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

— Kat —

Kat smiled as the old man hugged Elly. Though it was a bit awkward hanging around with a sleeping kid nobody had told her the name of. Char however, was less willing to indulge in this. “Everyone safe now. Dress wounds,”

The wolf man didn’t take it badly though, he just nodded and gestured for them to come inside. Stepping inside the tent Kat quickly realised it was bigger on the inside by a considerable margin. She had a suspicion as to what one of the payments for this job was.

The old man directed them over to a flat area with some skinned rugs where he gently laid Elly down and gestured for Kat to do the same. “If those get a bit dirty then so be it. They’re comfortable enough the kids won’t get hurt and honestly I’d rather not use the beds for this,”

As he was walking over to a big chest in the corner the old man said, “I realised I never introduced myself. My name is Merric and I’m quite thankful you found my daughter. Food and rewards will have to wait though,”

When he threw the chest open a pungent scent of medicinal herbs wafted out from it. The chest had been sealed quite well to keep the smell in and the water out. Help the medicine last longer. As Merric was grabbing supplies he asked, “Oh, can one of you grab some water from my stores and boil it? I can be a bit lazy about that honestly. The stuff from the lake is a lot cleaner than you’d think… but for this it really should be sterilised,”

Kat glanced around the room… and didn’t see an obvious spot for the water to be. She knew there was a fire outside she could use to boil it but the water storage? No idea. Char however did seem to know as she quickly walked over to a cupboard set into the ground and threw it open. Inside was about a dozen waterskins all but one seemingly full. Char grabbed one and headed outside with it, and Kat glanced after her for a moment before turning back to Merric. “Um… seems like Char has that handled, is there anything you want me to do?”

“Ah… can you head outside and tidy up the stuff I had out for dinner? Just move the pot inside and place it on that table over there,” Merric gestured vaguely in the direction of a table sitting against the wall. “If you place the pot on the centre where there’s a metal circle, that should keep it warm. The rest of the stuff just need to be wiped down and placed in the steriliser cupboard which underneath the table. It doubles as a footrest,”

Kat nodded and headed outside only to run into Char in the doorway. “Need empty pot to boil water,” said Char as she stepped past. Kat nodded and continued on her way. With immunity to fire it wouldn’t be hard. Kat picked up the pot from where it was and carefully made her way back inside just in case Char was rushing. In the end, it wasn’t an issue, Char was walking and had been a good distance from the ‘door’ when Kat went back inside.

From there it was just a few trips in and out moving things. Merric had clearly planned for an outdoor dinner to celebrate finding his granddaughter… and based on how large and full the giant pot had been he’d probably planned to feed the whole neighbourhood just in case. With things settled Kat was working to move all of the cutlery back inside. *Does this really need to be sterilised?*  Thought Kat as she grabbed another handful of clearly unused cutlery. *Then again, he’s panicking a fair bit at the moment so it’s quite likely he just wasn’t thinking about it properly.*

In the end, Kat made sure there was enough bowls and spoons for everyone to eat with and then started to run the rest through the steriliser. It was a quick process, much more convenient then stuff back on Earth. You just dumped them inside. Hit the rather obvious button that even worked for her, and then there was a bright flash and a ding, then the box snapped open.

Seeing how fast it was… Kat decided to just run everything through it. Kat finished first, while Merric seemed to be in the process of double checking the kids for extra wounds under their clothes. Kat saw him rolling up the boys sleaves and pant legs to check before nodding and rolling them back down. It was something of a ‘hurry up and wait’ situation while the water got to boiling.

Eventually, it was time. Kat knew as much because Char was hissing outside and cursing the pot. Deciding to make herself useful Kat simply went outside and grabbed it with bare hands. Char followed her back inside pouting all the way and Merric got started on cleaning out the wounds. Emphasis on ‘got started’.

“Move over. You not doing this properly,” grumbled Char.

“I beg your pardon?” asked Merric.

“You too weak. Gently wipe at top of wound. Useless when I see gravel IN wound. You not want to hurt Elly. Char understands… but you doing this wrong,” Char stated.

Merric sighed, “Fine, I trust you can do this properly?”

“Yes but no complaining,” stated Char. Merric sighed again but nodded and stepped back letting Char sit down instead. Snatching up the cloth that Merric had been using and dipping it into the water before bending down and carefully running it along the wounds before glancing around and frowning again. “You have any small brushes?”

“Um… maybe?” said Merric uncertain.

“Nevermind,” grumbled Char as she started to carefully brush out the various bits of dirt that was hiding inside the larger cuts. Kat didn’t exactly enjoy watching the process and really wished she hadn’t already finished with all the cutlery cleaning and whatnot.

After a few minutes of this, Char cleaning and Merric watching nervously he turned to Kat. “Well… urm… hmm… I’m just stressing myself watching this even if it’s the right idea. I’ve got some orbs saved up so I can afford to let go of quite a few…”

“Actually, a quick question… how exactly are the orbs used as currency? Like, I get that they ARE but they’re everywhere right? Wouldn’t that cause issues?” asked Kat.

Merric nodded, “Well I can see where you got that idea but we use them to power plenty of things. Anything heavily enchanted needs a steady supply of those orbs before we crush them and send them back to nature where they… somehow recharge. Honestly I don’t really know how that part works but it keeps things running around here.

“It’s why we can use them as currency actually. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE has at least one thing around the place that they need a few orbs to power. Some people need a lot more, others a lot less. The blacksmith and the potter for example need quite a few to keep everything all running… and the baker doesn’t. Nobody is really sure how they manage it. Keeps the food cheap around here and we’re all quite thankful for that but it IS strange,”

*Hmmm… quest suggestion? Investigate the baker? Perhaps they’re doing something shady? Or maybe this is just an implication that I can get a bunch of rewards from them because they’re not using the orbs to power the oven. I can think of one really simple answer as to how they’re managing it. Though… hmmm… surely the town would’ve thought of that? Mol isn’t exactly hiding her earth magic.*

“Ah… thanks for that. I’m new to town obviously and I wasn’t entirely sure how things were meant to work,” explained Kat.

Merric nodded. “That’s fine. There are a few other ways for orbs to stay cycling. Mostly via taxes, but because our community is small and we’re a bit lacking in contact with everyone else… well it just goes right back into the community. The blacksmith’s current more powerful furnace was funded by taxes for example, and the lake and roads are maintained by them for example…

“But I’m sure you don’t want to hear the exact details so let’s get to payment. I’ve actually got a few different sizes of orbs hanging around and the bigger ones are a bit more finicky to use. So… I can offer you either ten of the small ones, five for the next size up, three of the size after that or finally two of the one above that. I’ve heard there’s a bigger size but I’ve never seen them,”

“I’ll just take the small ones thanks,” said Kat while trying not to roll her eyes. Perhaps the townsfolk got more out of the bigger ones then she did… but the exchange quickly lost out in value. Three of the three hour ones? Two of the four hour ones? Might as well not bother. Taking the smallest ones was mostly so she could split them evenly with Hedera. Speaking off… shouldn’t they be waking up soon?

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