Get Off My Lap

"Draw another line here?"

"Make that one a curve!"

"Got it."

I'd made up my mind to take Sawol as my summon, but that was easier said than done. Unlike the ones I'd pulled with a simple click of the gacha, this required drawing a magic circle and sealing the contract by hand. Apparently this was how every summoner hunter besides me obtained their summons. I was the exception, not the rule.

Following Sawol's instructions, I managed to finish a circular formation about a meter across on the floor.

"Yeonbi, this isn't some kind of trap, is it?"

"I see nothing in the formation that would pose a problem."

"Okay then."

Still, any contract worth signing was a contract worth reading twice. I had Yeonbi verify that the finished circle would do exactly one thing — bind a summon — and nothing else. Whatever else happened, Sawol wasn't about to stab me in the back the moment the ink was dry.

"So. Why do you want a contract with me?"

"Hm? You're curious about that?"

"Of course I am. You're the boss of an entire floor."

A Tower monster forming a contract with a summoner hunter wasn't unusual in itself. If anything, that was how most summoners got their familiars. I was the strange one. But a mid-boss bowing her head and coming to me first? That was a different matter entirely.

"Mmm~ three reasons."

"Three?"

"First: I want out of this Tower. It's boring as hell in here."

She wasn't wrong. The fifth floor, like every floor of the Tower so far, was nothing but ruins — collapsed buildings stretching as far as the eye could see. I'd wondered whether boredom could really trouble someone who styled herself a Dragon Lord, but in the end they were people too. I supposed it couldn't be helped.

"Second: if I fight you people, I think I'll die."

"…So you're surrendering because you don't think you can win?"

"Yep!"

"Can a mid-boss even do that?"

"Who cares? I don't want to die either."

What kind of boss had this little sense of responsibility? I decided not to dwell on it. If we started nitpicking about common sense, I'd be the biggest problem in the room anyway.

"Honestly… I could probably handle you and the mosquito. But that fox over there? No chance."

"How dare you call this lady a mosquito?"

"What, want me to call you a leech instead?"

"Grr—!"

In other words, she figured she could take me and Araxtasia, but she wouldn't bet on a fight with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yeonbi. Pure combat power, then, probably ran Yeonbi, then Sawol, then Araxtasia. As for Oksun… well. Just grow up healthy, kid.

"And the last reason?"

"That's actually the important one."

"Which is?"

"You're kinda my type."

Sawol said it with a playful little wink. I knew there was a fair bit of lip service mixed in, but her coquettish act still managed to stir something in me.

"That corpse bitch doesn't know her place…"

Araxtasia was grinding her teeth beside me, but I ignored her. Her picking fights with the others wasn't exactly a new development. One of these days I'd sit them all down, sort out the pecking order, and that would be the end of it.

"Convinced yet?"

"More or less."

"So you'll do the contract?"

I hadn't actually needed her reasons. I'd asked out of genuine curiosity, nothing more. From where I was standing — having already confirmed this wasn't a trap — it felt like a windfall had rolled right up to my feet without me lifting a finger.

"I was going to contract you anyway."

"Woo-hoo! Thank you!!"

The instant she heard me accept, Sawol bounced forward and threw herself into my arms. And the sensation that followed was, I mean… wow. I'll just say this: it was remarkably soft, yielding, silky, and smooth.

"How impudent! To dare lay hands upon our summoner's precious body…!"

"Aww, we're just getting to know each other. What's the big deal?"

"Grr! Why won't you come off?!"

Araxtasia strained with everything she had to peel Sawol off me. Her slender frame simply wasn't up to the task. She was being even more of a handful than usual today.

"Ahem. Anyway. Let's do the contract."

"Ah— right!"

Once I'd had my fill of that, we proceeded with the ceremony as planned. Sawol and I stepped onto the circle I'd drawn, and the moment I channeled mana into it, the surroundings blazed with light and the air itself began to tremble. We met each other's eyes, and with our wills behind them, spoke a single incantation each.

The light of the magic circle faded by degrees, and the air around us settled.

"Take care of me from here on out?"

"That's my line."

And just like that, I became the first summoner in the world to form a contract with a mid-boss of the Tower.

"Whew. That's a lot."

"This maiden was of no use again today…"

"You're fine as long as you grow up healthy, Oksun."

"This maiden is already a departed spirit, you know?"

"Ah."

A lot had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠happened, but we made it back to the hotel in one piece. I'd been plenty worried going in — mid-boss floors were supposed to require cooperating with other hunters — but I'd managed it on my own. Whether you could really call this a proper clear was another question entirely.

