D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 2089: Chapter 2089 More Food, Less Problems

— Kat —

Dinner happened eventually. Appoline and Kat traded stories back for some time as Appoline eventually cracked and ate some of the pre-prepped food. Sadly for her, none of the fancier stuff Kat had done recently was quite ready for consumption. Except perhaps for the salad but Appoline surprisingly wasn’t all that interested in it. She went for the meat dishes and seemed to have a good time. She also fell asleep at the table, but that was fine too. Their conversation had gone on for a while… and Kat wondered how true it all was.

Appoline clearly had a lot of experience with potions and it was quite possible poison was her passion. Additionally, all of the stories seemed to be about real potions she’d created from what Kat could tell. Well, the ’she’d created’ part was a bit more up in the air but assuming the stories were completely true implied they were as well. Kat wondered if out in the real world Appoline was a criminal or if she was a researcher with the kingdoms or something like that.

After Appoline had been asleep for a bit, and Kat had finished her current set of food prep, she moved the sleeping woman up into one of the spare rooms. When Kat made her way downstairs Lily woke up, though that was because Hedera had made her way into the kitchen as well. The smell of the cooking meat drawing her in. Apparently, even if you were mostly vegetarian it could still get you out of bed. Kat was honestly quite proud of herself for the feat.

Lily had mostly raw stuff once again, though Kat took solace in the fact Lily at last preferred meat that was cut and presented nicely. From what Kat could tell, the various spices were all just a bit much if she was going to remain in Memphis form. Hedera and Kat spoke a bit about their plans for the future but nothing all too seriously. There was the question of what to do with Appoline around, and how safe it was to leave her on her own as well.

The question of if it was worth staying in the city was a difficult one. With three more people eliminated… that changed the field. Theoretically, all but one person from someone’s team could be eliminated. Kat or Hedera could be the last of their team. It didn’t seem likely, one or two people from a bunch of teams felt more likely, but it was hard to say without any true confirmation.

Hedera left for bed soon afterwards and Lily fell asleep at around the same time leaving Kat awake and alone. She’d slept plenty recently, even with Lin waking her up… so she decided to stay awake longer. The cupboards here had good preservation enchantments on it, and Kat decided to make the most of those. She continued her cooking spree, preparing things for everyone to eat or for Steel to claim once they’d moved on. Well, that or Thyme perhaps. Kat didn’t really mind who ate the food, she was just using it as a way to pass time and feeling useful while doing so.

Kat found she was still wired from everything that happened today. The breakout and the announcement that three people were out of the contest being the main things keeping her up. Kat wanted to pass the time but felt like there was too much energy moving beneath her skin to sleep properly. Simply sitting around worrying didn’t feel right either. She’d addressed… at least some of those concerns and brooding so soon after her last attempt at it felt wrong.

So she kept working into the early hours of the night. Kat prepared as many dishes as she could, making use of the large kitchen and the fact it had two ovens, one that was quite large indeed. She could separate things out over multiple layers, keeping the slower roasts towards the bottom shielded somewhat… or at least that was the case for the larger oven. It was somewhat strange the smaller one just heated everything evenly.

Kat even managed to make some ice cream! That hadn’t been on the planned list but she’d found a small chest that kept things frozen inside it. Originally, it was mostly empty with only a single glass of ice inside of it. The fact it was frozen to the bottom of the box implied it might have been there for some time, or perhaps it was simply that good at keeping things cool.

So Kat gathered the ingredients to make ice cream. It wasn’t hard once you knew what to do and had the few ingredients it required. Made easier by the fact she could manually churn the ingredients with her arms instead of relying on a more complicated setup. It would freeze perhaps a bit too well, but unlike some of the other kids, Kat never minded the icy bits. They gave a nice crunch to the dessert without diluting the taste much or adding anything else to it. Though of course, Kat was also quite partial to adding fruit to the mix when it was the right kind of ice cream.

In this case, Kat ended up making something close a strawberry ice cream. There wasn’t really any vanilla around that she could see, and while the fruits she juiced weren’t strawberries they tasted pretty similar and the juice was that same pink colour so… strawberry ice cream it was dubbed. Kat debated on if she should add nuts to the main dish but decided against it. Not everyone was a fan, and sometimes she wasn’t either so it was best to let people add that later if they wanted.

Finally, early in the new morning Kat finally made it to bed. Picking Lily up to take upstairs as well of course. No reason to leave her asleep in the kitchens. Lily stirred a little at being moved before returning to sleep. Kat found that after a few hours of cooking she was a lot calmer and soon followed her girlfriend into the gentle embrace of the night.

It didn’t stop Kat from waking early in the morning to prepare the table for breakfast. Kat didn’t bother cooking anything else at least, she’d prepared more than enough food for everyone and even a few specific things intended to be breakfast at some point. Hedera had her favourites and so did Lily, but Appoline went to the effort of trying a little of everything that Kat had placed on the table. Even if she clearly wasn’t a fan of a few things.

The real worry was that every few bits she’d rub at her throat and Kat wondered if perhaps the damage was a bit more serious than simple cosmetic flaws. Considering what had needed to happen for her to get those wounds… it was quite possible there was a more serious issue at play. Kat worried about that a touch, but decided not to say anything about it. Conversation around the table was kept light for a time and Kat didn’t want to change that.

At least, not personally. When Steel turned up the mood did shift. “Greetings,” Steel said with a nod around the table. “I’m afraid I have some… potentially bad news. Certainly expected but a touch annoying. I’m already being pressured to have you come and look at things Appoline. Of course I’m also being pressured to do more, but having you at least investigate things is essentially non-negotiable at this point. If I don’t convince you to come along now… I’ll probably have to come back with a squad and magic binding cuffs. I’m afraid it’s too big of an issue,”

“It’s fine,” grumbled Appoline as she chewed on the bit of salad she had in her mouth. “I knew it was going to come up and I get that it’ll be less of a hassle to just go look into it. I’ll want something in exchange if it proves to be a real problem though. I’m all but out of ingredients after all,”

Steel shrugged, “I’ll see what I can do but I don’t have as much authority in this matter as I’d like. The King and the other advisors have put their fingers on the issue so I’m not entirely free to deal with it myself. Depending on what you’re after I might not have the budget either but I get the feeling what you want isn’t too rare…”

“Might be a bit of an issue considering what my family has been up to recently,” countered Appoline. “Any word on what is going to happen there?”

Steel shrugged, “Unless you want to point out a specific person responsible for your imprisonment? There isn’t much I can do.”

“Bullshit,” cursed Appoline.

“No really. You still have the estate listed as your main place of residence and your family. There are… surprisingly few laws involving restricting a family member to the house. If it wasn’t your main address I could do a lot more, or if you were a child there are different laws that come into effect… but the laws essentially overlook the idea you can be held in your own home against your will. There might be exceptions for if a burglar does it… but well… it’s their house too so…” Steel trailed off with a shrug.

“Of course,” sighed Appoline. “Let’s get to this then…”