“Well, in addition to the snacks, we’ve also brought some medical supplies; bandages, gause, band aids in varying shapes and sizes, some antiseptics, tweezers, scissors and medical tape, you know, the basics. How did it go with the burn and numbing creams we gave you last time?” William asks.
Violet volunteered to test them so we put a little bit on the backs of each of her hands and there did not appear to be any negative effects that we could see. The numbing cream did help to ease pain temporarily, though the effect was short lived and only affected surface tissue. However, the burn cream did not have any effect that we were able to discern. What is the usual expectation for it?
“It’s meant to soothe the pain a little and help the skin heal better. But it’s just a basic over the counter medication, so I wouldn’t expect anything special,” William explains.
The imp that it was used on did not say anything about the pain being lessened, but the burns were only minor in the first place so it was probably not that bad to begin with. And helping the skin heal likely does not matter when we have someone who can heal with magic.
“I can see how it would be hard to determine its effectiveness under those circumstances,” William agrees.
“Can you elaborate on the numbing cream? It’s actually a relatively new medicine, so any additional data is always appreciated. The people I work for are particularly interested in its effects on demons, considering its source,” Cassandra requests.
Is there something special about its source?
“It was developed from a plant that the vak brought and started farming around a decade ago. After obtaining some samples, our scientists were quite eager to study it. Since the plant is completely inedible, it’s assumed that the vak also use it for medicinal purposes.”
“Or chemical weapons,” William scoffs.
What kind of chemical weapons?
Cassandra glares at William for a moment.
“Ah, sorry, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that,” he apologises.
“Well it doesn’t matter now, I guess,” Cassandra relents. “In its raw, unprocessed state the sap from this plant can cause permanent nerve damage. So naturally, the demons aerosolized it.”
And they are using such weapons?
The thought is disturbing, to say the least. I will need to start thinking about methods to defend against chemical attacks if that is the case.
“Only in the beginning, then our military decided to respond in kind, even though we had laws against it. It didn’t take long for both sides to mutually agree to stop doing that. But we’re still ready for them in case they decide to change their minds about it,” William states.
I see. So what in particular do you want to know?
“Well, you said the effect was short lived and only on the surface tissue, but can you be more specific?” Cassandra asks.
I do not have any means of precise time keeping, but I would estimate its effects to have lasted about ten minutes. I am not sure how to be more specific about the ‘surface tissue’ because that is what it affected, while doing nothing to numb the pain from deeper bruising or broken bones.
“Only ten minutes? Are you sure?” William asks.
The two humans share a shocked expression and Cassandra starts writing in her notebook.
As I said. I do not have a way to keep time so it is just an estimate. Is that surprising somehow?
“You don’t have a clock?” He queries.
Not one that works.
“Oh, we’ll add that to the list then. But yes, it is surprising, that stuff is pretty potent. On humans, even a light application would numb the affected area for at least half an hour and that’s the minimum,” William exclaims.
“It has been noted to have been slightly less effective when used to treat injured vak prisoners, but even then, the difference is only marginal. Maybe there’s something about imp biology that makes them more resistant to it. If you use it again in the future, would you mind keeping detailed notes about its effects for us to compare?” Cassandra adds.
I will consider it.
As much as I would prefer not to share information with them, it could help us learn things about imp biology that would be difficult for us to figure out on our own.
During our discussion, Rose shared the rest of the beef jerky with the hellhounds and the imps who had not had one yet. Since that was the last of them, Violet and Coal were left disappointed that they did not get another piece.
Calla is the last to finish hers and she then climbs up the closest table leg to stand before Cassandra, looking up at her with an evaluating glare.
“Not look tough. I fight,” she declares, pointing at the human.
“No! You’re not fighting,” Lily shouts as she and Calyx scramble up to the tabletop to pull their daughter away from the human.
“Not scared. I will win,” Calla insists.
While I admire your bravery, I think this might be a bit much for you right now. Besides, these are nice humans, they have brought us many gifts. They are not our enemies.
“No want to fight,” Cassandra hastily urges.
