Chapter 6: Six

NOTE: The previous chapters are part of the introduction of this story. From this point we get to the actual plot, so to say. Please leave a comment about what you think about the introduction! Even negative feedback is very appreciated :)

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The sun was rising, finally. Janilari stretched out from her point on the rooftop where she decided to spend the night, doing nothing else than watching the stars and thinking about her next move. 

Unfortunately, demons were completely incapable of sleeping. They could replicate all other human physical functions with some training, but sleeping? Their minds were always working, and it was so damn annoying. 

At least she could see the stars here. There were none of those in Hell. She ended up memorizing the whole firmament, and even named a few of her favorite stars. The blue one down North was Carilane, after her sister. A big one in the East was Mom, after... Well, her mother. The fiery red one in the center of the sky was of course Azlador. 

And a small, yellow one far away from all the rest? That was Rida. 

Watching the yellow star she had replayed fragments of their conversation over and over. It had gone... Better than the demoness expected. Far from perfect, but she wasn't worried. 

"First off, you are going to write a list." She had said last night, while throwing the book on Rida's lap. 

"A list of what?" 

"A list of priorities, of course. It's to help both of us!" 

"... Why would this help me? I know my priorities well." 

"You don't."

Of course, Rida hadn't made things so easy.

"I don't!?" The mage had repeated, exploding with the frustration she accumulated the whole day. "You know nothing about me!" 

"Then that's what the list is for!"

"Shut up! This wasn't part of the deal!" 

"Do you prefer me to help you without knowing your priorities?"

"I would prefer you listened to me for once! I want your help for one thing only!" 

Janilari wasn't exactly proud of what she said next. But humans sometimes needed a bit of harsher attention. 

"Yes, for combat only. How did you feel after I 'helped' you in that cave?" She saw a glimpse of something in Rida's eyes. "You felt useless." The demoness said bluntly, without allowing her to say anything. Rida glared at her, but didn't even deny it. "You were sulking all the way back because you realized I could have stopped that fight anytime. That's not 'helping' you, that's me doing all the work! You didn't even think of that before summoning me, did you? I mean you wanted to summon Azlador! Imagine that!" 

"... I wasn't sulking." The mage protested weakly. 

"Well... The point is, if winning fights was your number one priority you would be thrilled right now. But it's not. You want to win on your own, to be powerful on your own, to use magic on your own. Then again... If THAT was your number one priority, you would have ditched your useless friends ages ago, and started sacrificing kids somewhere. And mind you, they ARE completely useless." She said after seeing how the fire returned to Rida's eyes. "You said it yourself! And whatever happened in that cave proved it! You lost to a bunch of goblins!" 

"It was our first fight..." She tried to justify, and the demoness rolled her eyes. 

"And it would have been your last. Look, I understand that humans put some... Value on friendship or whatever." She suppressed a laugh at the thought. "But the truth is, you are stuck. Your morals, and your friends, conflict with what you were looking for when you summoned me. Success in your tiny adventuring field trips is not what you want... You want power, Rida, and now you know you want to have it on your own. But is it more important than your friends? Where are they on your list of priorities?"

The mage hesitated, then looked over to the book. 

Filling up the list was another struggle on its own. A lot of arguing there. But even if it took a good portion of the night, she finally made Rida complete it, which was an unforeseen success. 

The list itself went pretty much as Janilari expected. Rida put her values first, as in, not killing nor causing unnecessary harm... She was apparently fine with beating the shit out of some goblins, but the demon wasn't about to complain. 

Then she put her friends, no surprise there. Janilari was kinda hoping she would leave those, but whatever. She could still work with that. 

Third, the success of the company. The demoness had no idea how that was going to work, but she would definitely try. 

Fourth, and last, was her desire to learn and use magic. 

"And how does this help?" The sorcerer snapped after they finished writing the list. "You already said I can't get magic without fucking sacrificing children or whatever! What is the point?" 

The demoness shrugged. "We will get there when we get there. Either way, you missed a point." She pointed at the list. 

"What!?"

With a laugh, Janilari snatched the pen away and wrote something on the top of the list. Rida deflated when she saw it, and looked at her with a defeated grimace. 

"Really?" 

"Yes, really." The demoness said, with a smile but her arms crossed. That point was not negotiable. 

