I wince as a soldier punches Uncle in the gut, doubling him over. Then he and his partner cooperate to throw him out despite his struggles. The commotion continues in the hallway, growing in intensity until it all suddenly goes quiet. I can’t help the deep frown that comes to my face but Gordon doesn’t flinch.

His nose wrinkles. “It smells like a stable in here. I know the Tome family are little more than animals but this is simply disgusting.”

Oi, bastard. What do you know? That’s the smell of love. “Uncle is right. You’ve gone too far. Enlisting the help of the city garrison to raid the home of a noble, no matter if they’re a minor house or not, is inexcusable.”

“Hmph. This incident ends here. Thank the saints, Lourianne Tome. You have a choice on how this ends. I could simply destroy this dying house with one fell swoop but it seems your bloodline isn’t entirely worthless.” His gaze flicks to Geneva. “I can arrange a marriage for you and my son. Bringing our families together would be entirely preferable to being forgotten, don’t you think?”

It takes formidable willpower not to hurl as he throws out his ultimatum. Marry Junior? Saints preserve me. I’d rather be buried alive in a mass grave with putrid bodies.

“Moooaahhh.”

We both look over to the collapsed bed where a barely covered Kierra raises her head. She looks to the room with a pout. Haaah­­­­­­­­~ Her pout wouldn’t lose to Geneva’s but its rarity gives it extra heart-stopping power.

“Lou…get this idiot out of here and come back to bed.”

She sounds sulky, which is completely unlike her. My wife is adorable.

“Insolent whore!” Gordon Senior growls. “Don’t think because the Guiness family is interested in you, you’re something special. We’ll see how proud you are tied in my basement. I’ll get all those secrets out of you. Belolial, seize that thrall.”

Yeah, okay. Insulting my wife? I could kill you for that alone. But before I can say anything, Belolial drops to her knees and plants her forehead to the floor. “This one humbly greets the lady.”

“Always such a polite child.”

Senior’s frown is perfect right now. Artists would cast his face and pass it down to their students as a reference for the emotion confusion. “Belolial!” he snaps with more force but she doesn’t move an inch.

His hand reaches for one of her horns but a black something whips out and knocks his hand away. “Hm. Even without her uniqueness, my summoner is of a much better quality than you. To think such a man is the head of the most prominent summoner family.”

Gordon Senior looks at Geneva with suspicion. “You…are not a normal thrall. Who are you?”

“My name is Geo.”

“Geo. I suppose you have a connection to Lady Geneva? Would explain why my servant is glued to the floor.” He looks down at Belolial with a sneer. “Would you enlighten me to the orders you are under? I have business here but I would prefer to not offend the Lady.”

“Too late, Gordon Grimoire.” Geneva’s tail whips behind her lazily. “As for orders, all you need to know is that Belolial cannot aide you against me. Handle your business yourself, if you are still able.”

“You think me incapable of fighting off a mere thrall?” The air becomes heavy as he releases mana into the air. “I am a graduate of the Grand Hall. I’ll break you in half.”

“Please. Do try your best. Ready your spells, I won’t interrupt.”

He watches her dubiously for several tense moments before shrugging off his robe, exposing a broad chest covered in thick red hair. Jeez, the man could pose as a troll. He grunts and his already impressive muscles gains more definition, a red glow covering his body.

“Um…” I say while stepping closer to Geneva as Senior continues muttering to himself. “Not that I’m worried about you losing but is it a good idea to let him cast?” I don’t want to see her hurt.

She waves away my concern. “It’s fine. More importantly, this is a teaching moment. Tell me what you know about the physical affinity.”

“Anything alive.”

She gives me a look I remember from my tutors. “How succinct. But you are not wrong, which is why it is also known as the life affinity. Specifically, it is the manipulation of anything organic, which encompasses more than you can imagine. It’s complicated for two reasons; even the tiniest of life is incredibly complicated in its design and life resists being deformed. It’s easiest for a physical caster to affect themselves. I believe it’s called buffing? Usually done before a fight to avoid that.”

She points to Senior, who is still casting. I can see him changing, slowly growing in height, the skin over his hands becoming darker. “The man is vulnerable right now and if I didn’t allow him time to buff, he wouldn’t be able to show half his ability.”

“Why is it taking so long?”

“He has to be careful. He’s altering his own body, after all. One wrong variable or coefficient can kill him or make an irreversible change.”

“Ah.” I mentally file away the information. All good things to know as I’ll have to learn this ‘buffing’ myself. “Then don’t you need time to, er, buff?”

Geneva chuckles. “Please. When you have been doing this for as long as I have, simple buffing is the same as breathing.”

How long have you been doing this? There are accounts of her being summoned over a hundred years ago. Kierra is older than she looks too. She had a whole military career before being locked away in the forest for over twenty years, so she has a few decades on me as well.

…do I have a thing for older women?

A roar draws my attention back to Gordon Senior. Ugh. He looks different. The man has gained nearly a meter in height, coming dangerously close to hitting the ceiling. His red hair has grown out, fanning about his shoulders like the mane of a lion.

His prominent features are even more exaggerated and his muscle tone has reached comical proportions, tears appearing across his pants. Saints, don’t let those fall apart. Combined with the deep red aura surrounding him, he looks like something demonic.

“Battle Frenzy!” he barks in a voice deeper than his own. A spell circle made of red mana appears in front of him before winking out.

