After summoning the first demon, Jonathan walked to the kitchen, enlivened his magic, and peered at the kids playing outside. No smoke manifested, which meant he must have exhausted his reserves of non-Infernal Abyss magic. Rather than try to force the issue, which seemed extremely unsafe, he went out to let the kids know he was done for the short-term.

By the time lunch rolled around, however, he was topped up again—so far as he could tell—so he chased everyone into the back yard again, and returned to the summoning circle.

The second demon that manifested was practically the complete opposite of the first. It was a good head taller than Jonathan, and hugely fat. As far as Jonathan could tell the thing was entirely naked, although it was possible there were an undergarment hidden underneath the drooping expanse of its belly. As soon as it manifested, it sank down, though Jonathan couldn't tell if it was sitting or crouching. The demon did not appear to have lips, and its teeth were massive, sharp, and jagged.

Jonathan managed not to stumble back a step this time, but he was still pretty grossed out as he launched into the same spiel as for the first demon, followed by his first question. "What is your greatest desire here in the mortal realm."

The thing's voice was weirdly breathy and difficult to understand—presumably thanks to the lack of lips—and its teeth clacked and scraped against one another as it talked. "I ish to consoo your innards as you yet—"

"Okay, I get the picture. You can stop now. What is your name?"

"Rolactinoa."

Jonathan hesitated, his pencil hovering above his paper, before he decided to give it up. There was no way he was going to resummon this one ever again. "Last question: do you have any other desires here in the mortal realm?"

"No." The demon waited expectantly, watching him. Huh, the thing had apparently been honest, unlike the first. After a moment, the air twisted as it snapped back into the Infernal Abyss.

Jonathan went out to fetch the kids again. Even if he had had enough juice for another summons—which he didn't—he was done for the day.

----------------------------------------

Jonathan summoned his third demon immediately after breakfast the next morning. Unlike the others, this one was the first to appear to be gendered; in point of fact the demon's body was downright normal, looking like a curvaceous human woman. Thankfully, it was also clothed. Jonathan had been growing worried that demons didn't bother with clothing after the first two.

Where things got weird was the demon's head. Aside from two curled horns that pointed forward past her temples, the demon had no eyelids because its eyes were the compound eyes of a fly.

Jonathan started, stared, and then tried to purge the image from his memory. He quickly ran through his initial spiel, then asked the demon's greatest desire.

"To slay countless throngs."

Huh, that was a little less personal than the first two. Jonathan made a note. "Alright, second question. What is your name?"

"Cholera."

Jonathan noted that as well. "Do you have any other desires here in the mortal realm."

"Not now."

It was another surprise honest answer, apparently, because the demon stayed standing there for a several moments before returning to the Infernal Abyss.

----------------------------------------

The fourth demon made Jonathan very glad that the kids were all outside, because it was absolutely not safe for work, much less pre-teens.

He wasn't sure if they used the same word in this world, but apparently succubae were a thing.

The thing's answer to his first question freaked him out so much that he banished it back to the Infernal Abyss without bothering to ask for its name.

That did not sound like a pleasant way to go, and it was pretty clear it could never, ever be allowed to be anywhere near a child.

----------------------------------------

The fifth demon was thankfully clothed. This one appeared to be an androgenous, middle-aged individual dressed in a simple brown tunic sort of garment, except it had an incongruously large scorpion's tail extending from its tailbone and curling over its shoulder.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Jonathan took a couple steps back. He didn't think it should be able to get that tail out of the circle, but it didn't hurt to be sure.

"What is your greatest desire here in the mortal realm?"

"I want to pick your brain."

Huh, that was surprisingly benign. "What is your name?"

"I am Toxoplasmosis."

Jonathan struggled through spelling that as best he could, then paused. Two of the demons had told the truth on the final question, and he was getting a bad feeling… "What exactly do you mean when you say you want to pick my brain?"

The thing smiled, its teeth far sharper than they should be. "I wish to pick your brain out of your head and consume it."

Yeah, nope nope nope. Not happening.

----------------------------------------

Demons number six and seven were both variants on what Jonathan was realizing was the standard "I want to kill you in diverse ways" type of demon. The first was another demon that looked like a female human—except for her legs, which appeared to be the hind legs of some sort of large cat—and the second was an incredibly muscled thing that appeared to be male but had a raptor's talons for hands.

