Chapter Six

I checked on Trent and Ryan, who were ecstatic with the results of venturing out of the Sanctuary. Both of them were rolling in coins from the small pieces they'd done and they'd already started booking larger commissions. When I asked them to act as an escort for Janet, explaining the earlier incident, several Adventurers overheard and offered to play bodyguard for an entire month in exchange for a free large commission by the art duo. The guys were amenable, so I picked out two well-armed female bodyguards and went back upstairs to introduce them to Janet.

Janet thought I was being an overprotective ass, but she accepted the guards. The women seemed to instantly recognize each other as potential friends and I felt much better about the situation as I left again.

I stopped by the kitchen to see if the Head Chef would loan me one of his errand runners to guide me to the markets where they bought their ingredients. He was only too happy to help, which was how I found myself halfway across the city with a young man named Garret.

Garret led me out of the area I'd already explored and over to a section of the city where grocery vendors outnumbered crafted goods by ten to one. More than half of them were selling meat. I ignored those for now and focused on the fruits and vegetables, which were insanely cheap. I picked up a bushel of lemons for tea and cooking, explaining to Garret what I intended to use them for, and an entire crate of fat, luscious-looking tomatoes.

Despite what I'd been told, seasonings were actually plentiful. They just weren't being used right. At a stall selling packets of rosemary and sage tea, I bought a healthy stock then explained to Garret the dried leaves could be chopped up and cooked with meat to give it extra flavoring. I found peppermint leaves being sold as a snack and an herb vendor selling freshly picked leaves used in potion making. Since they were fresh basil, parsley, and oregano, I didn't doubt they had some kind of potential healing properties. They weren't as good as other stuff, though, which was probably why they weren't selling. I bought more than I needed, taking half the man's stock at a rock bottom price.

I found another stall selling potion ingredients out of bins, only these were small round seeds the size and shape of peppercorns. When I asked, I discovered they actually were peppercorns—in three varieties! I took some of each, as well as the whole cloves and star anise he was offering on the side. And, lucky, lucky, the neighboring vendor had tumeric root, ginger root, and vanilla pods.

Cinnamon bark was being sold by three different people and honey-sellers were doing brisk business. Nuts seemed to be a snack time favorite, too. Nearly any kind I wanted was available for purchase, from bags of pecans to bushels of walnuts.

Then I saw it—a vendor hawking what he called snap-snacks with miracle properties Adventurers love. He claimed eating one would fill an empty belly and they didn't go bad easily, making them the perfect rations for Adventurers aiming to head deeper into the dungeon.

I was stunned, staring at the lasagna noodle the salesman was holding up. My first instinct was to run up and tell him eating raw pasta was bad for you, but I didn't know any of the science to back it up.

"Master Al?" Garret prodded.

I ignored him and hurried up to the noodle stall. I purchased one of the 'snap snacks' and broke off a corner to taste it. It was saltier than I was expecting, but otherwise the flavor was normal.

"Good, right?" the vendor said with a proud smile. "Invented them myself."

I grinned back at him. "How would you like to be rich?" I asked. "There's a better way to eat this, you know." Naturally, his curiosity was piqued. I managed to convince him to pack up and follow me back to the Guild. Along the way, I talked to him, explaining I was a foreign chef and how I'd seen his invention before. He was a bummed learning it wasn't something new, but he perked up again when I explained it was a very important ingredient in several dishes.

"Boiling it?" he asked in confusion. "But what about all the hard work I did drying it?"

"That makes it easier to handle and store for long periods of time," I said. "Think of it this way—people aren't going to buy dough for bread. It goes bad too fast, so it's safer to buy cooked bread. Right? This is dough, but it's in a form that's safe to store and people will buy it like crazy once they know how to use it."

When we got back to the Guild, I dug a chunk of raw beef out of the pantry and put Garret to work chopping it up with my mithril butcher knife, telling him I wanted him to keep chopping until the meat had the consistency of dough. He didn't think such a thing was possible, but he already knew better than to argue with me.

Next, I made mozzerella again, then I took over one of the stoves to boil the noodles and put together the sauce.

