Evergreen, 10th of Rainwane, year 179 BN

"I'm just saying there are better ways to make bread, and with it you could create a variety of dishes. This," Richard held a loaf of bread that was dark in color compared to the bread he was used to seeing in stores back in the modern world. He tapped it on the wooden counter and it made a banging sound that could be mistaken for stone hitting against a wall or wood. "Is too hard, you have to wet it to make it soft. Also, it doesn't have the best taste."

"Then why don't you show or give me an example? While I'm inclined to believe you, I must say I find it hard because there's never been 'soft' bread that you speak of. Go to any city or village and you'll find the same bread all over." Roxanne stated as she took a seat on the stool.

She should be chatting with the other customers and making sure to take their orders, but they were all busy stuffing their faces with the scrambled eggs she cooked up. They were satisfied with that meal, and once they found out that she learned it from Richard, they insisted she pry more information out of him if he had any. Which was not the response she was expecting from them considering talks of cooking didn't take place out in the open, nor was something a man would discuss. At least not in public.

But when a meal is good it changes the minds of a lot of people. Now there was someone present that gave them a meal that could be made with the supplies they had available. Not only that, it was different from the usual boiled eggs they were used to eating and had a bit of flavor to it as well. If they could gain more, then it would only benefit them.

The logic was odd, but it was there. Therefore, they urged Roxanne to learn as much as she could so she could make more and better meals for them.

The only one not gaining anything here was Richard, but to him this was not worth much. Besides, with the fantasy creatures they had running around and the different types of ore they had here, it would not surprise him if they had alternate vegetables, spices, and the like. It was only a matter of time before he found out about them.

This also meant that some of what he knew may not be applicable here due to the ingredients they required. Some ingredients would have to be substituted to make the meal work. But, Richard had no idea what they could be replaced with, thus he did not delve into anything complicated. Keeping things as simple as could be.

Besides, he wasn't a chef. The dishes he made weren't extraordinary, and most of the time he found himself making the same meals throughout the week. Just mixing it up here and there for a different variety.

"I already have!" Richard said. "I told you that you'd need flour, clean water, yeast, and some salt. But you said-"

"I've never heard of yeast." Roxanne finished the sentence for him.

"Exactly, so I can't give you an example or show you. You're missing a key ingredient that makes the bread rise and makes it all soft. I mean you can give it a try without that, but I don't know how it'd turn out." Richard said as he picked up his cup from the counter. It was full of water and he's barely drunk any since she gave it to him.

While Richard did know a lot, there was also a ton he did not know. He wasn't a walking encyclopedia, and if alternate methods were available to create bread, then he did not know of them. Unless it had to do with crafting or blacksmithing, Richard didn't dabble in a lot of different fields. Sure, there was baking soda or power as a replacement for yeast, but he highly doubted that existed here.

Roxanne sighed, she thought he would give her an answer. At least one she wanted, but he didn't. She had to be satisfied with this because he did not have to tell her. She made a mental note to find this yeast that he spoke of, it sounded exotic so it probably was not produced in this region nor any of the surrounding towns. Maybe if she found a trader coming from the west or south they might have it, but that would never happen.

Still, she wanted to try making this bread that Richard spoke so highly of. There was a lot of grain here in Evergreen, after all they had a lot of fertile land so running out of food was never going to be an issue. The only real problem was the monsters that roamed their land.

She raised her hand in defeat. "OK, I understand. But can we try without this yeast? I mean, surely you can show me the techniques used, right?"

Richard nodded. "I could, but in all honesty, it would be better to stick to what I already told you about. The various ways to use an egg for example, or grilled sausage. Heck, if you have any olive oil you could fry chicken." Richard's mouth began to water at that thought. It's been too long since he had fried food, more specifically fried chicken. There was little that you could do wrong when making fried chicken, it was quick, easy, and delicious.

"Fried chicken?" Roxanne said as if she were trying to wrap her head around the notion. She'd never heard of fried chicken before, but she had heard of olive oil. It was expensive and probably not worth the cost to make this fried chicken because she'd have to sell it for a high price. Still, it did interest her a little.

Richard nodded his head. If he wanted to, he could talk about the various ways to make chicken and all the dishes that use chicken. If he had to, he could eat nothing but chicken for the rest of his life. But only if he absolutely had to.

"You'd break your leg trying to get some of that oil. It's as expensive as obsidian, and even if you had the funds to get it, no one is coming here to sell you any." Gregor whose been silent this entire time spoke up. He was listening to the conversation taking place while eating his meal. He alone had five bowls of scrambled eggs with a loaf of bread.

The one thing he dreaded was that he had to wash it down with water. Now if he had some ale or wine then he'd be completely satisfied and be drunk enough to go to bed as soon as he went home.

