Bonded Summoner

There was just something extra disgusting about the guts of insects. The three of them had fanned out to dismantle the creatures, and Jake reviewed the fight in his mind. At first, killing the creatures had felt trivial, the party cutting them down or slicing through their limbs with ease. They had killed a half dozen of them as they entered into a larger chamber, having moved through a winding underground tunnel.

That changed when they heard what sounded like hundreds of tiny clicks coming from a nearby corridor, to which Jake immediately got himself and the valkyrie to prepare their runic spears of fire. They flung them almost as soon as the ants came into view, and they just kept firing them. It was on the fifth or sixth pair of fire spears that they realized that the mass of ants were not slowing, and they were going to be in big trouble. So, Jake got out his [Scroll of Thornwood Field] and cast it at the entrance of the chamber, pushing the area of effect down the corridor the ants were coming through.

At first, the ants stopped coming, but then they started to push through. They were in fact taking damage, and it was clearly slowing their advance. But Jake could see that several dozen were still pushing their way through. With his thought communication he confirmed that the demoness would assist with spreading the flames. Jake and Ophelia lined up their fire spears once again, and launched them both into the ants and into the vines.

It didn’t seem like it would really take, the vines practically alive and not all that dry, but the demoness added her control of fire and her own ball of flames, and that really caused them to spread, with Jake and Ophelia adding a few more fire spears into the mix.

Once the fire spread, no more ants made it through the tunnel, and as the smoke cleared and the embers died out, there were none left alive. There was also no sound of any approaching. Jake decided to drag their corpses near the tunnel that they could retreat into, in case another wave arrived while they were dismantling. Which was what they were doing now, while Jake summoned a giant goliath beetle that watched and patrolled the surrounding tunnels.

When they had dragged the bodies into the tunnel, they had counted forty-five intact corpses. With this, they would have enough to create the private temple to Hestia, and Ophelia could do the ceremony to become a Valkyrie of Hestia. Jake wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen during the ceremony, but read that it was entirely possible to start the ritual or oath taking without a clergy member present. Jake had wondered what would have happened if a newly initiated like himself chose the Paladin class, and he had learned they would likely have met their chosen god or goddess immediately, kind of like how Jake met Odin.

They just needed to collect a bunch of disgusting parts from these bugs first. Jake’s dismantling had long since hit level 4, to his surprise. This sped up Jake’s ability to dismantle the creatures, as his body moved nearly on autopilot to slice through the weak and soft areas of the carapace and separate the parts they desired. Jake was most looking forward to what would happen after he reached level 5 in the skill, which was when that skill would evolve, most likely into Looting. This would allow him to touch corpses and they would dissolve into motes of light, the loot already collected.

There were some more lazy ways to handle the salvage, such as buying a bag of holding type device and shoving all the corpses inside several of them, but this would still be quite limited and expensive, Jake found. They could then bring them back to their refuge, where they could have a servant work through dismantling them, the dungeon being unsafe to bring a non-combatant, and not worth having the difficulty increase when bringing more people into the dungeon.

They could even sell the corpses on the [Multiverse Market], where others would buy and dismantle them and resale the parts on their own. Still, the most profitable is for them to just complete the work, as unlikeable as it is, then when they reach the looting skill the hard work they put in will become a memory, hopefully one that they forget.

Unfortunately, that was later, and this was now. Many hands make for light work, as they say, each of them needing to complete around a dozen, and after just twenty minutes, the work was done; the other girl’s dismantling skill also level 4 or approaching it, the demoness slightly behind as she was introduced to the Framework last. Many of the carapace and other parts were burnt beyond the ability for sale, but they had received more than enough, killing over fifty enemies total, their cores worth the lion’s share of their value in the first place.

Their grisly work done, once again making a makeshift sled, the party headed through the tunnels and returned to their [Refuge]. Once they arrived, they once again started their post-dungeon cleanup and ritual. The demoness spoke, “I always use the cleaning spell-form, but I am still taking a shower. I do not want to take any chances of any of that gunk left on me. There’s only one type of gunk that I don’t mind getting on me, and–” Jake did his best to interrupt, “Yes, the bug guts are disgusting. Enjoy yourself, I will take care of putting everything on the market.” The valkyrie looked perplexed, and the demoness took that as a victory of its own and sauntered off.

