"Hahahahaha! AHAHAHAHAHA!"
Olivia stood there, barrier magic standing strong as Dietrich launched attack after attack from every direction at her, never truly able to actually break her defenses but clearly having a fun time testing his newfound power.
"Hahahahahahahaha! This power is overwhelming! Blaze Corruption!"
Olivia just sighed, bored as Dietrich surrounded her barriers with such strong flames and curse magic that she could hardly see anything from beyond their boundaries. Not that it really mattered as her defenses still weren't at risk at crumbling. All she needed to do was wait for Dietrich to finally tire out of his mania which seemed to finally be soon as the demon stopped to take several deep breaths to recover.
"Finally done?" Olivia called as she let down her barrier magic and countered the fire/curse mixed magic.
"Yeah." Dietrich grinned, "Yeah I think that's good enough for today. But man, I'm shocked! You weren't kidding when you said you could make me stronger without changing my contract too much!"
"Uh huh." Olivia said, disinterested.
"I don't suppose you can tell me what exactly you did?"
"Trade secret." Olivia sighed.
"Fair enough. I'll tell the others that this contract reworking thing is actually pretty nifty. No lie, everybody should at least check it out if it can make us this strong."
"Thank you for your patronage." Olivia rolled her eyes, "Please do spread the word."
"Heh. Must be nice to know that even with all this, we still can't beat you. After all, you're the who decides how powerful we are. For now anyway. I do admit, I'm a bit inspired. Maybe with a little more training, I'll catch up to you even without your help!"
"Sounds good." Olivia rolled her eyes.
"Ha! You laugh now, Olivia! You weren't the strongest before and you won't stay the strongest for long!"
And with that, Olivia released the dimension she was holding for Basil to return to work.
"Alright. Glad that's over with." Olivia sighed, "What else is there to do?"
…
"Nope. Nothing else."
Olivia opened up a different rift again and stepped through it.
"Welcome back." Roko said, not looking up from his book as always, "You get everything done?"
"Yep."
"Are you sure?"
"...Yes..."
"...All right. If you say so."
Floating up behind Roko, Olivia reached out and leaned a single arm on his head.
"Can I help you?" Roko sighed.
"Make me a milk tea."
"Can't you read my memories and make one yourself?"
"I don't want to be TOO invasive."
"Oh NOW you're being polite."
"Shut up. You know you've been reading all morning and need a break anyway."
"Whatever."
Roko got up and picked up his messenger bag as he headed off to the refreshment table in the demon's subspace lounge room. In return, Olivia flipped over the head of the chair that Roko was in and plopped herself onto it's comfy cushions with a loud, tired sigh.
"Rough day?" Roko asked as he began his preparations.
"Well, it's not fun standing there getting attacked." Olivia replied, "Even if I was never in any real danger."
"To be fair, I never observed any barrier spells before. That you can craft one on your own now means your archeomancy is improving by leaps and bounds."
"True." Olivia said, holding up her hand to summon wisps of magic to form some nondescript magic seals, "Now that I've learned so much it's almost insulting how other demons aren't picking up on what you're doing. You didn't actually change much of their contract. You couldn't have as a third party. All you did was provide a bit of your archeomancy knowledge. Just a set of basic spells you designed for anybody to use. One public domain reinforcement magic and they all think they were so much stronger. Is this really all it takes?"
"From how I understand it, magical creatures like you and elves use magic so naturally that the exact mechanics of it never really occurs to you so it makes sense that you never notice things like this."
"...So why did you study it this hard?"
"Hm?"
"Why'd you put so much effort into learning magic to this extent?"
"Aside from magic being something completely alien from my homeworld and being novel to me? I still can't use any magic on my own besides my natural spells so I looked into it hoping I can eventually cast something new."
"No luck there?"
"Nope." Roko said, walking back over with the milk tea she requested, "Why so curious today?"
"...Maybe it's just due to my front row seat, but I can't see how nobody else has seen through your plan." Olivia said, taking the drink from Roko, "How can you act so certain that you won't be found out?"
"Certainty is the last thing a strategy relies on. At least, not solely on promise. It's what you do, in this case, the act, however simple it may be and the effort is what you rely on. Blind hope is fragile. Even a little bit of care and effort to maintain the veneer is what you rely on. From there on, confidence will carry the stage for you."
