All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 147: Demonic Pact

I was still reeling from Beatrice's suggestion that we intentionally bring mess makers into the castle. The very thought of it made me squirm with discomfort. The horrors! As scandalous as it first seemed though, I did see her point. Working on ridding the world of mess makers was a noble goal, and it sounded like we could give our people a safe way to gain combat experience along the way.

But still, mess makers? Was it really necessary? I thought back to the dirty town just outside our valley. That was the closest place where we would be able to send people for experience, and it didn't seem very safe. Of course, mess makers had clearly made it there. They might have been the same mess makers that we were about to summon, so maybe we could right this injustice. Also, removing the mess makers before they could do more evil might be worth it.

I realized that Beatrice was still waiting for a response. Steeling my resolve, I gave my agreement with her plan. I watched her tense up as I told her we could start thinking about moving forward. I was glad to see that she was taking this seriously. Still, I followed up with more details.

We could only do this if we were absolutely certain it was safe. That meant we needed to make sure the place we were in was perfectly sealed, the magic circles were flawless, and we had a completely overwhelming force to take care of whatever we summoned each time we did it. I would not accept the significant risk that another mess maker would escape into our castle after it had gone through so much.

Beatrice nodded enthusiastically, conviction written all over her face. "Before we do anything I will talk about it with the rest of the council and make sure everything is prepared. I will also let you know, of course."

That was fine with me. Now that the troubling part was over, I audited the scarf I had made. It looked as good on her as I had thought it would. It wasn't as perfectly straight as I would have liked, but at least the pattern was consistent. I had given up on making it perfect. I would need a lot more practice for that, and this was still perfectly functional.

We chatted for a few more minutes before she left. Now alone, I sunk my awareness into the void within me. There were still so many things I needed to work on. My void manipulation had been progressing nicely. The scarf had been really good practice, but I was starting to notice diminishing returns.

My meditations had been pleasant, but I was starting to lose track of what I was supposed to be getting from it. Just practicing was effective for most of my training. Once I mastered the basics of Void manipulation, I didn't need to be in a trance to enter it anymore.

Deciding I needed to focus on something else, I checked around the castle. Oh, that was interesting. I noticed a small change outside. I rolled out the door and made my way to the castle exit. Lifting off, I floated over to the little copse of trees that Cliff had made her home in.

There, as expected, I found Tanu. What I didn't expect was Felix and one of the smaller girls to be accompanying him. They and Cliff were eyeing each other cautiously, but not threateningly. As that scene played out, I also took in the more reasonably sized dogs that had come with Cliff.

It had been several days since I had last looked at them, and they were now a little less reasonably sized. Maybe they weren't even full dogs yet? If they were still growing, maybe these were the “pups” that I had heard about.

Felix finally started talking, so I listened back in. "Tanu, um… Can we play with the cubs for a bit? Just a lil while, if it’s ok! I mean, if Cliff doesn't mind of course."

Cliff was standing very still, but wasn't showing her fangs or anything. Still, seeing that she weighed far more than the three kids put together, I understood their hesitation.

Tanu shrugged. "Not sure. I'll ask."

Leaning on Cliff's shoulder, he started to whisper in her ear. I could make out the sounds, but they didn't sound like anything I had ever heard before. Cliff didn't make any sounds, but she flicked an ear and shifted a bit. Tanu smiled. "She says ‘s okay if you’re gentle and keep ‘em where she can see ‘em. They aren't ready to rough house yet. Once they’re a bit bigger we can learn t’ hunt together tho!"

The little girl let out a squeal of delight and ran over to where the pups were piled up. Cliff stiffened slightly at the outburst, but the first pup stood to greet the girl. It jumped up, colliding with her chest paws first. That halted her rush and sent her straight to the ground. Instantly, the pup was sitting on her chest and licking her face. I saw Cliff relax slightly as she realized there was no threat, even as she continued keeping a close watch.

