Chapter 99 - 98: Noodles
Kael woke up slowly, blinking away the last traces of sleep. The early morning light seeped in through the window, faint and cold, painting the wooden beams of the ceiling in soft amber. He rolled over, stretched once, then sat up with a low groan.
He stood up and walked barefoot across the wooden floor. The chill made him shiver slightly. Quietly, he opened the door and stepped into the downstairs .
The stairs creaked under his feet as he descended. The shop below was still closed, and the building was quiet. Seris, it seemed, was still asleep.
His stomach growled.
Kael scratched the back of his head. "Ah, I’m hungry,"
He walked toward the back of the building, pushing open the door that led to the kitchen.
The kitchen was a large room, with thick stone walls and a high-beamed ceiling. He had it built with practicality in mind—three or four people could work here comfortably . The clay stove sat against the far wall, large and curved, shaped exactly how he’d instructed the dwarves to build it. Simple, solid, and efficient.
Kael gathered some dry wood from the stack in the corner, opened the stove’s mouth, and placed the logs inside. He struck a match—a small, familiar crackle and flame bloomed in his hand. He carefully lit the wood. The fire caught quickly, and soon the orange glow filled the kitchen with gentle warmth.
Then he placed a pan on the stove and poured in some water from a jug. As the water began to heat up, he walked over to the shelf where some of the food supplies were stored. Carefully, he picked out a few vegetables—an onion, a couple of carrots, and a small green pepper. He washed them in a basin and began to slice them with practiced ease.
He paused, wiped his hands on a cloth, and stepped into the shop through the side door.
At one of the lower shelves, he crouched and picked up a package of noodles. The original wrapping had once carried colorful printing and branding—things common on Earth, but strange and suspicious in this world.
Kael had carefully removed all labels long ago. Now, the noodles were sealed only in plain white wrapping, simple enough to pass unnoticed.