Fiendish Fables

[SS 2.98] Reckless Abandon (Part 2/2) (Patreon)

Published:

2026-10-22 17:03:00

Edited:

2026-10-23 18:16:38

Imported:

Tags:

Self-Summon

Content

“Hey, what’s your address?” Gelic asked before accepting the new summons.

“Uhh, we can’t give our names, but can give our addresses?” Tarice inquired smartly.

“In this case yes,” the Demon insisted. “So that I can find my way back. Otherwise, I guess don’t on most occasions.” She got the answer needed and then poofed across the world to somewhere unknown. At first, Gelic wasn’t entirely convinced that she was in the same world. The location felt out of fantasy.

She was in a colorfully illuminated circular room, lit by sunlight through ornate stained glass. Bookshelves lined walls, with mountains of tomes stacked even higher. The candles nearby seemed to have magical flames instead of mundane ones, or they’d risk setting the mass of paper ablaze. At the center was a marvelous wooden desk, with intricate patterns carved all around it, covered in scrolls with a quill and ink, ready to scribe. And behind it was a vacant chair that could almost be confused for a throne.

Tending to the books wasn’t the assumed owner of the room, but rather, another Demon.

[Demon | Alias: Dolly | Demon Rank: Hellion Lv.40 / 40 | Health: 94% | Sect: Talewright School for Summoners]

Huh, a Sect and not a Cult? Demons could just straight up join Sects instead? And it was actually a school? Damn, so much was confusing here, though little more than the Demon herself. Dolly was padding around calmly, treating the books with delicate care, taking pride in their organization. She was a sort of like a bipedal sheep, with her fluff covered by an apron with a heart in the middle. Definitely the least threatening Demon that Gelic had ever seen, even less so than her Puffball self. She kind of wanted to hug her.

“Oh, uhh, hello there!” Dolly suddenly turned to the intruder and dropped the books in surprise.

“Where am I?” Gelic had to ask first. She could make an educated guess based on the scry, but best to ask for confirmation.

“Ah, this is Talewright School for Summoners,” the Hellion answered as she began picking up the books. “This is the headmistress’s office, but I am afraid she is out at the moment. You’ve appeared in a special Circle that only calls to those in need. It’s how I ended up here many years ago. So is there anything that I can help you with in her absence?”

“A school for Summoners…” Despite the double confirmation, Gelic still found it both interesting and baffling. Did her world have something similar? No Summoners she’d met had mentioned such a thing, but it made sense, especially if many of them awakened at the pre-teen age. Maybe they were home-schooled in Casniem, or the Sects brought them in to teach them. Or some maybe just kept going to their usual schools until they became adults, just with a Demon buddy watching them. She had to guess that Talewright was likely some kind of boarding school. It’d probably be too difficult to keep it all discreet otherwise.

“Well that’s great!” Gelic perked up, causing Dolly to be surprised by the sudden excitement. Maybe it was the softness of her nature, but she trusted the sheep Demon immediately. “I’ve been summoned twice now by these two dumb young humans who clearly have no idea what they’re doing. A school for Summoners is exactly what they need. So, do you think you could get your headmistress to enroll them before they end up getting themselves killed?”

“Ah, I see.” Dolly nodded along, and then spoke in a soft voice. “That is definitely in our wheelhouse. Unfortunately, the headmistress will be away for a few days.”

“Dang, that sucks,” Gelic sighed. “I don’t suppose I can just leave you their address? I’m kind of in a rush.”

“Impatience is the first step to folly.” She suddenly found herself lectured by the sheep. “But I may be able to help in her stead. Though my normal duties are mostly ensuring the students’ daily needs are met, I am still the headmistress’s personal assistant, and am capable of anything required in her absence. It’s just… been a bit. Let me gather a few things.”

Dolly opened a nearby chest and pulled out a travel bag. She then began to stuff it with a few things from around the office. “Hmm, yes a pamphlet, her business card. Mmm, maybe a few imprinted souvenirs.” Yep, they must totally still be in a modern world if even a magical school was trying to tempt new students with swag. “Ah, right, I’ll need that, won’t I?”

The Hellion opened one of the desk drawers but didn’t grab whatever was inside. Instead, she picked up two nearby unlit candles and used them like a pair of tongs to dig out the contents and drop it into the waiting bag. A Magical Proficiency detector. Gelic recognized it immediately, or at least the jewel in the center, because the base was a different shape. It was actually a cube instead of the disc like the ones in her world.

“Okay, I believe that’s it. Shall we depart, then?” Dolly picked up the bag, looking ready for the trip.

