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

Chapter 2064: Chapter 2064 Inter- Mission Cleanup

--- Kat ---

Kat had never before been more grossed out by cleaning someone. She was in fact, surprised that she was grossed out at all. Kids got into a truly staggering amount of messes and cleaning up the kid themselves was usually her job, not Gramps. Both because it was theoretically less work, and because it was also less awkward to ask of her then for Gramps to do it himself, especially with the newer kids. Not that Kat thought it was strange, but she knew the other kids did.

This meant, she’d seen her fair share of dirty kids. She’d seen big messes. She’d cleaned herself up a time or two after taking a plate of food to the chest so that Lily wouldn’t be hit. All of that is to say that whatever nonsense they’d used on this man had to be magical in nature because the dirt just kept on coming.

His hair was the worst part, including the beard Kat hadn’t initially realised he had. Kat and Lily had moved on Greenhouse over and started to hose the man down. Initially, they focused on cleaning off his long dirty hair. Caked with muck and extending down to about his shoulders. Dirt flowed from his hair along with the water, and seemed to just keep going. As if the small river of dirt wasn’t even the beginning.

Kat had decided to get a bit more extreme at that point, especially as the man hadn’t woken up. The hose was turned up until it was essentially blasting the man and they started to use it as a discount power washer. His clothes had been peeled off in pieces. The sad truth was, the man had clearly been down there for a LONG time. His clothes weren’t really held together, instead they were a collection of patches stuck to his skin via mud and dirt.

At least the mud on his body was responding better then the stuff in his hair. Kat was able to clean it all off in a reasonable amount of time... but there were some worries along the way. His skin was clearly not healthy. The dirt being removed had left it red and almost pulsating. A few different wounds were also revealed, long since sealed with blood and dirt. They didn’t seem infected though, which was weird considering the aforementioned dried blood and dirt.

Things were taking a while at this point, so Kat decided to make use of her transformation abilities to help with the process. She also didn’t want quite so much detail regarding the man’s body. Instead, they sealed up a few pots with Lily’s shadows and then Kat dumped as much water as she could in both of them. Lily would then pour the water out and over man and TRY to get him clean. It was still an ongoing process.

His beard was another problem area. They hadn’t even realised he had one at first, but as they cleaned things out more they realised that he did have a beard, it had just been pinned down by yet more dirt. At this point they were starting to wonder if the prison had been dug out using this guys face or something because it was getting a little ridiculous. After thirty minutes of intense cleaning, with no end yet in sight, Kat had to ask. *Is this still worth it? I’m not against helping a guy out a bit but we’re STILL CLEANING THIS GUY.*

[Counter point. The alarms haven’t gone up yet and surely they wouldn’t keep someone for long enough to have all this dirt build up if he wasn’t important? I think we’ve already spent long enough cleaning him that it’s worth just going the rest of the way. Though it is odd that a specific area is clean and hidden behind proper underwear.]

*Probably Thyme ensuring nobody is traumatised. Plus, cleaning it otherwise would probably hurt. So I’ve just been ignoring that fact.*

Lily gave a mental shrug and acknowledgement of the issue and got back to cleaning. Kat, in a moment of crackpot insanity and surprising wisdom, managed to find a nearby rake and started using that to clean the guy’s hair. It was a small one, luckily and not a full sized one. Still, it worked surprisingly well to start pulling the muck from the man’s hair rapidly. Though it was likely safe to say that the floor was going to take some effort to clean now. Luckily that wasn’t her problem.

Once the guy was finally clean, his wounds were quickly dressed, using the cloth from the mages in the basement back at the other greenhouse... and she’d grabbed a different one’s cloak to provide something resembling proper clothing for their new ’friend’. Almost like it was scripted, perhaps because it was... the man woke up. Once he was clothed and clean his eyes shot open and glanced around the room.

”Who are you?” asked the man. His voice rasping and quiet. Clearly it hadn’t seen much use recently.

”I’m Kat, and this is Lily. We’re looking for someone imprisoned here... and we were wondering if you could help us out. We were also wondering what got you locked up down there?” asked Kat.

”Heh, I was a bit too smart for my own good. You see, the name is Sam Digger and I am... was? The best damned architect in the Digger family. At least fifty years ago anyway...” mumbled Sam Digger.

”Wait FIFTY years?” hissed Kat.

The man nodded, ”I think, something like that anyway. Might have been longer. I was somewhat well taken care of for a while. You see, I don’t really follow my families desire to leave the city, instead I struck out on my own. Taking jobs for anyone who’d pay. Nothing illegal of course, I was trying to stay away from that life...”

Sam shook his head. ”Should’ve stayed away. After a good run of jobs for a few decades I was approached by the family. Said the Fleurs had a job for me. All above board they’d claim. I was meant to completely overhaul the underground tunnel system, as well as a number of the hidden bunkers. It was... a LOT of money. Plus, they assured me that full permission was granted for everything. Which... well I saw the permission slips and they seemed legitimate?”

Sam rubbed the side of his face. ”I can hardly remember them now though. Might have been fake. The money basically was. Once I finished with the designs and a good chunk of the work I was knocked out and locked up. They didn’t want to just kill me in case it angered the family... but they also didn’t want someone walking around with full knowledge of their hidden tunnels and whatnot.

”I was a hostage for a while, but I think my family must have known this was going to be the outcome. They pretty much left me for dead. After that there were a number of years that the Fleurs used to try and break me. A contrast of near total isolation but quite upscale accommodations. I could ask for almost anything and get it... but not my freedom. Lucky I didn’t have a wife or kids. Had people I considered friends but,” Sam shrugged. ”Not sure if anyone of them even came looking for me. Hard to think of them as friends after all this time.”

[Yeah... can you ask about that? He doesn’t look fifty let alone, what seventy plus?]

”Speaking of time... to interrupt for a moment... how have you managed to stay so young? Surely if it had been fifty years you’d look older?” asked Kat.

”I’m Rank 3,” rasped the man.

”Really?” asked Kat.

Sam tried to shrug but winced as he did so, perhaps pulling on some of his newly cleaned wounds. ”I probably don’t have that sort of power anymore. My mana channels are fucked. My body is fucked, and I’m not even certain this isn’t a hallucination. Wouldn’t be the first time I remember being freed... though I DO hurt a lot more than normal so I’m leaning towards real.”

”We had to clean way more dirt off of you then should be physically possible,” explained Kat as she tried to ignore the implications of the other things he said.

Sam nodded, ”That... makes some sense? Maybe? I don’t think I’ve ever been that dirty but I suppose a proper scrubbing would do that to a man.” Not quite what I mean but sure. ”Still, not sure I even count as a Rank 2 at the moment with how much it hurts.”

”That’s fine. We’d mostly be looking for information if anything,” explained Kat.

”Haa... I can’t be sure what’s changed. Even before my treatment got drastically downgraded I wasn’t allowed to see everything. Plus, I didn’t do all of the work, just drafted plans for most of it. I suppose I can direct you to the most likely spots for... whoever you’re looking for?”

”A prisoner specialising in poison. Rank 2 I think?” kat offered.

”Hmmm... alright give me a moment to think. See how much rust I need to shake off my old memories...” wheezed Sam.