Pathfinder: 180 BN

Evergreen, 10th of Rainwane, year 181

It was three days later when Richard returned to Roxanne's tavern for the arranged meeting. She never told him if he should arrive in the morning or evening, so he came early in the day. The sun was shining brightly reflecting off the white snow that blanketed the ground causing Richard to have to squint his eyes in order to see clearly. He could hear the muffled sounds of moans coming from the alley next to the tavern.

"Isn't it too early for a drink?" A voice asked that was all too familiar to him at this point.

Richard's hand was already on the door getting ready to open it when he paused and turned. There he saw the red-haired dwarf he was all too acquainted with. His cheeks were flushed red a contrast to the brown pelt coat the dwarf wore. He blew into his hands and rubbed them together warming them up in the cold.

"You know I don't drink, and even if I did, not like this place has any. What are you doing here so early? I thought you were working on that steel sword?" Richard asked as he removed his hand from the door.

The last time he talked to Gregor a few days before he came here with the map, the dwarf was excited to have a bit of free time to work on his first steel sword. He hoped the results would be good and better than the previous bladesmithing he'd done in the past. Richard couldn't help but chuckle at the excitement the dwarf showed at using steel. It reminded him of his own work when he first began and the fire that burned within.

That fire was still there, but it was not burning as intensely as before.

With a nod, Gregor replied, "Aye I am but the kid managed to injure himself last night, so I'm taking a break. Decided to come here for breakfast before going to see you. Didn't think I'd run into you here. Why are you here?"

The kid Gregor was referring to was Andy, but in Richard's eyes that dwarf was no child. Not with the bulky build and hairy body he had, there was no way Andy was a kid. Unless dwarves were born with thick beards.

"I have a meeting with some people here today about going outside the city once the tide ends. Roxanne is making the introductions that's why I'm here."

Hearing that Gregor could put together the pieces. "You're really going to take that carriage outside? You won't be able to repair it once you leave, and the first one was damaged. Have you managed to find a way to fix it?"

Indeed, the first carriage Richard produced was damaged. A few of the spokes broke due to the stress, and even the shocks Richard made didn't help much. He had to remake the wheels from something else that wouldn't break as easily. The verlpax was strong, really strong, and because of its insane strength Richard figured that was why the spokes didn't last as long.

Shaking his head Richard replied, "No, not yet. I'm thinking of making it out of steel, but that would take too long. I could make spares and replace them in case they break, which would be faster, but it'd take up room in the carriage." Richard rubbed his hands together and shivered. "It's cold out here, let's head inside."

Gregor nodded and the two of them entered the tavern.

"I can help with that, but would the hub still be made of wood? Darkwood is strong, but if you plan on using steel it might be best to create the hub from steel as well." Gregor commented as he walked next to Richard, his small feet keeping pace with ease.

The two of them sat down at the front counter, where they normally took a seat when they came here. Not in the middle, but towards the right side taking up the last two seats at the end. No one else was at the counter, and Richard noticed a few men here, but no one that caught his eye.

He was probably too early for the meeting so the people Roxanne spoke about weren't present as of yet. They'd arrive when they did, and Richard did not have anything else to do for the day. If Gregor weren't here, he would have waited around for a little bit before leaving and coming back later.

Roxanne was also not present, but considering the tavern was open, she could not have gone too far.

"Ideally I'd want to do something like that. I want to create a wheel that can last a while using various parts, but producing them would take forever so it is best to stick to something simple. But yeah, it would be best to just create the entire thing out of steel at this point." Richard replied.

Gregor crossed his arms. "What are you talking about? Just create it once and you should be done. Sure it'd take time, but wouldn't it be worth it for something stable?"

"Well yeah, if I was only making one and did not plan on creating another. But, if this pans out like I think it will, I'll need more than just one carriage Gregor."

Gregor's eyebrow raised at that remark. Just how many of those carriages was Richard planning on making? If it was him, he'd just do this one and never make another one, unless something happened and he needed to. Considering the plan he heard from Richard, it did not seem like something that required a lot of carriages. The only upside to that would be that he'd be able to carry more in one trip.

"It's just you isn't it?" Gregor couldn't help but ask.

Richard nodded. "For now yeah. Let's say I can transport, eh two hundred items in my carriage, and make a profit of five gold. However, it only cost me two gold for everything." Richard began.

"What the hell are you buying that costs two gold?" Gregor interrupted him.

"Just using this as an example. But let's say I buy those goods for two gold, and after going to the next place and selling it off, I can make seven gold tales. Meaning I just made five gold tales in one trip. That is me alone, now let's say there are ten of these carriages doing the same, each earning the same profit. Five gold tales per run, with ten carriages. That's fifty gold tales per run, now scale that up to I don't know, a hundred. That's five hundred gold tales. See where I'm going with this?" Richard asked after he finished explaining.