Garret had me check his work on three separate occasions and, each time, I told him, "Keep chopping." He really didn't understand why I was having him 'ruin' a perfectly good piece of meat. Of course, that opinion changed when I finally pronounced myself satisfied and showed him how to cook it. I used a small portion to make a hamburger patty, figuring I might as well get that out of the way at the same time.

Once the last of the preparations were finished, I put together a pan of lasagna, showing the Garret and the salesman how to layered the noodles with sauce, meat, and the special cheese.

"And you eat it like that?" he asked.

"No, now we bake it." I popped the pan into the oven and let them cook long enough for the cheese to melt. Then I pulled it out, cut it up, and served it. Immediately, there was a big problem—it was too hot and messy for anyone to eat with their hands. I had to pass out the utensils from my Item Box and show people how to use them.

"I feel like a nobleman," Garret commented with a laugh as he speared the center of his serving and brought it to his mouth. Half of the sauce, meat, and cheese plopped out onto his plate.

"It's a shame," the Head Chef said, having joined us for the tasting. "I don't think this is something we can serve. The taste is incredible, but it's too high class. The average person would find it difficult to eat. Please understand, Master Al."

"No, it's my fault for not thinking about that," I replied in disappointment. "Where I'm from, everyone uses utensils to eat. I'll reflect on my mistake."

"Couldn't we use the bread bowl Mistress Janet taught us to make?" Garret asked suddenly. "If we made the bread bowls smaller and stuffed this inside, wouldn't that be tasty and easy to eat?"

I, and everyone else, stared at him. I was shocked. It was the first time anyone in the kitchen had spoken up with an idea for improving a recipe I provided.

Garret started to backpedal, but I clapped his shoulder and grinned. "You're going to be a great chef," I praised. "That's a really good idea. Let's do it."

With the Guild's support, we were able to buy up the vendor's supply of noodles, which opened the doors for me to commission several different shapes—shells, spaghetti, and fettucini noodles. I thought asking for spaghetti would be too difficult a hurdle to reach, but the salesman said it'd be no problem when I explained the shape and size. He promised he'd have samples ready for me in a week, although it'd only be a small supply. He wasn't equipped for mass-production, especially since his noodles weren't in demand yet.

"If using utensils will be important going forward, we will commission a supply and provide them," the Head Chef said after the vendor left. "Let me speak to Frank on the matter. We will figure something out. I do not want anything to impede your cooking, Master Al. This sauce you used, it is certainly a masterpiece that must be shared with the world."

"Praise my Aunt Angelica. She's the one who taught me this one."

It wasn't even one o'clock when I checked the time and I felt like I'd only be a distraction if I remained in the kitchen—everyone was hard at work preparing for the dinner rush. I decided to slip outside through the depository, cautiously poking my head out to see how many people were still working in the dismantling bays. From the looks of it, nearly everyone had already gone home after I left. Those who remained were working diligently, their focus on their work instead of looking for me.

I decided it was safe enough to check out another basket of rabbits and practice dismantling some more. The guys at the small animal dismantling bay made room for me without falling over themselves. I apologized to them for the earlier chaos, but they just laughed it off and said it was good since the rush of workers had helped fill some of the workshop's monthly quota.

It was nice talking to people who weren't treating me like a Prince and I thought I made three new friends out of it—Mika, Orlando, and Roger. They talked about various things while they worked, from teasing Orlando about his wife's pregnancy to ragging on Mika for his latest failed attempt to challenge the dungeon. Roger was the quiet sort, but he joined in often enough to let us know he was listening.

After I turned in my work and used Cleanse on both my gear and my section of workspace, I said goodbye to the guys and leisurely headed in the direction of Jason's school. Several people called out to me along the way—many I didn't know and some I'd met in the market. It was nice and left me with a deep sense of contentment that followed me for the rest of my stroll.

I was amazed by the number of horse-drawn carriages waiting in front of the school when I arrived. Kids piled inside the first four like they were clown cars and I realized they must have been the equivalent of buses. Behind the front carriages were bigger ones with fanciful crests on the side—pickup for children attached to noble houses. I'd only encounter one noble so far, so I did my best to memorize the various images in case I saw them again in the future.

