Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 57 – Clothes and Second Meetings (Patreon)

Morning came with the soft glow of the city’s magical light stones illuminating Yolani’s room through the window. The soft scent of lavender filled Elania’s senses while a warm softness pressed against her back as she slowly drifted to wakefulness. She suppressed a sudden surge of panic when she realized what it was.

Yolani had rolled up against her, arm awkwardly positioned hanging straight up in the air.

There was a streak of drool that had glued a lock of hair to the side of her cheek.

And she was definitely snoring.

Cute little snores.

The thought caused Elania to tense up, which was enough of a reverberation to wake Yolani. The girl’s mop of black hair had somehow wrapped itself around her face like a wild vine. Reaching up to the side of her face, she dealt with her hair. “Uhfghm… Issit morning?”

Elania glanced at her clock. “It’s almost noon.”

“Hgrmph!” Yolani jumped up out of bed like a rocket, jumped over to her pile of clothes and things began to fly through the air. “We’re going to miss our chance to ask Henri, and there won’t be enough time…!”

Not wanting to take advantage of Yolani’s complete lack of modesty, Elania did the same, hurriedly pulling off the nightgown and getting her acquired outfit back on. Once she had the shirt and trousers neatly squared away, she glanced back at Yolani.

The other girl had a pretty skirt and blouse on. No armor. Turning back to her stuff, Elania decided not to put on the chain and leather armor. Instead, she rearranged her boot so the mana shard was in the toe stuffing, while securing her leather belt and daggers around her hips. It was sort of nice to not have the heavy armor gear on.

Although when she looked in Yolani’s person sized mirror, her outfit looked way worse without the armor strapping things down.

Yolani came up behind her and looked at the reflection in the mirror as well. “Hmm. Do you want to borrow one of my shirts? It will probably fit a lot better.”

Elania blinked. “If it is okay?”

“I have plenty!” Yolani said cheerfully. The girl brought over a black long-sleeved blouse. “Should match your brown trousers until we can get to the tailor. We are going to need to hurry though… we slept in too long.”

Elania nodded and swapped her top. It was tight in the chest, but not too bad. She was already wearing a breast wrap, so it really didn’t matter. Hopefully, the shop would have some workable lingerie.

Yolani hurried to brush her hair, offered a spare brush, then rushed out of the room and downstairs to get ready. Elania suppressed a giggle and carefully brushed her hair, working out the tangles that had accumulated since leaving the waystation.

It was not the morning she had expected to wake up to at all, and it left her with such an uplifted feeling she was actually looking forward to the day. By the time she made it downstairs, Yolani had already begun to make some type of breakfast and drink. Actually…

“Hold up. You have a toaster oven and a coffee machine?” Elania asked in disbelief. The little metal box had red wires running through it while two slices of bread from a loaf on the kitchenette’s counter were slotted into it. Another machine was dripping liquid into two metallic cups.

Yolani looked back at her and tilted her head. “What’s a toaster oven, and what’s coffee? I have a slice of toast and some Geru bean brew. Plus sugar and milk.”

Elania pointed at the little oven. “That’s a toaster oven! Plus… the Geru-stuff smells like coffee.”

“Hmm. So you had similar things in your world?” Yolani asked curiously.

Elania nodded, eying the embedded mana crystal in the machine’s frame. “They ran on electricity, though. We didn’t have mana…power…or soul things. Just science.”

Yolani’s mouth fell wide open. “No mana! Wow! I can’t imagine… what’s electricity? You mean bottled lightning?”

Elania shook her head. “If you take a magnet, wrap copper wire around it, then spin another magnet around that really fast, you can create electricity which can power things.”

A notepad materialized so suddenly in Yolani’s hand, Elania had no idea where it had come from. The other girl began to jot notes down furiously. “Mm-hmm. Tell me more?”

A chime on the toaster rang and Yolani looked up startled. “Oh. Uhh. Breakfast. Plus, we are late, we can talk about electricity later. It sounds fascinating. Spinning magnets? Imagine if we had a gigantic wheel to put under the city’s waterfall!”

The Geru Brew definitely tasted like coffee, and both of them added a liberal amount of milk and sugar to their cups. When they were done with the small meal, Yolani wasted no time ushering them out after equipping her belt of wands and a small bag.

Exiting out onto Neftasu’s busy streets felt less intimidating with a companion. Elania followed beside the other girl, slightly behind to allow her to steer their movements, but not so far back that they couldn’t continue to chat about things.

