The soldiers started preparing their camp for the night on the other side of the relay station, and it was somehow calming to see their effectiveness as they methodically raised their camp. Half an hour later, their frenetic activity started to ebb; aligned tents were already raised, a rudimentary palisade had been built around the camp, fires were lit, and food was being distributed. Obviously, the place had been used by other units earlier and was now only being refreshed.

Once things started to calm down, we wondered where to sleep.

Should we forget about the two rooms we just rented and sleep outside? With the company staying beside the relay station, I didn't think that the young viscount, whoever he was, would try anything against me directly, but he could try to hurt the boys in one way or another to take revenge for his two dead companions. That was certainly not something I would like to risk, especially since Ju had specifically warned us.

"I want to add to what Alice has said," she said with a sigh. "I can eventually save people who appear dead, what is called reviving by adventurers, but that is also a function of magic. The more magic someone has, the more probable a revival would work. This is because part of the magic does not disperse instantly, but still keeps the form of the body. That's why revival works, but for people with low magic in their veins, it may not work. Also, the time between what appears to be death and revival is much shorter for such persons. That's why, for instance, I could not revive anybody on Earth. It simply did not work."

She turned towards me.

"I thought it would be important to mention, even if you probably know it."

I didn't know it, and it just added to my worries.

"Damn, so what do we do? Do we take our boys and go to sleep outside?"

“You can sleep inside,” the Lynx said. “I've inspected the compound. I'll sleep outside in front of the windows, and my domain would encompass both rooms. If somebody prepares to attack you, I can break the windows or even the walls faster. They are not that sturdy, and the enchantments are weak.”

“But you need some rest too!” I protested.

“I've told you I sleep like that. How do you think I survived in the wild? Do you think there were no other beasts trying to sneak up on me?”

I nodded. I hadn't thought of that actually.

It was close to midnight when we were finally in our rooms, and as I was preparing to jump into my bed, I got a summon.

Oh, no! Not now! I was tired and had no wish or energy left to deal with it.

It's true that my demoted levels had resulted from refusing to take summons, and taking some had alleviated that problem a little, but that was all. I was still at this very low level, and it didn't seem to work further. Was there any other way to regain my levels? I wondered.

Generally, I was thinking about accepting some summons to see if that helps, but not now, after this stressful day. I passed it further, as I've learned to do, but strangely enough, it came back to me with more intensity. Again and again, only growing in intensity. I sighed. There was something odd with this summon. I checked my levels, and I was still at level twenty-six. At least I was not demoted again, but the summon was still pending, with more urgency.

I sighed in despair. What do I do?

“I might have to take a summon and be gone for the night,” I said, addressing the room.

As I looked around, Alice raised a brow. Tina and the elf were already sleeping. They must have fallen instantly asleep as soon as their heads had touched the pillow.

“Do I need to do something?” Alice asked, coming closer. I met her eyes and saw worry in them.

“Well, I'll be coming back exactly here when this ends. It would be good if I found you here, but not a drama if you have to leave. If that's the case, just make sure you leave some breadcrumbs for me to find you.”

“Breadcrumbs?” she questioned, raising a brow.

“I mean a trace so that I can find you,” I said, undressing my pajama and searching for my shorts in my inventory.

“Got it!” she chuckled, showing me a thumbs up.

I grinned happily and answered with a thumbs up, and as the light enveloped me, I took out a t-shirt to pull it over my head.

*

I found myself in the summon's illuminated circle, still struggling with my blouse, only to realize it was hanging on the left horn. I had to pull it up a little to finally dress properly.

Turning with a grin to discern who had summoned me, I felt uncomfortable. Something was wrong with my blouse; it wasn't sitting right. Looking down, I realized I had it on with the front behind.

“Just a moment!” I said, pulling my hands out and forcing the blouse to rotate one hundred eighty degrees. My breasts almost jumped out from under it, but I managed to keep them covered as I contorted under the blouse and finally pulled my hands through in the right position.

"Ah!" I said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“You, demon!”