I waited until the carriages cleared out, then approached the open gate. Jason ran out to meet me, eager to tell me about his day. I listened the entire way to the boarding house, taking note anytime he dropped one of his classmates' names. I also learned there would be no school the next day—kids only went four days out of seven so they could help out at home the other three.

The landlady was waiting for us at the door and called out with a cheery smile. Her hair was coiffed nicely and she wore a pastel lavender dress with a stiff collar. I was glad to see she was doing well despite the incident the previous day. She invited us into the sitting room so we could get the formalities out of the way, starting with proper introductions.

"In case I didn't mention it earlier, I'm Madam Iris. I wanted to thank you again for stepping in yesterday, Master Al, Master Jason."

"Have there been any problems since then?" I asked. "The culprit's friends or family haven't tried to retaliate. Have they?"

"Not at all. The peacekeepers increased their patrols in this area and my son remained home with me today, so it's been very quiet. I hope you don't think incidents like that are common."

"No, I was just checking. Yesterday, you asked for us to stay here, but there were a few things I wanted to ask and I hope you'll forgive me if the answer should be common knowledge. Um, do you have a washroom with a bathtub?"

She smiled at me, tiny crows feet appearing around her eyes. "Most people use the bathhouse, but my son built an outdoor bath in the backyard. It's not large, but it has magic circles for cleansing and heating the water. The convenience is one of the reasons I'm able to stay in business despite having only two rooms available. I'd show it to you now, but my son is currently using it. He's gotten in the habit of bathing around this time, since it's when he usually returns home from work. I can show you how to work it later."

"That's great. Do you have any house rules I should know about?"

"I'd usually tell you breakfast is at six and dinner is served at seven. But you mentioned yesterday you wished to take over that chore during your stay."

"Actually, I was thinking about it and realized I might be intruding too much by demanding to cook all the time. I'm sure you have meals you prefer. I'm not always wide awake in the morning, either, and sometimes I skip out on making breakfast out of laziness. Would you be interested in keeping your usual pattern when it comes to meals? I could teach you a few easy breakfast dishes to mix things up without straying too far from what you'd consider normal. As for dinner, we can take turns so you're not always having to eat strange things and I can have nights where I don't have to worry about it."

She brightened at my suggestion, letting me know she was much like my Aunties in that respect. Feeding people was one of her joys in life and I'd nearly taken it away from her.

"That would be amenable. My only other rules are to let me know if you'll be out past dark and to not make a nuisance of yourself with liquor. It's understandable for a young man like you to occasionally come in unsteady after a night of carousing, but it'd be troublesome if it became habit."

I had no problem agreeing, so we turned to the issue of price. As a boarding house instead of an inn, she was allowed to take payment for up to six months at a time. I was speechless when she only demanded a small silver coin for a month. It was the normal price for a mere week at an inn. When I pressed her, she admitted she usually took two large silver coins, but she wanted to give me a discount.

"That's too much of a discount," I argued. "You do know we're going to want both of your open rooms. Yes?"

That startled her. "No, I didn't realize. I thought you and your brother would be staying together."

"If this was a bigger boarding house shared with a lot of people, then we probably would. But this house being so small works in our favor, making it safe enough for Jason to have his own room. If you still want to give me a discount anyway, then how does three large silver coins for both rooms sound? We'll pay for a full six months, of course."

Since it meant she wouldn't have to look for guests—a difficult prospect with so many other, larger inns and boarding houses available—it was a windfall that left her a very happy woman. I wasn't used to using money yet, needing to convert it into dollar equivalents in my head before I could do the math, so she helped me sort out my coins so I could pay her three small gold and three large silver.

She showed us upstairs to our new rooms, where it was obvious there'd been a change. The room where she'd been attacked had been made into a rental room, which we decided would be Jason's. He hadn't seen it before, so he'd have no problem staying where the attack had occurred. I took the neighboring room, meaning Iris and her son's rooms were across the hall.

The rooms weren't large compared to what we were used to seeing, but they were larger than the charity rooms at the Sanctuary. The beds were made up with simple quilts and the wardrobe had plenty of space for our few sets of clothing. I had no complaints. From the smile on Jason's face as he threw himself on his new bed, neither did he.

