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Samsara: The rise of Darksteel
Chapter 44 - Empire of the Bun (Part 4)

Chapter 44 - Empire of the Bun (Part 4)

The morning of the fourth day came around. Kael's building was done, everything had been shipped and Kael had finished up his backpacks the night before.

As Jessica and Kael arrived, he excitedly ran through his newly renovated place. Starting from the top floor and working his way down he was satisfied with his new headquarters. The oven even worked out the way he wanted. It would be easy to cook breads, then use the top as either a steamer of a hot plate.

Taking Jessica into the big open room on the bottom floor that was filled with his backpacks and some random deliveries, he went over to one of the backpacks. Picking it up, he wandered over to the stools. Turning a stool upside down, it fit snugly on the bottom of the pack, with the legs overlapping the outside of it. Putting another on top it fit the same. Looking over at Jessica, Kael said;

"The kids even have a way to easily carry their own chairs!"

"Yeah, but why do they need two?" She asked.

"Silly, of course, they need two, one is for the pack to sit on. You don't want your food resting on the ground right?"

Silently agreeing she said, "That's why the entire back open and not the top then right? The kids have their own mobile stalls."

"Exactly!" Kael shouted out, his plan had a taken a lot of groundwork, but it was finally coming o fruition. "You go get the kids while I pack some of this stuff away."

As Jessica took off Kael began to sort through the tons of random delivers. He started by moving the non-perishable foodstuff into the storeroom while pondering how he forgot to get someone to make him an icehouse. As he had just finished packing away all the foods, the kids and Jessica returned.

Counting the kids he was happy to see they had increased to 52. All of the sick children were present and looking much better as well. Clapping his hands to get them to quiet down he said, "Ok let's get into groups.

"Those of you who only want to work as a cook, go to the right, those of you who want to do maid and or labour work, go to the left."

Watching the kids separate he had his maximum amount of maids and labour workers, consisting of 6 girls and 4 boys. Kind of surprised, he had 8 kids that wanted to only cook, leaving 34 kids to run around and sell things.

"Good", Kael said, "Right now we only have 40 beds, but the rest should be delivered in a few days. Take a moment to grab a uniform, blanket, pillow, sheets, and a mattress from the pile over there. Then head to the second floor to choose a room. I suggest taking the mattress first, then making a second trip."

Watching the kids scurry about like it was Christmas, he had to stop a few fights over the people who did not get beds. Letting them know they could stay at the inn until the beds got here quieted them down. After about 20 minutes of rushing around the kids were all lined back up in groups on the bottom floor.

"Good, now see all of these giant backpacks? Each of you grab 4 cooking racks and a backpack. The racks all fit into the backpack. One rack sits on the bottom piece of wood, the other three fit into the little grooves. Go ahead and put them in. Now, see how this backpack has two stools? Go grab two stool for the pack you have."

Watching the kids put together the backpacks gave Kael a strange sense of satisfaction. Like he was watching the first step in getting them out of the gutters of the world. As they finished assembling them Kael began his orders again.

"Now that those are done, the people who are going to be selling food, these are your lifeblood. You will carry the things you are going to sell in it, then take it off and use it as a small stall. Take them up to your rooms, someone else help carry the extra to the empty storehouse room over there for now."

When the children finished their task and reassembled again, Kael once again began his instructions.

"You girls who want to be maids, come get a silver from me, then go buy a bucket, mop, broom, and some rags. The kids who are going to be selling food, come get a silver from me and go buy a shovel. The cooks, come get a silver from me and then go buy two bundles of wood each.

"When you are done, give the change to Jessica. The labourers and sales kids will be digging an ice house under her direction. The girls who wanted maid work, you can start cleaning when you get back. The cooks will take your wood into the kitchen and I will start to teach you how to cook."

The kids all lined up to get their silver. Although they had become accustomed to their new boss spending a lot of money, and having a few sent on errands, they had never seen someone so trusting. Running off to do their own tasks, left Jessica and Kael alone.

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Kael showed her where he wanted them to dig a deep pit for the cold room. Making sure to explain it had to deep or it would not retain cold air. He also gave her the remainder of his silver, a whole 85, and told her to have that carpenter come back to build a room in here when they were done.

Going back into the building, Kael stared at the pile of meat. Thinking to himself, Isn't this 3 days early? he pondered what to do about it. Looking over at Jessica he asked, "Isn't this early?"

Looking at Kael with a mirth-filled glint in her eye, she said. "It's a day early, you originally scheduled it for 5 days from the purchase, then changed it to 7 days. The vendor was not sure what you wanted and could not find you so he delivered it today. I am not sure why it's a day early though, maybe to punish you for changing your mind?"

Sighing Kael said, "You've known where I am all the time, why not come ask me?"

