Novel Full Chapter 1902 Bakery Time
Chapter 1902: Chapter 1902 Bakery Time
— Kat —
Nothing would stop her from reaching the bakery this time. After a short snack break with Weaver they headed out into the ravine filled with monsters. Lily and Kat flew under their own power, with Kat carrying Hedera. There was still some temptation to nab the scattered orbs around the area Kat had missed the first time but they didn’t want to fight so many monsters for them. Plus, bakery.
Finding the town was easy once you knew where it was, and Kat didn’t even bother to check if Daryl was in. She had a goal and this time she would not be distracted! At all… “So how is everything?” Kat asked Merric, the old wolf man. “Did you find out who the other kid is?”
Merric shook his head. “Afraid not. Char left earlier on to get some food for dinner, Elly has been awake for a bit but not all that long and it didn’t feel right to pressure her… the boy? Still asleep,”
“That’s not ideal… does he need a proper healer or something?” pondered Kat.
Merric shrugged, “I can’t rightly say. I don’t know who we’d get to look at him. I’ve already asked around and the town healer is off on one of her ingredient gathering expeditions,”
“I’m sensing some hostility towards said healer…” offered Kat.
Merric growled, “She’s only the healer because we’ve got nobody better. I don’t want to be rude about it… but she’s not half the healer her mother was. Berry is her name, technically Berry the 3rd but the other two are dead so… just Berry for the most part.” Merric shook his head. “I’ve got a few problems with her…
“The biggest one is that she’s more of a researcher than a healer. Her family line has a number of recipes for top quality healing potions… and she doesn’t like using them. Instead she messes around with half-baked ideas to try and find ’the next big thing’ and while I can appreciate the desire to advance your profession… she has a bad habit of testing these potions on her patients without really asking.”
“And people let her get away with this?” asked Kat.
Merric shrugged, “It was sort of adorable when she was younger and still just helping out her mother. It felt like she was really trying to help and it was more of a ’oh you cheeky scamp’ than a ’Oh god what have you done’ if you get what I mean? Then when the… accident happened with Berry the 2nd nobody wanted to stop her. Experimenting was clearly how she was coping and some of those potions ended up having funny outcomes, like the time it gave Mr Ronald’s antlers…”
Merric rubbed his face. “I suppose at some point we just… let her get away with it. It’s been a few years at this point and we’re all somewhat used to it. If she was here to take a look at Elly and the boy I might not even be annoyed… but now that she’s missing and I’m all wound up with worry? Well I’m picking at all her problems you know?”
“I can understand that,” said Hedera with a nod. “I don’t think I would be brave enough to go to a healer known for that sort of thing unless I was actually dying,”
“If you were actually dying she’d use the good recipes,” added Merric. “As I said, I don’t normally get made. I still want to think of her as a good kid… but she’s twenty this year… I think?” Merric scratched at his ear. “At some point she has to grow up… but it’s awkward you know? Anyway, doesn’t matter, she’s not in town for the moment.”
Kat nodded, “So there’s nothing for us to do?”
Merric shrugged, “Not really. I’m sure I could find something for you and your friend if you really wanted me to but for now I’m just waiting,”
“Fair enough, we won’t bother you anymore than,” said Kat with a slight bow as she left. Hedera mimicked the action and left alongside Kat.
“That’s the girl you rescued right?” asked Hedera.
“Yeah… sorry I detoured. I sort of noticed their tent and decided I had to know…” mumbled Kat.
“No, no it’s fine. I get why you’re worried with… everything. I’m not sure if I would’ve thought to check back up on them myself. I suppose it depends on how I felt about things. I can’t really know without having gone through it all myself you know? Anyway… um… the bakery?”
Kat nodded, “Yeah I want to see what sort of mushrooms are worth looking out for. In an ideal world it would be a nice, consistent source of orbs for if we ever run low, or just to watch out for while doing other things. Realistically, I suspect that it’s going to be a massive pain, but I wanted to… have a look at the bakery either way,”
They soon arrived at said bakery and stepping inside was a surprise. At the counter was an absolutely massive man. The only one comparable was March, and while his muscles were smaller the man was taller. Actually… Does he look a bit LIKE March?
[Obviously.]
No, no. I mean like… is this March’s dad?
[That… hmm… it sounds silly but… now that you say that… it might be.]
“Hello friend, welcome to Baun’s Bakery. I’m Cruze, and this is not my bakery,” said the man with a smile.
“Wait… it’s not yours?” asked Kat after a few moments. *Should we ask about his relation to March?*
[Probably not. Might count as breaking character]
“Indeed! It is not my store, I just work the counter! Currently I’m just the apprentice! One day I hope to bake wonderful bread but it is not today!” ’said’ Cruze. His voice was loud and booming. It didn’t seem like he was yelling, but his voice filled the room exceptionally well.
[Do you think it’s possible he was tempted to join in as an actor in exchange for baking lessons?]
*I’m sure it was something else as well… but yes I can see the main draw being the baking lessons.* “I see,” said Kat. “We were just wondering if it was possible to show off some mushrooms we found. We’ve heard the bakery is constantly looking for more.”
“Of course!” boomed Cruze. “I’ll happily take a look!” Cruze then shrunk down on himself massively. “Sadly, I’m not as adept at this as my master. So if you’ve got a few of the tricky ones I might need to call of her to help… but I can get a start at least…”
Kat nodded and started to bring out the mushrooms she’d found. As she did so, Cruze moved forward to do something when he froze in place, almost like he was mid pounce. “You mind if I organise this?”
“Go ahead,” agreed Kat with a nod as Cruze got to work. He seemed to have three spots he’d put the mushrooms. Some he’d move closer to Kat, other’s he’d pull towards himself… and a few he’d leave in the middle, not moving at all. Only after deliberately poking them and then moving down the line.
Soon, Kat had placed mushrooms across the entire counter and still wasn’t quite done. Especially not with any of the larger samples. Kat moved over to the tables and started to place down her larger mushrooms, most of them taking up a whole table. Cruze’s eyes went wide. “Um… hmm… alright just fill the tables quickly and I’ll announce them,”
Kat quickly did so, holding up the last one in her arms. They’d run out of tables, but also mushrooms. Kat had a few more, but they were copies of the ones on the counters. Holding the last one meant she’d shown off everything. Probably.
Kat glanced around and noticed that only a few mushrooms were pulled in Cruze’s direction. Three smaller ones. “Hmm… alright, so… the ones I’ve left here in the centre?” Kat counted eight. “These might be safe… might not be. I’ll need me master to check. These few,” Cruze waved over the three near him. “Are safe to consume and we might by them… but truthfully on this one is our main ingredient,”
Cruze was pointing towards a puffy looking mushroom that looked sort of like someone had glued popcorn to a mushroom stem. Sort of like a morel but distinct in its own way. Kat hadn’t found any large mushroom trees in this style.
“Now as for these…” Cruze showed off the ones he’d pushed away. “These are all fairly deadly to consume. I highly recommend disposing of them. I can do that if you want… but we’re not exactly setup for it so I might have to charge you for it…”
Kat shrugged. “I’ll work something out. What about these larger ones?”
Cruze shrugged. “Pretty useless for the most part. Just big mushrooms. Seeing as there’s so many I need my master to check she can just check them as well. I’m not as familiar with the giant ones just yet… I didn’t realise they were quite so proper you know?”