"..."
"Any other questions, o curious demon?"
"Hmph. If only we were all as baselessly confident as you." Olivia scowled as she sipped her milk tea.
"My entire speech was to explain you need to build a base for your confidence so that it isn't baseless but okay." Roko scoffed as he sat down on a less comfy chair and picked his book back up.
"Ah! There you are!"
Another female demon entered the room, one with an oddly gentle countenance, smiling warmly as she walked up to Olivia, "How's your disguise spell, going Olivia?"
"Ah, Morgan!" Olivia smiled, "Doing great, thanks!"
"Hm, is that so?" Morgan said with a doubtful chuckle, "Let me take a look just in case."
"Sure. Going round doing maintenance today?"
"You know it." Morgan said as Olivia shifted back into her Lydia form for her colleague to inspect, "Hard work maintaining so many disguises but you've heard all this before."
"That's why you're the expert, Morgan."
"Sorry, is this the same expert who made the illusion spell that failed mid-battle at the Oarbine Mansion?" Roko frowned.
Morgan looked up, not in surprise as if she didn't expect him to be here but in a strange sort of concern that Roko couldn't really place. Then Morgan turned back to Olivia and asked,
"Is it okay if I talk to him?"
"Mmm...yeah, I'm sure it's fine." Olivia replied with a warily flippant smile.
"I didn't know I didn't deserve to be acknowledged unless my demon gave permission." Roko scoffed.
"Aw, it's not like that." Morgan said in a way to sound comforting but with no real effort in actually being comforting, "It's just that I've heard a lot about you."
"Scary things I assume?"
"Oh no, not at all." Morgan replied.
"You need to work on lying." Roko sighed.
"Oh? Whatever do you mean?"
"If you're trying to be polite, you need to actually put in effort to sound like you're being genuine." Roko scowled, "Otherwise, everyone can tell you don't actually mean what you say and that's even ruder than trying to be polite."
"..." Morgan turned back to Olivia, "Are you sure this man is good for you?"
"Nah." Olivia smirked, "He's the type to ruin your life."
"You're so right actually." Roko rolled his eyes, "Better go back to your husband then."
"Haha. Were it not for my contract, I would beat you senseless." Oliva replied with a seething smile.
"Now now Olivia, stress is not good for the skin."
"What is stress good for then?" Roko remarked, "And you still haven't answered my question. Was it your disguise spell that Olivia was using that night at the Oarbine Mansion?"
"Hey, leave her alone!" Olivia protested, "It was my fault for stressing it too much!"
"I didn't know disguise spells were so flimsy." Roko scoffed.
"Hey, last I checked, you didn't know a damn thing about disguise spells so imma need you to get all the way off of her back on this one."
"Sure, I'll get off of that." Roko sighed.
"That said." Morgan said, "This illusion spell is in tip top shape. Have you been fixing it yourself?"
"Oh yeah, I noticed some minor degradation so I fixed it. Save you some time."
"It's not just fixes, you've improved the spell quite a bit actually." Morgan blinked, "I hardly recognize it. Did you do this? How'd you learn how to control illusion spells?"
"Oh well..." Olivia glanced awkwardly at Roko who was already smirking triumphantly, "You know...I...read some books."
"Huh. You always were a quick learner I suppose." Morgan sighed as stood back up, "I suppose you don't need me to do maintenance on your spell anymore."
"N-No no no, I'm sure you can still help out!" Olivia yelped, "Like...half of a disguise spell is art anyway and I'm not good at that so I could still use your help!"
"I suppose." Morgan mused, "Do you want to modify your disguise spell or something?"
"U-Uhhhh...let me think about it." Olivia nodded.
"Well alright. I guess that's it for now." Morgan bowed politely, "I still have some other demons to check up on."
"No problem!" Olivia grinned as she gave her friend a thumbs up, "Do your best!"
Morgan bowed again and opened a rift to leave. After her departure, there was a small silence as Olivia continued to sip the milk tea that Roko made her until Roko felt an appropriate enough time had passed before asking,
"So what's the story between you two?"
"Hm? Childhood friends basically." Olivia answered, "Why? You interested in her?"
"After the rave review you gave her of me?" Roko scoffed, "Fat chance."
"Well why else did you bring her up again?"
