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

— Mint, Concerned Dryad —

“What’s got you down Mint? Something on your mind?” asked Thyme. The two of them were sitting up in a magically expanded crow’s nest that doubled as a way to watch all of the contestants. Screens displaying all of the teams were arrayed against the wall with various buttons to allow or disallow sound coming through.

Mint of course, glared back at her mentor. A lot of the terror that came from understanding Thyme’s capabilities had left her knowing that they were just a massive dork… even if she still had a very healthy respect for Thyme’s power. Perhaps it helped that her real body was elsewhere, but Thyme wasn’t that sort of person anyway.

“Don’t even pretend you’re unaware of my problems! I’ve been freaking out for days because you were busy with the defence, something you STILL haven’t told me about. Now you’re keeping me around for reasons I don’t understand… I thought I was just the placeholder. The greeter. I thought my job here was done,” insisted Mint.

“Well it’s giving you a reason to work on your multitasking is it not?” offered Thyme who just received another glare in response. “Home is fine. The monster is defeated… and you’re right it’s no accident. A question though… why are you concerned? Dryads are all rather powerful and working together you could conceivably kill such a thing. Besides, I’m sure I could make it near impossible for us to be found… so what are you worrying about?”

“Why are you in your teaching voice right now?” asked Mint. Completely ignoring the glasses, book and fancy robes that had appeared in place of the pirate had and telescope Thyme had been holding before. That sort of thing just happened when you spent time around Thyme.

“Well, you are my student are you not?” asked Thyme. “Seek the answers within yourself because you already know most of them,”

Mint sighed, “Alright. I’m worried because I seem to be one of the few dryads that actually care for some reason. The fact it wasn’t random means it will be a problem in the future. Despite the fact you’ve said you CAN keep us safe but not that you already had implies that there are issues. And… I think that’s it?”

“Ah, how refreshing to hear real answers,” nodded Thyme. “That’s all correct Mint!”

“Wait… what do you mean real answers?” asked Mint. “Plenty of people have answers, like all the time and you still didn’t say anything about those protections…”

Thyme shook their head. “Sadly… our species is hampered by our origins. The five main races like to reach for more. They are constantly fighting with each other and attempting to continue their line… but we don’t even have that guarantee. Dryads just appear. We can stack the odds but it is still much more of a gamble then the other races, and much less… fun for those involved,”

Mint gave Thyme a disgusted look as they continued to speak. “See! You have opinions on things! I don’t think you understand how rare that is Mint. You may not be a mammal with a twitchy mammal brain but you think about these sorts of things. The rest of us? Myself included to a degree? Are just magically animated trees. The thing you never internalised… is the apathy that so many dryads carry.

“Our whole society has essentially one city and a few outpost. It was nearly destroyed… and yet the elders in charge don’t care. Plenty of the kids don’t either. Monster attacks are natural and we’ll either defend ourselves… or we won’t. That’s how they think,”

“What but… that’s ridiculous!” insisted Mint. “How can anyone think like that… and… and besides all of your other students want to learn as well… right?”

“They do but not like you. You have proper drive and ambition not normally scene in dryads. We are naturally an exceptionally powerful species… and in this case it’s causing problems. I can’t just create a nice safe pocket dimension. As dryads we need a proper connection to the planet to keep living. Perhaps a truly massive pocket dimension would work… but it would need animals, and eventually monsters to remain a thriving ecosystem, failing to solve the problem.

“The annoying part for me… is that I’m not sure how long I’m going to be around after this,” sighed Thyme with a shake of their head.

“Wait… what are you talking about. You seem fine and… and I think I could sense it through your copy if your tree was really in such dire shape…” mumbled Mint.

Thyme nodded, “You likely could… but I want to go out and explore. See the rest of the planet, and perhaps the stars. I can’t be around to babysit everyone forever… but they’re all so reliant on me that it’s a struggle to leave. This,” Thyme waved at the screen. “This is all a nice little way to show the world I’m a big deal, I’m still watching… and that other dryads are watching as well. All before I head off into the unknown. I’m stagnating here Mint and I’m not sure how much longer I can accept that,”

Mint felt like she swallowed something bitter. She didn’t even have tastebuds in this body yet the taste seemed to linger uncomfortably in her mouth and throat. “Is… is it really that bad?”

Thyme shrugged, “I don’t know. That’s what I meant earlier when I said, ‘Even me to an extent’ when I was explaining our apathy. I used to be constantly pushing. Constantly learning. Fighting for my survival. The fact I wasn’t born near anyone else meant I had to really live. I had to be on near constant alert. If I got weaker I may just die… and I sort of forgot that.

“Now I’m caught between my desire to grow stronger, to learn more. To BE more… and the desire to defend the rest of my species. If the rest of them thought like you maybe I wouldn’t need to worry… but… well…” Thyme finished off with a shrug. Even they weren’t quite sure what else to say.

“I… I don’t think I can be some sort of a successor to you…” admitted Mint sadly.

“And I’m not asking for that,” cut in Thyme with a slightly reprimanding glare. “I understand how stifling it has been for me, even when it escaped my full notice. I would not chain down a bright mine so similar yet so different to mine with that sort of responsibility… but I did want a team. A team that could grow strong enough to defend everyone on their own…”

Mint felt like she swallowed a rock. “You… did YOU bring the monster around?”

Thyme winced, “Ok, technically no…” Mint glared at Thyme. “Alright, I had planned for something like this and perhaps… nudged a few things. It just turned into a much bigger deal than I was hoping. Now I’m going to need permission to set up traps and perhaps cajole people into training,”

320

“At least you clean up your own messes… but why are you telling me this? Wouldn’t it be better to just… lie… or leave me in my own ignorance?” asked Mint.

“A few reasons. The first is that I really do want to share this information. I’ve kept it bottled up for a while. The second is… I’m not exactly keeping my experiments entirely safe these days, or well… I was safe for the duration of the tournament but outside of that? It’s entirely possible I die,”

“WHAT?!” hissed Mint.

Thyme mad a soothing gesture in her direction. “Look I’m not trying to die… but I am very much pushing the envelope in ways I haven’t in over a century. If something DID happen, even if it was just a temporary injury someone needed to know… and I’m also offering you a chance to leave with me when the time comes. If it’s safe of course,”

“Wait… hang on what?” asked Mint, now very confused. “I thought you were trying to get away from all this… or something?”

Thyme shrugged, “Look I do enjoy teaching and I think having someone around with me would be a good thing… but it would be a long term commitment. Frankly I was hoping for more from my other students… but eh, the offer is just for you at this point. You’ve still got perhaps another half a century to think on it… but…” Thyme shrugged again.

“I… I have no idea what to think of this,” moaned Mint.

“That’s fine. Just focus on the tournament… because I do need another set of eyes,” offered Thyme.

“Wait…” mumbled Mint.

“See… I might have gone a little overboard with this one…”

“Don’t you dare…”

“So… in the end I may need just a slight bit of help with making sure nobody is cheating…”

“That’s why you gave me that fucking rulebook! You’re trying to make me do two jobs at once!” hissed Mint.

Thyme shrugged again. Mint was starting to get annoyed at the motion. “Perhaps,” Mint wondered why she enjoyed learning from this idiot.