Like electricity, airplanes, and skyscrapers. The topics weren’t something she’d studied in-depth before, and Elania felt like that had been a mistake. Filling Yolani on all the little tidbits and trivia on Earth was turning out to be fun, but the other girl inevitably wanted to know the little details.

Exactly how things worked and… a lot of those Elania had just taken for granted while lazing about worrying about what major to select before her sophomore year was over.

The bustle at the gate seemed well in progress when they arrived, the guards ushering through a pair of two more [Ralfot] pulled wagons. One of them was full of squawking chickens, which, considering the previous day’s conversation, gave Elania a tinge of worry. Not that she had any problems eating chicken, it was just that she knew where the wagon was headed.

A burly guard waved to Yolani before his eyes fell on Elania and a frown appeared. “Yolani, who’s your friend?”

“Elania, this is Sergant Harlock.” Yolani answered before offering a disarming smile. “I’ve contracted with her to help me with the shop.”

Elania tensed up as the man gave her a thorough appraisal from head to toe. 

His frown settled into place and didn't disappear. “Did you pass by your contract to Ranolf?”

Yolani crossed her arms. “No. And I have no need to.”

Harlock grunted. “Suppose not. But I doubt the other Artificers will be happy. Human-Demon running around will make folks nervous.”

“You mean the same Artificers who can’t find a single spare mana shard in all their shops to help someone?” Yolani asked pointedly.

Elania turned to look at her, a frown forming. She needed a mana shard? An uncomfortable feeling filled her, and the lump against her toes felt like an accusation. Still… she wasn’t ready to trust giving away something so important to her survival. Even with how things seemed to be going.

Harlock grunted again, but didn’t answer.

Yolani shook her head. “Has Henri already been by? I guess we missed him.”

“About an hour ago. Looked like he was in a hurry, skipped his usual news swap,” Harlock answered.

“Tsk.” Yolani looked away in annoyance. “We overslept… we’ll have to just go straight to the station, then.”

Harlock raised an eyebrow. “You have business with the Guard?”

Yolani nodded. “There are some questions we wanted to ask Henri’s uncle. Have you heard anything about a Lightbringer in the city?”

Rubbing his chin, the man nodded. “Heard something about one a few weeks ago. Disappeared for a while before reappearing. Think he has some mansion in the Mercenary District that’s well guarded. If you’re going that far I’ll—”

Yolani raised a forestalling hand. “No, there’s no need. Lucas isn’t my personal escort, and you don’t have to keep sending someone with me whenever I go out.”

That didn’t seem to convince the Sergeant very well. He started to object. “But—”

Elania froze as Yolani slipped her arm around hers and clung to her.

“Besides, I won’t be alone. Elania is going with me,” Yolani said with a smile. “We’re going shopping for some clothes, anyway.”

Harlock turned a heavy stare at her, and Elania swallowed. “I…I am contracted to be sort of her bodyguard.”

He gruffed, then waved them on. “As you wish, ladies. I’ve no real authority to order otherwise in any case.”

Yolani let go and then went over to the man and kissed him on the cheek, which did a number on his stoic facade. “Thank you, Sergeant, for looking out for us. I appreciate it.”

“Just my job,” Harlock muttered, clearly embarrassed by the affection.

Elania followed closely as they made their way to Tailor’s Row. It wasn’t that far, being in the same district, and she realized they’d arrived when a large array of shop displays began to offer different forms of outfits inside the storefront windows. “Is there a specific store we are going to?”

Yolani smiled at her. “There is,” she confirmed, leading Elania to a shop with a sign that read ‘Bella’s Fashions’. The window displayed dresses, blouses, skirts, and trousers made from various materials, each of them intricately designed.

“Bella’s is known for its wide range of clothing styles and sizes. Plus, they’re used to dealing with all sorts of customers—from humans like us to dwarves, gnomes, elves, and even beast men. Bella is nice, so I don’t think we’ll have a problem,” she explained, guiding Elania inside.

Elania blinked. “Beast men? There are people with animal traits?”

Yolani shot her a glance and nodded. “You’ve never seen one? There aren’t very many in the Underdark, but they are found all over the Overworld.”

Elania filed that bit of information away.

