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

Chapter 2101: Chapter 2101 Packing Up for the Evening

--- Kat ---

Everyone just got back to work after Kat left. With the alchemists, they barely even stopped. Lily found that she had no trouble passing around items, just as Appoline explained. Though there was an odd feeling of wrongness that persisted when focusing on her shadows. Hopefully that would run out sooner rather then later. Lily had some worries about the fact she got hit by more than one burst of light magic, but she certainly wasn’t willing to risk breaking the translation ability on top of her shadow magic to ask Appoline some clarifying questions.

Kat was back in the poison and focusing more on speed then on ensuring she got the most out of every potion bottle. The way Kat maximised her effectiveness was to fly over an area, dropping potion bottles from up high, followed by a stone to shatter the bottle in the air... and then Kat just kept going. Kat continued in a line for quite a while, before doubling back and releasing another set of potions bottles along the way down, looping back to pick up the muck from the first round.

This meant Kat would find an area, perform a double loop, and then once everything was picked up, repeat the process. It burned through jars a lot faster, and Kat wasn’t sure how efficiently she was using their resources... but it was visibly reducing the amount of poison in the area. The thick clouds along the ground were thinning out, it was easier to see at a distance even if the clouds would still block things eventually.

Once Kat emptied her bag she went back for more... and once again got to repeating the process. A few slime monsters did show up but with things being less of a worry Kat simply committed to freezing them completely. Without the time crunch of stopping the poison from being generated, Kat could afford to just... wait around if she was low on mana, but the slimes had either taken to hiding or simply weren’t as numerous anymore so it never came up as an issue.

A message was passed along at some point that Steel had some news but wouldn’t be sharing it until everyone took a break for dinner. This message also served as a reminder and firm warning that they WOULD be breaking for dinner. The guard was planned to be lightened over night to finally give the guards a bit more of a proper break and Steel really didn’t want to spare the men needed to keep watch over Appoline and the other alchemists.

They were far too important to risk, but the fact of the matter was, even with the guards calling on plenty of reserve members they’d had hardly any breaks at all over the most recent week. Some of those people had other jobs that needed doing as well. It wasn’t just retired guards or those a bit young to be trusted with full duties, but other adults that had shifted careers or simply accepted the extra training in exchange for being called upon in a crisis.

A week of nearly back to back issues were not what they signed up for, and the ones with other careers might have a backlog of orders, or crops that need tending to at this point. Even with the break Steel was hoping to give to everyone the reserves still weren’t fully back to whatever they normally went. It was simply that he could rotate a smaller number of less dedicated reserves out to other projects.

When night fell, Appoline barely flinched but Tweedle and Fred had a much harder time managing to keep the brew going. Despite the fact that they should have quite a lot of practice so far they relied far too much on their eyes instead of feeling out the potion with their magic. Appoline could do this all with her eyes closed, not because it made it harder, but because she was barely using her eyes to begin with.

Still... Kat flew down not long after and reminded everyone they’d been asked to take a break for dinner. Appoline sighed, but indicated she’d just finish up this last batch before agreeing to leave. Tweedle pouted mightily... and in exchange got invited over for dinner. By Appoline, ”Sure you can come and eat dinner with me. We can chat some more then,”

*Um... hmm... should we like... say anything? I mean it’s not our house but it really isn’t Appoline’s house either.*

[I imagine if we mention anything Appoline will say something like ’Steel is barely using the house and he’s forcing me to work on cleaning up someone else’s mess for minimal reward. If you can’t manage a meal then why am I even bothering to help?’ or perhaps something more along the lines of ’You spent how much on ingredients to fix someone else’s problem but an extra meal is a step over the line?’]

*Counter point, I’m pretty sure Tweedle and Fred get paid. Also it’s probably going to be me cooking for everyone.*

[Why are you bothering to cook for everyone when you already made a bunch of meals that are basically ready to eat?]

Kat didn’t like the fact Lily was using solid logic on her. Kat really had been planning to make more food for dinner once they got home... and even with Tweedle joining in that plan hadn’t really changed despite the fact Lily had rightly pointed out they already had quite a lot of pre-prepped food at Steel’s house.

*Alright so you make a good point but I’m probably still going to make fresh stuff. One extra person isn’t much of an inconvenience if it even is one at all... but it’s still sort of rude.*

[Yeah maybe but I get the feeling Appoline really does not care.]

*You’re probably not wrong...*

Things were packed up soon, with the extra ingredients going into boxes... but with most of the equipment being left out. When Kat sked about it, Tweedle said, ”We’ve got people who clean these, plus I don’t actually know where this set is normally stored. Some guard will be assigned the duty as the last part of the shift and then head home afterwards,”

”You don’t clean your own cauldron?” asked Appoline.

”Normally I do!” Tweedle was quick to insist. ”I just... I know that the guards prefer to clean and stores the communal sets for some reason. I think it might be a liability thing, or perhaps the quartermaster just likes to ensure everything is properly cleaned? I used to clean them myself, but one of the guards told me off for making extra work for myself and well...”

”Hmmm,” intoned Appoline, not voicing approval or disapproval, just indicating that she’d heard the answer. Tweedle continued to fidget after this declaration until they started to get moving. Appoline did glance towards Fred, perhaps thinking about inviting him along... but ultimately the man just left without any further comments, either from him or anyone else.

Tweedle’s composure didn’t last long. Not even five minutes into the walk back she cracked and asked, ”What does that even mean? Should I still be cleaning the cauldron even after I was asked not to? I mean I do check them before use but I don’t usually need to do extra cleaning there...”

Appoline shrugged, ”I didn’t really mean anything by it. I’m not sure it’s the choice I’d make. I feel responsible for all of my equipment and rarely do I use equipment maintained by anyone else... but I don’t see anything inherently wrong with your decision. In case you didn’t notice in your panic I didn’t clean the cauldron out either, though that was more from lack of proper tools to do so, and the fact we were nearly out of water just made it an easier decision.”

”Oh,” mumbled Tweedle. ”So... it doesn’t matter?”

Appoline shrugged again, ”I wouldn’t say it doesn’t matter at all, and it’s always better to take care of your own equipment rather then hire someone else to do it... but that wasn’t your cauldron was it?”

”Um... no. It wasn’t even the one I normally use when working with the guard. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that one before, it might be brand new actually. Hmmm... no it didn’t quite seem new, but it was pretty close to it,” mumbled Tweedle.

Appoline nodded. ”I find that not being willing to clean your own equipment shows a disregard for details and a lack of care towards the occasional delicate instrument... but cauldrons are big hunks of metal at the end of the day. They require the least care and some people who routinely make the same potion will deliberately NOT clean them out to slightly improve their recipes.”

”Oh, I had heard about that. So... it’s real?” asked Tweedle. ”I mean, does it work? Not do people do it.”

Appoline nodded, ”People certainly do it and it does have an effect but it’s a bit more complicated then just ’does it make something better’ so... allow me to explain a bit for you.”