Roxanne couldn't help but agree with Gregor. The last time a trader came to Evergreen with some olive oil for sale, only a few people managed to buy it. Those few people were the richest families in Evergreen, and she doubted they were using it to fry chicken. Olive oil was used to help keep their skin smooth and soft.

Richard shrugged, "It'll be worth it. Once you taste fried chicken, you won't eat it any other way."

All of this talk about food was making Richard hungry. He craved anything that had some flavor, not those scrambled eggs, but anything else. Discussing some of the food he knew about from his modern era only made him visualize and try to recall how tasty they were. It was true, you did not know what you had till it was gone.

Right then and there, Richard decided that the moment he found some olive oil for sale he'd buy it. That would be one of the first things he purchased if his business idea panned out. Or even steak, a big juicy steak.

Their talks continued with Roxanne asking questions, and Richard answering them as best he could. Gregor chimed in when he saw fit, and eventually, they ended up on keeping the dishes clean and maintaining a clean environment. Richard did not know how, but he began talking about gems, and illnesses he was familiar with.

Both Roxanne and Gregor looked appalled by his descriptions, especially when he spoke about the black death and how it killed millions within a few years. A million was not really a thing here as of yet, so to help put it into perspective for them, Richard told the two of them that it was a deadly plague capable of killing everyone on this entire continent.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Although neither of them knew if this was true or not, Richard did see the two of them constantly checking their hands as they continued to speak.

It wasn't until later in the day that a man wearing a suit of armor covering his most of his body entered the tavern. The armor had seen better days as there were cuts, dents, and blood stains all over it, but the man himself seemed to be fine by the way he was walking. He was lean and tall with tousled black hair and brown eyes. There was a sword sheathed at his side and after scanning the tavern he strode forward until he approached the counter.

Taking the seat next to Gregor, the man looked at Roxanne.

"Water." His voice was flat and without any emotion. The look in his eyes told Richard the man had been around a lot and seen more than the average person would in their entire life. He knew that look all too well because he was like that after the war.

Roxanne slipped out of her seat grabbed a cup from the shelf and filled it with water. She slid it to him without a word.

After a second he saw Gregor's empty bowl with a few remains of the scrambled eggs. His eyes furrowed as he glanced up at Roxanne, not paying the dwarf any attention.

"What's that?" He asked as he motioned towards the bowl in front of Gregor with the slightest tilt of his head. The cup of water Roxanne passed to him was lifted with his right hand as he brought it to his lips.

"Scrambled eggs, courtesy of our friend here." Roxanne answered with a smile as she glanced at Richard.

It was at this moment the man's eyes moved and saw Richard. Dark skin with brown eyes and wavy black hair that stopped at his neck. No scars, and a youthful face that still had some baby fat on it. His brown eyes didn't have that spark that other young men did, Richard's eyes were like his own.

From the brown tunic he wore the young man didn't come from the frontlines, he may have been posted on the walls shooting down arrows.

"Oh yeah?" He took a sip of his water.

Roxanne's smile seemed a bit strained as she couldn't believe the dry answers she was receiving. But, what could she expect when she was dealing with this man? She did her best to stay in a joyful mood as he was killing the mood they just had. Richard and Gregor both stopped talking and just paid attention to what was happening between her and the stranger.

"This is Richard," Roxanne said as she pointed at Richard. "And Richard, this is Benjamin, the man I was talking about."

Both Richard and Benjamin looked at one another at the same time. Benjamin took another look at Richard taking in his features once more, Richard was not what he was expecting. Not when Roxanne came to him with a request and talked about an opportunity to be had with a blacksmith.

He pictured the dwarf to be the client, not the young man. There was the news of another blacksmith in town, but that news was pretty old at this point. He's never been to see the smith nor did he have a reason to. So he never imagined the blacksmith was a human considering humans didn't have the same skills as dwarves.

Benjamin scratched the back of his head and yawned. "So, what's the job?" He asked after he finished yawning.

Richard liked that the man wanted to get right down to business, but he also wished Benjamin wasn't so nonchalant. He's encountered people like this before and while they did not have the best people skills, their actual skills spoke volumes. That or they tended to die fast.

He in no way thought that his own social skills were high, but he had to admit they were better than this. Or were they? Richard wondered if this was what he sounded like to others back on Earth. If it was, how did people stick around him for long? But they didn't stick around, that's why he was alone.

"I need a guard on my journey outside Evergreen, and Roxanne recommended you." Richard said.

"Where to?" Benjamin asked.

"Valewater for starters, but if things play out the way I imagine, this would be a long-term employment. Is that alright with you?" Richard said as he had to make sure the man understood this would not be a one-and-done type of deal. He wanted to keep him around for as long as possible.

