The next morning Kael woke up just before 5 am. Heading into the kitchen area he waited for the kids. After a few kids, who were half-awake, finally showed up he sent them back upstairs to get the other cooks to be. When they all finally showed up, he got down to business.

"Ok, your mornings will start with cooking the bread we left out to rise. First, we need to get the oven lit and going, so go ahead and light it up. I would suggest in the future, you guys take turns, one of you run down here early in the morning to get it going so everyone else can sleep a bit more.

We still have all this meat and milk that we need to use this morning. so while the oven is heating up, let's chop up the meat. "

As he was chopping, he noticed the kids were just watching, asking what was going on, he found out that they did not have any extra knives. Sighing, Kael fetched one of the labour kids and one of the maids.

Sending the labourer out to get 10 butcher knives and 10 caving knives. Sending the maid out to go get 10 sets of cooking mitts and a few yards of cheesecloth, he directed them to Jessica for money before getting back to his cooking.

"Ok, well we can do the meat when they get back. Go get your big saucepans, I will show you how to make cheese."

Fortunately for Kael, he had not ordered very much milk. After running through the process of making cheese, and showing it to the kids, they were busy stirring their curdling milk when the maid girl came back with the cheesecloth.

Laying out their cheese into the cloth to separate it from the whey, Kael explained to the kids it needed to drain for a half hour. Showing them how to make little baggies they hung their cheese balls off the side of the cabinet, letting it drip down into the bowls.

With that done, and the oven ready, Kael had the kids put the bread in. Telling them it would need 40 minutes before it was done. In the meantime, they needed to beat some eggs.

Explaining to the kids that each loaf would be cut into 24 slices of bread, which meant they needed to make enough egg batter for that, per loaf. Excluding the reason, recipe, and mechanics he just told them they would need 6 eggs, a spoonful of vanilla, a half spoon of cinnamon, and a quarter cup of milk. The kids still looked confused.

Figuring out an easier way, he got the kids to go get some large mixing buckets. "Ok, you only made 10 loaves of bread each last night for practice. Since this is practice, we will do the batter for 8 loaves at once. It will just be easier for you to remember that way."

Having the kids crack 48 eggs each, add 12 cups of milk, 1 cup of vanilla, and a half cup of cinnamon, they started beating the eggs. Although the kids looked a little confused, measuring things by a cup instead of a spoon seemed easier for them to get. Knowing he only put the ingredients for 8 loaves of bread, but was having the kids do 10 loaves, he wondered how it would turn out.

Changing his mind, he decided he could skimp on the expensive vanilla and cooking cinnamon, but not the main ingredients. Stopping the kids with their half beaten mess, he had them add in another 12 eggs, and 3 cups of milk. Telling them it was his method to help distribute the vanilla, but it really wasn't needed. The kids bought his bullshit and kept beating away at their large bucket of slop.

When the bread was cooked, he had them stop working the eggs, and get the loaves out. Making sure everyone wore mitts not to get burned. Dumping the 102 loaves of bread on the counter, Kael set his off to the side.

Since the kids could count, it made cutting the bread easier. Kael just told them to keep cutting each part in half until they had 24 even slices of bread. When they were done with the cutting, he had them take a break to get their cheese.

Dumping all of them all out of the cloth, Kael had them knead some salt into their cheese before it went into two big buckets, which he covered with the used cheesecloth and set aside. Explaining it would need to sit in the cold room overnight before it should be eaten.

Taking them back to their bread, he split the group into two. 4 kids to work the oven, and 4 to prepare the bread. The seemed to understand but not really understand, so he just showed them with motion.

Having 4 kids dip a piece of bread per hand into a bucket, pull it out, tap it on the side to get excess off, and then slap them on the oven. Telling the kids at the oven to count to 200, when they got to 200, to start flipping the bread.

Kael and his 4 bread eggers walked down the long oven, tossing 8 slices on it at once. The oven kids were still looking at them, thinking they had the easy job until they hit 200, and there were suddenly hundreds and hundreds of slices of bread cooking.

