Chương 180: Chapter 175 - Bakery

The bakery they were looking at was larger than the ones they had looked at so far. It stood on a winding street in the heart of Avengard's bakery lane; the street had even been named such. From the street, it had looked like any of the other shops that lined the winter-damp cobbles, but the storefront was deceptive in how far back the building extended. A baker carrying a sack of flour grunted as he walked. Seren stepped aside for them; they grunted their thanks before moving to the wall and unloading the flour.

They walked back to the door, only glancing at where Vale was talking to the owner. Vale, however, had only attention for one thing—the bakery's ovens. There were three large ovens built into the rear wall and made entirely from stone and heat-retaining brick. All had large doors; when opened, fire was raging inside. The openings all had deep black marks from long use. Two of the ovens were burning; the heat coming from the back was noticeable from across the room. Seren could feel herself sweating.

"It has to be this one, Seren. Just look at them." Vale said, his eyes gleaming as he gestured with both hands toward the ovens.

"Vale, they are just ovens?" Seren said, her eyes moving between Vale and the ovens.

"Just ovens. Tsk… This is how Alric always does things. Get the biggest and push volume." Vale said, not taking his gaze off the ovens. Seren rolled her eyes. She looked at the heavy worktables that filled the middle of the bakery. All of them had deep gouges and constant nicks. Flour covered everything like an indecisive snowstorm. Sacks of flour were stacked along the walls, many four or five high. Opposite were large trays where dough would rest for days to rise.

A slight sour smell hung in the air, akin to the beer the city had once known, mixed with the strong scent of smoke and sweat. The owner of the bakery had followed them from a polite distance. He glanced at the pair and the space around. He was a broad man who looked like he wore flour like an accessory. The sleeves of his tunic, in particular, were dusted with it. Vale turned to the man who lifted his head slightly.

"You say all three are fine? No problems?" Vale asked the owner, who nodded.

"All three. The left one takes a little more wood than the others, but it's the eldest. Some small cracks at the back are to blame." The owner explained, pointing to the oven in question.

"It still holds the heat? How well?" Vale asked with a frown.

"Well enough sir, has always made good bread, see?" The owner said, bowing just slightly.

"Good enough then," Vale said with a grin. Seren moved to one of the nearby tables. She pushed on it, and the table both wobbled and creaked. She frowned at it.

"This table needs to be fixed." She said to the owner. The owner nodded at it.

"We have been meaning to, we are always so…" he began.

"Does it fall over?" Vale asked, shrugging and looking at the ovens still.

"Uh… no sir." The owner said, glancing at Vale.

"Then it can wait till spring," Vale said after giving it a cursory glance. The owner looked at Seren and shrugged apologetically. Seren opened her mouth to speak when Vale continued.

"We aren't buying the place. If we buy our own or something later, we can look into that." Vale said, folding his arms. Seren closed her mouth; what Vale said was true. She frowned at the table nonetheless. The arrangement would be much simpler than any of Alric's previous businesses. So much so that when Seren had brought it up with Vale, he had called it refreshing. They would not be buying anything, merely renting.

The rent would cover the production space; they would provide the extra flour and the yeast and focus on production. The owner received a guaranteed payment; he would have normally closed for the winter. What Seren liked about it was that the bakery already worked; they wouldn't need builders, stone masons, or endless testing. The bakery before had focused on making high volumes of bread mostly as ordinary daily loaves. The yeast would elevate that to very soft bread and speed up the fermentation time.

Vale had come to the same conclusions, just much more enthusiastically. Seren watched as Vale moved to the nearby cooling racks; he lifted one of the smaller loaves. He squeezed it and frowned.

"This is what you normally make?" Vale asked the owner, holding it out.

"Yes, sir, that is one of them. We sell these to households and normal people, the bigger loaves we sell to the inns." He explained with a small smile.

"It's too hard," Vale said, trying to squeeze the loaf. Eventually, it had some slight give before it returned to shape.

"But it's fresh, see?" The owner said, tilting his head to the side.

"I said it's too hard. Didn't say it wasn't fresh." Vale said, holding it out offensively to Seren. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Seren took the loaf from him and tried to squeeze it. It was hard; she frowned at Vale for insulting the man's bread in his own bakery.

"What Vale means," Seren said, turning the loaf, inspecting it, "Is that we will be making something softer. Better flour, soft inside. A more expensive loaf." She handed the loaf to the owner with a small smile.

"We can make softer bread, Miss. It costs more, has to rest longer, see?" He explained, taking the loaf from Seren and frowning at Vale, who shrugged.

"Good. We are selling good quality, and we are selling a lot of it." Vale said, turning back to the ovens. He began counting something on his fingers, and his lips moved. Seren let out a deep breath through her nose. She turned to the owner again.

"We have a few things we're going to do to make the bread softer and faster, but we will be selling it as good bread—" Seren began explaining to the owner.

"You can get cheap bread everywhere. Every baker already makes it; half the city can make something close to cheap bread at home. People buying the cheapest things are going to argue over every copper. We're not wasting our time with that." Vale said, motioning vaguely to the city. Vale continued, getting more animated as he spoke.

"We're going after merchants, the better inns, artisan workers, maybe some nobles… the temple maybe? Depends on which kitchens, but people who want good bread and pay extra." Vale said, making a dismissive gesture to the existing loaves.

