Chương 23: [1.23] Heisty Type (Part 1)

"For the second Order, make me lunch, Imp."

"Ehh, that's it?" Given the simplicity of Lustre's first Order, Gelic shouldn't really be surprised, but she had been expecting something more… demanding.

"Yes, I should probably be more specific." The Summoner reconsidered her words.

"Make me something that I would enjoy, without using any ingredients that I wouldn't like. Cook it well, and don't make anything that will take too long. Within an hour would be ideal. I don't care too much beyond that." Of course, she had no idea what her master liked and didn't, but Order Obligation would ensure she knew if she attempted to do something wrong.

"Umm," Gelic made her voice sound even more innocent than usual, preparing to make her meager request.

"May I have some, too?" The labors of the morning and her sparse breakfast made her a hungry servant.

"You want to eat food?" That made the older woman's eyebrow raise.

"Usually Demons just ask for some of my vitality and been fine with that. Which I've always found unpleasant, so, sure. Make yourself a plate too." Huh, Summoners could give Demons vitality? News to the recently reborn oddity. Perhaps that increased Health percentage directly, negating the reduction caused by a Hunger debuff? But she'd rather have a full tummy, regardless.

"Do you accept the Order?"

"I accept." [Order accepted without resistance | Current Contract: Complete 2 Orders for Lustre | Current Order: Make lunch for you and your master. | Order Reward: 50 Essence] With the Order set, Gelic bounced her way to the kitchen, leaving her master behind who was assuredly just going to laze about once more. On the way, she got a greater tour of the swanky mansion. Each room was just as dazzling as the last. Just how much money did these people have?

Were all Summoners this rich, or at least significantly well-off? All but her? Sadly, she couldn't actually inspect any room in greater detail, hit with pain if she left the halls and crossed any of their thresholds. The kitchen was just as grand as everything else, leaving the impression that nothing was actually cooked in it, at least not by the tenants of the home. But maybe by servants routinely or contracted caterers during special events. Once more, Angelica activated Transfiguration.

There was no way she could cook properly in her Demon form, at least not yet without making a huge mess. So she donned a chef uniform, one the head of a fine-dining restaurant would wear. Of course, it came with a matching very tall hat that could fit not just one, but several rats on the top of her head if such a thing was required. So many rats. While Angelica may not be the greatest cook, she'd at least hope she could do better than being puppeteered by a vermin.

Actually, that raised a good point, were Demons vermin? Or at least Imps? Some she'd seen in the book looked very vermin-adjacent. She shook that stupid train of thought out of her mind. But before she could continue on with her duty, another dwelling notion needed to be considered. Would she trigger Poison Chef with this? She didn't know what was going to be made yet, but there were explicit instructions for it to be something cooked, so there was no avoiding the problem. Angelica, herself, didn't need to worry.

No, she was actually quite interested in trying something poisonous now, just to see how it all worked. Would it taste funky? Be even noticeable? Would she be filled with a sense of rejuvenation? Maybe she'd even learn to love the taste if it was providing a benefit now. The matter was her current master. Angelica was under the assumption that her kind could not actively attack their Summoner, at least when they were Bound. Garvin had been pretty afraid when his binding failed, but Lustre held no such fear.

It did raise the question of whether or not that was absolute, though, or if it was similar to Order Resistance and there was some sort of "Don't Attack Your Master Resistance," probably with a more concise name. Would it count as attacking, though, if she accidentally made poisoned food without knowing it and fed it to Lustre? Even if she did know, would Order Obligation force her to serve it anyways since the food had been made?

What was even weirder was that Angelica didn't actually care if the older woman ate poisoned food. Why didn't she care? Even though they had a subservient Contract, her master was still a human. Angelica should still not wish to do another human harm. Except… she herself wasn't another human. That could very well be the problem. Did Demons have a natural indifference towards the safety of humans? No, when Angelica thought about the few she did care about, or even society in general, she didn't want them to suffer.