Benjamin shrugged. "Yeah, whatever. It'll be fifteen bronze tales a day with meals included. Shouldn't take nothing but a few hours to get to the river, and take a boat upstream."

"We're not taking the river." Richard replied.

It was the first time he saw the man's hardened expression change. He looked confused and even raised his eyebrow slightly once he heard they would not be taking the river.

"You want to travel to Valewater, and not take the river? You know from here to any other region would take us days by foot, and with the beasts out there... the journey would be even longer. Taking the river is faster and safer, we'll encounter fewer monsters and only have to deal with the occasional thugs and bandits." Benjamin said. It was the first time the man said more than a few words, but his logic made sense.

In all honesty, Richard did see the river on the map. It passed through multiple regions and if he had a boat large enough he could fill it with all sorts of goods. Transportation would also be easier as well, but he did not know how wide the river was, nor if it got a lot of traffic. Making a carriage was faster than making a merchant ship to carry goods, and cheaper as well.

Not to mention with the verlpax's speed he was sure he could match or do better than any sort of boats using the river currently.

"I'd imagine so, but we wouldn't be walking. Transportation is taken care of already, I just need protection from the beasts outside these walls."

Roxanne and Benjamin both looked at Richard. He said they wouldn't be walking. They were sure of it. Roxanne knew he owned a verlpax, but did he own more than one? If that were the case then he would be better off moving by land from how fast those creatures were.

Benjamin rubbed his chin taking his time to speak. When he finally opened his mouth he agreed. "Suit yourself, but it's twenty-five bronze tales if we're going by land."

Now it was Richard's turn to take a moment and think before speaking. That cost was truly expensive, it would be a huge investment into something that may not turn out the way he wanted. If it took them ten days to make it to Valewater, which he was just estimating at this point. That would mean he'd have to pay Benjamin almost two silver tales just for going to Valewater, that isn't accounting for the price coming back. Not to mention there were the others Roxanne mentioned who he'd need to pay.

If they all charged him the same price... Richard couldn't even imagine the costs. He'd have to make a huge profit on each run, which was unlikely to happen since he was just starting out. He did not know the exact needs of each town they'd pass through, nor which town had what goods for a low price. All of this could only be learned as he went out to explore.

His first trip was likely to net him nothing, his second probably the same. It wouldn't be until he learned and gained experience would he finally see money coming in. And even then, he'd still be recouping from the losses he'd take.

"That's a pretty steep price you're setting Ben." It wasn't Richard who spoke up but Roxanne as she sat behind the counter with her arms crossed staring at Benjamin. She looked more disappointed than anything else and Richard took note that she called him Ben meaning the two of them must be close.

Benjamin shrugged. "Can always go by boat, but you know as well as I do how dangerous it is out there. I'm risking my neck by taking this job, and you know damn well I'm well worth the money. If the kid doesn't want to pay up, then what am I even doing here?"

"Still, twenty-five bronze tales? That's more than what you're making now."

Benjamin snorted at that remark. "One bronze tale is more than what I'm making now. I'm working for free, and free doesn't feed me or keep me alive."

Richard raised his hand stopping Roxanne from replying. "Alright, I can do twenty-five bronze tales."

Benjamin smirked at that as if he just won something. Roxanne shook her head but this was Richard's decision. Benjamin was skilled, one of if not the best fighters in Evergreen. He excelled at killing monsters, so good at it that he used to hunt them for sport when no one was paying him to kill a monster terrorizing their land. Why send in their own soldiers when they could hire him? If Benjamin died while on the job they didn't have to pay him, and best of all it wasn't one of their own people. If he killed the creature, they just had to pay him a small amount of money.

Either way, those who hired him were winning.

"Great." Benjamin said as he set down the wooden cup. "Just inform her when you're ready to leave. I'll be waiting." With that, Benjamin got up from the counter and left without so much as a goodbye.

Gregor who was silent the entire time snorted. "Can't believe you just made that deal."

"What do you mean?" Richard asked.

"You could hire three men for the price you just agreed to pay him." Gregor said.

Richard was speechless, then he chuckled a bit. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I'm going to be honest, that man scares me. I don't know what it is about him, or why I got that feeling. But it felt as if I was sitting next to a hungry beast staring at its prey. That man..." Gregor looked back as he watched Benjamin head out of the tavern. "That man's dangerous. Be careful around him."

Richard glanced at Roxanne. The woman gave him a soft smile as if everything was going to be fine. "He's right, you paid a lot, but there's no one better to be around when you're outside Evergreen. Don't worry about the other people I'm introducing you to, they won't charge you more than eight bronze tales for their service. But trust me when I say, they're less skilled than him. Even if they say otherwise."