Turning to the side, I saw a beastman.

Why do I always get summoned facing the wrong direction? I wondered. It's always a bit of a struggle to see who summoned you, as you stay in a circle of light while they sit outside it. You feel like being on a stage, but I was starting to get used to the situation.

There was a priest beside him, and a dead ox lay on the ground. A complicated arabesque design had been painted on the floor with its blood. I was still unclear how a summon functioned, but it seemed it needed some kind of spiritual energy, and there were probably various ways one could feed that.

“What do you want?” I asked, looking at the beastman.

“Lores! I speak your name! You have doomed my sister, you should have no respite until you pay for it!”

Ah, that must be why the summon had seemed to target me. Because it did. Probably there aren't many demons with this name. Who the hell is he, and how does it come that he knows my name?

“What are you talking about?” I wondered. I did not tell my name to that many people...

“Don't try to deny, you've caught my sister in your damn lies net!”

“Are you talking about that catgirl, Miau? How should I have caught her?”

What did he mean by: 'You should have no respite?' I wondered.

“Meowra!” he snarled back. "Don't make fun of her name! She'll be executed tomorrow because of you! I speak your name, and you should answer me truly! I want you to tell me how you made her allow you to kill her team. What contorted lies did you tell her? That's all I want from you!”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

This idiot accuses me of lying? My eyes were ready to shoot daggers, but I abstained. I realized that he was angry because of his sister's situation, and decided to give him some slack.

“Ah, Meowra...” I sighed. “I do not lie. Why are you accusing me of that? So, you mean, Meowra will be executed!? Why is that?”

He practically exploded.

“Why? You ask me why? As if you would not know! Because you killed her party when you were there under her contract! Did you make a deal with her to take her soul? Why don't you tell me the truth? Does your name not matter to you? Lores, Lores, Lores! Why did you murder Meowra's team? Tell me just that!”

I sighed. He was yelling my name repeatedly as if that should do something.

“Those jerks wanted to kill her!” I said with a shrug. “They deserved their fate!”

“That's what you say!” The priest said, speaking for the first time.

I snorted and turned to look at him.

“I do not lie!”

I was surprised at how my voice resonated. The priest stepped back and started to make some strange signs in the air.

I turned back to face the beastman.

“I heard them planning it,” I said. “They triggered that trap with me and Meowra inside. We barely made it out alive from there; the trap was going to crush her.”

“It was an accident!” – the priest countered – “Everything was clarified in the official inquiry. You used the fact that Meowra was weak, trapped there and losing blood, and blackmailed her to change the contract so that you could kill the others. You said you wanted to help her, and that's how you helped her. We know your ways, demon!”

“That was as much by accident as this summon was by accident. No, you summoned me, by my name. They trapped her to kill her. And I didn't blackmail her! She was barely conscious as the trap had pierced her body and was crushing her,” I protested. “Her luck was that she had allowed me to move freely before we got there, else she would have been dead.”

The priest looked horrified. “She did allow you to move without restrictions?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “She was a kind girl and accepted that keeping me constrained would decrease my, and thus our, overall chances of survival. We were talking about how to proceed with the next part of the dungeon when that trap closed on us.”

The priest drew his own conclusions.

“So that's why you are so sure her soul will go to hell; she lied even during her judgment!”

He turned with a sigh to the beastman then back at me with a snarl.

“Nice way to thank for her kindness! Demon!”

I watched the priest. He had some canine traits, while the beastman looked more like a spotted leopard. A cheetah.

With a sigh, the priest shrugged.

“You can dismiss her,” he told the beastman. “You can no longer save your sister's soul!”

The spotted beastman was breathing hard. He turned to me.

“Are you sure they wanted to kill her?” he asked.

How many times do I need to tell him? I wondered.

I nodded and explained.

“That's what they were talking about, waiting for her to die while she was inside the trap that was slowly crushing her.”

“You're believing a demon!” the priest said. “I approved to help you with the summon, but this goes too far. Dismiss her!” he ordered.

