All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 211: No Refunds

Hajin started down the mountain trail with the boy latched onto his chest, every step sending a dull pulse through his cracked ribs.

The kid had not moved an inch since they left the cavern, perfectly content to hang off his collar like a piece of living armor.

’At least he’s quiet,’ he thought, adjusting his grip under the boy’s legs, ’that’s more than I can say for the rest of my household.’

Aria flickered into existence on his shoulder, settling into her usual spot without acknowledging the child hanging an inch below her.

"Preliminary analysis is complete," she stated plainly, projecting a small screen in front of his face while he walked.

[ Subject: Guardian Beast — Apex Lineage ]

[ Species: Unregistered ]

[ Age: 0 Days ]

[ Growth Rate: Immeasurable ]

[ Bond Type: Imprint — Primary Caretaker ]

He read the screen twice on the way down, his eyes settling on that last line with a slowly growing sense of dread.

"Imprint," he repeated, stepping over a split in the trail, "so how exactly do I return him?"

"There is no return function," she answered without hesitation, "the imprint is a natural bond formed at birth. It exists outside the summoning system, so it cannot be dismissed, transferred, or stored."

"So I can’t even unsummon him when he gets annoying."

"Correct. The subject is a permanent physical entity, functionally identical to a regular child."

[ CringeSlayer91: ] no refunds LMAO

[ ShadowMage44: ] bro pulled a character he can’t put back in the banner

[ JunaFanClub: ] permanent baby arc, we won

He swiped the comments into the corner of his vision, deciding that arguing with Earth was a waste of whatever energy he had left. The boy stirred awake around the halfway ridge, lifting his head with a small sniff before he started gnawing on Hajin’s collar strap.

"Stop that," he pulled a strip of dried meat from his inventory, holding it up to the tiny mouth currently chewing leather, "here, eat something with actual nutrition."

The boy sniffed the meat once, turned his face away with open disgust, then went right back to the strap.

"The subject does not require standard food," Aria explained while watching the leather darken with drool, "his body metabolizes condensed mana directly. I recommend a monster core."

He stopped walking in the middle of the trail, slowly processing the implication of feeding cores to a newborn. After a long moment, he reached into his inventory and pulled out one of the low-grade cores he had been saving for the town’s treasury.

The boy snatched it out of his hand before he could blink, biting into the glowing crystal like it was a teething biscuit. Its light visibly dimmed with every bite, draining into the tiny body one mouthful at a time.

’That’s silver disappearing in real time,’ he thought, watching his food budget get eaten by something that hatched an hour ago.

[ LoreSeeker99: ] the baby eats MONEY????

[ ashley (Mod): ] That’s adorable and financially terrifying at the same time.

The forest finally thinned out near the bottom of the switchbacks, which was when he noticed what had been bothering him the entire descent.

The dead stillness that had smothered this mountain for centuries was gone. Thin currents of mana drifted between the trees again, sliding past his skin in slow pulses like the region was remembering how to breathe.

"Aria," he said quietly, already knowing she felt it too.

"Confirmed. The Guardian Beast’s domain has dissolved, and the regional mana field is recalibrating around its absence."

[ Notice: Eastern sector mana field recalibrating... ]

[ Estimated wildlife repopulation: 72 hours ]

"Meaning every anomaly in the region is about to smell an unguarded gold mountain," he muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "three days.. naturally."

A familiar scent must have carried down the trail, because Juna came sprinting around the lowest bend seconds later, her ears standing straight as she closed the distance. She stopped dead two steps away, her eyes jumping from the blood on his jaw to the white-haired child chewing a core against his chest.

"You’re hurt," she said first, then pointed at the boy, "and what is that."

"Long story," he said, shifting the boy a little higher on his chest.

"You were gone for one hour."

Vella and Loccy caught up before he could answer, with Marrick stumbling out of the treeline behind them, trailing a nervous line of miners carrying picks. Vella took one look at the child and lit up like she had personally won something.

"Oh, he’s adorable," she leaned in close, her eyes sparkling, "where did you steal a child from?"

"A monster’s egg hatched on me."

He gave them the short version while Vella pressed a glowing palm against his ribs, starting from the egg he found in the cavern and ending with a newborn punching him through a wall before deciding he was family. Their expressions cycled through disbelief at different speeds, ending in three very different places.

Juna stared at the boy like he was an unsolved threat, Loccy leaned in to sniff him, and the boy sniffed her right back, both of them locking eyes in some silent animal negotiation.

"So a monster just left its egg with you?" Juna asked slowly, "the same one that nearly flattened us an hour ago?"

"No idea," he glanced back toward the peak, "its pressure vanished, and it never answered when I called out. If it wanted him back, it had its chance."

’That thing is still in there somewhere, I’d bet my chains on that,’ he thought, keeping the suspicion off his face, ’but until it crawls out, that’s its business.’

Marrick raised one trembling hand like a student, "my lord, if that monster comes back for—"

"The mountain is open, Marrick," he cut him off without slowing down, "get your men on those veins before the wildlife beats them to it."

None of the miners moved, all of them staring up at the peak like it might stand up and walk over. Marrick swallowed whatever question came next, turning around and quietly herding his men toward the exposed veins while mentally updating his will.

Vella finished with his ribs, then reached for the boy with both hands, "alright, my turn, hand over the little one."

The boy vanished off Hajin’s chest before her fingers arrived, reappearing on his back with his arms locked around his neck from behind.

"Rude," she pouted.

Juna tried next, reaching out with the slow, careful movement of an experienced hunter. She got one hand under his arm before he leaned down and bit her finger, gentle enough to leave no mark, firm enough to make his opinion clear.

"He bit me," she blinked, sounding more impressed than offended.

Loccy did not reach for him at all, she simply stood there and held out both arms, staring at the boy in patient silence. He stared back for a long moment, then blinked over into her arms like he was granting an audience.

[ CringeSlayer91: ] LOCCY WINS

[ ShadowMage44: ] count it, someone time this

[ BunnySupremacy: ] Loccy is the chosen big sister, I don’t make the rules

Eleven seconds later, he vanished again, reappearing on Hajin’s chest with his face buried back in his collar.

[ ShadowMage44: ] eleven seconds, new world record

Loccy raised both fists in triumph anyway, entirely satisfied with her victory over the other two.

"Alright, enough," Hajin turned toward the trail leading home, one hand supporting the boy on instinct in a motion he refused to think about, "the mine starts today, because in three days this mountain starts crawling again, so we have work to do."

"Daddy," the boy agreed cheerfully.

He sighed and kept walking, deciding not to check how many viewers just screenshotted that.