AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Year 3, Winter, First Month, Third Week.

“Hey, old man. Help me take this out of the grilling stone… I still hate Winter, even though we don’t have to face the cold and snow, short days are just annoying… Look at this fine and thick earth steak, I almost over-grilled it because I can barely see it by the firelight… If this keeps happening they might start calling me the tough steak granny, instead of steak granny… Yesterday, I even heard someone saying that I have become too old to cook…”

The woman’s husband could only roll his eyes and take the steaks out of the griller faster to prevent them from over-cooking. Earth meat grilling was a very delicate preparation, one had to pay attention to the stone’s temperature, the meat’s color, how much fat was used and also the sizzling noise, which had tiny differences for every beast and meat cut.

The couple had been helping cooking the feasts and meat meals since the village’s first hunt. Although they weren’t bad with preparations from other elements, they became famous for grilling the best earth steaks.

At this time, several wooden poles evenly spread through the settlement, emitted the common glow of Array’s powering before lighting up. In a second, the yellowish lights covered all the food section, illuminating hundreds of tired and awed faces.

The steak granny almost dropped a raw steak from surprise. She blinked a dozen times and looked around shocked by the sudden clarity.

“Oh, old woman. Pay attention to your steaks! You can’t use the excuse of not having enough light anymore… It’s amazing… I heard the Alchemists and crafters were working overtime to get this up, but I thought it would take a few more days without that Karl kid… Talking about him, I miss that kid’s joyful and gluttonous reaction when eating our steaks…”

Realizing her amateur mistake of getting shocked by a sudden magic novelty, the granny quickly flipped the stakes and added a few more to the grilling stone, now she could afford to grill more pieces in one go. Her work diligence didn’t prevent her from shooting daggers at her husband.

“So, you knew about this… Why haven’t you told me about it? If I knew they were gonna light everything up, I would have saved more earth steaks from yesterday’s delivery… Don’t you know that the hunt teams will only hunt more earth beasts next week? Urgh… How in your senile mind, looked like a good idea to hide such important information from your wife?”

The elder took a step back to avoid giving his wife the chance to strike him with a cooking tool as he tried to voice an excuse, but nothing came to mind, so he could only admit his guilt. Fortunately, the granny’s good mood washed away her anger, and soon, she was talking with him as if nothing had happened

“Tell me, old man. Do you think we should open a food stall once Spring comes? The Chief said that the community meals would stop after Winter passes, or at least be reduced to who needs them… People like our steaks, so I bet they would choose to buy from us if we charge a fair price…”

The man stared at his hands for almost a minute before answering, they still looked old but weren’t only bones and wrinkles like three years ago.

“You tell me, old woman… Our eldest entered the new Defense Department and should be earning a good wage if the rumors are to be trusted, we can also use the public services promised by the Council for the elders, orphans and sick. So, I guess we don’t need to keep working every day… We could spend our time looking after our unborn grandchildren and help with public services… We’re not young anymore…”

The steak granny looked a little disappointed as she considered and agreed with him, but then he continued:

“But… I would like to do more! Our health improved a lot in the last few years, we passed two winters without getting sick… We are amongst the youngest elders, the age for being considered an elder might even change now that our lives improved. So, if you want, we could rent a stall or one of the rumored shops, and offer our steaks to everyone who wants to pay for it. If our son’s wage is really high, we could even buy the shop upfront and pay him later… As for being old and not having time to help with the children, we could find someone to help us run the shop… Are you willing?”

Her eyes were filled with excitement, she felt like a young woman again. She glanced at the silly-looking old man and answered while flipping a stake.

“Granny’s Stake House, this is how it should be called… Though we should offer other meals too, the earth meat might not be enough for every day…”

***

“No, Wein. Lighting is essential… Master always says that creating good living conditions is our endgame, even with the magic weapons… Or do you have a better idea of how to spent our time and the drawn Runes Master left?”

“I don’t know! Maybe the MT beast cage we were discussing earlier or something more urgent…”

“That’s too dangerous to do without Master here…”

The Alchemy Assistant (previously called student) responsible for helping the two Alchemy Specialists, had to control himself to don’t roll his eyes. How such a childish pair became Specialists, while he, a serious and hard working 23 years old guy couldn’t even advance to Technician?

Fortunately, he survived the ordeal, and an hour after sunset they finally got the lighting system working. On his way home, he passed the food section and got one portion of the delicious earth meat cooked by the steak granny and some stew. Just the ability to eat the delicacy was enough to justify the lighting system, the Assistant could only pity those who eat the steak before they got the lights on. Being denied such a good meal should be considered a crime.

The ten minutes he took to walk home was just enough to finish his meal. He searched through the dozens of earth huts, that look exactly the same, trying to identify which was his. Thankfully, his garments, which followed the Alchemy Department’s standard, were left outside to dry, probably his parents’ doing. Although he was already married, most young couples were placed with their parents to reduce the number of public houses.

Hopefully, as soon as the private lands become available he would be able to get a small square and pay a construction team to build a simple house. He collected his clothes and entered the hut after taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what was coming.

Inside of the crude room, his pregnant wife was weaving some dried straws at the corner, probably a cover for his soon-to-be-born child, while his parents sat by the dim firelight discussing something. The sheer neglect of leaving his wife to weave with barely any light while they used their painly acquired firelight to illuminate their conversation was sickening. Why are his parents so self-centered?

“Why did you come home so late? We arrived more than an hour ago. Even your wife, who often stops to gossip, arrived earlier than you…”

Instead of helping him, his father only added to his mother’s unreasonable comments.

“Son, we already talked about changing jobs. Before, you couldn’t do it casually and we still held hope for your advancement to Technician, but now… How about enlisting for the new Defense Department? People say that they will have the highest wages after the Heads and the Councilors…”

Last week, the Alchemy Department had carried the Alchemy tests and a lot of Assistants were promoted to Technicians. Unfortunately, a lot of people also failed to advance.

“Dad… The high wages aren’t for everyone in the department. The Council is discussing the wages since the beginning of the week, so nothing is decided yet, but the really big wages should be given to the agents stationed outside. This is only fair since they would be giving up on the comforts and safety of staying here… Also, don’t treat me like a failure! Councilwoman Reiner always tells us that everyone can help and grow with their own abilities… Look at her example, she isn’t an Alchemist but she’s second only to Councilman Karl in terms of Alchemy knowledge. In fact, now that I didn’t pass the Alchemy test, I’m thinking about trying for a project manager position… Their wages are even higher than the Technicians’…”

Deciding on average wages for every job was very difficult. From a practical perspective, the Councillors just needed to evaluate the contribution of each job and weigh it against the dangers and disadvantages of the position. But effectively, they would be classifying and separating their people into classes, which could lead to problems and generalized dissatisfaction.

“What’s the problem with working outside the city? We could help your wife take care of your child and you should be able to come home a few times a year… This is worth it as long as you could get a good position…”