Chapter 6: Wash Your Back if You'll Wash Mine

Chapter 6: Wash Your Back if You'll Wash Mine

I all but dragged Electra down the street.

Of course, my other hand was wrapped around the cobbler boy’s neck, marching him in front of us towards the promise of a bath house.

If I had to spend another minute covered in this slowly drying blood and filth, I’d...

Well, I wouldn’t be against killing a few more people, if it got me a shower.

Priorities.

“Can’t believe you killed all of them.”

“Not all of them.”

The boy shivered in my grip.

“His name is Rel.”

I raised an eyebrow.

Electra snorted. “You’re a bundle of joy.”

“Oh, I get it, I’m the murderer, but you’re the buzzkill.”

I felt like I was herding cats.

“Annoying, isn’t she?” The voice asked.

And the noisiest one of all was in my head.

“You have no idea.”

After ‘completing’ my first contract, the voice in my head had stuck around for a chat.

“So, where were we?” It—he? I was gonna go with he—asked.

“Why did you sound like that at first?”

“Like what?”

I grit my teeth. “We hAVe sUCh sIGhTs tO sHoW yOU.”

“Wow, that’s pretty good! Have you considered applying for a job?”

“Just answer the damn question.”

As we walked down the street, the rest of the people in this neighborhood got out of our way. I saw mostly threes and fours, same as my new level, but I’d have to figure out more of what that meant later.

“Oh, it’s nothing much.” I could practically hear the grin in his voice. “We do the voice with everyone the first time. Studies show it increases the likelihood of a new summoner offing themselves by three point two five percent.”

I blinked, parsing that bit of information.

That implied that telling me this increased the chance of me dying.

I waited a moment for a witty retort, but there was nothing. Hopefully, that meant this voice could only hear thoughts I sent as opposed to everything that went through my head... Unless he wanted me to think that.

I worried at my lip. That way was a bottomless well of ‘but what if he knows I know’The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

I turned around a corner. We were nearing the central thoroughfare again, though this time as just another part of the crowd. The further we got from the scene of the crime, the less people paid attention to us.

Well, barring the fact that Electra and I were both covered in mud and shit, but that seemed to be a rather default state of affairs.

“How do we even know he’s not leading us into a trap...” Electra grumbled.

“Jealous I solved all of our problems?” I would have tossed my hair, but I didn’t want to get anymore gunk on my face. “It suits you.”

“Bite me.”

I half lunged, snapping my teeth towards her pretty face.

“Fucking—!” Electra jerked back. I cackled, letting go of Rel as I walked towards the bath house.

There was a man there in front of the door. He stepped forward, cutting us off “Where the hells do you three think you’re going?”

Electra glared at him, but I waved her off. “We’re here to use the bath.”

“Right.” He gave us a once over.

I shrugged. “Shitty cart driver.”

At that he snorted. “Yeah, I can smell it.”

I waved a hand. “I know it’s all the same to you, but kind of want to get clean sometime today.”

He paused for a second. “You’ll need to pay for a private bath. One silver.”

I rolled my eyes, tossing him the pouch of all the money we’d taken from the gang that attacked us. Well, the money that I took anyway. Electra was too busy trying to get Rel’s puke off her shoes to really contribute. “I don’t imagine you want to touch my hands.”

I watched carefully as he counted out twenty-five copper coins before handing me back my purse. Twenty-five copper to a silver? At least it made more sense than some fantasy currencies I’d come across.

“Only open one is last on the right. Don’t head to the left, or I’ll toss you out into another cart full of shit.”

I rolled my eyes. “How charming.”

Summon a demon from beyond to do your bidding. Greater Mana capacity allows for the summoning of greater demons. Always be sure to hold up your end of the bargain.

Banish Demon: Level 1

Never call up what you can't put down.

Demon-itize: Level 1

Claim Them

There were changes to my status as well.

Status

Unspent Status Points: 9

I rubbed my temples. Of course, the horrid puns couldn’t be confined to just the name of the class. At least there was some new information for my first skill.

Funny that the ability to send your demons back only came after you gained a few levels by summoning them in the first place. It struck me then that the voice hadn’t told me what percentage of new demon summoners killed themselves on their first contract.

Best follow the advice of my second skill until I figured that out.

Next, I focused on Attribute points.

Increase one of your base attributes by one.

Interesting.

All of my attributes were set to one, which meant they were a baseline. The question then, was if I could improve my baseline, and if the stat bonuses were additive or multiplicative. For now, I put a few points into the ‘defensive’ states, while holding the rest in reserve.

Even if I intended to use my new summons for everything, there was a lot of value in not getting hit.

Speaking from experience.

Status

Unspent Status Points: 3

Physical

Strength 1

Endurance 2

Agility 4

Dexterity 3

Ethereal

Charm 1

Faith 1

Attunement 1

Soul 1

The mystical stats would have to wait until I found out which one, if any, I needed. It would be a waste to put points into Soul, only to learn that demon summoners actually needed Attunement, or something stupid like that.

I had the seeds of a plan germinating in the back of my mind. If I could summon any demon based on my needs, I might be able to get one that could dredge the coast for some of my tech, or even do specific tasks like melting iron to make steel.

If they were all as dumb as the first one I summoned, things would still be difficult, but leveraging my abilities correctly might actually let me slingshot this world to the level of development I needed within my lifetime.

It would be nice to make it home before I was old and grey.

Across the tub from me, Electra stood up, water cascading from the form fitting lines of her bodysuit.

I took a moment to admire her; it wouldn’t do for a villain of my standing to have a mediocre nemesis, and when I brought us both back to Earth, she would be my nemesis.

“Well?”

She looked down at me. “I’ll never agree with your methods,” she said. I just raised an eyebrow. “But it’s clear to me that this world has deeper problems then just one woman who doesn’t know how to use non-lethal force.”

I sighed. “Still hung up on that? Honey, what did you think those three were going to do? After they raped us, I mean.”

She crossed her arms. “If you’d given me a chance, I could have taken them out.”

“Forgive me for not trusting in your abilities any further than I have to.”

“And forgive me for not wanting to play second fiddle to whatever scheme you’re cooking up.”

“Oh?”

Electra nodded, more to herself than to me. “This world needs a hero.”

I laughed. Well, it seemed like I wasn’t the only one coming up with big plans. “Let me know how that goes for you.”

Electra grinned down at me, eyes sharp. “You know, maybe I will.”

I’d leave her to it.

I had an industrial revolution to plan.