Chapter Five

Whether I agreed or not, I knew the group would only follow me, so I gave my consent. As I escorted Jason to school, I took the opportunity to explain what I knew about the town and the people living in it. They were suitably surprised by everything I said, as was I when I learned their job titles.

Janet, the brunette woman, was a patissier who'd just opened a new bakery in town prior to being transmigrated. She wasn't too happy her hard work disappeared overnight. The men, Ryan and Trent, were tattoo artists. All three had kept their prior job titles and were eager to pick up their lives in this new world. They would have started sooner, but they hadn't known where to start before last night's group meeting.

After Jason was safely dropped off, I led the trio through the marketplace, intentionally slowing down when we neared the stall with the Aurthurian stones. The stallkeeper called out to me, offering greetings, at the same moment Trent asked, "What's with the funny looking stones?"

"Are any shiny?" I asked.

"That one," they said, pointing at different ones. It was exactly as I expected, considering tattoo artists needed specialized tools. I gave the stallkeeper an apologetic look as I paid for the stones, then walked them through revealing their loot.

"What are those?" the stallkeeper asked, leaning over to see the prizes.

"Have you never seen a tattoo gun before?" Ryan asked, holding it up to look at it in the morning sun. The stainless steel surface probably meant it was made from mithril like my butcher knife.

Trent was more focused on the gun itself. "How are these supposed to work? There's no plug-in or battery pack."

"Probably magic," I said. "We can ask the Guildmaster how magical tools work. He should be able to help you figure it out." Glancing over at Janet, I prodded, "What about you? No shiny rocks in the lot?"

"No," she said, "But there's a stall a few down that's glowing."

"Sounds like an oracle marker to me. Let's check it out."

The stall she stopped at was a pot merchant. After Janet talked to him for a few minutes, it was clear he was a blacksmith down on his luck. Janet asked him about making utensils and tools—spoons and forks, mixing whisks and sifters. The man grinned and pulled out a tray holding samples of all of the utensils she wanted while promising he could make the sifter in less than a day. Janet gave me a pitiful look since she didn't have money. I bought a set of six utensils for her and another set for myself, then put in an order for four sifters. Two would be hers while I'd keep one and I'd leave the last one in the Guild kitchen. While I was at it, I put in an order for a cheese grater and a peppermill. He had no clue how to make the peppermill until I described it as a small, handheld version of a coffee grinder meant for seed-sized beans.

Toward the end of the outdoor marketplace, I saw a new stand setting up which hadn't been there the previous day. It was a shop selling analysis glasses in several forms—eyeglasses, monocles, magnifying glasses, and telescopes for long-range analysis. After getting the stallkeeper's permission, we spent some time trying them out. I thought the eyeglasses would be the obvious choice, but it offered far too many pop-up screens describing every little thing and I thought it'd be more distracting than helpful in town. The monocle was much easier to keep in my pocket until I actually wanted to use it. The others agreed and I shelled out enough money to completely buy out the man's stock, equipping not only myself and the trio, but buying one for Jason and a backup in case mine broke.

I let the others know we were heading to the Adventurer's Guild next. Unlike the previous day, when I went in through the back, I went in through the front this time. I was surprised how many people called out to greet me, but I waved them away and ducked into the kitchen.

"Master Albert!" the Head Chef cried out. "I didn't know you'd be in this early. We're not prepared!"

"Calm down," I said. "I intend to work over at the dismantling workshop this morning. I'll be back in a few hours for lessons. Actually, I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine in the same position as me."

"Is he also a chef?" he asked, his face filling with joy.

"No," I said bluntly. "She's different. She's a special kind of baker specializing in sweet things. I was wondering if that's something you'd be interested in learning?"

"If you are the one introducing her, then I have no doubt she must be skilled. Is she perhaps looking for a job?"

I shrugged. "You'll have to ask her, but I honestly think the Guild would be better off setting her up with her own bakery and providing her a support staff."

"A whole bakery?" he said, his face filling with surprise. "Does that mean she already knows how to make all six types of bread?"

"My friend," I replied with a sigh of disappointment. "I thought you knew better by now. The lady I'm introducing had a bakery in my hometown. That means she knows much, much more than only six types of bread. She probably knows several dozens and that's not including different types of pies, cakes, and desserts."

The Head Chef let out a noise that wasn't entirely human. "Garret!" he shouted. "Fetch the Guildmaster at once. This is far too serious a matter for me to deal with alone."

As the sous chef raced out, I led the Head Chef out of the kitchen and made initial introductions. Janet was gaping at how the Head Chef treated her like royalty, even while he confirmed what I'd told her about the state of cooking in this world. Then the Head Chef's words hit her and it was Janet's turn to splutter.

