[Leela] Chapter 1: A Father's Plea

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Abi..." Leela started, but decided to drop it. Instead, she chose to reintroduce herself and give a similar speech as the one that she gave to the smaller group previously. As soon as she finished her speech, she turned to the sick looking imp.

"Bibi, I appreciate that you joined us, but your health is very important as well. Please return to your bed and rest up so that you get better soon. Anyone else who is sick should also return to their beds. The sooner you get better, the sooner you can help us." It would be horrible if the imps who were healthy caught sick from the ones who were sick. Leela was not sure how their sicknesses were here, but she was going to assume that it was similar to her home and treat them how she wished she had been treated as an employee in retail. That is, if you're sick, stay home and don't try to come in until you're better.

Once the sick imps were gone, the young woman turned her attention back to the others. She watched them as they interacted with each other as well as Ghorat and Zavan, looking out for the ones that seemed calmer. It became quickly apparent that such a thing was near impossible. Perhaps she should just ask Abi to be her personal assistant. If the work load seemed too much for Abi, then she could always ask for another imp to be her second personal assistant once she got to know them all better. There was no way she could interview them all right there and now. It would be a complete and utter waste of time.

Finding Abi in the crowd, Leela told the imp the news that she was now both Imp Leader and Leela's Personal Assistant. She then had Abi separate the ones out who could fight, who were sneaky, and who liked learning things from the rest of the group. Having the ones who were good at those three things go to one half of the room and the others to the other half of the room, she realized that was about half and half. There were only one hundred imps. One keeper, who was unknown, some random tribes of goblins, a demon lord, and a demon lord's assistant. This place really had gone downhill. She wondered how they kept the castle so clean.

"Those of you in the fighting and sneaky groups, I will be talking with you about your abilities and figuring out how you can best help me on my mission to rescue Ashaki. Please wait patiently until I am ready to interview you. Do you understand?" She addressed two of the groups on the left side of the room, making sure that they understood to wait until she was ready to talk to them. She then turned to the group who was good at learning new things.

"Those of you who like and are good at learning new things, we will now be calling your group the Student group. I need you to discuss among your group who is the best at cooking and who is best at sewing and tell me your final decision when I ask for it. Do you understand?" Again, she made sure they understood before she turned to the last group, the one on the right side of the room that included all the rest of the imps who would be searching for things.

"You all are now the Scavenger Hunt group. I will be drawing up a list of things that I need you all to try to find while I am away on my mission. When I have finished drawing it up, I will have Abi call for you all so that we can go over it together. Until then, you may all return to what you were doing before you were summoned here."

With half of the imps gone from the room, Leela felt like she could breathe a little easier. She turned her attention back to the Student group to see if they had finished talking among themselves.

"Student group, have you decided who is best at cooking and who is best at sewing?"

[Throndir]

Heroic Action Point gained

"Bibi is sick?" The imp sniffled up the snot, only for it to droop down again.

"Bibi isn't sick, Bibi just has a runny nose, you see?" She sniffled it up again, this time however, the snot wouldn't go all the way back up, so she struggled for a few seconds continually trying to sniffle it all back in.

Thankfully, Abi came to save the day.

"Bibi! Leelasama! Leelasama said that you can't be sick! Being sick is not okay anymore! Being not sick should be in the rules!" Abi bounced around happily as the new idea started forming in her head.

"Rules, rules. Rules! I will make rules! Leelasama, Leelasama says I'm the imp leader! Leaders have rules? They have rules!"

"Aww.. well... Bibi really wanted to see human girl!" She puffed her cheeks and looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Bibi, don't cry!" Abi stopped bouncing then, and you see the little imp give her companion a hug from behind.



Each time you asked a particular group if they understood. Like in true imp-fashion, they simply repeated many of your same words, and finally ending with a cohesive agreement that they all understood.



"I have decided! I can guess who is good at sewing!"

"We know who is good at cooking!"

"I have decided!"

"I decided faster than you!"

"Yes, we decided!"

Feel free to decide among my picture collection which one is good at cooking and which one is good at sewing.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

The sight and sound of what Bibi had done made Leela want to gag. It was so disgusting to watch. She was thankful that Abi took over, though the way Abi worded things made it sound mean.

