Chapter 30: Are you sure you want to argue?

“No. I won't.” Lily pushed the tea away, careful not to slosh it. “I don't have to.”

“Oh, okay. My mistake,” Arthur said. “I thought you wanted to work.”

“Work?”

“I need this tea tested. It's new. And you’re the only sick person I have working for me. I could find someone else, but…”

Lily eyed the tea warily, but Arthur's perception caught some undertones of actual hunger leaking out in the same glance. “And this is useful?” she asked.

“Very. I just got a new skill and I need to test it out. It makes medicine. Very weak medicine, but medicine. Where else am I going to find a sick person?”

Glaring warily at the cup, Lily reached out for it, then withdrew her hands suddenly.

“This is a trick.”

“It's not, stupid.” Arthur stole a trick from Milo's book and flicked her softly on the forehead. “Tell her, Milo.”

“It's true. It's the first batch he's made for anyone to drink. I pretty much watched him get the skill.” Milo leaned on the door frame and smirked, just a bit. “It's as likely to kill you as it is to make you better, I bet.”

“Arthur wouldn't do that,” Lily said, snatching the tea from Arthur's hands. “Fine. Watch.”

Holding the cup up to her nose, Lily took a cautious sniff, then the smallest possible sip. Her eyes widened as she did.

“It's sweet.”

“That's part of it,” Arthur lied. “Makes it work better.”

Lily went back in for a bigger drink, and then bigger and bigger gulps as hunger got the better of her, and she downed the entire container in a matter of a few seconds. Arthur poured her another smaller cup, which she drank almost as fast.

“Well?”

“It makes my arms feel better. And my legs.” Lily let out a big yawn, big enough that she couldn't talk through it. “And it's... nice. Warm. Good.”

Ella smiled as the little girl leaned back, pulling the blankets over her again as she continued trying to explain it.

“It doesn't have those...” She yawned again. “Those bobas. The little balls.”

“Pearls, and no. I didn't have time to cook them.”

“It should.” Lily's eyelids drooped a bit. “Arthur's tea should have the bobas. That's what makes it Arthur's tea.”

And then she was asleep. Ella shooed both Arthur and Milo out of the room, and closed the door as silently as possible behind them.

“Well, that went well,” Ella said. “I couldn't get her to eat anything before, you know. You have a way with kids.”

“What's in that tea, Arthur? Sedative?”

“Don't be foolish, Milo. That little girl was barely ready to wake up in the first place.” Ella put her hand on the door affectionately. “She just wanted to escape help. She's that kind.”

“She did conk out pretty hard,” Arthur said.

“It's always that way. Feed a sick child, give them medicine, and their body does the rest. Now come down to the kitchen.” Ella walked down the stairs, with purpose. “It sounds like you have a new skill to tell me about.”

—

“That's a lot to take in, Arthur,” Ella said. “And probably a bigger deal than Milo told you.”

“I don't know. It's pretty weak, right? I can't see anyone using this instead of medicine.”

Ella shook her head. “Then you aren't looking right. Not every sick person is sick enough to need medicine, or to want it. Did it say there's a limit on what kind of medicinal effects it can produce?”

“Not really. Just that stronger effects are harder.”

“Medicine is a big word, Arthur. Covers a lot of things. Do you think I've never wanted a tea with stronger pep before?”

“You could brew it stronger.”

“I could and it would taste like garbage. And that's before I even get into stat buff medicine. Even a fraction of a point's worth of vitality effect would matter to someone who had to work a particularly hard day. A bit of dexterity would be valuable to any craftsman.”

“Wait, stat buffs can be medicine?”

“Anything consumable that has a system or healing effect can buff your stats.”

“Huh.” Arthur couldn't imagine all the implications at once, and started just thinking about what it would mean if he could make pepped tea have a stronger caffeine-like effect. Not everyone would want it, just like not everyone could handle energy drinks back on Earth. But the people who did, they would definitely pay for it.

“So, what's to keep me from just making everything medicinal?”

“Majicka. Definitely,” Milo said.

“But it refills.”

“It doesn't, not really,” Ella said, reaching out with the back of her hand and touching Arthur's face. “No fever, which is good. But you should see yourself, Arthur. You look like death. Have you been running yourself dry all morning?”