At the top of "Rida's list of priorities", she wrote only one word: "Rida". 

Of course, the physical list was only for the mage. Janilari had already memorized it. And it was only the first phase of her plan. 

Stretching out, she made her own mental to-do list for today. It was going to be a good day. The first of many where Operation "Helping Rida" was finally underway. 

This was going to be her greatest challenge in the mortal realm yet. And she was ecstatic. It was going to be so much fun. 

*

That same morning she met the first hurdle in her very carefully crafted plan. 

It all went well at the start. She waited until Rida woke up, finding out that she slept for hours after the rest of humanity was up and working. A slight problem that Janilari associated with the green potion the mage drank before sleep, claiming it was the only way she could fall asleep in the first place. 

The demon knew enough about human biology to know that wasn't normal, but whatever, it was just something to solve in the future.

Anyways, when Rida finally joined the world of the living the demoness already had breakfast ready and in her room. The mage almost jumped at the sight of the demon, but then just groaned tiredly and ate breakfast... Without even protesting! Janilari could not stop smiling, much to the sorcerer's increasing annoyance. 

"Can you not look at me while I eat?" Stressed the mage.

"Why?" Janilari asked, without moving an inch. 

"... Because it's weird. I thought you understood humans better."

The demoness rolled her eyes. "I'm not an expert, and you guys are complicated." To not antagonize the mage further, she decided to move to the window and boringly stare outside. "Anyways, how are you feeling today?"

The human paused, a spoonful of her breakfast stopped mid-air. 

"I'm fine." She said, very unconvincingly. Janilari sighed, and wished again she had a manual about Rida.

"How's breakfast then?" 

It was Rida's turn to sigh. "It's fine. Thank Ayila on my part."

"Well, I can't do that." Janilari chuckled. At Rida's questioning look, she added: "If I do that she'll know I stole it!" 

The mage froze, blinking rapidly. "You stole from Ayila!?"

"Well, yeah! It was the closest source of food I could-"

"You can't steal from Ayila!" The mage whispered loudly, with a horrified look. Janilari hesitated. 

"... Why? What is she gonna do?" The demoness felt like she missed something. Was the innkeeper secretly a dangerous person? Maybe some kind of undead creature? A vampire!? Hopefully a vampire! 

"She's pregnant!" Said Rida. The demon blinked. 

"I don't follow."

The mage herself hesitated, then took her hand to her face. "Of course you don't. Just don't steal from her again. Actually, don't steal from anyone again." 

"What!?" Janilari screeched. 

THAT was a huge hindrance to her plan! In fact, it was what half of the plan was based on! 

"Don't shout, I just woke up." Hissed the mage. "And what is that reaction? Were you planning on stealing more?

Yeah! She was! "Of course not! Just... You didn't put it on the list..." The demoness laughed nervously. 

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"... I thought it was implied with not hurting anyone."

"Well, I didn't kick Ayila or anything!" The mage clutched her head at the noise. "Sorry, sorry." 

"Galdio and Ayila work hard for their children." The mage explained, strangely with some surprising patience. "Ayila can't even take a break while pregnant. Stealing from them is... Not good. At all." 

Janilari was silent for a while. That did make sense, for sure, even if it was annoying. 

"But what if I steal from...?" 

"No." Rida replied in a sharp tone. The demoness pouted. 

"Wait, don't you owe Galdio money? Isn't that kinda like stealing if you are not paying him rent?"

With that the human froze. "No... Uh... That's-that's because..." 

"Why don't you just pay then?" Rida frowned. "... You don't have money." Concluded the demon. 

The sorcerer didn't respond. Janilari didn't know what she was expecting but sighed all the same. 

She couldn't steal, and they had no money. In fact, Rida owed money. In a way, they had negative money. 

... Just another tiny issue to make things more interesting, she guessed?

* 

"What are all these clothes anyways?" Asked Janilari, holding a pile of laundry with a confused look. Rida was putting on her robe. "I only ever see you with the same outfit on!" 

The mage tensed beside her. "... You've only known me for a day."

"Don't most humans change their clothing more often than that?"

"... I'm busy.

"I also thought humans needed baths to keep their hygiene at a socially acceptable state." 

