Summoned by Monster Girls

I tossed my cell phone onto the bed beside me and sighed. Calling off sick when I wasn’t actually sick felt weird, especially to make it a long weekend. I wasn’t the kind of person who would normally skip out on work or half ass it either..after what Dutcher had pulled last night though? I feel more than a bit justified calling off like this. The girls would be summoning me around noon. I’d planned to just work a half day, but decided this was better than dealing with more verbal abuse from the pudgy toad of a boss that I had and it was easier to leave a voicemail than deal with him to his face about leaving early. Staring up at the dusty ceiling of my bedroom, I remembered what had happened the previous day.

“Cosgrave! Get your ass in gear and hurry! I need you to finish loading Matheson’s truck as well. I had to send him home early.” Dutcher’s crowing broke me out of the contemplative funk that I’d been spending most of the day in.

After the meeting with the girls on Tuesday night, I had set about doing more animal research for different options to shift with. I’d gone over everything from dense fur to help keep warm to what sort of muscle structures a gorilla had to improve my strength for a short burst. Because of this distraction, Dutcher had managed to sneak up on me while I was working on autopilot while thinking about other things. The fact I’d been thinking about the feeling of Kassandra’s scales and the smell of her hair at that exact moment too didn’t help.

“What?” I turned to look over my shoulder with a stacked pair of totes in my hands. Dutcher sneered at me with his beady eyes squinted, the thinning hair on top of his head hanging lank on his sweaty forehead while he leaned on the control stick of his Segway scooter.

“You heard me, Cosgrave! Get the lead out and get this done. I need you to stay late and finish Matheson’s last truck. I had to send him home.” The man’s eyes widened in challenge as he sneered at me.

“Why?” Was the best answer I could give him at the moment. A haughty look that would have made a more put together man than Dutcher potentially look regal instead made him look like he smelled something rotten, maybe himself.

“He was about to hit overtime.” Dutcher replied after a long moment in a staring contest that he finally caved on.

“Overtime…on a Thursday afternoon? I thought you scheduled the shifts specifically so we wouldn’t hit overtime.”

“He’s stayed late the last several days to finish, and he hit forty hours today so I sent him home. You are going to pick up his slack, because I know you aren’t going to take an extra four hours to finish the damn truck.” Snarled the chubby idiot, his piggy eyes narrowing.

I just stared at him in confusion. Dutcher made doubly sure the schedules were such that we never hit overtime, to the point he usually scheduled us to be a few hours under forty. I always ended up hitting my forty hours because of various make-work I’d get drafted for, but still...The fact he sent Matheson home before he could go over wasn’t surprising. Dutcher's statement about me not taking as long also made sense. I had better things to do than hang around the dock after my regular shift after all. What about tomorrow though? If Matheson is already at his forty, that means that either Dutcher is going to have to approve the overtime tomorrow or he’s just going to tell Matheson to stay at home. Which means he’s likely going to saddle me with this same garbage tomorrow.

Apparently taking my silence for assent, Dutcher leaned back and pivoted on his electric scooter, before driving away with a parting shot over his shoulder that made me bite back the urge to rip his head off as it boiled my blood.

“Hurry up, Cosgrave! Some of us would like to go home on time!”

“Yea, screw it. I don’t care anymore.” I sighed, sitting up in bed and stretching. I’d spent an extra two hours on the dock last night and arrived home worn out. I’d had to send a message to Cerebaton to cancel my Thursday training. He’d asked why, of course. When I explained what Dutcher had done, Cerebaton had made no bones about recommending I find another source of employment.

The back and forth messaging via the System helped keep me distracted while I worked yesterday. Cerebaton had sent me detailed exercises and stretches I was to do instead of the normal sparring session. I’d managed to get through them last night, but had barely had the energy to shower then pass out at that point.

Now that I was awake and feeling better, I set about getting ready for when the girls sent their summon request. There wasn’t much I could do until they called me and I didn’t want to wear myself out. We’d be hiking out into the forest along the coast and camping for several days, so I didn’t want to be tired or overstressed when we headed out. So instead I just took the morning easy and did some of the exercises that Cerebaton had sent me to make sure I was limber and relaxed.

