The Legendary Monster Layer!

Ari was a bit out of her depth, here.

“Uh huh,” Ari said. “So, um, the taller model. It’s good for how long?”

“It really depends on how you’ll be using it, Miss.” Antoine rubbed his chin, considering her, then the appliance. “Assuming it’ll be heating a standard home? Well, in the winter time, I’d expect you’d want to take the slates in once a month for recharging, at the least. They’re rated for longer, sure, but the thing with these cheaper engravings is that you can’t know what you’ll get. Better safe than sorry, the way I see it. Getting caught on a cold day without heat is no fun, I’ll tell you that.”

“Right,” Ari said. “And, uh, the recharging process … how’s that work, again?”

Ari had never had to furnish a home before, obviously. Mom and Dad had handled all the housekeeping stuff. She helped with daily chores of course, but not the bigger tasks—the real maintenance, much less installation, of home appliances. So Ari didn’t know what was going on. Fortunately, Antoine was turning out to be a helpful salesman. Though, that was the problem … he was a salesman. She couldn’t know for sure whether he was upselling her or not. He didn’t seem to be, at least.

Fortunately, she wasn’t on too strict of a budget. Mundane items were relatively cheap compared to adventuring items. Though, a magical appliance that could heat an entire underground cave still came with a price tag that made Ari wince.

Really, the fact she could afford it—easily—was the crazy part. Their haul from the first dungeon run had left them well off … especially because it’d been a four person effort, and most of it had gone to the ‘Menagerie’ supply-pool. Four people’s worth of dungeon earnings—plus other adventures—went a long way.

Ari couldn’t splurge on the top-of-the-line appliances, but she didn’t need to settle for crap, either. Hence, the store owner’s frank admittance that the one Ari had pointed out wasn’t the most reliable thing in the world, but neither was it the cheapest.

The heating appliance itself was a tall, intricately carved slab of stone, about an inch thick and half as tall as her. Appliances in general weren’t fancy looking; they were simple and intended to be mounted onto a wall, out of the way. The price came from the runes carved into it: the dark purple etchings so complex Ari’s head hurt just looking at them. The markings resembled the notes crammed into Elise’s notebooks.

Not that Elise could read the engravings—beyond maybe a general sense. They were standardized designs, created by brilliant Collegium mages, and despite their relative cheapness, complicated enough the common man would needs years of education to understand the swooping markings.

Ari would like to see the Collegium someday. She’d heard stories of its gleaming, towering spires, and the endless vaulted libraries. But the capital city of Kalatain, Azure, was a long ways away. Or, a single teleport obelisk away, but Ari didn’t have that much spare funds. Using the teleport obelisk was obscenely expensive. Maybe when Ari’d climbed her way up the ladder to the upper low-ranks, she’d be in a comfortable enough financial situation to splurge on a sight-seeing trip, but not yet, that was for sure.

“The battery slates separate like this,” Antoine said, answering her question. He demonstrated, flipping a few latches and sliding—with the sound of stone scratching stone—the two gray rectangular battery plates outside of their confines. Then, he latched them back in. “Real easy. Built with convenience in mind. Take them in to me—or another store than handles recharging—and we’ll trade you off with full batteries, for a reasonable fee. And like I was saying, once a month in the cold months, once a season for autumn and spring, depending how the weather’s treating us. Obviously, not likely to use it for the summer. You looking for a cooling unit, too?”

Ari shook her head. Maybe eventually she’d need one, but not for a while. Things would be getting colder before they got hotter.

“A water conjurer, though,” Ari said.

Ari had already been cagey about what she was buying these for, avoiding the exact details to what her ‘house’ looked like, so Antoine didn’t bother asking her any questions beside the practical: “What sort?”

“Um,” Ari said. “Just strong enough for a shower. The one that cycles back in on itself, if you have it.”

Antoine hummed. “Fair warning, those are a headache to clean. Gets dirty faster than you’d expect, since the transport runes only takes the water—leaves behind the grime. I’d recommend hooking up to plumbing … if you’ve got it. Contained units aren’t as convenient as they sound.” He shrugged. “But, sure, we’ve got ‘em.”

Ari didn’t have plumbing, so yeah—she’d have to deal with cleaning the shower manually. Which were other items on the to-buy list: cleaning supplies, both mundane and magical. Most people dealt with it the old fashioned way: mundanely. Ari was already mentally prepared to do so, bucket and sponge style. She’d known moving out into the forest with her Menagerie would come with downsides. Money could only fix so many of them, without becoming prohibitively expensive.

Antoine led Ari to the water conjurers, and they discussed the various models. Like the heating unit, the appliances were large slates of stone, intended to be mounted somewhere near where they’d be used. However, with the water conjurers, there were connecting pieces: a drain slate which would feed the water back to the main, invisible reservoir. However that worked in specific, Ari hadn’t a clue.

The expensive component was the actual conjurer, but the attachments were cheaper: the various faucets and shower heads you could connect. But, Ari would hold off on the sink attachment. The shower would be multipurpose, for now. Showers, drinking water, washing hands, and so on. Again, primitive living, for the short term. No avoiding that. As the burrow expanded, they’d turn it into a real home.

Eventually, she thanked Antoine and left the store. Renna and Lori had been hanging around by the entrance, leaned against the wall, waiting for her. They’d accompanied her for the first bit, then separated, growing uninterested.

Renna raised an eyebrow, seeing her empty-handed. “You didn’t buy anything? After all that?”

“Gonna shop around. Compare options.” Ari might have more money than she’d ever had in her life, but her parents had instilled some sort of frugality in her. “But the more interesting stuff is coming soon, promise.” Ari rolled her eyes. “Or, y’know, you could go check out the armorer yourselves, like I said.”

“We’ll wait for you,” Lori said, and Renna nodded.

Ari rolled her eyes again. “Okay. But it’ll be a bit longer.”

Two more shrugs.

Ari shook her head, amused, then set off into the streets with her two friends.