The sorcerer made a little indignant noise as she struggled with her robe. Janilari looked over and saw a slight shade cross the human's face. "I'll do that later." She said between clenched teeth. "Why do you worry so much about that, anyway?" 

The demon gestured over the mountain of clothing in the room. "I'm just trying to understand the purpose of this!"

"I don't have a place to keep it on, alright?!"

"Well, if you don't use it why don't you just burn it!? Can we burn it?" 

"No, we can't burn it." The sorcerer harrumphed. "Don't touch that." She warned when she saw the demon move on to a grey bag in a corner. 

"Why not!? What's in here?" 

"It's... Something. Something I tried some time ago and didn't work." 

The demoness went wide-eyed, looking at the bag. "Well, now I HAVE to see it."

"Don't! Get off!" The mage reached over before Janilari could put her hands on the bag. With a quick move, the human pushed the demon backward, who backed away a few steps with a stunned expression. 

"You... Pushed me." Said Janilari. 

"Yes, I did." Replied Rida in an even voice, but she was visibly shaking at the prospect of physically confronting a demon. 

"Can you do it again, sometime?

"... Shut up." 

* 

"So... You really don't want to tell them the truth?" Asked Janilari. They were finally in the tavern below, waiting for the rest of the company. Rida sent her a glare, and responded with a quieter voice. 

"Do you mind? I rather have them believe I didn't make a deal with a fucking demon." 

"Oh, I mind a bit. For how long do you think you can keep the lie going? Because I'm not going to pretend you can order me around in front of them."

"You don't have to do that." Grunted the mage. "I'll figure something out."

The demoness shrugged. "You do you. But this might interfere with the next phase of my plan."

"... You have a plan?"

"Of course! 'Operation: Helping Rida'! I'd show you a presentation but it's on my mind..."

"... What?"

"Anyways, this next phase of my plan kinda requires me to... You know... Mold your friends into what they can be... Rather than what they currently are... Again, right now they are useless. "

"You said that already." Grumbled Rida. 

"Yeah, yeah. The point is, if you are not going to ditch them, they are going to have to improve. A lot." The demoness paused. "So you might want to have that conversation with them beforehand."

"What are you planning to do?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. That's my job."

"... Is it going to hurt?"

"No, no." She hesitated. "Well... Maybe? But all improvement hurts in a way." 

The mage sighed. She tapped her fingers on the table, impatiently. 

"Fine." She agreed, and rolled her eyes at the inevitable smile from the demon. 

They didn't have to wait for long before the rest of the party showed up, still drunk in their undeserved victory from yesterday. And in some cases, literally drunk. 

Huddinli was the first to get there, frowning when he saw Rida and Janilari already there. He just looked tired, unlike Pendi who got there almost bouncing down the stairs, her demeanor changing immediately after seeing the demon. 

Brunai was next, dragging her feet down another set of stairs, laughing loudly along two... Interestingly dressed humans. Janilari wasn't aware that clothing with such a lack of cloth even existed. The tall warrior had each arm on the shoulders of one of her companions, who seemed to be thrilled by her presence, one of them sending not very subtle looks to the giant battle axe the warrior carried on her shoulders. 

As she reached the table and said goodbye to her new friends, Brunai exchanged a look with Rida and her laughter died down. She took a seat silently. 

Maesron was the last to get there, entering the tavern from the front door. He greeted Galdio loudly, who was cleaning the floor nearby, then saluted Ayila, and then finally reached the table. He was already wearing his armor, and Janilari wondered if he even took it off. 

"Good news!" He announced. He placed a small bag on the table. "First of all, Rida! This is your part. You left so early yesterday, I forgot to give it to you! Thirty full coins, just for you!"

Rida glanced at the bag, uninterested.

"And the news! We have another mission! After our astounding success I got another offer right away! This time its orcs! Isn't that great? Goblins first, then orcs? We are moving up in the world!" He laughed, good-naturedly. After an embarrassing amount of time he finally realized nobody was laughing along. "... Friends? What's wrong?" 

The rest of the adventurers instinctively looked at Rida. The mage was still silent, still tapping her fingers against the table. Maesron's smile dropped. 

"... You call that an 'astounding success'?" She asked after a long pause. 

"Rida..."

"Sit down, Maesron." The sorcerer replied. "We need to talk.

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