Since the demoness hadn’t helped the valkyrie with her clean spell this time, Jake took care of it for himself and for her, magically scrubbing away the gross fluids off her armor and body, removing their armor as he went. She had a light blush on her face as he did so, so he looked at her a little in question and she said, “It…tickles a little when you do it.” Jake just smiled at her, and helped her out of her remaining armor, leaving her in what looked like a skin-tight bodysuit that she had purchased previously, for fitting underneath her scale mail armor. Jake was down to similar thin underclothing himself. She said, “Thank you. I’m really excited to finally become a full valkyrie, it has always felt like something is missing. I will finally be useful…”

Jake put a hand on her shoulder and turned her to him, and put his other hand on the other, now looking right in her eyes. He tried to send his feelings for her over their bond, of the pride and respect he had for her, and to send a reassuring feeling. He asked her, “Can you feel it? My feelings for you. You are a very strong woman especially on the battlefield, and I respect all the hard work you put in with us, and your drive to be better. You are far from useless; you are much stronger than me!

You don’t need the spells of the gods to be useful, you are only learning them to keep us safer. Since the first time I saw you fight I was in awe of you, and was proud that you are my summon; you’re both an amazing and beautiful battle angel. Don’t put yourself down like that, you don’t deserve it.”

The valkyrie had a shy smile on her face, and Jake could feel the joy she felt over his compliments and his feelings that he sent over the bond, and he let go of her shoulders. She grasped at her chest, and then looked at Jake with determination, a look Jake had seen many times before she got into her battle-ready stance, spear ready. Instead, she crossed the distance between the two of them and she wrapped her hands around the back of Jake’s neck, and she kissed him on the lips. Jake was caught off guard, but he still grabbed onto her waist for balance and returned the kiss.

Jake could feel her joy and desire over the bond, and he deepened the kiss further by slipping his tongue inside her mouth. This new sensation was a little much for her, but she was determined and tried to meet him with her own efforts, clearly not experienced with this form of kissing. They spent nearly a minute like this, before Jake pulled away.

She said, “I was starting to think that you might not even want me, too. You really think I’m beautiful? With all these muscles? Fhesiah is…very different from me.” Jake tried to reassure her by pushing his feelings over the bond once more, and smiled at her. “You’re very beautiful, and you are strong. Your fit and strong body add to your appeal, not take away.” Jake let his eyes rove over her sexy body, and tried to send his interest and desire over the bond.

“As for not wanting you, I was just wanting to take things slow and get to know each other better, and to give us a chance for our bond to build naturally. I had gotten the feeling that you wanted the same thing, as well, so I’m sorry if I was wrong.” She nodded her head, but he could see that there was still some fear, or some doubt.

“I don’t know what Fhesiah told you exactly, but my reluctance in this arrangement is fear of us all getting hurt. If it was just me and you here, I would have had no doubts in wanting to try a relationship with you from the beginning, all I would have to know is if you wanted me too. You deserve someone that cares about your feelings and about you. I want you, and Fhesiah, to be happy, one way or another. If this relationship is full of jealousy and pain, then I think it would be better not to have it at all. But I want you to know I want to try, as long as you do.” He looked at Ophelia, hoping that she understood his fears, and that it wasn’t because she was not wanted.

The valkyrie was unsure, but she showed a shy smile, “I…want to try too. And you are right, I would rather take things slow, these things are very new to me. I just…don’t have a lot of confidence in myself, and you made almost no moves to pursue me. The summoner’s bond seems to help, as I can feel your feelings of care and affection, but I still felt like you did not think of me romantically. I think, as long as I can be so sure about your feelings, it might be enough for me…besides, I think it might be a little too late to back off now.”

Jake wasn’t sure what she meant by that last part, but she shook her head in response to his questioning look. Whatever it was, she would share with him when she was ready. Jake guessed it meant that she could already be hurt if they stopped pursuing a relationship, or if she was referring to him already being her Chosen. He didn’t think that she could truly do this until she received the powers of a valkyrie, but perhaps on some level she had already made her choice.

