Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 51 - Artifice Denied (Patreon)

Elania headed out of the market, having walked its entire length and still having barely scratched the real depth of the place. Someone wanting to browse the wares would have been easily able to waste an entire day or two exploring everything.

She was not one of those people, at least not at the moment.

It was a rather straight shot out of the Conclave district to reach the central hub that looked to be more markets and shops. Everything seemed to be a muddled mix of qualities and styles, hinting at a district that was a melting pot for the entire city. As she passed under one of open guard post gates, a woman with a child in tow came around the corner at the same time.

The other woman was looking down and yelling at the kid and bumped into her. That drew a heated curse and then, when the woman stared her in the eyes, a frantic high-pitched scream.

Elania blinked in confusion and froze in place as the woman continued screaming and jumped backwards, leaving her child behind, equally confused. Realizing her mistake, the woman grabbed her kid and pulled back, but this time tripped on her own skirt and both went tumbling to the ground.

Everyone around evaporated, leaving the three of them alone in the middle of the gatehouse. Guards appeared by the dozen almost instantly, filling both ends of the space.

An accusatory finger and shouts of ‘Demon tried to kill me!’ echoed all around.

Holy shit. She’d run into an otherworld Karen.

The guards seemed to calm down when she didn’t offer any resistance. If they had police cars, she was sure she’d have ended up in the back of one no matter how it looked, just because of her red eyes. As it was, they took her far enough away so that the woman’s shrieking wouldn’t drown out the conversation.

The questions were pointed. Elania answered all of them carefully. There was no presence of a ‘truth’ stone, and she wondered if they’d have to go that far to prove anything.

Her worry was misplaced, because apparently the guards were annoyed by the woman. The claims had become more and more fantastical until, finally, one of the guards spoke up and said she was a liar. That made her even more mad, and she slapped him.

That was the wrong thing to do.

The slapped guard stood and watched as one of the other guards snatched her wrist and locked her arm behind her back in one smooth motion. The other pulled out a metal stick and then smashed it into her face.

Elania was sure the woman would crumple instantly from the blow, but the guard holding her kept her on her feet. A series of metal fisted blows to the woman’s stomach and face followed until the guard holding her decided it was enough and tossed her to the ground. The young boy jumped up and threw himself over her, and began to sob and beg for mercy.

The guard with the cudgel turned and pointed at Elania. “I think we figured out what happened here. Go on and get out of here, demon. Don’t cause anymore trouble.”

Elania wanted to protest that she had started no trouble, even though she felt terrible and guilty about the woman getting beaten. Even if it was her own stupid fault. Elania took one more look at the bloody mess the guards had wrought, and then passed by silently.

The kid gave her a glare of hatred.

If she had been a hero, she’d have stopped the guards somehow and made everything turn out alright. If she’d been given super healing and happy love powers, she’d have healed her and made everyone laugh.

She wasn’t a hero, and didn’t have those kinds of powers.

Elania pulled her cloak around herself tighter and kept her head down as she passed by the very unhappy guards.

Finding out how many guards it would take to beat her into a bloody pulp was not on her bingo card for the day.

Her trek through the central hub area was done in somber personal silence. The guards at the noble district studied her intently as she passed through. The Noble District turned out to a series of spiral staircases upward, each level featuring a different function of shops or multi-story houses embedded directly into the central pillar.

Fancy gardens of mushrooms, flora, and even grass and small trees that weren’t [Tower-Cap]greeted her, giving the place a, well, Overworld feel.

The row of ‘Artificer’ shops she found on one of the medium-upper levels. The sign for the street clearly stated the purpose helpfully, and she eagerly headed into the first and largest shop on the street.

The front door was fancy, but she didn’t miss the metal reinforcement woven into the frame. Once inside, there was an old vintage feeling. Every surface was covered in wood…the real type of wood, not the soft fungal stuff she’d become accustomed to in the Deep Caverns.

The floors were polished and clean, and dozens of stands held different trinkets that glittered with magic light and artistry.

A man standing behind a glass counter smiled at her.

It was a fake, forced smile. “What are you doing, girl? There’s no food or charity here. You’ll scare the clientele away, please leave.”

Elania blinked. “I’m not here for charity. I have something to sell,” Elania continued and stepped toward the counter, but the man almost immediately freaked out.

He shouted at her. “Stop! We have security!”

Elania’s eyes followed the man’s hand as he pressed a stone on the side of the wall. It lit up and bells began to erupt in the building, making a horrible cacophony.

“I have a [Monster Core – Ralfot] to sell! Please!” Elania shouted over the noise, halting in place.

She pulled the core out of her bag and showed it clearly so maybe he’d calm down and stop freaking out.

He didn’t care, and a trio of armed guards emerged from a back room.

The shopkeeper pointed at her. “Get her out of here!”

Her hope for some type of resolution plummeted through the floor. She raised her hands and backed out slowly. Two of the guards remained inside and bolted the door shut while the third followed her and made sure she left.

A city guard either saw or heard the commotion and hurried over. “What’s going on?”

The bouncer shrugged. “Girl’s banned from shop.”

“Why?”

The man shrugged again. “Dunno. ‘Cause she’s a demon, I guess.”

That prompted the guard to give her a second look, and a frown appeared on his face. “I’ll take things from here then.”

The bouncer nodded and disappeared back into the shop.

