Chapter 40: Boba Shop

Eito wasn’t lying about the toad’s tremendous lack of charisma.

It took five minutes for the toad to relate a single fact: that he was an alchemical research class, one who mostly provided alchemists with the information they needed to improve rather than making medicines himself.

He was undoubtedly the longest-winded person Arthur had ever met, a sort of tornado of tedium who talked constantly without injecting even the slightest amount of flavor into any of his dialogue.

And Arthur was prisoner to it. The toad forced his apprentices to down various alchemical combinations meant to do anything from curing illnesses to strengthening muscles for battle, then tested Arthur’s tea against the combinations to make sure there were no conflicts. At least in that, though, he was quick and efficient. Whatever he may have been as a conversationalist didn’t extend in the slightest to his work.

After a few hours and several combinations of pills pushed through his assistants, he had reached his conclusions.

“Well, it looks like it’s just as Eito said. I hardly believed him when he first came to me with a claim about your class. Such a thing isn’t unprecedented, but to be effective and versatile against a variety of circumstances without the slightest bit of harm and only minor production costs?” The toad shook his head. “Unheard of. Astounding. I wouldn’t have believed it unless I saw it. Didn’t believe it, in fact. I thought Eito was pranking me.”

“So I can use my tea on anything? I don’t have to ask about medications, or anything?”

“It’s always possible that I’ve missed something, but in a practical sense it’s very likely that, no, there won’t be any problems. Rather the opposite, in fact. Are you sure, by the way, that you want to continue in the realm of food service? I’d be willing to offer you a very lucrative position right here, if you wish.”

Behind the toad, a ferret assistant instantly began making various “don’t do it, run away” pantomimes. Arthur decided to take the assistant at his silent word, and beat his retreat as quickly as he could.

—

Between his morning at Ella’s, his meeting at Eito’s and his time at the toad’s lab, Arthur had burned up the better part of the first half of the day. By now, Ella was likely out with Lily somewhere, and Milo was almost sure to be busy in his smithy with Rhodia. Arthur was, for better or worse, on his own time. With nothing better to do, he decided to go on a walk.

Very non-coincidentally, his path first took him by the place Mizu rented her room, and then the building in which she worked. Luck was, unfortunately, not with him at either place, and he saw no signs of blue. Moving on, he took a wide, looping path back to the area he sold boba.

He was surprised to see that someone had already returned the stand to where it was originally, a sign that the city didn’t shut completely down on these rare holidays. A quick check of the contents showed him that everything was where it was supposed to be. Even better, the city had apparently decided he could keep much of the redundant cooking equipment it had loaned him the day before.

“Checking out your old workplace?” A booming voice sounded out behind him. He turned to see Karbo and Itela standing hand in hand, watching him as he went over the inventory.

“Yes. And someone did a great job moving it back, I have to say. A place for everything, and everything in its place.”

“What a charming phrase.” Itela beamed at him. “Did you hear that, Karbo? The child’s a poet.”

“No, not me,” Arthur said. “It’s a saying from my old world.”

“Oh, well then. Thank you for bringing it here, all the same.” Itela tracked Arthur’s eyes back to her and Karbo’s hands, which he had been glancing at periodically the whole conversation. He liked both Karbo and Itela. Very much, in fact. It was just hard to imagine them together.

“Oh, out with it, Arthur. It’s not like we aren’t used to it,” Karbo said, laughing. “She likes me for my muscles. All of them.”

“Oh, shush. I like Karbo because he’s kind, Arthur,” Itela said. “Like I told you that first day. You should have seen how disappointed he was when he saw that you weren’t meant to be a fighter. I swear, he would have dragged you all over this continent for training sessions if you showed interest in fighting.”

“I do like your muscles, come to think of it.” Karbo prodded Itela’s soft arm with his massive finger. “And your not-muscles. The whole package, more or less.”

“And we’ve confirmed, once again, that Karbo is not a poet. It’s too bad, really. I do like poetry.”

“I’ll read you some. So, Arthur, how does it feel to lose the stand, finally?” Karbo said. “You didn’t have it long, really. Must be weird to be moving on so soon.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Arthur said. “My stand’s right there.”

He couldn’t imagine Karbo was lying, but Arthur had no idea if he had inadvertently done something wrong. Had he messed up someone’s tea? Gotten someone sick? Was it simply that he misunderstood how long he’d get to use the stand?

I’m not going to be able to sell tea anymore. It’s all over. I have no idea what I’m going to do with my time. I’ll…

“Karbo, you idiot. The boy has no idea what you are talking about.”

“Sure he does!”

“He looks like he’s going to faint, dear. I’m confident he doesn’t.”

Karbo took a closer look at Arthur, then whitened slightly. “Oh, hell. They didn’t tell you.”

“They didn’t,” Arthur said, forcing his voice into a non-despondent tone. “You’re the first.”

“Well, I’ll… dammit!” Karbo yelled, suddenly scooping up both Itela and Arthur in his arms, and immediately flaring with a golden aura as he activated some skill. “Hold on!”

Karbo then leapt. It wasn’t the normal terrifying leap Arthur was used to, it was much worse.

