You are Summoned

Chapter 294. Cloak and Gary.

“Relax Rico, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. It’s just me, your friendly and good-looking next-door neighbor,” Gary said. All the other patrons had turned to see what the commotion was all about, but the inn was a bit quiet at this time of day. It was still early in the morning and most people were out and going about their day rather than sitting in an inn drinking or eating.

“I thought you had to be invited to enter the city, and while I appreciate you as a neighbor, I didn’t invite you to join me this time,” I said, dreading having Gary take an interest in my Somhagen visits.

“Oh, I appreciate the previous invite, but I kind of have an ongoing pass to visit this place anytime I want now. You see, it turns out that I have a lot of stuff to do here, and one of the acquaintances I made on the last trip was overjoyed to sponsor me back for another visit,” Gary explained. I moved to join him near the bar. While I had no plans to sit and drink with the super powerful evil being, I didn’t want to shout across the inn at him and draw even more attention to our interaction.

“I probably don’t want to know what deal you struck to get in here anytime you want. So, do you have to have my personal space parked in the area to be here? You know I can only visit every five ranks,” I asked.

“It’s best if I just tag along in my rental property. Sure, I could make it here on my own, but it would take too much time. It’s better if I just enjoy the free ride and have your personal space do all the work. Rico, I’d love to sit and chat some more, but I got things to do and souls to take. Maybe I’ll see you around,” Gary said, dropping some coins on the bar counter before hopping down from his stool and heading for the door.

“Okay, see you around, I guess,” I said, both confused over his abrupt exit, and happy to see this visit wasn’t to torment me personally.

“What a cheapskate, I ought to give him a piece of my mind next time he strolls in here,” the bartender on duty, and older man with a stained apron and a perpetual scowl on his face mumbled.

“Word of advice, don’t antagonize Gary. He’s a lot more dangerous than he looks, and not only that, but I also think he’ll carry a grudge for a long time,” I warned.

“Yeah, appreciate that, can I get you anything?” the bartender asked.

“I’m looking to rent a room for a night or two. I’ve stayed here before and it was a nice place,” I explained.

“Helga, this young gentleman needs a room, can you get him squared away?” the bartender asked.

Helga, who was an older woman that resembled the bartender, asked me a few questions about how long I wanted to stay and if I wanted meals included. I told her two nights, but maybe more depending on how the day went. The place had decent food if I remembered correctly, so I included dinner and breakfast for each day, paying extra so Melvin would also get a plate of whatever I was eating.

The same room as before was available, so I took it. For a moment I thought about asking for a different room to try and stay away from Gary, but if he wanted to find me, I didn’t think that staying in a different room would fool him. I could only hope that his reason for being here really didn’t involve me. A pang of guilt hit, as I realized that I was only thinking about myself, and not about whatever poor soul Gary was going to try to steal.

“Melvin, I think we’ll hit the summoned market first, what do you think?” I asked, trying to distract myself from worries over what Gary was doing. Melvin sent me an image of more corn dogs.

“Yeah, we’ll get lunch a bit later, but we’ve just eaten, and I want to get some stuff done while all the shops are open,” I explained.

The path to the summoned market on this tier of the city was a familiar one now, and after my last stay, I was getting pretty familiar with this tier of the city. Traffic was light, and I took time to peek at the front window of several shops as I went, making note of the ones I wanted to explore after spending all my summoning points.

When I passed near the shop of Clayton Yon, the merchant who I still had a summoning contract open with, he paused his sweeping of the shop’s entryway. It took him a second, but I could see his face light up when he finally recognized me.

“Rico, right? You’re the summoned being who offered me the contract. Good to see you, how are things?” Clayton asked. His demeanor was much different from the last time I’d interacted with him.

“I’m good Clayton, how’s business?” I asked.

“Ah, better than ever, I just signed a new clothing distribution deal that will help my wife and I out quite a bit. Come on inside, Rico, I have something I think you might be interested in. You know my shop doesn’t specialize in summoned being gear, but when one of my colleagues offered me this on trade, I thought it would be perfect for you,” Clayton said.

“Lead the way, I’ve set aside the whole day for shopping,” I said, following him into the shop. The place still seemed to specialize in clothing, and an older woman who I assumed was Clayton’s wife, was busy restocking the nearly empty shelves.

“It looks like you’re doing well for yourself,” I said.

“We are, indeed. Our new contract is bringing in a steady flow of customers each night. Let me introduce you to my wife, Eleanor. Eleanor, this is the young man that I told you about a while back, the one who tried to make up for what happened to our son,” Clayton said.

“Pleased to meet you, thank you for putting up with Clayton’s rather gruff demeanor. Also, thank you for offering to help if we need it. Not only that, but you didn’t charge us too much for the contract that you and Clayton signed,” Eleanor said, stopping to shake my hand. I remembered that the system required a price on the contract, so I just put a single copper in there as compensation.

“Glad to meet you as well, Clayton said he had something I might be interested in,” I said, trying to not get too tied up in a long conversation with the older couple. I had a lot to do and wanted to get back home after such a long arena challenge.

“Right you are, take a look at this, Rico,” Clayton said, reaching behind the main counter to pull out a cloak that looked like it had seen better days. It was a faded grey color and while there were a few worn spots, the cloak was made of a thick and sturdy material and wasn’t going to fall apart anytime soon. Holding the item and looking closely at it triggered a system prompt.

Cloak of the Minion Master. When activated, this cloak can reinvigorate summoned servants. Each summoned minion allied with the wielder gets an immediate boost of 1 Rank. In addition, the activation will generate a small burst of healing and then a moderate healing over time effect that will last for 30 seconds.

If the cloak is at full power, each minion will also receive a force shield that will absorb any physical and magical damage up to a maximum of half the minion’s total health pool. The cloak slowly regenerates its power after each use, reaching maximum effectiveness 1 week after it has been activated. It can be used earlier, but its effects will be prorated based on the time that has passed since its last use.

Currently, this cloak is fully charged.

It was a perfect item for my build, and the more minions I acquired, the more powerful its overall effect would be. Having a shield for half the maximum health of a powerful melee minion like my mana slayer drone, would really turn the tide of a tough fight. I wanted the item, and asked Clayton how much it would cost.

“Normally, I’d charge you around 75-100 gold for something like this, but Eleanor reminded me of your earlier generosity,” Clayton said, looking over at Eleanor who had a rather smug look on her face.

“Clayton will sell it to you for the same price you charged him for your summoning contract. The price, Rico, is one copper coin,” Eleanor said, much to Clayton’s chagrin.

“Honey, I paid over 30 gold for that,” Clayton started to complain.

“And you’ll price it like I’ve told you. We can well afford it now, and I believe in repaying those who’ve treated us right,” Eleanor said.

“Sold,” I said, passing Clayton a copper coin before he could protest further.

“See, Clayton, you survived the ordeal of not making a profit on one item,” Eleanor kidded.

“Thank you both. I’m ready to help whenever you need to activate that contract,” I told the pair, equipping the cloak and reminding myself to add it to my loadout once I got back to my personal space.

I said my goodbyes to the couple and headed toward the summoned market. This one brief stop had been a rather profitable one, and I hoped that it was only the beginning of the good things I’d find on this trip.