Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

“Ehhh?” Angelica wasn’t sure she’d heard properly. “Steal what from where-now?”

“The Quilllaced Tiara from the Migrore Museum,” Lustre repeated herself. “My parents are hosting a gala there tonight with the tiara as the pristine new addition to the museum’s collection. I want you to steal it so that I can see the absolutely flummoxed expressions on their faces when they come home and tell me about it, never knowing it was me behind the theft, of course.”

“Ahh, I see, I see.” So Lustre was just a spoiled rich girl who feels like she’s not getting enough attention from her parents. “Alright, I refuse.”

“You refuse?!” The Apprentice Summoner rose from her chair to look more commanding. “I only asked to be polite. What problem do you have with it?”

“Uhm, all of it? Yeah, all of it.” The Imp struggled to articulate her issues, but felt it was pretty self explanatory. “You said simple jobs for Essence. That is not simple.” Really it had more to do with the complete illegality of the idea rather than how hard it would be—still thinking it would be rather difficult. But Angelica doubted Demons would care much about human laws or societal codes, having no problem with stealing, so she didn’t bring it up.

“It couldn’t be more simple!” the older woman refuted. “You just walk in, grab the tiara, and walk out. The museum is closed right now because of the gala setup, and all the staff would be in the event hall, which is in a completely detached building from the galleries. At best, there’d be a security guard or two, and they wouldn’t be able to see you. So, like I said, what’s the problem?”

“Still no.” Gelic stuck to her guns.

“Then I command you!” The air in the room shifted as Lustre held out her hand toward the Demon, Ordering with a staggering pose and presence, as if magical power was protruding from her body. “Steal the Quilllaced Tiara from the Migrore Museum and bring it back to me!”

[Order forcibly accepted | Current Contract: Steal the Quilllaced Tiara | Reward: 50 Essence]

Well, the first thing to notice was that all the faff about remaining Orders was gone because the Summoner was down to the last one. Second, at least she would still get paid, despite the forced Order. And third, this sucked! So masters really could just force their will whenever they wanted. Angelica had been doing it to herself constantly, but now that someone else was doing it, the whole deal felt wholly unfair. At least she had a way to try to combat it.

[Would you like to reject the Order? Chance: 81% | Cost: 13 MP]

Good odds and not too bad of a cost. It was honestly surprising. Were more complex orders easier to break? That’d make sense, because it should be harder for the Summoner to impose their will. Maybe since she’d initially refused and the Order was forced, that also made it easier. That would require some testing in the future, but it sounded plausible.

[Order Rejection failed. Difficulty increased.]

Gah, really?! Bad luck. Okay, again!

[Chance: 67% | Cost: 22 MP]

[Order Rejection failed. Difficulty increased.]

Seriously?! She was heaving a terrible time with percentage chances today. Once more!

[Chance: 55% | Cost: 34 MP]

[Order Rejection failed. Difficulty increased.]

Rigged! Rigged, I tell you!

[Chance: 40% | Cost: 50 MP]

She was just under the required amount, having recovered most of her MP while making and eating lunch. Maybe the food had replenished it somewhat, as well? It felt like she was recovering it too fast, otherwise. Either way, if Gelic could stall for a little bit, maybe resist Order Obligation for a while, she could try again. That was still a decent percentage and worth trying.

“Geez, will you quit trying to reject the Order?!” Lustre lost a lot of her bluster, going from an intimidating Summoner to a spoiled girl, whining that she wasn’t getting what she wanted. “What if I give you a hundred Essence? Is that better?”

“Hmm… fine.” Angelica still had no real intention of taking on this grand heist, but it would be better to go along with it for now. Stall for time to recover MP. She could at least scope it out, and then when she inevitably decided the job was a big “hell, naw!” maybe she could attempt two rejections in a row. Much more than that, and she’d hit the limit of what her max MP could allow her to try, and the percentage would likely be too low, then, anyway. And if she did decide to go through with it, then it was probably a good idea to have some MP on hand, just in case things went to scuff.

[Contract updated | Current Contract: Steal the Quilllaced Tiara | Reward: 100 Essence]

“Be grateful!” The Summoner had turned into a fully entitled prick. “I don’t even have to give you Essence with a forced command, but because I’m so generous and have admired your capabilities, I’ll still allow you to be rewarded.”

Good to know, good to know. If an Order was forced, it really was tantamount to slavery. There was nothing Gelic could do, and there was no guarantee for any sort of compensation. If she continued down this path, it would be wise to improve her Obstinance and the associated Skills, not wanting to do something truly terrible. This could still count as terrible, but maybe it would actually be simple. At the very least, she’d scout it out.

“Where is the Migrore Museum?” The Imp at least needed that much to go on. Actually… assuming Migrore was the city… “And where is Migrore?” She couldn’t quite place it, but it sounded familiar.

“Hmm? Migrore is where we are.” Lustre was confused by the question. “It’s a city in the south-west of Cyonsea, not that it should matter to you. The museum is not too far at all. Just follow the road out of this neighborhood and you’ll get there eventually.”

Angelica tried to hide her astonishment. Not about the museum location, that was neat. Rather… Cyonsea?! That… that was a whole other other country! Vulgrest was in her home country of Palamyth, several countries apart. It was like a damn quarter of the planet away! She was far from home now, so very far. Cities had been one thing, but countries? Thankfully, she lucked out and ended up in one that spoke the same language. If she could be sent out even this far, Tongues was definitely a priority.