"Oh, then where were you two days ago?"

"I went to find someone about making me the to go boxes of course. Shit, that's why you are mad. Sorry, I am not accustomed to telling people my every movement. Ok, I'm sorry, speaking of those boxes though, let's go get them."

Turning and leaving the disgruntled lady behind, Kael headed out into town. Jessica hurried to catch up to her irresponsible employer.

About 10 minutes later he arrived at a paper mill. As Kael and Jessica entered the pungent, moist, air accosted them. Ignoring the fact that it felt like he was walking through someone's sweat, Kael approached the shopkeep at the front.

"Excuse me, sir, I was wondering if my paper boxes were done?" He asked.

"Oh, you're the kid with the weird order!" The man exclaimed.

"Yes sir, I was hoping your first run would be done already."

"It is, wait one moment," he said before turning and heading into the back of his shop. Coming back a minute later, he had two huge stacks of beige paper boxes. Putting them down on the counter he said, "The boxes are a great idea in my opinion. We used a tree resin to seal them up so they won't leak. However, the time it takes to fold and seal them is too long. If you want us to do it, it will cost triple the price. Otherwise, we can sell you the cut paper and the resin for the same price."

"Yeah, my assistant will bring two bags in a moment, are you sure you want so many? We could stop producing everything else just to make these for you."

"I am sure, we need 42,000 boxes a week," Kael said.

Having had already paid the man earlier in the week, Kael took the large stacks of probably 1,000 boxes each. Telling the man where to deliver the boxes, and heading back to the building, Kael internally noted to increase the cost of the ramen. 5 copper a box did not sound like much until he did the overall calculations. 225 silver a week

Getting back to the building, the children were already there and waiting. Jessica took the remaining money from the kids and led them outside to dig. Kael sent the maid girls off to clean, and the labourers off to help Jessica dig.

Taking the 8 other kids into the kitchen, he showed them how to load their wood into the oven. Lighting it up, he told them it would need a bit to become coals, otherwise, the fire would change heat as they cooked and nothing would turn out the same.

Taking them into the storehouse he had the kids pull out all the spices for the beef sauce, and then once they were leaving, he took out all of his empty jugs from his ring. Pretending they were always there, he grabbed two and followed the kids into the kitchen.

Handing them a recipe he had prepared earlier, he started to separate the herbs. A few seconds later he heard a kid say, "Uhm, we don't know how to read."

Swearing to himself, he decided he would have to fix that soon. Pointing out each of the herbs, and showing them how much to separate, they mixed them down in some bowls Kael had delivered on the side. As they finished, Kael had them transfer it into the jugs. Repeating this process while getting more herbs and jugs, they soon had 20, 1 gallon, jugs filled.

Now that the stove was good to go, Kael took out his tusk knife and started showing the children how to cut the beef. After chopping up the beef into inch thick, 6 inch long strips, he explained to them the concept of marinating. Explaining to them that tonight they would not be doing so, but would in the future.

Teaching the kids how to cook the strips until they were done, but not overdone, he finally convinced them that they should be pink in the middle. Explaining they normally would be red in the middle, but he just wanted to be sure no one got sick, so they were overcooked.

Loading the meat strips into the boxes, they poured a little sauce over them. It took a few hours of training and cooking, but they were finally done. Looking at the near 4,000 boxes of food, the kids were kind of shocked they could make so much. Kael had them go get the selling kids, and to have them get their backpacks.

Once all of the kids were there with their packs, Kael helped them loaded them up and buckle them all closed. They were ready to go. The weight looked a little unwieldy, but he was sure they would get used to it.

Explaining to the kids, "Normally, we would be selling noodles and meatballs, but the meat got delivered early. For now, just run around town and give the guards free meals. Be sure to stay away from the area that the Foaming Mug Tavern is in." Kael sent them on their way.

After they were gone, Kael explained the process of dough making, and how rising the dough was important. Showing them the stuff they would need to make it, he demonstrated mixing the dough and kneading it out twice for them.

Telling the kids each bowl would make a large loaf, which would make 24 slices of bread once cooked and cut, and that they would need to make over 1,000 loaves a night. The kids looked at him like he was insane. Stopping to explain that a blacksmith would be delivering larger bowls, so they could make 10 loaves of dough at once, calmed them down some.

Separating the dough out, Kael showed the kids how to place them in the shelves off to the side, with a damp towel over them to help the dough rise. Telling them that the dough would grow to twice its current size when done. Explaining it would normally take about an hour for the bread dough to rise, but he had found a special yeast, so the dough would take about 8 hours to rise and would be safe if left for up to 12 hours.

As the dough was rising, he told the kids to cook the extra beef up for their own people to get a taste. Once done, they were free until 5 am the next day.