Iris and I both turned at the sound of a door opening across the hall. My eyes locked on a broad, hairy chest resting atop a barrel of chiseled abs. It was absolutely drool-worthy, almost as much as the thick thighs being hugged by a pair of low-hanging lounge pants.

The door slammed shut.

It took me a long, drawn-out second to remember the face attached to the man's body—the Chief. Holy hell, I'd just oogled my boss. Even worse, I was now living with him. It was too late now to change my mind and go somewhere else.

"I wonder what's gotten into him?" Iris said, her voice full of mischief.

"You're a very evil woman, Madam Iris," I replied in a dry tone. She tried to play innocent, but I gave her a look to tell her I wasn't buying it. She obviously hadn't warned the Chief about us.

Jason interrupted the silent conversation happening between me and the Chief's match-making mother. "Hey, Al, can you teach me to make lemonade?"

I decided to let Madam Iris get away with her mischief and turned my full attention to Jason. "Sure, I just picked up a bushel of lemons this morning. Why?"

"I was talking with the guys over lunch and they really liked how you sweetened my tea. I told them I usually drink strawberry milk with lunch and they didn't know what I was talking about. Anyway, one thing led to another and now I want to open a lemonade stand in the market. The guys said they'd help if you taught me the recipe and we'd put the money toward the project we're working on."

"What project is that?" I asked.

"Bicycles, like you suggested. Hana can weld with her fire magic, Jenna thinks she can make the chain, and Kalim said he could Fabricate all the other parts. Jeremiah is going to help, too. He said he'd handle getting the permit for the stall."

"Wouldn't it be easier if I just gave you the money?"

"That won't work. We need to earn the money to buy the materials by ourselves, otherwise if won't count as a school project and we won't get credit in Accounting."

"That's a really different way of teaching than what we had back at home, but I won't complain too much. Lemonade stands are a right of passage. Will you need me to go to the market with you?"

"No, Hana's butler is going to watch over us in the morning and Kalim's brother will take over in the afternoon. It'd be great if you brought us lunch, though. I was telling everyone how good your cooking is, but I don't think they believed me."

"Any requests? Let me guess, cheese pizza?"

"Nah, you just made pizza last night. Can you make fish tacos?"

"Sorry, kiddo. They don't have tortillas here and I don't know how to make them from scratch."

"That sucks. How about chicken nuggets?"

"Will fried chicken work?"

"Fine," Jason said with a groan, acting as if I was a complete drag. "Now I'm hungry. What's for dinner?"

I glanced at Iris out of the corner of my eye. We hadn't really talked and made plans yet, so I didn't know what was in her pantry. I didn't really feel like trying to conjure something out of what was available, either.

"Why don't we invite Madam Iris and her son to eat out with us? My treat, of course. I was asked to check out the Adventurer's Guild during their evening rush anyway, so it'd be win-win."

"Yeah!" Jason cheered. I supposed the Adventurer's Guild was high on the list of places a normal teenager would wanted to visit.

"Oh, my, really?" Iris exclaimed. "I heard they recently got an amazing new menu and I've been curious to try it, but going to the Guild by myself is too intimidating. Just give me a moment to check my hair and change into my town shoes."

As she hurried into her room, I crossed the hall and tapped on the Chief's door. It immediately creaked open. Sadly, the Chief had put on a shirt, covering up his glorious chest, and changed into a worn pair of leather work pants.

"Hi," I said.

"Hello," he replied, his voice sounding deeper than usual.

Feeling like a kid asking a date to the prom, I rocked on my heels and said, "So I'm going to take your mom out for dinner. Want to come along? We're going to hit up the Guild."

"Let me grab my boots."

That was good. Right? He wasn't exactly jumping for joy, but he was still joining us for dinner.

I watched as he sat on the edge of his bed to pull his boots on. "I guess you mom didn't mention we were going to live here?"

"No, she didn't." The lack of inflection in his voice made it hard to tell if he was fine with it or if he was angry.

"Is it going to be a problem if my brother and I live here?"

"It's no problem."

"Because we can find somewhere else if it's a problem."

"It's fine."

