TBE Chapter 100

TBE Chapter 100

Ezekiel didn’t mind leaving the houses as they were, since they would automatically disappear after some time. Edward the minstrel looked flabbergasted, though.

“Are you really just going to leave these beautiful houses here?!”

Edward simply nodded but to his exasperation, Luke butted in.

“They would poof away later anyway.”

The minstrel looked at Luke, but then the man looked at Simon.

“Are you not returning to these houses?”

Simon just nodded at the man and continued preparing their cart and Prince Charming. When they started leaving, the minstrel was still observing them. When the man saw them heartlessly leave their houses, the minstrel had a shocked look on his face.

Ezekiel was highly amused. He knew that the minstrel truly found their Galder’s Towers beautiful, but normally, people would not be able to bear leaving such works of art. The minstrel himself was bound on the road and didn’t have a choice but to leave; that was why Ezekiel wasn’t too worried about letting the man see the houses suddenly disappearing at a later time, since there’s a chance that the minstrel would not see it anyway.

Even if the man stayed and saw the houses disappearing, no one would believe the man if he told it to others. The fact that the man was a spinner of stories added to Ezekiel’s supposition that anything the man shared about the houses disappearing would simply be unbelievable.

While they were on the road, they encountered one of those rare summer rains, and Ezekiel was glad that he had bought a huge beach umbrella because under it, they remained dry.. Because of the rain, the temperature started to cool down, causing Robert and Luke to become sleepy, so he told them that if they wanted to take a nap, they could.

He prepared the boys' sleeping bags and, remaining cool and dry under the umbrella, the boys took a nap. Before lunch, they heard the noise of a horse catching up to them, and when Ezekiel turned around, he saw that it was the minstrel.

Edward the minstrel slowed down when he reached them. The presence of the minstrel was beginning to annoy Ezekiel. If the man attached himself to them, Ezekiel wouldn’t be able to cast Galder’s Tower when it’s time for them to rest for the night.

Ezekiel observed the man, and because the minstrel looked calm enough, he thought that the man had left their previous campsite before the Galder’s Towers spell was dispelled. Without speaking, the minstrel attached himself to them, and it didn’t seem to matter to the man that their traveling speed was extremely slow.

Robert and Luke soon woke up, and when they saw the minstrel, they joyfully greeted the man.

“Sir minstrel, you’re here! Can you sing us a song?” Robert requested without embarrassment.

The man whipped out his lute from his back and started a joyful song about birds, and while they were traveling, the air was filled with the man’s singing. Ezekiel was a little envious since he could have a huge advantage because he had access to the internet, and that meant that all the songs of Earth were open to him, but his singing voice was abysmal.

At around noon, without prompting from Ezekiel, Simon stopped beneath a huge tree. The minstrel had asked Simon why they stopped, and Robert was the one who answered, shouting that it was time for lunch. Ezekiel had already resigned himself to the presence of the man and, using the cover of one of the large chests in the cart, retrieved a lot of food and around 3 pitchers of fruit juice from his 4th tab space.

He saw that the minstrel was observing his actions, but Ezekiel didn’t care anymore. He did see that the minstrel’s eyes widened when he saw the food that Ezekiel laid down on the table inside their cart. Then, after everything was ready, they waited for Simon, who was feeding and watering Prince Charming. When their guardian was done with his chores, he joined them on the cart.

“Sir minstrel, come, eat lunch with us,” Luke invited the man, and without shame, the minstrel joined them.

Once they started eating, everyone was silent, which was a testament to the taste of the food that Ezekiel served. After a few minutes, all the food was gone.

They rested for a few more minutes, and while they did, the minstrel suddenly asked them a startling question.

“Are you nobles?”

The moment Edward the minstrel asked that questions, all of them laughed. Ezekiel knew that Luke didn’t understand but just laughed along with them.

“What is a noble?” Luke suddenly asked after they were finished laughing.

“Nobles were families that are appointed by the monarchy of the land to rule or manage specific territories. They’re considered the upper class and are very rich,” Ezekiel answered his brothers.

“Are we rich?” Luke continued asking, and Robert and Simon answered at the same time, saying yes.

“We’re rich because we eat the most delicious food and we sleep in the most beautiful house,” Robert told his little brother, who nodded, and both of them started playing with their toys.

Ezekiel saw that the minstrel wanted to ask more questions, but everyone ignored him and started preparing to continue their journey. The minstrel stuck to them like a leech, which annoyed him, but Robert and Luke seemed to like the man, but more than likely, it was because the minstrel kept on singing happy songs for them.

It was obvious that the minstrel planned to stay with them, since even though they traveled extremely slowly, the minstrel stayed. Edward kept observing them and kept on checking all of their items, especially the umbrella and the fan that was turned on by Robert, since they always did when they wanted to take a nap during the afternoons.

While the boys were napping, Ezekiel talked to the minstrel.

“Are you not going to go ahead? We travel slow, so if you plan to be somewhere, if you stay with us, you’ll be late.”

“That’s okay. I’m not on a schedule and just go where the wind will take me. Right now, you brothers are a mystery, and I want to uncover that mystery.”

“What if we don’t want you to do that?” Ezekiel said a little menacingly.

With his small stature, the threat only looked cute, so the minstrel just smiled at him.

“Are you planning to kill us and take all of our belongings?” Ezekiel asked, acting like a child to observe the man’s reaction.

“I’m not a thief! I’m a minstrel! A man of song and adventure,” the minstrel said indignantly, and then the man started singing again.

Ezekiel just sighed and knew that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to the man. He’s not a villain who would eliminate those who possibly didn’t mean them any harm. His main concern was what he would do when it was time for them to camp for the night, and the minstrel was still there. Would he allow the man to see his magic? He then thought of the possible consequences that would happen if he did something like that and came to the rough conclusion that nothing would come of it. Even if the man told everyone that he had met some child wizards on the road, his audience would probably treat the information as him telling tall tales.

The man was also educated based on how he behaved, and that meant that Ezekiel could unearth a lot of information that would be useful to their family.

Robert and Luke woke up, clamoring that they were hungry. Luke wanted to eat donuts, so without hiding them from the minstrel, Ezekiel spent 42 copper coins to purchase 2 dozen donuts from his system store and then brought them out from his 4th tab space.

Ezekiel saw that Edward the minstrel looked flabbergasted when he saw him bringing out the donuts and pitchers of soda from his inventory, because it appeared like Ezekiel was conjuring food from air, but everyone ignored the minstrel.

Everyone started eating donuts and drinking the soda that Ezekiel prepared, and even though the minstrel looked shocked, Robert and Luke invited Edward to eat.

“They’re very delicious!” Luke told Edward innocently.

Ezekiel almost laughed out loud when he saw the minstrel accepting the sticky donut from Luke. The man was trembling slightly, but he did calm down after a few minutes.

“Are you a mage?” Edward asked Ezekiel softly while they were all eating donuts.

“Oh, have you encountered mages before?” Ezekiel asked.

“A decade ago, in a land far away from here, I met an adventurer group, and I was informed that one of them was a mage. I was with a merchant family, and they shared a campground with those adventurers. The mage was an old man with a long white beard, and the only spell I saw him cast was some sort of soft light that hovered over his shoulder. Then the old mage proceeded to read his book.”

Ezekiel knew then that it was correct for him to gather information from the minstrel because it confirmed the fact that mages exist in this world. The fact that there was also an “adventurer team” excited him a little, and he thought that maybe he was in a sword and sorcery world just like DnD’s Forgotten Realms or Eberron.