Thanks to Hannah's deal with the demon and its disclosure, we were not only given special permission to summon it ourselves but even offered, nay, required to accept logistical support, as the guild wanted to prevent anything else going wrong. Sensible of them, I supposed.

Unfortunately, this mandatory aid did not come free, which was arguably kinder than fining us directly for making demonic deals, no matter how justified under the circumstances... Still, it felt a little like adding injury to insult. And also, we had to file paperwork. There was actual paperwork for obtaining legal authorization to summon a demon. Why was I surprised?

To be fair, the guild only charged us in credits and seemed to be reasonable about the whole thing (as opposed to punitive). We would be accommodated with a private, warded space for the summoning, and then there was the matter of the summoning circle.

I had guiltily kept to myself the private one the demon had shown me, and I wouldn't dare use it now in any case, or possibly ever, if it couldn't be modified for safe use. Instead, I was to use Polly's... which I had presumed would be a generic circle copied straight from a book, but evidently the demon had also seen fit to bestow her with one of its own design.

I studied said circle with a frown, as it looked far more complicated than mine. Why? Had the demon not trusted me to memorize anything less simple in our limited time together? At least it had installed various security weaknesses here as well, which Polly must not have realized; if she had been wise enough to keep her soul, she almost certainly would have still lost her life.

Happily, a mental comparison of the two summoning circles, hers and mine, enabled me to more quickly and confidently confirm the most important bits, the demon's private signal as it were, almost comparable to its name... and thus scrap everything else entirely. I fully intended to study both circles at great length at a future date, but I wasn't so foolhardy as to risk actually using them.

...Wait, had the guild not realized Polly's original summoning circle was one huge trap? Surely they weren't so completely lacking in experts on runes... rather, demonic runes specifically, or runes and languages generally. Or had that been a test of some sort? I hesitated to ask -- the guild employee eyeing my modified circle seemed unlikely to know -- and instead requested to see Polly.

To my pleasant surprise, this was easily granted. I passed an older couple who might be her parents before entering her comfortably furnished... cell. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her face blotchy; the demon summoner had clearly been crying, but the look she gave me stopped me from saying anything.

Anyway, I wasn't sure what there was to say. Should I apologize? But that felt both undeserved and inadequate. Offer comfort? I wished my Empathy could do more than share in her misery.

"Are... are you still studying magic?" I asked, inspired by the runes I'd just been studying.

She gave a limp shrug. "That's about the only thing I can do now. But what's even the point?"

"I think learning is its own reward," I said earnestly. "After all, what else could the point be?"

Finally, she stirred. Polly's eyes regained some spark in them, if only to glare. "Are you saying you wouldn't mind life imprisonment?"

I considered the idea seriously. It didn't take long. "With infinite books? Time of my own? I would mind, but... not that much?"

She stared at me. I could feel her wavering between indignation and interest, still mild compared to the crushing mountain of depression, before she snorted and turned away. "Easy for you to say."

"Well, I am a Scholar--"

I meant to explain how Copyist Scholars functionally imprisoned themselves -- at least, I didn't know of any who ever left the library -- but her surge of surprised interest gave me pause.

"Really?" She looked me up and down. "Didn't you have to take a tough test or something?"

"Um..." I flushed. I should probably ask my mentor sometime why he'd waived mine.

"Though that's still nothing compared to getting into the Academy." Her depression returned. "Which I'll never do now. I'll never amount to anything, except maybe to my prison guards... if I can get anything useful from 'my demon.'"

"Oh," I said, "About that. You should be careful..."

I went on to explain my findings regarding her summoning circle, and she was appropriately shocked and horrified. Also more furious than fearful, which I found strange.

Most importantly, she showed renewed signs of life. She wanted me to produce my modified circle and explain it to her.

I did my best, though I thought I made a poor teacher, not helped by the lack of preparation time. Polly, on the other hand, really was a diligent student. If only she hadn't tried to take a demonic shortcut, I thought she could have gone far... though admittedly she seemed more suited to the Mages than Scholars.

"Visiting time's up," I heard while I was still fumbling through explanations.

I startled, suddenly reminded... didn't I have a demon summoning to get to? "I can visit again if you'd like," I reassured Polly.

"Do what you want." She folded her arms, turning away.

I paused at the door. She didn't seem to believe me... and truthfully, I was rather busy. I hadn't been able to juggle visiting Duni and Nailla well, and in both cases I multitasked by also exercising or training.

Polly, on the other hand, gave me basically no real benefits. But I also didn't want to abandon her to her 'life imprisonment' after I'd talked her into turning herself in.

Yes, I was well aware I had an Empathy-related problem. But what was the alternative?

"Would you be interested in exchanging letters?" I suggested. "I will visit too, but... it would be a lot faster and more convenient for me to write."

