Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

(47)

"[Recall Butterfly]" Lucia said since she could only have two contracted creatures out for long periods of time. Then she glanced back at the church and saw a shadow moving near the door. Lucia's eyes narrowed as she walked in front of the wall, where she couldn't be seen from the church. 

{Rikit, can you make me invisible or able to move in the shadows for a period of time?} Lucia asked.

{I can pull you into my shadow if you don't want to fight.} Rikit sounded confused by her request.

{No, I saw something suspicious behind us that I wanted to check out, but if I can't be invisible, I have to go the long way.} Lucia shook her head and started to run past the earthen spikes towards the buildings alleyway. {I'll be back, but call me if you need me and I'll be back sooner.}

Lucia disappeared between the buildings as the next wave of monsters approached and blocked off the path behind her. All their attention was on the wall and Rikit before them as they ignored the other routes they could traverse. 

In the church, the priestess and her guards and a priest were sitting on the pews now attending to their wounds and talking.

"Looks like the sacred texts were right. Summon valiant heroes, offer vague rewards, then pretend to be frozen, and they'll go out and fight without asking for more details." The priest laughed as he wrapped bandages on one of the guards.

"Still, I'm worried about that child that was summoned." The priestess voiced her worries as she finished casting a healing spell.

"That kid is obviously a powerful hero too or she wouldn't have been summoned." The priest retorted.

"Priestess, and priest, the little girl, she somehow banished the other three heroes!" A guard that had been spying from the church entrance came running back in a panic.

"WHAT!?" The group gasped in shock.

"Why would she banish them?" The Priestess asked.

"She must have been a spy from the Monster King who infiltrated the summoning circle!" The Priest shouted agitatedly. "We must leave quickly, she'll be leading the beasts here soon!"

"Oh? Who is this Monster King, and what is this place anyway?" A young girl's voice rang out calmly from behind the panicked guard. Everyone turned to see Lucia standing there holding her metal quarterstaff and staring them down silently as she waited for their answer.

"Traitor against man kind, how dare you show your face here!" The Priest started to shout.

Lucia glared as she raised her free hand to point next to him and shot a fast [Magic Missile] past his head.

"I'm trying to have a conversation here. I don't want to cause anymore trouble since my magic has already somehow caused the others who were summoned to disappear. I want to understand this situation and solve it at the source, rather than just mindlessly fighting hordes of enemies. I'm not as strong as the others after all." Lucia explained while they were all trembling in fear from her 'weakest' spell. All these people were around tier 4 at most. She now out ranked them in terms of mana and power individually.

'It'd be a bother if they teamed up on me all of a sudden though.' Lucia thought while she continued to observe their reactions.

"The Monster King is a powerful creature that is stronger than any human army up against it so far. It was angered by our constant attempts to hunt it and gathered up the many beasts in the wilderness and started to attack every human town and Kingdom. We are the last human's on this continent... All our civilians and government officials have fled on boats to find new land or to wait for the heroes that we summoned to defeat the Monster King and liberate this continent." The Priestess explained honestly with a bit of guilt.