Gregor was counting on his hands but stopped suddenly. "I knew you could count fast, but that... amazing. But yes, I roughly get what you're saying."

Richard looked at the dwarf. "So you can see why I'd like to make the carriages not too complex, so I can have someone produce them. The more complex the build is, the longer it would take. That's not even accounting for any errors that might occur, meaning I'd have to wait longer to have more carriages. Not to mention the cost of material and labor needed per build." Richard began to get a little excited talking about this. It would be a feat no one in this world had reached yet, and he'd have a massive amount of money flowing in. Eventually getting to the point where he could run the business from behind a desk and just making sure things ran smoothly.

He'd be able to create depots in different cities to store the goods and ship them out when needed. Stacking up on various goods that the citizens wanted and needed, he could set the price. It would be a massive undertaking, and Richard was unsure if it was even plausible given that the people he'd encountered so far hadn't been the 'brightest' bunch.

To even do something on a higher scale, he'd have to take his time. Meaning it could be years before he was at the point where he even had five warehouses. To begin expanding he'd have to find trustworthy people that could do math. 

Gregor's eyes were wide in shock. Richard's thought process was something different. In fact, Gregor assumed Richard only wanted to do this on a small scale, not anything like the young man said. Hearing him say it, and the ideas he had were new. There were still pieces Gregor didn't understand, but it sounded a little interesting.

He's never been one to care much for wealth, but hearing the way Richard spoke caused a fire to ignite within the dwarf.

"Wait, wait, wait. You want to give out the design for your carriage? Wouldn't it be in your best interest to hold on to it as long as possible?" Gregor asked.

Richard nodded. "Yes, and I do plan on doing that. The first batch of carriages will be made by me, but I can't do it all. I'll need capable people to help to make the process faster. Also, people aren't dumb Gregor, someone is bound to see what I'm doing and how well it's working." Richard wanted to say if it's working at the end, but didn't. "And make their own version even without my design. Money is a powerful desire that everyone wants, even if they say otherwise. They'll try to build their own, fail at first, but eventually they'll succeed."

"I wasn't expecting to see you here so early." Roxanne interrupted the two of them as she made her appearance. She came from the door that led to either the storage or the kitchen. Richard couldn't be certain as he's never been back there before.

Turning he saw the woman in a black dress with a black fur pelt draped over her shoulders. She brushed a strand of her brown hair behind her ear as she approached the counter.

"You never said the time, so it's always better to be early than late." Richard said as he looked her in the eyes.

"Roxanne! Perfect timing, I'd like some food." Gregor spoke up as soon as he saw her.

"Not much of that left, but what would you like?" She asked him.

"Well, what do you have?"

"I can fix you up some of that soup, or you can take a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a few carrots," Roxanne said.

Gregor made a look of disgust as he pictured that soup. Roxanne never told anyone what was in it, but it tasted like muddy water. Nothing someone should ever digest. He groaned a bit and shook his head, he should have went to the other tavern for some meat.

"No eggs?" He asked.

"Oh? Didn't think you'd want any since you never ask. Yeah, there's some in the back I can cook up."

Hearing that Gregor perked up a bit. While eggs were not his favorite thing to eat, it beat only eating bread.

"Your breads hard, but if you manage to soften it up you could make something work. Crack the eggs into a bowl, mix it around then cook it and use something to stir it around. If you want, you can add in some vegetables too, make sure they're chopped though before you add, and bam. You'll have yourself some scrambled eggs, put it on the bread and you'll have an egg sandwich. Not the best thing in the world, but probably better than eating that stale bread." Richard commented.

Roxanne and Gregor both turned to look at him, not expecting this from the young man. Gregor knew he was a blacksmith and wanted to make money, while Roxanne knew he was a blacksmith and wanted to travel outside the city. Neither of them ever heard him talk about cooking.

Mostly because men did not go into the kitchen, not unless they were a chef and even if they were it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Just roast some meat and serve it, or cook up some soup or stew to serve for the day. Simple meals like that. And even if a man was to go into the kitchen to cook, they'd never talk about it out in the open.

It was not looked at here as something a man should do. Which is the reason you'd find women in the kitchen doing the actual cooking if you were to go to any estate. Even if the head chef was a male, they'd simply observe the women cooking and not do any of it themselves.

"What?" Richard asked as he found the attention to be too much. Especially with the way the two of them were looking at him.

"You know how to cook?" Roxanne was the first to recover and speak, asking the question that was on both her and Gregor's mind.

"Yeah." Richard snorted.

He was not some helpless child that couldn't make their own meal. The reason he did not do it here was because he just did not take the time to. Ever since arriving here, he's been busy crafting project after project not sparing any extra time to cooking. Besides managing his hygiene as best he could, that was all he did.

"What else can you do?" Gregor asked as Richard was becoming more interesting by the day. The young man just kept amazing him, which was saying something since Gregor was not amazed easily.