None of them seemed like particularly safe house-keeper material, but when Jonathan reviewed his notes and slept on the problem, he had an idea: demons all seemed to be named after sicknesses—or maybe viruses and bacteria—from his original world for some reason he couldn't comprehend. But did that mean that viruses and bacteria weren't a thing in this reality? When he asked the kids and Mr. Geiller about it, they just gave him blank looks, so it was possible things worked differently. But given how many similarities there were, he wondered…

Which was why he found himself doing his eighth summoning a little differently, after having Abigail help him modify the ritual to allow summoning a specific, named demon.

The demon Cholera twisted into being in the middle of his summoning circle and stared at him expressionlessly.

Ugh, her compound eyes were really freaky looking. "I wish to talk to you for ten minutes or less. If you say something untruthful, you will be returned to the Infernal Abyss. Once ten minutes have elapsed or if I decide our conversation is over before then you will return to the Infernal Abyss. Depending on your answers, I might resummon you later to form a contract."

The demon tilted its head, face still expressionless. "Acceptable."

Jonathan took a deep breath. Although he hadn't strictly scripted this encounter, he had some ideas for how it might go. Even so, he was extremely nervous. "When we spoke last, you said your greatest wish was to slay countless throngs. Is that still true?" This was probably his biggest fear. If demon's wishes changed when they were resummoned, then the entire premise behind this endeavor was probably wrong and he was going to have to accept defeat.

However, Cholera nodded. "Yes. Always."

That was a relief. "If I provided you with uncountable living things to kill, do you think you would be able to abstain from killing or otherwise harming humans?"

Cholera cocked its head. "I have never experienced such a thing. But…perhaps. Restricting myself would be difficult, but with sufficient enemies, it would be worth my while."

Jonathan waited a moment to be sure the demon didn't get banished for telling a falsehood, then moved to his next question. "Are you familiar with the concept of germs or micro-organisms?"

"No."

"A micro-organism is a living thing that is so small it is impossible to see with the naked eye and there are uncountable numbers of them all around us. Many bacteria and viruses, which are types of micro-organisms, are dangerous to humans because when they get inside our bodies they can cause disease." Probably didn't want to tell the mass murder machine that the reason they caused disease was because they procreated nearly unchecked. "Would—"

But he didn't have a chance to finish his question. Cholera stepped right up to the very edge of the ritual's boundary, the tip of her nose slightly deforming as it pressed against an invisible barrier in the air. "Is this true? Can you prove this?"

Jonathan grimaced. "Maybe. I'm not sure if I could conjure a microscope strong enough to view them because—"

Cholera cut him off again. "What is a microscope?"

"It's a device that uses bright light and lenses to drastically magnify a small area. Well, there's other varieties that can see stuff even smaller, but I'm honestly not sure how they work."

Cholera hummed to itself. "You say these bacteria and viruses are alive? They are all around us? In the air?"

"Yes, they're alive. They can be airborne, but most of them are on surfaces like our bodies or the walls or floor."

Cholera took a step back and crouched down, examining the floor. "Wish for me to be able to see these things, human."

"Eh?" Would that work? Abigail had said that doing magic would cause the ritual to banish the demon. Though maybe it had to cross a certain threshold? His memory was fuzzy on the topic.

"Human!" snapped Cholera, and Jonathan focused on the thought of it being able to perceive micro-organisms…somehow. He wasn't sure how, but he could sense that she was connected to the power of the Infernal Abyss. It was like smelling garlic on someone else's clothes after eating it himself. Weird.

The demon swayed where it crouched and placed a hand on the floor for balance. "It's true," it breathed. "I can see them." It tentatively reached a finger out with the hand that wasn't bracing it against the floor, and Jonathan sensed a minor flare of Infernal Abyss magic. The demon sucked in a breath. "Aaah," it sighed, in a tone that made Jonathan distinctly uncomfortable. After a moment more, it pushed itself to its feet, still moving awkwardly, and turned its face to Jonathan. "You wish for me to kill these…micro-organisms?" It didn't wait for Jonathan to respond. "Summon me again, human. We will make a contract. I will slay these small enemies of yours, and happily slay no others as long as their numbers hold out."

"Good, uh, right. I think that's enough for now," said Jonathan, and with a now-familiar twist of the air and snapping sound, Cholera disappeared back to the Infernal Abyss.

Well. Well, well, well. He needed to talk it over with Mr. Geiller, but Jonathan was pretty sure he'd just found himself a housekeeper.