[NR] Chapter 392 - Would Have Preferred The Stronger Demon (Patreon)

After reaching the army compound, the calico whispered a few codewords to the guard. This got things moving quickly and the two were soon led deep into the compound.

Jason soon found himself in a very generic meeting room. He would have been willing to believe this was some business’ room irl if the chairs weren’t made of wood. Though the line up of people waiting for them would have tipped him off to the real situation.

From left to right around a long rectangle table there was a large lionfolk man, two orcs ladies, a halfling, A human man, another lionfolk though this one was a lady, six humans, evenly split on gender, A mousefolk of undetermined gender, A treefolk, and some form of sapient construct that looked to be half made of a typewriter.

As Jason enters the room, they all turn to him while the calico catkin slides to the side. First to speak up is the closest lionfolk, “First I want all the proof you have and then a statement of what you saw on the way here.”

Though the construct is quick to add on while holding out their hand, “And pass any documents to me.”

Jason pulls out the coded papers and hands those over first before giving the demon figurine over to the lionfolk. Then he pulls out his map and circles all the towns he had passed on the way. “At the very least, these places have been taken over by a demon cult. While I do not know their exact situations, every single one of them were on fire when I passed them over these last three days.”

Near the back of the table, three of the humans stand up and move over to a much larger wall on the map and begin to cast what Jason assumes is a scrying spell of some sort. Not that he pays too much attention to them, instead telling the whole story starting with the three bandits, which felt like it happened oh so long ago.

As Jason finishes his story, the treefolk nods, “I detected no falsehoods in his tale.”

The construct nods in turn, “I have deciphered the documents and they all point towards an imminent threat, I have passed on the warning to my brethren in the city and beyond. Though now that I am actively aware of it, those in the direction he came from are silent.”

Last to speak up is the lionfolk with the statue, “We’ve got good news and bad news all rolled into one. The figurine is a little too rough to make out exactly which entity is being worshiped, though I agree with it being a demon. My guess however is a marilith.”

Everyone else around the table shows signs of great distress. The lionfolk shakes his head and turns to look at Jason, “You’ve done a good deed getting this information here so quickly, though I fear it may be too late to stop this nonsense completely. Now we have planning to do so please follow the captain there, she will get your reward figured out once”

There was more to be said, but the three mages at the wall map suddenly spaz out with only one of them remaining standing. That one turns to the group, coughs a small smoke ring, and confirms that there is indeed a massive cult uprising over there.

The lionfolk sighs, “Well, I guess that confirms it and so we can just skip to getting you a reward. The person in charge of such things will be informed by the time you get there.”

With that, everyone at the table focuses on hashing out what needs to be done while a team of five healers rush in from a door on the opposite side of the room to take care of the mages. Jason, not one to want to hear any kind of national secrets, is out of the room right quick with the calico captain close behind.

After they get a few rooms away from the meeting room, Jason turns to the catkin and asks, “So why is it bad that the demon isn’t of the strongest type possible?”

The catkin sighs, “It is just one of those strange things that develops when treaties pile up. If it was an actual Balor the neighboring kingdoms and their neighbors would all be required to chip in, not only to defeat it if it was summoned, but to fund any damages caused even if the Balor wasn’t fully summoned. As long as the ritual was confirmed to have started, the kingdoms would have to chip in.

“But that isn’t the worst part. To summon something as powerful as a Balor, you practically need a kingdom’s worth of blood sacrifices. This can be gotten around by using stronger sacrifices, but that is even more likely to backfire. For a marilith? They might have already sacrificed enough people to summon one. With what you said, we probably could have stopped the summoning if it was a Balor, while there might already be a marilith kicking around.”

Jason shrugs, “I doubt the summoning is done quite yet. As I said, I only saw Quasits kicking around. If there was a marilith, the cultists would have higher rank demons to play with or be played with by.”

The catkin nods, “True enough. Mariliths are definitely high enough in rank to be calling in support left and right. Though a lone high rank demon is probably scarier. That is when you know someone with true power has summoned them up. Being able to actually make a deal and keeping a powerful demon under control is practically unheard of.

“After all, it is just so much simpler to summon in anything else for that level of power. Even if you want some kind of evil outsider, you would be better served summoning a devil. Cults are basically the sole source of high rank demons. I’m sure there is a maxer kicking around somewhere with a bound demon just because they could, but that is the exception.”