"Time," the guild employee repeated, sounding distinctly annoyed by my delay.

Polly just grunted and waved me off, feeling dubious. I supposed she wouldn't be used to writing much, since everyone she'd known had lived in the same small town... but she hadn't outright refused my suggestion either. I hurriedly left my contact information on my way out.

I didn't know if she would write, though I hoped she would.

Summoning a demon was, as previously mentioned, quite simple. Why, a thirteen-year-old birthday girl could do it!

"Not helping," Hannah said.

"I will check everything before the casting, which we will all do together," I tried. "Even in the worst case scenario, the warding here is quite excellent... Everything should be contained in this room."

I continued to look around with appreciation and delight. I suspected the room we were in was normally Zibarro's diplomatic suite of sorts, offering privacy and protection... for and from the guest. It figured that this would be where the Grandmaster Mage and city patron appeared to concentrate his efforts.

Hannah actually paused in her work to stare at me. "We're in this room."

Um... good point. I blinked at her before offering, "I'm almost certain who creates the circle should not matter?"

She had agreed to summon the demon herself, which shouldn't necessarily mean using her own summoning circle... but I wasn't surprised when she resumed tracing over my lines. Almost wasn't the same as absolutely certain, after all.

I still thought her extreme case of nerves was unnecessary. Sure, a single slip of the hand could lead to disaster. But only if I were so incompetent as to miss it!

"Come on, it'll be fine," Bessie said. "You always have our backs, so let us have yours this once."

Hannah noticeably relaxed a little, and I shot Bessie a grateful look. I also determined to keep my mouth shut rather than possibly put my foot in it again.

Once Hannah was done drawing the circle and I was done nodding over it, we were ready to cast. The five of us casting together would minimize our chance of accidents; now the greatest risk would be deliberate sabotage, but since nobody else raised or even seemed to consider the possibility, I didn't mention it.

If I couldn't trust my friends with my life, then what was I even doing here? Of course, so many case studies involved tight-knit groups falling apart under pressure... but we weren't the standard demon-worshipping cultists, power or glory seekers, or desperadoes.

I still thought I should say something. "Um, we're all agreed, right? That we won't be making any deals?"

Bessie snorted. "Even if we were crazy closet cultists, you realize where we are, right? That we'll have to report everything said and done to the guild, like, right after?"

"That's... Fair point."

"I think we should never deal with any demon again," Hannah said quietly.

I looked at her. Honestly, I had been thinking along similar lines... Even my intense curiosity to experience a demon summoning was nearly overshadowed by my dislike and distrust. The demon had caused such suffering, possibly ruined Polly and Rinaldo's lives... held us prisoner, threatened us... I imagined it would be a horrible influence on Duni...

No, such thinking was not productive here and now. Hannah had only sworn to summon the demon, of course, not even to talk, but we'd already agreed not to banish it immediately without at least hearing it out. Better not to risk annoying the immortal demon or to prematurely burn any bridges.

"Please try to stay polite," I said simply and began directing the casting.

Again, it was easy. Most group castings were considerably more difficult, but this spell was originally designed for a variable number of participants.

Then it settled, and there was only the wait. I had warned everyone beforehand that the demon could keep us waiting a while; indeed, some summoners could be fooled into breaking the circle without first dispelling it properly, mistakenly believing the summoning had ended in failure.

I had expected it would make us wait. That was why I was so surprised when, between one breath and the next, the circle was occupied. The demon seemed to unfold from the space between, a shadowy wisp of a figure with hellish burning red eyes, which swept over the entire room in one intense glance...

And then it vanished.

The air seemed suddenly lighter, doubly so. We all released breaths we hadn't known we were holding... and stared at the empty circle. I might have almost thought I'd imagined the demon's appearance and disappearance if not for my friends' mirroring disbelief and confusion.

"Was that... it?" Tom broke the silence. "Could it be trying a trick?"

"No," I said slowly. "At least I don't think so. Um... we can try dispelling the circle in case."

But as I had thought, the demon had already banished itself, or rather, gone home. I supposed it had grasped our situation in an instant? Still.

Not even one word?

"Well," Bessie said, "That was anticlimactic."

After another -- fortunately brief -- round of interviews, we were finally free.

With our mission completed we should have, in the ordinary course of business, returned directly to Wilton. Unfortunately, we were prevented from traveling by portal with our current equipment, and my so-useful Scroll was still recharging, what with teleporting into Duni, teleporting out of Duni, and teleporting twice into Zibarro. We were thus effectively stranded in the colorful city for a time.

"Sorry," I said as we began walking rather aimlessly. "I should have thought to teleport us directly from Duni to Zibarro. Saved us a trip."

"This whole mission has been a mess," Bessie said. "We should've had a secret signal."

"Um... that wouldn't have stayed a secret from the demon," I said, since the others seemed to agree with her.

