Following Agatha’s pointing finger, Evenson walked toward an elegant display shelf.
It looked strangely refined for a place like the Felscar Rift.
The more cultured demons, particularly the Shivarra and the eredar, actually bothered to arrange their possessions. Most other demons preferred the simpler organizational method of throwing everything onto the nearest patch of ground.
Several oversized pieces of gold jewelry rested on the shelf.
Bracelets.
Necklaces.
Earrings.
There were only half a dozen items, but given Agatha’s size, each piece contained enough gold to equal two or three pieces of ordinary human jewelry.
Evenson picked up a bracelet and examined the craftsmanship.
She thinks I’m here for gold again.
Fair enough.
He had plenty of soul crystals now, and he’d probably need to ask Agatha for another favor before leaving. Buying a few pieces from her wasn’t a bad way to maintain good business relations.
"So?" Agatha asked lazily. "Which ones do you want?"
In the past, Evenson had never purchased much.
Not because he lacked interest.
Because he lacked money.
Soul crystals had always been in painfully short supply.
This time, however, he had just made a fortune.
He was about to announce that he’d take the entire collection when something beside the display caught his eye.
"...What’s that?"
Next to the jewelry sat a heap of what appeared to be junk.
Broken swords.
Shattered daggers.
Half-burned spellbooks.
A snapped staff.
An axe with its blade chipped beyond repair.
"Old inventory."
Agatha’s expression immediately soured.
"I was just about to throw it away."
There was unmistakable resentment in her voice.
Evenson blinked.
"You collected... scrap?"
Was demon archaeology a hobby now?
If so, someone really ought to tell her that archaeology was an expensive habit.
Agatha snorted.
Then she glared at him.
"And whose fault do you think that is?"
"...Mine?"
Evenson instinctively took half a step backward.
They were on friendly terms, sure...
But that didn’t mean she could pin every random problem in the Twisting Nether on him.
Agatha folded two pairs of arms across her chest.
"Do you even know where you are?"
Evenson chose his words with great care.
"...The Felscar Rift."
He added cautiously,
"More specifically... your room."
Please don’t tell me this counts as entering a demon lady’s private chambers and now I have to take responsibility for something.
Agatha ignored his obvious paranoia.
"Yes."
"This is the Felscar Rift."
Her gaze drifted toward the distant crimson horizon.
"Long ago, this place stood on the Legion’s front lines."
"It was the Legion’s last major staging ground before countless invasions."
A nostalgic smile touched her lips.
"Back then it was alive."
"Legions of demons marched through these portals toward new worlds."
"Warlocks loyal to the Legion arrived carrying mountains of soul crystals."
"Business was excellent."
Then she sighed.
"But victories have consequences."
"As the Legion conquered world after world, the front lines kept moving."
"The frontier became the rear."
"And eventually..."
"...the rear became a forgotten corner of the Twisting Nether."
She shrugged.
"I’d wager half the Legion’s commanders have forgotten this place even exists."
Which is exactly why I picked it, Evenson thought.
"That’s unfortunate."
Then he frowned.
"But what does any of that have to do with me?"
"The Legion abandoned this place thousands... probably tens of thousands of years before I was born."
"It doesn’t."
Agatha answered matter-of-factly.
Evenson’s eye twitched.
Then why are we talking about it?
"But..."
She smiled sweetly.
"...what happened afterward absolutely does."
"Once the Felscar Rift stopped being a front-line outpost, the demons stationed here could no longer invade fresh worlds to harvest souls."
"And because everyone forgot about us..."
"...no warlocks came here to trade anymore."
Evenson nodded.
He understood immediately.
Bad location.
No customers.
Simple economics.
Agatha pointed directly at him.
"You are the first warlock to visit this place in nearly ten thousand years."
"...I’m honored."
He wasn’t sure why she sounded angry about that.
Shouldn’t she be thanking her only customer?
Instead, Agatha suddenly exploded.
"You have any idea how excited I was?!"
She shot to her feet, all six arms gesturing wildly.
"After ten thousand years, I finally sensed a new warlock!"
"I thought I’d found the biggest customer of the millennium!"
"So I rushed to prepare inventory."
"I gathered everything a proper warlock could possibly want."
"I spent ages getting ready..."
"And then you showed up..."
"...TO BUY GOLD!"
The final two words echoed through the chamber.
Evenson instinctively covered his ears and retreated several steps.
Now he understood.
This wasn’t about archaeology.
This was about terrible inventory management.
The shop owner had stocked expensive specialty merchandise...
Only for the customer to wander in asking where the jewelry counter was.
"I... suppose I owe you an apology."
He scratched the back of his head.
Then another thought struck him.
"Wait."
He pointed toward the pile of battered equipment.
"Don’t tell me this is everything you stocked for me."
"You actually expected me to buy all that?"
"Did I really look that gullible?"
Agatha stared at him with open disbelief.
Then she slowly shook her head.
"I seriously question whoever trained you."
"How does a warlock not recognize these?"
Technically my teacher wasn’t incompetent, Evenson thought.
It was just a book.
He looked at the pile again.
"...What are they?"
Agatha had spent precious time gathering these items after discovering a new warlock.
They had to be important.
"They’re catalysts."
She sighed dramatically.
"Summoning catalysts."
"You idiot."
Recognition immediately dawned on Evenson.
The grimoire had mentioned them.
He’d simply never paid much attention because he’d never needed them.
In theory, every demon required an appropriate catalyst to be summoned from the Twisting Nether.
The more powerful the demon, the rarer and more difficult the catalyst became.
Over generations, however, countless warlocks had refined the art.
Eventually they developed techniques that replaced many physical catalysts with magically constructed ones, making life far easier for novice warlocks.
That shortcut worked well enough for the common demons.
Imps.
Voidwalkers.
Succubi.
Felhunters.
Experienced Demonology warlocks could even manage Doomguards.
But once a warlock sought to summon truly powerful demons...
There was no substitute.
The proper catalyst was indispensable.
...
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