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

--- Kat ---

"… How can you not know what the king is like?!" asked Neoms. Kat wanted to smack some sense into these kids. Because that's how she felt about them right now. Children. If they took an extra three seconds to think about the questions they'd been throwing out recently they'd realise the problem.

Kat had no idea what the king was like because it simply wasn't important. She didn't live here, she had no plans to live here, and she was just passing through. She would never meet the king, most of the king's laws didn't affect her and the ones that did would likely be ignored as long as she didn't go on a rampage or something equally stupid.

They were basically asking a tourist how it was possible to be ignorant of the local mayor… of a town you'd never visited and never planned to again. By another tourist.

All the most recent questions had been in a similar vein. Despite Kat warning them that she didn't really have experience living in this world, that her perspective would be completely skewed… they'd ignored her.

They'd asked about how hard it was to get food, how dangerous it was if you stayed in town, what the laws looked like, and they kept being shocked when Kat's answer was that she didn't know!

*Lily what am I even meant to say at this point? Surely the answer is obvious!*

[I'm not sure what to tell you. Kamiko is just sort of unloading on me at the moment. Which is fair enough and seems to be helping but I sort of need to pay attention to her for now in case you says something that needs more of a response then just purring.]

*Ah… yeah sorry that IS more important. I guess I'm just annoyed at this four. Best to just be hones then.* "Look… I don't know why you keep asking these questions. I don't think you understand just how BIG the kingdom is. Even then? I don't live here.

I live on a completely different plane of existence. These details are not ones that I care for, and they just never really come up ok? What do you even want me to say?" grumbled Kat.

"We're meant to be putting our lives in your hands," accused Ben. "So I feel like we deserve some answers,"

Kat kept calm, even if she wanted to slam her hands on something. Having a fear aura would be nice about now. "See, that's wrong. We are not your babysitters. We're helping you get OUT of this place because it's quite possible you need demonic fire to get through the barrier. This is entirely community service.

We are doing a good thing.

"A good thing that, keep in mind, I did not volunteer for. Now, that's not to say I'm wanting or willing to just leave you to die. I do know that the safety of this place is dwindling, and I get wanting to see the wider world…

"But you have decades of potential life here if that's what you want. I am not your mother. I am not your bodyguard, and you keep asking me questions that simply do not matter to me. I am STRONG and I don't think you all quite understand how much that matters.

"The reason we haven't taken out the robots? It's because we don't know how the facility would respond. Every single member of my group could kill a near endless number of them. Assuming kill is even the right word. No, we've been careful and polite for YOUR sakes not ours.

"So please understand that I have no malice when I say this… but I simply do not care. I cannot care. So many of these details you're asking for are irrelevant to me and will never become relevant so I took no time to learn. I get this is big. This is your entire lives. I get you NEED this information.

I simply do NOT have it.

"And even if I asked for answers from the townsfolk, or the priests or the mayors or whatever. You need to understand that the answers they give me and the truth of the matter likely doesn't line up. You are going to live upon this world for decades.

You will be thrown into a culture you cannot understand, and may never come to understand," Kat realised she was getting riled up but she hadn't raised her voice at all and felt this needed to be said.

"You are asking the ultimate outsider what I think of a culture that you're not even a part of yet… while forgetting that I am so divorced from things that I don't even have guesses. Is the king good? Well he doesn't seem like a tyrant to me but maybe we're too far from his influence? Are the nobles good in the area?

I don't know I've not met any, and nobody who talked to me as felt right complaining about them.

"Food? We've got endless food in our storage rings so it never came up. Danger? I already went over that. Nothing here can truly threaten me. I could stab myself through the heart and by fine not even seconds later so my perspective on the dangers of this world is massively warped.

I just don't know what to tell you and I really thought I made this clear earlier. Understood?"

"Chill we were just asking some questions," said Ben.

Kat considered slapping him as an answer and a lesson. Then she considered it a little more. With a nod Kat summoned an iron ingot from her storage ring and held it up for a few moments before snapping it in half without any effort on her part. Kat then pulled out a second and put it down on the table.

"I think, actually, that I have been reasonable, and perhaps overly generous in not teaching you some lessons.

"There are people in the world, strong people. Either politically, socially, or just physically… and then can kill you with a thought. A king might order your death, an adventurer might just smack you for being stupid and 'accidentally' snap your neck. I'm really not trying to say this to scare you. I'm not trying to force you to make one choice or another…

"But I am REALLY trying to give you a proper picture of what you might encounter and a healthy respect for the outside world. I want all of you to try, have a go. I used essentially none of mine strength to break that bar in half. It didn't bend. It broke," stated Kat seriously.

"Are threats really what you're going with?" asked Chasen.

Kat let out a long pained sigh but noticed that Sloane actually seemed to be getting it. Her face was paling as she glanced between the table and Kat. "I am trying very hard not to be threatening here, but the fact you can even recognise that threats exist is… well I suppose it's a good step forward,"

"That really was nothing… wasn't it?" asked Sloane as she looked at the metal.

Kat nodded, "Indeed. That's what I'm saying. You can't understand what you're getting into, and that sucks… but you all will need to be careful,"

"How strong are you?" asked Sloane.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Kat shrugged, "I don't know. I recently jumped up a good deal in strength but… just as an example? I could walk through the walls here if I wanted to. Just casually stroll on through. Might need a bit of momentum to ensure the stride was smooth but I can manage it,"

Sloane picked up the bar in question and was already surprised by just how heavy it was. She tried twisting it already knowing that nothing was going to happen. "How do we know you didn't just make that easier for yourself?" asked Ben.

Kat rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm not against answering your questions but it's been two weeks since I've talked to my… friends," Kat was glad she could say friendS. Apparently Hunter counted, so she could pretend that everyone from the group did. Or maybe it was Lily and Kamiko that counted? "Yet instead of being with them.

I'm here answering questions that ultimately aren't helping either of us gain new understanding. The metal bar was a last ditch effort and it's done something… but can you guys ask meaningful questions? Or can I leave? We can get to this later if necessary,"

None of the group seemed to know how to deal with that. Kat could guess what they were thinking. Ambush the new member of the group and tried to get extra information that would be useful, either to wield against the other demons, or maybe the other people here… but they weren't even asking the right questions before. Now they could see that Kat was not just a prop. This wasn't a movie or a book.

She had a friend to talk to and these guys were wasting her time. The fact Kat had just proved her strength a bit only helped them take the matter more seriously.