The Devil's Foundry

Chapter 6: Wash Your Back if You'll Wash Mine

I all but dragged Electra down the street.

Of course, my other hand was wrapped around the cobbler boy’s neck, marching him in front of us towards the promise of a bath house.

If I had to spend another minute covered in this slowly drying blood and filth, I’d…

Well, I wouldn’t be against killing a few more people, if it got me a shower.

Priorities.

“Can’t believe you killed all of them.”

“Not all of them.”

The boy shivered in my grip.

“His name is Rel.”

I raised an eyebrow.

Electra snorted. “You’re a bundle of joy.”

“Oh, I get it, I’m the murderer, but you’re the buzzkill.”

I felt like I was herding cats.

“Annoying, isn’t she?” The voice asked.

And the noisiest one of all was in my head.

“You have no idea.”

After ‘completing’ my first contract, the voice in my head had stuck around for a chat.

“So, where were we?” It—he? I was gonna go with he—asked.

“Why did you sound like that at first?”

“Like what?”

I grit my teeth. “We hAVe sUCh sIGhTs tO sHoW yOU.”

“Wow, that’s pretty good! Have you considered applying for a job?”

“Just answer the damn question.”

As we walked down the street, the rest of the people in this neighborhood got out of our way. I saw mostly threes and fours, same as my new level, but I’d have to figure out more of what that meant later.

“Oh, it’s nothing much.” I could practically hear the grin in his voice. “We do the voice with everyone the first time. Studies show it increases the likelihood of a new summoner offing themselves by three point two five percent.”

I blinked, parsing that bit of information.

That implied that telling me this increased the chance of me dying.

I waited a moment for a witty retort, but there was nothing. Hopefully, that meant this voice could only hear thoughts I sent as opposed to everything that went through my head… Unless he wanted me to think that.

I worried at my lip. That way was a bottomless well of ‘but what if he knows I know’

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I turned around a corner. We were nearing the central thoroughfare again, though this time as just another part of the crowd. The further we got from the scene of the crime, the less people paid attention to us.

Well, barring the fact that Electra and I were both covered in mud and shit, but that seemed to be a rather default state of affairs.

“How do we even know he’s not leading us into a trap…” Electra grumbled.

“Jealous I solved all of our problems?” I would have tossed my hair, but I didn’t want to get anymore gunk on my face. “It suits you.”

“Bite me.”

I half lunged, snapping my teeth towards her pretty face.

“Fucking—!” Electra jerked back. I cackled, letting go of Rel as I walked towards the bath house.

There was a man there in front of the door. He stepped forward, cutting us off “Where the hells do you three think you’re going?”

Electra glared at him, but I waved her off. “We’re here to use the bath.”

“Right.” He gave us a once over.

I shrugged. “Shitty cart driver.”

At that he snorted. “Yeah, I can smell it.”

I waved a hand. “I know it’s all the same to you, but kind of want to get clean sometime today.”

He paused for a second. “You’ll need to pay for a private bath. One silver.”

I rolled my eyes, tossing him the pouch of all the money we’d taken from the gang that attacked us. Well, the money that I took anyway. Electra was too busy trying to get Rel’s puke off her shoes to really contribute. “I don’t imagine you want to touch my hands.”

I watched carefully as he counted out twenty-five copper coins before handing me back my purse. Twenty-five copper to a silver? At least it made more sense than some fantasy currencies I’d come across.

“Only open one is last on the right. Don’t head to the left, or I’ll toss you out into another cart full of shit.”

I rolled my eyes. “How charming.”

I turned to Rel. He was mostly clean, just some stains on his shirt. “You can use the normal bath.”

“Ahaha, I’ll jus’ wait out here?”

I shared a glance with Electra. She shrugged.

I smiled at Rel. And he swallowed. “Won’t move an inch, swear on me heart.” He drew a cross on his chest.

“You do that.” With that, I turned and marched into the bathhouse.

“He said there was only one free.” Electra frowned at me. “I’m not sharing.”

“Well you can wait your turn then.” I certainly wasn’t. I could feel the gunk drying in my hair. “Or you can find another bath house and pay for it with all the money you happen to have. Oh, wait.”

She grumbled to herself, but when I slid the door open and asked, “Coming?” she got inside right away.

Fortunately, there was more than one stool.

The private bath was a tiled room with a cistern set into one wall. The water was cool, but not cold, and there were blessed blocks of soap resting in a small cubby in the wall. On the other side of the small sitting area, there was a slightly raised section of floor partitioning a tub full of steaming water. It moved, slowly, as though the water was draining out and constantly being replaced.

Well, good to know this place had some kind of running water at least.

I plopped down on one of the stools, picking up a wooden bucket that had been left next to the cistern. Electra sat down next to me without a word.

We both let out a sigh as we dumped the cool water over our heads and started scrubbing away the worst of everything. I worked a thick lather of soap into my hair, sighing at the inevitable tangles I’d have once it dried. But that was a problem for future Via. All that was left was to scrub.

Well, and one other thing.

“You still there?” I asked mentally.

“Oh, don’t worry. We’re always waiting with bated breath for mortals to contact us.” There was a low chuckle, a decidedly odd feeling when it was in the back of my own head. “What do you desire?”

I wanted more information, of course, coming out to say that probably wouldn’t get me anywhere good. “So how do I know what… demons I’m going to get? The skill descriptions are singularly unhelpful.”

“Hmm, and why should I tell you that?”

“Because you want my immortal soul,” I answered wryly.