Starting to furiously flip the bread, they had a quite a few problems. Finally, Kael came over to direct them. Telling them to flip what was in front of them, then skip over to the fourth row. The kids finally fell in line and were working well.

When the bread eggers were done, they thought they now had the easy job, but Kael quickly broke them of that. Telling them to go get racks, and as soon as the flippers got to the halfway point of the bread, that they needed to start quickly taking it off the stove.

As the flippers finished Kael had them start running full racks of bread while coming back with empty ones, swapping as they went. When they were finally done, Kael gave them a few minutes of downtime.

Telling the kids, "Normally, we would make a sweet syrup to go with these, but since they are free, we are going to skip that since it is expensive. We are going to make a little bit for the kids here."

Showing them the portions and how to mix molasses, a honey, sugar, and cinnamon, he brought it to a boil. Once it was boiling he took it off the heat and mixed in butter. When it finally cooled he let the kids taste it. They were simply amazed, they had never had something that tasted so sweet before.

Having the kids cut 50 of the slices in half, then they lightly sprinkled powdered sugar over it, finishing with a small drizzle of the syrup. Having one of the cooks go get all of the kids, they soon all had a delicious breakfast.

Once done eating, Kael loaded up the sales boy with the toast and sent them to give it away to the guards and then their friends.

Having the maids take all of the dirty pots away to be cleaned, Kael supervised the kids cutting up the meat. This time having them then dice it up, add a bit of flour, and make them into meatballs. Throwing them into the oven to bake, he then showed them how to make noodles.

As they had the experience making the dough the day before, it wasn't too hard to get them into the groove of making noodle dough. The noodle dough, however, was much more of a workout for them. Especially since it was a drier dough that had to rest for a few minutes before being kneaded again.

They had fun making the dough into actual noodles though. The stretching, twirling, and spinning of the dough was like a game to them. Kael explained how once it was too long to stretch more, they had to fold it in half and do it again. Repeating this process over and over again they kids realized they suddenly had noodles.

Cutting the ends off the noodle dough, they hung the noodles over a rack. Kael had them take the meatballs out of the oven, and then repeat the noodle process. Once all the dough was done, Kael gave them a 30-minute break. suggesting they eat some of his bread, before cooking the noodles.

Using the steamer troughs, Kael had the kids boil the noodles. While they were boiling they made more sauce. Once it was all done, they loaded noodles into the boxes, followed by 3 meatballs, which was then all covered in sauce.

Getting the sales kids back together, he had the load up, and go make another run to the guards.

The next few days continued as practice. Kael paid the kids a silver each out of pocket as a training fee for their work. The cold room had been completed and Kael had forked out a gold to get two ice arrays like his mother used.

By the end of the week, everything was going smoothly. The kids had learned how to make steamed buns, but it took a lot of practice for them to get good at wrapping up their stuffing. Some of the kids wanted to add cheese to make cheese buns, which might work well, but Kael decided to get them used to making normal meat buns first. Making the shredded meat with a bbq sauce went smoothly though, so they kind of balanced each other's training time out.

except Kael had too much food on hand. Since they were just feeding guards with their practice runs, they had a huge amount of food.

Discussing it with Jessica, they decided to give it to the poorer families in the slums. Jessica also told Kael he was overworking the kids. The maids had an almost full-time job just cleaning up the kitchen. Adding cleaning clothes and the house they were overworked. All of the kids were working without a single day to themselves as well. The only person with free time was surprisingly Jessica.

As she had the free time, he had her organize the kids to take the extra food to the slums. Telling her to recruit 10 more kids to do general cleaning and labour. While they were away, he for once had some free time. He had to admit, they were working at a breakneck pace. Deciding to do some research he went into town.

Hopping from restaurant to restaurant, he chatted up all of the serving people. Finding out, that Wednesdays were terribly slow because most of the mercenaries were in the fields, leading to fewer merchants being out and about. He also found that Sunday was almost a universal day of rest, so business was spotty. The nicer places did well at dinner, but everyone else had mediocre days.

