All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 145: Careful What You Wish For

Bee finally had brewed a dozen of her new acid attack potions. They weren't perfected yet, but she only had limited ingredients and vials to work with. This was the best she could do without a lot more research and testing.

The once seemingly inexhaustible store of supplies the castle housed was no longer so inexhaustible. Not that they would run out any time soon, but specific items were limited, and with her teaching Maranda they were draining faster than she would have liked.

Of course, there were only the two of them working, which naturally was far less than a whole castle of mages working together. Still, all those mages didn't have free rein and unlimited access to materials like she did. Also, they had apparently received more regular shipments of certain things than she had been aware of.

None of this was truly an issue for now; even if she kept using everything willy-nilly, they would have almost a year of runway by her best estimations. She was only considering the limitations because, with the creation of the council, she had started looking to the future a bit more clearly. If they wanted to continue to have access to the alchemy products that they were quickly becoming accustomed to, they would need to start figuring out how to replace them.

This was where she was so glad that she had saved as many animals and magical creatures as she had. They had fallen under Mary's preview, but they were taken care of and well-fed. All that remained was for the collection process of their materials to resume. They didn't even need nearly as high yield as the mages had accomplished, either.

With the undead around they were unlikely to be able to buy the other materials they couldn’t produce just yet. But if the crown was able to get the plague under control, then maybe they could work out a deal with a merchant.

The third and honestly most important source of some of the more magically potent ingredients was the real problem. Bee wasn't sure how to handle it, but recently she had put the connection together. Those demons had been a source of valuable materials. While some were still around, Bee and Void had dispensed of the majority for safety reasons. It was a decision she didn’t regret, but it still had real consequences.

Summoning more demons was technically something that she wouldn't have a problem with doing, skill-wise; even with the Lieutenant gone, she would be able to do it. It would just be slightly more difficult.

No, for her, it was an ethical problem. Demons were dangerous, and every one she brought into this world represented a real threat. She supposed it was a little late to worry about that, as she had technically been an apprentice demon summoner when she came to the college. But back then the castle wasn't full of little kids, and there would have been a trained staff to take care of the creatures and any outbreaks.

She supposed she could summon them, harvest them, then banish them. That would work for most of the ingredients. There was a reason that the mages hadn’t done it that way, though. It was costly to summon demons, and sometimes they needed to be kept around for a bit to make back the initial investment of the summoning. That wasn't even considering the components that needed to mature in the mortal plane before they were ready to harvest.

Maybe if she avoided summoning intelligent or sapient demons, it would be alright. The only thing they really needed for the commonly used potions was a certain part of the lesser demons, and they wouldn't even have to be banished; she could just kill them. Or maybe they could help people level by fighting captive demons? That sounded a little insane, but that was what Void had her do. And when she did it, she had no more than a cleaver as well. Under its careful watch, perhaps it wasn’t so crazy?

She would need to think about it. But the most potent healing potion she could make in a reasonable amount of time needed some relatively fresh parts of a lesser demon. They didn't need it, but if someone got critically injured, it would be a shame if such a potion wasn't available. Also, she didn't want to have to summon a demon for the first time when someone's life was on the line, if it came down to it.

Was she just trying to talk herself into it? Maybe, but she couldn't deny her curiosity. Also, the leveling temptations were undeniable. Almost everyone in the castle could benefit from the arrangement in some way or another. Then again, maybe she was just getting greedy. Shaking her head, she decided that she would need to discuss this with Void and the council before doing anything about it.

Coming out of her thoughts, she realized that Maranda had asked her something and was waiting for a response. "Sorry, what was that again?"

"I asked how can I make sure my potion works? I just finished the first batch." Maranda said cheerily, holding up the correctly colored vial of liquid.

----

Susan hadn't launched into an explanation right away, which slightly confused me. Instead, she had gathered a piece of toast and some eggs from the meager leftovers on the table before her. After pouring herself a drink, she took a few bites and washed them down with a long sip before speaking. "Well, I think we can help each other out a bit."

Taking another bite, she chewed a bit longer than I thought should be necessary as she studied the five men. No one else seemed to notice the 10% longer chewing time, so I let it go. "I think it is obvious what we can offer you." She said with a subtle gesture to the food. "You need a place to stay and walls to shelter behind. We have that."

The men nodded slightly, except their leader, who kept a stoic expression. Did he not agree that they needed those things? At least the rest of them seemed to see sense. But then, why did we want them to stay anyway?