The voice laughed again. “Well, it’s simple. I don’t spill the beans to just anyone, but it’s been a solid millennium or two since we’ve gotten a real Demogogue in here.” I waited for him to continue. “It’s simple really: give us orders, payment, and mana, and we will give you a demon.”

I frowned. “So… I could theoretically summon a much more powerful demon? Say, by asking for a devourer of worlds, and offering something to the tune of… every soul in this city?”

“Girl, I love the way you think,” he replied. “But no, your mana is used to make the portal. The more mana you have, the more you can summon. Minus my own… fee, of course.”

It was a theoretically simple transaction on the surface, but for some reason it left me more wary than if I’d had to carve circles on the ground and chant in bastardized Latin for my power. To say nothing about the “agent” screening my power.

Was he really just in it for the mana I gave him? Could I use my skills without him?”

“Oh, and before you ask, all skills that reach out to the heavens or the hells work the same way. We keep a tighter leash on the power we hand out than the abilities that come from Gaia.” Another chuckle. “Consider that a free bit of advice, Outworlder.”

I blinked. “Outworlder?”

Silence.

I frowned down at the bucket in my hands. At least I’d managed to clean myself off, but somehow, I was left with even more questions than before. Outworlder, huh?

I guess Isekais were a thing after all.

With a sigh, I stood, tossing the bucket down to the ground besides my feet. I pressed a small stud near my collar, and there was a fwip noise as my undersuit split down the side and loosened, allowing me to step out of it.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Electra held up her hands. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I raised an eyebrow, making no move to hide myself. “Getting in the tub.”

I wouldn’t mind if she looked, but making her uncomfortable was even more satisfying.

I kicked the fabric off my feet before slipping into the tub of water.

I couldn’t hold back the groan that slipped from my lips at the heat. There was even a ledge just inside the pool for me to sit on. “Best silver I’ve ever spent.”

“The only silver you’ve ever spent.”

I waved a hand. “There’ll be more.”

Electra just sighed. A moment later, she also climbed into the tub, though her own suit stayed on. I didn’t envy her for it. Watertight supermaterial or not, they could never quite wick away all of the sweat.

We sat in silence.

After it became clear that she didn’t have anything else to say, I decided to open my menu again.

A rush of notifications went through my head, letting me know that I had, in fact, killed three thieves.

More important was the list of level ups

System Messages

You have reached level 2, You have reached level 3, New skill unlocked, You have reached level 4, New skill unlocked. Summon Demon level increased by 1

I blinked. New skills? With a mental push, I flicked over to my skills.

Skills

[3/5]

Summon Demon: Level 3

Summon a demon from beyond to do your bidding. Greater Mana capacity allows for the summoning of greater demons. Always be sure to hold up your end of the bargain.

Banish Demon: Level 1

Never call up what you can't put down.

Demon-itize: Level 1

Claim Them

There were changes to my status as well.

Status

Unspent Status Points: 9

I rubbed my temples. Of course, the horrid puns couldn’t be confined to just the name of the class. At least there was some new information for my first skill.

Funny that the ability to send your demons back only came after you gained a few levels by summoning them in the first place. It struck me then that the voice hadn’t told me what percentage of new demon summoners killed themselves on their first contract.

Best follow the advice of my second skill until I figured that out.

Next, I focused on Attribute points.

Increase one of your base attributes by one.

Interesting.

All of my attributes were set to one, which meant they were a baseline. The question then, was if I could improve my baseline, and if the stat bonuses were additive or multiplicative. For now, I put a few points into the ‘defensive’ states, while holding the rest in reserve.

Even if I intended to use my new summons for everything, there was a lot of value in not getting hit.

Speaking from experience.

Status

Unspent Status Points: 3

Physical

Strength 1

Endurance 2

Agility 4

Dexterity 3

Ethereal

Charm 1

Faith 1

Attunement 1

Soul 1

The mystical stats would have to wait until I found out which one, if any, I needed. It would be a waste to put points into Soul, only to learn that demon summoners actually needed Attunement, or something stupid like that.

I had the seeds of a plan germinating in the back of my mind. If I could summon any demon based on my needs, I might be able to get one that could dredge the coast for some of my tech, or even do specific tasks like melting iron to make steel.

If they were all as dumb as the first one I summoned, things would still be difficult, but leveraging my abilities correctly might actually let me slingshot this world to the level of development I needed within my lifetime.

It would be nice to make it home before I was old and grey.

Across the tub from me, Electra stood up, water cascading from the form fitting lines of her bodysuit.

I took a moment to admire her; it wouldn’t do for a villain of my standing to have a mediocre nemesis, and when I brought us both back to Earth, she would be my nemesis.

“Well?”

She looked down at me. “I’ll never agree with your methods,” she said. I just raised an eyebrow. “But it’s clear to me that this world has deeper problems then just one woman who doesn’t know how to use non-lethal force.”

I sighed. “Still hung up on that? Honey, what did you think those three were going to do? After they raped us, I mean.”

She crossed her arms. “If you’d given me a chance, I could have taken them out.”

“Forgive me for not trusting in your abilities any further than I have to.”

“And forgive me for not wanting to play second fiddle to whatever scheme you’re cooking up.”

“Oh?”

Electra nodded, more to herself than to me. “This world needs a hero.”

I laughed. Well, it seemed like I wasn’t the only one coming up with big plans. “Let me know how that goes for you.”

Electra grinned down at me, eyes sharp. “You know, maybe I will.”

I’d leave her to it.

I had an industrial revolution to plan.