"Six types of bread?" she asked, outraged. "Are you serious? That's all you use in the entire city?"

"Yes, I'm sorry," he replied, nearly in tears. "I'm sure the nobles know more, but only six are currently sold on the market and it's common for a household to only know how to make only one or two for themselves."

"Oh hell no!" Without asking permission, she charged into the kitchen and started bossing around the staff. I could hear her demanding flour, salt, and butter at the top of her lungs. The Head Chef hurried after her, eager to accommodate her with whatever she wanted. It was no less than what I was expecting.

I turned around to say something to Ryan and Trent, only to see the two had already made themselves at home with a table of well-muscled Adventurers in armor. From the looks of it, they'd figured out how to use their magic tattoo guns and had convinced a pair of guys to be their guinea pigs.

I let out a huff and shook my head, grinning when I saw the Guildmaster approach. He raised an eyebrow at me and said, "I should have known it was you causing a ruckus. What did you do this time?"

"Wasn't me," I replied, chucking my thumb at the kitchen door. I could still hear Janet shouting. "I brought a few friends from the Earth Advent who are in the same situation as me. I'm trying to talk them into sticking around. Janet is a baker specializing in bread and sweet deserts. Ryan and Trent are tattoo artists who use a magic tool to embed art on skin. I don't think the guys will need much support since they can work anywhere, but Janet will need your support if she's going to stay here. At the very least, she'll need funding to start up a bakery."

"Does she—"

"She can make more types of bread than you have fingers and toes," I interrupted. "I wouldn't bring her here unless her skills were top class. She'll need protection, though—even more than me. A young woman with her knowledge is going to attract a lot of attention from the nobles. I ask you please be diligent in negotiating a contract with her. Although she's fierce in the kitchen, there's many ways she could find herself in trouble since she's lost her memories like me."

The Guildmaster clapped my shoulder in understanding and headed into the kitchen without a word. I took it as a promise he'd take care of it.

Knowing I needed to get to work myself, I headed through the depository and over to the dismantling bays. The first thing I noticed was there were a lot more people working than there had been yesterday and everyone seemed to be dressed much nicer than normal. Their hair was combed neatly and I could smell flowers, even over the strong smell of meat and blood.

I didn't know how to react. I actually froze in the middle of the courtyard between the depository and the dismantling bays and stared like an idiot. I wanted to pray they hadn't all dressed up because of me, but I had a sneaking suspicious they had. It made me want to scream, "I'm not a prize!" However, maybe to these people, I was.

It gave me very mixed feelings.

"Al!" Belfry, the Chief's assistant called out from the bay where small game was being skinned and taken apart. "Over here."

Several men quickly shuffled around, leaving a large swathe of workspace for me, even though it meant they were crammed together on the other sides.

Belfry rolled his eyes and ignored them. I decided to follow his lead. "I already checked out ten horned rabbits on your behalf," he said, tapping his foot against a basket of dead rodents by his feet. Exactly as described, they had small racks of deer horns on their heads.

He dragged one out and went through the process of skinning and dismantling it, showing me how to separate the various parts into buckets and pointing out problem areas where it was easy to diminish the value.

"Do you think you can do the next one on your own?" he asked as he dropped the final haunch of rabbit meat into its own bucket.

"I'll try," I replied. Focusing on the work made it even easier to ignore the would-be suitors around me. I soon learned what Frank had said about the Oracle blessing was true—it did help me when it came to dismantling. Anytime I forgot what to do next, a dotted line momentarily appeared on the rabbit to remind me. All I had to do was follow the cues.

Satisfied with my progress, Belfry disappeared as I started on a third one. When I finished the entire basket, Belfry reappeared and walked me through the process of turning them in. Several guys offered to carry my buckets for me, but were turned back by Belfry's stern glare.

"I haven't seen the Chief today," I commented as we waited for the warehouse staff to grade my work.

"He had some family business to take care of, so he won't be back until tomorrow," Belfry said.

After I received the two small copper coin I earned for my work, Belfry asked if I wanted to continue. I'd intended to put a full day of work in, but it wasn't easy with so many people staring at me. "I know I just started work, but it's a little..."

Belfry laughed. "I understand. It'll be easier when the Chief is around to rein in those knuckleheads. Go ahead and take off for today. I'm sure you still have things that need to be settled, so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you," I replied. Heading back into the Guildhall, I aimed for the kitchen where I could actually get some work done. I suddenly felt a boatload of sympathy for pretty-boys on Earth who got idolized whether they wanted to be or not. It wasn't as envious a situation as I expected it to be.