A lump of defeat filled her stomach. How’d things end up like this?

“What are you doing here?” the guard asked.

“I needed to see an artificer, so I could sell something,” Elania said.

He shook his head. “You’re in the wrong place for that.”

“Is there a right place?” Elania asked rather more pointedly than she meant.

“I mean, this is the Noble District. There aren’t any artificers here. Just rich shops that sell things for ridiculous prices. I am guessing what you are trying to sell isn’t actually an artifice, is it?”

Elania shook her head. “It’s a [Monster Core – Ralfot].”

He nodded. “So. Wrong place. You need to go over to the Artisan District, then to Artificer Row.”

“Oh.” Elania mumbled. She pulled her map up and looked at it. Sure enough, there was such a place. It was just on the opposite end of the city, and she had to pass all the way through either the Mercenary District or Conclave District to get to it. That was going to be a lot of walking.

“Ugh. Thank you. I didn’t know. I’ll head that way now,” Elania said. “Thank you.”

The guard didn’t let her go. “Wait. Are you planning to break curfew?”

Elania blinked. “Curfew, what?”

No one had mentioned a curfew to her, had they? That seemed like an important thing to forget to mention. Elania glanced at her new [System] clock. It read 18:34.

“Curfew starts at 19:00. Conclave, Noble, and Artisan districts lock down. Lights go out. Only the Mercenary District doesn’t observe it. If you don’t have a place to stay, you need to head there now if you want to make it in time,” the guard explained.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She was going to have to spend the entire night in the slums?

He must have seen the panic on her face as he sighed. “Come with me. I’ll escort you to the gate at least. That way, you won’t have to run.”

Elania blinked. He was being nice? She smiled and thanked him again.

The walk back down was faster than the one up. The path through the noble district and then back through the hub to the Mercenary gate took nearly an hour. Other guards scrutinized them carefully, but her escort seemed to provide the necessary hall pass needed as the overhead crystals dimmed and left everything in muted dark blues.

“A piece of advice. Don’t use the ‘Call Guards’ function in the Merc Dist’ or you’ll likely get hurt,” the guard said unbidden as they neared the gate.

Elania blinked. “I can fend for myself. Why are you helping me?”

“Call it a weakness for young women in distress,” he replied immediately.

Her cheeks heated. She was not in distress. Actually, maybe she had been. Alright, yes, he was right about that part. Centering herself, she let out a little huff. “Does my hero have a name, then?”

That drew a choke from him, which made her smile slightly.

“My name is Henri. Yours?” he asked.

“Elania,” she replied. “Thank you again.”

He shook his head. “Don’t mention it. Just doing my job.”

A few guards idled at the gate. Traffic had aborted, and they looked bored. That changed when they saw her and Henri.

One of them waved. “Henri! What, did you find a new girlfriend already?”

Henri’s cheeks flushed. “Uhh, no. Girl needed help with some directions.”

“So you escorted her all the way down here?” Another guard asked.

Another guard leaning against the wall chimed in, “Always the knight, bleeding heart Henri.”

One of the guards stopped lounging and suddenly stood up straight, half reaching for his sword. “Hey! She’s a demon!”

The friendly chattered died as everyone went to attention.

One of them pointed. “Fuck! She’s not even bound! Look at her eyes!”

Henri held up his hands. “Guys, calm down. I don’t think she’s dangerous.”

The angry guard didn’t let up. “How can you be sure about that? What are you bringing it here for, anyway? We already have enough problems in the Merc Dist’ without a rampaging demon running around!”

Elania sighed. “Hello, I’m right here, definitely not rampaging or anything you know?”

Everyone went silent and stared at her.

“I already went through the checkpoint and was interrogated by Lieutenant Gaston. He let me through without issue. The group of conclave monks I was traveling with didn’t seem to have any issue with me going off on my own, either. I was lost and Henri helped me get here so I didn’t violate curfew. What’s the problem?” Elania looked at each of them in turn.

She saw her words got through to a few of them at least, including the one that was in charge. Henri was on her side, but she couldn’t suppress her annoyance at the treatment. The one who had spotted her in the first place also wasn’t buying it.

He seemed firmly in the ‘anti-Demon’ crowd. “None of that matters! She’s a bloody unbound demon! We need to lock her up before there is a bloodbath that we’ll have to clean up!”

Elania puffed up her cheeks. “I’m not going on a rampage! The only way there will be a bloodbath is if someone attacks me, I’ll probably beat the crap out of them!”

That elicited a chorus of laughter from two other guards. One of them slapped his leg. “She’s going to beat the ‘crap’ out of them!”

What was so funny? Had they really never heard a shit joke before? It wasn’t even a joke really, just a turn of phrase.

“That’s a new one!”

Apparently not.

“Fitting.”

“Wouldn’t want to clean it up.”

Her antagonists glared at all of them. “Stop laughing! This is serious! She’s a demon, not a girl!”

“Seems like she’s both to me,” Henri said.

The man fumed. “This is se…!”

The leader held up his hand. “…serious. Yeah, sure, but plenty of people end up as bloody messes in there. What’s the difference? We don’t get involved with those, anyway. Just when things get really out of hand.”

The older man looked at her. “Keep your head down in there.”

Elania nodded. They passed her through.

Yay. Too bad every fucking thing had to turn into a demon-discrimination ordeal.

At least no one had tried to stab her yet.