It really is weird, to think that I just…wait to be summoned to another world. All the anime I’ve seen it in was a ‘one and done’ kind of thing. Isekai and the like. I wonder…is that what is causing all the damage that Cariad mentioned back when we first met? People getting isekai’ed? I’d laugh it off, but it’s not the strangest thing…

The expected summoning message came about an hour and a half before noon. I’d been watching some video guides on my phone about how to sharpen a sword when the edges of my vision flashed and the words I’d been waiting for scrolled across my vision in flickering purple neon.

Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding a several day mission.

Transit? View summoning?

“Really need to remember to ask Cari if there is some method to be able to communicate with the girls while we are separated. I mean, I can message her with the System and it’s just as far, right?” I muttered to myself, plugging my phone into the charger on the coffee table and settling onto the couch. “We could have headed out hours ago, but they had no idea I took off earlier than expected. Oh well.” I glanced over my outfit, since it was the only thing that I could bring with me at this point.

The jeans were the heavy-duty ones with reinforced panels on the legs for people who rode motorcycles or worked more dangerous jobs. I was just wearing another of my plain t-shirts for a top but combined it with a flannel button-down for some extra warmth. It’d been fairly warm over on the other side the last time I’d gone out with the girls, but that hadn’t been overnight. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cart a hoodie around with me, so the flannel was a step in between at least.

Satisfied that I was as ready as I could be, I closed my eyes and focused on the Transit option that was still hovering in front of my eyes. A moment later, I felt the jerk of movement and I was off again. This time it felt like I’d been strapped into a harness and abruptly yanked away from where I had been sitting until now, but rather than a crane lifting me it was like being attached to a parasail towed behind a bullet train.

Keeping my eyes closed helped suppress the slight nausea that came with the whirling motion. I could still see the flash of lights and color through my eyelids and when the strobes settled down and I could feel sunlight on my face, I knew I’d arrived. Why is it that it feels, tastes, sounds, or looks different each time?! I had time to think before it was confirmed beyond any doubt I’d safely landed at my destination.

Of course the excited squeal from Kassandra was a major clue. It was also the only warning I got of what vector the attack was coming from.

Spinning on my heel to greet the happy dwarf lamia as she lunged in for her familiar tackling hug, I caught the peppy, auburn haired woman and spun with her. This elicited a happy giggle from the part-snake woman before she got her coils wrapped around me and wiggled them up my legs to wrap around my hips.

“So good to see you, Liam!” Kassandra purred happily, burrowing her face into my neck and chest while her arms and scaled length did their best to squeeze the life out of me in a hug that I returned. Admittedly, a bit more gently.

“Good to see you as well, Kass. Hope you haven’t been causing too much trouble for Rieka while I was gone?” I teased her back, gently ruffling her mass of red-brown curls.

“Never!”

“She’s totally been causing problems, but I knew that would be the case when I became friends with her.” Rieka laughed from nearby, drawing my attention to the platinum-blonde wolf-girl. It also gave me a chance to take in our surroundings.

We were on the lawn outside of Rue house, the cobble path nearby led towards the heavy curtain wall and had a number of other people walking up and down it. More than a few were looking in this direction curiously and I started to feel a bit self-conscious because of their stares.

“You tattle-tale!” Kassandra protested in mock anger, turning to glare at Rieka for only a moment before snickering. “She’s right though, I just can’t help myself sometimes.”

“Well behave for now.” I patted Kassandra on the back lightly. “We should get moving, we want to get out to the area that you two are heading for as early as we can. Want to make sure we get the camp set up before it starts to cool off, after all.”

It was the mention of being cold that got Kassandra moving, otherwise I was fairly certain she’d have tried to remain as a combination belt and backpack for a while longer at least. She did give me one last firm hug and a light kiss on the cheek before she loosened her coils and slid down.

“Careful Kass, you might make his head pop if you keep doing that.” Rieka teased, which told me that the blush I had believed to be just a light one might have been a bit more fierce than expected.

