Shoes

Johannes was welcomed by the survivors of the village despite being an alchemist mostly because, as Dominique put it, he seemed to have more common sense than the rest of the Alchemic Guild put together. He had this reputation even before the alchemists decided, 'Yeah, let's summon a demon army by sacrificing little kids.'

This was a low bar for friendship but he has the additional qualities of being a friendly guy worried about the well-being of other people. He tried to consider the effect of his actions on other people but had slipped up spectacularly yesterday.

"JOHANNES." The man dropped his book as Dominique stormed in and grabbed his ponytail. "Why on earth did you create that monster?" Dominique was unusually irate compared to her normal calm demeanor but of course she snapped first. Susie was hard of hearing and the little girl at the counter was a little jealous of Miriam's new weapons. The woman directly upstairs was so busy cackling about revenge to herself she either did not notice or did not care. Lindsay was already a little off the deep end and the offending objects had been used as tools of vengeance. Harry didn't see Miriam as often and he was oblivious enough to ignore his flaming house while he farmed.

"Miriam needed supplies and better equipment, I mean she has been fighting in there for everyone and I thought it would make her happy to see them! I'm working on getting her something to replace them but she likes the aesthetics of the da-" Johannes stopped and froze. Dominique froze too as the monster which Johannes had created could be heard in the corridors.

Squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak

"Oh, is she headed to my shop? I should get over there." Dominique said as she let go of Johannes' hair.

Johannes breathed a sigh of relief and hoped Miriam had the cash or the materials for a new pair of shoes. He had thought the Toy Shoes were a good idea to make. He had only himself to blame. I only thought about if I could and really didn't think if I should. I guess I am a hypocrite... The alchemist and the shop owner both straightened up and smiled as Miriam came into the room.

Squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak

"Good evening, were you two discussing something?"

"No, nothing much. Dominique and I were wondering if perhaps we could get you some better weapons!"

Dominique decided to help get rid of the dreaded squeakers. "If I have materials you need I'll give you a one time discount. The Toy Shoes can't be that effective, can they? Actually, I'll pay you full price if you sell them to me." Johannes silently prays as Miriam seems to perk up at the offer. His hopes were dashed, however, by the next words which Miriam spoke.

"Actually, Miss Anne asked if she could have them after I'm done. I'll use the old pair for making the bunny ones but I noticed you have a pair of toy shoes in stock at the store? It would be nice to give Anne shoes that aren't covered in demon blood..."

Dominique was unable to disguise her look of terror. Johannes was unable to decide if he should be annoyed or amused at the exorcist's hypocrisy/stupidity.

____________________________

Some time passed.

"Two-hundred gold for just a small potion? You only paid me 20 gold for the potion I just gave you!"

Dominique was unfazed by Johannes' outburst at the injustice. "Potions are worth more than their weight in gold. They save lives and this other stuff was not easy to get into stock. I need gold to get more. We cannot let ourselves run out at a crucial moment."

Johannes sighed. What really irked the man was how little Dominique paid him for the vial. It wasn't like she was sharing more with the villagers either. He had been toiling away at alchemy trying to improve the spell which kept Miriam alive by slowing the Magicrystal spread. At the same time, work on more short term things which would keep Miriam alive like armor and getting rid of this otherworldly castle occupied the rest of the time on his hands. He had totally forgotten to eat at times even after being so malnourished from the journey. He'd passed out standing up. Dominique and Anna suggested he take a ten minute break and eat a bit of rice. Johannes had taken a walk outside and gone out the wrong door. He tripped over a melted bone Miriam forgot to pick up, then got attacked by a rat.