The girl's eyes were filled with resolve and determination. "Evil mister took me and my friends and locked us up. Help me free them! Please." Amelia clarified her request.

"Okay," I replied without hesitation. Getting out of the barrier first, asking for details later.

"Do you promise to help me and not hurt me or my friends, miss demon?"

I grinned. The book she read probably had some good advice on contract details and Amelia was smart enough to follow them. I didn't plan on hurting a child, of course, but I can admire being thorough. As long as her conditions didn't include me returning back to Hell after the task was over, I was fine with it.

"I promise. And stop with the 'miss', my name is Vivi'xidan ." Well, half of it translated to Common, at least.

Amelia mouthed it silently for a bit. "Is Vivi okay?"

"Sure." It also probably wasn't the best idea to introduce myself by a demonic name on this plane if I didn't want to attract the attention of someone who would want to send me back, or worse.

The girl nodded, then opened her summoning book and started reading. Probably was trying to find how to release the barrier... I gave her some time while stretching my new body around trying to get accustomed to how it moves. After a couple of minutes, she closed the book, stretched her arm, touched the barrier, and said a simple "Release!".

With the quiet sound of shattered glass, the barrier restraining me was broken and my awareness was assaulted with new feelings. I inhaled deeply trying to feel this new world... Now that mana was able to flow to me, I immediately felt many new auras from the outside: people walking nearby, background mana flow, and my summoner's magical aura.

Amelia suddenly bent down and started coughing. I realized that I had probably overdone it when I pulled the background mana and choked the little girl with its flow. I stopped and caught her before she could fall.

"Sorry. I will be more careful next time."

Amelia took a few deep breaths. "I am okay, thank you."

"Now, tell me who is the evil mister, and what exactly happened?"

Amelia sighed deeply. "I'm not sure who he is, but a few days ago he came to our orphanage with other armed people. They threatened our teachers and took me and all my friends. They locked us in some creepy place, I don't know why, but I'm sure it's nothing good. I've seen the mister use crystals and books to do magic stuff. So while he was away, I slipped between bars in my cell, grabbed his book and a crystal, and ran away. I wanted to call for help, but the city guards didn't believe me. I read part of the book, and it says that I can use magic to summon help, so I did!"

I raised my eyebrow at her with amusement. Her luck was all over the place. "Lead the way, Amelia."

We went out of the shack, and I found myself on the edge of a small town, it's been late evening sometime after sunset. We moved through quiet streets without meeting anyone else. Amelia led us to a big two-story-high house not far away surrounded by a tall wooden fence. We stopped near the fence on the side opposite the entrance.

"Now, I'm going inside and will help your friends. You need to stay here and out of sight, understood?"

Amelia nodded. "Will you be alright on your own?"

"Sure thing, no person unable to wield their own magic is a match for me, don't worry." I grinned at the girl and leaped over the 3-meter tall fence in one motion.

I landed behind the house, looked around, and concentrated on my surroundings. Not counting Amelia I felt only one other magical aura nearby, in the basement, along with some humanoids in different parts of the house and nearby. I started circling the house slowly until I spotted a back door, which, by the looks of it, led right into the basement. Good, it seems like it can be a quiet operation.

A lone guard stood near the door, looking bored. He was a tall man with brown hair and a bushy beard. He wore leather armor and carried a short sword on his hip. He also was too easy. I stepped into the shadows near the house and became practically invisible. I was able to get right behind him without him even noticing me or suspecting anything. I reached my arm and covered his mouth before he could make a sound. Shadow tendrils crept into his throat and blocked the airflow to his lungs. He choked in a matter of seconds and I carefully lowered his body to the ground.

I even chuckled gleefully, first assassinated mortal! I wasn't all that big on killing things, but as an Envy demon, I craved the experience of doing something new. And I always loved a clean infiltration job, it's an art, in a way, for me. I checked the guard's pockets and found a key on a ring that I used to unlock the backdoor. I silently moved through the basement, following the hint of magical aura I sensed, until I reached another closed door. I stopped, concentrating on the sounds and auras inside. Here it was easy to sense a dozen other weak auras behind the door, probably the children Amelia asked me to rescue.

I slightly pushed the door and peeked inside, I could see a room lit with torches, some tables stood by the perimeter of it, with different things and books on them, and a single man moving between them doing something. He looked distracted, so I was expecting another clean kill. I slipped inside, but as soon as I stepped into the room a loud screeching noise sounded somewhere from under my feet.

I looked down and saw a glowing spell circle. It didn't look like a trap, it was a passive alarm specifically against silent intruders... or small kids running away. My cover was blown. The man reacted fast, he grabbed one of the red crystals from the table, turned around, and pointed his finger at me. A split second later, white glowing lines appeared around it, forming a fuzzy ball of crackling light. The ball quickly compressed and with an ear-shattering sound, a lightning stroke from his finger right in my midsection. I was caught off-guard by the alarm and didn't have time to dodge or protect myself. I screamed in pain from being struck by electricity. It wasn't much compared to what I'd been through in Hell, but feeling it in the mortal realm was new, and different, and not in an exciting way.

Crystal, which "evil mister" used, broke into small pieces and he quickly grabbed another one from the table. Seeing that I was still standing, he charged another lightning bolt. This time I was ready, I ducked, and the bolt zipped above my head. I dashed forward, covering the distance between us in a blink, and kicked him in a knee. He lost balance and started falling, I caught him with my left hand and grabbed him by the neck. I raised him above me until his feet broke away from the floor. Before I could kill him though, I heard a voice from behind.

"Vivi!"

I turned around and saw another guard holding Amelia with a sword pressed to her neck.

"Release him or I will kill the girl!" The guard tried to threaten me.