“We wouldn’t want that! Maybe his other head, but not in public like this. They haven’t earned the right to see that!” Kassandra said saucily as she wended her way rapidly towards the pile of gear that sat beside Rieka.

“I’d protest, but I have a feeling that it would only encourage her.” I sighed, getting a giggle from Kassandra and an understanding nod from Rieka.

“You would be right, Liam. Good to see you again. Hope you are ready for a hike to get to the hunting area?” Rieka stepped around Kassandra, who was busily tugging my armored jerkin out of the pile, and held her arms out tentatively for a hug as well. I didn’t keep her waiting and hugged the slender wolf-woman. Her black-tipped blonde ears flicked a few times against my cheek, softly tickling the skin there for a moment before we parted again.

“You need me, I’m here. You both know that.” I replied with a reassuring smile and Rieka nodded once before being abruptly bumped out of the way by Kassandra pushing past her with my leather armor held high in her hands.

“Okay Liam! Lets get you geared up!”

<><><>

It took less than ten minutes to get my armor squared away and the packs handed out. Rieka and Kassandra had done a fair job getting the camping supplies and everything else sorted out equally, but I did insist on shifting some of the things to my pack. Given her smaller stature, if not her extra length, Kassandra struggled a bit with an ‘even’ share of the weight. Once the packs were more balanced for each person’s individual strength, we headed out along the main road on foot.

We ended up taking the same turnoff that we had previously for dealing with the Kobolds, the path leading along the way to Broadshore, the port town. While we walked, the girls took it in turns to chat about what they’d been up to in the last several days of their classes, as well as what we’d be doing today. In the past I’d talked them through ideas of what we needed to accomplish . This time it didn’t even take until the turnoff before they were able to prompt the appearance of the System message. Reading over it, I gave a fist pump of excitement.

Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their missions for the next several days and return them safely home.

Reward - 1100 SP

“Oh hell yes, that’ll be perfect.” I muttered as the burning letters vanished from my vision.

“Liam?” Kassandra’s head was tilted curiously as she looked up at me from where she slid along on the hard packed road. Both Kassandra and Rieka had opted for sturdy outfits in their usual styles. Which for Kassandra meant a blouse, underbust corset, and a skirt in colors that matched her scales. Rieka had opted for pants with a cutout for her tail and a blouse. Both of Rieka’s garments were made of a heavy tan fabric with white accents.

“The System just prompted me with the mission conditions. I’m to assist you two for the weekend and then get you home safe. That will net me more points for upgrades than the last two weeks put together. I guess the overnight security counts partially and it seems like it’s counting each of the ‘days’ as a full mission.”

“That’s great, Liam! I’m glad that you are going to be properly compensated, considering the mana we are expending to bring you here and maintain it.” Rieka’s happy tone helped pull the barbs from what could have been viewed as a cruel or pointed reminder that I was literally costing them money to be here.

“The more I can earn like this, the more that I can do to protect you girls. That’s the biggest thing.” I shot her a smile and got a nod in return, her fluffy tail with its darkened tip stirring happily behind her.

“I wonder if we can tilt this System into giving him more of a reward if we charge him with multiple tasks, rather than just general ones?” Kassandra piped up from my other side and I shot her a questioning look.

“How would you do that? It waited until you finished giving me the list of jobs you wanted to do before prompting the display.” Kassandra grinned wickedly, her bright eyes twinkling behind her silver-rimmed spectacles before she spoke.

“Easy. Three ways at least, as I see it: more things to do, more days out on missions, and then adding additional tasks as we think of them. Not sure on the third one yet. We will have to test it.”

“Test it how?” The suspicion in Rieka’s voice was thick enough to cut with a knife. Kassanda directed a brilliant smile her way as we turned off on the road that led into the foothills and eventually out to the coast.

“Liam, I am requesting additional assistance from you. I need help keeping warm away from Juneau, so I will need your commitment to ensure I am not harmed by the cold while away from my nest.” Kassandra said formally, locking eyes with me intently. Rieka stopped walking abruptly and turned to stare at Kassandra incredulously.