"You didn't have to cover up on my account," I added. He looked at me, his eyes going dark, and I belatedly realized what I'd said. "I mean, this is your home, so you shouldn't mind us and do what you normally do. We're all guys here. Except your mom. Obviously."

I clamped my mouth shut to stop the word vomit before it could get any worse.

The Chief smirked at me. "You should take your apron off."

I choked on spit. Then I processed the keyword 'apron' and realized he wasn't telling me to get undressed. He was just being sensible. We were going to the Guild to eat, not work. Silly me. I blamed the Chief for scattering my wits with that peep show. It was difficult to look at him without remembering him half naked in all his masculine glory.

"Apron. Right. Just give me a second." I backpedaled into my new room and shut the door. It wasn't really necessary to shut it, but I needed a moment of privacy to pull myself together.

I'd been wearing my apron all day, so my body felt light without it. My shirt underneath had a musty smell. I cast Cleanse to refresh it, then headed downstairs to wait for everyone else. Jason was already by the door, eager to get going.

I thought it might be awkward walking to the Guild with the Chief and his mother, but it was surprisingly pleasant. We'd left far too early for a normal dinner outing—we still had two hours before the people here typically ate—and Iris took advantage to introduce us to many people on the street. Some were neighbors managing nearby inns and others were friends she'd known since childhood. A good portion were women who were kind of flirty until they noticed my lack of reaction to them. Only the bustiest of them, a brothel-owner in a dangerously low-cut bodice named Madam Olivia, actually came out and commented on it, telling me I could visit for free the first time since I wouldn't be interested in any bedroom services.

"You should go," the Chief said as we walked away. "Olivia gives good massages."

"Can I go?" Jason interjected.

"No," I replied before anyone could say anything. "Not until you're an adult."

"I'll be an adult in two years," he said, reminding me of the lower age threshold.

I wanted to get the idea out of his head, but I didn't know what to say. Thankfully, Iris stepped in. "A brothel is a place where men pay for the company of women. It cost money for a man to even enter through the doors. If you lose track of time, you could spend every coin you have just talking to one of the ladies there. It's better not to go unless you have a good reason, especially a cute boy like you. They might not let you out of there in one piece."

"If you like girls, then you should meet one and date her properly," I added. "It's what your mom would have wanted. If she knew you were visiting brothels, she'd kill me." I eyed him cautiously as I said the last part to see if he reacted badly to the mention of his mother.

He rolled his eyes. I took it as a sign he was fine.

As we drew near the Guild, we could hear the hum of many voices, even from a distance. I don't know what I was expecting when Frank asked me to visit, but it wasn't the massive crowd pouring out of the Guild doors. It was complete chaos with no one trying to organize the people going in and out.

We stopped at the edge of the crowd. I didn't see how we could make it inside in one piece. "I can see why you'd be intimidated," I told Iris.

"It's not usually this bad," the Chief muttered, running his hand over his shaved head. "What the hell are they doing?"

"I'm going to go around through the back and see if I can find out. Jason, stay with Madam Iris and the Chief."

"Rafe," the Chief said abruptly.

"What?"

"My name. It's not Chief. It's Rafe Duram. You should call me Rafe when we're not at work."

"Um, okay. Do you mind watching my little brother for a minute, Rafe?"

The Chief smiled. It was the first time I'd seen that expression on his face and it was completely lethal. "Go on," he said. "Your little brother is safe with me."

I probably stared at him longer than it was polite before my brain kicked in and I remembered what I should be doing.

I headed around to the depository door where a few intelligent Adventurers had gone in to avoid the crowd gathered out front. Peeking into the main Guildhall through the pass-through, I saw it was filled wall-to-wall with people. I'd be trampled if I tried to approach the kitchen from that direction. I decided to try going in through the back way using the employee hallway.

The break room was filled with extra staff who were receiving a quick tutorial on serving customers. I finagled my way past and hurried down the hall past the records rooms toward Frank's old office.

Frank himself appeared when I went to turn the corner. He stood at the end of the hall with several of the women who were usually manning the reception counters. His furry bear ears were twitching with suppressed panic and he was gesturing wildly at the women.

"Al!" Frank exclaimed when he saw me, his voice full of hope and relief.

