Chương 97: [2.23] Dependency Deficiency (Part 1/2)

Angelica went ahead and fed Cherub his dinner early, not knowing when she'd be back. Alright, Divining Ear, what's on the docket for today? Hmm, I don't really know what I'm in the mood for. I guess nothing too dangerous. Done enough fighting lately. Maybe along the lines of helping someone with a problem they're having. Yeah, that could be nice, if I'm feeling really useful.

"I'm looking for a partner to help me improve." It was the voice of a young woman who sounded genuine and eager with her words. [Summoner Rank: Disciple | Request Nature: Whimsical] Huh, that was new. Gelic hadn't done any new Demon jobs since Divining Ear had levelled, so that must be part of that growth. Very nice. Well, it'd be nicer if it just told her specifically what the request was, but that would likely require a much higher level, probably along with decently high Lucidity too.

But all in all, things were lining up well enough to at least give it a go. Maybe with a whimsical nature, it was something like the time she'd helped Ziesta with his magic show. So she accepted the call. [Bind Resisted] Nice! And ooo. Gelic glanced around the place. It was a high-rise apartment, a clearly rather pricey one at that.

It was the sort of place that would drain her newfound wealth in less than a year, and if told the actual cost of the rent, would likely make her either laugh hysterically or become even more depressed. She wanted to go over to the window wall to get a better look, but likely first had to deal with the Summoner staring at her, likely conflicted on what to do now that the binding had failed. And looking at the shoddy circle on the floor, yeah, no wonder.

"Can you help me?" The young woman asked boldly, despite the inherent danger of conversing with a Demon off the leash. She was about Angelica's age, and even had the same hair color, but swirled into fancy curls. Honestly, they could be distant cousins, or a glimpse of what Angelica's life could be like if she did pursue wealth above all else. That, or how it would be if her mother actually allowed her to experience hollow nepotism.

[Alias: Lixxy] The Summoner scampered over to a table and returned a second later with a laptop, practically shoving the screen in Gelic's face with a video playing.

"I need to learn this dance for the upcoming ball so I don't make a fool of myself in front of everyone, especially my date. If I stumble on my new dress and fall on the floor, I will cry. And I can't hire an instructor because I'd be oh so mortified if everyone found out. So can you help me practice in secret?" Oh to have this girl's problems. Angelica could definitely relate to the anxieties that Lixxy was facing, but damn did their worlds feel so far apart.

Watching the video, though, helping her learn it really didn't seem that hard. It was a fairly basic ball dance, one she'd actually seen a few times back when her mother was still insisting on taking her to fancy events. Thankfully, she was far too young to participate in such things, and was largely why she protested attending them further.

Ugh, the idea of being forced to perform acts like this in front of a crowd made her kind of want to barf even now, especially if it came with the caveat of having to dance with "potential suitors" if she failed to find a partner. Thankfully, one thing she could genuinely call her mother a good parent for was her putting her foot down on any sort of matchmaking attempts by others, which had started at an uncomfortably young age, trying to pair her off before she'd even hit puberty in some cases.

Don't they look cute together? No, they're ten! But that didn't mean Angelica had no experience with dancing. During her time at boarding school, they'd been forced to learn line dances in gym class for some reason. Seriously, why had that been a thing? And honestly, some had been more complicated than the one she'd just watched, so it shouldn't be too difficult to teach. Though, since it was a religious school, they were all dances that involved no partners or closeness at all, which this one definitely did.

Still, she could turn into a human male, possibly even of the same dimensions as Lixxy's future partner if she could share them. And then Gelic could give herself an Order to recreate the dance moves perfectly and guide her through them until they clicked. It was more of a male-lead heavy dance anyways, so the Summoner would just have to follow along and memorize the steps. There were a few twirls and a dip, which would likely be the sticklers. With a few dedicated hours, though, it could be done.

"I think I could help," she was happy to report, but then came the sticker.

"How much would you pay me for it?"

"Hmm," Lixxy pondered for a moment.

"Three hundred Essence? If you can get me to do it perfectly once, I'll give you that much. And if, say three times in a row with no fails, then four hundred Essence. Does that sound fair?" It did, actually, maybe even a touch on the generous side. Gelic probably would have gone as low as two hundred. But if she went for the extended payout, that would get her to the next level, so she'd just need one more for Identity Fraud. She'd gone and snagged a winner right out the gate.

"Okay, sure, I'll help you." [Order accepted] [Current Contract: Perform a Miracle | Reward: 300-400 Essence. Effectively 0] This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. … huh? … what? Ever since evolving, her Demon Growth System had definitely been even snarkier than before, but the hell was this?! Care to explain?! [There is nothing to explain. Those are the terms you just accepted. Let it be a lesson in getting as much information as possible before accepting a Contract] Erm, was there some sort of secret condition she didn't know about, some trap she'd just fall into due to her ignorance? Was it some sort of codeword she'd just been duped by? Was the contract really not about just helping this woman learn how to do a single dance? This had definitely rattled Angelica a bit, but there wasn't a reason to let worry overtake her yet, right?

