Chapter 95: Foam

Several days later Diana was back, and she brought twenty-six Rank Four carcasses with her. The soldiers were astonished at her hunting speed, but considering the fact she was a Ranger, they didn't ask too many questions.

She sold everything to the army.

'Now at least we can fund the madman's experiments.' She thought with a smile.

She was done flustering over what their relationship was. They would figure it out later, and now they had a job to do.

She was brave; they both were, but that all went up in smoke when she came back to their room.

Neither of them talked for a while, but then the boy broke the silence.

"I asked a Goddess if it was ok… whatever this is. She said she supports, well Us. So I figure we deal with the mission, and we gradually figure out what that means." He said to keep direct eye contact. If his face wasn't redder than a tomato, she might even believe he was keeping his calm.

Diana was nervous before, and the mention of a God had her curious, but there was something about the helplessness of the young boy that flipped her switch. Like a shark that smelled blood, she moved and gave him a simple hug.

"What's there to figure out? Need I remind you, that you asked ME out Rony, don't back down now that we have gone this far. There are consequences for your actions, and I intend to make you pay in full." She said as she gave him a little peck on the cheek.

The boy was, for once in his life, lost for words.

'What did I get myself into this time?'

He stood there frozen for a while before he ran to catch up to her. They would discuss their relationship problems later, now it was time to see what the Enemy General's answer was.

They went to The Brigadier and waited until he called them into his office.

"That woman is raving mad. I advise you to back off the agreement before it's too late Ciaran." His grandfather said.

He looked horrible. His hair was messy, his eyes puffy, and dark circles under them. It was an unusual look for the man, seeing as he could go weeks if not months without sleep.

Whatever he had experienced in the meeting had drained him of his usual vigor.

"So she refused?" His grandson asked, with zero care for his grandfather.

After a slap from Diana, he rephrased his question to 'Are you ok grandpa, did that woman hurt you…and did she refuse.'

The old man sighed. He was beginning to be thankful for the Ranger's presence. At least with her around his unruly brat acted like a semi-decent human being.

"She accepted and sent a few tons of whatever chemical you asked for. She said, be done in a month, or there will be war."

The two had radically different reactions to the news. Diana was frightened out of her mind. A General threatening war was scary, THE General doing so was way worse.

"Finally, a reasonable person in the army. Miracles do happen." Ciaran barely held himself from jumping with joy.

After another slap from Diana and a lecture from his grandfather, the boy left to inspect the goods.

Diana stayed, because there was an awkward conversation needing to happen, and she preferred if the boy wasn't present.

"I gather you want to talk about my grandson and his puberty-driven desire for you. Don't worry, I know the boy, he would not think less of you when you refuse." The Brigadier said.

The old man wanted to make this as simple and as painless as possible. Diana understood what he was thinking and she wanted to correct him, but her fearless attitude was only for battle and when teasing Ciaran.

She nodded her head and left. Leaving the man pleased with himself, for dealing with an issue, before it became a problem. Little did he know it was already a catastrophe, and the woman only agreed because she physically wasn't capable of telling him the truth.

Her face when she left the office was redder than Ciaran's this morning, and there were no signs that it would get better sooner.

She got to Ciaran and the boy was already in a trance. He was studying the isocyanates. He had worked with them before, but he was just a mundane boy before. Now he viewed them with the eyes of an Apprentice.

"I think it's manageable, kind of. The army has provided me with a temporary lab, and if I make it work, they would provide me with more milk as well."

She looked at him with worry in her eyes.

"Don't give me that look. Before my understanding of water was just surpassing the limits of my soul, now I can handle it again. Plus it would make for great practice." He grinned.

She noticed, that all his nervousness was gone. It seemed alchemy was his coping mechanism, just like hunting was hers. She respected that and offered her help.

"Just stay with me and chase the annoyance away, I don't need him disturbing me when I work." He said, and Diana felt pity for the poor Brigadier.

The first experiment was carried out. The combination of the polyol, in this case, the lactose, and the isocyanate was a failure. The boy got the ratios wrong, and the final product was flawed.

"Don't touch it, it will give you a nasty rash! I am keeping that one for a rainy day, or a particularly nasty bastard, whichever comes first." He said as he tucked in the foam in his bracelet, careful not to let it touch his skin.

He carried out experiment after experiment, and for a week, the only thing he had to show for it was more weapons against his enemies.

"No worries, unlike with living things, this is all about learning the formula, and I am nearly there." He said, and true to his word, four days later he had a completely safe product to show for it.

The foam wasn't perfect, as it would still need quite a lot of work before it was ready for shipping, but it was safe to use.

"Ok, we are in the phase of an initial success, send this to the General and tell her I will have it done before winter." He ordered one of the soldiers.

They tried to argue that the General gave him a month, but he didn't care.

'She is a smart woman, she gave me a month to give her proof I can do it, not for processing tons of product. These barbarians just won't get it.' He thought as he continued to work.

As per his expectations, the General was pleased and agreed to wait, but she wanted half of whatever the boy made after two months as a guarantee.

For two whole months, the boy didn't leave his lab, and the only person to who he talked was Diana. She knew he was dedicated but this was insanity. He barely ate, he barely slept, and if not for the pain distracting him from his work he wouldn't even go to the bathroom to relieve himself.

If Diana hadn't convinced him bathing was necessary to keep contamination away, he wouldn't even think about wasting time with worthless things like the soap he had created.

But his mad dedication paid out, he had perfected the formula, making it impossible to improve the quality in the short term. Now he was experimenting to see how to improve his output.

He could mass produce a few hundred kilos per week, but he wasn't satisfied with that. The way he did it was he made a pool of all the ingredients and allowed them to mix together.

The problem wasn't in the ingredients or the lab but in his control. He needed to keep the ratio consistent in the mix, and the higher the quantity the harder it was to control.

Day by day his output grew, but in the last two days he had hit stagnation. In the rare breaks Diana forced upon him, he cursed his own lack of talent and whined how he wished his Big Sis and the maid who taught him alchemy were here so they could point to him where his mistakes were.

Diana was intrigued by his tales of mad scientist maids and serial killer butlers, but soon she found out he was serious, which led her to question the sanity of house Clades. The more she observed the boy, the less she questioned the Clades, and the more she questioned herself.

"Why am I always mixing myself with lunatics?" She asked.

"Birds of a feather flock together, or so I am told." Unexpectedly, she got an answer, but it wasn't from the boy.

She was prepared to chase out the pests who came to bother her partner, but she found out this particular one was a little above her pay grade.

"Ciaran, come here, you can play around with foam later," Verdania called out to him, it was time for their quarterly evaluation.