D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

*I didn\'t realise she\'d be so good at making maps. This… this is nearly a work of art all by itself.* Kat was, if anything, underselling it. The map was expertly done, and if it wasn\'t taking shape before Kat\'s eyes she would\'ve assumed a number of programs were used to keep all the lines so perfect. Hunter\'s hand was steady, and didn\'t falter even for a second as the pencil ran over the page.

The vice was, if anything, more surprised. "This… I can\'t accept this!"

"Why not?" asked Hunter. "I have provided you an up to date map for the situation including marking all of the known worm pits I destroyed along the way. I am certain it is accurate,"

"Yeah, yeah it bloody well is! It\'s the most accurate map I\'ve ever seen. Assuming it\'s even halfway as accurate as it looks to me at the moment, then this will be the finest map in the entire town… and it\'s for a fucking cave in the middle of nowhere!

This is the sort of thing you\'d normal hang up for display not use to check on dirty tunnels!" hissed the vice captain who still hadn\'t given their name.

"You saw that it took but a moment of my time, so it is of no concern to me what is done with it. If you wish to display it, then make it so. I simply drew up the map as requested," stated Hunter.

"Right… right I suppose you did… shit. Ok… right this puts me in an even more awkward place. Technically I owe you a decent clip of money. If the worms were really there, and I have no reason to doubt you about that… then I\'m obligated to offer you, if not currency directly, then a recommendation note for future jobs…

"But because I\'m just the deputy here… I don\'t have enough leeway to actually hand over either of those things. The notes need to be signed by the captain and yourself, signifying your acceptance of no pay… or I\'d need to pay you… but for something like this… I don\'t think the payment scheme was ever intended for something like this…" said the vice captain trailing off slightly.

"What do you mean?" asked Kat

"Well the standard payment scheme is based on attacking a monster lair filled with at least Rank 1 monsters. We\'re meant to pay you based on the number of monsters killed. Not much, the minimum amount is just ten coppers per head… but… well I\'m sure you can already see the problem here," said the vice captain.

"Surely there\'s exceptions?" queried Kat.

"Of course… but those are specifically for insectoid monsters that operate in swarms. Once again… technically I could just use those rates, but I\'m not the captain so I can\'t authorise it myself. The only other person who could is the mayor and he\'s dead at the moment," said the vice captain with a sigh.

"Yes that was mentioned," said Kat. "Though how about this. We need a place to stay for the night, and then we\'ll be heading off. Why not just mark down the room as our payment and keep it held for us?

Even though we don\'t intend to return, if you had something in writing that said we agreed to having a stay at the inn, up to whatever date you want… then we can just check out afterwards ending our stay earlier?"

"Eh…" the vice captain looked down at her desk. "I might be able to authorise that? Not sure the captain will be happy… but it does seem like the best way to get me in the least trouble. I\'ll have to walk you down to the inn… but I can probably do that. Yeah ok, I like that idea. Saves me a lot of trouble and if the captain still gets mad its his problem and he can find you in the morning.

As long as that\'s ok with your companions of course?"

Kamiko and Hunter gave their own nods of assent and the vice captain smiled. First she carefully stored away the map in what looked to be a message tube and then scratched something into the side before storing it away in one of the nearby cupboards. A quick tidying of the desk later and they were off.

The vice captain actually had them backtrack a bit down the road until they reached the inn… which looked a lot like three neighbouring buildings had been joined together at some point, with the second floor added at the same time. It wasn\'t labelled, and had three separate doors at the front. The vice captain didn\'t seem to mind simply walking straight in.

Once inside the found a long room full of tables. Right next to the door was a little girl, perhaps Sylvie\'s age or a bit younger who looked to be having fun with some playing cards. Well, that was Kat\'s best guess. The suits didn\'t look anything like those she was familiar with and the cards were of much lower quality, but it seemed to be a reasonable guess.

When the door closed behind the group the girl jumped, her wings fluttering as if trying to help her take off. She looked over at the group with wide eyes before dropping her cards and shouting. "MUUUM! Miss Slvr is here with a bunch of weird looking people,"

The now named Slvr\'s mouth twitched as the girl ran for the door at the back. "I\'m sorry about that. Stephny is a sweet kid but… she doesn\'t have much of a filter yet. If it makes you feel better it took her quite a while to call me anything other than \'Scarred Lady Knight\'. Which, just to be clear, I am NOT a knight. Simply a vice captain,"

"It\'s fine," said Kat for the group. Lily was in Memphis form and nobody could tell she was laughing internally. Kamiko seemed a touch embarrassed and Hunter… well she was mostly back to normal for now. At the very least nobody spoke up to retort.

Not all that long later a woman came out, leaning heavily on a can as she hobbled over. "Hello Slvr, what can I do for you and… these guests?" asked the new woman, her daughter trailing quietly behind her though not grasping onto the woman\'s long dress.

"They seem to have dealt with the Puppet Worms in the forest… and it was a bigger issue then we believed.

Because of the laws around payment for things like that… well it wasn\'t designed for large groupings of worms, and I can\'t just hand out the sort of money they technically deserve without the captain around… so we came to an agreement where they\'d stay here the night, and technically longer, but really only just the night,"

"I see," said the woman with a slightly sour tone to her voice before turning to the demons. "Are you sure our old captain here isn\'t trying to guilt you into accepting a sub-par reward? While I will admit the issues with the mayor mean it would be a touch difficult something could be worked out I\'m sure,"

Kat wasn\'t quite sure what to say… but Hunter apparently did. The lamia slithered forward and then summoned a literal pallet of gold onto the floor just off to the side, letting it land with a thunk. "This is not even a small fraction of the wealth I happen to just have on me at the moment.

We are passing through for different, more important work… but I have a particular dislike for the things you call puppet worms so I took them out. The best reward we could receive is a place to stay for one night, and no trouble leaving the town,"

The innkeeper stared as Hunter waved her hand again and the pallet of gold disappeared. Slvr wasn\'t much better. Young Stephny however, had no such issues. "Woah! That was so cool! Does that mean you\'re like a super monster hunter!

You must be to have so much gold,"

Hunter considered the question for a moment. "I am… not from around here. For the area, I would indeed be a cut above the rest, though compared to many in my family I am not too spectacular,"

"Wow miss, you must have a really cool family!" insisted Stephny.

Hunter smiled back, reaching over to scratch just under the girl\'s ear, which was apparently a great place to scratch because the Stephny immediately collapsed towards Hunter\'s other waiting hand and started what could roughly be described as purring. "Indeed, my family is, as you say, very cool," stated Hunter with a smile. A real, smile.

*You know… after her issues with KKL98SM I was not expecting her to be that good with kids.*