Chapter 428 They May Not Have Been Summoned

Chapter 428 They May Not Have Been Summoned

Lisa was pouting at me.

She was even puffing up her cheeks as much as possible so that I knew she was pouting.

"Nnnghh! You left me behind, Aster!"

"Umm... Yes?" I agreed since it was true.

She ran up and started hitting my chest, though there was no strength behind those fists, "Waaaa! Why?! Does Aster think that I can't help in a fight like that?"

"Umm... Yes?" I repeated again since that's what I thought.

Lisa puffed up her cheeks again, "Mnngghhh!! Did Aster forget? I'm the one teaching you Lumenmancy magic!!"

Oh... Umm... I'm not going to lie... I kind of forgot that Lisa's actually really proficient in Lumenmancy magic and has a higher magic stat than I do.

I mean... Could you blame me? Whenever it's time for Lumenmancy lessons, more than half the lesson is spent with her either bent over the table or riding on top of me with our clothes strewn all over the room.

That pretty much made me think that Lisa was only proficient in Alchemy since it's the only time that she isn't trying to get in my pants... Most of the time.

There's also that quest where I had to accompany her for some herb picking and... I guess that solidified the idea that she wasn't good in combat situations...

I was about to apologise to her when Katsuki spoke up for me, "Miss Lisa, if you allow me to be frank, you would indeed be a burden as we would have needed to cover for you during the fight. Especially given that this was a demon that we were facing and his speed was comparable to mine. If he had chosen to take you hostage or even just straight up eviscerated you, it would certainly trouble Mistress."

Wow, Katsuki just straight up said that Lisa would be eviscerated...

Lisa puffed her cheeks even more to the point that she looked like a hamster with stuffed cheeks, "Mnnnnghh! That's not trueeeee! I could have helped! I can fight demons too!"

"Please understand, Mistress was clearly concerned for your well being and thus took that action. You are downplaying Mistress's feelings for you by complaining about this. What's more... You just really want to see how cool Mistress looks when she fights..."

Oh my, since when have you learned how to talk like that Katsuki? Oh what am I saying, Mary taught you didn't she? And don't think I didn't hear you whisper the last part under your breath missus!

The effect of those words on Lisa was instantaneous as my Infrid immediately came sliding towards me on her knees.

"I didn't mean it like that, Aster!! I love, love, love you too!! Please don't think I hate you!!"

"Umm... I know, Lisa. I... I just wanted you to be safe..."

"Ahhhh! Of course!! I can't believe I've forgotten how kind you are!! Mnngghh!! Don't worry! I'll make sure to be better for you to the point that you don't need to worry about me anymore!"

Sorry but... I don't think that's possible considering how you are like...

I mean... You go out and seduce strangers to cuck for fun... I'm constantly worried about you to the point that I... Ah.

Not good, I should just keep that thought to myself.

I cleared my throat, "Umm... Anyway... What should we do with that demon? I would have liked to interrogate him and find out how he's even here but... I don't think that's possible now..."

Katsuki went up to his corpse and nudged it with the tip of her foot, "I believe that is indeed impossible, Mistress."

Lisa stood up quickly, "Oh, oh!! Me, me!! I can try to find out about it through my clairvoyance!"

I turned to her, "You can?"

That seemed to deflate her enthusiasm a little as she poked her fingers together, "Ehehe... Maybe I can... I can't be too sure since my proficiency with Clairvoyance is only at Glass Tier..."

"Well... I guess it's better than nothing? So why not?"

She nodded and went towards the corpse to kneel down beside it while Katsuki came up to me.

"Mistress. By your permission, shall I go alert the guards of this? Or should we cover this up?"

I looked around to see if? the empty street was still empty and seeing that it was, I turned back to her.

"Are you sure with a commotion like that no one would notice though? I'd think that with that light and explosion someone must have heard it and alerted more people about it."

"Mmm... About that... Does Mistress want to know?"

"Eh? Know about wha--"

I didn't get to finish my question before the sound of a distant explosion came from somewhere behind me.

Turning back, I saw a black plume of smoke rising up into the air, no doubt the source of the explosion I heard earlier.

"Ah... It seems like it's worse than I thought..." Katsuki muttered.

"What... What's going on, Katsuki?"

She seemed to take a second to think before answering, "When I rushed over to help you, Mistress... I saw other demons also attacking the carriages of various nobles around the city... But since Mistress takes priority over everyone else, I did not stop to help them. Please accept my apologies, Mistress."

"E... Eh? Wait... You thought I would be upset that you didn't stop to help them?"

"Mistress is benevolent after all. I fear that you might feel partly responsible for their fates if I were to reveal that I intentionally ignored their plight in favour of you."

Katsuki... If you presented me with a button that gave me a million dollars but a random person I don't know dies everytime I press it, I would press it without any hesitation.

Conversely, if that button meant someone I know personally would die, I won't press it.

Who cares about some nobles that I don't know about? As long as you're fine is all I care about!

I patted her head, "Silly Katsuki, you're more important to me than them. I would be more upset if you were in danger because of me."

"Mi... Mistress..." She whispered, her tail practically wagging up a storm behind her.

So cute~

"But there's more than one demon in the city? Did they actually manage to capture the princess and make the demon summoning? Is she alright now?"

Katsuki shook her head, "From what I know, the princess should still be safe inside the palace so I do not believe she has been taken. But if Mistress allows me to hypothesise... I do not think these demons were summoned."

I froze, "Not... Summoned? What do you mean?"

Before Katsuki could answer that, Lisa came running back to us from the corpse, "Aster! Aster!! This... This isn't good!"

"Wait, calm down Lisa, what did you see?"

"That demon... I tried to see into his past with clairvoyance and I know my proficiency isn't that good with this magic... But I tried multiple times and I saw pretty much the same thing so I think it's at least true..."

I waved my hands to try and calm her down, "Slow down, just tell me what you saw?"

"That... I was expecting to at least see some vision where he is a demon or something but... All I saw are visions of him being a Mahun! What's more, I'm pretty sure those visions are quite recent too!"

No way...

I looked at both of them, "You're saying... These are normal people that got turned into demons? Isn't that worse than the summoning possibility? Who could have done this?"

Katsuki nodded, "It is indeed, Mistress... My guess is that it might either be the same cult or even another cult that has some designs with demons as well. What does Mistress want to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Does Mistress wish to save the nobles that are currently being attacked? Even if you know that these demons might have been originally Mahuns that have been transformed against their wills?"

I understood what she was getting at, "Are you suggesting that these demons could be turned back to normal?"

"We do not know Mistress... But it might be a possibility that we would be giving up if we were to attack and kill them."

I turned to look at the demon I basically decapitated with my spell, "What about that guy?"

Without missing a beat, Katsuki answered with a straight face, "That piece of trash has dared to attack Mistress, his life is therefore already forfeit."

Umm... I want to say that this is a really weird way of showing double standards but what do I know?

In fact, even Lisa was agreeing with her by nodding her head up and down like it was obvious.

"I guess... Shouldn't we alert the guards? Maybe even the knights? And maybe... The Guild as well? This is pretty much an invasion at this point isn't it?"

Katsuki inclined her head, "I shall let the others know of your order, Mistress."

With those words she disappeared from view, probably leaving to carry out my order and leaving me alone with Lisa.

Umm... Well... I guess in the meantime... Let's see if this demon also has a Demonic Core?