"Oh, well. We should've had one anyway."

"I'm sorry," Hannah burst out. "I shouldn't have said anything to another adventurer no matter how charming... especially when he seemed so suspiciously charming!"

"You mean about checking in? He already knew," Bessie said. "Well, probably. The guild did say it's standard procedure."

"I should've bought a better comm-crystal." Hannah seemed determined to blame herself.

Bessie shook her head. "Wouldn't have helped."

"I'm never leaving Nailla behind on a mission again," I said.

"Wouldn't have helped," Tom said.

Wouldn't it? I imagined Nailla drowning Bronzemage and grimaced. "Maybe not, but I would feel safer."

"I feel like something must be seriously wrong when that's the truth," Hannah muttered.

"Well, what could we have done?" I asked, frustrated. "I feel like we did almost everything wrong, but I still do not know what's right. Maybe you did the right thing calling out the demon, Bessie, but I think you also just got lucky... no offense."

"No, I wasn't thinking," she agreed; did that girl ever get offended? "You just sometimes get quests like this that you aren't prepared for. Comes with the business."

Hannah rolled her eyes and sighed, but even she seemed to agree with that absurd statement.

And they still chose to be adventurers? I... wasn't all right with that.

Perhaps my feelings were obvious, or she just knew me, because Bessie continued half-apologetically, "That's just life, you know? You want to help everybody you meet. Duni, Nailla, now this Polly girl... and that's fine! But whenever you step out of line... or in line... or anywhere, you might step on the toes of somebody stronger."

"That will happen with Duni sooner or later," Tom said. "It's just a matter of luck and time."

"Anyway, I don't think there is a 'right' way to handle a hostage situation. Even if we were strong as Gold-Rankers, we couldn't beat the demon without killing Rinaldo, right?"

I had to say I appreciated her good cheer while discussing hard truths. Plus it was difficult to sink into too serious of a mood while in Zibarro's bizarre setting; our current street even zigzagged rather than running straight. Once more the residents seemed so comparatively banal...

Wait. "We're being followed," I said quietly. "Two... three people, one on the rooftops."

We kept walking. Bessie said in a casual voice, "Hear us, do you think?"

"No? I don't know, but I don't think so. Not unless they're as good as Blake. Um... Can we stop for a moment? Pretend to be looking in storefronts."

We did so, and I confirmed what I'd suspected.

Ugh, that was both better and worse... My friends seemed to share my opinion.

Deliberately, we sought out a less occupied area. With the help of my Empathy, we turned down alleyways until we arrived at one of the saddest public parks I'd ever seen: wilted, trampled, and most importantly, deserted.

"Come out, come out!" Bessie called.

Team Thornado... or the remaining three members came into view. They were in full armor but with their helmet visors up, their decidedly unfriendly expressions visible even where I stood in the far back, ready to cast a defensive Skill.

More noticeable was how they felt, what had made me take notice of them despite our distracting conversation in a new city.

"What do you want?" Bessie asked.

"Answers," Silverlady said.

But whether or not she realized it, she really meant: an excuse. She looked so beautiful and righteous, clad in shining silver armor, eyes flashing, like a heroine out of a fable, facing down her monstrous foes...

Too bad we were her targets. "What did the demon want with you?"

"To make a deal," Bessie answered shortly.

"So did you?"

"We don't owe it anything."

"That's not an answer."

"I think it was." Bessie's voice by now had a distinct edge. If Silverlady had just been asking questions, perhaps she would have felt we owed their team answers, but the contemptuous demands sounded more like yet another interrogation. "We already said all there's to say to the guild. Why don't you talk to them instead of skulking about, following us like Mercenaries?"

"I want to hear it from you. Why didn't you call the guild right away?"

I tensed, but Bessie said unflinchingly, "You know why."

"Yes," Silverlady said. "I think it's rich that Rinaldo is the only one punished, while your team gets to just walk away! No, you're rewarded for doing less than nothing!"

"I'm sorry," Bessie said. "It could have happened to any of us. But it's not our fault either."

"He might never wake." I felt like I had been struck in the chest. "If it had been your teammate, are you saying you wouldn't have tried harder?"

"No," Bessie said, "No, you don't get to put this on us. It was a bad situation all--"

"If you were real demon experts, you'd have done more! Are you even really Silver-Rankers?"

Personally, the dig struck home... but before me, my team bristled.

"Hey," Bessie said, "If you were looking to pick a fight, all you had to do was ask nicely."

Once again everything happened quickly. I could sense the moment of tension's release and was already casting: "[Mana Dome]!"

But also again, nobody was targeting me. Wasn't that supposed to be a common team tactic: take out the mage first? I supposed that only applied to mages with demonstrable firepower.