“Uhm, how do you plan for us to get there?” Gelic inquired. “I know their address, but have no idea how far away it is. Could be right down the street or across the world.”

“Did you just come from there?” The sheep checked.

“Uhh, yes.”

“Then wonderful! The Circle will send us back to your prior location.”

Oh, damn! Gelic quickly Mused the Circle, making sure to switch things around so she didn’t lose the Circle from Ba Skin’s office, still needing to study that as well. There was a lot still she needed to learn when she could sit down and had the time. Both had unique features that could prove very useful in the future. She managed to snag the picture in time before Dolly smooshed up against her in the Circle and they were teleported together.

Both girls jumped upon their sudden arrival, especially because the two Demons didn’t appear in the circle that they were currently cleaning up. Tarice, in particular, was grumbling about what to do regarding the gashes in the floor that had been made by Dif Dif’s stabbing.

“Hello there!” Dolly opened with a friendly greeting, spreading her arms wide, making herself appear as unthreatening as possible. “My name is Dolly, and I am a staff member at Talewright School for Summoners. And I’ve heard that you two might be a good fit for our program. Here is a pamphlet if you wish to peruse through it.” She set the folded paper down by the girl’s feet. “And while you peruse, might I offer you a snack.”

The next thing she pulled out of the bag was a tray of a weird pastry that Gelic had never seen before, sort of like a glazed soft pyramid thing. Must not be a treat they had in Casniem, and damn, the odor filled the room immediately, smelling fresh out of the oven. Was it some sort of baking magic? She hadn’t seen Dolly pack them. Or maybe the sheep had Second Stomach too, and always had treats on hand for the students. Damn, Gelic kind of wished she could go there. The staff at her boarding school when she was younger definitely hadn’t been as nice. Hmm… maybe she would have ended up at such a place if she had actually awoken as a Summoner.

Tarice and Wicca, however, didn’t jump on the desserts right away, and eyed them suspiciously instead. “Here, I’ll test one for poison,” Gelic volunteered, entirely unprompted, turning into an Imp. She was just being a good samaritan, and it had nothing to do with her wanting to try one, clearly. Oh, so good. Even with Discerning Palate breaking it down, the cobbled recipe was too hard to follow, filled with a bunch of ingredients she didn’t recognize. And Gelic wouldn’t be too surprised if love appeared as one of them. She wanted to give into Gluttony right then and there to devour the whole tray, but managed to subdue the impulse by using Bug Bite on her tongue with her teeth.

After trying the snacks themselves, the girls calmed down about the situation and began to genuinely listen to the sheep’s spiel. Dolly walked them through a clearly pre-rehearsed pitch about the school, what they offered, and why the two of them should join. But the girls ate up her words, obviously interested in what she had to say. Gelic was interested too, lamenting the potential life she’d lost, but also focusing deeply on the words themselves, making sure Detect Falsehoods never triggered. She wouldn’t want to send the pair off to a bad situation, and honestly, probably stuck around longer than she needed to.

It got to the point that she was fairly confident that this was indeed a good thing and a solution to the ignorant kids problem. So she was about to mention her departure, eager to get back to the problem at her apartment, when she suddenly got a message.

[Three humans have been deterred]

Damn, that was fast. Gelic hadn’t been in this world for long, not even a half-hour yet. Well, it wasn’t like her apartments were huge and there was a lot to see. And it wasn’t like she was complaining. Sadly, she wouldn’t be able to pull out her phone and get a confirmation text from her landlord that they were done. But still, it would seem she no longer needed to rush back, and that they likely weren’t too thrilled about the place. She couldn’t know that for certain. Maybe it was love at first sight, but the next message had her hopeful.

[Malice increased]

Listen, it wasn’t like she purposefully wanted to screw her landlord over. This was nothing personal. If it weren’t for the Circle matter, she would be fine moving on, and was deriving no joy from having to resort to such matters. Okay… maybe a little joy. But who wouldn’t find some fun in turning their apartment into a spooky realtor’s nightmare that would drive off any prospective clients? Thankfully, very few people walked past her apartment, or Evoke could draw some unwanted attention.

So, maybe she didn’t need to rush back now. It could be good to stick around for a while and see where this went. Maybe they’d go on some tour of the magical school, that could certainly be fun. Except, sadly, it didn’t go much further for now. Dolly answered a good few questions from them, since they were genuinely interested, but then eventually ended with, “I suppose the next point of order would be to schedule a meeting with your parents when the headmistress returns, or one of the other administrators if they’re available sooner.”