Tucked under the infernal’s arm, Arthur kept rising higher and higher. At some point, he suspected this was the highest that Karbo could actually jump. The city became tiny below them as they sailed through the air in a tight, high arc, going up farther and faster than would have been possible if Karbo’s aura hadn’t kept Arthur safe.

“Your mistake here was letting him see you distressed,” Itela said in a flat, disinterested sort of voice. “He can’t handle that very well. It’s part of why I fell in love with him all those years back. The first time I met him was when a wagon fell and trapped some poor child. He picked the wagon up and threw it in the air. I don’t think they ever found the wagon.”

Finally, Karbo crashed back to earth on one of the main thoroughfares that fed into the city center, a nice, wide street that Arthur recognized as being about a quarter-mile from his cart. Pedestrians scattered as he once again cratered the street, leaving a wide indent and a few broken cobbles at the point of impact.

“Karbo, for the last time. I don’t care how thoroughly you kill monsters. I will ban you from hunting and absolutely forbid you from beating things to death, if you don’t stop breaking the damn street,” the mayor yelled out of a building in front of Karbo. “I don’t care if you can pay for it. The pavers are sick and tired of it.”

Despite his new stand-less circumstance, Arthur couldn’t help but appreciate the building’s beauty. The front of it was more window than anything else, all small triangular panes separated by a sort of lead lattice. Where most structures in the city were made from stone, this was the rare house made out of wood. And it was clearly built for commerce, with a counter that extended from the inside of the building all the way to the outside, jutting out to meet the street in a way that enabled a merchant to do business in either place. Despite the mayor’s screams, it was a calming place, relaxing and warm with plenty of good light.

“Oh, dammit, why did you bring him?” the mayor said. “I haven’t even talked to him yet, Karbo.”

“So, about that.” Karbo scratched his head. “I might have mentioned that he didn’t get to use the cart anymore.”

“Dammit, Kar…”

“I know, all right? But what could I do?”

Itela finally managed to squeeze her way out of Karbo’s grip, falling to the ground. “It was an accident, Mayor. It really was. And you know Karbo is when he sees someone upset.”

“When he sees anyone besides me upset, you mean.”

“Sure.”

The mayor took a deep breath, finally turning to Arthur, who had just managed to get away from Karbo himself to find his footing on the reddish cobbled street.

“Well, Arthur, I’m afraid there won’t be quite as much pomp and circumstance about this as the moment deserves, considering that someone…” He glared at Karbo. “Took it on upon themselves to upset my schedule. But no, you won’t be able to use the cart anymore. We talked it over, and decided it just wasn’t an appropriate set-up for a teamaster of your caliber.”

Arthur wilted. It made some sense, really. He was still too low leveled and there was only so far he could expect other people to go out of their way for him.

It was, at least, a fun ride while it lasted.

“And why,” Ella said, coming out of nowhere with Lily in tow and in what Arthur suspected was her full battle-mode. “Does it look like you are making my adoptive son cry?”

“Ella, dammit, it’s not my fault. I was just about to tell him…”

“Because I wouldn’t want to have to — and I don’t think you would want me to have to — but I’m going to have to — Soon, if someone doesn’t explain what’s going on.”

Ella left the have-to’s hanging, but apparently the adults present knew exactly what kind of threat she was throwing around or didn’t want to find out. Itela stepped in at that moment to defuse things.

“Dear, my husband is here. And I’m afraid…”

“Oh, I’ll take him out too.”

“I didn’t do anything on purpose!” Karbo yelled, his eyes filling with terror as the sparrow advanced on him.

“Dammit!” the mayor yelled, amplifying his voice with a skill so loud that everyone present winced. “Just let me finish, Ella. Give me a second, get that owl to stop glaring at me, and kill me after if you still need to, alright?”

Ella nodded. The mayor turned back to face Arthur.

“As I was saying before, we don’t think it’s appropriate for someone at your level of accomplishment to be working from that stand. Instead, we’ve prepared something a little different. The cleaners aren’t completely done with it yet, and the pavers will now need to be out to do a few repairs thanks to Karbo, but both will be done almost immediately after the city returns to work.”

Arthur was lost. Ella, however, wasn’t.

“Ah, I see,” she said, suddenly smiling. “Please continue.”

“Arthur Teamaster of Earth. In recognition of your rapid progress towards mastery of your class and as a partial reward for your exceptional performance in the monster wave, I grant you the right to lease this shop, with rent waived for one month while you get settled in.”

Arthur, in a daze, pushed past the mayor, walking up to the wood counter and running his fingers over the smooth surface. He could see through the windows to the interior, which wasn’t huge, but was more than large enough for what he had in mind. He had dreamt of the day where he’d have his own shop since the first few days after he got his class. It was cozy. It was beautiful. It was perfect.

“Sorry about ruining the surprise,” Karbo said. “I didn’t know you didn’t know.”

“It’s… fine. It’s perfect. And are you sure…”

“I’m sure,” the mayor said. “You’ve talked to Eito, so you might have a sense that there are reasons we might want you to have a workspace. But I assure you that we’ve thought things through. This is just fine, Arthur. Welcome to your new boba shop.”