“You give up? That mean I win!” Calla pronounces.
Violet and Calyx cheer while Lily sighs and shakes her head.
“Need anything more?” Calyx inquires, directing the question towards Rose.
“No, I think that was all that’s needed from you,” Rose replies.
Yes, thank you for coming down and also not letting Calla pick a fight with the humans. When you go back up, please inform the others that there will be treats coming soon and not to go anywhere if they do not want to miss out.
Lily, eager to keep her child away from the humans, tells Calla that they are leaving. The little imp calls Noctis over, who crouches slightly by the table so Calla can take her customary seat.
“We tell everyone how I win against human,” she states cheerfully as they leave.
The two humans watch in fascination as the tiny imp rides the largest of the hellhounds out, with the other three trailing behind.
“So what was that all about?” William asks after they are gone.
“I believe the little one was challenging me to a fight and declared herself the victor when I declined,” Cassandra says.
“And what a stunning victory it was,” William chuckles.
“Is it normal for imps to ride on the hellhounds like that?” Cassandra wonders.
It is for that one.
“And were the two older imps accompanying her the parents? They seemed quite protective of her,” she inquires.
It seems like she is fishing for information, but even if I do not confirm it, it is a pretty obvious observation to make, so they will likely just assume it either way.
They are.
“So they form family units then, that’s good. That will be helpful,” Cassandra states.
Helpful how?
“It may hopefully help to humanise them, make them seem more sympathetic. A lot of people are hesitant to offer support to your cause because they are wary of the fact that you have demons,” she explains.
And it does not matter to those people that the imps are different from the vak?
William scoffs in response.
“They just don’t care to make a distinction. You have to keep in mind that most people’s only experience with demons has been the conquering force that is attempting to exterminate us; they’re afraid. That’s why we were only able to bring food and basic medical supplies today, a lot of folks aren’t keen on doing anything to bolster the strength of another force of demons,” he laments.
Why do you go so far to help us then?
“Because after meeting you and seeing the imps for myself, I don’t believe you’re an enemy. I trust you. You’re just doing your best to survive, like us.”
And what of you? Do you share the same opinion? I ask Cassandra.
“I do. And thankfully, the people I work for are a little more open minded,”
Who exactly do you work for, if not the DMO?
“The Demonic Intelligence Division. Our job is gathering whatever information we can get on demons and unlike the Dungeon Management Office, we are not under the control of the military,” she explains.
That certainly sounds like something that would be associated with the military.
“We do work with the military on a lot of things, we just don’t work for them. A distinction they like to sometimes forget,” Cassandra clarifies.
During this discussion, Rose has gone back to looking over the files Cassandra brought while Violet and Coal, seeing no reason to hang around any longer, leave to go back upstairs. But soon after, I sense a large group of imps moving quickly down the stairs. Almost all the imps in the building it seems, save for the two on watch, are making their way down.
Please excuse me for a moment, I need to check on something. I inform Willaim and Cassandra.
Violet is at the head of the pack so I ask what is going on.
‘The human said there were more snacks downstairs, so I asked everyone to help bring them up,’ she replies.
That is a good idea. There are other things there besides the food, I would appreciate it if you would bring those up as well. Then if you want to start distributing the snacks, you can as long as you make sure everyone gets a fair share. And do not forget about the two on the roof.
I wait on the lowest step of my domain and watch as the imps all pass completely beyond my perception. It is not long before I see them returning, some carrying large brown paper bags individually and others working together to carry up a few cardboard boxes. Calla is ‘helping’ her parents carry one of the boxes, though it is clear they are doing most of the lifting while she is just holding on to it. There was not enough for all of the imps to take something so some of them are coming back up empty handed.
I return to the meeting room and inform Rose about what is happening.
Violet and the others are bringing the food up and she will be distributing them soon if you want to go supervise that.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Rose pauses her examination of the files to consider it, then shakes her head.
“I’m sure she can handle it,” she remarks before turning the page.
