TBE Chapter 98

TBE Chapter 98

Under the umbrella that Ezekiel used to shield themselves from the sun, they set up the table and chairs that were always inside the cart and there, he laid out their food for lunch. Soon, Robert and Luke arrived and thankfully, they were not followed by a horde of children.

“Where are your friends?” Simon asked the boys.

“They returned home when we said that brother called us,” Luke said.

“When they saw Yuki Onna, they were so scared it was so funny,” Robert laughed, and Simon just gaped at him.

Ezekiel understood Simon’s reaction. Of course, the children would be scared. Yuki was a monster of a bird. After lunch, Robert and Luke ran off again to play. Ezekiel knew that he could only allow the boys to run rampant like that in villages such as this one because anything larger than a village would be dangerous, and everyone said so.

He asked Simon to move the umbrella so they would be shaded from the sun while they were selling the items that Ezekiel purchased from the system store. It was only around 1 in the afternoon, so they didn’t expect many customers but were surprised when after a few minutes several people surrounded their stall.

The funny thing was, almost all of them were looking at the umbrella.

“Are you selling that contraption?” One matron asked Simon, pointing at the umbrella.

It was Ezekiel who answered.

“No, madam. The umbrella was gifted to us by a rich merchant to shade us from the sun. All the things on our display cases are the ones that we’re selling, and all of them were exquisite, one of a kind that anyone can treat as an heirloom!”

Ezekiel started acting as one of those people in infomercials. Based on experience, the act was highly effective. He kept telling loudly in an oratorical cadence that each of the item was worthy to be called treasure and if they gifted it to someone, they would be treated as someone who was capable enough to find a unique item to give to someone they treated with respect.

At first, Ezekiel thought that his technique, which he learned from watching late-night infomercials, would defeat the people of this world, but he shouldn’t have underestimated the capabilities of the wives of villagers. The wives tended to milk their coins for every value that they contained.

The only reason Ezekiel defeated them was that his items were truly beautiful and unique. They were sturdy and well-constructed as well, so the quality was through the roof. The idea that the women would own something that no one in the village had almost had them scrambling to choose the knick-knack that they wanted to buy. That’s why when Ezekiel sold his items, he always sold them all.

Ezekiel knew that with the rates of his knick-knacks flying off the display cases, everything would be sold out by the end of the day, and he was right. By the time late afternoon arrived, everything was gone. Some were even interested in purchasing his display cases, the large chests, and even the cart.

The villagers didn’t even haggle and bought the items at the prices that he had noted down on the post-it notes that he stuck below the wooden knick-knacks. Ezekiel knew that the reason why his items sold out the way they did was because of the recent celebration that happened. Probably.

The items would probably end up in the possession of that mayor who celebrated his birthday last night, but he could be mistaken. Either way, he didn’t care. The important part was,  by the end of the day, everything was sold out, and Ezekiel earned 1 gold and 20 silver coins.

Ezekiel planned to stay in the village the next day. He wanted to buy a lot of things from the villagers, like bread and whatever else he could find. Of course, he would need to check first if the prices and quality of the bread were worth it, because if they’re not, he would stick to buying their bread from the system store, and to truly save coin, he might even learn how to bake. Learning how to bake would allow him to produce bread and other pastries using the Fabricate spell as long as he had the ingredients and the tools to create them.

When night arrived, Ezekiel, his brothers, and Simon joined the other people who were staying at the inn for dinner. The thought that it was a novel experience to taste the cooking of the local innkeeper’s wife, since according to Robert and Luke’s friends, she was the best cook in the village.

While they were eating, Ezekiel was horrified when Luke loudly said that his food was still the best in the world, but thankfully, the innkeeper’s wife just laughed when she heard it while she was serving them. Robert and Simon did whisper that they agreed with Luke.

“It’s not because I’m the best cook. It’s because I have a complete set of spices that makes the food I’ve made special. If the innkeeper’s wife had access to my spices, she would be better than I,” Ezekiel told the three boys.

Robert looked thoughtful, but Luke and Simon looked like they didn’t believe him. At the very least, the food that they were eating was miles above the food that they had from the last inn that they stayed at.

The four then took a hot bath in the inn’s bath located at the inn’s basement and after that they prepared to rest for the night. While doing so, Ezekiel learned that the village had a bakery so he thought of learning how to bake from the bakers there. Of course, he would need to prepare coins to pay for that lesson.

“Boys, we will be staying here for one more day. I will be spending time in the bakery to learn how to bake bread. You three can do whatever you want. When you’re hungry, you will have to buy your food, okay?” The three nodded, and Ezekiel gave Robert and Luke 1 silver coin each, which, according to Simon, was extremely generous, but the good thing was, he still didn’t have to worry about their safety since this was a small village with a close-knit community.

Ezekiel gave their guardian 3 silver coins for his spending money while they’re playing in the village and Simon became flushed with excitement. Ezekiel just shook his head at the three boys' excitement at receiving spending coins and thought of the fact that the only thing they could buy in the village was food.

The three then ran off to god knows where after breakfast, and Ezekiel went to the village’s only bakery. When he arrived there, there were a lot of villagers purchasing bread since it was early but since his time was valuable, he loudly looked for the baker.

“What do you want, boy?” A fierce-looking, large man in an apron and a baker’s hat came out from what seemed to be the kitchen.

“My uncle gave me 5 silver coins to learn how to bake bread for the whole day. Can you teach me?” Ezekiel said and innocently showed the 5 silver coins in his hands innocently.

The baker gaped at him.

“Is it okay for my son to teach you? He had been baking ever since he was little,” The baker said, and then called someone at the back.

A young man, around 17 or 18 years old, arrived.

“John, can you teach this boy how to bake? He’s willing to pay us 5 silver coins and I reckoned that you can use the coins since you’re preparing to get married,” The baker told his son and John became excited.

“I can teach you! I’ve been baking ever since I was a kid,” The man named John said.

Ezekiel immediately gave the 5 silver coins to the man, and they suddenly disappeared as if by magic. Then John enthusiastically led him back into the kitchen.

For the next few hours, Ezekiel learned how to bake bread from John. At first, he knew that John doubted his strength because of how young he looked, but he proved to the baker’s son that he was capable and strong enough to learn. They stopped during noon and joined the baker’s family for lunch, and after that, he continued learning from John.

The baker and John was happy enough when they learned that all the bread that they were baking would not be wasted since Ezekiel was planning to purchase them at the store price but to be honest, there wasn’t a lot of them anyway.

By the time the sun had set, Ezekiel knew that he had mastered baking enough that he could probably replicate bread using his Fabricate spell as long as he had the ingredients and the tools. He planned to test it out once they started traveling. He wondered if he had to purchase an oven, though. Again, he would test it out at a later time.

When Ezekiel went to the inn after saying goodbye to the baker and his family, Robert, Luke, and Simon were in the common area listening to a traveling minstrel. The boys had mugs of drinks in front of them. Ezekiel was comforted to learn that the boys were drinking some sort of juice, but Simon was actually drinking ale. He just hoped that their guardian could hold his liquor.