"Curiosity." Roko looked up, "Did you think there was anything more?"
"...Maybe?"
"...Olivia, do you think all men approach women for is for romance?"
"I mean...do they not?"
"No. Why do you think that?"
"I mean...I am part succubus."
"You are?!"
"You didn't know?!"
"I'm not from this world!"
"That's not a reason!"
"Yes it is! Wait, what did you think OUR relationship is?!"
"..." Olivia's eyes darted about unable or unwilling to compile an answer.
"Are all succubi unable to define relationships properly or is it just you?"
"S-Shut up!" Olivia snapped.
"Wait, is leading men on just part of your nature? Have I been horribly racist trying to get you to straighten things up with your husband?!"
"Stop making things about race!" Olivia snapped, doing her best to drink her milk tea to calm down only to cough and splutter as Roko continued with his accusations, "And he's NOT my husband!"
"Then why aren't you telling him and not me?!"
"SHUT UP! Somebody come in and distract us for me right now!"
"You really think that's gonna-"
And before Roko could finish his sentence, a new rift in space appeared and a big hulking demon burst through shouting, "I heard you can make me stronger! Fight me!"
Roko glared at this interruption, baffled that her call was somehow answered even inadvertently. Meanwhile, Olivia was quick to sit back down her seat, trying to look casual, "Well there we go, Roko, end of that convo, time to get back to work."
"What do you mean? He wants a fight. That's YOUR job." Roko replied simply.
"...Fuck." Olivia muttered.
"Hm? You're fighting me, Olivia?" The big demon scoffed, "You've always been weaker than most of us."
"Shut up, Morris!" Olivia slammed her milk tea on the table, "Let's just get this over with!"
"My name is Rippa!"
As an exhibition match to test this new demon's power before his contract gets modified, Olivia didn't need to do much more than hit him with one big spell or two. Instead, she was darting around this demon's large frame, never letting him land so much as a hit on her while Olivia threw fireballs at him with an even fiery fervor than the flames that were scorching this demon's skin.
"AH! AH! AHHHHH!" Olivia screeched as she unleashed her pent up anger upon this poor demon.
"Therapy is cheap nowadays." Roko remarked, watching the poor demon practically cuddle up into a defensive fetal position, "Shame it's not as effective."
"Die! Die! Die!"
"Hey, Lydia. Go a bit easier on him alright? We still need his contract."
"Shut up Roko! I don't need you patronizing me!"
"I don't think I was though?" Roko scoffed.
"How about, instead of making snide remarks all the time, you try and be nice and give some incentive for once?!"
"Incentive huh?" Roko scoffed, "Alright then. How does 80% of my mana sound?"
"Eigh-" Olivia's rampage stopped as she turned around to look at Roko with a look of utter bafflement, "The hell you mean EIGHTY?!"
"Is that not the usual rate?"
"NO! That's predatory as hell! Who is giving a demon 80% of their mana?!"
"A real idiot, I'll tell you that much." Roko smirked.
"Uuuu...uuuu...I give...I give..."
"Ah! Rippa!" Olivia yelped, "Sorry big buddy! I just got really angry for...no reason. Sorry man. Uhh...look if you give me your contract, I'll make sure you get a little bit extra as an apology okay?"
The big demon was already practically sobbing as he shoved his contract into Olivia's hands and ran off into a new rift.
"Ah geez. Now I feel bad." Olivia sighed.
"Eh. He'll be fine." Roko shrugged, "Still, you did a great job securing the contract. If mana works as a reward I'd be happy to give you some."
"Really?!"
"Yeah sure. Already wrote up a revision. Just sign here."
"Hooray! See you can do this reward thing when you try!"
With a bright smile on her face, Olivia signed the contract. It was only when the details of her contract was magically conveyed to her that her smile slowly began to fade.
"Roko."
"I said I'd do it."
"50%?"
"Oh you're complaining about that?"
"I told you 80% was insane didn't I?"
"Was 50% too much too?"
"Roko, 40% would be pushing it."
"Well damn. Guess you cheated me out of some extra mana. Guess you'll have to properly communicate with your husband to make it up to me. Especially now that it's part of the contract now."
"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you so bad."
"Damn. You were so happy a few seconds ago too. You want some more mana?"
"I'm not a damn animal!"