"How about you show me where you're at with the dance, and we'll go from there."

"Okay!" Lixxy got herself pumped. She played the dancing video once again, this time, doing her best to follow along with the depicted movements. Ah… With seconds of watching her new master, she immediately understood the problem, and also understood the issue with terms she'd just agreed to. It wasn't just that Lixxy was struggling with this dance in particular, because she'd struggle with any form of dance, or really any form of coordinated movement.

The woman's body had stiffed to an unreasonable degree, like she didn't understand the concept of joints and that they should be mobile, as if she were a literal shambling corpse plagued with rigor mortis. It was like watching a literal rock that had suddenly decided to move to the groove, except even a rock would have more grace even if it was just tumbling down a hill.

"Yeah, sorry, I can't do this," Gelic had to be upfront and brutally honest. An unspecified but lengthy, possibly endless amount of time flashed before her eyes, with every moment a grueling battle of trying to get this girl to grasp the concept of bodily coordination. Angelica wanted to help her, she truly did, but she was on a deadline, and also the payment wasn't even close to worth it. Even if it was, she couldn't consider herself remotely qualified.

"I can't help you." [Would you like to reject the Order? Chance: 99% | Cost: 1 MP] Wow, just how impossible was this that the DGS basically handing her a get out of Order free card? It made Angelica feel even worse about leaving Lixxy to her hopeless endeavor, especially when she was genuinely trying, but sometimes it was best to face facts. [Contract Terminated] [Order Rejection Lv. 4] [Obstinance increased]"W-wait!" Her ex-master panicked a bit.

"I know I'm not an amazing dancer, but you can't give up just like that! You have to help me, please!"

"Sorry, but…" How could she word it delicately?

"I do not have the time to commit to achieving the results you want."

"Huh, but don't you Demons live a really long time?" Lixxy looked a bit confused. Maybe most Demons didn't care about long commitments, especially if they were unbound.

"Okay, well, how about this. You give it your best to teach me until the ball, and even if you don't succeed, I'll still pay you!" Hmm, that was a far more reasonable deal.

"And when's the ball?" If it was just a day or two, and this was a last minute scramble, yeah, maybe she could commit to that.

"It's in about a month. I wanted to get in as much practice as I could ahead of time."

"Yeah, definitely not, sorry." The Puck shook her masked head.

"That's way too long, and way less than my time is worth."

"Okay, umm…" Lixxy was sounding a bit more desperate.

"How about an hour a day, and I'll give you a hundred Essence each hour! And we can stop when the ball happens. But you'd have to promise to really commit for each hour!" That was actually a very reasonable bargain. Honestly, part of Gelic genuinely wanted to take it. But at the same time, it still wasn't a good fit. Locking herself to that commitment wasn't something she wanted to do right now, and honestly, if the Summoner was going to go that far, she should just suck it up and do things right.

"Hire a proper dancing coach, Lixxy." Gelic was stern with her words, sounding more human than Demon, like a proper big sister or good friend trying to help her.

"Most people will not belittle you for trying to better yourself. And even if they do, I imagine any humiliation would be significantly less than if you make a fool of yourself at the ball. Also, maybe get a physical therapist and perhaps a chiropractor to help you with your stiff movements and joints."

"Guh, I know you're right…" Lixxy looked like she might cry.

"But if you're not going to help me, then… then I Command you to—""Nope!" Before the Summoner could finish that sentence, Angelica literally noped out of there and cast Return before she could hear the rest of the forced Order. Since Commands were even easier to break, there was no way she wouldn't have been able to reject it again. Unless she got super unlucky again like that time with Lustre, but this would be a less than one percent chance of failure which would simply be absurd.

Still, she'd rather not go through the trouble, and decided to recuse herself first. While she'd only been away from her apartment for a few minutes, it honestly felt like an hour at least. Ultimately, her time had been wasted with no Essence gained. She glanced over to her bed, the inanimate object practically calling out to her like a siren, attempting to lure her into a depression nap before trying again.

But no, if she did that, there was a damned good chance she wouldn't get out again, especially if Cherub joined her and they cat snuggled. Oh boy, it'd be over until tomorrow. Alright, once more, Divining Ear. You were on the right track of helping someone, but maybe this time, a more achievable prospect.

"I'm looking for a partner to help me improve." Huh, the exact same wording, and this time it was a young man. [Summoner Rank: Disciple | Request Nature: Resolute] Even the same rank. So much about it was similar, well, except for the nature. Yet she could even stretch Lixxy's request to be a resolute one, since she had been genuine in her desire to improve. Wouldn't it be funny if this was her date to the ball requesting the same thing? There was absolutely no way.

The world wasn't that small, but it was funny to think about. Still, it made her curious enough to take it, wanting to see what the request would be. Send me, Demon magic!