The Thirsty Girl's Guide To Summoning (Fate/Isekai)

Chapter 4

The Summoner's Castle might have been a mighty fortress with elegant towers a century ago, but up close, right now, it was a dump. It had no gate, and every tower had been shattered. Half the walls showed signs of damage, and the top corner of the central keep had broken off entirely.

"This can't be the place," said Ren. "This is a ruin."

"There's strong magic here, though. Maybe they're related! Why don't you go inside and find out?"

Ren's eyes narrowed. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll be right behind you," said Merlin, grinning. "But you're the Summoner, after all." He made a shooing motion with his staff.

After a long, suspicious look, Ren said, "Yeah.... I don't know how I feel about taking my eyes off you like that.

Exasperated, Merlin said, "Really, young lady. Maybe you should use one of your Seals to make yourself feel better?"

Ren glanced at her hand, but before she could answer, a voice from the crumbling castle said, "Oh thank goodness! Are you a Summoner come to answer the Call?"

A slight figure with orange hair peeked around the gateless passage through the wall. If this was the little boy's Miss Ritsu, she was a lot younger than Ren had anticipated. Somewhere in her early teens, in Ren's estimation.

"Maybe," said Ren cautiously, and then decided to come clean. "Honestly, I think I was summoned myself. And then I summoned him." She jerked a thumb at Merlin, thought about it, and added, "Maybe."

The orange-haired girl fell over, and then scrambled to her feet, her mouth open in a perfect O of shock. As she did, a floofy golden creature with pointed ears and a bushy tail scrambled up into her arms.

"Oh my, oh my, oh my, did you hear that, Foxette?" said the girl, her eyes huge. "Oh my goodness, I AM A GENIUS! Me! A genius! I always knew it! Nobody ever believed in me, but look what I've done! I've summoned a person. A summoner." Her eyes slitted suddenly. "But if I summoned you, why didn't you come through the portal when I cast in my blood?"

Ren, knocked back on her heels by the girl's triumphant crowing, swayed forward again. "I don't know. Maybe you didn't summon..." She stopped. The kid's eyes had been so huge and hopeful.

Instead she declared, "I don't know, but I'm here to help!"

Little Miss Ritsu said, "Yay!" and then hesitated. "Uh, do we have to fight first?"

"Ooh," said Merlin, behind Ren. "Is that the tradition here?"

Ren gave Merlin a dirty look. "Hush, useless mage."

"Wow," said Ritsu. "You don't know anything, do you? Well, come on in and make yourself comfortable and I'll try to explain. I found some tea in the underground kitchen."

This definitely wasn't the summoning system Ren vaguely remembered. The small furry animal, called a foxette, was Ritsu's first summoned familiar. The foxette was affectionate and apparently very magical, but poorly suited for defense or offense. Normally, summoners would use magic harvested from their first familiar—Ren didn't really understand this part—to summon more of the same elemental alignment. But Ritsu, her town and the orphans she claimed to have adopted under threat, didn't have time for that. So she'd taken the risk of a second blood summoning.

"The first one's always easy." Ritsu chattered as she fussed with a teapot in her underground hideout. "It almost never wants to fight, but after that... there's usually a battle before you can bind them. Especially if you use blood, because then you're aiming for something really different than what you already have." She stole a glance at Ren and hugged herself with glee. "I'm so amazing!"