I looked him up and down and tilted my head slightly. "Why do you think I care about her?" I replied to him with my usual demonic voice while looking into his eyes.

The guard visibly tensed, and fear started creeping into his soul. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to release the kids!"

I grinned at him widely, my smile breaking all limits a human should be able to smile, showing him my teeth. "I'm just following my contract, there is no compassion in Hell."

Kids started crying in the back as my aura of fear touched them too. They will probably have nightmares either from it or from the kidnapping experience. But it worked as intended, the guard was paralyzed in fear. I snapped the neck of the man I'd been holding all this time, and with it, the guard's heart stopped too. He fell on the spot, Amelia was free but scared even more than the first time she saw me. Fear aura is something any demon can do, but I didn't have much experience adjusting it for mortals and guiding it in a specific direction.

I approached Amelia and patted her on the head. "You have nothing to fear anymore, it's over." I smiled to hear trying to be least threatening. "Here, why don't you help your friends?" I gave her the key. "I'm sure they will be happier if it was you than me."

Amelia took the key with a shaking hand and darted away from me to the cells where other kids were locked. She started unlocking them and trying to calm them down. She was taller than most of them, probably one of the oldest, but equally as malnutritioned as the others. Now when she was near her peers the difference in their auras was clear. If she could train for a few years, she wouldn't need any crystals to summon me.

I left her to deal with the kids and investigated the room. It looked much more suitable for demon summoning than the shack Amelia summoned me in. For starters, it had candles and torches, different magical books and contraptions on the tables, including a few more of those crystals. The floor was covered with a huge spell circle, probably drawn in blood, but very old. I wasn't sure of its purpose, but it was big and complicated, which usually means powerful. The mage himself looked like a more typical cultist too, he was bald, withered, and in a black robe, he also had a pretty ritualistic-looking dagger on his belt. I rummaged through his pockets and robe, checked the titles of the books, and looked through things on the table for anything interesting. After I'm done with the contract, I was planning to stick around enjoying all the goods the middle realm had, so I might need some of those things.

I found a few dozen gold and silver coins. I also took a few of those crystals. It looked like they were made of concentrated mana that can be used to cast spells if the caster can not pull in enough mana themselves or doesn't have enough of their own. They aren't really useful to me in spellcasting, but I can think of a few other uses for them.

Books were mostly about demons and mortal magic. Again, useless to me, demons use magic differently, but I took a tome titled "Spellcasting for dummies. Fifty easy to learn and master spells." I also grabbed the guard's dagger, it might be useful. I deposited the items in my extradimensional inventory and tucked the dagger under my dress.

While I was rummaging through the stuff, Amelia released and gathered all the kids. They looked lost, but organized. This girl might have a great future if she survives everything Fate has for her in store.

"What next, mi- Vivi?"

"I was planning to leave the cleanup and your return to the town's guard. Let's go find some?"

Amelia made a sour face. "They didn't help me before, why do you think they will now?"

"Well, I can be... persuasive." I winked at her with a smirk.

We went outside and found a guard patrol. At first, they were wary of me and my party of 15 children, but some demonic persuasion can go a long way...

"If you look through this house, you will be able to find remains of a cultist I dispatched. He abducted those children for an evil ritual, truly he is the lowest scum. Please, make sure they're safely returned to their homes." I made an innocent face at the guard while looking into his eyes.

He nodded. "Yes, of course, it's our duty to protect the weak and the law!" He looked to another guard. "Find sergeant and tell him what's going on, I will make sure kids are safe. Let's go, kids, I will protect you with my life if needed!" I didn't need a lot of mind manipulation to achieve this, maybe the guard was a decent man on his own.

"Thank you... Vivi." Amelia hesitated and then hugged me. I was lost for a moment, then patted her on the head. Hugs weren't a new experience for me, of course - one of my succubus friends is really good at cuddling. But it was the first time in this context. With that expression of gratitude, I felt the contract spell, binding me, dissolve, and I was free to explore this new realm. But first...

"Here is a little gift for you." I gave Amelia the spellcasting book that I had taken before. "If you study, one day you will become a strong mage and will be able to protect your friends without my help. Just be careful with what you summon."

Amelia took the book and bowed deeply. "Thank you again! Hope we meet again, Vivi! Bye!" She waved at me and ran away to follow the guard and other kids.

I waved back at her and muttered to myself: "I doubt it, but stranger things have happened..."

I sat in one of the town's taverns drinking ale. It was one of the drinks of the mortal realm that fellow demons rated highly on their to-do-when-summoned lists. It was pretty good, I shall admit. Mortals certainly knew how to make good drinks and food. When I was in the middle of a third pint, a voice interrupted me.

"Hey, is it you who freed the kids from this scumbag?"

I looked up. The voice belonged to a tall woman in leather armor with a big sword on her back. She looked pretty young, with a smiley face, and slightly curly ginger hair up to her ears, both of which had silver earrings in the form of a crescent moon. She grinned at me with a wide smile. Accompanying her was a slender man in a dark blue robe. He was leaning on a tall and intricate wooden staff, taller than him, adorned with some white crystal on top. Those two couldn't look more different.

"I am," I replied to her with a nod.

"Great! I'm Helena and this is my friend, Arthur. You did a great job." She stretched her hand to me.

"Vivienne", I introduced myself and shook her hand. Good manners can go a long way.

They sat at my table and Helena got to her business right from the start. I got a feeling this girl didn't like sitting around quietly. "We've heard from the guards about the kids. We are traveling adventures, passing through the town, and guards said they have never seen you before either. So we thought if you might also be a free adventurer and you would be able to help us in a small endeavor?"

I made a humming noise with a small smile. An adventure sounded like a good next thing.

Eirenliel

Thanks for reading it means a lot! If you have anything to say, please share it in the comments, I'm trying to be good with criticism :D