TBE Chapter 112

TBE Chapter 112

“Shops are a lot more difficult to find. It would probably take me several days before I can find one that’s located near the house that you purchased,” Edward said.

“That’s fine. I’m not in a rush. Can you help sell several more bunches of spices? More funds will help our family a lot, especially since you’re planning to leave,” Ezekiel said to the minstrel.

“Sure. Selling those high-grade spices will probably help me find a good store for you. Not only that, but it will allow me to acquire more coins for my adventure. You don’t need to worry about me leaving early since I plan to stay here until my wandering blood activates, and that will probably take a few months.”

After that, Anton provided the minstrel 2 kilos of white salt, 2 kilos of black pepper, and 2 kilos of sugar. He asked the minstrel if he could add more different kind of spices like Saffron, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and more.

“It would be best if we stick to these three. It will allow me to continue selling them without alarming the spice merchants in the kingdom. I don’t even recognize some of the spices that you’ve mentioned,” Edward said.

Ezekiel then told the minstrel his decision to hire a cleaning company to clean the new house and to hire an interior designer to decorate the house and purchase appropriate furniture for them. When he told Edward the charge that he would pay for the two services, Edward told him that he was overcharged. Ezekiel told the minstrel that he didn’t care too much about that since it was bothersome to handle the cleaning, buying furniture, and decorating the house by himself.

“Now, regarding servants. Is it okay for me to hire servants for us? I’m going to fill my house with my magic, though, so anyone we hire will see it. Is there a way for me to enforce discretion?”

“The moment you hire a regular servant and show them your magic, the whole kingdom will know of it the next day. The best thing that you can do is to hire someone young and desperate, like Simon here,” Edward said.

“I don’t want to bother training someone,” Ezekiel said sulkily.

“Just go ahead and acquire those desperate people and then hire someone to train them. During the training period, which will probably last no more than a month, you can hold off on showing your magic,” Edward said.

“That’s a good idea! Can you help us find someone like that? A couple of servants are enough, I think, and one who will train them. You know that I look like a twelve-year-old boy even though I’m already fourteen, so people might have a hard time believing me. It’s not that urgent, though, so you can take your time,” Ezekiel told the minstrel.

After that business talk was over, Ezekiel asked the minstrel why he didn’t look for a mage or wizard to apprentice himself so he could learn magic.

“You know I have a wandering foot. I will not be able to stay with someone to learn magic since the roads will ultimately seduce me. At first, I thought that I would acquire that magic easily if I stuck with you, but I guess that’s not the case. How did you acquire your magic, though?” The minstrel asked again.

Ezekiel told Edward, with Simon listening in, his and his brothers' circumstances in the Eagle village and ultimately declaring that when he was about to die, a spirit or a deity in the forest gave him the ability. After he was done telling his tale, he knew that Edward would visit the Eagle village someday and explore the forest surrounding it, but Ezekiel didn’t care about that.

Ezekiel then asked about the circumstances of a person finding a magic teacher.

“Why are you asking that?” Edward was startled.

“I don’t know how to teach my magic to others. If my brothers insisted on learning magic, the only thing I could do was find them a magic teacher,” Ezekiel admitted to the minstrel.

“Were you this mature before you received your magic?” Edward softly asked.

“I have to mature early for the three of us to survive, but I understand your question. My intellect did soar once I received the blessing that allowed me to wield magic.”

After that talk, Edward invited Simon and Ezekiel allowed their guardian to join the minstrel but he told the man that they the four of them would explore the city the next day. That meant that he shouldn’t indulge himself too much.

Ezekiel then went to his room to join his brothers in taking a nap. Simon woke Ezekiel after a couple of hours, telling him that Ms. Nedura wanted to talk to him. Robert and Luke woke up as well and complained that they were hungry, so they all went outside and invited Ms. Nedura to join them in a nearby pastry shop so they could talk while they eat snacks.

Robert, Luke, and Simon sat by themselves and indulged themselves in whatever pastry and drinks they fancies while Ezekiel sat with Ms. Nedura.

After they ordered their preferred snack, their talk started.

“I’ve examined the whole house. Can you tell me more about your family’s preferences?” Ms. Nedura asked.

Ezekiel then told the designer that for the living room, he preferred an understated elegance, but there still should be a warm atmosphere since the house would become their family home. The kitchen should have the complete appliances one would need to fully serve the family's needs, and it would be the same with all the toilets in the house.

He told Ms. Nedura that Robert and Luke preferred to sleep using a bunk bed, so she should choose one, but it should be a playful and sturdy bed. The design should be appropriate for boys. The other bedrooms could be designed any way she wished, since she’s a professional, but to avoid gaudy things.

He also told the designer that for decoration, he preferred a warm and elegant style like paintings of beautiful sceneries. He also told Ms. Nedura that she could design the front lawn as she pleases but he reiterated that he didn’t like gaudy things.

“You are very eloquent for a young man! Are you perchance a noble?” Ms. Nedura asked after she had noted down the things that Ezekiel had said.

Ezekiel simply said that he was not a noble and asked the lady if she needed anything else from him. The designer told him that she would require the funds to purchase the furniture, so after they were done with the snacks, they all went to a solicitor. After the solicitor stamp the receipt that Ms. Nedura provided, Ezekiel then gave the full 70 gold coins that she said before and that he told the lady that she could spend it all to make sure that the house had great interior decoration.

Ezekiel, Ms. Nedura, and the Solicitor admitted that the amount was excessive, but he wanted to make sure that the house they were going to live in was comfortable. After they had paid the solicitor, Ms. Nedura went on her way to complete the project, especially when she learned that Ezekiel also planned to purchase a shop. That meant that if she did a good job, she would be hired again to decorate the shop. The commission that she would earn for this current job and the possible shop job was enormous.

Ezekiel and the others started to explore the nearby streets since it was still early. He wanted to familiarize himself with the places near their house. They first went to the merchant district that was the nearest to the house Ezekiel had bought, to explore the shops there. They saw clothing shops, leather goods shops, toy shops, weapons and armor shops, and a lot more. They then explore the wet market and they saw different kinds of food, like all types of meat, like pork, beef, fowl, and more. They saw the spice shops, which occupied a full street, but they left the place immediately since Luke kept complaining that the street “stinks”. It smelled wonderful to Ezekiel, though. The different smell of the spices titillated his senses.

Looking at the spices that were for sale, Ezekiel knew that the main reason why the ones he sold through the minstrel cost a lot of gold coins was their purity. The sugar, salt, and pepper that he sold were truly pristine with no additives.

After exploring for a couple of hours, they hardly covered a quarter of the places they could that was nearby the house they recently bought but they stopped since they were all tired. They returned to inn, happy with their little adventure.

When they reached the inn, the sun had just set, and all of them headed directly to their rooms since they wanted to eat Ezekiel’s food instead of going to a restaurant. They didn’t see Edward, but he probably went somewhere either for business or for pleasure.

After dinner, everyone felt too lazy to take a bath, so Ezekiel resorted to casting the Prestidigitation spell on everyone several times until they were all squeaky clean. Robert, Luke, and Simon then busied themselves playing with the Lego Sets while Ezekiel explored his system.