"Winter helps," Seren added to the owner, "We can get bread to the inns, when the weather is bad, they will take more."

"Bread does sell better when it's cold." The owner said, but still regarded Vale with scepticism. Vale didn't notice; he was still staring at the ovens, rubbing his hands together. Seren knew that look, it was the one he wore when he found out how much grain the brewery could process and how much beer sold for.

"Big ovens, big batches, easy demand and great margins," Vale said with a wide grin. Seren frowned at him, "You've been spending too much time with Alric."

"Alric-isms, is what I call them." He turned to her with his wide grin. The owner looked between them as if watching some new sport.

"You… have a word for it?" Seren asked, her eyebrows rising.

"It's how he always does things. Build around obscene volumes, great quality, consistency. This is what he taught us, and it's how he does business. No merchants can raise a finger to how he thinks." Vale explained with a grin, sweeping a gesture toward the bakery.

"I don't think that's how he'd explain it," Seren said, tilting her head to the side.

"Besides, we aren't building anything."

"That's one thing he always does badly, makes everything too complicated. Someone else did the work for us." Vale said, pointing at the three ovens, "Make as much high-quality stuff as you can, people don't pay more for ordinary. Keep the margins high." Seren folded her arms.

"You know it's true, Seren. If you asked Alric, he'd explain for half a bell, and you'd somehow end up talking about barrels anyway," Vale said, giving a bored expression. The owner snorted; even Seren had to turn away to laugh.

"You know I'm right, don't deny it," Vale said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. Seren unfolded her arms and just shrugged. Vale looked around the bakery again, clearly pleased with himself. Seren remembered from the initial talks she had with him that they weren't buying anything; the owner had the guild membership and the staff. They would need extra flour and firewood. If Moreen couldn't get those for them, he'd certainly have the connections.

"So uh, you want the whole shop through the winter?" The owner asked, lowering his head slightly. Vale's face turned flat very quickly.

"Yes, we want all of it," Vale said. Seren watched as Vale began negotiating; she had negotiated with merchants before, but Vale seemed to do it differently. Most people would suggest higher prices and try to meet somewhere around the middle. Vale seemed to find every reason why the other person thought they had something of worth and then explained why it didn't.

"But it works fine, sir?" The owner explained about the ovens.

"Yes, but you just told us it needs more firewood. Who has to pay for that? Us, of course," Vale countered immediately.

"Just a little more, it's not a lot, see?"

"Doesn't matter, it costs us more to keep it going, and we get less out of it."

"You said you like the ovens, sir?"

"I do, but it's still cracked. What I'm offering is more than fair."

"It isn't, sir; the ovens are…"

"Then why don't you rent to someone else?" The owner opened his mouth but then stopped; Vale smiled in reply. Seren decided to leave them to it. She went to the flour sacks; she crouched between one, checking the markings. She crouched down next to a sack, checking the stitching. She stood up, trying to figure out where they would store the better flour. The owner had a spare storeroom, but he had already filled it with firewood. Behind her, Vale seemed only to be gaining steam.

"You will be getting reliable money, you know that. Same amount every month." The owner deflated slightly before gesturing to the bakers, "What about my people? It will be winter and longer days."

"Longer days?" Seren said, standing upright and approaching.

"Yes, Miss, we start before sunrise, but for how he wants it, they will need to work later and earlier." The owner explained, tilting his head.

"We can find more people if they are unhappy with it. They're bakers, we pay them the same to bake," Vale said, waving his hand dismissively.

"That's for the work now, though?" Seren said with a frown.

"It's winter. Everything is slowing. We're offering steady work in the worst part of the year. Who wouldn't be happy about that?" Vale shrugged.

"Yes, but the bakers can get a little bit more for the hours," Seren said with a frown.

"Fine, but not much. We have always said Alric pays too much, so a few extra coppers a week." Vale said with a sigh.

"And if something breaks because of how much bread you want to make, sir?" The owner asked.

"We're just renting, that sounds like your problem. We pay for the space." Vale said, gesturing to the space. The owner turned to the space and scratched at his jaw. Seren followed his gaze. The problem was that Vale was right; the bakery was not running at full capacity. One of the ovens wasn't even lit. With the yeast and the short rising times, they would be pushing hundreds of loaves. Seren decided she needed some air away from the heat and went to look at the shop front. The front was a generous term.

It was more a large hole in the wall with a counter space and baskets of bread behind. It wouldn't work if it was raining. She was considering options when Vale joined her.

"This could be the easiest thing we have ever done." He said, glancing at the front.

"There was a time we would have been happy to have one good business, you know?" Seren said. She tested the countertop; that at least was firm.

"Well, he agreed eventually, put up a bit of a fight, old baker had some fight in him," Vale said, turning back to review the space.

"I feel like we're missing something…" Seren said. She checked the street. Vale scoffed, "We aren't doing what Alric always does. Build it from scratch and find two hundred problems. This place works; we're just doing it better." Vale said with a shrug as he gestured to the bakery. Seren nodded slowly, she couldn't displace the feeling.

"This is going to be great", Vale said, putting his hands on his hips. He bounced on his toes as he reviewed the building.