In the dining room, a queue had formed up near where Ryan and Trent had temporarily set up shop. Each of them had a small wooden lockbox near their feet where they could store payment for their work. I waved at them, then headed into the kitchen, where I found Janet lording it over the staff, directing them in the manufacture of various things from a comfortable seat atop a workspace.

"Are you working hard or hardly working?" I asked with a grin. She giggled and jumped down, launching herself at me to give me a quick hug.

"This is great," she exclaimed. "You weren't lying at all! Even if it's just normal stuff, everything I do is mind-blowing to these people. And guess what—the Guildmaster said he's going to negotiate with the merchant Guild to provide me with not one, but three whole bakeries. One is going to be for simple bread, the second is going to be for pastries, and the third is going to be for cakes and pies. Can you believe they didn't even know what cake was? You'd think they could manage even a simple pound cake, but they never thought to change the measurements of their bread recipes."

"Have you talked to him about patenting your stuff?" I asked.

"We did talk about it, but I decided not to bother. There's talk about setting up a workshop to mass produce a few types of bread loaves at the main bakery. I'll make plenty of money off the sales. Besides, I'd get lazy if I didn't have any competition. I look forward to seeing what people do once the methods to make proper bread gets around."

"Would it be too much to ask you to take on another task?" I asked.

"For you, of course not."

"In some ways, I'm as stereotypical Italian as you can get. You know what that means."

She chuckled. "You're craving pasta?"

"You have no idea," I groaned. "I can make some noodles myself, but it'd be a hell of a lot better if someone would start mass-producing them."

"I don't mind," she said. "We'll have to cross-compare our recipes, but the guy from the merchant Guild should be here soon. It'd be easier to explain if you had a plate of spaghetti to offer him."

"I don't have the tools to make spaghetti, but I could probably do cheese ravioli."

"Ravioli doesn't need to be dried, though. Not if the end goal is noodles like the ones on grocery shelves. How about lasagna?"

"I don't think they have mincers for ground beef. Even if I just made one with cheese and sauce, I don't think I could have it ready in time. The dough will need a few hours to relax before I can use it."

"True. Maybe you could prep it today and have him come back tomorrow to try it?"

"If we do that, I can probably figure out how to make spaghetti, too. Oh, are those donut holes?" I was immediately distracted, seeing a chef spoon several lumps of dough from a stockpot into a bowl of cinnamon and sugar.

As I stole one, popping it in my mouth before it had a chance to cool, Janet explained, "I thought they'd make good tavern snacks. I also have the staff making funnel cakes, pretzels, onion rolls, garlic rolls, and bread bowls."

"I was planning on showing them cheese fondue. That'll go good with your pretzels. What were you thinking about doing with the bread bowls?"

"I'll leave that to you. I figured you'd have something in mind."

"If I had noodles, I could make homestyle mac and cheese."

"Ugg, you're killing me," she said. "I'll make your damn noodles as soon as I can. Whatever you do for today, make it simple. I think these guys are close to hitting their limit on new stuff. Any more than this and they won't remember the recipes."

"How does chili sound for lunch? I can use shredded beef instead of ground beef and—shit. No, they don't have chili powder and I've never used whole chilis before. Oh, I know. Does tuna salad sound good? I already promised someone I'd introduce mayonnaise and tuna salad isn't too complicated. It'd hold up well in your bread bowls, too."

Going into the pantry where cuts of fish were stored, I used my new analysis monocle to search through them until I found one wanted. The Head Chef immediately sent the poor errand runners out to fetch more without even asking what I was going to do with it.

I had to admit, I had a little too much fun terrorizing the kitchen staff who were already overwhelmed with everything Janet had already thrown at them. The Head Chef kept everyone moving, however, and I could see him memorizing every step of my preparations. I had a feeling he wasn't going to forget a damned thing we taught him, no matter how many recipes we cooked at one time.

The mayo I made wasn't exactly right, since I had to rely on the oil they used in baking and they didn't have mustard. But it was passable for a first attempt.

After the Head Chef had my makeshift mayonnaise, tuna salad, and cheese fondue memorized, I took him aside to talk to him about the best thing I could offer: barbecue sauce. Immediately, there were several issues. They didn't have apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or Worcestershire sauce. They didn't have dried mustard, paprika, or brown sugar. They didn't have any of the ingredients at all except for tomatoes and salt.

It was a shame, but we'd have to build up to it over time and pray our new friends in New Tokyo knew how to make Worcestershire sauce. I had no idea. Or maybe something in the dungeon might drop it whole and premade? I'd have to ask. Considering some of the other things I learned came out of the dungeon—such as butter from butterbee hives—it was possible it already existed and people didn't know its worth.