Come to think of it… now that I've brought Sawol outside, what happens to the fifth floor?

The thought snagged in my head without warning. If the boss monster of the fifth floor was gone, what did that mean for everyone else?

"Sawol. One thing I want to ask."

"Hm? What?"

"Now that you're out, can other hunters still clear the fifth floor?"

If her absence locked the floor behind an uncleared judgment, we were in serious trouble. That would be the same as me personally slamming the brakes on every Tower of Extremity climber on the planet.

Fortunately, Sawol answered like it was nothing at all, bright as a summer morning.

"The Tower'll just put out a copy of me. Same as always."

"So there's no problem?"

"Nope. I rarely go out and face climbers in person anyway."

According to her, most of the Tower's monsters were replicas copied from an original. Whether she herself was present or not, the floor would keep running exactly as it always had. Nothing would change.

"That's a relief."

"Wait, you contracted me without even thinking about that? I figured you already knew."

She had a point. It had been a bit of a hasty contract. It definitely wasn't because I'd been drawn in by something… enormous. The situation had just been a little sudden, that was all. I resolved to think things through more carefully from now on.

"Anyway… let's collect the rewards first."

Regret was regret, but loot was loot. I opened the status window and claimed the long-awaited mid-boss floor clear rewards.

"Man, they just keep coming."

Being a mid-boss floor, the rewards were definitely fatter than the ones from ordinary floors. Challenge achievements, the floor-clear bounty, and my first-ever bonus for five consecutive first clears, all stacked together…

The usual, predictable 6,000 carats of diamonds. An S-rank elixir. And the one that really caught my eye — the Summon Grade Up Ticket.

"A grade up?!"

After running Celestial Summoning as many times as I had, I knew exactly how enormous a difference a single star could make. A grade-up ticket. If I used it on Yeonbi, wouldn't that give me a 6-star summon?

I was grinning to myself, happily lost in that little fantasy, when another window popped up.

"…Ah. Yeah, that figures."

Handing out a guaranteed ticket to 6-star just for clearing the fifth floor would've broken the game in half. I had no one to blame but myself for getting my hopes up. Fine. I'd give it to Oksun. She was the only 3-star summon I had anyway.

"Too much hassle. I'll rank her up tomorrow…"

Rewards claimed, my eyelids started growing heavy. Sleep was creeping up on me. I hadn't even really fought, so why was I this exhausted every time I left the Tower? I should look into getting a fatigue recovery potion one of these days.

"Everyone, I'm a little tired tonight, so I'm sending you back."

"Please rest well, Summoner."

"Should you have need of me, call."

I dismissed all of them. I usually preferred to be alone when I rested anyway — but tonight, there was one extra reason.

"Oh my. And why did you leave only me behind, I wonder?"

"It's time to fulfill the terms of our contract."

I'd heard her loud and clear. If she became my summon, she'd let me touch her once a day. Of course, that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't the only reason I'd kept her behind. I also needed to find out how she knew about Celestial Summoning, and I wanted a proper look at her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠abilities. But if I could knock out the contract terms while I was at it, well — no reason not to be efficient.

"…You said you'd let me touch you."

"Ah, so that's what this is about?"

Sawol laughed under her breath and came toward me. It wasn't as though I'd never been in this kind of situation with a woman before, but experience had nothing to do with the way my heart was slamming against my ribs. She stopped close enough that I could feel her breath… and then lowered her head and pushed it toward me.

"…What are you doing?"

"My horns! It feels good when you touch them!"

"…Horns?"

"…? I was obviously going to let you touch my horns. What did you think I meant?"

A magnificent pair of white horns, smooth as porcelain. They were beautiful, certainly. They were also very much not what I'd been expecting.

"…What about your chest?"

"My, do I look like the kind of dragon who'd let someone grope those whenever they pleased?"

Sawol averted her eyes, her voice sly in a way it hadn't been when we'd first met inside the Tower. Before the contract she'd been hugging me, winking, laying on the seduction thick. Now that the pact was already sealed, she figured she could talk her way out of it with some nonsense?

The moment that thought landed, a realization slammed into me like a freight train.

"You tricked me."

This goddamn dragon had played me.

"Aww, don't be like that. This noona'll do something else nice for you…"

"You wouldn't happen to know how one goes about canceling a contract, would you?"

"Wh— what are you talking about?!"

If I can't even touch you, you're less useful than Oksun.

"Get off my lap, you liar."