Second Summons

SR and SSR summons could evolve a second time at level 50. However, before that came the chance to summon a second companion, which humans could do at level 40. All of us were excited by the prospect. For one thing, it would make adventuring safer, but for another, Alicia seemed to miss being in a large party. 

More than someone to watch her back, she wanted someone to talk to, because she liked people. Every time we returned to the city, she spent more and more time out talking to Guild assistants, waitresses, and shopkeepers. The guards in town all knew her name and smiled when they saw her, and even the other adventurer parties, which usually kept to themselves, were happy to hang out with her.

Nero, on the other hand, was happy to return to the city because he could disappear for a day or two by himself. I could find him easily during those days, but I also needed to unwind after spending weeks with three others, so we typically sought out different places to isolate ourselves. Nero often went to train by himself or browse through the less reputable shops, while I holed up in either the bookshop or the Guild’s library.

Heather alone was well-adjusted enough that she didn’t need to isolate herself or spend all her free time surrounded by others. Sometimes, she followed Alicia around, but other times, she came to check on Nero or me. I occasionally let her drag me out to eat sweets. She'd developed a sweet tooth, and she told me privately that she hoped to one day try every cake from every city in the world. It was at once a strange goal for a former horse and a weirdly fitting goal for the Moon Princess-esque appearance she had as a human.

With Heather’s evolution, we became a C-rank party. This was logical (because our party’s only members were C-ranked) but unusual (because C-ranked parties usually had three or more C-ranked adventurers). This, combined with Alicia’s extroversion and Heather’s beauty, made us a regionally famous party, and although we had initially refrained from changing our party’s name, we’d eventually had a new name sort of handed to us.

“Would you like to change your party’s name?” the Guild assistant asked us one day while we were checking in after a quest. It’d been half a year since Heather had evolved, and we were getting close to level 40.

Nero looked up from the paperwork he was filling out. “What? Why?”

Heather sighed. “Is this about the informal name other parties gave us?”

“We have an informal name?” Nero asked. As a fellow introvert who avoided people as a rule, I was just as lost. Alicia, on the other hand, had turned pink and was refusing to look at us.

“Yes,” Heather said. “Sun and Moon.”

Why? I asked. Since when had we turned into a generation of a long-running game?

The Guild assistant stared expectantly at us. “Your confusion is understandable,” she said in a perfectly neutral tone that told me she had no idea how we’d failed to discover this sooner, “but perhaps you could provide an answer to my question before going to seek out an answer to yours?”

“I’m fine with it, I guess,” Nero said, glancing at Alicia.

She twirled her hair around her finger nervously. “Y-yes, that’s fine with me as well.”

“Very well. I will register the name change within the day. Do you have any further need of my services?”

Once we’d finished up, Alicia made a swifter exit than usual. Heather watched her Master leave and sighed. “Let us put our things away, and then I will explain to Luna. I would ask, Nero, that you wait for Luna to explain it to you later.”

Looking thoroughly bewildered, Nero agreed and left me and Heather alone in our room. “You see, Luna…” Heather began.

Alicia’s embarrassment quickly made sense. Apparently, while speaking with one of the other adventuring parties, she’d been asked to describe her teammates, since we rarely accompanied her while in the city. She had misunderstood the assignment. She had answered, saying that Nero was like the sun, with his golden hair and amber eyes. Heather, she'd added, was like the moon, which no one in their right mind would ever disagree with, and I was like the night. Everyone had laughed at her, because they’d meant our fighting styles, and she’d instead spoken at length about our appearances.

That might have been the end of it if our party had been like any other party. However, Heather had a fair number of fans among the men in town, and while Nero was still a little young, there were a not insignificant number of young women who found him attractive. And so, though it was largely used as a means of teasing Alicia, we'd obtained a nickname, and it had spread.

I was instantly grateful that I’d been left out of the name.

“So you see, Luna, I believe this would be quite humiliating for my Master if Nero were to learn the specifics. If you could devise a means of conveying the information without him realizing it came from my Master, I would appreciate your discretion.” Heather was polite, earnest, and beautiful, but she wasn't terribly creative. I could see why she worried about how to explain things to Nero.

Yeah, sure. I can do that. I snickered to myself and leapt out of the room’s window and onto the rooftops below. Nero would probably be more embarrassed than Alicia, which made me want to tell him anyway, but I would be a good friend and keep my promise. It took me only a few minutes to find Nero, who was waiting expectantly for me at the training grounds.

“So?” he asked.

It’s because you and Heather are so eye-catching. Since you’ve got blond hair, and she’s all white, they’re saying you're like the sun and the moon.

Nero scrunched his face up at that. “What about you and Alicia?”

