A Demon's Core

Without mana there is not much else I can do right now besides waiting for it to regenerate. While I do want to ask my imps more questions about what is outside, particularly about the other rooms on this floor since I will start expanding into them soon, it is not important enough to interrupt their sleep over. They may only need a few hours of sleep each day, but it is important that they get it. Besides, being out of mana as I am at the moment, I cannot do anything with that information right now anyway.

Second is the first to wake a few hours later. Which is perfect, actually, because she undoubtedly is the best to ask for information. As I walk into her room, she is in front of her wardrobe in the middle of getting changed, so I quickly walk out again. I can wait a few more minutes and it feels rude to just stick around and watch, even if she can not see me, or perhaps especially because she cannot see me.

Even if I am not watching directly I can still sense her location so I know when she moves away from the wardrobe. Before I can reenter the room though, something odd happens. I can no longer feel the chair. I walk in again and see her standing on the chair rearranging her collection of things. She appears to have moved it. I send out a mana pulse and see the mana filaments no longer cover the chair. But why? Perhaps they are fragile and easily broken when an object moves. That would explain why they have not covered the doors. They would break every time the door is opened. That is interesting, but ultimately not important right now.

May I have a moment of your time? I have a few more questions I would like to ask.

“Of course, what would you like to know?”

I would like to bring more imps here, but I am concerned about space. Since you have two beds, would you be amenable to sharing your room?

“That’s fine. Imps usually live in packs anyway. Most would be used to much more cramped sleeping conditions than what we have here.” She looks sad as she says that. No doubt remembering all the time she spent alone, isolated from other imps.

Well technically we have an entire building to inhabit beyond this room that seems to be pretty large. So no one will really have to be too cramped when they can just go claim another room if they want to.

“I doubt any would want to do that. I’m sure they will all want to sleep here, no matter how cramped it gets.”

Why is that? I try to imagine just how many imps could actually fit in this hotel room if they packed in tight, probably a lot. But I do not know why they would want to when there are plenty of other rooms available.

“It’s the mana. I told you before, the mana outside is okay, but it's weak. The mana in here is much stronger and feels good. It's much better being in here than outside.”

Well then I guess it is a good thing I figured out how to expand my domain. Which actually leads me to the next thing I wanted to ask. I wanted to know more about the other rooms on this floor before deciding which way to expand, the closest rooms in particular. Are there rooms on either side of this one? And what do the other rooms look like?

“There are two rooms to the left and one to the right. Though the door to the right is locked so we have not been in there yet. There are the same number of rooms across the hallway, two of them are also locked. There is also a big metal door at the end of the hallway near the stairs, but we can not open that one either. On the inside, most of the rooms look very similar to this one.”

What about other floors. Can you tell me how many there are or how high up we are?

“There are seven floors above ground, most of them have the same layout. We are on the fifth floor. There are also two floors that go below ground. They are quite different from the rest.” Before she can elaborate further, she is interrupted by First opening the door.

“We go out now. Go to river. You come?” She asks. Apparently there is a river nearby. Second looks conflicted.

You can go if you would like. Do not hold back on my account. You have given me more than enough useful information for today. She continues to think on it for a moment more, then nods.

“I will come. Wait a moment for me to get ready.” She replies to First then starts gathering her clothes. More than seems necessary for a simple trip to the river.

You are taking your clothes to the river?

“I will wash them. I know washing them in only river water is not the best, but it's better than nothing. I will tell the others to do the same. They certainly need it.” She says. It is true that I have not seen them wash their clothes before so it makes sense that they would need to do so eventually.

When Second informs the other two of her intentions, they seem displeased that their trip to the river has now become a laundry trip, but while they do complain a little, they do not argue. Left alone again, I use the time to ponder my future plans. I want to bring more imps here. At least two more. One can take the other bed in Second’s room and there is also the couch. Though it is not in great condition, a few blankets to cover up the damage and it should be fine to sleep on. One could even possibly also move into Third’s room.

Even though there is only one bed, it is big enough that two imps could lie down fully splayed out and still have plenty of room without even being close to each other. Though from what Second said, they probably do not even need as much room as I am trying to give them, but even so, I do not want to pack them in too tightly when it is not even necessary. There is so much space beyond this room, once I can claim it, my imps will have plenty of room.

Which leads to the next objective, expansion. I feel like my best option is to go left. There are two open rooms that way on my side of the hallway. I will not bother going right yet since the door is locked, so that is not particularly useful until we can find a way in. I will prioritize the imps first. It takes roughly a day to generate enough mana to summon an imp. So it will take two days for that, or three if Third is willing to share his room. After that I can focus on the expansion. Though given the exorbitant mana cost, that will be a long term project unless I can find a way to increase my mana regeneration.

The rest of the day is uneventful as I wait for my mana. The imps return eventually, apparently having waited for their clothes to dry, but they seem happy, so I guess they still got to have fun. I asked Third if he would be willing to share his room, his response was an emphatic “no”. I guess he likes his space. He does seem to be more independent than the other two. He certainly was not happy when I told him not to go out alone anymore. I wonder if it is a common trait among male imps to be more independent in general or if it is just his individual personality. Once again, I need more information to make a determination.

