter twitch slightly at the news. Kat didn't think anyone else had picked it up, but for a brief moment Hunter looked very uncomfortable. Kat turned her gaze away soon after, not wanting to give out hints to the priests.
Mekmr groaned. "Oh gods, maybe we have? I can imagine Mermr seeing it as a challenge to his authority, where we provide more and more paperwork to see who breaks first. Us or him... and the fact that we've run out means he might have just one?"
"Hmm... we'll have to give it a month or two to see if he confronts us over it," agreed Mzmr with an even deeper pout.
*This is not the direction I thought this conversation would go.* "So... what exactly do you guys DO at the abbey?" asked Kat. "Kamiko wasn't too clear on it, just that you guys were a religious order,"
Mekmr rolled his eyes and bowed while stepping backwards and gesturing to Mzmr who rolled her eyes at the antics but did look happy to have been asked. "Right so, the abbey studies a few things. Primarily we act as knowledge keepers and historians but we also seek to uncover the mystery of the dark age.
"It is said in the oldest of our surviving text that there was a great age of light that plunged the world into an even darker dark age. The church has dedicated itself to discovering what the world was like in the age of light and what caused it to end. Sadly, the demons have refused to answer even though we KNOW they know.
It's always 'the answer you seek is not the one you want' and 'the answers you find yourself are all the more meaningful' which, yes they might be...
"But it really does suck to know that you're life's work was already figured out by someone else that doesn't want to tell you... and instead you occasionally call over their 'friends' and hope they let something slip. Which, yes. If why we're in charge of summoning demons but we don't really expect young demons like yourself to know. Wait... you guys are young demons, right? If you're Kamiko's friends?"
"Yup," agreed Kat easily. Kamiko is young, and so is she... and really Hunter is as well when you consider the demonic lifespan. "I'm not even two decades old myself,"
"Oh really? That's... a bit strange. I wouldn't have thought demons would send young off to fight monsters..." mumbled Mzmr
"My clan specialises in hunting down monsters of all kinds and we begin our training at a younger age than Kat," said Hunter throwing more confusion into the conversation, implying that her age was closer than it actually was.
"What so your whole family fights monsters?" asked Mzmr.
Hunter shook her head, "My entire clan. Which you can consider to be an extremely extended family, or perhaps a family of families,"
Mzmr shook her head sadly. "You demons are always crazy..."