It was difficult to make sense of it all with the pain and the mental fog caused by that nausea. What in the world was happening?

It was becoming clear, even to my stubborn self, that refusing these... summons(?) wasn't getting me anywhere. I tried to push my mind to work in overdrive to grasp the situation. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be worsening for now, so I tried to stall.

He took a step closer and examined me. "She doesn't seem as stupid as her predecessor," he muttered to himself, then sighed.

"I need your services. Will you accept a contract?"

Recalling the consequences of my previous refusal, I nodded.

"Good," he went on. "You'll be following my orders without causing harm to me or my belongings. Not that you could harm me, but regardless... You'll be tasked with guarding my library and reorganizing my books until my return. Are you up for the task?"

I couldn't help but inquire, "How long do I need to guard the library?"

"Until tomorrow when I return, but you must stay until you've finished reordering them. Here are the instructions on how to do it," he said, showing me a piece of paper.

I tilted my head and examined the piece of paper. The writing on it made no sense to me.

"I can't decipher this writing!" I objected.

He facepalmed and let out a snort of frustration. "I've summoned an illiterate one!" he exclaimed, exasperated, before taking a deep breath. "Alright, here's the deal. Each book has a colored dot on its cover. Your job is to clean the shelves, dust off the books, and organize them on the appropriate shelves by matching the colors. Can you see the color codes?"

I nodded.

"So, do you accept the job? Are you capable of defending the library if necessary?"

"I can. We have a deal," I confirmed.

At that moment, I felt a dark cloud enter me, similar to the one I'd witnessed when the boys had sworn their loyalty to me.

The summoning process appeared to be complete, and the light barrier surrounding me dissipated. This time, there was no painful backlash, and my condition remained stable.

I let out a sigh of relief. Once this ordeal is over, I'll need to take some time to reflect on what just happened and try to understand it.

He tossed a piece of fabric to me.

"Use this to clean yourself. Don't get your bloody mess on my books, got it? I don't want to see any trace of your dirty blood when I return!" he instructed.

I nodded, even though his reference to my 'dirty blood' didn't sit well with me.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention, don't attack my niece," he added. "She might come to visit. If she does, just inform her that I'm not here and let her leave peacefully. You won't be taking orders from her, though. Your primary task is to complete the cleaning and reorganization of the library, understood?"

Again, I nodded. This man is definitely more concerned about his books; he almost neglected to inform the guard about his niece. I abstained from commenting or rolling my eyes.

"Of course, but is she allowed to borrow a book?" I inquired.

He let out a deep breath and shook his head.

"No, she knows that's not allowed. She can read here if she wants, but no taking books away. Anyone else who tries to steal my books, though, you have my permission to kill them."

I nodded in response, though I had no intention of killing anybody, but OK, I'll see when the case comes.

Stolen story; please report.

With that, he donned a rather comical, pointy hat that looked like something out of a children's wizard story and then vanished in a burst of light without saying goodbye.

My condition appeared to be gradually improving. The bleeding had already come to a halt, and the nausea had lessened to the point where I could finally take a deep breath and assess my surroundings.

Good grief! What in the world was all this madness? It felt like a nightmarish circus.

Where on earth was I, and what kind of realm was this?

It was definitively not Earth. Could it possibly be Prom'Ethea? But the language on that note was unfamiliar, and the writing style was like nothing I'd seen before.

I mean, I might not be familiar with every single location, but it had to be somewhere on Prom'Ethea, right? Otherwise, how on earth could I understand the language?

With some effort, I managed to sit up, and as I did, I began the slow process of cleaning the blood from my face. My mind raced, desperately searching for an explanation. I glanced down at my blood-stained clothes. Cleaning them was going to be a lot of work, and I hadn't yet come across a spell to tackle that.

I looked around. There had to be a water source around here somewhere for me to clean up, apart from that half-filled, dirty bucket in the corner.

Summoning the strength to rise on my now unsteady legs was quite a task. I had acted tough when talking to that wizard, but I felt terrible.

Good that nobody was there to try to steal some of his precious books; I guess I wouldn't be able to do much against it.

I should've identified him. With my Cala's skills, I should also possess her identifying spell. I was genuinely curious about his level. Would that skill even work in this place?

The room where I had been summoned was encircled by all sorts of bizarre symbols. It was far more extensive than the ring, with a high ceiling. It seemed like a laboratory or a workspace, with alcoves and workbenches lining the walls, and a double door leading to the library. Books were scattered all over the floor, some in piles, others simply tossed about.

In one corner, there was the aforementioned water basket and some floor cloth. The extensive library behind the double doors appeared quite empty. It was evident that either someone had begun tidying up or perhaps a gust of wind had done the job.

Perhaps he had attempted some magical cleaning of the library, had seen the result, and ended up summoning me here to finish the job.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought and felt a connection with him. At least a burgeoning understanding.

Alright, the task ahead seemed pretty clear, and I could even spot the colored dots on the books.

However, what bothered me was how this guy managed to summon me like this and put me to work. I struggled to clean my own room, and now I was essentially cheap labor cleaning up someone else's mess?

Thinking about it, maybe I should try the same method for tidying up my room?

While strolling around in search of clean water, my mind began to replay the recent events.

During the first summon, they had understandably mistaken me for a demon, given my horned form. However, this wizard, despite seeing my horns, didn't label me as a demon.

In Prom'Ethea, warlocks had the power to command demons and make them fight for them, although any other demon summoning was forbidden, at least officially. You could play as a warlock and summon a demon, but I wasn't sure about the details of their deals. I vaguely remembered something about demons being able to keep some item of the loot. And if they died, they'd respawn in Hades, but the higher the demon's rank, the longer the respawn time, which could be quite inconvenient.

That's what I knew about demon summoning, so probably, if you could ask them to fight for you, you could also ask them to work for you. That aside, I never thought that regular folks like me could be subjected to this kind of ordeal. It seemed like a form of slavery! I wondered about any compensation for my service! Oh well, I probably could have asked for something in return.

I let out a sigh and absentmindedly scratched my head. The whole situation had caught me so off guard that I hadn't even considered making a fair deal. My primary concern had been avoiding a fourth setback, but why had I been compelled to make an agreement in the first place? It had all started with those consecutive summons and that cursed spell backlash, which I feared might have killed me if it had continued. At least, that's how it felt at that moment.

Now, things seemed to have settled down, and thankfully, the barrage of summons had come to an end.

Since I couldn't find any water on that floor, I decided to explore the building further. This, at least, wasn't off-limits, and the books could wait.

The building was massive, resembling a tower. I couldn't thoroughly explore every nook and cranny. In fact, I didn't make a comprehensive attempt. I only ventured a few floors up and down, with the library and the laboratory located on what appeared to be the second floor.

Below, on the first floor, there were several rooms. One of them was quite spacious, featuring a large fireplace and two smaller rooms adjacent to it, which seemed like bedrooms. There was another room that could have been a restroom, although I couldn't be certain since it lacked any visible drainage.

While inspecting this area, I suddenly heard a bell in the distance, its sound reverberating throughout the entire building as if amplified by some magical means. As I pondered my next move, an image materialized on the wall – that of a young girl tugging on a fairly sizable bell's chain.

"Uncle Rob?" her voice resonated through the tower.