I hurried to his side and asked, "What's going on?"

"My apologies. It wasn't nearly this bad yesterday. Word spread faster than I expected about our new menu. People are coming from clear across town and it's still two hours before the dinner rush normally begins. The madness you see outside are just the early birds. It's going to get even worse when the sun sets. We're trying to decide how to deal with it."

I wasn't experienced in the restaurant business, but I knew a few things from being a patron. "First off, you need to restore order. The people who want to eat here should line up just like they would at the reception counter. Clear the place out and have two lines start at the door—one for meals and one for business. Enlist a few strong Adventurers to keep the peace. Anyone who misbehaves will be sent to the back of the line. Right now, the people who need to do business with the Guild can't even get inside. You should also put up ropes to separate the eating area from where people should be lining up for business, that way there won't be any confusion about where people are going. And set up a guard between the two sections. Just because a person comes in to turn in requests doesn't mean they get to jump the line for food."

Frank snapped his fingers and pointed to one of the women. She rushed off without a word. "What else?" he prompted.

"Is there a particular menu item a lot of the people are asking for?"

"Chicken and dumplings," he answered. "It's the one they've heard about. There hasn't been time for news to spread about the other menu items and we've already sold out of several of Mistress Janet's luxury breads."

"Can you set up a stall outside, maybe in the alley next to the building? Is there a back door to the kitchen? Close to there would be ideal, so the pots can be replenished easily. Only serve people from it if people provide their own bowls. If they need us to provide them, then they can wait in line to get inside with everyone else. Also, limit it to one serving per person. If anyone complains, then have the server say very loudly that there won't be enough for everyone if we provide seconds. I think the other Adventurers will do the work for us when they hear that."

Frank snapped his fingers again and a second woman ran off. "What about the recipe? We've already had two incidents where waitresses were threatened when they said they couldn't provide it."

"Can you have someone write out the recipe on cards? If so, sell them. I'll let you set the price. The sooner more people know how to make chicken and dumplings, the faster things will return to normal around here. I know you probably want to keep it a trade secret, but I promise I have a lot more dishes I can give you. Actually, that gives me another idea. If you know of any inns that serve meals, give them the recipe for free or contract with them so their menu matches the Guild's. Where I'm from, we call that franchising. It won't help for tonight, but having more places people can find our menu items will greatly decrease the chaos in the future."

Another snap and the last woman was gone. I sighed. "I should be getting back to my little brother. Hopefully, he was smart enough to line up, otherwise it looks like we'll be waiting hours for a table."

"What are you saying? You don't have to wait."

"Why wouldn't I? I hope you aren't suggesting I jump the line. If people see me doing it, then every nobleman and big-shot who comes by will want VIP treatment."

"Big shots, as you call them, wouldn't come here in person, even if we were serving gold encrusted dragon steak. They'd send a butler or servant."

I looked at him in surprise. "I didn't know you had gold foil." I'd never used any myself, but it was talked about when it came to dining habits of the insanely rich and famous on Earth.

"What?" Frank appeared confused.

"Edible gold foil. It's an ingredient—"

"Stop," Frank interrupted. "It was a metaphor. Seriously, the cooking in your homeland defies rational sense. I don't even want to know about an ingredient like that and I suggest you don't mention it again. If you do, I won't be able to protect you from the consequences."

I chuckled. "Fair enough. I don't know how to make it anyway."

"Back to what I was saying before your tangent—I'll have a table set up for you and your guests. You might think it'll set a bad precedent, but it'd cause a bigger stir if someone like you tried to stand in line."

"Is this about my mysterious foreign appeal again?"

"I'm glad to see you're becoming more self-aware."

"Sorry about that. It's difficult for me. I've never had anyone compliment my looks before I came here. I'm actually considered kind of ugly where I come from."

Frank let out a long, drawn-out sigh like I was trying his patience. It made me grin.

"Since I'm not alone tonight, I'll accept your goodwill," I said. "I'll need a table for four people. And if you could send someone out to meet us and escort us in, that'd be great. I don't want to imagine the outcry if I tried to jump the line on my own."

"Go collect your party. I'll have someone meet you shortly."