NOVGO.NET Chapter 1964 Please Sir, Can I have Some Orbs?
Chapter 1964: Chapter 1964 Please Sir, Can I have Some Orbs?
— Kat —
Hedera ended up going with Steel’s house. Of course, that was only after she was about to choose the hotel and Kat decided to whisper exactly what it was usually used for. That turned Hedera right off the idea, especially when Steel admitted that none of the good enchanters wanted to work on the place for similar reasons so the noise suppression might not be the best.
Seeing that Hedera was a bit worried about staying at Steel’s place, even if it was going to be empty and Steel seemed like a good person, Lily decided to stay there as well. It would give her a chance to catch up on at least some sleep, though unlike Hedera who planned to sleep through the entire day, Lily left an open offer to have whatever meals Kat was interested in together. As a cat, it was easy to be awake and aware and then go right back to sleep.
So everyone split up. With Lily going along, Kat knew exactly where they were staying and there was no reason for Kat not to get started right away. Especially as her task proved to be exceptionally inconvenient. Unlike last time she didn’t have a nice list, and even the time before that was nicer.
See, nobody used orbs as currency and most people had exactly as many as they needed at any given time. Even if they had orbs free in their budget for the week… they would need to go get them and most people weren’t interested in making that extra effort. That was, if they were even willing to accept Kat’s offer. So often it was “Why would you need more?” and “Is that even legal?”
Which, yes, yes it was. Steel had confirmed as much but it was still annoying. In the end, the only job Kat managed before lunchtime was one that involved cleaning out the horse stables and it was not a quick job. They were asking for a full clean and the place clearly hadn’t been properly scrubbed in years. Still… they allegedly had five orbs on offer and Kat was willing to do a lot for those at the moment.
Which was why when, two hours of work later, Kat walked up to the house to get her reward, she was rather annoyed. Instead of the teen that had made the offer, and older woman answered the door. “Yes?”
“I finished cleaning the stables, so I’m here for the payment I was promised,” explained Kat gently.
“What? Did that fool boy run off instead of doing his chores once again?” growled the woman.
Kat nodded, “I suppose so. I’m also guessing that the chores were just to clean up a bit. Not deep clean the whole thing?” The woman nodded and Kat sighed. “Well, that’s fine. I’ve done the job and I’d really like those five orbs please.”
“Orbs? What do you need more orbs for?” asked the woman.
Kat sighed. “I’m basically cursed and need quite a few every day to keep it at bay. More than I get from the quota so I’m doing jobs for more.”
“I see…” mumbled the woman though it was clear Kat wasn’t believed.
“So the orbs?” asked Kat.
“Well… I’m not so sure I should give them to you…” the woman said slowly.
Kat on the other hand started to seriously consider how much damage she was willing to inflict on the woman. “It’s not illegal. I did what was asked. It was probably worth far more but I accepted anyway. The job is now done, and I would like my payment.”
“I can give you two,” insisted the woman and Kat felt her eye twitching.
“No. I accepted for five, and I will not accept anything lower,” stated Kat.
“Come now, we need those for powering the lights,” insisted the woman.
“No. A promise was made and I intend to collect,” retorted Kat.
“Aren’t you being a bit unreasonable? I haven’t even seen the work and you can’t have been at things long. I only handed the job out three hours ago,” countered the woman.
Kat, deciding she’d had enough let her eyes start to glow, flames leak from her mouth and her hands clenched around now visible chains running off into the distance made of purple fire. “A contract was made, and I intend to COLLECT. One way, or another.” Now, it was just a verbal contract and not a magically enforceable demon contract… but it was still a contract.
The woman screamed and went to slam the door in Kat’s face before Kat took a single step forward and the woman paused. The implication was of course that the chain was connected to the son, not to her. She glanced at the chain, then back up at Kat. “Fine,” spat the woman.
She ran inside, pushing the door somewhat closed but not quite shut. Kat could hear her rummaging around inside and soon came out with the five orbs. She went to hand them to Kat, but just as Kat was about to grab them, the woman tilted her hand off to the side. Kat, expecting some more nonsense, sped up and caught them all before they hit the floor, rather easy even with Rank 2 speed.
“Woops?” offered the woman.
“If I didn’t think the guards would punishment for it, I’d give you a good slap for this insult. Trying to get out of cheap work multiple times then trying to drop my payment and blame ME for it I bet,” grumbled Kat.
“Well I never…” began the woman.
Kat however, had, had more than enough. Instead of listening to her complaints Kat simply turned around and sped off. She considered having lunch, but… well… after the failure that was finding ’work’ in the morning she really didn’t want to waste anymore time. If that was anything to go by, she might not even find more work before the timer ticked over.
Kat glanced down at her bracelet. It… was probably fine? She wasn’t entirely sure. It would be cutting things a bit close but it looked, vaguely, like she’d have two hours of leeway. Though… even if she was skipping lunch it was about to be a lunch rush and that did give her some ideas.
Kat went around to the nearby restaurants and offered her help with anything in exchange for orbs. She got turned down from four different places before at the fifth, she got some good news. “I don’t need a hand, but, if you go three blocks over to a place called ’Lorange’ they’re kitchen needs a proper cleaning and if you’re as strong as you say you can help by moving the appliances around.”
“Thanks,” Kat said with a nod as she left and sure enough Lorange did indeed need her help. The owner was in the process of trying, and failing, to move the kitchen sink. It was meant to be on wheels but at some point they’d rusted in place and no longer rolled and it also might have gotten stuck to the cabinets next to it.
The owner happily agreed to her request. Not only were they happy for the help… but the orbs that would normally be used to keep the kitchen running were currently just sitting around. They might need to open a day or two later so the week could tick over but that was fine. Nobody was running low on funds and the owner was happy to have an excuse to stay closed a bit longer to actually relax for once.
Starting with the sink, Kat pulled and heard a rather awful groaning sound. “Um… I can definitely move this… but should I? That didn’t sound good…”
“Yeah the pipes are just about fucked,” said the owner, Stephan. “Need to get that out to have proper access to them. Probably need a full replacing so if they break, they break. It won’t be on you.”
“Well if you’re sure…” Kat said slowly before returning to her task. She yanked hard on the sink and there was a screech following by a snapping sound as the pipe at the back tore in half. It was, theoretically, a rubbery pipe that should’ve been able to move. Instead it had hardened in place… before Kat had broken it.
Luckily, the water had already been turned off so it was just a bit of a shame. After that, Kat helped pull the oven out of the wall. This one wasn’t connected to anything but it was super awkward to move because there was a bit of a lip at the bottom you needed to lift the oven over, but the top of the bench kept it in. So Kat needed to pull it forward, and up just a little bit. Slowly, but she got there eventually.
From there, the much simpler task of moving some of the standing cupboards into the room over. Not only was the kitchen door larger than normal to allow for easy movement between rooms but the cupboards were held in place just by their weight instead of anything complicated or annoying like the sink and the oven. Finally, a decent job worth some orbs.