Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!

Chapter 459: Chapter 459 - Surprises for the Kitchen Team

The head cook looked at me blankly as if nothing I said registered in his mind. It took several seconds for him to get back to our conversation as he asked, ”What fruit do you plan to serve, Ms. Luna? I would not lie and say that we can do it on our own. If you could help us in the lunch preparations, I would gladly accept it.”

I answered readily, ”I am thinking of a fruit cup for variety. Maybe we can put diced melons, bananas, strawberries and grapes.” Hearing the different kinds of fruits that I am willing to provide to the soldiers, the head cook excitedly said ”yes” and he offered to help me do the preparations.

I spent the next 30 minutes busying in the kitchen with the others and Andreas spent the same amount of time convincing me that I should not do such tasks. With my help, the ingredient preparation time was greatly reduced and the kitchen staff could start cooking in no time.

After the whole menu was prepared, the head cook then brought me to the storage facility while he talked nonstop about their problems with kitchen equipment and shortages in ingredients. I understand his frustration as someone who manages kitchens myself (community kitchens and my restaurant).

As we peered inside the storage, I could see a few sacks of rice, beans and regular flour. There were some ingredients in jars which should be either pickled, jammed or preserved in brine solution. There were also more dried vegetables than fresh ones. Lastly, bags of salt, sugar and ground pepper.

I asked for particular ingredients that they would want to have and by being kind and helpful throughout our interaction, I was able to get honest answers from the head cook before he realized that he was being quite familiar and chatty without filter. I chuckled at his honesty, with frustration and irritation clearly showing on his face.

I smiled and simply replied that I could help on that while asking them to leave the storage room so I can start rearranging the place. It is good that I have been to Ersha since they grow different types of grain and I made sure to buy some from them to support their business so I can add a bit more variety for the camp which is not included in their original order.

For some reason, it wasn’t hard to ask the head cook and even Andreas to leave the premises. Once they were out, I started working on the storage facilities. I added an area to keep items cool, another place to keep them dry (like the dried food) and extra shelves to put on the jars and small packages. I also reorganized the sacks of items and labeled them clearly. Lastly, I placed several spells to maintain a good source of light inside the room, temperature regulation and preservation.

Once the renovations are done, I started placing sacks of different items like rice, seasonings, sugar, different kinds of flour and beans on one side. I added several jars of different kinds of herbs and spices, cooking oil, condiments, preserved vegetables, meat and fish as per the head cook’s request. Since this area already has self-preservation spells, I placed fresh meat, fruits, seafood, vegetables and even mushrooms that are known to go bad easily inside.

I looked around my creation and smiled. This amount of food should last this place up to three months even if they do not cook that frugally. I went out of the storage room and saw that the head cook and Andreas are still standing outside, waiting for me.

Once they saw me go out, they hurriedly went inside the storage room. As for me, I continued going to the kitchen to look at their cooking equipment and other utensils. There is one unused prep table on the side which I will use to put items on but I have to observe around first. I went around the kitchen once and immediately realized what they needed the most.

On the empty table, I placed two sets of chopping knives, chopping boards, wooden plates, cups and bowls, pots and pans, baking sheets, cooking spoons, aprons and chef toques. I improved the mechanisms of their two large ovens discreetly and placed self-repair spells on it. I did the same for their stoves. They currently have eight so I don’t think I need to add more. On one unused space next to the wall, I added a preservation unit so they can pre-cut ingredients that will be put for the next meal and a warming unit to keep their newly baked items and other food, warm and ready to serve.

By the time Andreas and the head cook came out from inspecting the storage room, I was also done with the things I had to do in the cooking area. The two of them received another surprise when they came out. The serving of lunch is almost done so there were more idle workers looking around in the kitchen, checking what are the new things I brought.

Since I was done with my job for the dining facilities, I asked Andreas a totally unrelated question out of the blue, ”Where does your camp get clean water?” He looked at me and responded, ”We installed water tanks and even dug our own reservoir on one side of the camp. We get the water from a clean river nearby, around half a kilometer away.”

I stared at him with a blank face but in my head, I was already thinking, How can half a kilometer be called ”nearby? and at this time, Why are they still fetching water using buckets?

If they have energy to build such a huge camp, why don’t they have the capacity to build a diversion to move the river water straight to their reservoir so everything is automatic? Sure, it is a time consuming project but you only have to do it once and once it is completed, it will work for you without you having to do anything else indefinitely.

I asked him to lead me towards the water tanks and water reservoir he is talking about as well as the river which is their only source of water. I suddenly remembered... Why can’t they just dig wells or something?