I Only Summon Villainesses

I stood for a couple more minutes, confused and slightly pissed. Kassie's gains of course were my gains, but didn't this Lodestar have its priorities twisted?

I was the one with the resolve. I was the one who had spoken the words, who deserved the reward. Kassie was the one getting it all. What was the fairness in this?

How come I utter a word of determination and Kassie gets blessed?

'Even my summon has more luck than me.'

I sighed, trying to look past my pathetic luck. After all, it was all to my good at the end of the day. Whatever strengthened her strengthened me. That was the whole point of having a summon.

Besides, it had more to do with the way the world functioned than the Lodestar itself. Conviction held weight here, and Kassie had carried those words her entire life. I knew that. It didn't make it sting any less, but I knew that.

"Summoner…" Kassie said as she slowly opened and closed her hands, turning them over, examining her fingers as if she was testing her grip strength. There was something different in the way she moved now. Something more deliberate.

"What have you done?"

"What have I done? I should be asking you." I raised an eyebrow. "What was so inspiring about severing ties with your comfort?"

Kassie suddenly seemed to remember. Something shifted in her expression, and she lifted her gaze to meet mine with a kind smile.

A smile that blew bloody roses with a gush of the wind into my face.

'Oh my God, she can be so gorgeous?'

It made no sense that Kassie could smile when she never smiled. And now that she smiled, it made no sense that Kassie could ever frown. Her entire face had transformed — the sharpness softened, the coldness thawed. I had spent weeks looking at this woman and somehow never noticed what her face was capable of.

'You certainly were not created! No deity is good enough to create a being like you!'

"To sever my ties with comfort was the first thing I said when I got tired of the life I was living." She took slow steps toward me, her boots echoing softly against the stone floor. "As a slave in Zharic Empire, serving in the church, we were pretty comfortable. That was one way to see it." Her voice carried an edge now, thin as a blade. "From the outside. On the inside, little girls were stripped naked, whipped. Their private parts were sealed shut with liquid metal. The church did all of this in the name of discipline and preserving holiness."

She finally leaned against a row of pews, her arms folded loosely, her gaze distant.

"I was a child too. Not concerned. I was well behaved, strong, and principled. I never saw a need to confront these matters." Her jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "Until I saw where it was being done. Until I stood in that room and smelled the iron and heard the screaming."

She sounded wistful and hurt, her voice cracking slightly on the last words.

"I hated myself for being so complacent in comfort while others suffered. The change began from there…" She paused, her eyes still fixed somewhere beyond the walls of this church. "But the true turning point was when I decided to run away from the church. To abandon the only life I had ever known — the life of a slave that was comfortable to us slaves." Something flickered across her face. "It felt like having everything, and throwing it away because of an impossible dream."

I was silent all through her speech.

Kassie right now. This was probably ten times more words than she had ever said since I summoned her. Ten times more emotion. I had seen her fight, seen her kill without hesitation, seen her face monsters that would make grown men weep. But I had never seen her vulnerable. Not like this.

'Damn, Fortitude increase really is no joke.'

She looked at me with a frown, and the mask slid back into place, making me remember who exactly she was.

"What?"

"Ahem!" I cleared my throat belatedly, scrambling for something to say that wouldn't sound idiotic. "It's just…" Words failed me. "You spoke so much. It's so nice."

'I'm disappointed in myself!'

Kassie's frown deepened. Her eyes seemed to carry hostility in them now, and I got the distinct impression I had about three seconds before violence became an option.

"Come on, can't we just continue like this? The talking? The sharing? It's good for you."

She said nothing. Instead, she opened her hands and red sparks began to appear between her palms, swirling and condensing. The red sparks coalesced into something solid, and as the light faded, a blade emerged — though it was blue, not red. She stepped closer and stretched it toward me.

I examined the beautiful blade first, with a bit of confusion. It was a slender, elegantly curved weapon measuring just over three feet in length. The steel carried an unusual silver-white sheen that seemed to glow faintly in the dim light of the ruined church.

A perpetual chill radiated from the blade, moisturizing the air around it. When I breathed, I could see the faint ghost of my breath. The edge caught light like frozen glass, so sharp it seemed to cut the very air.

The handle was wrapped in pale gray Snow Fox leather, worn smooth from years of use, and the tsuba looked to be crafted from polished serpent bone, carved into a subtle coiling pattern that seemed to shift when I wasn't looking directly at it.

It was a very fine sword, in appearance far better than the daggers I had now. More than that, it was a longsword. It looked like a katana but wasn't quite as curved — a hybrid of east and west, beautiful and brutal.

Kassie's flat voice came.

"This was my first companion… gifted to me by a master and a friend." Something soft entered her tone, barely perceptible. "It was crafted from Frost Serpents."

I collected the sword, expecting it to be as light as it looked—

The sword went down the moment it reached my hand, sending a hollow clang through the hall that echoed off the broken rafters.

'What the—'

It was so hard to conceive that no matter what I did, I could only lift the sword slightly off the ground. I groaned. I pulled. My arms trembled as I threw everything I had into lifting this impossible weapon. The steel gave beneath my strength — barely — and I managed to raise it a few inches, my face reddening and my muscles screaming in protest before I dropped it back with another loud clang.

I then shifted my gaze to her in blank shock.

"What?"

'Must everything be heavy with you?'

Kassie shook her head slowly, the way someone might shake their head at a particularly disappointing child.

"You're even weaker than I expected." She folded her arms over her chest, not caring a bit for her sharp words or how they landed.

"We will start with drills to increase your strength. You're a Spirit Summoner — Spirit Essence runs in your veins like blood. I will teach you how to use that to increase your physical strength first." She said it plainly, as if discussing something casual. "Until you are able to wield that sword weightlessly."

'Weightlessly. Right. Sure.'

"Uhm, please wait…" I objected with a little hesitation, warranting a small frown from her.

"What?"

I gestured vaguely, trying to look casual about it.

"Before we start… can't I see the… destrier?"

I wasn't a fan of letting Kassie have a mount. My gut told me I was probably fucked if she ever decided to ride something that could keep up with her combat abilities. But I was still curious, and I wanted to see what Cinderheart looked like. The name alone had been rolling around in my head since the Lodestar granted it.

She was silent, looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. Then she sighed — a sound so human it almost startled me — and beside her, in the space between her and the column on the side, a whirlwind of sparks appeared.

Something four-legged marched out of it.