The next day I inform my imps of my intention to summon more. First and Second are excited, Third seems somewhat indifferent.

I am ready to bring the first one now. The next one will be tomorrow. I would appreciate it if you take them out to find clothes from the place you all got yours. From the way First described it, which was not really that descriptive to be honest, my assumption was that they found some kind of clothes store. But they do not have money as far as I am aware, meaning they are either stealing the clothes or, more likely, that place is as abandoned as this hotel.

The newest imp is also female. She is the same size as Second and Third, but with dark brown hair rather than black. She looks around in wonder for a moment until Second hands her a large shirt.

“Please put this on,” Second instructs her. “Then we will go out to find you some more clothes. You can also look through that pile later to see if there is anything that you like.” She says, pointing to the clothes pile in the corner. Fourth stares at the offered shirt for a moment before doing as she was told. The shirt reaches down to her knees. Almost as soon as she has put it on, First wraps her in a hug, which she happily returns. Well, it is good that she seems happy to be here. The four soon head off to the, presumed, clothes store.

When they come back, Fourth is wearing a cute pink dress with cats on it. I see they also managed to find a second back pack. That will be useful in future expeditions. Second takes Fourth into her room, to show her where to sleep and store her clothes, probably. Afterwards First excitedly takes on the role of tour guide to show her around the rest of the room, including her brooms, of course. Surprisingly, Fourth actually shows some interest in them. She is not as enthusiastic about them as First, but certainly more interested than Second or Third were. While First is trying to demonstrate its value as a weapon by swinging it around, Fourth instead picks up a broom with a wooden shaft and tries thrusting it forwards like a spear. That seems more effective, but it is still unbalanced due to the broom head.

“Can have this?” Fourth asks. First looks horrified at the mere thought of giving away one of her precious brooms and snatches it back.

“No! Is mine. They all mine.” She says, hugging her brooms possessively. Fourth apologizes, looking quite dejected. First looks between her brooms and Fourth, clearly conflicted, then offers back the wooden broom.

“Only this one, can have. Others mine.” Fourth hugs her, then happily accepts the offered broom. I am genuinely surprised to see her giving away a broom, but I am pleased that she is willing to share something that is so important to her. Fourth runs off to her room, broom in hand, and I soon hear the sound of cracking wood. First does not seem to pay it any mind, but I go check on it. It would appear that Fourth, with help from Second, has managed to break the head off the broom, creating a very crude spear.

That is not going to go over well with First when she sees it. She is practicing thrusting it forwards, with much more grace and balance than before. I suspect she already has some experience in wielding a spear. The rest of the day is spent with the imps chatting or playing with their various toys and knickknacks that they have collected, either alone or together. Fourth also finds another shirt that she likes from the clothes pile and Second helps her with shortening the sleeves to a reasonable length.

After another day passes, I have enough mana for another imp. They gather around and when the new imp appears, a male this time, things go much as they had the day before. Second gives him a shirt, First gives him a hug and then they prepare to go out to find some clothes for him. When Fourth fetches her spear from her room, much as I predicted, First is not happy when she sees it. In fact, she is furious.

“What you do?!” She demands, angrily approaching Fourth.

“Make spear. Is good for stabbing.” Fourth replies, demonstrating with a few quick thrusts. While the others seem impressed by her little performance, it does nothing to abate First’s anger.

“NO! You break it!” She accuses, almost yelling. I think I need to intervene before this escalates.

Hey, it is okay, she just-

“Not okay.” She interrupts. That is a first. “She break broom.” She sinks to the ground starting to sob quietly. Fourth now looks nervous and a little confused. She knows she has done something wrong, but I do not think she understands what.

Listen, she did not know that the broom was so important to you. She should have asked you before breaking it the way she did. But you have lots of brooms and there are lots more out there to find. Is it not okay for just this one to be used to make a weapon? She does not answer and just crawls over to her nest and curls up despondently. Fourth looks guilty now, but the other three just seem confused. I reach out to Second and Fourth to explain.

Her brooms are very important to her. They are basically her favourite thing. While she did give that one to you, I do not think she was expecting you to break it. That is why she is currently upset. Fourth is shocked, then looks sad. Second just sighs.

“You three go. I will stay and talk to her.” Second directs the others and they do as instructed while she walks over to First and sits beside her.

After the others leave, Second spends some time trying to comfort First and eventually succeeds. Once First has calmed down the two decide to go out as well. When they return a few hours later, First’s mood seems greatly improved and she is wearing a brown tool belt, though, even when tightened to its smallest size, she still has to actually hold onto it to keep it from falling down. Once she is inside, she takes the tape measure from the belt and lets it fall to the ground. She is thoroughly entertained with the tape measure, repeatedly extending the tape and letting it retract, extending it a little further each time.

Second rolls her eyes and picks up the tool belt and examines the tools on it, which she probably could not before while First insisted on wearing it. She takes the hammer first. She swings it around a few times, testing its weight, apparently seeing its value as a weapon. Next is a pair of pliers. They are a little rusted and it takes effort to open them at first but it gets easier as she opens and closes them a few times. Looking around the room curiously, she does not seem to find any immediate use for them, but still likes them anyway.

