TBE Chapter 97

TBE Chapter 97

Ezekiel served some of the dishes that he had recently cooked during lunch, and he was a little proud of them. Based on the expression of his brothers, Simon and their guests, who were the father and son farmer travelling to the nearby village, they agreed with his assessment that the food that he cooked was delicious.

He noticed that the older farmer became quiet and wondered why that was. The man didn’t stop eating though. Once lunch was done, they returned to traveling, wanting to reach the village before evening.

While they were moving, Ezekiel asked Simon softly, making sure that Dennis wouldn’t hear him, why Hector’s behavior had changed.

“It’s because of the food that we ate. The food was something that only the very rich nobles could eat, and he probably thought that all of us were children of nobles in disguise. Our appearance, with our smooth and fair skins because of the magic liquid that we spread in our bodies, added to that.”

“Will that be a problem for us?”

“No. Nobles disguising themselves is not that rare, and the rule of thumb among normal folks is if you discover it, keep it to yourself, since there were instances that some of those nobles in disguise were cruel enough to kill those who ruined their “fun”. He will probably try his best to avoid us once we reach the village.”

Ezekiel just shrugged and then told Simon that once they reached the village, he would have to behave high and mighty and rent them the best room in the village inn if there was an inn. Simon nodded and said he would try his best, then Ezekiel almost laughed out loud when the man started practicing the lines that he would use when they reached an inn.

The rest of the afternoon on the road, Robert and Luke didn’t stop telling all the stories they knew about Luffy and the pirate gang to Dennis. Even Hector and Simon’s attention were raptly focused on the boys’ story telling instead of the road but since they were moving slowly enough, Ezekiel didn’t mind since they were safe enough from any type of road accident.

The sun was almost setting when they saw the village in the distance. Even from afar, they could all see the activities that the villagers were doing. Decorations were being put up, children running around, people gossiping, and more.

Ezekiel was a little glad since he was half-expecting some sort of dystopian silence when they reached the village because everyone was being controlled by the mayor, whose birthday was going to be celebrated that night, but everything appeared normal, and all of the villagers looked happy.

When they reached the village gate, some of the people saw Hector and they all called him, thanking the gods that the cider arrived before true evening came. Some asked who the “brats” following him and Ezekiel saw Hector become nervous. Ezekiel knew that Hector was hoping that the comment wouldn’t offend the “brats,” and Ezekiel wondered why the farmer would behave like that. They were just children, and the only adult in their group didn’t look that intimidating in his opinion.

Hector shouted back that they were merchant travelers. Dennis actively offered to lead them to the inn, so Simon followed the boy’s instructions on where to go.

When they arrived at the inn, Simon followed Dennis inside to look for the innkeeper while Ezekiel and his two brothers remained in the cart to watch their belongings. He already felt the advantage of having an adult like Simon with them.

“It’s a silver coin for two rooms for a night. It’s a little costly!” Simon complained when he returned from the inn, but Ezekiel just nodded and gave the man 2 silver coins since he planned for their family to stay for 2 nights.

Simon walked back to the inn to pay for their rooms, and then he returned, immediately followed by the innkeeper and Dennis. Ezekiel realized that the innkeeper was going to lead them to the stable where they could park their cart.

“Mr. Innkeeper, can our snowy owl stay with our cart to guard it?” Ezekiel said to the innkeeper, who looked at Simon.

When Simon ignored the man, the innkeeper nodded. Yuki Onna then flew from the trees and perched on one of the sides of their cart. Both the innkeeper and Dennis gaped at the huge owl. Ezekiel had to say that Yuki Onna looked otherworldly because of its size and color. Because of the innkeeper and Dennis’s reactions, Ezekiel knew that their belonging would be safe as long as his familiar was looking after them.

They did have valuable items in the cart, including the recently purchased knick-knacks worth 20 silver coins that he planned to sell to the villagers.

Once Prince Charming and their cart was settled, they all followed the innkeeper back to the inn and the man led them to the second floor where their rooms were located. The two rooms that Simon rented were exactly the same. Simon would be staying in one, and Ezekiel and his two brothers would be staying in the other.

Ezekiel saw that the bed was large enough to fit him, Robert, and Luke, and he didn’t know if he was sad or glad at their small sizes that allowed them to fit in one bed. When he saw the delighted expressions on Robert and Luke’s faces when they learned that they would be sleeping in one bed again, Ezekiel decided that he was glad.

He knew how fast children grew, and in the blink of an eye, his brothers would then insist on sleeping in a bed of their own.

Since there was a celebration that night, Ezekiel decided to forgo their lessons and join the villagers in their partying. Robert and Luke ran downstairs, and Ezekiel had no choice but to follow them. Robert and Luke ran everywhere, and to Ezekiel’s delight, he was able to keep up with them. He kept forgetting that his new body was just 14 years old, looking like a 12-year-old, and not the late 20s body that he previously had on Earth.

Soon, the boys were surrounded by other children, and to not kill his brothers’ buzz, he joined in on whatever play they were doing with the villagers’ children. The funny part was Dennis and his gang of kids of the same age, looked like they wanted to join in but as teenagers, they probably thought that it was beneath them to play with “little kids”.

When night arrived, the village remained bright because of what seemed like hundreds of lanterns that the villagers lit and the bonfires that surrounded the village. Ezekiel saw the vaunted Mayor. For some reason, he expected the mayor to be fat, but he looked like just a normal farmer.  

There was a lot of food, though. They were simple but plentiful, and all the children stuffed themselves silly.

Ezekiel had to scold his brothers, though, when they started to complain that the food didn’t taste good.

After all the children had large bellies because of all the food, they started running around again, playing all sorts of games and even Ezekiel, withs his vaunted child constitution, almost gave up, exhausted, but he did see that his brothers were becoming tired as well so he knew that he didn’t have to wait long for Robert and Luke to clamor to rest and soon they did so they all returned to the inn.

Ezekiel noticed that Simon wasn’t around, but he let the man be. He was probably enjoying himself at the party downstairs. In the meantime, Ezekiel cleaned himself and his brothers using the Prestidigitation spell, and soon the three were asleep. He even forgot to cast his defensive spells.

The next day when they woke up, Ezekiel saw that it was already nine in the morning which was very late considering they started sleeping at around 11 in the evening. Instead of going downstairs to look for food, the boys wanted to eat Ezekiel’s food, and he couldn’t blame them, since nothing in this world could compare to his delicious food because of the spices that he was using.

He asked Robert to call Simon, and when they returned, they started eating breakfast.

“Your food, Kel, is still the best in the world,” Simon exclaimed with his mouth full of food.

“What are we going to do today?” Robert asked.

“Simon and I will be at the market, selling things. You can do whatever you want in the village as long as you don’t go outside, and Yuki Onna will be following you,” Ezekiel answered.

When they went downstairs, the innkeeper’s wife asked them if they wanted to eat breakfast. They declined, of course, since they had already eaten, but didn’t provide any more information to the woman who looked confused. Probably she was expecting that they would be hungry enough to eat a horse.

Robert and Luke ran outside looking for their friends while Simon asked where the market was. After that, they retrieved their cart and headed to the market to start selling their wooden knick-knacks.

They arrived there at around 11 in the morning, which was considered very late, and after setting up their stall, for free, to the surprise of Ezekiel, they closed it immediately for lunch and asked his familiar to guide his brothers to the market so they could eat lunch.