Soon enough, Felix helped the girl up and welcomed another pup to his own lap. The little dogs jockeyed for attention and wiggled constantly, their tongues constantly working. I wasn't sure how I felt about that; in some sense, they were cleaning. But they were also getting saliva everywhere. What a conundrum.

Tanu soon joined them. Cliff finally seemed to be at ease, convinced that the little ones were in no danger. She padded over to me and laid down with a small whine, and we both watched over our charges having a great time.

---

Bee was deep in thought as she left Voids sanctum. Plans ran through her head, each one getting tossed out as soon as it was made. As much as she tried to think of alternatives, it kept coming back to the same thing. They would need to use the grand hall. It was the only room that was large enough for the security measures she planned and secure enough to deal with something getting out of hand. Also, if something managed to get out against all odds, there was an easy path for them to get it outside without damage to the castle.

It was going to take a lot of effort, but she was hopeful that it would be worth it. The only thing left was to get agreement from everyone else. Since Void had already agreed to the plan, that should be a formality, but maybe they would have other ideas to contribute. At the very least they needed to be informed.

First, she would talk to Susan. She was the most likely to have other input and also the most likely to agree with the proposal. Her recruits needed the training; there was only so much exercise and drills they could do, and eventually, they would need some real practice. The kind that was up to her exacting standards, too.

She found her target in the courtyard overseeing combat drills. Surprisingly, it wasn't just Ruarch and his men. A few of the older children were off to the side, doing their best to imitate the workout. Of course, they didn't have the age or levels to really keep up, but they were trying. When Bee walked up, Susan called a halt to the exercise. The men practically collapsed with relief, and they all just sat on the ground with worn-out looks on their faces.

"Looks like you want to talk, Bee." Susan said, leading them a little out of the way so they could have some privacy.

"Yeah, just a couple things." Bee said. "How would you like to get some live targets for your trainees?"

"Hmm, they can spar amongst themselves well enough. We don't really need them, but more partners are always good. What did you have in mind?"

Bee smiled; it seemed that Susan had misinterpreted her words. So her spy powers only went so far in discerning the true meaning of words. Unless she was just placating her? "No, no. I mean live ones, ones that they can kill for experience and have a real fight with."

"Oh? That is more interesting." Susan mused. "What level are we talking about here? They don't really need levels, but they could do with live combat. Their technical skills are lagging behind their levels right now. Most of the levels they got were from fighting the undead, and they did that from a distance, mostly throwing rocks from walls. Some of it was even gained from the assist of just bringing the rocks up to people who threw them."

That was a common enough issue. Often, those with middling levels didn't really earn them and were barely worth someone half their level who actually knew how to fight. Bee had feared she was like that, but apparently, she had more direct combat experience than most. She figured that she was likely a little overleveled too, but there was no one here even close enough to her level with actual combat experience to test it.

Susan was the closest. Bee was sure that all 29 of her levels were hard-earned. Being too high-leveled would make her stand out, and that wouldn't help the former spy, so she had probably actively avoided leveling quite a bit. Even with Scan being incredibly rare, it was hard to hide your strength and reactions after a certain point.

"Well then, this might be less useful for you than I thought then." Bee said, slightly put out by it. "I just finished speaking with Void about it and he thought it had merit. I plan to summon some demons to harvest them for alchemy ingredients. They would be pretty low level. Especially at first. And I'm not going to be getting much from disposing of them. So maybe we can funnel the experience to someone who could use it."

Susan looked a little surprised. "Demons? Are you sure that’s safe?"

"No, demons are never safe, but I think the risk is acceptable." Bee replied.

"Well, I think we can find a lot of people who would want a chance at getting levels in a controlled environment, but I don't know how many will want to start fighting demons." Susan said with a thoughtful look.

"I started fighting these things before I even got my first skill. At least the ones I plan to start with." Bee said. "I think they were doable."

"You were fighting demons before you got a level!?" Susan exclaimed, giving her an appraising look. "How old are you anyways? 15?"

"I'll be 14 in a few months!" Bee huffed defensively. Though she did feel a little proud. This was the first time someone thought she was older than she was.