I briefly glance at the new page and see information and diagrams related to the vak respiratory system. I am actually quite interested in looking through those files myself later, but for now, I focus back on the humans. William has taken a seat at the table beside Cassandra and they are discussing something between them in hushed tones.
Thank you for waiting.
“No problem. Nothing’s wrong I hope?” William replies.
No, just working out some logistics. You said that people do not want to help us because imps are demons, does that mean you will not be able to fulfill the rest of my requests?
“Oh, not at all. I’m sure we will be able to get most of what you want, one way or another, some of them might just take a little longer,” William assures me.
What of the D.I.D? Would they be more amenable to providing what we seek? I ask Cassandra.
“It’s possible. Even though I said they’re more open-minded, they are still wary as well, but it’s certainly worth submitting requests. Though it might garner some complaints from the military about overstepping, since dealing with dungeons is their jurisdiction; that’s why they have the DMO in the first place,” she contemplates.
“But, even if our respective employers don’t want to help any more, there are things we could provide personally. For example; I served in the military until recently, so I learned all about most standard firearms. So unless you have anything out of the ordinary, I could teach what I know to anyone who wants to learn about that,” William offers.
I cannot help but think about the RPG that we got from the first Honey Badger group that attacked us and wonder if that counts as ‘out of the ordinary’.
“I’m sure we could also teach you what we know about magic, if need be. After all, I am one of the oldest human mages on earth so I’m sure I could offer some valuable insight,” he continues.
That catches me a little off guard. I do not usually pay much attention to the ages of humans we have encountered so far, but when I look at William, he appears to be a relatively young man, smooth skin, dark hair without any grey to it, a fit and healthy body. I do not see any signs of advanced age. He does not seem like a person who could claim to be the oldest anything on earth.
Exactly how old are you?
“I’m twenty-seven,” he states smugly.
How could you be one of the oldest human mages if you are only twenty-seven?
His confidence falters at my apparent lack of awe. Crestfallen, he turns to Cassandra.
“People are usually at least a little bit impressed by that aren’t they?” he complains.
“Did you really expect Magentam to know enough about human history to understand the significance?” Cassandra counters.
“No, I suppose not,” William concedes.
“As you may recall, twenty-seven years ago is when the demon’s invasion began, but there weren’t any humans who could use magic before that. It was the sudden appearance of mana on earth that was the catalyst for humans to develop such abilities. However, this power didn’t just awaken within people who didn’t have it previously, only people who were born after that could become mages,” Cassandra explains.
“In my case, my mum was already pregnant with me when it all started and I was born a few months later. So while there may be some mages out there who are a little older than me, it can’t be by much,” William adds.
But not all children born after that have magic right? Jenna is the only one from her group that uses it and I do not think any of them look to be older than you.
“That’s correct. There are certain conditions that are required for a child to be born with magic potential,” Cassandra confirms.
What kind of conditions?
If I could learn what led to humans being able to use magic, perhaps the same could be done for my imps, then maybe there could come a time in the future when imps using magic becomes normal, instead of an anomoly.
“Mostly it comes down to mana exposure during fetal development,” she states.
If that is all it takes, then would it not be possible to intentionally make every new child born able to use magic?
“Some people have tried exactly that and have been met with disastrous results. It’s not that simple,” Cassandra retorts.
How so?
“Do you know about mana poisoning?” she asks.
I have heard of it, but have not seen it for myself.
“Well, for most people, mana poisoning leads to one of two outcomes. They either die or they make a full recovery with no permanent negative effects. But for an unborn child that’s still developing, it’s a lot more dangerous. Not only is there a higher chance of the fetus dying, even if it survives, there is the additional risk of it developing defects and malformations,” Cassandra elucidates.
“I’m quite fortunate in that regard. I heard that mum got it pretty bad at the time, so the fact that I was born without any complications or deformities was rather lucky,” William interjects.
Is that also the case for you? I ask Cassandra.
