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

Chapter 2059: Chapter 2059 Flower Arrangement Part 2

— Kat —

“Alright,” said Lin as she dumped a big map on the table. “This is a map of the Fleur lands. They own quite a bit of it, and it’s not too far away from the poison mess you were dealing with yesterday-”

“Don’t you mean earlier today?” asked Hedera.

“It’s past midnight, I mean yesterday,” Lin cut in with a bit of a glare. Hedera winced at the fact she spoke out of turn and started to sip at her teacup. This was made extra awkward by the fact that everyone knew that there wasn’t anything IN the cup.

Lin nodded once things were quiet again. “Alright, if you take a look here, you’ll see the main house,” Lin tapped a building that took up a good chunk of the space on the page. “Appoline likely won’t be hidden here but I’m not certain of that. You may wish to look around, but the main house is well guarded and well enchanted. I know not how well they can detect your presence.”

The main house was about a third of the way into the compound, with a series of stores right at the very edge, and a few gardens behind that. “Where you’ll really want to be looking is these,” Lin tapped the various smaller buildings that surrounded the main house. There were dozens of them stretching back all the way to what Kat to assume was the wall of the city.

“These buildings are the greenhouses that house Fleur keeps. Underneath each of them is a hidden bunker. I know not what is in each of them. As you might be able to guess, at least some of them are labs, and others are prisons. Some however, are just fanciful things. Take this one for instance,” Lin tapped a greenhouse that seemed pressed up against another building. “This house here is the head gardener’s house. The secret basement in his greenhouse is just a place to hang out.

“It’s filled with a high number of liquors, a small kitchen for cooking easy meals, and a number of books. It’s a frequent getaway for him and a number of his friends.” Lin spread her hands out wide. “I say this not because I think Appoline will be there, but because I need you to understand that there really can be quite a variety of things underneath these greenhouses. Actually…”

Lin shifted the map a bit so that she could point to one of the greenhouses just to the right of the main house. “This one here another good demonstration. This one is a pool and the plants in the greenhouse above it thrive on dirty water. They act as filters. The greenhouse is more of a support for the pool in truth. The plants inside don’t sell all that well.”

“Alright, so there’s a lot of greenhouses and we don’t know which one she’s in, or which ones are even worth checking?” asked Kat.

Lin nodded. “Indeed. These aren’t so easy to slip people into. At least, not most of them. As I mentioned, the head gardener is quite free with his, and the pool is open to just about everyone. The problem comes in the fact that there are a few different levels of defences… and yet all of that won’t matter because if you do get caught a bunch of the people in the main house will rush out. They also have a way to lock down the entire compound, preventing anyone from leaving. I expect you burn your way out despite that though,”

“Hmm… what sort of scale is this map?” asked Hedera.

“Mostly 1m-1cm but please keep in mind that many of the basements, greenhouses, and certainly the main house all have space expansion enchantments,” explained Lin.

“That makes breaking in a lot more dangerous,” Hedera grumbled.

“Indeed it does,” confirmed Lin. “They aren’t quite so weak that breaking down a wall will open up a rift in spacetime potentially dooming everyone to the void… but yes while I expect the battles to be intense try not to break too many walls down. Especially external ones.”

“That seems like something to go over first,” Kat added.

“It was my understanding that Lily was adept at sensing such things, so you would likely be able to tell,” countered Lin. Kat sighed but nodded along. [Yeah I definitely would’ve caught it. Though it also would’ve sucked if we, for example, dropped in on them as an opening move, breaking through the roof of a greenhouse and accidentally shattered not just the glass but space as well.]

“Alright so are there any we can cross out?” asked Hedera.

“A few…” Lin admitted. “The pool is out,” Lin pulled out a pen and crossed it out on the map. Lily immediately started to freak out because putting pen on a map that nice was a sin.

“Question before we continue,” Kat cut in. “Why are you drawing on an expensive looking map?”

“Well, one I’m rich, and two, because I’m rich I have erasable fountain pens,” answered Lin as she waved a glowing hand over the crossed out greenhouse. When she did so, the ink simply dissipated into nothing leaving behind the original map. Once Kat and Lily looked suitably awed, Lin crossed out the greenhouse once again. “Alright so no pool. I’d also say the gardener’s house is unlikely BUT if it was his faction that abducted her it’s not impossible.”

Lin added a question mark to that one. “These three,” Lin marked three greenhouses near the back corner of the property. “Are used as discreet exits to the neighbouring property, the sewers, and a secret tunnel back to the main property. Sure Appoline could be here… but I doubt it. Too easy to escape through, and remember Appoline is a member of the family.” Lin crossed out three more greenhouses.

As she was about to start making more marks, the front door opened and Steel strolled inside. Looked at them and said, “I know nothing about this. Unless Appoline wasn’t really kidnapped, in which case, Lin you’re going to jail.”

“Fair,” agreed Lin. Steel nodded at her response and then simply walked upstairs. Kat turned back, watching the empty stairs until she heard Steel’s bedroom door shut.

“Um…” Kat wasn’t sure what to say really.

Lin grinned, “I did know you’d want to inform someone. Now Steel has been informed,”

Kat rubbed her temples. “You told Steel before coming here didn’t you?” *Because I notice now that she never said one way or the other if SHE told them. Just that Hedera and I were free to. I sort of thought she was avoiding saying that she’d be happy for us to do so… not that she’d already done it.*

“Of course not. I sent him a letter instead,” countered Lin with a grin.

“Let’s just get back to the map,” sighed Kat.

“Sure,” teased Lin as she moved her eyes back over the map. “There really isn’t too many more to cover. This greenhouse here,” Lin tapped on in the very corner. “Contains the most poisonous plants the Fleurs oversee. I don’t know if that means Appoline is more or less likely to be held there. On the one hand, if they’re trying to force her to work for them, those are good ingredients. On the other hand, those are good ingredients and Appoline is likely far more aware of what they do then anyone else.

“There is also these two here…” Lin tapped two greenhouses on the edges. “They’re under renovation at the moment. Once again, I don’t know if that means they recently got a prison installed under them or if its just the standard maintenance. They tear down the greenhouses semi-regularly to ensure that they’re always in top condition and this isn’t unusual… but more work might’ve slipped in.”

Hedera nodded slowly. “So that’s everything of note?”

Lin shrugged, “Mostly yes. I could point out all of the ones that have ever served as prisons but I don’t rightly know if any of them currently have prisoners in them or even if they’re still prisons. There is also the prison under the main house that’s usually used for internal matters, which this theoretically is… but it grants far too much access to Appoline for the family to be happy with. Now that she’s been forced into this position they’d want her specifically under the thumb of the ones that grabbed her. Not available for the whole family, not when some would be quite happy to free her.”

“Is there a reason nobody else has?” asked Kat.

Lin shrugged, “I’ve heard a few different reports. Some say they’ll simply kill Appoline if they see anyone trying. Others report that it’s instead that they’ll kill anyone who does the freeing instead. There is also the fact that Appoline is probably immune to at least some of her poisons and they might be able to keep the air around her constantly inhospitable. Though that’s just what I’d do if I didn’t want anyone else trying to free her,”

“Great…” sighed Kat.