D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 1432: Chapter 1432 Of Course, A Horse

--- Kat ---

When they reached the stable, Kat's first thought was 'where are the horses' but the answer to that question beca clear a mont later. The animals milling around the stables were clearly equine, even if they weren't what she'd consider 'horses'. Instead of fur the… 'horses' were covered in a thin layer of scales.

Unlike a snake's, they weren't interlocked at all, instead it was like soone had stretched a set of scales over sothing too big for them. Every breath the 'horse' took allowed gaps in the scales to show skin underneath.

Kat looked one of the closest horses in the eye and noticed they were… normal. Or rather, normal for a horse. No slitted reptile eyes, normal round irises for these horses despite the scales. Those scales also seed to let up a bit around the front of their face, allowing for a lot more skin to show through by default, especially around the nose, eyes, and mouth.

As soon as their group got within about 100 feet the horses all stopped and stared at the group. Most of them focused on Hunter… who promptly vanished in place. Kat blinked a few more tis as she stared at the spot Hunter had been… and even the trail Hunter made as she slithered along the ground had vanished.

*Ok what the FUCK? How! I get the whole 'vanishing from my perception' thing but why did her… well there's not footsteps but you get what I an. Where is her… trail?*

[That's a good question. If you didn't have true sight I'd assu illusions… wait your true sight tends to be a bit better then just 'illusions' so how did Hunter vanish?]

Once Hunter vanished the horses seed to blink in confusion and look around the area for sothing they could almost sense. Kat frowned at that. *Does this an I'm losing out in detection ability to a bunch of horses?* Kat closed her eyes and opened her senses, reaching out with her aura mostly as a guess. As soon as she did… she could… sothing.

Kat couldn't investigate the feeling properly because apparently Kamiko had stopped moving forward so Kat bumped into the smaller demon. "Sorry," mumbled Kat as she opened her arms and looked around properly once again. Two of the horses were making their way over for kmr who smiled and greeted them with so neck pats.

"I see you're still popular with the horses," snarked Mzmr.

"Well I AM the one who feeds them every morning," added kmr. "That's not even getting into the fact that I'm responsible for a good percentage of their exercise and I clean them down quite often as well,"

"Wait isn't that Crn's job?" asked rmr. "As in, I am quite certain I'm paying Crn to do that job already. So that ans either I'm paying for a service that isn't happening, or I'm paying for a sub-par service… and this is the first I'm hearing of it." kmr winced and pointedly looked away from rmr. "Don't force to make it an order,"

"Fine, you're paying for a sub-par job," admitted kmr with a sigh. "Crn ans well but as enthusiastic as he is about horses… he just doesn't know what he's doing.

I don't know if it's a matter of poor training, a lack of attention to details or if he just signed up for the job without knowing anything… but sowhat regularly I co back through and wash the horses down when they're still dirty,"

"And why was this not reported to ?" asked rmr.

kmr sighed, "Is this really the ti? Right now? While we've got three demons that need to leave for an important royal contract?"

"We get royal contracts all the ti even for routine stuff like extermination so don't try to make it out like this is a request from the king or queen themselves. Normally I would wait on sothing like this… except you've clearly been avoiding the issue. This has been going on for… fuck at least a year? Mzmr when did Srenem retire?" asked rmr.

"She retired a year and a half ago sir," said Mzmr with a shit eating grin.

rmr glared at kmr. "A year and a half I've been paying for sub-par work…"

"In fairness, you weren't paying anyone to do it for three months before Crn was put on. I was just doing it myself," added kmr.

"That doesn't make it better!" insisted rmr. "It's outside the scope of your responsibilities, and sure, I'm fine with letting you do sothing like this if it's what you want… but what does this an for the materials? Where are you getting them because I know Crn brings them all in on a wagon,"

kmr winced again, "Might have been paying for them out of my own pocket,"

rmr growled, causing the horses to give him an unimpressed look. "Oh don't give that. Your caretaker is causing problems. Shouldn't you be glaring at him? If it ca out I was 'forcing' one of my attendants to do unpaid labour while handing out money for services that aren't actually being done I could get in a massive amount of trouble.

"Abusing your authority in the church gets SWIFTLY dealt with since the third reformation. Sure I didn't order you to do any of this, but they facts can get twisted awfully easily. Before that though… Kamiko, do you need to leave? I apparently need to address this RIGHT NOW and it's already turned into a bigger issue then I'd hoped,"

"Um… well… I'm not sure where Hunter's gone…" mumbled Kamiko as the three priests winced like they'd just been slapped upside the head. They were all looking around confused. If Kat had to guess… it seed like they'd forgotten Hunter existed for a bit there. "And… I'm still not sure. I an these are all beautiful horses. How would you have them returned if I borrowed one?

The contract had nothing about returning to this branch of the church at the end…"

"Don't worry about that Kamiko. The churches swap horses all the ti, and they usually manage to find their way back to their favourite stable sooner or later. Not sure how they do it, but it just sort of happens. Not sothing on our end surprisingly. Heck, I'd bet that if you let one run free it'd make its way back here eventually. I've seen a few on the road without a rider.

Only rarely, but it does happen,"

"Um… I guess… hmm… Hunter what do you think?" asked Kamiko to the air.

Hunter seed to materialise a few tres to the left of where she was standing before. "I have so concerns with these horses. Powerful and perceptive beasts they may be, I see no good way for them to be saddled without the saddle tearing itself apart on the scales…"

"Oh, that's easy," said kmr, completely ignoring rmr's glare. "The saddles are enchanted to float just the tinniest bit above the scales to avoid grinding against them. It's always a set distance so it'll still hurt to ride if you're not used to it… well that and the straps are fairly hardy. Still have to replace them every few years, but what can you do,"

Hunter then gave a shrug. "Kamiko, if you are comfortable with a horse then I suggest we take them up on their offer. They are unusually perceptive and will likely help us avoid… delays travelling along the open road,"

Kamiko looked confused as to what the 'delays' could possibly be but Kat had a few guesses herself. It wasn't too important to her, no instead she was interested in the reactions the horses had towards Hunter. As soon as she reappeared their eyes went straight to Hunter's position and the herd was reshuffling slightly.

Ensuring that they were in a, mostly, straight line putting as many bodies between Hunter and the later hoses as possible. Kat had no idea WHY they were doing it, just that they were.

"Alright then," said kmr. "Which one of you lot want to go on an adventure with a demon?"

One of the horses towards the back of the line tried to run forward only for one of the others in front of it to block its approach completely. The smaller horse tried a few tis to get past and respond to the command… only to be blocked every ti. It clearly wasn't hard for the larger horse to do so.

While that was going on, one of the largest horses in the herd walked up. Its scales were slightly duller in colour and while its muscles were clearly visible, the horse had a sort of calm majesty to it as it approached from near the front of the line. "Seems like we have a volunteer," said kmr with a chuckle.

"Great, that ans we can get back to the REAL issues here," stated rmr.

"Ah… I was hoping you'd forgot…" grumbled kmr.