“No, it was a little different for me. My mother wasn’t pregnant at the time, but it has been found that when someone suffers severe mana poisoning and actually manages to survive it, some of that mana will linger in their body. It’s not harmful, but it can take a long time to dissipate, sometimes years. If a woman in that state has a child while enough of that mana remains, that can also lead to that child becoming a mage,” she clarifies.
“It is safer for the child that way, though still dangerous for the mother of course. But mages born this way aren’t as powerful as those who got to experience the mana poisoning for themselves,” William adds with a smug grin.
“Yes, and we also aren't as insufferable,” Cassandra retorts sarcastically.
“Ooh, nice burn,” William acknowledges with a chuckle.
“Anyway, I’m sure there are people who are researching how to make the process safer, but as it stands now, intentionally exposing women to dangerously high concentrations of mana in the hopes of producing a healthy child that will be able to use magic is reckless and ill-advised, at best,” Cassandra continues.
What if a woman who is already a mage has a child? Would that not mean the child has been exposed to mana since conception?
“That is a good question,” William agrees and turns to Cassandra. “Any insight?”
“I’ve not heard anything about that yet personally. And in case you are thinking of asking, no, I don’t have any children of my own so I can’t say from experience. But that is probably also something being researched,” Cassandra states.
Well that puts a damper on my idea. As far as I know, imps come from a place where mana is normal and from what I have been able to observe, they already naturally have mana in their bodies, yet that has not helped them gain the ability to use magic.
Rose and Violet both have more mana than any of the other imps, likely as a result of being guardians, and Rose actually is able to use magic herself. So there is a chance that any offspring either of them might produce could also be able to use it as well. But I am not going to ask them to breed just to find out.
Then there is also Coal, Onyx and Jet. Their teleportation is probably the result of some kind of magic, but in all the time he has been here, Coal has never shown signs of any other magical ability at all, so I am not sure what to think of that.
That just leaves mana poisoning, but that is another thing I am not willing to experiment with. Apart from the fact that I do not know how much mana it would even take to poison an imp with it, from what the humans have described, it just would not be worth the risk. As Cassandra said, it would be reckless and…
My thoughts are interrupted as Violet comes running into the room carrying a muffin in her hands. She rushes over to the table and stops beside Rose’s chair.
“This one’s for you,” she declares, holding out the muffin for her.
“Thank you,” Rose replies, taking the muffing gingerly and smelling it before taking a bite out of it. “It’s different from the one we had earlier, but it’s also quite nice.”
“There’s still more upstairs, but you stayed down here, so I brought one to you,” Violet informs her.
“I appreciate that. I suppose I could just take these up with me if I’m not actually needed here anymore?” She asks, gesturing to the three folders.
I pass the question on to the humans.
“I don’t think there’s anything more for her to do here. Unless she wants to start magic training right now, but that can take a while to really get into so it might be better to leave that for another day,” William responds.
Rose packs up what she was looking at and gathers the folders together. Violet offers to carry them so Rose can focus on her muffin and the two imps quickly depart from the room together, leaving me alone with the humans.
“Well, we seem to have drifted quite far from our original topic. The clothes and backpacks shouldn’t take too long to make them to specification. We’ll keep looking for people who are willing and able to make weapons and armour like you asked for. I’m sure we can hire a guy to do the welding you wanted, though I’ll have to ask you to have Igneous or…Marble, was that the other one's name? Have one of them carry the welding equipment between floors. Dragging that stuff up the stairs might be a bit much to ask otherwise.
“What else was there? Oh, the car. I still haven't heard anything back about that, but I’ll go out and buy a charger for the battery myself, then if that’s the only problem, you’ll be good to go,” William says, giving a thumbs-up.
“If the DMO doesn’t want to reimburse you for that, or anything else you pay for out of pocket, let me know and I'll talk to my boss about it again,” Cassandra assures him.
“Right, I’ll keep that in mind. As for the training, both guns and magic, I can come back on my next day off, spend the whole day here teaching you what I know, if you want. That’ll be a Sunday, so will you be free then?” He asks Cassandra.
“I’m not sure, I might be available, but I’ll have to check when we get back just to confirm and I’ll let you know later,” she answers.