For now, the best I could offer was knockoff ketchup for their meat. It was more of a sweetened mashed tomato salsa, but once they tasted it, they loved it. I went ahead and taught them French fries, as well, to add to their potato repertoire. I didn't even have to tell them the fries were meant to go with ketchup before people were already trying the combination on their own. It made me proud.

I ended up staying much longer than my contracted half hour, but the Chefs didn't mind. Janet had slipped out at some point and they begged me to check their finished work before they presented it to the Guildmaster. I had no reason to complain since it meant I got a free meal.

The menu board looked completely different now than when I'd come in the first day. Meat alone still had a prominent place, but the available side dishes were quickly rising in number. I had to wonder what the Guild planned to do when they reached the breaking point where a single kitchen couldn't keep up with the variety. From the chaos of preparations being made for dinner, they'd have to streamline soon or service would suffer.

Curious on how the situation was being handled, I ducked my head into Frank's office, only to find a stranger sitting behind the desk.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a droll voice.

"I'm looking for Frank?"

"He has a new office upstairs, two doors down from the Guildmaster."

I gave him my thanks and headed upstairs. It wasn't hard to find Frank's new office. The sound of Janet's yelling drew me straight to it. With a couple of taps to announce myself, I let myself in and found Janet holding up her fist, threatening to pummel an old man in a heavily embroidered coat. I instantly smelled nobleman. The hair wax was a dead giveaway.

"What's going on?" I asked as I closed the door.

"This perverted bastard says I have to marry him to get my bakeries," Janet screamed.

I raised my eyebrow and turned my attention to Frank. "Is that right?"

Frank flushed bright red and winced. "I apologize, Master Albert. Master Fromiere's intentions are good, but his phrasing is blunt to a fault. It's not that Mistress Janet is required to get married. It's that many potential issues would be solved if she was."

"Don't tell me women can't conduct business in this town without a man to protect them," I said in disgust. "You have females among your peacekeepers. I thought you'd be more progressive than that."

The gray-haired man in the fancy coat turned to me and took the opportunity to speak. "While the bulk of our fair town is civilized, there will always be a brutish minority who will do whatever they want with no regard to the harm they cause. My marriage proposal is—"

"Unnecessary and an insult to Janet, who values her independence," I interrupted. "If someone attempts to force her, she can clearly shout for the guard and the culprit will be put on trial where their crimes will be revealed under truth spell. Furthermore, if her safety can't be guaranteed by her contract with the Guild, then perhaps she should go to New Tokyo instead of remaining here. I have no doubt they'd properly treat her as a valuable asset to the prosperity and welfare of the city."

The old man paled and I felt some satisfaction knowing I'd read the situation correctly. The bastard thought Janet had no options and intended to monopolize her under the guise of protecting her. I looked at Frank again, who seemed to slowly be coming to the same conclusion.

"Frank," I said. "I believe the negotiations here are finished. I doubt Janet will want to deal with this man after this."

"I agree," he replied in a hard voice. "Mistress Janet, I would like to ask if I may contact Lady Reeta on your behalf? She's a self-made noblewoman with experience running a business. Until now, she's not made any forays into culinary markets, but I believe she'll be very supportive once she'd sampled your... what did you call them.... pastries?"

"Sounds good," Janet snarled, barring her teeth at the old man.

The old man jerked back like he was afraid of actually being bit, and quickly rose from his chair while keeping maximum distance between himself and Janet. "This is unfortunate," he said as he straightened his jacket, clearly trying to reclaim his dignity. "The Fromiere Company—"

"Just get lost," I said tiredly. "We're not interested in playing politics. If you can't even apologize when you're clearly out of line, neither myself or any of my friends are going to want anything to do with you."

As soon as he was gone, Janet relaxed. "What an ass," she said with a laugh. "Can you believe that guy? He reminds me of a loan shark."

"I do apologize," Frank said, clutching his hands together on his desk. "I had no idea he intended to make such a statement. I admit my judgment was momentarily clouded by the picture he painted."

Janet wasn't the type to hold a grudge. I'd known her less than a day and I could already tell she was quick to flare up and quick to cool down. "Just don't do it again," she said. "That Lady Reeta woman sounds like a better fit anyway. How long do you think it'll take to get her down here?"

"I'll send an invitation immediately, but I'd like to go over something while I have you both here. As you might have already guessed from the state of the kitchen downstairs, we severely underestimated the breadth of your knowledge, Al. With the addition of Mistress Janet, it's clear our kitchen alone is not enough to keep pace with everything the two of you could offer."