It was more specifically Lustre, so it could be an innate dislike of Summoners, or more specifically, the one who currently Summoned them. Heck, she even kind of wanted her master to get poisoned, as if her impish nature would find it amusing. It could also potentially be caused by her Malice increases. The stat was still very low, at "Hesitant," though she couldn't say she was hesitating in this regard. Maybe as it grew, it enhanced the already underlying sadistic tendencies.

Hopefully, if it got significantly higher, she wouldn't actively want to harm people for no reason. But she should be able to give herself an order to keep it in check if it came down to it. Angelica opened the fridge to see what she had to work with, but was stunned. It was all too… perfect. There was a staggering array of food: marbled meats, crisp vegetables, an expensive array of dressings and condiments. And all of it was untouched, unused, nothing missing in the slightest.

But a quick check proved it was real, not faux food like she initially guessed. There was absolutely no way they were using all this before it went bad, before the beef browned slightly or the leaves of lettuce began to wilt. So she could only think of one possibility. Someone was regularly replacing it all. Odds were, they were paying someone to come in and make sure all the ingredients inside were absolutely perfect, changing out anything that had gone bad. Well, their definition of bad.

Likely all so that if someone came over and looked in their fridge, it would always appear immaculate. The weird things rich people did. It irked her, so she'd happily eat her fill. Unfortunately, when Angelica tried to take out most of the ingredients to cook with, her body wouldn't let her. Apparently, Lustre was a very picky eater. The only vegetable she was allowed to take was potatoes, and the only meat was pork. Seriously, not even the perfectly cut steak?!

She desperately tried to take the practically sparkling slab of meat, attempting to fight through the pain, but it simply was too much. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. What she could take was cheese, all the cheese, and they had so many. Even ones that were likely so expensive that Angelica had never heard of them in her life. So the chef was starting to formulate a plan.

A quick check let her take bread, butter, seasonings, and oil, so a simple-yet-delicious dish it would be. Grilled cheese with an absolute buttload variety of cheeses and some thinly sliced pork with a side of fries. Not even a "refined" palate could complain about something like that, even if it's simple, right? Now that a plan was formulated, she could begin chefing properly and switched over to prep, starting with the potatoes. It was time to test something she'd been unsure about.

Angelica hadn't wanted to risk it with the last Order since she desperately needed the Essence, but now if this Contract got accidentally cancelled or overwritten somehow, oh well.

"Angelica, cut these potatoes into a perfect fry shape. They can be variable in length, but should be neatly squared." [Order accepted without resistance | Current Contract: Cut the potatoes] Her hands began moving on their own as expected. There was no mention of interference with the other Contract, so she had to assume it was still active and unafflicted. To confirm this, she tried to stop her prepwork and was hit with a double-dose of Order Obligation, both hers and Lustre's.

While her own imparted will was inherently weaker, since it was a Named Contract, they were roughly on par. Those were pretty much in sync, though. If she had opposing Orders, would one override the other? For her next attempt, after finishing up the potatoes. Gelic gave herself a regular Order to cook the steak in the fridge. She sadly still had the mental screws put to her, but she was determined, not wanting to give up just yet.

[Order accepted without resistance | Current Contract: Cook steak for own consumption while other food cooks] Ahahaha, it worked! Angelica was able to force herself into pulling the beef out of the fridge while she grabbed more pork. As long as she made sure to specify that it wasn't for her master, and would in no way hamper her production of her master's meal, she was allowed to do it.

That meant it would be a lower priority, though, and her window to actually prepare it properly would be limited, not that she intended to cook it for very long. It was time to get things heating. Butter went into pans on the stove so that it could start to melt and a bunch of oil went into the kitchen's own deepfryer. Angelica had worked a summer at a fast-food restaurant because her mother had said it would be a good experience for her. Well, it hadn't been, but it did mean she knew how to work a deep fryer.