“Kass! What about..”

“Shh!” Kassandra hushed her friend, letting her coiling gait come to a stop, so I stopped as well and we waited.

It took a small handful of seconds before the flare of light across my vision formed and spelled out my secondary mission. Kassandra didn’t even wait for me to speak as I read the message, I must have made some kind of expression that gave it away. A broad grin slipped onto her features while she cheered in excitement.

Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, by ensuring she does not succumb to the cold while away from her nest.

Reward - 150 SP

“You can’t be serious? It actually worked?” Rieka’s voice was filled with astonishment.

“Yup…she worked the System.” I chuckled before relating the assignment. Kassandra’s smile got even wider as she listened, bouncing happily on her tail in a way that made her assets also jiggle quite happily.

“Mobile heater secured!” She cheered, wrapping her arms around my waist to give me another hug, giggling the entire time.

“Seriously? You pulled this just so you don’t have to deal with the cold?” Rieka grumbled, crossing her arms under her breasts and glaring at her friend.

“Not just so I could. I wanted to make sure that Liam got the biggest boost he could and I figured it would work. It’s your turn next time, so start thinking on how you can monopolize our human’s time!” Kassandra released me to turn and grin up at her friend. The irrepressible amusement of the dwarf lamia was more than the wolf-woman was able to handle and Rieka’s irritation cracked, leaving a smirk on her face.

Something about what Kassandra said, referencing me as ‘their human’, reminded me of a question I’d been meaning to ask for sometime.

“Not that I’m complaining about being called ‘your human’ after all.” I said to butt in on their conversation. “But I’ve been meaning to ask about that for a while and keep getting distracted with all that we are doing. I haven’t seen any other humans at all since I got here, and I remember that group of other summoners the first night being pretty worried when I explained I was a human.”

Both girls turned confused expressions on to me before looking at each other in surprise.

“Did we never really tell him?” Rieka asked her friend intently. Kassandra shrugged.

“I don’t think so. I mean, we’ve talked about a lot…but I don’t think it ever came up.”

“What never came up? You girls are worrying me now.” I urged them both, looking back and forth once more.

Rieka was the first to break the silence, glancing back over her shoulder as if to make sure no one was following us along the deserted side road.

“Well, it’s pretty straightforward Liam. There are lots of stories about humans. Our people have found ruins all across the land over the years, but humans have been gone for centuries. They died off a long time ago and no one has seen them since.”

“Basically, humans are myths. That’s one reason why everyone was so surprised and why we were excited to bond with you. All we have are stories of humans and the legends around them.” Kassandra watched me earnestly, the worry obvious in her slim features.

“Huh…so humans are legends? That’s kind of cool. Also that makes sense. I remember Silas saying they were extinct now. I meant to ask about it sooner but forgot.” I murmured, looking up at the sky for a moment while I remembered the conversation with the bear-kin shop-keeper.

“Not…quite.” Rieka’s words brought me crashing back down to earth and I looked at her intently. Rieka bit her lip for a moment before explaining. “A lot of the records that have been found show how dangerous humans are. This led historians to believe they wiped themselves out with dangerous weapons. Humans are more akin to demons or bogeymen in a lot of stories nowadays.”

I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach as I considered her words. The idea that humans were legendary creatures, like elves were to people back on Earth, had seemed cool. But now, confronted with the idea that humans were more akin to things that went bump in the night, I wasn’t sure how to take that.

The soft sensation of Kassandra taking my hand brought me back from my confusion and I turned to lock eyes with the short snake-woman.

“Hey, it’s okay, Liam. We know you aren’t like that. Come on, daylight is burning and you have a job to do!” Kassandra’s soft smile combined with the mischievous twinkle in her eye let me push off the concerns that this revelation had brought up. I took a deep breath and nodded to her.

“Okay, let's get moving. I don’t want my girls to end up in danger after all.” I replied, squeezing her hand with mine before the three of us set out with intent along the road. I can worry about this later, I have a job to do: looking out for these two.