"Being sick is okay. Everyone gets sick sometimes. But being sick and working or being sick and being around others who might catch it is not okay." Leela tried to explain when the imp started to cry. "I am glad we got to meet, Bibi, but you need to go home and rest up so that you can get better as quick as you can."

~~~~~~

When the two imps were picked, Leela had them step forward. It was rather amusing, the one who claimed to be good at cooking dressed in clothing that reminded Leela of fast food employee uniforms. Although he also wore a cape with the outfit and it made him look like he was trying to be a super hero of fast food or something. When asked his name, he provided her with "Kuki". It sounded an awful lot like "cookie". The other imp was dressed up very fancy; Leela was not surprised at all that he had been picked. His name turned out to be "Tai".

"Kuki, as you have been picked by your peers as the best cook among you, I need you to understand a few rules. I will be teaching you a few things that involve food preparation. This does not mean that you can eat whatever you want whenever you want. You may only eat what and when you are given permission to eat. It also means that you must help to insure that no one else eats food without permission. If you break these rules or any that I give you while I am teaching you how to cook things, you will be severely punished. Can you promise me that you will follow these rules and do your best to protect the kitchen from food thieves?" The blond woman again made a threatening glare when she threatened punishment for breaking the rules. She definitely did not want him to think that there was any sort of chance that he could get away with it. "If you cannot promise, then I shall find someone else to be Imp Chef."

"Tai," She turned to the well-dressed imp after finishing her discussion with Kuki. "Did you make your clothes yourself?" If he did, then Leela would bring him and some fabrics along on the trip to the human lands so he could help her make disguises for the other imps that she would be taking with her. It would be hard to hide the horns and wings on a lot of them, but some seemed like they might be able to work out something.

[Throndir]

"I like to cook Leelasama. I can't eat whatever I want? I don't want to be punished! Do you like to eat? I promise to promise to follow the rules! I can cook you the best food!"

The little imp saluted you as he bounced in the air.

"I will protect the kitchen from food thieves like Bibi! I will be the best Chef!"

"Yes! Master Zavan is a good master too, and he taught me how to sew these." Tai then began pointed at random imps.

"And some of those! And I helped with some of that! And that one! And this one! Master Zavan had to do the finishing though... I did that one by myself!"

Tai grabbed a random imp that was bouncing near him.

"And this one too!"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"I like to eat good food, which is why I am going to be teaching how to cook good foods. Right now, your task is to come up with a list of things that you know how to cook as well as find a stone bowl and round stone." She formed her fingers with both hands to form a circle. "The bowl should be about this big. And the round stone should have a handle and be able to fit inside the bowl and still move around. Later, you and I are going to the kitchen and I am going to show you what I want you to do while I am away on my mission. Do you understand?"

~~~~~

Leela was a little startled to learn that Zavan, who was supposed to be a general of Ghorat, sewed and taught some of the imps how to sew. She studied his suit again, wondering if he made it himself and how he found the time if he was so busy with defending the borders and keeping minions from getting into things they shouldn't be.