Jake still had concerns about the relationship the demoness had put forward, but realized that his worries weren’t going to do him, or more importantly, Ophelia any good. He would need to embrace things fully, if he hemmed and hawed over whether things would be fine or not, then they probably wouldn’t be; they were more likely to get hurt if he wasn’t decisive in the matter. So, in for a penny, in for a pound.

Jake wanted to make things clear, just like she did. He gave her a determined look, smiled, and then spoke, “Then, if you want to try, then I want to try too. You may have wings and can fly, but I’m not going to let you get away from me. I’ll make you mine, and I’ll do my best to make you happy.” With that, he stepped in with his arms around her waist once again, pulling her in and kissed her, her face becoming flushed and Jake felt her desire over the bond. They continued kissing for a while, and Jake moved one of his hands down to her ass and squeezed, feeling the firm globe, and she moaned as her face became even more flushed. She pulled back and was now panting to regain her breath, and as her crystal blue eyes stared into Jake’s, she now had a satisfied expression.

Jake spoke, “We’ll take our time, we should have plenty of it. Now, let’s go get everything ready. Even if you don’t need them to be useful, it’s still a big deal to get your powers. I am looking forward to seeing what you can do, then.”

They settled in to sell everything and clean themselves up in a satisfactory fashion. There were existing buy orders for all the materials gained from the ants, and their cores. Once the sales were complete, they had over ten thousand to spare once the temple room was completed. They used the additional funds to add most of Jake’s kitchen, and Jake added a room for Fhesiah to stay in when she wasn’t with Jake, as while Jake was sure that the demoness was planning on being a part of any bedroom activities Jake was a part of, he felt it shouldn’t be forced. Not only that, but Ophelia’s first time should be how she wanted it, very likely with just Jake. Plus, Fhesiah should really have an area of the home she could call her own.

They also improved their living room and made it a little larger, and added a hearth: a fireplace. Most of these tweaks were quite affordable, and Jake did wonder where the smoke would go, but apparently whatever magic went into the [Refuge] would handle it.

Jake did grab another [Scroll of Thornwood Field], as he felt that it was still reliable in terms of being able to give them an opportunity to retreat, or to take advantage using fire like they did previously. Jake guessed that they would need to find more tools for both offense and defense, or escape, to increase their chance of survival. If it were up to Jake, they would load themselves with so many life-saving tools and equipment that he would make a certain bat superhero look unprepared.

Once again, Jake was feeling broke, but he knew that by tomorrow or the day after, they would have plenty of funds again, and potentially grab the mana and heavenly energy density increasing item.

Jake had read some old ceremonies to Hestia that involved sacrificing the first and last drink of wine for a meal, and the demoness took to task in selecting a wine for this purpose, even if it was part of Earth’s Myth and might not reflect reality. She had found some not so pricey cultivator wine that would at least be special for someone like Jake. They had their dinner and prepared for Ophelia’s oath taking.

Ophelia was in her full armor kit, and Jake and Fhesiah were wearing their more formal clothes. For Jake, this meant a dress shirt and a tie he wore to his many interviews, and the demoness wore more formal robes. They entered a small room that was not much larger than the room Ophelia started with, and in the rear of it was a small area with a statue of the goddess, Hestia. There were torches that remained ever lit, with a small table or altar in front of it.

The statue was a stone-gray color. Hestia was what Jake considered to be a beautiful middle-aged Greek woman. While the statue was all gray, Jake had read that her hair was a fiery red, and he could see that it was long, wavy, and reached beyond her shoulders to the small of her back.

Jake had asked whether Ophelia wanted him and the demoness there for her oath taking. While he was interested, he knew that most people’s connection with their god was a private one. Not only that, but the oath taking itself should be rather anticlimactic. Still, Hestia is a goddess of hearth, home, family, and the state, and so he reasoned that it was appropriate for her current family to be there; as odd of a family that it was, and Ophelia really wanted him there, so he would do it.

Jake and Fhesiah took positions not far back from the altar, kneeling, and the Valkyrie set down her shield and spear and kneeled in front of the altar. She was thinking about the reasons why she would give her oath to the goddess, or what she would be fighting for.