"Summoning ritual, huh?" muttered Lyra.
"Summoning ritual? Is something like this realistic?" asked Linden. He has heard about rituals, but all of those should only be a fantasy, right?
"Of course. I mean, you are working on investigating a dimensional border. Something like a summoning ritual is ... meh," said Lyra.
She continued, "But then again, most of the summoning rituals will end up in failure."
"Failure? That means some summoning ritual did succeed in summoning something?" asked Linden.
"Yes."
"Then, what happened when the ritual succeeded? What kind of things are summoned?" asked Linden.
"It depends on how they do the ritual. Sometimes creatures that we usually name demons, devils, or other weird things get summoned. Other times, human-like creatures get called.
"It depends on many kinds of variables. To where is the summoning circle connected? What kind of sacrifice is used? How much energy is used? And the most important thing, how lucky was the summoner?"
"Luck?" asked Linden.
"Yes, summoning a creature from another dimension require a lot of luck. If you are not lucky, your call will not get noticed by the creature. And nothing will get summoned.
"Even if you can get noticed, you will need to make them willing to come here. That is where the sacrifice and the ritual chant are used. The ritual chant usually contains promises about what the summoned creature will get. When that creature accepts to get brought over, the contract is established, and the summoner needs to fulfill the promise.
"But that is not all. There is a way to forcefully brought some creature here," said Lyra.
"Kidnapping?" Linden asked.
"Yes, kidnapping, abduction, absconding, whatever you call it.
"Many kidnapped creatures were confused about why they got here. In rare cases, the summoned creatures were able to understand what happened, either by understanding the summoner or by thinking logically.
"But normally, their solution is very basic. Use force."
Linden looked at Lyra. He wanted to ask for more detail, "Force? Like fighting?"
"Yes, if they can't think why. They just kill the summoner and look for a way out.
"And it was always a mess whenever that happened. It is good if only the summoner gets killed. Sometimes some innocent nearby people also get dragged into the mess."
Linden nodded, "Then, what should we do when that happens?"
"Cleaning it, of course. What else?" shrugged Lyra. "That is our job."
"I mean, about the creatures?"
"Hmm… If possible, we tried to send it back to its original world. If not, then—"
Lyra does not need to explain it all, but Linden understands what happened to the summoned creature.
"In the end, the balance between dimensions is more important than some random life. If the balance between dimensions tilts more toward one way, it will bring not one, not two deaths but an uncountable amount of death."
Lyra looked at Linden, "Now, let's work. I need to take a picture of the magic circle. Light it up using your PDA."
Linden and Lyra worked fast in photographing the room before sending the image to the base. Those images will get analyzed by the system. It will then be known where the magic circle will connect.
They also checked all the parameters regarding the border dimension. As there are not many things to be inspected in this place, it takes them only around twenty minutes to finish all that.
"Good thing the summoning has not been completed, and the dimension border is still in good shape. We might need to come to this place later, But for now, the work here is done."
"Is that all? Do we not need to… I don't know, catch the one that tried to summon?" asked Linden.
"For that, we can trust the other more experienced member. We only need to follow the things that were listed on the PDA as our work. As long as there is no change in—"
*ping* *ping*
"Ah-"
Linden and Lyra's PDAs are giving out notification sounds at the same time. Both of them looked at each other. Lyra gives a sour smile, and her cheeks are a bit red.
"Looks like we need to check more about this," said Lyra. "Someone will come to this place in a few minutes.
"Can we move back to the ground? I am not really liking the feeling inside this room, especially at night."
"Sure," replied Linden.
…
While waiting, Linden asks Lyra more things related to the summoning. What reason is there for someone to do summoning? How? And other things.
Linden now knows that most summoning incidents come from people playing around. People found some weird book on the side of the road, read it, and found a way to build a functioning magic circle. Luck was on their side, or rather, luck was NOT on their side, and they could summon something.
The next cause of summoning incidents related to some kind of religious cult. The rest is as usual.
***
"He is late…" muttered Lyra.
It has been about fifteen minutes since they get assigned to wait for that someone.
"Senior, what kind of person is coming here?" asked Linden.
Today is Linden's second day on the job. He only knows three people now, Lyra, Ave, and Manager. Linden was introduced to Ave less than an hour ago.
"He is Trackshag. Wait, was it Trakeshagg? Well, something like that. I can't pronounce his name. Anyway, he is a dragonkin from another dimension. He also works for another branch. But he somehow interacted with us a lot. I have met him many times. I sometimes forgot he belongs to another branch."
"Dragonkin?"
This will be the first time Linden meets other intelligent species. For his twenty-something years of living, the only intelligent species he had known was human. He can't help but imagine what that man looks like. Linden only comes back to reality when Lyra called him.
"There he is. Oy! You are late," shouted Lyra.
A man with spiky red hair wearing a tropical shirt and short pants is walking toward the two. He used the shirt loosely, revealing the developed abs.
On his right hand is an inflatable inner tube. A pair of sunglasses is resting on his head.
"Dragonkin?" muttered Linden. He can't help but take a double look at the man that walks toward them.