"Wow! That is amazing!" She complimented the imp's tailoring. "How fast can you sew? Do you think you could make outfits for those guys," She pointed to the sneaky group and the fighting group. "Maybe black hooded cloaks big enough to hide their horns, wings, and tails? I would like to be able to leave on my mission tomorrow if it is possible, so if you can make as many as you can by then, every bit will help."

~~~~~

Having given her Head Imp Chef and Head Imp Tailor their tasks, Leela tasked the rest of the Students to helping Tai with the sewing and then dismissed them to do their jobs. She made sure that Kuki knew he would be summoned again later for more work.

That done, the young woman finally turned her attention to the last two groups in the room. Her interview process was fairly quick. She pulled out her notebook, wrote down their names and a quick description of what they looked like so she would remember easier, and then asked them detailed questions about their skills and had them demonstrate. Anything that sounded useful, she wrote down. She also wrote down what sort of category she would put them under. Apparently some could use elemental magic, while others did more melee. So she had her Magic Group, her Melee Group, her Sneaky Group, and her Assorted Group, which included ones that she was not sure how to sort. After that, she picked out the ones that she thought would be most useful for her mission in case things went wrong and told them to prepare for travel and be ready to be summoned at any time to leave.

She tried to be as quick as possible. She was not sure what time of day it was when she had arrived here or how many hours there even were in a day in Roshandan. What she did know was that she planned to leave the next day if it was possible and she had a lot to do in preparation.

When she was finally done, the only ones left in the room were Gorat, Zavan, Abi, and Leela. Leela took a moment to go over in her head things that still needed to be done. She had to draw out a list of vegetables, herbs, edible plants, and animals that she could remember from her own world and get the Scavenger Hunt group started on trying to find such things within Roshandan's borders. She needed to show Kuki how to grind the grains that were in the kitchens to try to make flour from it so she could try making bread when she got back. She needed to figure out more information about the contract that Zavan had mentioned she could make with the imps in order to summon them. While she was thinking about it, she needed to ask if they could summon the goblins as well. If they could, then she might have to do another instance like what just happened with all the imps. She also needed to take a moment to herself to figure out all those things that had been flashing before her about titles and personal status and mimicry and everything else. Perhaps leaving the following day was hoping for too much. Well. One step at a time. That was all that she could do.

First thing was first. She turned her attention to Zavan.

"Zavan, you said I need to form a contract with the imps in order to be able to summon them on my own? What are the terms of this contract and how does it work? Also, can the goblins be summoned as well, or just the imps?"

[Throndir]

"I understand Leelasama! I need to find a big bowl and a round stone!" He poofed.



"I will work all day! I will work all night!" He poofed.

Zavan shook his head.

"It's only the imps that can be summoned when bound by contracts. It is something that is inherent in us demons. When one of the imp's name is called, the one who is contracted to you, would be able to hear your ask for them. With the imp's ability to teleport, they're cove is one of the most valuable assets Lord Ghorat still has."

"In order to form the contract, all that is needed is to spend at least 4 hours with the one you are to contract with, as mana is shared between the two of you. The process is delicate... Perhaps we can have you started with yours with Abi later tonight?" Zavan suggested.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"I see." Leela said in reply to Zavan's stating that the cove of imps was one of the most valuable assets they had due to their teleportation abilities. "Since I am taking some with me when I go to get Ashaki back from the humans, I suppose it would be important to know if imps die and how much they can handle. I would not want to lose any if we should end up in a fight with the humans. Also... how far can they teleport? And how often? What other things should I know about imps and what they can do?"

"How many contracts can I make? Can I make more than one at a time?" She asked. "And yes, it would be best if I at least form the contract with Abi. Does it cancel your contract with her or can she be under contract of more than one person? I would hate to ruin your contracts if it cancels yours."

Once Zavan answered all of her questions and they discussed more things about the imps, Leela moved back over to the table where her sketchbook and pencils were. She realized there was yet another thing she needed to add to her list. She needed a piece of fabric and ink so that she could paint a more permanent map of Roshandan. Until she could make that, she had to treat her small paper map like treasure. A sigh escaped her as she once again thought about how much she had to do. She was not even sure why she was going out of her way to help these demons. Did she really have any obligation to help them? They had summoned her, so was the summoning like some sort of contract and she was under their demands? She would have to test that out at some point. Leela did not like the idea of being a slave to anyone. And if she was not essentially a slave to them, what was there to stop her from just leaving them behind and finding one of the human kingdoms to help send her back home? Roshandan did not really have a lot to offer her.

It did have a couple of benefits, though, that catered to her inner desire for self power. The leader of this land had lost so much, leaving him and his domain weakened. She had already made use of this weakness by basically taking control of the cove of imps and Gorat seemed enthralled with the idea of her teaching them how to make flavorful foods. She basically had the power to mold Roshandan into a kingdom of her design. And all she had to do was to continue putting in the effort that she was already doing to get it started on that path.

"I need about two-four hours so I can draw out this list of things I need the Scavenger Hunt group to find, teach Kuki how to grind grain, and some time to myself to sit and go over my plans, and then I should be ready to start forming the contract. Is there a furnished room for me to stay in while I am here?"

[Throndir]

"When an imp dies... Their body is killed, but their essence remains in their cove. After a few days they will come back as newborn imps. The only way to truly kill an imp is to kill both their physical body, and to destroy their cove. It is because of this that the other demon generals usually... play rough... with the imps." Zavan said neutrally, but you detected a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Each imp can teleport about... 100 ft. Some of them can go slightly farther, but that is a rough estimation. They can teleport for as much mana they have stored in them. Though, imps are not very good at conserving, and usually tire themselves out on busier days, even when they are simply lounging around their cove. Each of the imps have various abilities that are unique to them. As you've noticed, some are able to cast elemental magic, while some are more handy with knives and other weapons. The majority of them however, are not inclined for combat, and, at least before I started placing mosaics on the food, would have usually been found in our kitchen-"

"OF ALL DARK THINGS"

"- Yes, thank you my Lord. You can make as many contracts as you wish. Likewise, an imp can have more than one contact as well without affecting previous contracts."

Zavan then bowed low.

"Of course Leela-sama, we have a furnished room reserved for our hero... Our great lord Ghorat decorated it himself." Zavan said it respectfully, but you noticed there was a hint of disappointment in his voice.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"I see. When they are reborn, are they babies?" She did not really look forward to baby imps. Though she supposed this might be why the imps were so child-like. They probably had the mentality of children because of people playing too rough and them dying. When he mentioned that the other demons usually played rough with the imps - which Leela interpreted as they did not care if the imps died or not - Leela wondered if this was why some of them had thought it was so fun to be flicked across the room by Gorat."Are they exactly the same as they were when they died, with the same abilities and personality?"

"Could you show me to the room? I will draw out my list there and when I'm done, I'll come back here and have Abi retrieve the Scavenger Hunt group and Kuki."

Continue in Chapter 2: Contract