While wandering through town, he also found an educational institution in the middle-class area. Stopping by it, he hired out a person to come teach the kids how to read. They would stop by for four hours each Wednesday for the following 10 weeks. It cost 10 silver a session per instructor due to the number of kids. Kael managed to haggle it down to 3 teachers for 20 silver. Coughing up the 200 silver, he grumpily left.

After a Sunday off, the kids were all raring to go Monday morning. Kale had made them make the dough the night before but explained they would be off Saturday night. With new equipment and filled with excitement, the kids made a full 800 loaves of bread into french toast. Cutting all of it took more time than Kael had expected, getting the sales kids to help powder, and put syrup on them while they were being cut, ended up saving them from running out of time.

Stacking four slices of bread into little groups, each of the sales kids ended up with 280 sets of toast to sell, and a few extra for the guards. Based on the reaction the kids had to the syrup and powdered sugar, Kael decided to raise the price to 30 coppers per set of 2 slices, 4 triangles, of toast. Hoping the price would go over ok, he told the kids it was ok to give out a few throughout the morning to help build up hype and to make sales.

Sending the 34 sales kids on their way he reminded them to recruit more kids. Starting the cooks working, the began to make steamed buns. Time quickly passed by in the frantic cooking atmosphere. The sales kids who came back early ended up helping carry away the freshly cooked buns, before loading them into their own packs.

The french toast sold better than he expected. Some of the kids sold out completely. The worst off was a kid who only sold 60% of his toast. Discussing with the kid, it seemed there was foot traffic, but they were people who were better off, so they scoffed at him. Comforting him, he found out the kid did not want to leave because he had spent time buttering up the guards. Telling the kid, later on, he would be the one secretly scoffing at them, just to ignore it and try hard.

Sending off the kids again, they got to work on making the Mongolian meatball ramen. Like before, the sales kids helped them out, which got everything done on time.

2 hours later, after the next days, bread was done, Kael rounded up all the kids. Having Jessica take their money, she put 10% of it aside for the cooks, kept 50% for later, and gave the rest back to the sales kids. Before letting the sales kids run off, he handed out some of the leftover food to the kids there, then loaded the packs back up and told them to give it away.

As the kids were leaving Kael shouted, "Remember to bring back 10 more kids to do the cleaning, 14 more kids to sell things, and 2 more kids to cook!"

Sending the kids on their way, he sat down with Jessica. "So today I needed to make over 20 silver. That would cover the cost of the kids and the food, and leave me with nothing. You were tracking their sales as they came back, how did it go?"

Jessica looked at the little business genius and said, "It went pretty well, especially when you started raising prices. Since you are selling 34 sets instead of 50, I was surprised at the income. Something to discuss at the end, one of the kids said he was robbed, so you lost all of your money there.

"The French Toast sold for 30 coppers. Overall the kids sold 80% of it. 280 sets of bread at 30 coppers, with the unsold bread, you made 6,720 coppers per kid, for a total of 221,760 copper. That is multiplied by 33 as one kid had nothing. Thankfully, the kids were smart enough to change their coppers out for silver throughout the day.

"They were able to fit 240 buns in each kids pack. You sold them at 50 coppers each. The kids ended up selling all of them, minus about 10 each that were given away. So you made 11,500 coppers per kid for 33 kids, making a total of 379,500 coppers.

"The meatballs only sold about 60%. The kids said at first people were kind of sceptical of the paper boxes and the price. As people started buying them, sales picked up though. The prime time for foot traffic eventually died so they came back. 120 sets of ramen at 100 coppers, with the unsold food you made, 7,200 coppers a kid for 237,600.

"That is a total of 838,860 coppers. You get half of it for 419,430 coppers. Your food cost was wrong though. You said ti would be able 5 silver a day, but it is actually 10 silver a day. I'm not sure where your math was wrong, but it was. I think you did the math of per day for food expenditure in your head, then applied that cost to per delivery. The deliveries are every two days though. Oh, and it cost you 20 silver in boxes for the dinners.

"Regardless, you made 389 silver and some change today. When you get 50 kids, and your sales of dinners go up, you will make a lot of money."