Instead they tried for Hannah. Tom's shield blocked Silverlady's strike, while Bessie forced her back; the two rogues met in a whirling scream of daggers; and Bronzemage was forced to throw up a shield against Hannah's arrows.

Did they think they could win like this? They were outnumbered, three to five (or four)... I didn't understand their continuing unfounded confidence. I looked to Bronzemage in case of some unexpected turnabout...

...but Blackrogue was the one who suddenly tossed down something. An artifact? Consumable?

My eyes widened, my mouth opened to shout a warning...

A blast of light and sound.

...

I blinked tears out of my eyes, staring around. I couldn't see or hear properly.

But I could sense everybody. Not just through my Empathy, but also Appraisal: Hannah was rotating in place, probably swinging her hammer blindly; Bessie was rolling to gain distance, casting a spell; Tom was hunkering down behind his shield, having just cast something. Only Blake was...

Blake was stationary while Silverlady and Blackrogue converged on him. What was he doing? Why wasn't he moving? I thought to cast [Mana Barrier], raising my hand... but I was too late, too slow...

Then he moved. One moment he was caught in the pincer attack; the next he was behind Silverlady, who was sent flying into Blackrogue.

I blinked and blinked again, recovering sight and sound presumably at the same time as everybody else, except they didn't waste time. Bessie and Tom were suddenly piling onto the two recovering their footing, while Hannah's hammer slammed into Bronzemage's shield.

Right, I should probably do something. I pointed to the latter, readying to cast, but I could already sense the shield failing. Sure enough, in the next moment it shattered, prompting Bronzemage to drop his staff and hold his hands up.

A few feet away, Tom was sitting on Blackrogue, while Bessie had her sword pointed at Silverlady's exposed face.

It... It was over? This time I hadn't done a thing. I relaxed a white-knuckled grip and only then realized I'd been clutching my staff... The whole fight hadn't lasted twenty seconds!

I realized I was also soaking up ambient chagrin. "Losing to children," Silverlady said. "We should turn in our badges."

"Hey," Bessie said. "We're Silver-Rankers too."

"Then why? Why couldn't you have saved him?" Silverlady suddenly jerked upwards with a snarl, wrenching Bessie's sword away with a gauntleted fist...

...only for Bessie to drop the sword and slug her. Silverlady went crashing to the ground, clutching her face.

"What could we have done?" Retrieving her sword, Bessie spoke casually, as though continuing a conversation. "Kill a fourteen-year-old girl?"

"If you mean the summoner," Blackrogue said, "You should have."

"She's a child who's lost her soul. She'll spend the rest of her life regretting her stupidity. Believe me, she deserves your pity, not your hate."

"She deserves both," Silverlady said. "She deserves to suffer."

Her spite was an ugly thing to witness, but Bessie just said, "And she will, sadly. It's all over for her... but not for you. Any of you. I'm sure Rinaldo will get better."

"If he hasn't died yet, he should wake eventually," I said. "Drained victims nearly always do."

"Wake," Silverlady repeated bitterly, "To prison? His reputation is ruined! He's out of the guild!"

"When he wakes, he could use your support more than ever," Bessie said firmly. "It sounds to me like he meant to give his life for all of yours, but he's still living. Not without cost, and it might be hard at times... but can't you see that this is a victory?"

She truly meant it, too.

I couldn't help staring at Bessie in admiration. I wished I could throw down with someone and then deliver an inspirational speech to help get them back on their feet. Um... preferably with less punching.

"So... good fight!" Bessie sheathed her sword and clapped her hands together. "We should share drinks sometime!"

Um... what? This was hardly the time for a drinks invitation, or so I thought, but a strange transformation overcame Team Thornado. The remaining tension leaked out of them, and they seemed... grateful? A bit rueful?

Where moments ago they'd been at our throats, they suddenly felt far more amicable.

I tried not to show my confusion until after contact information was exchanged and we parted ways. Then I asked, "What was that? That last part?"

"Of course they were grateful." Hannah rolled her eyes. "Customarily, the winners get to strip the losers of all their valuables."

I blanched. "What, even their equipment?"

"Especially that!" Hannah sighed and shook her head. "Shame, you, we clearly need the money more than they do."

"Naw," Bessie said, "Feels too much like kicking someone who's already down. Besides, they didn't take ours earlier... and we have our choice of loot already!"

I wasn't the only one confused. "We do?"

"Sure. Didn't you see your new credit balance?"

I stared at her blankly. Who cared about credits?

"Let me guess." She grinned. "You're thinking of small numbers, a few hundred credits. Enough to buy some classes and fill our yearly quota and that's all, right?"

"You're saying more credits means.... more?"

"That's right! How would you like to go credit shopping?"

"You had me at loot," Tom said.

"Um... I remain confused."

"Honestly, you still don't get it?" Bessie threw her hands up in the air. "We finished the mission. Hurray! Now, it's time to reap our rewards!"