D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad-Chapter 1826 - A Sprig of Worry

--- Kat ---

Now that all the teams were here, Kat could see that Mint was looking a bit uncertain about how to proceed. Things did not improve when a number of vines started to cover the hole the familiar team had made implying that Thyme was paying at least some attention… but still hadn't shown up. Kat shot Mint a slightly hidden thumbs up and the dryad calmed a bit. "Hello everyone, I'm Mint and I am NOT your referee for this round. You've all still got some time before the round officially starts, so please feel free to relax for now,"

Kat nodded and glanced around a few more times. The tables were laid out mostly in a straight line, with every second table being set in the 'back' row. It left plenty of space for everyone… until the familiars came into play. The larger ones especially needed to sit off to the side simply because Thyme hadn't designed these tables with them in mind. Though if Kat had to guess Thyme never even tried. The double-headed hound looked quite comfortable on the grass getting the occasionally scratch while the molebear just sort of flopped down and went to sleep.

Kat turned to Nixilei, "So… any last minute plans?"

Nixilei shook her head, "No, and even if there was I probably wouldn't say them out loud. There's nothing here preventing eavesdropping. Though I suppose I can lament the fact we didn't at least make an attempt to pick up familiars once again. We probably wouldn't have forced it… but if we went looking and found something that would've been a different matter. Sure our training was fine, but we could've trained while gambling on a chance for a familiar,"

"I thought you said you wouldn't want to rush into something like that," offered Kat.

"And we wouldn't. We would've got together, found an area with the highest concentration of monster species that the team would collectively like and then made the attempt while training in the area if possible. There's a good chance nothing would've come of it but at the same time I suspect our training would've been about as thorough and a familiar seems like a big step up in power," sighed Nixilei.

"So… why hasn't this sort of thing been done before?" asked Kat.

"I suspect Thyme's general prowess and medical skills," said Gareth before Nixilei could. Nixilei considered Gareth's answer for a few moments before deciding he may be correct and nodded along.

"Why does that matter?" asked Kat.

Gareth looked to Nixilei who shrugged and slightly gestured for him to continue, "Right. Well… there were a few attempts to use them in the past but a number of them ended up dead. The tournament normally doesn't put in rules necessary to keep them alive… and 'accidents' happen, ones that are much more forgivable if they're familiars. Well, legally speaking perhaps not morally.

"It was seen as a massive risk to bring them along beforehand. It's probably why Wiggles still hasn't really participated in any of the rounds despite the fact that Thyme would've healed the little guy up should anything happen. I am… not entirely sure if the 'familiar' team was taking that into account or if they simply felt too close to their familiars not to bring them along. Then again with a demon healer that, presumably, was chosen because they could also heal familiars perhaps that's why they felt safe enough to go through with it?"

Kat took that in for a few moments. *It's… well… it's a thing I guess. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I do feel that healing familiars should be standard. The fact that they didn't in the past… well I imagine a lot of it comes down to limitations. Stopping the round in time, getting to the familiar and then doing the actual healing… I can see why it would be a pain and why they wouldn't offer the service automatically…

But on the other hand the fact Thyme is willing to keep everyone alive familiars included has meant that just having a familiar has a much bigger reward than it does risk. But like… it feels AWFUL to consider the death of a beloved friend that… hang on how smart are most familiars?* freeweɓnovel.cѳm

[Not sure we ever asked. I'd guess… probably smarter than a normal monster but I'm not sure if they cross the sapience threshold? My guess is that a normal familiar link is more of a series of impressions. Like, when they say 'go attack that' they get the gist but if they wanted to contemplate the state of the universe the response would just be confusion. Though I could be wrong. I'm sure monsters that are old and powerful enough can gain sentience and there was that crab Thyme was… watching? Raising?]

*Oh yeah! I remember you finding that crab. Which… yeah really does complicate things. Though Thyme was thinking that maybe in a few generations that entire species would gain sentience.*

[I think Thyme's 'a few generations' might be closer to thirty than three.]

*Ok that's a fair counterpoint… and much more plausible. I wonder how many not quite sentient species just don't quite get there in the end.*

[I feel like we're getting off topic because Gareth and Nixilei are looking a touch annoyed we're ignoring them… but to answer your question? Probably quite a lot. Just because they're almost there doesn't mean they'll ever cross the threshold and just because they're smart doesn't mean they won't still attack or get killed. The chances are… likely not great though I do think that crab has a better chance then most.]

"Sorry, Lily and I were just debating how Thyme has completely changed the risk reward calculations for familiars," said Kat. "Not sure how we feel about it. They really should be healed but at the same time… maybe they're too much of a benefit now?"

"I think they'll just ban familiars in future years," said Nixilei. "Easiest way to even the playing field without risking a particularly precious familiar from a high ranking family."

"I wish it wasn't like that… but it probably is," sighed Gareth.

"Why specifically a high ranking family?" asked Kat.

"Because not everyone can be Thyme," said Kress, hopping in for the first time since the start of the conversation. "Thyme is strong enough magically that he gets a lot of political power almost by accident. He can keep incidents to a minimum and weather the consequences of just about anything. Most of the time the tournament is run by mid-sized nobles wanting to draw more people to their territory, show off, or provide jobs for the people.

"Normally, building the setup for the tournament is a years long commitment and a very costly endeavour. Sure the various kingdoms do help but not all that much. So… a lot of the time things aren't all that impressive. Sure some of them are a big step up, especially when the kingdom itself throws its weight behind a particular tournament but Thyme has one upped even that,"

"Not only that," added Nixilei once she saw Kress was done. "The fact of the matter is that while the law is theoretically applied evenly, and the kingdoms do a decent job at enforcing that… certain people have a better chance to apply it. The more reach you have the easier it is to make sure a case is heard, and the more likely they are to just generally cause problems.

"Like, sure, the loss of a familiar in the tournament is tragic but if the organiser is clear in the rules then they aren't going to risk trouble with the law… but they might lose a bunch of trade deals or get left out of important parties in the future which can cause its own share of problems. But how do you enforce something like that? Cancelling a trade deal isn't illegal and the kingdom can't tell you who to invite to your parties and meetings…" Nixilei finished off with a shrug.

*Ah politics, the way of the world everywhere. It's annoying but I guess there's a difference between what the law deems punishment and what some noble thinks is sufficient. Even if it hurts them to cancel a bunch of trade deals they might do it anyway just for revenge.*

[Yeah it does suck but I mean… what else can they do? People are going to be assholes and it's super hard to police that sort of stuff if they have even a half decent excuse. It's not like we've figured it out back home either. At least here if someone really starts to get out of line there are ways to deal with them. Then again… it also means powerful people get away with a lot more which. Eh… I guess it's better then them just being politically powerful.]

*Regardless. It doesn't change the issue right now. I do hope Thyme has managed to think up something to help balance thing out. Maybe if it was just the one team with a bunch of familiars that would be fine but the fact people have gone out of there way to get them because of how big of an advantage it is… well that's a bit of an issue.*