Thanks to my connections, I finally managed to get a fox pelt at decent price—which wasn’t saying much. Since this was the capital city of basically the whole world, just about everything was more expensive here, and the pelt cost me about half of my remaining gold coins.

With that out of the way, I had to imagine that my mana crystal should work as the power source for the summoning ritual. Now all that was left: ‘vital essence,’ the third and final catalyst I needed to pull this off and reach my fluffy, foxy goal.

I mean, our goal. For both Alice and me. Totally not being selfish here!

Anyways, vital essence probably meant some kind of raw organic matter. I was able to unload more copper coins as I picked up an assortment of cheap fruits and vegetables from street vendors. And just in case, I bought a handful of something that looked kind of beanlike, if this component needed a bit of protein from a legume. It almost felt like I was half-assing some school science project again like all those times on Earth years ago. But same as back then, there was only one thing that mattered: in the end, it just had to work!

I teleported out of the city to the witch’s wooded backyard with all the necessary catalysts. A quick glance behind me showed no signs of life in her eerily dark house or anywhere in the nearby forest. That was for the best; I might have been slightly curious what she was up to, but I definitely didn’t want to run into that wicked witch right now!

I turned to the detailed page on fox spirits before setting down the book of demon summoning, picked up a stick off the forest floor, and started tracing the ritual diagram into the dirt. Compared to the complex diagram the witch required last night to summon that one specific demon, this generalized version was thankfully far easier to carve in the ground. Unfortunately, using the simplified ‘generic’ diagram for a type of demon meant it was a complete gamble who—or what—would show up during the ritual. Even though this definitely wasn’t a game world, somehow I was still at the mercy of random elements…

Sighing, I stared in satisfaction at the completed series of overlapping triangular shapes within the outer ritual circle before placing each catalyst into the three inner circles. Once I finished casting the ritual, I would be halfway through the summoning process.

But this was only the easy part.

The book said that the summoning ritual spell was designed to send the summoned entity back to the Spirit World right before the power source ran out of mana as a kind of fail-safe. Since the border of a properly constructed ritual circle acted as an inescapable barrier from the inside, that made it theoretically impossible for uncontracted demons and spirits to be running free in the ‘human world.’ Now my palms were really starting to sweat, because that also meant I would be racing against the clock to complete the last two parts of the process: negotiate the terms and seal the contract. It didn’t help that I had no idea how much time I would have, or that my mana crystal was a bit on the small side.

Well, there was no point in turning back now. I knelt down at the edge of the ritual circle and began channeling mana into it, guiding my mana around the outer circle and through every traced line. Once I had sensed that every part of the diagram was connected to the mana crystal, the whole diagram lit up with a bright scarlet light that emitted a low humming sound, and a dimly visible stream of energy flowed from the disappearing items in their three inner circles toward the center.

It's working! This is really going to work!

A sudden deafening pop made me close my eyes and startle backward as I felt a heavy gust of wind nearly bowl me over. When I opened my eyes again, I immediately knew I had hit the jackpot.

There was no other word to describe her: standing in the center of the circle’s red ring before me was an absolute goddess. She looked like a beauty without equal in her early twenties, but this foxy girl was clearly no average lady. Two fluffy fox ears rested atop the wavy brunette hair that flowed down her voluptuous figure. If my bust size came in at ‘seventy percent,’ then she was easily a full hundred. A tight crop top held up her busty chest, letting her show off her sleek, lithe abs. Below that she wore an even tighter pair of booty shorts, and billowing out behind her was none other than a light brown, white-tipped, irresistibly fluffy…!

Wait.

“Only one tail?” I blurted out.

“You got a problem with that?” she snapped.

Of course, I should have known…

I cleared my throat. “O-Okay, let’s start over and I’ll introduce myself. I am Lady Beryl the First, the only adventurer of my kind! I boast an impressive array of abilities, a high-end set of equipment, and… Hey, are you even listening?!”

She held up a hand in front of her, checking out her nails. “I’m kind of a busy gal. You think we can hurry this up?”

I was starting to get a very bad feeling about this… “And just who are you then?”

With a graceful flourish as if she’d practiced a million times before, the fox spirit flared out her full head of brunette hair. “You’re one lucky girl getting to meet me. The name is Viela Vixen.” She blew me a kiss. “Remember it, babe!”

…Viela Vixen? Just what kind of fox spirit is she?

“I know I’m undeniably enchanting and all that,” she continued with a seductive smile, “but when you’re finished staring, why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for? You look a little young, but I don’t judge.”

Her heavy chest shook and bounced as she adjusted her top with a hand. No, don’t get taken in by her looks! She’s definitely a pervert like everyone else in this world!

Well, she wasn’t exactly from this world, but… Ugh, just focus already!

“Ahem,” I began. “Here’s the deal: the world of Gadea is plagued by a diabolical Demon King who must be slain, and I am recruiting stalwart companions to help me put him down once and for all.”

Viela gave me a funny look for a moment. Then, she… burst out laughing. “Oh, that’s a good one!”

Damn it! “Look, call it whatever you want: I’m building a party, a group of adventurers, and I really want you to—I mean, my party could really use your assistance.”

After a minute, she finally collected herself. “Is that so? Yeah, I can do all kinds of things. What’s your offer then? I prefer crystal, but for a cute client like you, I can take gold or plat.”

Great, it finally came to the issue of payment… Casual flirting aside, giving her coins would be much better than the souls of the innocent or something creepy like that. However, my funds had drastically decreased after my earlier shopping spree; I only had about ten gold coins left!

“Uh, let’s just say that I tend to run into a lot of ‘high value targets.’ If you run with me, you’ll get an extra cut of the loot.”

Viela clicked her tongue. “Thrilling, I’m sure. But it doesn’t work like that here, sugar.”

It appeared I might have underestimated the average wealth of people who summoned demons. Would she be insulted if I lowballed her? Actually, I didn’t want to offer my few gold pieces and find out; there had to be something better!

“Hang on!” I said when the epiphany struck me. “You had to do that risky Soul Magic thing so you could get summoned like this. There has to be something more than coins you’re after. Don’t you want to see the human world? Isn’t there something you want to do here that was worth taking the risk?”

I caught a flash of desire flicker within her fiery red eyes—just for a second. Then she went back to studying her nails as if disinterested, casting a casual glance at the summoning book I accidentally left open on the ground. “Did your homework, huh? Not bad. I hate to break it to you though, but sightseeing just doesn’t cut it as payment.”

This was not how the negotiations were supposed to go! Were the emotions getting to me, or was the ritual circle’s glowing red light looking a bit dimmer now? I didn’t even know how much mana crystals would cost; I might not have enough gold left for another summoning attempt! If I was running out of time here, I might have to skip this part and jump ahead to seal the contract—before the spell ran out of mana and sent her back!

From what I could tell skimming through the book, the witch’s short ‘heed my call’ chant she gave last night was a bunch of made-up nonsense. That made sense coming from her, but that was beside the point. The defining factor in this last part of the summoning process was essentially for the summoner and the summoned to take each other’s hands; that was how to seal the contract. When that was done, the two would share their mana reserves, and I could get that magical power-up and work out the other details later!

But when I thought more about it, if this fox spirit’s haughtiness wasn’t just for show, she had almost certainly heard just about every kind of trick and excuse from summoners trying to get a handshake with her or gently grab her hand for a kiss. There had to be something else I could try, even if it meant relying on her for help.

Since time was not on my side, it was worth a shot. No, it was the only shot I had.

Well then… What would Lady Beryl do?