"If you're about to offer me some restaurants to go with Janet's bakeries, I don't want them."

"May I ask why?"

"Unlike Janet, I have a little brother at home, so I can't be spending my days and nights chasing after sous chefs and hostesses. That said, if you created the restaurants, staffed them, and accepted me as a silent partner in exchange for a minor percentage of the profits, I wouldn't have a problem teaching each restaurant enough dishes to build a unique menu. That actually might be better for me than trying to patent sauces."

"I see. And how many restaurants do you believe you could build a unique menu for?"

"Let me think. Pizza could have it's own place, Italian pasta would need a separate one, seafood, burgers, smoked meat, a soup bar, and a sandwich place. I think that covers most of the basics."

"Fried chicken and Mexican," Janet said. "And Asian if you know any."

"I can do fried chicken. I'll leave Asian to the guys from New Tokyo and I don't know the first thing about making Mexican tortillas from scratch unless the recipe is the same as flatbread."

"I'll handle the tortillas if you teach people how to use them."

"Deal," I said. "So that makes eight possibilities. Of course, the pasta place would need pasta before I could teach them anything and both smoked meat and burgers will need special equipment made."

"What about Indian?" Janet prompted. "Greek?"

"Indian is of my wheelhouse," I replied. "I know a little Greek, but not enough for a whole restaurant unless I can figure out how to make a doner kebab. If I do that, though, I'll need your support with making flatbread in bulk."

"I repeat," Frank said loudly, regaining our focus. "I have severely underestimated the two of you. Al, I will begin preparations for opening a single restaurant to start and ready an addendum to your current Guild contract giving you a percentage share as long as the doors remain open. Please do your part to prepare the menus and provide us with a shopping list for the practice dishes. Mistress Janet, I'd like to ask you to do the same. As much as the Guildmaster is pushing for me to flood the city with everything you could offer, I believe slow and steady will bear more fruit in the long run and give us a chance to smooth out the process for future openings."

"I can live with that," I said after a moment of thought. "But you should focus on Janet's bakery first."

"Oh?" Frank's curiosity was piqued, but Janet intuited the issue without me needing to say anything.

"It's ingredients," she explained for me. "As long as I have flour, I can make a lot of different breads and pastries with a small variety of ingredients, but a chef like Al needs a variety of ingredients to get a specific flavor. I noticed it earlier when he was making mayonnaise. You guys don't know better, but I do. The flavor was totally wrong."

"I've been playing it by ear," I added. "I've been making what I can with whatever is available. That's not going to work forever. Take mayonnaise as a prime example. To make it correctly, I need mustard."

Janet's eyebrows flew up. "Really? Mayo has mustard in it?"

"Why is that so surprising?" Frank asked.

"Because mustard is used to make mustard sauce and it has a radically different flavor," I explained. "If I was teaching in the proper order, I'd have started with mustard, then taught mayo after I had the base ingredients on hand. Think of it like building blocks. I need to build a proper foundation, otherwise my progress will get shaky very fast."

"Well, if it's mustard you need, I can get that easily. There's a mustard meadow on the first floor of the dungeon, but I've never heard of anyone eating it before."

"I don't need the whole plant—just the seeds. What about vinegar and olive oil?"

"Those are edible, as well? I never knew. Why don't you put together a list of top ingredients you need? I'll inquire with the Guildmaster about hiring a party to harvest them."

"Wouldn't it be easier just to put a request up on the board?"

"If we do that, everyone will be curious about why we want them. If possible, I'd like to keep it quiet for now. I'd also like to ask the two of you not to teach anything new to the Guild kitchen for a few days. The dishes you've already provided have created quite a stir, more than what we were expecting."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Why don't you come by for dinner tonight and see for yourself? Adventurers usually begin returning from the dungeon around sunset."

"How do they tell time inside the dungeon?" Janet asked before I could. "I've been looking, but I haven't seen a clock or a timepiece anywhere."

"They use lifestyle magic. The two of you should be able to use it, too. All you have to do is apply magic to your hand while focusing your will on learning the time."

Janet and I both held out our hands to try it. I imagined seeing it as a digital clock and the numbers appeared over my palm with very little work. It was a slightly after ten in the morning—earlier than I expected.

"Since I still have several hours until I need to pick up Jason, I think I'll check out the places normal people buy food and ingredients. Janet, you want to come with me?"

"I'll stay here. I want to meet Lady Reeta as soon as possible."

"Make sure to let Trent and Ryan escort you back in case that guy from earlier tries something underhanded."