D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 1896: Chapter 1896 Really Sweating

— Gareth —

Gareth, Gardor and Fluffles collapsed to the ground. Nothing had been noticeably chasing them for a few minutes now. The sounds of the monsters essentially silent. Perhaps they’d lost them, perhaps they’d found something else… or perhaps it was the infernal heat. They’d been digging down for a while now and the temperature had been steadily rising as they did so.

It was at the point where Fluffles had been moments away from just falling over so they’d found a cave system and the dwarf had started carrying his familiar. It had worked… for a while but carrying around a mole bear wasn’t any easier than a normal one. In fact, it was worse. Fluffles was close to a tonne in weight and Gardor was strong, but not strong enough to carry Fluffles for too long. That combined with the heat meant it was only a matter of time before they collapsed.

Gareth wasn’t doing much better himself. He hadn’t had a proper rest in a while the running had been a pain and his regular use of mana had drained him as the heat sapped his strength. Perhaps he could’ve forced things, but he was in no condition to carry both Gardor and Fluffles, so he simply allowed himself to collapse alongside them. Hopefully it was safe. “Think we got away?” asked Gareth, knowing that the question did need to be out in the open.

“My ears aren’t amazing but my sense for tunnels is exceptional… compared to most dwarves anyway. Fluffles is better at it and now that we’ve stopped he can tell nothing is chasing us. For the moment anyway. Our scent trail ain’t going to vanish swiftly, not when we’re sweating so much. If we lost them, it might just be temporary,” explained Gardor.

“Well… I say we rest up and eat what we can. You did pack food right?” asked Gareth.

“Mostly for Fluffles,” sighed Gardor. “I can get by with less, and thought I’d have a better chance at finding stuff for me. Fluffles here needs a great deal of food and I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to feed him with limited storage space,”

“It’s the first day,” stated Gareth.

“Alright so I’ve got an endless canteen of water and two nutrient bars,” admitted Gardor. “Which isn’t nothing, but I get it. It’s not ideal…”

Gareth sighed and brought out some of his own food. He’d packed plenty, not feeling the need to keep too much storage around in the band. If he needed, he could just throw some things out or… you know… EAT THE FOOD. What this meant was that he was a lot more comfortable sharing than others might be in this situation.

“Salad?” grumbled Gardor. Of course, for all that Gareth might have packed a decent amount of fresh food… it didn’t mean it was to everyone’s taste.

“Look, it’s easy to pack, the band here stops time and I wanted something light in case I needed to snack but still filled me up. Perhaps it’s not optimal nutrition but that wasn’t really what I was packing for,” stated Gareth with a bit of a glare as he pulled out another one for himself. He did have some meat on him, but it wasn’t cooked and he was in no mood to properly prepare it.

“Bah, I guess I’m just giving you needless grief,” sighed Gardor as he pulled out a fork and speared it through a large chunk of salad. Fluffles made a huff from beside him. “I’ll get you your food in a moment you big idiot. You know what happens if you eat too soon after exercise and we do NOT have the food stocked up to go along with your complaints,” Fluffles whined.

Gareth raised an eyebrow. It was the only thing he needed to do really. Gardor sighed. “This idiot gets really hungry after a good deal of exercise and likes to eat immediately… he also has an issue where he tends to throw up if he does so. We’re not sure why. Plenty of healers have looked him over and found nothing wrong, or at least, nothing that should cause this behaviour.”

“That…” Gareth glanced at Fluffles who was sending him a pleading look. At the same time… *He’s from a team full of familiars. Familiars they’ve cared for, for years. He’s telling the truth. Maybe I should have Nixilei take a look? Then again… it’s really not her area of expertise. I doubt she knows a spell to fix it or what to look for.* “That sucks. So no food at all?”

Gardor nodded. “Water is usually fine, and in fact…” Gardor pulled out his own infinite canteen and a large bowl. First pouring water into the bowl he then overturned it to fall over Fluffles head. The molebear seemed to be enjoying it if the smile it gained was anything to go by. “Though… yeah no food,” Gardor sighed. “We tried a few different things, to see if it was certain kinds of food but nothing really works all the time. Occasionally Fluffles is fine… but not on repeated attempts,”

“That’s… really strange. Is that something you’d ask Thyme to look at if you won or something?” asked Gareth.

Gardor shook his head. “No, no. It was actually how we got into demon summoning in the first place. Wanted an expert to look over the familiars. Didn’t work on in Fluffles case, and I doubt Thyme could help if they couldn’t. Ugalaz we hired later for this tournament specifically, partially on their recommendation but it’s been… iffy,”

“Why’s that? Honestly working with Kat has been great. She’s… I’m not quite sure if I’d call her a friend or not but I’d claim her as such if people asked or she was around at least. She gets along well with everyone, has properly participated in all of the rounds and to be honest with you… it wouldn’t feel right without her anymore. Not sure what the heck we’re going to do once this is all wrapped up you know,” explained Gareth.

“Huh…” mumbled Gardor as he turned away and capped the canteen. Fluffles gave him a bit of a glare but Gardor just shrugged and put the canteen away. “Look, I don’t want to say Ugalaz has been a problem. He… he’s very strict with the contract. He’ll do exactly what we’ve asked and not a single thing more without additional payment. Now, he’s been around a lot, not just for the tournament but for training and stuff as well. So we’ve certainly took up a lot of his TIME but… his effort? Eh that’s… well a little unclear but I wouldn’t say it was much before this,”

“Oh really?” said Gareth. “Kat normally goes off to do her own thing between rounds.”

“And maybe that’s the difference,” said Gardor with a shrug. “I’m not saying we didn’t get our money’s worth but… it does feel like a business transaction. He stuck around most of the time because we pay well for safe work that mostly consists of healing us up after training and during the tournament itself. This last round has been an exception, but it was always baked into the contract. If we ask him for more it’s always ’was it in the contract’ even if it’s just asking if he wants to come with us for drinks or something…”

“Sounds a bit like he’s trying not to get attached,” offered Gareth.

Gardor shrugged. “It’s not like we really pressured him about it. You might be correct… doesn’t make it any less frustrating. It’s hard to build a proper working relationship with someone if you aren’t even an acquaintance. I feel like I can’t even ask him to pass the salt at dinner!”

“Didn’t you just say he avoided going out with you?” asked Gareth.

Gardor raised his own eyebrow. “Did you, or did you not just have a beach vacation tournament round?”

“Point,” said Gareth with an acknowledging nod.

“Look, from a purely business perspective he’s been nothing but helpful. Consistently doing exactly what’s asked of him in a timely and professional manner. It’s just… feels like there’s no soul there you know? No real joy in it, or sense of adventure. Heck, the team is made up of people who all got really attached to some monster or other and made them into a familiar. I wouldn’t be surprised if we made friends with a bunch of rocks at some point… and yet we can’t connect to him. At all,” explained Gardor.

“Have you… asked him about this?” asked Gareth.

“Not really. Some minor inferences but anything that hits too close to the issue? Gets ’that information isn’t covered by the contract’ which… well” Gardor shrugged. “I suppose it wouldn’t be but how else are we meant to get it to alter the contract? I suppose we could just ASK if he wants to be friends… but frankly after everything? I’m not sure I still want the answer to be yes…”