(Morcster Chef) The second meal - Ch. 4 (Patreon)

The ruckus of battle rang out through the clearing. The clash on metal on metal alternated with loud explosions that nearly deafened Arek. By the time the orc’s vision finally started to return, the fight was done.

Small white fires covered the clearing around them. The tents had somehow been mercifully spared, but the world around them was scorched and ruined. Deep furrows and scars had appeared in the earth and several nearby trees had turned into firewood.

Arek shook his head and rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. Ming and Malissa stood several feet from where they had started. Both women had small bruises forming on them, and their clothes were severely damaged. Ming’s staff rested against Malissa’s neck.

The tall, silk laden woman let out a mournful sigh. She reached into the white bag at her side and removed a small glass jar full of yogurt, which she presented to Ming.

“Thank you!” Ming said cheerfully, grabbing the yogurt from the other woman.

Belmont slowly rose from his position behind the tent, brushing the dirt off his armor indignantly.

“Put out the fires you caused!” He barked. “You’re going to burn our campsite down. Again. I thought we agreed that there wouldn’t be any more inter-group sparring in unsafe areas?”

“You were about to attack Arek,” Ming said, sticking her tongue out.

“He’s not part of the group!”

“Yet,” Ming said, walking towards them and handing the Yogurt to Arek. The orc took it with an amused grin. “I’ll get you the other stuff now. Belmont, if you try to kill my chef while I’m getting ingredients, I’ll turn your armor into sausage links.”

“At least put the fires out!” The exasperated man begged Ming as she strode into camp.

Ming didn’t even pause. She just flicked a hand and let out a whistle. The fires around them vanished in puffs of dark smoke. She stepped into a tent and let the flap fall shut behind her. Belmont glared at Arek and Malissa watched both of them with a perplexed expression on her face.

Arek set about to collecting stones and wood as Ming’s party members watched him. He laid the stones out in a ring and piled the wood inside. Within a few minutes, he had a small campfire prepared on the scorched earth.

The orc extended his hands towards the wood, exhaling slowly to channel the magic running through his body. A small flame appeared at the bottom of the wood. It caught and quickly spread, creating a crackling flame.

Arek sat down beside the fire, removing the two wooden bowls from their spot at his side. His breathing quickened and he raised his hands over the bowls. A thin stream of water condensed out of the air. He filled both bowls, scrubbed them briefly to clean them, and dumped the water out.

Ming emerged from the tent, her arms full of food. She tottered over to Arek and gently placed it on the ground beside him. Then she took several steps back to stand beside her teammates.

“He can do magic?” Belmont asked, managing to sound simultaneously impressed and disgusted.

“The least of his talents,” Ming said proudly.

“Haven’t you only known him for like…a few hours?” Malissa asked.

“Yeah. And?”

A slight smirk crossed Arek’s face. He tuned them out as his focus shifted to the food before him. Another quick gesture filled one of the bowls with water again. Arek set about washing all the tomatoes before placing them in the second bowl.

Once he had finished, he dumped the water out once again. He chose a flat rock and drew a large butcher knife. The orc set a tomato on the rock and his hand blurred into motion. A second later, the tomato had been cut into six even slices. He shoved the bottom of the tomato away and dumped the rest of it into the empty bowl.

Arek repeated the process with the rest of the tomatoes. Then he removed two vials from the bandolier around his chest – one was the large jug that held his general-purpose oil, but the other contained a darker liquid.

The orc popped the caps off and tipped some of both vials into the bowl of sliced tomatoes. He mixed them around for a moment, washed his hand of with a spray of summoned water, and then set the bowl aside.

Arek’s next victim was the loaf of white bread that Ming had brought him. He quickly turned it into several slices and held them over the fire, ignoring the flames as the licked his skin. The orc toasted each piece of bread and stacked them up on the stone.

Malissa watched the orc suspiciously as he opened her precious jar of yogurt. The orc stuck a finger into the yogurt and tasted it. He smacked his lips and paused to wink in her direction before removing several jars and sprinkling multiple different green spices into the mix.

His hands flashed, drawing a tiny knife from his side and spreading the yogurt mix across the toasted bread. He laid the soaked tomatoes across the yogurt and then picked up a block of cheese. He sliced off several thin pieces which he quickly turned into a fine powder.

The orc sprinkled the cheese over his tomato sandwiches with a flourish. He held each one beside the flame for a moment to melt all the ingredients together. Arek then set the meal down and rose to his feet, brushing some fallen cheese off his chest.

“Done,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

“That’s it?” Belmont asked, squinting judgmentally at Arek’s creation.

Ming didn’t bother responding. She was already standing beside Arek, stuffing one of the sandwiches into her mouth. She chewed for a moment and swallowed. Her eyes widened and she groaned in appreciation.

“They serve this in the highest halls of heaven,” Ming said, her voice barely comprehensible through the mouthful of food.

The small woman quickly polished off one sandwich and reached for a second. Malissa darted over, grabbing one from the rock before her teammate could eat all of them.