Chapter 918 Chapter 917: Dinner Time
"So how'd it go? Was your wand worth the material cost, or is it a flop?"
Belian glanced at Anput and I as we entered the camp once more, the older Demon lounging on a chair that he had made for himself that allowed him to look over the entire camp and assume an important looking position despite not doing much at all currently.
"It went better than expected honestly. I had low expectations for just how much of an improvement there would be with the addition of a focus, but it actually provided a sizable increase to my mana's potency... though perhaps I simply am far too much of a 'purist' when it comes to mana, since I thought the same with Magic Pens... It would seem that I need to start viewing things more neutrally instead of dismissing them right off the bat without any evidence..."
"Yes... who would have thought being unbiased might just yield some intriguing results to things? That is an impressive logical feat right there, Kat... impressive indeed..."
Giving the man a dry stare, I rolled my eyes and instead turned to Leone as I said "I think something similar to this would benefit you immensely, truly. Let's just say it's a 5% to 10% buff to your mana's power, right? That percent increase for you is going to be exponentially larger than the percent increase that I am receiving, which is already rather good. I hope we find some unattuned mana crystals soon, or at least earn enough money to buy a solid Core and other Fire attuned materials to construct a staff for you."
"If you do end up needing to buy materials, at the very least you'll be able to make some back - sort of - since I would like to commission a few weapons, armor, and wands or staves from you and Anput if at all possible? I believe that would do us both well, hm?"
Jahi pursed her lips at that, while Leone raised a brow as she asked "I thought that the Cimeriesa's had a rather deep understanding on how to create and maintain wands and staves? And a rather adept skillset to produce them too? Why place a commission with us instead of just working in house?"
"It's rather simple, isn't it? Surely you can answer your own question? Why would I go ahead and ask a third party to produce something that I myself am able to produce easily? What do I - and in turn, my Clan - receive for commissioning you?"
I was about to answer when Jahi dryly said "To ensure that there is some good will and communication between us and you. Foster a relationship between the new generation of the Asmodia Family to circumvent my Mom and hope that by doing so, you might be able to convince me and my new sisters to potentially reforge the bonds between the three Clans again. That's what your goal is, correct?"
We all stared at Belian and watched as his smile widened into a grin, the Demon not denying Jahi's claim and instead saying "Simply wanting to be as efficient as possible, hm? I don't think you realize just how incredible it is to be able to forge a wand at such a tender age - it's not unheard of, or insanely rare, but it is still impressive. Being able to be on good terms with a blacksmith like that is always a good idea, and it just so happens that the woman she's engaged to is someone I also want to be on good terms with~! Besides that, there's the fact that if we do business now, we can do business again in the future, no? For weapons, armor, potions, enchanted items... recruit the services of some excellent warriors and mages? Is that not a valid goal?"
Rolling my eyes, I just said "It is, but I don't think I'm too thrilled about the idea...", which only made the others nod as they gave Belian a slightly distrusting gaze, something that made the man chuckle as he shrugged and replied "You might not be thrilled about me personally, but when I open the drawstrings of my coin purse..."
"Yeah yeah... money makes things better, I know. Trust me, out of us four I understand that the most..."
The other three all turned and pouted, 'betrayal' painting their faces in an interesting way as they tried to guilt me into saying that it wasn't true, despite me being the one in charge of our finances and being able to understand the differences between what we were earning, what we needed to spend, and what we wanted to spend... though that was what allowed them all to be the people they wanted to be, even if those people were really, really expensive and required lot of managing...
"As long as we can understand that reality of the world~! Some people like to cling on to worthless morals and prejudices in the face of cold hard coin, which I find to be stupid beyond belief. It's refreshing to find someone who can put that aside and instead just appreciate the money itself~!"
That made me shake my head, but I remained quiet and instead moved the ice chest over towards the kitchen, instantly grabbing the attention of everyone as they watched me pull out the various slabs of venison and other meats from the chest, stacking them on the table and preparing to get them seasoned and sliced into serviceable strips and chunks for the inevitable feast to come.
Like usual, the meat heavy carnivore diet was something that I was alright with so long as it wasn't a permanent plan going forwards for all our meals, but even so I was already growing tired of 'cooking' the same few things; steaks, stews, steaks again, perhaps a stew to spice things up?
It was all the same, so it was boring to make each and every meal, especially since I knew that anything I made to go alongside it wouldn't be properly appreciated and enjoyed like it would if I was cooking for 'normal' people.
There was only so many side dishes that the Demons enjoyed or were 'willing to tolerate' alongside their steaks, and even they were 'simple' to make; vegetables braised in a thin meat broth, bread, and pasta.
All of it made me rather irritated the longer I made it, but I couldn't deny that the simplicity was what made this not unbearable after an entire day of fighting, harvesting and walking; if I was expected to make some high quality meal each night, I might be even more irritated... so this was just my irrationality bleeding though into my thoughts.
Putting my head down and beginning to sear as many steaks of venison as I could, I then got to work on the dough for the breads using some of the flour that we had restocked on before coming back down here, creating something that wasn't the tastiest but was quite filling, as well as rather thick and heavy.
Something to help fill stomachs quicker and put down the meat consumption even by a pound per Demon present... if that was at all possible.
Cooking allowed me to just think about nothing and skip through time with relative ease, moments passing by only for me to realize it had been minutes and not just a few seconds; the constant moving and altering of heat and position and adding or reducing things just made for a task that encompassed a lot of processing power in the brain, which was rather nice, especially since the end result was so tasty and necessary for my continued survival.
As I was cooking everything for dinner for everyone, the others were continuing to refine the materials we had harvested into their processed forms, be it ores into ingots, hides into leathers, herbs into potions or whatever else needed to be done, all while Belian watched it happen from his chair, not lifting a finger to help, but thankfully not getting in the way either, which I guess was good enough.
The scent of cooking meat was what spurred everyone on to working as hard as they could, wanting to earn the meal that was coming and ensure that their stomachs were as empty as possible and ready as possible for the sheer amount of food that they were yearning to consume to replace the calories lost, something that had only become so familiar now that I had been living with a veritable black hole masquerading around as a Demoness for a few years...
The amount that could go in to replace what was expelled through energy seemed impossible, but clearly it was thanks to the fact that it happened over and over again, so I had given up on trying to understand how the stomachs of the Demons worked, especially since it was clear that a portion of the answer was enough for me; it's just magic, and nothing else...
That was all I needed nowadays to understand something, my desire to know being tempered by the reality that sometimes, it was just magic that made things possible here.
With how simple the meal was, it didn't take long at all to amass a mountain of meat that was meant for the Demons to feast upon, nor was the baking of the bread something that took too long either with the effective ovens I had that were able to be regulated thanks to the Demon that I was 'employing' for a cheap fee of an extra juicy steak.
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