D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2251 Broken Twigs

--- Kat ---

Stepping inside Appoline made her way straight to bed... and by that Kat meant she took one look at the first couch she could see and then collapsed onto it. After a few seconds it became clear that Appoline really was asleep... and that made Kat wonder just how tired the elf was. It might also explain a lot of her issues with Steel. A lack of sleep could certainly make someone paranoid or see things that weren’t there.

Still, that was no reason not to ensure that Appoline wasn’t comfortable. The elf had literally just walked up to the couch and faceplanted onto it. She was currently lying mostly upright and her feet were still on the floor. Kat gently shifted her to ensure that she was in a more comfortable position, slipping a pillow under Appoline’s head and a second under her legs because this particular couch was just one of two in the room and wasn’t that long. This way there was no gap where her legs were raised to rest on the armrest.

Kat debated for a moment over finding a blanket or not, but seeing as Appoline was breathing calmly and it wasn’t particularly cool out, Kat saw no reason to disturb her further. Listening to the rest of the house to hear what was going on, Kat could pick out two voices and some splashing around. It was probably Tanisha and Furen playing around in the bath. Kat didn’t really want to eavesdrop... so she turned her focus to the other sound.

Following it out into the backyard, Kat found Hedera as expected. Though what was less expected was for her to be surrounded by wood chips. "Hey Hedera what’s up? It looks like you’re failing to make arrows..." Which was weird because Hedera was actually good at that...

"That’s because I’m currently failing to make arrows," or Hedera could simply agree.

"What is the issue? Is that some sort of fancy wood you’re not used to working with?" asked Kat.

Hedera shook her head, "No, while you were away I got some interesting tips to make my arrows stronger... and while I’m fairly sure they’ll work once I get the runes down properly, writing the runes without proper equipment is a massive pain. The wood is also not the best for this sort of work... but I’m trying to force it anyway."

"What’s the difference between now and when you were practicing? Assuming you managed it before?" asked Kat.

"Well, before I wasn’t using arrow wood more of a bigger wooden cylinder, because yes the shape does matter. I was also using proper enchanter’s tools... and truth be told I wasn’t always successful. I only managed it once when I was practicing, and that stupid smug dwarf managed it a whole bunch of times. I lost count at like twenty," grumbled Hedera.

Hedera threw away another bunch of sticks before going to pick another arrow rod up and pausing halfway. "Actually, that reminds me. Here," Hedera opened her hand to reveal a silver brooch. It wasn’t very fancy, it was just a silver circle with a pin on the back. "If anyone asks technically it’s for you, Kat, but really it’s for Lily. If you press it twice and add a bit of mana then it sends out a wave to disrupt illusions. It’s pretty subtle and hard to notice, but the range is also shit because the idea is to keep it contained to your personal mana aura to keep it harder to see."

"Wait, people have mana auras?" asked Kat.

Hedera shook her head, "No, not really, not like you. It’s just that for more sensitive mages they can sort of tell how much mana someone or something has by their ’aura’ but that’s all it does. Well, it also protects your spells a bit and there are some other niche applications but don’t worry about it."

"Ah, yeah Lily informs me we already know about it," Kat admitted.

"I suppose it’s not all that relevant to you is it?" mumbled Hedera. "Anyway, take the thing, I’ve already got mine."

Kat glanced down at Lily who hopped down from Kat’s arms to transform, pin the brooch to her shit and then transform back, immediately returning to Kat’s arms. "What else did you get up to, and do you want some help?" asked Kat.

Hedera shook her head, "Nah this is something that I need to practice myself. I mean, maybe you can help dealing with the rubbish I guess but I’ll just make more and it’s not hard to move at the end so really, don’t worry about it. As for what else I got up to? Nothing anywhere close to as interesting as the enchanting session.

"I just went around and collected ingredients, mostly for Appoline but a few just for making food as well and checking in with a few projects for Steel... but it was all coded messages there. I don’t actually know what the status is for most of them, just want answer I gave back to Steel. Like, for one of them I had to ask ’How long until the crow flies home’ and the answer I got was ’After 3 egg dishes are broken’ but like... is that three days? Three weeks? Is it actually like, five or something?

"I genuinely have no idea. There was only two destinations for those projects but multiple projects and I had to write it all down. Though even that got destroyed after I finished my rounds so I can’t just show it off to you. I barely remember the answers by now because they were just nonsense. Which I guess is sort of the point. Though to jump back to the alchemy supplies, I’m surprised Appoline isn’t using them already."

Kat sighed, "Things got a bit tense on my end... and for Appoline specifically she hasn’t been sleeping. Apparently, and I’m annoyed I didn’t notice it properly, she’s not been sleeping properly since her incarceration. Down in the lab complex we were attacked during the first night and Appoline ended up playing a major part in the defence... and she hadn’t really slept since.

"I’m actually currently keeping my calming aura on her even now. It’s a little awkward to stretch it backwards and not just let it spread out into a dome, but it’s good practice, I don’t use it too much. I’m also trying not to cover upstairs but I’m less certain I’m managing that. Still it IS at least contained to the lot so I’m not going to beat myself up over it too much."

"Ah, if she’s been running on such little sleep it’s no surprise she collapsed," agreed Hedera.

"Well she, allegedly, had potions to help with it but I’ve never seen her drink them. I’d have to double check the wording she used in my memories to know if she actually had them on hand and was using them, or simply knew how to make the recipe. I also suspect that they’re not really for such prolonged use anyway," sighed Kat.

"Gee, sounds like you had a bit of a time of it," commented Hedera.

"Yeah well... it was weird. The only serious bit of combat we had with this old lady called Brook... who wasn’t actually Brook. They’re using some fancy potion to make them look like someone else. The rest of the attackers were... honestly really bad. The group that attacked me and Appoline while we were gathering ingredients was so bad they mostly took each other out, and the ones that came for us later were more a distraction for Brook to teleport away then a threat. Something we ARE annoyed with..." grumbled Kat.

"Oh... that is annoying. I wonder if they knew they were simply decoys?" pondered Hedera.

"No idea, but those are all of the big things we encountered," explained Kat. "Well, there was also that fancy flower but that’s not something I can really comment on. No attacks on your end?"

Hedera shook her head. "No. I did notice a few people watching the house somewhat suspiciously but I also know that at least a few of those people just live nearby and Steel hasn’t really used the place before. Sure they’re suspicious but they’re also probably just nosy neighbours. The problem of course is that they also won’t care about keeping certain things a secret even if they should."

"Sounds like there were SOME proper watchers though... right?" asked Kat.

Hedera shrugged, "Perhaps one... but the real worry would be the people that just walk by casually sometimes. They don’t seem to look, but I’m sure it gave away plenty of info..."

"Ah... the worry of not knowing who to worry about..." agreed Kat.