D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

After a few more moments of staring at the remains, Kat decided to distract Hunter a bit, as the lamia seemed to be a bit lost in her head. "So… what makes these corpse worms potentially an issue?"

Hunter turned to Kat and then back to the ashes. "The explanation requires some… additional context I believe. I suggest relaying the information to Lily so that she can pass it onto Kamiko if they are interested in the topic as well. I would want to return to the pair so that they may participate in the discussion, but if we are to head off afterwards I backtracking would be a waste,"

*Lily that fine with you?*

[Should be? I know you can look through my eyes so maybe I'll test things the other way? Regardless it's fine, so go ahead.]

"Lily seems fine with everything so feel free to start when you are ready," said Kat.

"To start with my explanation, I need to speak not of corpse worms but of dragons. You see, the way the demonic translation ability works is quite sophisticated but it is reliant on the intention of the people speaking.

One of the most obvious ways this manifests is in the 'dragon phenomenon' where cultures without a proper understanding of the differences between true dragons, drakes, and wyverns, tend to say 'dragon' and mean the entire subset, or perhaps part of the subset is missing.

"The translation chooses 'dragon' or whatever it is you are actually hearing me say right now, as a compromise measure. It is perhaps technically wrong, but as the translation is meant to be based on what the other person wants you to hear, and not what they're actually saying issues like this crop up occasionally.

"Another example is 'kraken'. That word is one for a specific kind of under water monster, as well as a general term for 'any sufficient large water beast' despite some of those beasts having nothing in common with each other. As such the clan keeps two names on file for everything if they can. A specific name, and a general name.

"Now, one thing that you are likely already aware of is that universes as a group seemed to work on 'patterns'. My clan has different assumptions regarding why that is, but the two most favoured are that either the universe is seeded with a set of 'higher level genetic information' that trickles down, or simply that similar creatures develop because their form works.

With essentially infinite chances, patterns can easily emerge.

"Regardless of the truth, know that when I say 'corpse worms' I mean a particularly wide class of animals that essentially covers anything wormlike that live inside of corpses." Hunter paused for a moment for some reason, not one that Kat could work out anyway. Hunter just seemed to pause completely for a few seconds.

"The best of the corpse worms devour the corpse and the mana inside it, preventing it from just escaping into the atmosphere and allowing it to be recaptured by the soil.

"This keeps particularly magical forests highly magical and fertiliser from their excrement, or simply made with the worms inside of it, is needed for certain highly specialised kinds of magical plant growth. They are uncommon, but sometimes exceptionally useful.

"The other side of things? Corpse worms tend to have an affinity for either 'Death' or 'Rot'. Though if I was to go on another tangent I would explain that monsters don't have affinities in the same way that sentient creatures do, but that really is quite the large tangent. For simplicities sake I shall simply claim that corpse worms have those affinities.

It is accurate enough to not be a lie, or at least I clearly believe so.

"Now, the issue with those affinities is that instead of eating beasts, and rejuvenating the area, they consume monsters while spreading rot and decay so that they may find more monsters to spread more rot and decay. It is horrifically damaging to the ecosystem and inevitably starts to spread out into the surroundings.

The main issues is that if the environment isn't ready to contain something like that it main not stop.

"It is exceptionally unlikely, but one of the things I was shown is an entire planet that had been rotted by these worms. The worst part being that eventually they die too simply leaving the world empty with almost nothing having the chance to grow because the rot and decay spread too fast for the plants to adapt to the change.

"That is my main worry with simply leaving these worms. It is very rare, and in truth there are all sorts of checks and balances both the planet, the ecosystem, and the kingdom have to combat this threat. My explanation has perhaps given it an overblown idea in your mind. It is a threat yes, but so would fire elementals managing to burn the entire planet somehow, or something just as ridiculous.

It is not likely at all, several major failures would need to occur and knowing that the society here regularly summons demons means that a worst case scenario is all but certain that they call in someone to deal with it before it spreads too far…"

Hunter drifted off. Kat waited patiently for a few moments but it was clear that Hunter didn't want to say more. *What do you think the issue is here? I mean… it sounds horrible, and I get that Hunter is worried about it… but she also seems to be saying that it's basically impossible to ever become a real issue.*

[Kat… it's obvious that there's at least some trauma there. Sorry, that was a bit rude. No I mean… ok so it's not super obvious I guess but like… she talks about it like this is a real fear or hers. Likely one that she's had for a long time, and even if Hunter knows it's dumb, or that it's super unlikely she still can't get rid of it. It's not logical but emotional.

So she wants to deal with it, but she's to professional to take care of a potentially time consuming but ultimately minor issue when we have a real ticking time bomb on our hands.]

[Yeah, now that I 'say' that out loud I like it more. This is a personal issue. Hunter might have something against corpse worms, or she might have some phobia of dead worlds with nothing to hunt on them I don't know. She's warring with herself. I suspect that she would normally just deal with the worms and not tell anyone about it… but we're here.

On top of that, this isn't a normal hunt, it's a hunt to kill a potentially planet destroying threat if we leave it to grow.]

[Sure we've got time, but every day we waste not travelling towards it? That's a day more it has to grow, a couple of percentage points more likely it survives our attack. Stuff like that. Of course the issue with leaving this as is, is that this will bug Hunter massively and distract her.

So… depending on how long it takes to clean out the worm nest it might be faster to just take it out and then get back to our travelling. I mean, if we REALLY need to… no I won't say it.]

*Yeah but I can still hear your thoughts. I'll admit it's a very amusing mental picture. Me with Hunter wrapped around my torso and shoulders, Kamiko laying down on top of Hunter, and the horse being held above my head while you rest somewhere else.

Honestly I think the biggest problem would be the horse, and if we really wanted to do something like that it'd be better to get a cart for me to pull or carry but it IS a funny thought.*

[So what do you think? Deal with the worms?]

*I just wish I knew what Hunter's problems with them were. If I knew I could perhaps help her work through it… but I don't know if I want to poke that particular wound. I mean, she seems to like the fact that we ask questions even if she doesn't seem to know how else to talk to people… but yeah asking questions about what you suspect to be a full on phobia? Might be a bad idea.*

[True… but she probably SHOULD deal with it… and worse comes to worst? You DO have a calming aura so you're uniquely qualified for something like this.]

*I am no professional therapist Lily. I feel like if you're going to make the 'you're qualified Kat' argument then I'd like to have some actual qualifications on the topic. I am not at all qualified for this sort of trauma.*

[Yeah… but I imagine Hunter's clan does have therapists, and either nobody has noticed or they haven't forced her to go. So perhaps YOU should. It might be a necessary first step. Besides, when have you ever given up the chance to meddle a bit to make people happier?]