"So the real question is: what can you do for us? I'll be straight with you. We need people. People who might be able to spend some time out of safety and still come back in one piece." Susan said in a surprisingly casual tone. It was almost as if she didn't really want to convince them to stay. I didn't understand the logic of asking people who had run away previously to put themselves in more danger.

Still, I watched as four of the men nodded. Only the leader didn't look enthusiastic. "It's one thing to stand on a wall and fight the enemy before you. And a totally different thing to wander in the wilderness when we don't know where the enemy is at all."

He had a point. They ran from standing safely on the wall. Susan, though, didn't seem the slightest bit concerned by this. Leaning back in her chair, she studied the group. Her gaze only lingered on the leader for a few beats, and she spent most of the time concentrating on the rest of the men. The four of them did seem a lot more engaged than I would expect, if not exactly excited.

"It is very different. But your situation would be very different as well. For one, you would have proper training this time. Not just a few days of drills with spears." She remarked while looking the leader in the eyes. I noticed that three of the men perked up at that. Only Mat and Ruach didn't react to the offer.

The leader made to speak, but one of his underlings leaned forward and cut him off in an eager voice. "What kinda trainin'?"

I caught a small smile that Susan let slip through, but she suppressed it fast enough that I didn't think that anyone else saw. "I, too, used to be in the King's service. The Back Hand. I would train you."

The reactions were mixed. I wasn't sure why it was such a big deal that she would be training them. Wouldn’t Beatrice be a better trainer? And what was the Back Hand anyways?

No one said anything for a few moments; everyone was still, including Tony. Only Susan kept eating, not seeming to notice the tension she was causing.

Eventually, the leader spoke up. "I guess it's pretty obvious we are interested. Maybe we can get into specifics?"

This time Susan didn't even try to hide her smile.

****

They had gone back and forth for quite a while, but in the end, it didn't seem like they wanted too many different things. For the first time Susan was surprised.

She had started insisting that they do at least two hours of training per day until she decided they were ready. The counteroffer was that they train for at least four hours. She blinked and told them they could train as long as they wanted, so long as they met her minimum. Though she wasn't always going to be the one teaching them. So they started trying to get a commitment from her to spend a certain amount of time with her each day.

Eventually, they worked something out they were both happy with. Though I think they were starting to regret it. I watched them finish another lap around the castle grounds. Susan had started by testing them. She had them do all sorts of strength and speed tests. When she didn't seem happy with the results, they spent the rest of the day running.

I had planned on giving the kids a day off from their own “training”, but they had found me anyway. Sure, it was a little later than normal, but they still insisted that we do training. They were a little slower than normal today, and the bouts at the end received less attention than normal as the ones not fighting were watching the five men get yelled at by Susan.

"She’s scary," One of the boys whispered to the girl sitting next to him. She nodded as their eyes tracked the form of Susan, her posture tall as she jogged backward in front of her trainees. In contrast, they were doubled over and panting as they struggled to keep up with her. The whole while, she peppered them with insults that didn't repeat once. I had checked.

Despite the bouts not receiving the normal attention, the participants were extra enthusiastic today. A few times, I had to quickly zip over to prevent anyone from getting hurt.

After the 34th lap, Beatrice came out and sat next to me. She had been spending the morning making potions with Maranda, so I hadn't expected her to be out this early. "Master," she greeted me respectfully. "I see Susan managed to convince them to stay. If she’s training them, I suppose she gets to keep them. Was the deal they struck satisfactory?"

I told her that it was. Though I wanted to know Susan's plans for them. Beatrice rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I will have her make a full report, plan and training program for you to go over. But I think she wants them to be scouts. The lack of information about our surroundings is one of our larger concerns at the moment. We know there is something big going on out there, but the only news of that is when someone new comes to us. That isn't very reliable or consistent. Also, we aren't the easiest to find. With so much trouble out there, we should consider bringing more people in. We need the people and we have the space."

Scouts? I guess that made sense. No wonder they needed to be fast. I beeped my appreciation. Beatrice had really been taking the leadership thing well lately. Good thing, too, since I definitely didn’t want to do all this stuff.

Things at the castle had finally started to settle down. I thought it was about time that we started to think about cleaning the neighboring areas as well. We were more than capable, and the town at the end of the road sure looked dirty the last time I was there.