There was a lot that Richard could do. But cooking was frankly simple, you had to know how to cook in order to survive. His cooking skills would be more advanced than the people here, maybe not everyone but the majority. If he started a restaurant he was sure it would become popular. Which now that he thought about it, that did not seem like a bad idea.

He'd shelve the thought for now, and come back to it later on if it still interested him.

"Eh, a little bit of this and that." Richard replied without actually answering the question he was asked.

Gregor did not push hard for a real reply seeing that Richard did not go out of his way to answer. He'd learn more about the young man as time went on, and he was looking forward to it.

Roxanne tapped her finger on her lips for a second before she turned her attention back on Richard. "Care to show me?" She asked.

Inviting him to her kitchen was not something she'd like to do because she did not know him that well. Not to mention she was not the type of person to ask for help from others, especially from the opposite sex. But this was not the time to be prideful or care about any sort of rumors that might pop up from this interaction with Richard. If his meal was tasty and easy to cook, then it would be worth learning.

Richard shrugged. "Why not, not like I have anything to do right now anyways." Richard said.

He came here for a meeting but he came early. He could chat the time away with Gregor all he wanted until the people arrived and he'd be content with that. Cooking scrambled eggs wasn't that big of a deal nor would it take long either.

Richard got up from his seat and went around the counter. Right behind him, Gregor tagged along, not wanting to be left behind.

"I'm coming too!" He spoke up as he was more interested in seeing Richard cook than the actual meal itself.

All three of them headed to the kitchen which was behind the door. The kitchen was spacious as it also worked as a storage for food. There were wooden shelves on the left wall with wooden barrels on the back wall. He saw there were large bags of what he assumed to be rice stacked up in a pile, while the right side of the wall had a brick stove.

The stove was made of red bricks in a large rectangle, the center was hollow leaving a space for wood to start the fire. On top was a slab of gray stone that worked as the stove with a large black metal pot that was used to cook. The setup was basic and Richard could already picture himself redesigning the entire space.

Richard did not like that the bread was just stacked on the shelf in a basket. Anything could get to it, and it made him question if any rats made their home here. Even the sacks of grain could be chewed through and be an endless supply of food if the rats were smart. While he did not see any he could picture there being a family or three hiding somewhere here.

As for the black metal pot, it was pretty dirty with brown stains on the edges of it. He scanned the room looking for something else to use, and settled for a small square black metal plate. He knew it was metal because he could feel the heaviness of it once he picked it up.

"Eggs, vegetables, and I'll need something to chop them up with. Gregor start the stove if you would." Richard said and Roxanne got to moving around the kitchen grabbing everything he asked for. It took her less than two minutes to bring him what he asked for.

There were four brown eggs slightly bigger than the eggs he had back home. She also had some carrots, onions, radishes, and green bell pepper in hand.

"Now something to cut these up with, and a bowl. Preferably one that's clean." Richard said and once more Roxanne moved without saying anything.

With everything ready, Richard got to work cutting up the vegetables into small bite-sized pieces and cracking the eggs. There was a wooden spoon he used to stir it all around, and he paused for a second as he noticed the block of cheese. Reaching over he grabbed it and cut a few pieces of it off before dropping them into the bowl as well. Once it was nicely stirred and the fire had been going for a while, Richard set the square black metal plate down on the stove.

He gave it a few minutes letting the plate heat up before dumping what was in the bowl onto the plate. Not at once, but in a controlled manner making sure nothing spilled off the plate.

As the eggs began to cook he made sure to stir it around. He could have just made an omelet but he was already set on making scrambled eggs. Eggs cooked fast so he was mostly waiting for the vegetables to be cooked before he turned to look at Roxanne.

"Alright, give me a bowl or something."

Roxanne already had one in her hand and passed it to him. Using the same wooden spoon Richard moved the scrambled eggs into the bowl and handed it to Gregor. The dwarf smelt it and his mouth began to water.

"Give it a try. You can add in some meat too if you want, just make sure it's cooked or else it won't taste as good." Richard said to Roxanne.

Gregor took a bite and was satisfied. Seeing his delight Roxanne grabbed a spoon and scooped up a bit of the scrambled eggs to try for herself. It was actually tasty, and best of all it was simple. There was no way she could mess it up, or anyone could for that matter. The entire process didn't take more than five minutes. The prep time might have made it go over that, but Roxanne wasn't counting that as part of the time to make the dish.

"I could serve this. If I'm not mistaken, Gram still has a lot of eggs for sale at a cheap price."

Richard hearing this nodded his head. "Yeah, you could, would add some variety to the menu. As for prices, that's up for you to decide."

Roxanne beamed at this. A new meal, and one that she learned for free. Today was starting off good, and she had a feeling it would only get better.

From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Richard. The young man was something special, if he told her this recipe and spoke as if it was not anything special, then what other recipes did he have in his head? Would he teach her? She decided that she had to keep Richard close and stay on his good side.