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

Chapter 2253: Chapter 2253 Mo’ Pies, Mo’ Problems

--- Kat ---

Once the first wave of food was done, Kat started to gather everyone into the kitchen. Lily had only cleaned some of the grass, her shadow construct hadn’t been quite as stable as she’d hoped, but it was progress. Hedera had continued her practice with no further explosions which was always nice. Tanisha an Furen were called in easily, but the question of what to do with Appoline remained. Kat was hesitant to wake her...

But apparently the smell of food was enough to do that all on her own, because she came trudging into the dining room with bleary eyes. Kat shrugged and started to bring in some of the prepared dishes. "Go nuts, I’ve got like, twice this much still in the kitchen so feel free to eat as much as you want. It’s all fresh of course," Kat said with a smile as everyone dug in.

*You know... I think I might want to look into seeing if I can make fancy cooking with like, buffs and stuff after this is all done.*

[Is that a thing?]

*I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. I imagine it’s an offshoot of alchemy, or perhaps technically still alchemy. I’m not in a rush to dive into it... but I’ve enjoyed the cooking I’ve done here and if there was a way to notably elevate my dishes I think I’d take it.*

[Hmm, I’ll keep an eye out. Appoline might know... but she also made stab you if you asked.]

The meal was uneventful, even Tanisha managed to eat a reasonable amount... though only because the fact she was down a hand meant that Furen could physically stop her when she went for her fourth bowl. Still, nobody was groaning in pain at the end of it, and everyone enjoyed the meal so Kat considered it a job well done.

Once the meal was over, Kat moved back into the kitchen to wash up all the dishes with Lily as her helper. Once that was all done, Kat had planned to get back to cooking once it was all clean... but a yawn dragged her away from that feeling. Apparently things were catching up to her a bit... and it was probably a safe time to sleep. Appoline was currently in her room and hopefully doing the same...

A bit of back and forth with Lily, before it was decided that Kat would do a bit more prep work before sleeping. Kat got everything ready for a long, slow roast and then put it on the stove and just... left it there. The enchanted cooktops didn’t have any open flames after all. A quick note warning everyone about why its there and Kat was done, for now. The meat could roast overnight and should be fine.

After that Kat took a quick shower, just because she could, and then it was into bed. Of course, the thing about going to sleep meant that from your perspective, the morning wasn’t far away. Kat rose early and quietly checked on everyone just to make sure they were all ok and then got back to cooking. The roast was mostly done, so she took a bit of effort to carve it into slices for easy use and then plated it all up and stuck it in storage for later.

Kat then decided that, against her better judgement, she’d make pancakes again. The hope was that she’d get them all done before everyone woke up and a smaller, more reasonable number of pancakes could be offered. Kat’s hope proved correct as she was able to get done quite a few stacks before she heard any movement at all, and it was Hedera that got up first. This gave Kat enough warning to start putting away the pancakes and working on the toppings.

Which didn’t exactly take long. Slicing up some fruit and ensuring the various other toppings were in stock wasn’t hard. Once it was all packed away in storage and would remain at that temperature Kat went on to baking another loaf of bread. The previous one... well it had been made and cooked... but frankly the taste was pretty bad. Kat didn’t even know why. She was pretty sure the ingredients had all been portioned correctly.

Kat’s best guess, based on the specifics of why it tasted bad, was that the yeast here was at least a bit magical and had overpowered everything else. Kat wasn’t certain, and she didn’t have magic sense like Lily, who was currently still asleep, to check. Still, it wasn’t a major issue to do up another lot of dough. Though in this case, it was more like five that Kat made, all with slightly different ingredient ratios.

She couldn’t cook them all at once sadly, but she could keep them ready for when the first one was baked. Kat slid that into the bread maker and then got to work on doing some more salads. Another easy chore that didn’t take her long. Even still, once she was done it was breakfast time and Kat revealed the pancakes AFTER Tanisha had sat down. Tanisha’s eyes immediately went wide, but a glare from both Kat and Furen meant that she didn’t do anything stupid.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Appoline still looked like she needed sleep, and the only one inclined to make much noise was busy stuffing her face with pancakes. So nobody did much chatting until everyone split up afterwards. Kat didn’t each much herself, but it wasn’t a hassle to hang out with everyone.

Afterwards, Lily went to help Appoline with more potion things, Hedera followed into the backyard to continue her practice... though Lily did promise to have her shadows ready to contain any explosion. Hedera just needed to shout. Inside Tanisha and Furen were doing... something. Kat wasn’t actually sure. What Kat did know, is that nobody bothered her in the kitchen.

Kat’s next project, at least, after the bread was swapped out, was to make a few pies. There should be enough space in the oven for them all, and Kat could make quite a few with the varieties of fruits. Though that also meant that might not all be spectacular. She would also do a few meat pies of course.

First though, the bread. It smelt fine, but the other one did as well, at least to her. Kat didn’t know the intricacies of bread making or its smell after all. Kat scrapped off some of the extra bits and tasted one of them. It wasn’t immediately horrible so that was probably a good thing. Still, she could test it all later. A quick note on the ratios used and then Kat stuck the next one in the oven.

After that, the rest of the day consisted of checking on the bread occasionally, making and baking a large variety of pies, and using the leftover extras she had for a few salads. It was an easy way to use up the rest of the fruit, especially when she wasn’t hungry.

Lunch came and went with little fanfare. Kat wasn’t hungry and not too many other people were either. Kat left out one of her earlier pies just in case anyone did want to eat but it seemed only Hedera and Tanisha ended up taking a slice, despite the fact it was one of the fruit pies. Though that might have contributed to Lily skipping lunch.

Still, Kat found herself having a nice time. Even with all the cooking she was doing it wasn’t super stressful. If things didn’t turn out well, then that wasn’t the end of the world. There was no big meal coming up... Kat was just occupying her time in a productive way. Plus, it wasn’t like she knew what half of the fruits here tasted like roasted. Kat hadn’t bothered to check that part. Of course, all of that changed when right around six something happened.

"Everybody! The thing has happened! You will all find that the Centre has been unlocked! Technically anyway. You’ve got twenty-four long hours to get there and be ready for the true opening! Or maybe those hours will feel long! Or maybe you want to run away to avoid running into anyone else trying to get in. I’m not your mother, father, uncle or aunt! Do whatever you want with this information... just be ready because I won’t be telling you twice!" Thyme’s voice stopped after that... but it felt like the ringing continued.

Kat... didn’t really know what to think. Not just yet anyway. The fact that they’d managed to get a break before the ’next big thing’ was nice... but the fact that she had to leave with so many mysteries still hanging in the air left a bad taste in her mouth. Who was behind the assignation? The mini-war? Who specifically ordered Appoline kidnapped? What about setting off the poison? Kat... Kat felt like if she left the city would descend into chaos.

But this WAS still a tournament, and the right play was to go to the centre... right? Right?