(Morcster Chef) Finally cooking again! - Ch. 97 (Patreon)

With no windows, it was impossible to tell what time they woke up the following morning. The four of them awoke together, which might have been due to Arek accidentally rolling out of his bed. Ming seemed okay, and nobody else in the party showed any overt signs of being cursed.

After dismantling Belmont’s traps – much to the man’s annoyance – Arek discovered that the smaller doors led to a nice white tiled room. A large metal tub sat in the center. There were several knobs at the edge with a spigot beside them.

“Ah! A bath,” Arek said, wiggling his fingers happily and darting inside. He recognized this particular bathtub. It was very similar to the tubs that the adventurer’s guilds at the far side of the kingdom had, and he was glad for it. They were much harder to get stuck inside.

The orc tossed his clothes to the side and hopped into the tub. He cranked one of the handles to the max, unbothered by the scalding water as it poured over his skin. Arek let out a relieved sigh, allowing himself to soak for a moment before vigorously scrubbing his skin.

He finished bathing and, after dressing in a new pair of pants, headed back into the main room. Malissa slipped into the bathroom after him and quickly bathed as well. Arek put the illusion generating mask onto his face, hiding his appearance from the world once again.

Once Malissa reemerged, the two of them set off to the market, leaving Ming and Belmont to watch the room. Arek been thinking of what he’d cook for several days, and he’d settled on three dishes he hadn’t made in quite some time. There wasn’t much connection between them, but each one sounded good and Arek doubted anyone would complain. Malissa tagged along with him, leaving Belmont and Ming behind to watch the room.

The sun had just started to rise when they got outside. The air was crisp and the scents of the city were in the air. Spices from restaurants and outdoor bakeries mixed with the dank gutters and musty alleyways.

A small crowd was already milling about, but the day was still young. The two of them blazed through the market in under two hours. Arek practically dragged Malissa along behind him as they darted from shop to shop, quickly purchasing every ingredient within his mental list.

Once they’d gotten everything Arek needed, the two of them headed back to the adventurer’s guild. There were several other adventuring groups sitting at the tables and eating breakfast. Several glanced in their direction. Arek heard one of them mention the previous night’s events.

Instead of heading back to their room, Arek and Malissa approached the kitchen door. The orc raised a hand to knock on the door. It swung open before his fist could touch it, revealing Voulier’s irate visage. Arek could have sworn that the man’s chef hat had grown several inches since they’d last met.

“I heard about your eventful trip to the dungeon,” Voulier said, stroking his moustache aggressively. “It is good that you survived, although I suspect that you have once again returned to butcher a recipe within my kitchen.”

“If you’ll let us,” Arek said, his lip curling upwards slightly in the beginnings of a smirk.

“And if I say no?”

“I’ll challenge you for it,” Arek offered.

“Bah. I don’t have time for that,” Voulier said. “Do you not see how many people are waiting to eat my food?”

He gestured out to the largely empty room. Arek raised an eyebrow and nodded sagely.

“Thousands.”

“They just haven’t arrived yet,” Voulier said crossly. “I have too much to prepare to bother with you. Use the same corner of the kitchen and don’t get in our way.”

“Thank you,” Arek said, offering the man a wide grin as he and Malissa stepped into the kitchen.

Malissa smiled at the chef as well, inclining her head slightly in thanks as they passed him. She grabbed an apron off a hook on the wall as they walked and had it on by the time they arrived at their station.

“We bought a bunch of ingredients, but I’m not exactly seeing the connection between them,” Malissa said. “Apples and mushrooms don’t really sound like they’d go well together.”

“I’m sure someone could do it, but you’re probably right,” Arek agreed. “We’re making a three course meal. It’ll really just be three dishes that I enjoy tossed together, which isn’t the most professional way to do things, but I figure we’ll survive.”

“Aren’t those generally for dinner?” Malisa asked.

“Well, yes. But do you think anyone is really going to complain?”

“Fair enough,” Malissa agreed, grinning.

The two of them washed their hands in the sink. Arek then started pulling things out of his bag and stacking them on the counter. Mushrooms, apples, oats, garlic, limes, peanuts, shrimp, ground pork, and several other ingredients quickly started to form a pile in front of them.

“I’m going to guess that one of the dishes we’re making is with these noodles,” Malissa said, pulling them out of her bag.

“Correct,” Arek said. “It’s called a glass noodle salad. I picked it up from a travelling merchant. We’ll actually be starting with that dish. Could you put these in your bag of colding until we need them? No point leaving them out.”

The orc handed several ingredients to Malissa, who tossed them into her bag. Arek then rearranged the remaining foodstuff on the counter so that it wasn’t all piled up in front of him.

“Most noodles only need to be cooked for a little over a minute,” Arek said, grabbing his large wok. He poured a good amount of water into it and set it over the stove before activating the heat. “However, glass noodles like these are dehydrated. For the purposes of this salad, we need to soak them before we do anything else.”

Malissa took the hint and grabbed a bowl from Arek’s bag. He grinned and gave her an approving nod as the tall woman carefully cut the noodles free of their strange package with a knife. The packaging faded away and vanished the moment she broke the seal.