Jalen teleported all of the demons into the Transport Cannon’s top room.

    All things considered, Noah was pretty sure that was definitely not the best way to make an introduction. Tim had less than positive experiences with people making abrupt apperances in the cannon. Having a horde of what were commonly known to be the greatest enemy of mankind suddenly appear in his living quarters was definitely not going to be a good impression.

    Unfortunately, Jalen hadn’t waited to hear Noah’s reasoning out. The moment he’d gotten back to his room and suggested it, the Rank 6 Mage’s eyes had lit up and he’d snapped his fingers. His power had grabbed everyone other than Contessa and Karina, and then the world had changed.

    Tim, who had been hunched over his desk scribbling something on what must have been the thousandth piece of paper in the room, had frozen in shock mid-sentence. He stared at the teeming mass of demons, lips pulling apart.

    “It’s fine!” Noah yelled, pushing his way to the front before the poor old man could get a heart attack. He nearly bowled Lee over in the process as she somehow managed to do everything she could to entangle herself in front of his legs.

    What is she, a cat? I’ve already got one of those!

    “Most of us hold you no ill will,” Aylin provided, in what was probably meant to be a comforting manner. “We follow the Great Lord Spider.”

    “Me,” Noah said as he finally managed to wade his way to the front of the horde. “That’s me. I like made-up names.”

    “Sorry, Tim!” Moxie called from somewhere at the back of the pack. “Silvertide is here too! I hope Vermil got a chance to warn you about the visitors. He said you were fine with it, but something tells me he didn’t get a chance to warn you that—”

    “He had so many lovely students? No, he didn’t,” Tim said with a huge smile. He straightened and stepped around the desk, brushing his hands off on the front of his shirt as he approached them. “But that’s no problem. This many faces is more than I expected, but this old building is quite spacious if you go deeper. We can make room.”

    Noah’s words died on his lips. His brow furrowed in confusion. Tim hadn’t even mentioned the fact that half of his ‘students’ were demons. It wasn’t exactly hard to tell. Vrith was covered in black fur and most of them had massive horns jutting out from their heads somewhere or another.

    He glanced back, just to make sure that everyone suddenly hadn’t figured out a way to conceal themselves. They hadn’t. There was no doubt that there was a horde of demons behind him.

    Noah coughed into his fist. “Er... yes. Thank you, Tim. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but some of my students are a little unique.”

    “All students are unique. Every individual is a flower to be nurtured, and no flower is the same.”

    Okay, now you’re just laying it on thick. Has he really not noticed that they’re demons? That seems more than just improbable. Tim isn’t stupid, and he isn’t...

    Wait.

    There was something off.

    Tim was looking in their direction, but he wasn’t looking at them. It was like his eyes were looking right past everyone in the room at something far behind them. Noah blinked in surprise.

    “Tim?”

    “Yes, Vermil?”

    “Are... you blind?”

    “Blind? Oh, no. I’ve never seen better in my life,” Tim replied with a hearty laugh. “I’ve just made a few adjustments to my eyes. I hope it isn’t too disconcerting. I haven’t left the tower much since my work.”

    Todd cleared his throat and stood on his tip-toes so his head poked out over the crowd. “I might just be fixated on this, but I don’t see why it is that Tim hasn’t... uh, reacted.”

    “To what?” Tim asked.

    Todd waved his hands around him. “Us?”

    “I fear I may not understand your question. How should I have reacted?”

    “He modified his eyes to see the magical weight that all space bears,” Noah said, shaking his head in a mixture of awe and disbelief. “Tim, you can’t actually see what we look like, can you? You’re looking at our magic itself... or something like that?”

    “I am,” Tim said with a huge grin. “Isn’t that fantastic? It’s actually quite easy to tell whose magic is whose. Everyone has a unique signature, and my eyes haven’t been the best in recent years anyways. I’ve been going by voice more than anything to tell who people were. This makes everything far easier. I needed a way to easily see shifts in magical weight in locations, and my eyes were slacking — so I put them to use. Is it unsettling?”

    “It’s not that,” Noah said. “You’re fine, Tim. It’s... well, can you tell anything off about the people here?”

    “Your magical signatures are a little odd, but that seems rather standard given the company.”

    Okay, that’s probably fair enough. I’ve been involved in so much strange shit that I guess Tim is kind of used to it.

    “Tim, I don’t want to alarm you, but half of our students are from the Damned Plains,” Moxie said. Her words sped up as she hurried to add, “They’re not what you think. Demons have been very misrepresented, and they’ve had issues with their runes at high ranks that make them become twisted versions of themselves. We’ve been fixing that. You have nothing to worry about.”

    “Demons?” Tim asked, blinking in shock. “Truly?”

    “Yes,” Aylin said. “Moxie speaks the truth. We will bring no harm to any who Spider considers friend. We will cause you no concern. Unless you leave food out. Then Lee may be problematic.”

    “I see,” Tim said slowly. He studied them for several long seconds. “How interesting. There isn’t a significant difference between the spatial weight of a demon and a human. Fascinating.”

    That’s what he’s focused on?

    “So... you’re okay with it, then?” Moxie asked.

    Tim shrugged. “If you and Vermil vouch for them, then I don’t mind. I’ve had more negative experiences with humans than demons. That issue with their runes you mentioned — it’s fixed?”

    “Mostly,” Noah said. He glanced at Linestra, who winced and shrank in on herself in a failed attempt to become invisible. “But they’ll all behave. I promise you that.”

    “Then they are welcome to my abode,” Tim said. A smile pulled at his lips and he rubbed his hands together. “I have a lot of questions I’d like to ask them. Perhaps this can expand my horizons even further. How wonderful!”

    Well, nobody can say he isn’t optimistic.

    Noah blew out a relieved breath and nodded. “Good. Good. Thank you, Tim. We really needed a place for everyone to stay. Now we can turn our attention to the bigger matter at hand. We’ve got a few hours until the Advanced Track meeting, and those of us attending need to do a little prep.”

    “For what?” Isabel asked.

    “I’ve got a few ideas on how we can control the meeting,” Noah said, a smile pulling across his lips. “But you’re going to need to be ready to back up some bullshit. A whole lot of bullshit.”