“I want to hear her first!” the beastman said, standing up to the priest.

Were they now going to fight? The priest did not look like he wanted to take the chance. Suddenly, the containment field around me ceased.

“Then it's your problem,” he said. “Let her eat your soul, idiot. I wash my hands of it.”

He turned to look at me.

“Look at this depraved nakedness! Look at this devilish face!”

“Hey!” I protested. That was going too far! “Do you think you're looking prettier, you pompous buffoon?”

He started making signs in the air, walking backward, but unable to take his eyes off my form. Maybe shorts and a blouse were a little bit too provocative for their society, but I didn't want to appear in my pajamas. If they had given me more time with their summon, I could have dressed in my leather armor!

A sudden inspiration made me place my hand on my hip and, in my best succubus manner, smile at him, fluttering my eyelashes.

“Mmmhh, pretty boy, did I hear you've been naughty?”

He turned away and started running. I couldn't believe my eyes. I started laughing, but then when I turned and saw the sad face of the beastman, I sighed.

“Sorry. I couldn't resist that. What I said was true; Meowra had been attacked by those three wieselmen.”

He sighed and then raised his eyes at me.

“You said three, but there were four. What happened to the fourth?”

“They killed him too. They talked about Grishaw's robe and Meowra's amulet being worth gold.”

“Did they?” he pondered. “But why would Irowics lie? She just saved him; without her, he would have died. He himself confirmed that!”

As there was no longer a screen between us, I could identify him: a paladin, level twenty-six. Same level as me! I walked towards him.

“Why would he lie?” I repeated his question.

Is he really asking himself that? I thought.

I chuckled. “He was the one who killed Grishaw! What would you expect him to do? Self-incriminate?”

“Did he? Well, anyhow, demon, you cannot help me now. Thank you for telling me the truth. Did you not hear the priest? She lied during her judgment; now even her soul will be lost!"

"I still wonder why did she heal him and dismiss me?" I said. "That hunter was waiting there to ambush her, that's why I attacked him. She was lucky that he did not kill her after being healed."

"She thought you ran mad and started to kill them. She thought the two had disabled the trap before you killed them, then killed Grishaw and tried to kill Irowics. She was good friends with Irowics. I think she was in love with him. He is a good hunter but weak in one-on-one fights. His only chance would have been to kill her in an ambush."

He sat on one of the stones that surrounded the altar and started to cry. The absurdity of it struck me in the face.

"She will be executed being innocent and you are worried because she may have lied in the process to save her skin?" I wondered.

He shook his head.

"You don't understand. Summoning a demon is bad enough but it is not punishable, only frowned upon. Losing control of the demon is punishable, but allowing it to do as it pleases is the worst offense. You just confirmed she did that. And not because you tricked her in a moment of weakness as she tried to defend herself. She is truly lost! How could she do that?"

I sighed. "Why did you summon me? What did you expect to hear?" I wondered.

"That you confirm that you tricked her! With your confession and Father Dorhog's testimony, I could have begged the governor to pardon her! I would have had a chance! Now I have nothing!"

"You have nothing? Now you know that she is innocent! Is this not reason enough to go to that governor and ask for her pardon?"

He shook his head and chuckled sadly.

"Nobody would believe a demon. She herself had thought that you just killed them, and knowing that she had already let you move freely only aggravates her case. She probably thought she would be able to control you and stop you if you did something wrong. She probably wanted to test you, but it went south pretty fast."

I sighed.

"Where is she now?"

He pointed to a citadel on a hill not far away.

"She is being held in the black tower now. Tomorrow she will be dragged by horses down the hill and thrown on the pyre you see ready down there, where she'd be burned alive. Hopefully, she dies before!" he said with a sigh.

A shiver ran down my spine.

"That's crazy," I said.

He only started to sob harder.

"Have you thought about trying to free her?" I wondered.

He shook his head.

"It's impossible. Nobody can even approach the place. There are torches everywhere around; I would be shot before coming close to that citadel."