We’re not nearly as noticeable, visually. Alicia was cute, but it was in the way that any child is cute. She might grow up to be gorgeous, or she might grow up to be super average like me. There was no way of knowing at this point. Nero, on the other hand, was the kind of cute kid who you knew would grow up to be stupidly handsome.

“Well, that’s stupid. Alicia’s super pretty, and you’re the coolest cat ever.”

I was quietly pleased at his response, but I tried not to let it show. Yes, well, you wanted your answer, and you got it. I wondered if I should let Alicia know that Nero found her 'super pretty.' She'd probably be happy to hear it, but it was probably not something Nero would want me to share.

“I guess,” Nero grumbled, dissatisfied. He picked at a scab on his knuckles. “Hey, Luna?”

Mm?

“What if I summon another demon?”

I paused. It seems unlikely, but I suppose we’ll deal with it if it happens. I wouldn’t lie to him to ease his fears.

Nero slid down against the training dummy and stared blankly at the dirt. “You don’t think being a Candidate will affect it?”

No. Mathew would be demanding you level up faster so he could see your new summon if there was any evidence of that.

That got a laugh out of my Master. “He would, wouldn’t he? Whoever the next Demon Lord is, I’m sure he’ll have Mathew suddenly pop up at his door, asking to study him.” His smile faded, and one hand came up to touch his chest. “Alicia likes people. She trusts them. Even after Crimson Rain, even though she’s scared, she still believes in everyone. And I like that about her. I’d like it if she could keep believing in people like that... But she’s wrong. She thinks the world is black and white, and it’s not. I… I think that belief is why she became a Hero Candidate, and I didn’t. So, since I can’t become a Hero, I’d at least like to make sure she can become one. If she wants.”

“Will you help me, Luna? Help me protect her from reality until she’s strong enough to accept it?”

Master, how do you intend to judge that?

Nero flinched. “I don’t know,” he said after a moment. “But am I wrong? You know she still thinks that Crimson Rain died in a trap. And she still thinks they were good people just because they were nice to us and saved us once.”

I did know that, and it frustrated me. I knew that Heather felt the same; she also wished she knew how to help Alicia come to terms with reality without destroying her belief in others. Neither of us had been able to come up with anything. Alright. For now, at least, I’ll help.

Nero smiled at me, the look so full of relief and gratitude that it made me embarrassed to see. I turned and hurried away.

It took us another two months to reach level 40. By that point, we’d started accepting more C-rank quests, though we continued to avoid quests that involved dungeons. The extra experience from the rare monsters these hunts sent us after was extremely helpful in leveling, and the higher pay was no hardship either.

At last, Alicia and Nero could each summon a new companion.

We returned to the church and paid the tithe to perform the summoning ritual a second time. It was expensive, but we'd been saving for this for a while, so it was well within our comfort zone. As before, the sisters had Nero kneel in the center of a circle with all manner of markings I couldn’t understand filling it. This time, however, I sat beside Nero, waiting for his new summon to appear.

"Oh stars and heavens, grant us your benevolent assistance. Bring forth a suitable companion, one to elevate and serve, to love and protect, one made for this young adventurer and none other. In the Father's name, we pray."

I wondered briefly how much 'the Father' really had to do with the summoning process. If he hated me, wouldn't he avoid sending me to someone? Or had Fyth just somehow managed to sneak me in?

"Oh my," the sisters exclaimed as the light faded. "A Fire Lizard. You received an SR for your second pull. Congratulations!"

I stared at the lizard. It looked, quite frankly, like an ordinary lizard. It wasn’t even an iguana or red or anything. It was identical to a regular lizard. Did it even have the ability to kill monsters? How were we supposed to level it? As though it heard my thoughts, it looked at me and exhaled. A plume of fire appeared. Ah. Okay, that would work.

Still, though. A Fire Lizard. What were the odds? Nero picked him up and held him closely. "He's a reminder," he said quietly as we stepped out of the circle and to the side.

Alicia summoned a Fairy. It was only a Rare summon, but Fairies had high luck stats, so it was considered one of the best Rare summons available. I found Fairies creepy, because they were human-looking, if small and with wings, but there was no spark of intelligence in them. Fairies in the wild possessed a certain animal instinct that served them well in hunting, but summoned Fairies didn't even have that. They were nothing more than animated dolls possessed of no will of their own.

Nero and I discussed the Fire Lizard's name. Nero wanted to name him Justice (apparently, Dragon was too on-the-nose even for Nero). I objected, but after Nero started giving me his additional ideas and rejecting mine (I still didn't see what was wrong with Vulcan), I finally accepted Justice as the lesser evil. When she heard it, Alicia teared up, turned to her Fairy, and immediately named it Fay.

I'd had such high hopes for her naming sense, too.