That was almost a decade ago, though, and the manor's machine utterly eclipsed the rinky-dink one she'd used. But fortunately, she was kept from pushing any wrong buttons. While everything got heated, she thinly sliced the pork, then loaded up the sandwiches with that and slices of so many cheeses, not caring which ones since Order Obligation never stopped her. She also seasoned the steak, then everything went into their prepped station.

The next few minutes were a bit frantic, making sure to sear and baste the steak properly in butter, flip the sandwiches before they burned—perfectly golden brown—and making sure to get the fries out of the oil right when the machine beeped and then dumped to be salted. She felt like a proper chef. Not long later, Angelica had two perfectly plated lunches. For the steak, she'd turned back into her Imp form and thrown it whole into her maw, which munched it with glee.

There wouldn't be a lot of time to eat it otherwise before she was forced to return to Lustre, so she wanted to discard all the evidence. It took a great deal of restraint to not lick the certainly-still-too-hot pan of its juices. Clearly, it was her demonic influence imparting such a desire. Yes, that must be it. Soon, Gelic was bouncing back down the hallway, two plates in hand, ready to serve lunch. While she was happy she'd gotten away with her steak thievery, she was still ultimately disappointed.

As far as she could tell, nothing had been poisoned. It was only a 6% chance, so the odds were against her. But she'd sifted through every fry while plating, and none looked any different. If poisoning had occurred, there was no telltale sign, and she hadn't been notified. More likely, it just hadn't procced. Grand total, she'd made three dishes, so there was a relative 17% chance.

At most, since the fries and sandwiches had been divided, it could be called five dishes, or roughly 26%, depending on how the Skill considered the acts. Not great odds either way, so she'd just gotten unlucky.

"Lunch, master!" Gelic held up a plate to Lustre as if she were a proud child who had just cooked their first meal, wanting to serve it to her parents. And the older woman actually took it with appreciation, wide-eyed at the meal she'd received. The Imp had even been so kind as to give her the one with the slightly larger portion. So very generous. The Summoner took a bite, her eyes widening further as she wiped a bit of dangling cheese from her chin.

"It's actually very good. I was expecting some either half-cooked or melted slop on a plate. You're far more capable than I expected, Gelic. Must have had a master who fed you real food at some point." [Order complete] Gelic hopped up into one of the other chairs and dug in, being satiated by both food and praise. Her eating quickly outpaced the human. Since her mouth was so wide, it needed more in it to actually get some decent texture and not feel like she was nibbling on nothing.

By comparison, a single fry felt like a grain of rice.

"Did you clean up afterward?" Lustre suddenly asked, between bites.

"Uhh, no. Wasn't part of the Order." She was just being honest and not defensive. If she had waited to deliver the food to do cleaning, Order Obligation would have pricked her. Maybe the spoiled masters expected that regardless of the pain caused.

"Did you want me to do that as the next Order?"

"No, one of the servants will take care of it," the Summoner quickly refused.

"They're just all out with my parents at the moment, which is why I needed more help today. I have something in mind for the last Order. But before I forget." [Gained 50 Essence] If Lustre said anything beyond that, Angelica didn't hear it. [You have enough Essence to increase your Demon Rank. Would you like to consume 37 Essence to reach Imp Lv. 3?] Yes! To go with her double lunch, the Demon got a lovely dessert in the form of bliss that came with increasing her level.

The panic of the morning was turning into a really good day. [Demon Rank: Imp Lv. 3 | Essence: 48 / 49 | GP: 1] Seriously, just short again?! It felt like she was being messed with, at this point. But she had another Growth Point to spend, at least. The Imp hadn't looked through her other available Skills yet to see what else she could buy. Since she had Poison Eater, Toxic Imbuement wouldn't be a bad idea, but perhaps there was something more useful or critical.

Just when she pulled up the foggy screen using Scrying Eye, her ambition was halted.

"For your final Order, steal the Quilllaced Tiara from the Migrore Museum."