Finally, from one of the pockets comes a grey roll of tape. There are other loops and pockets on the belt, but whatever tools they may have once contained have apparently been lost. She rolls the tape around in her hands a few times, seemingly unsure of what to make of it, until she finds the edge of the tape and starts peeling it back. Seeing that one side is sticky she pokes it a few times. She uses her knife to cut a strip off the roll, but then seems unsure what to do with it. She looks around the room again but does not get any ideas so she wraps the strip around the handle of her knife. She then stops and stares at the knife for a moment before a grin spreads across her face. It seems she did get an idea from that.

She takes the tool belt with the hammer and pliers to her room, then returns and approaches First, who is still playing with the tape measure, with the tape and knife.

“I have an idea to make your bone club better,” she says, excited. First looks at her suspiciously.

“Not break it?” I guess she is not over the broom yet.

“I promise I am not going to break, just make it better.” Second assures her. First seems satisfied with that and puts down the tape measure, grabbing her club and holding it out. Second holds the knife to one end.

“Hold this here like that.” She says. First complies and she starts wrapping the tape around it, securing the knife handle to the bone. She uses more than half the role of tape before she seems satisfied that it is properly secured. She has to go look for a different knife to cut the tape this time since it was hers that she just taped to the bone. She seems quite pleased with the end result. I do not know how effective that tape will really be, but it looks pretty solid at least. “Now you do not need to find something new.”

First gives it a few practice swings, but then instead tries a thrusting motion, seemingly trying to imitate Fourth’s movements from earlier. She turns to Second, beaming.

“I thank. Bone is good. Best weapon. Now is better.” First squeezes Second in a tight hug. Second giggles and returns the hug.

“I'm glad you like it.” First lets her go then stabs at the air a few more times, then holds the weapon out to Second.

“You try.” First says. Second looks shocked and I am too. First has never let anyone else even touch her club, I guess it is a spear now, or maybe it is too short for a spear, short spear then, though even that may be a little generous, but I do not know what else to call it. But now she is not only allowing it, but actually encouraging it. Second takes the short spear and starts performing a few practice thrusts and jabs. Neither of them have the precision or grace that Fourth displayed. But they are good enough that they should be able to get the pointy end into their target most of the time and that is what matters.

Meanwhile, First has gone back to playing with the tape measure. Or so I thought at first, but this time she is not playing with it. She is looking at the numbers and is slowly running an index finger along them. Then to my surprise, she starts counting on her fingers while pointing at each number. I assume she did not recognize the symbols, but she still understands the concepts of numbers and counting, so now she is trying to line up the numbers she knows with the symbols on the tape measure. It turns out she is smarter than I was giving her credit for. And now I feel terrible for having so greatly underestimated her intelligence.

Now able to recognize the numbers, it does not take her long to figure out the actual purpose of the tape measure. Much to my amusement she starts to measure everything, starting with my orb. Though it is a little difficult to measure because of its shape, but it seems to be a roughly nine centimeter diameter. She measures the chair and then starts measure all of the bones, one at a time, but quickly gives up on that, probably because there are just too many. Her behavior has attracted the attention of Second, who is now watching her curiously. First takes the opportunity to measure the short spear. The bone is forty-four centimeters long and an additional fifteen centimeters for the blade.

Of course she also insists on measuring Second, she is sixty-eight centimeters tall. She then takes the spear from Second and hands her the tape measure and asks to be measured, though first she needs to explain the numbers. It does not surprise me at all that Second understands them quickly. First measures in at eighty-one centimeters. So I guess I underestimated their size difference when I guessed it to be about ten centimeters. First takes the tape measure back and continues measuring almost everything else in the room. I do not know if she is actually keeping track of any of these measurements, but I doubt it. It seems more likely to me that she is just doing because she thinks it is fun.

I start to wonder about the other group. I am sure it did not take this long for them get clothes for Fourth yesterday, so why have they not returned yet? Now I am afraid that something has happened to them. But even if it has, what can I do? I could send First and Second out to search for them, but that would mean potentially putting them in the same kind of danger. I think I will wait a little while longer before alarming First or Second. I continue to grow more nervous with each passing minute, wondering if I am making a mistake. If they really are in trouble and needing help, then every moment I wait could be lowering their chance of survival.

After another hour I am almost ready start panicking when they finally return. As soon as Fourth enters, I think I know the reason for their delay. She has brought back three brooms. The other two look exasperated. They do not appear to have enjoyed the broom hunt. Fourth does not seem to concerned about that though as she approached First with the brooms.

“I sorry. I find these. You take.” she says sheepishly.

“I sorry too. You need weapon. Spear good.” First replies, accepting the brooms. Fourth just smiles and wraps her arms around First. I guess she is a hugger too. When she lets go, First excitedly deposits her new brooms with the rest of her collection then fetches the tape measure again. It seems she has some new things to measure now. Starting with Fourth.