“Well, it might just be me then, but that’s alright. Oh, actually that reminds me, Jonathan and his friends also want to come back, but wanted me to make sure it’s okay with you before they do. They said they would have asked sooner, but apparently one of them got a pretty nasty infection after one of your imps bit him last time they were here and they wanted to make sure he was fully recovered before coming back.”
That was quite a while ago, it must have been pretty serious if it took him this long to recover. Although, now that I think about it, coming from a different world means the imps could be carrying all manner of bacteria, or even diseases, that humans have never encountered before. So rather than being surprised at the long recovery time, perhaps he should be considered lucky that it was not worse.
I suppose I do not mind them coming back.
“Great, I’ll invite them along as well. We might even have some more stuff for you by then, a couple of backpacks and some new pants maybe. We won’t have enough for everyone by then, of course, but maybe a few,” he says.
Your assistance is appreciated, but just for reference; can you tell me what day it is today so I know how long it will be until then?
“You don’t even know what day it is?” He asks incredulously.
It has never been relevant before now.
“I suppose that makes sense,” he admits. “Today is Thursday, so three days from now.”
I see. And what of my last request? You have not said anything about that.
William goes stiff in his seat and Casssandra raises a quizzical eyebrow.
“I reached out to some people I know who…should be able to get in contact with them, but I’m still waiting for a response,” he hesitantly replies.
“What are you talking about? Who are you trying to contact?” Cassandra demands.
She does not know?
“Given what you were asking, I thought it might be better not to report it and just pursue it on my own. Honestly Cass, it might be better for you not to know; plausible deniability and all that,” William attempts to defend himself but is met with a withering glare from Cassandra.
“We’re going to talk about this later,” she insists
“Fair enough. On that note, I think we’re pretty much done here for today. Is there anything else you’d like to ask us while we’re here?” William inquires.
There is actually. Cassandra, you have said in the past that Balkret is the only demon language that you know, but I was wondering if you would at least be able to recognise or identify any others if you heard them?
“The vak do seem to have other languages that they sometimes use, but I’m not familiar enough with any of them to recognise them as more than ‘not Balkret’. Why do you ask?” She responds.
Some of the imps I have summoned do not speak Balkret. I suspect one of them might be speaking the language of the sucubirus, but I have no way to confirm it. I am not sure about the others though.
“Really?” She perks up instantly, forgetting her previous displeasure at William’s secrecy. “Would you be willing to record them speaking for us to analyse? If it is the sucubirus’ language, I’m sure we’ll be able to find out. We may be able to learn something about the others too,” she says with bubbling excitement.
If you can provide appropriate recording devices, I’ll see what I can do.
With nothing left to discuss and having plans for William, and possibly others, to return in a few days, this meeting finally concludes and the humans take their leave.
I head up to check on everyone. After bringing everything up to my core room they separated out the medical supplies and left them there while taking the food up to the roof to have a party up there. Something William did not mention was that they also brought fruit juice in glass bottles and paper cups so that is a welcome surprise.
I cannot currently see most of the imps while they run around and play as I have still only claimed a small area of the roof so far, but I still catch glimpses of them as they run past or come looking for more snacks. Though some are still lounging around in my claimed area while they enjoy their morsels and beverages.
Igneous and Marble are chewing on strips of dried meat, of which I can see there were a few more boxes of each type provided. There are also small paper bags strewn around from all the pastries already consumed. There does not appear to be much of the food left at this point, so the rooftop picnic will not last much longer, but the imps will likely continue to play up here for quite a while.
Rose is sitting beside Igneous cradling a paper cup in her hands.
The humans are gone now, but William plans to return in three days. He has offered to teach us what he knows about using magic in combat and he may also bring some more backpacks which could be useful during your upcoming expedition, if you are willing to wait. Though if you would prefer to leave earlier, you are welcome to do that as well, I can ask William to reschedule.
“I don’t mind waiting a few days. I doubt the town is going anywhere and learning how to defend ourselves better is more important than leaving a little earlier.”