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

Chapter 2079: Chapter 2079 Chores for Lessons

— Kat —

Hedera sat down for a nap, with instruction to wake her in an hour or two, Lin left to go check up on some things, and Appoline decided that she was going to set up an alchemy area. Lily wanted to learn more, and Kat was conscripted as labour to carry things. “Are you sure we can even get the right materials to start setting things up?” asked Kat.

“Of course,” stated Appoline. “The best part is that I can make a lot of them with things I’ve already seen in the house. I don’t need to make everything though, because I bet Steel has more equipment locked away then he might think in a fancy house like this. If you cover the top floor where the bedrooms are, I’ll canvas the ground floor. You said Steel doesn’t really use the house right?”

Kat nodded slowly, “Yes… why?”

“Well I don’t want to get in trouble for snooping around. I’m certain there will be some equipment around, but if I stumble into a secret of some kind I’d rather it be the previous owners,” explained Appoline.

“Um… yeah he’s not here often and has only visited so regularly because Hedera and I are staying here,” explained Kat.

“Good. In that case, let me go over what I’m looking for. Some of these things are more likely to be found then others… actually do you know where you can get some paper? I can draw them all out,” offered Appoline.

Kat nodded and swiftly made her way to one of the studies. They had plenty of paper and even had a few self-inking quills. Handing them over to Appoline meant that a few minutes later she had a list of things. The more common items just had a name, like the glass vials, but more specialised equipment had diagrams. Some had multiple. Apparently there was a lot of different ways to make some of the things Appoline needed. Kat wondered how many were just acceptable substitutes.

Kat left to go check the cupboards and draws for things, but not even five minutes into her search she heard Appoline sing out for attention. Sighing a bit, Kat made her way back downstairs to one of the sitting rooms where Appoline stood smugly in front of a bookcase. A bookcase that had swung open to reveal a small room packed with alchemical supplies. “How?!” asked Kat.

Appoline tapped the side of her nose. “I could smell the old fumes when I entered the room.” Kat sniffed the room to try to identify what Appoline was talking about but didn’t smell anything strange. Looking to Lily who was resting in her arms, her girlfriend nodded. [It’s super faint. Like, if she hadn’t pointed it out I’m not sure I’d have found it… but she’s right. This stuff smells like really old herbs. Easily a few decades old maybe longer.]

“That’s crazy…” muttered Kat.

Appoline shrugged, “For an alchemist at my level you have to tailor your approach to the individual ingredients, as in taking note of how different examples of the same plant or monster part have slight differences. Smell is one of the best indicators of freshness after all and that too can affect things. This setup was used mostly for health potions I think. It also wasn’t cleaned that well, but if they were only making health potions I suppose that isn’t the worst thing.”

“Um… I feel like making health potions should require it to be EXTRA clean?” said Kat uncertainly.

Appoline shook her head. “That’s not quite how it works in alchemy, at least, not if you’re making the same thing every time. It’s a… dirty and unprofessional way to increase the potency of the potions you’re making… but theoretically if you’re only making the same thing every time? It does work. To a point anyway,”

“Really? How?” asked Kat.

“Essentially, it attunes the equipment to a certain frequency of mana and a certain end result. It makes it easier for the alchemist to make the same potion they did last time, especially once it builds up. The problem is that if you didn’t make it perfectly the first time it’s still going to try and push you to that imperfect potion. It also doesn’t account for the individual differences in ingredients. Plus, while it does help, you’re right in that it can get old and cause problems. If you’re constantly brewing in them it’s fine but if you let it set? Then its just bad. This stuff is long past that,”

“Ah… so it’s going to need cleaning?” asked Kat.

“Yup,” said Appoline as she flipped the cauldron around in her hand and passed it towards Kat. Kat had to quickly shift Lily up to her shoulder to take the metal pot before it hit the floor. “That’s going to be your first job.”

Kat sighed, “And why is that?”

“Because without any specialty things to clean it? You’re stuck with water and a scrubber. Not soapy water, not hot water, not some fancy chemical cleaner. Plain water and I’m afraid I’m a bit delicate after having my throat ripped out,” admitted Appoline.

Kat rolled her eyes, “Ok I can sort of understand some of those things… but why no hot water?”

“That’s actually more for your benefit then mind. As it is now, with a bit of water the gunk should soften up enough you can just peel it off the cauldron and then scrub afterwards. If you heat it, then it’ll be less solid and you’ll need to scrub everything to get it clean. I don’t need it done perfectly, I can probably catch any of the little issues anyway, I just need you to get rid of most of the old stuff,” explained Appoline.

Kat sighed but nodded. She already knew where to find the steel wool and that seemed like the thing for the job. Seeing as Appoline didn’t mention anything specific, nor stop her as she turned to leave Kat went right there and then ducked out into the backyard to get started on things. Pouring water inside Kat had a moment of wondering if perhaps using tap water instead of something fancier was a bad idea… and then decided she didn’t care. Especially after being volentold to clean equipment she wasn’t likely to use.

[Remember, I’ll get some lessons out of this.]

*Wait. Then why aren’t you doing this?*

[Because you’d rather do it yourself then risk my cutting myself on the steel wool even though I’m Rank 3? Especially when using my shadows might cause problems forcing me to use my real hands.]

*Oh, right.* Kat snickered as she got to work. The remnants she needed to scrub out were pretty obvious. It also seemed that Appoline was telling the truth. Even with the entire thing filled with water the gunk seemed pretty stuck on. Scratching through to the bottom Kat could then get a finger underneath it and pull. It wasn’t quite as satisfying as peeling large strips of dried paint was, but the feeling was similar.

It was a bit too heavy to come off all at once, and after you gathered a certain amount the piece disconnected from the rest of it. The only issue was that Appoline hadn’t mentioned what to DO with the stuff. It was probably rubbish but Kat knew from science class you had to dispose chemical properly on occasion. Was that the same here?

Without a proper idea, Kat simply placed it all in a big pile and kept scrubbing. Kat was intrigued when she realised there was multiple layers of this stuff, and some places were thicker than others, but neither Kat nor Lily had an idea of why that might be. As Kat was cleaning this up Appoline was making trips. She’d come out with a few things, leave them on the table and then head back inside.

Once Kat finished with the cauldron she turned to Appoline and said, “Finished with this cauldron. What do I do with the gunk?”

“Um… hmm… might be worth keeping to study. I’ve not really had the chance to look at something so old… not sure I’d get much useful out of it. More butcher paper perhaps?” mumbled Appoline.

“Ah… you did notice that. What happened to it anyway?” asked Kat.

“I put it in the cellar and clearly marked it just in case. I’m not sure why you kept it…” Appoline paused slightly.

For Kat to jump in. “In case you wanted to study it,”

Appoline nodded, “Good thought. I wouldn’t have been too annoyed if you hadn’t kept it but since you did? Yeah I want to study it. Same with the gunk. I think it was mostly healing potions but not entirely healing potions. It would be interesting to see if it counts as a proper ingredient itself and what that might mean. Though if it is useful I’ll have to find a substitute. Brewing healing potions for a year or two and then letting it set for a decade is possible, but would be a massive pain to manage. Especially if it’s a useful ingredient….”

“Alright so what next?” asked Kat.

“Well there are a few more cauldrons…” began Appoline.