The shop was spacious and well-lit, with rows upon rows of clothes and different colored fabrics hanging on racks. An older woman stood behind the counter, looking up to smile at Yolani. Her eyes widened slightly when her gaze slid to Elania, but she quickly regained her composure.

Yolani introduced her like before and soon had Bella pulling out various pieces for Elania to try on. The process was lengthy, but enjoyable—Elania found herself charmed by the experience. Despite how nice some of the things looked, she focused their selection on practical trousers and shirts that would be good for adventuring or working. One fancy blouse with trills sneaked into the pile of accepted garments, but she put her foot down on the offered dresses and skirts.

It just didn’t seem like they’d have a place in her life at the moment.

That had Bella changing tack, and when she brought out several pieces of lingerie, it was obvious the woman had homed in on what she was looking for.

“Are these…elastic? Sports bras?” Elania asked.

“I’ve never heard those terms, dear. But they are the item of choice for those of us who live a more active lifestyle. They offer excellent support and will prevent unwanted movement.”

Elania grabbed the set of them and hurried into the changing booth to figure out her size. It was such an upgrade in comfort from her breast wrap, she decided to order multiple. They came paired with an equally nice lower undergarment that, while not exactly made to be sexy, was very comfortable. She’d actually been going commando, so it was… a relief to have something nice.

That led to another realization. She hadn’t had a period since arriving. Counting the days since her arrival was impossible, but it was easily multiple weeks and that meant she was certainly overdue. She hadn’t participated in any activities that were concerning, but it brought up a series of questions in her mind. Would she even get periods anymore? Were demons infertile? Did [Regeneration] interfere with things or cure her usual cramps and… everything else?

She started to consider asking, but the heat in her cheeks made her reconsider. Maybe later. There were other things they needed to focus on.

One nice thing, though, was she’d not have to wear Marcus’ clothes out of the store. “How much do I owe for this, Mrs. Bella?”

Elania didn’t miss the subtle little shake of her head that Yolani made. Bella gave her a large smile while holding her hands. “Don’t worry about that, dear. I’ll have the rest of your things packaged and sent over to Aetherhart’s Artifice.”

On the way out, she didn’t miss Yolani’s underhanded pass of a gold coin to the lady. A large one. It immediately made her feel guilty. She hadn’t done her part of the job or contract yet, and they’d only known each other for a single day. Yet here Yolani was, giving her a tremendous gift and not making it obvious.

As they stepped out of the shop with a final farewell to Bella, the amount of time they had spent became obvious. Yolani let out a puff. “We’re going to need a carriage if we want to get over to the City Guard’s headquarters in time.”

Elania frowned. “I’m sorry. That took a lot of time—”

Yolani shook her head. “We both overslept. It isn’t anyone’s fault. I’m just hoping we can find the Lieutenant. I didn’t get to tell Henri to let him know we were coming.”

Elania nodded quietly. “Okay.”

“Let’s go back to Artifice Row. The Ironfist mercs can get us a ride quickly,” Yolani said as she led the way.

When they returned to the main security gate, Elania blinked in surprise. Henri was there, and she suddenly put the name to the person and realized that Yolani’s friend and the guard that had helped her were, in fact, the same Henri!

He stared at her in shock as well. “Elania.”

A weak smile appeared on her face. “Hello, Henri.”

Yolani looked between them in confusion. “Wait, you two know each other?”

Elania nodded. “He helped me in the Noble District when the first shop I went to sell the core was… a bust.”

“Wow,” Yolani said, before turning back to Henri. “We need to speak to your uncle. Can you check to see if he can see us?”

Henri looked at them like he was very confused before finally shaking his head and putting his fingers to a temple.

Elania blinked. “Umm. Is that…?”

“Telepathy. The guards have a mental network they can use to communicate quickly. It’s how they operate and run the city,” Yolani explained.

Henri finished his ‘call’ quickly, then took on a serious expression. “I’ll go with you two. The Guard is sending over their own carriage to fetch us.”

Yolani blinked. “What. No, I didn’t mean to put you out like that—”

Henri shook his head. “You wanted to go see my uncle, but you’re not the only one looking for someone. I’ve been running around for him all day on this.”

He pointed right at Elania.

“Uncle Gaston has actually been looking for her," Henri declared.

Elania blinked in confusion. Did he just say 'Uncle' Gaston? Lieutenant Gaston? The one that had interrogated her on arrival?

Both Henri and Yolani stared at her, and she couldn't think of anything to say.