Chapter 2198: Chapter 2198 Twin Issues Part 2

--- Kat ---

"Can I have some time to think about it?" asked Rocky.

Steel rubbed his left temple for a few moments, and Rocky stepped backward, as if waiting for the incoming explosion. Despite this, Steel answered calmly, if clearly not happy with the situation. "Ten minutes. You have ten minutes to pick between the two of you which is going. If you’re not done at that time, I’m having Kat knock one of you out at random and carrying the other one into the poison WITHOUT a suit."

Rocky winced and backtracked out the room, pulling his brother along by the arm. Len mouthed a ’Sorry’ towards Steel before getting yanked out of the room... and Kat was honestly just impressed by the fact he somehow made that understandable. Perhaps it counted for her translation abilities because he was trying to communicate so clearly? Kat shrugged and turned to Steel. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"I’m hoping Len can talk some sense into his idiot brother. Prior to this conversation I would’ve said the twins were quite interchangeable but now? I’m thinking that one of them is far more valuable then the other," sighed Steel.

"Some people might take that the wrong way you know," chimed in Vanilla from the side of the room. "Might make someone think you’re looking to sacrifice them. Which, if you are, try me! I’m into that, especially if it’s painful physically."

Steel rubbed at both temples this time while turning his gaze to the ceiling. Vanilla snickered at this and didn’t continue to bully the commander... probably because of Maryland giving her the side eye. Kat was about to ask her own question when Steel decided to answer Marigold’s. "It wasn’t intended that way, but I am wearing a bit thin these days. I was more indicating that if anyone was getting a raise it probably won’t be Rocky at this point."

"Pretty sure he can hear you boss," added Maryland.

"Well," Steel paused to suck in a deep breath. "Maybe he should stop making things extra complicated!"

"Sorry!" was yelled back down the hallway as Steel turned to fix Maryland with a deadpan glare. Maryland backed off a bit with raised hands to indicate a surrender.

"Gee, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just thought you might want to know. If you’re tired you might have missed it," explained Maryland.

Steel shrugged, "I’m just warning him ahead of time that his actions have consequences."

"Putting your finger on the scale a bit aren’t you?" stated Vanilla.

Steel shrugged, "I said my piece, but if people are going to give me such easy openings to elaborate I’m going to make use of them."

Vanilla and Maryland shared a grin as more people started to file into the room as they returned from putting their outfits on. The guards looked especially uncomfortable with their now, much less armoured forms. Kat glanced over at Appoline who had put on her own set and was looking at the box intently. "What’s on your mind?"

"I’m wondering if I could come up with an alchemical solution to this issue," explained Appoline.

"Yeah about what I expected... so can you?" asked Kat.

"Yes... but I’m not sure it would be cost effective and because of the fact they’re adding new poisons into the air on the regular I might not be able to make it work for all variations, at least not without wasting a considerable amount of time on research and development. It could be done sure, I’m confident in my skills... but could it be done in time to matter? Probably with an unlimited budget... but once again, do I have that?" mused Appoline.

"That’s fair. No issues with using the suit instead?" asked Kat.

Appoline shook her head. "I’m not so vane as to refuse a piece of equipment that works just because I think I could manage something similar. Perhaps if I had it ready to go things would be different. I’d rather rely on my own work then someone else’s after all... but that’s not really the case here. Besides, I use plenty of alchemical equipment that I haven’t made. Sure my experience means that at this point I can likely judge how well made they are better then their own creators, but it still proves my point."

Kat nodded along. "That’s fair enough. So you think it’d take a few days?"

Appoline shrugged, "The problem is the extra additions that they may or may not be creating. For all that general antidotes are possible... they’re not really meant for prolonged exposure. They work by forcibly purging foreign products in the body... and often times not-so foreign things as well. Depending on the strength they can be pretty nasty.

"The issue here, is that you can’t just purge it once and be done, you need to make something that either helps you metabolise the poison or... hmm... I was going to say neutralise it but it might be better to make a coating that keeps the poison from touching you. Not quite sure how I’d make sure you didn’t suffocate during the process... but if I made a more advanced water breathing potion... I see it as being possible... hard to test though."

"Ooh, why?" asked Vanilla.

"If I get the ingredients wrong the wind has a good chance of tearing apart your skin as the layer that’s meant to be keeping the poison out destabilises... why are you looking at me like that?" Appoline starred at Vanilla as her eyes practically glowed. She had a wild smile and even a bit of drool leaking from the corner of her mouth.

"She’s just like that..." sighed Maryland.

"Could I order one of those potions," asked Vanilla.

"It doesn’t exist yet... and we have the suits for that," responded Appoline, confused.

"No, I mean the one that tears apart your skin with somewhat contained wind. That sounds... delightful!" Vanilla explained with a grin and a shiver.

Appoline shivered back, though for a very different reason. "Oh... um... hmm..." Appoline was a bit torn. On the one hand, this was a pretty weird request, and not one that would necessarily be cheap to research properly. On the other hand... it might count as a very weird type of poison and that meant it was probably worth exploring. "Talk to me about it after we finish up with this... mission. I’m tentatively interested but ingredients could be a pain to acquire for the moment."

Kat sighed, catching the hint in the wording. At least ’Vanilla’ seemed awfully happy with the answer. Kat supposed it was for Vanilla’s benefit as well, so it worked out for both of the crazies. At least it was easier to forget just how mad Appoline was most of the time. Vanilla barely let you forget it.

As Kat was rolling her eyes, the twins came back into the room. She hadn’t been listening to their conversation, not actively anyway, but based on the somewhat downcast set to Rocky’s face it seemed like he was staying behind. This was confirmed when, without a word, Lan grabbed the last suit in the box and left to go get ready. Except... hang on. *Why was that the last suit? Steel made the offer for Hedera to come, and even gave the chance for Furen and Tanisha to come along once it was bought up... so there should be at least one extra suit... did Steel hide it at some point to remove even more temptation?*

Kat was curious enough to replay her memories... and found that yes. Just as Steel brought out the box he also vanished the top few suits... might have been three? It was hard to say but Kat did have confirmation that they’d been removed from obvious access. Did he already have suspicions about both twins being here? He must have been able to pick out their voices.

*Honestly... we’ve got quite the crew don’t we. Will there even be enough space down the stairs? I feel like the room wasn’t THAT large and there’s quite a few people here. Ten total, plus me and Appoline so twelve, and then you of course.*

[Surely they have some sort of expanded tent. If not, then there’s also the pathway down as well? Perhaps they’ll keep the entire bunk area isolated instead? If they managed to keep that all safe then there should be plenty of space.]

*I guess it depends on what is easier to deal with? I don’t really know anything about enchanting but I can guess having more surface area helps you make more powerful and useful enchantments... but guarding a larger area is also probably harder. Do you think anyone has worked out the optimal amount of surface area to actual area?*

[I don’t but I assume that’s what word stones are for. Big stone blocks with plenty of surface area that can channel a whole bunch of mana. A compromise between surface area and solid matter to keep the enchantments running properly.]

*Do we have one of those?*

[No idea but if we need one I’m sure they’ll have it on hand.]