Geneva laughs. “An incantation! Only imps use those, haha! In case you’re wondering, incantations are a memory crutch. A caster ties a spell to their words. As it becomes ingrained, they can forego solving a spell, the words being enough to manifest a pre-established event.”

“Sounds useful.”

“Yes, but it destroys a caster’s foundations. And what happens when you need to adjust the spell? Like I said, it’s a crutch. One you will not be using, I hope.”

I swallow. “Of course not. Would you put me on the same level as the Grimoires?”

“As expected of my brilliant summoner.” Her smile has an edge to it. Ah, I feel like I just made my life harder but how could I use them when she basically said they’re for idiots?

“Enough words!” Senior bellows. “You will regret underestimating me.”

The floorboards beneath him snap and then…he disappears. Only to appear less than a second later in front of Geneva. There’s a loud clap and I see her holding one his giant fists, a soft pink glow around her fingers.

What? He’s three times her size. How did she stop him so easily?

From Senior’s roar, he’s wondering the same thing.

I stumble back as they exchange blows. I know they are fighting because I can hear the claps of Geneva deflecting his blows, without moving an inch at that, but I can’t track their limbs. This has to be some kind of trick. I mean, they’re right in front of me. How can I not see something that’s right there?

“That’s enough, I think.”

“Kuuaaagghh!”

Gordon falls to his knees, holding his stomach. The red aura surrounding him disappears as he slowly starts to shrink. “How…” he wheezes before coughing up blood.

“I suppose it wasn’t bad for a human but still terrible technique. Adding more muscle is good for show but terribly inefficient. Oh, Lou. Right now, because he’s taken significant damage, the spell is using his remaining mana to reverse the changes and heal him. Necessary for any good buff lest you be left looking like a malformed ape.”

“Wha—”

“Lou…” my disgruntled wife calls, unhappy that her cuddling has been interrupted. The fighting wasn’t enough to make her look up let alone get out of bed.

“Yes, yes.” More lessons later, I suppose. “Geneva, do the thing.”

“Belolial, you are to obey Lourianne Tome.”

“Yes, my lady.” Bellolial stands and faces me with those strange eyes. I can’t help my curiosity and grab her arm. Huh. It doesn’t feel like stone at all. It’s silky on the surface and has plenty of give, just like skin. She takes my probing without a word but I can feel her evaluating me.

Clearing my throat, I step back. “Ah, sorry about that. We’ve got work to do. Him. Break his mind,” I say with no mercy. He doesn’t deserve any. “Leave him angry, scared, and paranoid. Order the soldiers to leave and escort him back to his house. If anyone asked what happened, you were unable to gain control of Geo, not Geneva, because of some ancient agreement between succubi to not take control of others from different factions. Or something. Feel free to get creative. Keep him at the house but don’t stop him from being crazy. Crazy is good.”

“As you say,” Bellolial answers with a bow. Her voice is deep but pleasant. Listening to it makes me think of sitting at the base of a boulder on a hot day, letting it shield you from the heat. It’s the kind of sound that can put you at ease. “Forgive me for any rudeness, but may I inquire into what is to be done about my contract?”

“Hmm?”

“I presume you intend to have the royal family arrest Gordon Grimoire Senior. It will no doubt result in a struggle in which they are forced to kill him. At which point I will lose my connection to this plane and be forced away. It may be presumptuous for me to say but I would like to stay and serve you, great summoner.”

She gives another bow. I’ve never seen anyone this polite. Unlike the barbarians around me, Belolial might be a good influence. And as a virtue, she’s more than capable. “Sounds like a fantastic idea to me, but I don’t have the capacity to contract—”

“There’s a way.”

I whip my head around to Geneva. “What?”

She chuckles. “My master, you really are a baby summoner. There’s a little trick amongst summoners on different planes. It’s called link summoning. An elemental who is connected to you can contract another elemental. The downsides? She would be contracted to me and hold no obligation to you. Very risky unless you have bargained for complete obedience.”

My jaw drops as she talks. What the, why does no one know about this? “Why does no one know about this?” The question slips out in my disbelief.

“Easy. Just like you, we don’t get that mana back. Weaker elementals who don’t have as much strength and blindly swear their allegiance don’t want to be used as power banks for summoners to contract larger elementals. The information is guarded by stronger beings to protect the weaker ones under their protection. Given your attitude on summoning, I believe I can trust you with it.”

“Of course.” I understand the fear and yes, it shouldn’t be advertised. But ohhoho, what I can do with this information. “Geneva…this isn’t an order. Would you be willing to contract Belolial to allow her to stay on this plane?”

“Mm. Bell has always been a good worker. Once the contract is broken, you can come to us but you’ll have to change your form. A word of advice. Lou seems to like more…soft features.” She looks between Senior, Fen, and herself before raising an eyebrow.

“I will keep it in mind.”

“Great. Now that all of you have that straightened out, Fen, you can accompany Bell on her way back to the house. A little suspicious if you keep hanging around anyway. Feel free to harass the soldiers so they won’t feel brazen enough to simply walk into our house. Geneva, you can handle the family, right?” I ask while shrugging off my nightgown.

“Mm. I think we should wait a day or so for the madness to kick in. Bring you something to eat?”

In my troll form, I can only huff in agreement. I take two lumbering steps to the bed before carefully lowering myself on top of Kierra. Anyone else would feel crushed by my gigantic weight. She takes it with a little happy sigh as I mold our bodies together.

I close my eyes as the succubi go to work and a commotion starts again.