“Yeah. That's bad?”

“You've probably lost three pounds.” Milo looked slightly worried. “It's one of the things we forgot to teach you. Nobody runs themselves dry like that, again and again.”

“One day of that won't hurt you, Arthur. And everyone does a big push every once in a while. What's your wisdom stat at?”

“Twelve. I just pushed a few more points into it.”

“Well, that's not low. You can probably make about ten of these drinks a day, or bottom out your majicka pool twice, whichever comes first. And you’ll have to eat more.”

Arthur had already been eating more, ever since he came to the demon world. People ate more here in general, just to keep up with the system-driven metabolisms everyone seemed to have. Teenagers ate more than that, and Arthur had been told that pure physical classes, like Karbo, ate the equivalent of a small village’s worth of food. Eating more was crazy. He said so. Ella told him he was stupid.

“I don't care what it was like back on Earth. New body, new rules. You need another full meal every day, minimum.”

“That seems expensive.”

“Oh, Arthur. Sweet Arthur. I don't think that’ll be a problem.”

—

Ella was, as always, right. Arthur returned to work the next day equipped with a big paper poster, one with a simple message that Ella assured him would be more than enough to get the job done.

Over-pepped Tea

Request our experimental over-pepped tea, courtesy of a new, untested skill. Unexpected reactions may occur. Buyer beware.

Price: Three coins

Our shop is limited to ten orders of over-pepped tea per day.

“Expensive,” the rabbit woman said.

“Yeah. It's sort of a trial. We have normal tea for the normal price.”

“How do I know it works?”

Arthur glanced around the square. The rabbit was almost always early, as compared to anyone else. “I'll make you a deal. You pay, and if it doesn't work at least a little better than normal pepped tea, I'll refund your money. But if it works…”

“I tell people?”

“Something like that.”

“Deal.”

Arthur put together the special order. It took a bit, considering he didn’t have his normal helper. The majicka draw was definitely present, but much more manageable on a single cup than when trying to juice an entire pot.

“Here you go,” he said, handing over the cup. “Let me know how it works, okay?”

“Fine. I'll see you later, Arthur.”

It was a little more than an hour before Arthur hit the ten cup limit. He felt like he could do more, but didn't want to risk losing his Ella-cooked meals and dutifully took down the sign.

“This hits hard. Real hard.” One of the rockmen who frequented his shop had stayed, watching with amusement as Arthur peddled the new drink and enjoying his own over-pepped concoction.

“It's not that much stronger. Just slightly.” Arthur hoped to the heavens that was true. Neither of the birds he lived with could handle much caffeine, and had reacted strongly to the mix. Still, system-descriptions were usually pretty accurate.

Product Invented!

You have taken a pick-me-upper which can not only pick you up, but also throw you short distances. This peppier tea is not the strongest tea that exists yet. Still, it's on the high range of pep content compared to what's available, and much higher than most people have experienced without compromising on flavor.

Created Product: Over-pepped Tea

Product Effects: Slightly higher pep content.

“See, that's where you're wrong,” the rockman said. “The system is seeing this in percentage terms. Maybe this brew is only 5% stronger or something like that. But have you ever seen someone switch to a stronger tea, before? Their reaction isn't exactly proportional to the increase. I haven't felt juiced like this in decades.”

“Good feedback. So it works?”

The rockman finished off the last of his pearls. “Oh, it works.”

Arthur washed a few cups and started cooking up his next batch of pearls when he suddenly felt himself being watched. He looked up from behind the stand to see the rabbit woman standing there, her eyes slightly wide. Even without his perception stat, he could tell she was over-stimulated, or even a bit angry. With the stat, he could see the truth. She was absolutely, 100% wired to the gills.

“Was it... okay?” Arthur asked. “Did it work?”

“I just did two hours work in a half hour. Two hours, Arthur. I have... no more paperwork left for the day. That never happens.” She reached out, grabbed his shirt, and dragged him close. “I need to reserve one of these drinks for tomorrow. I must.”

“Are you sure that's a good idea?”

“Maybe not. But are you sure you want to argue about it?”

Arthur made a mental note to lower the caffeine content for the rabbit’s next cup, but no, he decided. He didn't want to argue about it.