After listening to Jessica's report, Kael said, "Good, I knew those boxes were going to be expensive. I'll try to find a cheaper supplier. Tomorrow follow the kid that was robbed. Don't let him know you are following him though. None of the kids were hurt, and I find it odd he would just hand over his money. Also, tomorrow start taking their money as they come back. It was an oversight to let them run around with that much money on them."

The following day everything went smoothly until about 30 minutes after the kids left. Jessica came back, towing one of the sales children by his ear. Tossing the kid on the ground next to Kael she said, "He wasn't robbed, he was just giving away the food. Listening to his friends, it sounded like he thought you would reimburse the money that was stolen."

Kael looked down at the frightened child. Sighing he said, "Why would I give you money when you lost the money it cost me to buy the food. You lost the money the cook should have been paid for cooking it. You basically robbed me and the cooks."

Stuttering the kid said, "I never thought of it that way, I just know you're rich, so it wouldn't matter."

Sighing again Kael was sad and a little mad, going on a tirade he said, "All of my money is money that I made. I started by picking herbs and hunting magic beasts. I used that money to start this project up. Do you really think I am making money on you guys? If 50 kids sell out all the food we make for 3 months, I will get back the money I started with.

"You are so stupid, I am doing this for you. I am doing this to give you guys a chance to have a good life. Do you think I will be here forever? I will be leaving in a few months. Then all of this will be run by you guys. You are ruining your only chance to have a good life.

"Jessica put him in his room, have two of the labourers watch him. We will have the kids decide if he stays or goes at the end of the night. Regardless, he owes me 15 silver for my split of what he should have made from the 4 meals."

Kael and the kids watched as Jessica hauled the brat away. Getting the kids back to work, the rest of the day went smoothly. When all of the kids gathered up, Jessica brought the thief downstairs and tossed him on the floor.

That child looked up, sniffling a little to hold the tears back from being thrown. His gaze was met by the stares of mad children. Throughout the day they had all found out what he did.

Cutting to the chase, Kael said, "Does he stay or does he go?"

Hearing Kael's words, the thief said, "No don't kick me out, I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were just trying to make money off us."

Kael looking around at the uncomfortable kids told them to turn around so they could not see each other, then to raise their hand if they thought he should stay.

The thief barely got enough votes to stay. Getting the children's attention again, Kael threw down some new rules.

"I am changing the rules," he said, "First, we are going to change the way the money is distributed. The total money will come in, we will put 10% aside for the cooks, and 10% aside for the general workers. The sales children will then take half of what is left, and I will take the other half.

"We are doing this because the kids cleaning and helping out are doing a lot of work and not getting paid enough. The cooks and labour get a smaller split because their work is safe, and there are less of them. Since they are fewer kids, the smaller amount split up will still be a lot.

"Finally, each time a sales kid comes back, they will hand in their money. Anything the could not sell or is missing, they will have to buy out of their own money for half cost at the end of the day. They will be allowed to give out 10 things in the morning and lunch, and 5 at dinner without being charged. We are doing this so food is not just given away, and to spur them on to find better places to sell."

After laying out the new rules, the kids looked a little upset, but he knew they would understand once they started working with it. The general help was really happy. They had been busting their ass for nothing compared to what others were getting.

Before sending the kids away, he told them on Wednesdays they would learn to read, which got him a lot of cheers.

Time began to slip by quickly. Kael's overall sales were generally 90% of what the kids were sent out with. He had expanded to 20 kids that did general help, 10 cooks, and 50 sales kids. He had raised the price of the french toast to 50 coppers, and the Mongolian beef to 120, without hurting his sales. He tried to raise the steamed buns price, but they did not sell when he did. He wrote it off as the bread and ramen being unique. The sweet syrup of the french toast apparently gave him a good profit margin.

He had also gotten the cost of his paper boxes down to 3 copper each, which made him extremely happy. His cost of food with the extra kids eating and selling doubled, increasing to 20 silvers a day. The boxes were costing him 18 silvers a day. His income was roughly 800 silver a day though. Much higher than expected.