Chương 242: 10.9

Dariusz sometimes wondered what his life would be like if he didn't take up the offer to serve the Shining Wyrm of Viznove as her master of kitchens. He certainly would never have learned what it was like to ride a horse as it was swaddled in mud like a feral cat restrained in a blanket. The way that the forest rushed past as a living river of earth and water sapped away the heat of his body.

He, his wife and his dear children would never have learned what it was like to have that same cold, clinging, living swamp drag free of their skins like a sucking mouth as it drained every scrap of water and dirt off of their bodies and clothes. Leaving them cleaner in its passing then they had been setting out that morning. Dry but not at all warm. He probably would have still gotten to see a dragon joke with the inhuman black mass of a cyclops that smelled faintly of rotten eggs and heavily of cloying earth.

His employer loved his mother's inn and her cooking. He probably would have eventually been in the tavern when Jewel came through. But he likely would have been at least a few steps distant from it. Dariusz however wouldn't have been given the authority of a countess as her favored kitchen master to tell those at the very peak of his craft and well above him in any sane station how to prepare a stew! The very fact that Jewel had expected him to side with her in denying the Kaeketeh tradition of baked sweets?!

That given his position Dariusz probably could do that? It was a heady feeling. His family had some means. His mother owned her inn's walls and roof outright (but not the land of course) and was esteemed enough to serve barons. The business with Jewel's family even before she became countess of all Viznove had made them a great deal of silver and earned acclaim. The bathing service that had been prepared for Jewel years ago was now in fact a very popular business in its own right for most of the year.

His mother was very proud of the fine new stone building that had been made after the second year. An amenity available with a night's stay or that charged separately if guests had not monopolized it. Dariusz considered all of this as he cooked in a kitchen that was not his own again. Seeing to the proper seasoning and making of his family recipe, with modifications. The hearth had been piled high with firewood that was paid for out of his Countess' purse.

The extra ingredients and even the accommodations had also been fairly paid for. It was all around better than his employer strictly had too. All of Viznove was technically Jewel's property. Every building owes rent or tithe to her eventually. Even the lords held their titles under a lease of vassalage despite their hereditary titles. That was the technical legality of it. But after he'd listened to the staff in Kaeketeh and the gossip around that keep? This book is hosted on another platform.

Read the official version and support the author's work. After coming into late evening meetings with a full pot of stew where he saw Jewel haggling with a noble like his wife at the market? Dariusz and his family were not serfs. They paid their fee on the property to Lord Petra. His mother was proud of that although some times Dariusz thought it would be easier to have taken up the offer of servitude to Jewel.

Simply having a budget to purchase goods and being assured room, lodging and labor for the rest of his and his family's life? Tied their lives to the land and title of the now Countess? The simplicity of that had an appeal. It would have saved rent on the rooms his family used and it's not like they were not following Jewel everywhere she went. But technically his contract with Jewel simply subtracted his rent due from every tenth's day pay he was given.

And furthermore he was only paying rent on a room left empty in Valasect. Even when he and his family were occupying a full noble's guest room in the Kaeketeh keep he paid the same! If he and his wife were not working for Jewel? Well they would probably be running a stew house for travelers out of their window in the old home they had rented before his mother pushed him into a meeting with a dragon. The hand on his shoulder almost made him jump.

But the familiar touch of the fingers calmed him before his shoulders could do more than tense.

"If you stir that pot any longer it will be a spoon soup as much as calf and vegetable stew. The lady's portion should be done enough so we can make a meal of it right?" Dariusz turned to smile with a strained wince to Eryka. Her smile was warm but also just as strained.

"Atleast little Cibor had a good time with it?" Their son did not turn when he was mentioned, staying intent on his task. But his father could see the slight tension in his neck. Dariusz leaned over to get a better look at where his eldest son was washing up the cutting board. Already sure and confident with a knife. His next oldest Jela was packing up what supplies would not be needed for tomorrow's breakfast.

She was prone to distraction but could also be trusted to cut vegetables and the easier portions from a butcher too. The twins (his youngest) were still a bit too young for knife work but they were good at the wash and at just the right age to be especially eager to assist in anything their parents were doing. If he had not taken on the job to work for the now Countess of Viznove could all of them have worked like this for so long?

"I think you're right dear, let's get the portions for the lady and her party out then." He and his wife took up position and then hefted the pot that would serve their employer, lady and countess. They had both grown strong under the constant exercise of the endeavor. Cibor and Jela bring up bowls to scoop portions for two far more reasonable servings and one small one with just broth and meat to serve little Gem.

"And then we can tuck in with the footmen? I'm dying to try some of that peppered stag we were roasting!" His children cheered and across from him Eryka smiled while she carried her share of the stew pot's burden. After several hours of the warmth of cooking on a day that had seemed like it would be a miserable slog in wet and cold? Dariusz Hożankason came to a silent conclusion of his own wandering musings. He was happy with his employment to the Countess Rochford. Lady Jewel was a fine and fair lady.

And her sheer appetite meant that there was plenty of work for his entire family in the kitchen without fear of it risking their livelihood. As he and his wife carried the steaming pot of stew that was only possible because they arrived three hours ahead of sundown? Dariusz thanked his stars for the blessing that was Jewel.