Ah, of course they’d need to get their parents involved. It wasn’t some sort of fantastical story where the kids would be whisked away to the school in the night. There was likely a lot of boring bureaucratic and logistical stuff to handle before the girls could be enrolled. That definitely took away from the magic a bit, and Gelic certainly wasn’t going to stick around for all of that.

“Well, I wish you two girls both the best in your schooling,” she began to announce your departure. “And remember. No names, no more Summons until you’re enrolled. Some Demons are nice, some will be willing to help you, but there are plenty more who will just see you as sources of Essence, or humans they can take advantage of, or worse! Be careful.”

“W-what about you?!” Wicca called out just before she could cast Return.

“What about me?”

“Can we summon you again? If we need your help.”

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Gelic internally groaned and then delivered her parting line. “If you really need me, just call, and I'll come if I can.”

She appeared back in her thankfully vacant apartment a moment later. Before daring to open the door, she spat up her phone and checked the clearance text from Ms. Gate, and even went as far as to send one back.

『Angelica: So how’d it go? Think they’re gonna buy it?』

『Ms. Gate: Probably not. It didn’t seem to match what they were looking for.』

Oh noooooooooooo, Angelica smirked cheekily. Though that faded when she got the next text.

『Ms Gate: Sadly, they were the only prospective buyer so far who was interested in keeping it as an apartment complex. Which means I’ll need to start considering offers from development agencies. It will still probably be a while, but I’ll let you know any updates.』

Damn, had she accidentally shot herself in the foot? If they were willing to just buy it as an apartment and let her keep living there, that could have been the easiest way to rectify the situation. Her rent would almost certainly be jacked up, but that was better than being kicked out. No, it was fine. Angelica buying the complex herself would still be the better outcome, and only motivated her further.

So she spawned her Duplicate. “Alright, Angie. I know things are about to get real rough for you, but we’ll work through it together. This is the last hurdle. Let’s see if we can get you sorted by mom’s event next week, and then we can get back to achieving our dreams.”

So I've done a bit more organization in the Discord, to make it easier for people to make suggestions for the series. Now there's the Suggestion Hub channel that will point you to all the existing channels/threads where I'm looking for ideas, and also a new optional role that can be selected to be pinged when I'm looking for input. Here's the current roster of what is open for suggestions:

Design-A-Demon | Here you can create your own Demon or Summoner that may end up used in the story. There's a pinned template to get you started, or you can just free-ball it!

Evolution Suggestions | Here you can make suggestions for Angelica's future Evolutions, along with those of any recurring main or future Bound Demons, such as Gawk

Plot Suggestions/Speculations | Here you can post any plot points/adventures/summons you'd like to see in the future, or ones that you speculate might happen.

Animal/Monster/Fantastical Creature Powers | Here you can suggest powers Angelica can gain through transfiguring into animals, monsters, fantastical creatures, etc

Demon Tasks Suggestions | Here you can suggest tasks for Angelica to give Demons as a Summoner, to help her grow (mostly in book 3+)

If any of that interests you, head on over to the Discord and join the others already making suggestions, many of which have already been implemented with even more showing up in already written chapters. We're at just under 500 members, so it'd be great to see it surpass that threshold!

Updated:

Max MP: 2,465 > 2,469

Evoke Lv.30 > Lv.31

DEMON GROWTH SYSTEM

True Name: ******a ***** | Alias: Gelic | Species: Pestilent Puck | Cult: Zebub

Demon Rank: Puck Lv.26 / 30 | Essence: 1,973 / 1,785 | GP: 6 + 3 Worth GP

Summoner Rank: Novice Lv.25 / 30 | Experience: 67%

Health: 95% | MP: 2,033 / 2,469

Worth

Might: Sharp

Vigor: Firm

Competence: Shrewd

Lucidity: Keen

Obstinance: Compromising

Beguilement: Appealing

Creativity: Inspiring

Malice: Willing

Attunements

Glacial: Intertwined

Famine: Embraced

Destruction: Intertwined

Fabrication: Embraced

Gnostic: Intertwined

Pestilence: Symbiotic

Fraud: Intertwined

Suffering: Embraced

Balletic: Intertwined

Inferno: Embraced

Oppression: Touched

Pedant: Embraced

Pride: Embraced

Egoism: Embraced

Conductive: Aware

Thalassic: Aware

Active Skills

Passive Skills

Hybrid Skills

Combo Skills

Summoner Skills

Traits

Runes

Secrets

Achievements (26)