Arek examined the cuts of meat for a few moments, poking and prodding them with his claws. He’d never cooked wyrms before, but he didn’t imagine they’d be much harder to work with than any other meat.

One of the pieces had a long bone jutting out of it. Arek carved it free with his cleaver and tossed it to the ground. He chopped the steak into several large strips, then repeated it with the other slice of meat.

The orc raised his hand over the food and concentrated for a moment. A shimmer of golden light emerged from his hands and the blood evaporated from the meat as it dried slightly.

“Arek!” Ming’s voice called out.

The orc glanced up just in time to see a lime flying towards his face. He grabbed it out of the air. Another one followed it, but Arek managed to snatch it as well. He missed the third, which bounced off his forehead.

“Sorry!” Ming yelled from the other side of the crowd. She turned and jogged back off into the city.

“It’s fine,” Arek called back, ignoring the glances people gave him. He picked the lime up and set it on the table along with the other two.

He pulled another mixing bowl from his bag and squeezed the limes into it, crushing them to make sure every last drop of juice came out. Then he carefully laid the cuts of meat down inside the juice.

Arek used his cleaver to scrape some of the zest off the limes, then tossed it into a smaller mixing bowl. He grabbed several small vials from his bandolier, shaking the spices within them into the bowl and mixing everything together with the tip of his cleaver.

He sat back and fought off a yawn. He couldn’t afford to get tired right now. The crowd watching him had grown slightly. Arek said nothing for several minutes as he allowed the steak to soak in the lime juice.

After some time had passed, Arek took the steaks out from the juice, leaving what remained in the bowl. He patted the spice mixture he’d made onto the steak, massaging it in to make sure it didn’t fall off while it cooked. He repeated the process with each piece of steak and set the prepared cuts on the table.

Arek then grabbed the cannister of oil from his bandolier and tipped some of it into his wok. He swirled it around, then tossed several of the strips in. They crackled as they hit the hot metal. Smoke curled up and rose into the air as the smell of lime, paprika, and charring meat instantly filled the air.

The crowd watching him grew even larger, forming into a small circle of hungry faces. Arek gave them a small nod but didn’t turn away from the food. After five minutes, he flipped the cuts of wyrm steak.

A smile crossed the orc’s face. They’d turned perfectly brown, with a beautiful black char that pressed back against his touch. Wyrm or not, their meat cooked just like normal.

Arek took the meat out after another five minutes and set it on a clean part of the table. He tossed the remaining food into the pan and repeated the process, flipping it once after five minutes. Once it was done, he set the meat on the table.

“Don’t touch anything yet,” Arek warned everyone. “I’m not done yet, and my food will not be eaten improperly.”

“You’re sharing?” A large man asked from the crowd.

Arek just flashed him a grin. He reached into his travel pack and pulled out the gold medallion. He pressed the indent and vanished. A few minutes later, he popped back into existence with a bundle of cilantro in his hands.

His cleaver blurred, chopping it into tiny pieces. He pushed it into a small pile, then grabbed several of the tortillas and tossed them into his wok. He quickly turned them over, making sure they were warm before removing them.

Arek grabbed his cleaver once again, this time cutting the steak into dozens of tiny little slices. He assembled the meat on the tortilla, then topped it with a nice sprinkle of cilantro. His eyes swept over the crowd and he pointed at one of the children who had been standing beside their mother.

“Are you hungry?”

The mom glanced at Arek, then nudged her child forward encouragingly. The small boy hesitantly walked up to Arek. The orc smiled without showing his teeth as to avoid scaring the kid. He set the tortilla down in the boy’s hands.

The boy grabbed it and dashed back to his mother before turning around and watching Arek warily. The orc just returned his attention to the food, making several more tortillas. He heard the kid take a bite out of the food and let out a small gasp.

“Anyone else hungry?” Arek asked, nodding down at the tortillas forming a pile before him. “One per person, for now.”

The mom and her other kid walked forward first, each grabbing one. She gave Arek a small nod.

“Thank you.”

Arek just shrugged. The rest of the crowd, realizing that the food was disappearing in front of them, surged forward. However, they didn’t swarm the table.

The men and women of Red Mount formed a line without a word, all waiting their turn to get a hot meal. Arek raised an eyebrow but was happy to oblige them. It only took a few minutes for him to burn through all the meat he’d prepared. There were still a good number of tortillas remaining.

Everyone who had gotten food was eating, looks of wonder and relief crossing their expressions. The man standing in line was unable to hide his disappointed frown as he realized that Arek had run out of meat.

“It’s okay,” the man sighed, spotting Arek watching him. “You did a lot already. There’s no way you can feed everyone. Everything helps, and we’ve lived through the horde already. It won’t kill me to wait a bit longer.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but it falls on deaf ears,” Arek said, nodding towards the crowd. Everyone turned as Malissa emerged, carrying several huge pieces of meat in her arms.

“I hope you’re all hungry,” Arek said, his lips curling up in a grin.