The others back away to give me some room and they are smiling as they do. I am guessing that they are as annoyed by the angel’s attitude as I am and want to see it crumble. Once I have enough space, I drop shapeshift and as I do, I suddenly tower over the angel.

Her mouth drops open as she stares up at me with wide eyes and it feels good. The way she stares at me makes me hope that her attitude might change now that she has seen me. If it doesn’t, I am not sure that I want to keep her around despite how useful she might be.

“What was that about me not being powerful?”

??? says “A dragon?! Or, almost a dragon? In that case, maybe you are strong enough to be my master! Or at least, you should have the potential to become strong enough. I’ve never heard of a dragon with angels, so I guess you will be the first.”

“Weren’t you just born? How do you have knowledge like that?”

??? says “I am newly born, but I have some knowledge that I was born with. Mostly about gods and how the pantheons function, but it does include some common knowledge.”

“That’s good. At least I won’t have to teach you everything from scratch. How come you look like a kid? I have never seen an angel child before.”

??? says “I am like this because of you! You didn’t provide me with enough power to be born as an adult! And what is with these wings?! Those are your fault too!”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to provide additional power, otherwise I would have. My main power is lightning, I would guess that is the reason for your wings. Now, can I still provide the power you need to grow?”

??? says “No, it needs to be done during the ritual. But don’t worry, I will grow at an accelerated rate. More if I rank up.”

“What rank are you? You can rank up off the cores of demonic beasts, right?”

??? says “I am rank four, the minimum required to have four wings. If it wasn’t for that, I would probably be lower. Yes, I can consume demonic cores of any type to increase my rank, but it will take a lot.”

“I’ve saved up hundreds of cores in anticipation of summoning you, hopefully that will be enough to get you a few ranks.”

??? says “That should be enough for a few ranks, depending on the ranks of the cores. Before that, there is something you need to do for me to be able to call you my master.”

“What’s that?”

??? says “I need a name.”

The first thought that passes through my mind is to name her Karen to match her personality. However, I am hoping her attitude will change and I don’t want to give her a name based on it. It would be better to name her something that would match the personality I hope she will develop.

The problem is that I am drawing a blank, what would be a good name for an angel with a sunny disposition? I can’t name her Angela, but Angelica might be acceptable and it might be acceptable. For a second I think of the TV show and am slightly tempted to name her Buffy.

However, knowing my luck doing so would guarantee that I would end up running into vampires. Things are complicated enough without adding new enemies, so I give up the idea. I really can’t think of anything else, but I don’t want to use a name that has angel in it.

Trying to think of an angel name isn’t working, so I start thinking about what else she will be. She is going to need to be a warrior to help me fight the demon lords, but what’s a good warrior name? A name for a female warrior, a warrior princess, but my mind is still drawing a blank.

I try to forget everything else and just try to think of a good name for a woman. For some reason the name Victoria pops into my head, but I don’t know where from. However, it seems like a good name and I don’t see anything wrong with using it.

“Your name is going to be Victoria.”

There is the normal blinding flash of light as I name her and some of my mana gets drained. However, the effect is a lot weaker than I was expecting it to be for naming an angel. It is nowhere near as flashy as the summoning ritual and it fades away much faster.

Victoria says “Hm, it is acceptable.”

Mercy says “I like it! We can call her Vicky for short!”

Victoria says “I would prefer it if you didn’t. Especially since I don’t even know who you are.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. This is Mercy and that is Lin, they are two of my wives. This is Asuna, my daughter. The puppy is a new foundling and doesn’t have a name yet.”

Victoria says “Two of your wives? How many do you have? And why do I sense holy energy from this puppy?”

“I have four official wives, two unofficial ones, and two mistresses that will be joining us soon. The puppy somehow absorbed some of the spillover energy from your summoning.”

Victoria says “Six wives and two mistresses?! Am I expected to join them?!”

“No, absolutely not! You are my summon and I expect you to get strong enough to help me fight the demon lords. However, I do expect you to show respect to my women and at least be civil to my kids.”

Victoria says “I can do that. Are all of your kids beasts?”

“They are what others would call beasts, yes. You will find that they are all intelligent and polite unless you give them a reason not to be.”

Victoria says “That won’t be an issue, I have no prejudices against beasts.”

“Good. Although, there is going to be an issue with one of the mistresses that will be joining us. She is a succubus.”

Victoria says “Yes, that will be a problem. Why would you have dealings with a succubus? My instincts are going to be to kill her on sight.”

“She is going to be summoned and under contract. She is going to spy on the demon lords for me and attempt to disrupt their alliance. So you will need to keep your instincts in check around her, but only her. Any other demons or demonic beasts are fair game.”

Victoria says “I will do my best, master. I just hope you won’t ask me to be friendly with her. Also, what demon lords are you talking about?”

“Ah, right. I guess we should start by explaining the current situation and telling you my story. It is information that you will need to know.”

Lin says “I agree, but we can do so more comfortably down in the suite. No need to stand around up here for such a long conversation.”

“That’s true. Sorry, I got carried away.”

Mercy says “You always do. Let’s go get comfortable so you can tell your heroic story to our newest companion.”

“Don’t say it like that, you will give her the wrong impression.”