And when Gelic did head outside, she’d need to be careful if she used Transfiguration. There weren’t too many people with blonde hair in Cyonsea that she was aware of, and her pale complexion wouldn’t blend in well, either, so she’d certainly stand out. She was in a foreign land without any sort of identification, and that would be problematic if she was caught and questioned. Probably for the best to stay as a Demon.

“If you need more directions, you can just ask me.” Lustre led the Imp toward the front door, and she trepidatiously stepped out into the unfamiliar place. Frankly, it was beautiful. Like the name implied, Cyonsea was surrounded by water on most sides, and Gelic could see the sea in the distance, since her master’s manor was high up on a hill. All around was lush foliage, and she was hit with warm air ruffling her hair. This was a tropical paradise, one she’d be happy to vacation at under different circumstances.

But for now, she needed to get moving. Order Obligation was already starting to bother her. The “neighborhood” the Summoner lived in was basically just, like, four or five mansions all far apart, and the road leading out to it was a long curved private drive that headed down to the main city. It’d be a bit of a hefty trek, so she got to bouncing.

Trying to distract herself from what was ahead, and in an effort to get better prepared, Gelic pulled up the Skill Weave while she travelled. She wanted to see if there was something useful to buy, but that turned out to be a bad idea. During one particularly weird-angled bounce, she tripped. Her rotund body began to roll down the hill, spinning along the curved road, and she could never quite get herself out of it. More bounces just led to more discomfort, so she just decided to ride it out.

At some point during the involuntary tumble, she started to regret her two lunches, feeling the dregs slosh about inside of her small digestive system. Fortunately, she didn’t get too nauseous from the act. Perhaps Demons didn’t have the same inner-ear stuff that caused dizziness and vertigo, at least to the same degree. She was a bit wobbly when she stood up again, having been stopped by the gate that led to the private drive, but it wasn’t bad, all things considered.

And look at that, Angelica could see the museum in the distance, just a bounce, bounce, and a bounce away. So, really, she’d just taken a shortcut. Totally intentionally… yeah. Still, it would probably be wise for the Demon to get better at walking and running in her new form, since bounces were not always the optimal solution, as was just clearly demonstrated. They served better on flat ground, so it wasn’t too much longer before she was at the front entrance of the museum.

Not being so foolish as to just waltz right in, the hellish creature actually scouted around a bit. For the most part, Lustre’s words had proven true. The nearby building was abuzz with activity. Dozens of people were heading in and out with decorations and trays of food. However, the actual museum looked practically deserted. The main doors were wide open too, like they were airing it out or something. Did they not fear someone would take this time to head right in and rob the place? Maybe since there were still so many people nearby, it didn’t register as an issue.

“Okay, I’ll be heading in,” Gelic reported mentally. “Where is the tiara in the museum?”

“Hmm, not sure,” her master responded back. “But there should be signage for it everywhere. Like I said, it’s a new piece, so they’ll want to be directing people right to it.”

“Ngh, okay,” the Imp grumbled. Honestly, she’d been hoping for burly sentries standing guard as a way to convince the older woman that this was a stupid idea, but no such luck. There were really no excuses as to why she shouldn’t at least head inside and take a look around. A few hairs on her back were raising from her hesitance already, so she cautiously waddled pass the threshold

“I’m inside,” she conveyed but with no response. Thankfully, nothing bad happened right away, no alarms went off, there were no guards yelling at her for intruding. And as predicted, there was a sign pointing right toward the tiara. Gelic followed it, leading to another side that turned her down a hall, then another that led into an atrium. After that, she was basically guided through a gallery that was practically a maze.

She understood their game now. They put the important shiny thing at the back so that the guests had to look at all the other stuff on the way. Sadly, she didn’t have the wherewithal to appreciate it. As an artist herself, there were plenty of great pieces she’d love to stop and admire; gorgeous landscapes and abstract portraits, absurdly shaped pottery that would be wholly inefficient to use, and magnificent statues that were a might bit, uhh, scantily clad, if they were even clad at all. Yet she couldn’t appreciate any of it, practically getting tunnel vision when she saw the tiara in the distance.

The dazzling piece had pretty much its own wide-open room. More paintings dotted the walls, but it was the central piece that pried eyes from everywhere else. Since there was going to be some sort of viewing later, it made sense to make it a place that plenty of people could gather. Angelica tiptoed toward the pedestal that held up the tiara, gazing at its splendor from a distance.

The Quilllaced Tiara. Frankly, she knew nothing about it, but its name was pretty accurate. Making up the entire framework were metal feathers, or quills, she supposed, though the calamus didn’t look quite long enough, in her opinion. They’d be hard to write with. Such picky details were overshadowed by the splendor of clear gems that actually covered the entire thing, making it gleam brightly thanks to the various spotlights. And at the center, one crown jewel stole the spotlight, a blue stone with some sort of fancy etching engraved inside.

The dazzling jewelry lured the Demon ahead further, entranced by sudden greed, but she stopped short when something caught her eye. There was a security guard in the corner, staring straight at the piece he was supposed to protect. Or that’s how it appeared initially. He was actually just facing it, but not looking. No, his eyes were closed, engaged in the biggest bit of negligence a guard could have. The man was asleep! Finally, her luck had improved.

As soon as Gelic picked up the Tiara, it would vanish for normal people, right? Obviously, that would be super suspicious if it blinked out of existence before the man’s very eyes. But since his eyes were occupied, this was a golden opportunity.

“Alright, I’m gonna do it!” Angelica didn’t know if she was telling her master or herself. But she committed and bounced up, landing on the pedestal, and held still for a moment. No alarms, no notice, no movement at all. She was safe. And then, she touched the tiara.