TBE Chapter 113

TBE Chapter 113

During the next three days, Ezekiel, his two brothers, and Simon explored the city of Lonmere, at least the places near their house. Ezekiel found a school that taught children different things like reading, writing, simple math, which they were calling arithmetic, and simple science.

The school was supposed to be for those who had the means to enroll their children there, like children of nobles and rich merchants. At least, that was what the pedestrian told them when Ezekiel asked. They didn’t enter school since he would talk to Robert and Luke first if they wanted to enter it.

Ezekiel remembered their plan of enrolling his two siblings in a school back in Eagle Village that didn’t happen because of their circumstances but he didn’t know if Robert and Luke were disappointed or if they just didn’t care about it.

During those three days, Edward also managed to sell 3 kilos of sugar, 3 kilos of salt, and 3 kilos of pepper, earning Ezekiel a total of 710 gold coins, minus the 10 gold coins that he gave the minstrel, although he knew that Edward was probably selling the spices more than the declared amount, but he didn’t care too much about that.

Edward did say that they needed to stop selling to prevent the spice merchants' suspicions. Selling the spices did provide the minstrel with the connection needed to purchase a store near their house.

The caveat was that most of the spices that Edward would be selling would go to the merchant who owned the store first, but they all needed to inspect the store first, which they would do the next day.

The cleaning of their house was done, and Ezekiel paid the cleaning crew plus tips. Ms. Nedura was also in the process of filling their house with furniture and Ezekiel was liking the fact that he didn’t have to do it himself.

Edward said that after a couple of weeks, he could sell another batch of spices. His current coins were more than 2300 gold coins, and that amount made them one of the well-to-do families in this section of the city, but Ezekiel knew that they could use a lot more coins. It would be comfortable for Ezekiel if he didn’t have to worry about where to get their next coin. They could just focus on learning all the things that they wanted to learn in this world while they were growing up.

Based on Ms. Nedura’s report, they should be able to move to their new house by the day after tomorrow.

“Edward, how much do you trust your new merchant friend? The one who’s selling you a store so he can become one of the exclusive merchants who can purchase the spices?”

“I wouldn’t trust him with my coins, my wife, and my life. Why do you ask?” The minstrel said jokingly.

Ezekiel just rolled his eyes at Edward and continued.

“Since you’ll not be staying here permanently, can I partner with him and tell him that I’m a wizard? I can tell him that I can produce the spices that we’ve been selling using my magic every two weeks.”

Edward paused for a bit, thinking deeply on what Ezekiel had asked.

“I understand why you’re hiding the fact that you’re a powerful wizard. It’s quite unusual for someone your age to be powerful, and thankfully, you’re mature enough to be in control of your power and not the other way around. If I’m being honest, your abilities feel godlike to me. When I saw you practicing your spells, my blood boiled. If I can get a sliver of your magic, I’ll be set for life. You can partner with that merchant. His name is Rodello. Just don’t trust him, and always verify your business transaction with him. Since I’ll be staying here for a few more months, don’t worry too much. I’ll lay down the groundwork for you.”

Ezekiel thanked Edward, and the minstrel continued talking about wizards in the city in general.

“Wizards are generally accepted and even respected, so you don’t need to worry too much about people finding out you have magic. The main problem that you have is your age, but time will solve that. I assumed you had the magic to defend yourself and your family?” Edward asked, and Ezekiel simply nodded.

“Then partnering with Rodello is not going to be a problem. As I’ve said, I will lay the groundwork first. I’ll tell him my spice supply came from a wizard, and 4 kilos of sugar, 4 kilos of pepper, and 4 kilos of salt will be available every two weeks. Once you’re the one who’s dealing with him and have developed enough trust, you can increase the items that you want to sell through him, including those other spices that you’ve mentioned before. If you’re planning to sell items through the merchant, do you still need to own a shop?”

“I probably don’t anymore for the sole purpose of earning coins, but owning a shop can be a cover. Besides, even if I don’t use it immediately, it’s a good thing to have it when I need it.”

The next day, everyone followed Edward in going to the store that Rodello, the merchant, planned to sell to them. The moment Ezekiel saw the shop, he fell in love with it. It’s small but charming. He could sell anything there, and once he was strong enough not to be afraid of anyone, he could sell items from Earth, and the tiny shop could be a well-known, unique shop full of magic and character. While Ezekiel and his two siblings were inspecting every inch of the shop, Edward remained with Rodello the merchant, together with Simon.

He knew what their conversation would be. Edward would tell Rodello that he was in contact with a wizard who would provide the spices and was interested in partnering with him.

Robert and Luke were having fun exploring the whole shop, and Ezekiel knew that the kids liked it as well. When they returned to where Edward and Rodello the merchant was talking, Ezekiel could see the flush of excitement of the merchant’s face.

Edward then told Ezekiel that they were going to the government offices to handle the transfer of the deed to him, so they all went there immediately. The moment Edward handed the 300 gold coins to the merchant, which was the amount they had agreed for the sale of the shop, the title deed was handed over to Ezekiel. Rodello the merchant was surprised when he learned that the owner of the shop would be Ezekiel, but the solicitor from the government of Lonmere wasn’t, since the man was the same one who handled the transfer of the deed of the house they purchased.

When they returned to the inn, Edward admitted that the amount they paid for the shop was half of its actual price.

“Rodello was extremely excited at the idea of partnering with a powerful wizard who had the capabilities to produce pure spices. The fact that I’ve said that it will only be bi-weekly made him want to ask if it could be more frequent, but I suggest we stick to that schedule. With just the amount of spices that we’ve discussed that would come from you every month, it’s small enough that other spice merchants wouldn’t be threatened. They may try to find out where Rodello was getting those valuable spices, but again, you mentioned that you have the magic to protect yourself,” Edward said to Ezekiel, and he agreed with the minstrel.

At first, Ezekiel wanted to hire a cleaning crew to clean the new shop but then hold off in doing so since they were not planning to use it anytime soon.

“So what’s your next move?” Edward asked Ezekiel.

They were all sitting in the common room, resting while eating some snacks.

“My ultimate goal is to become an adventurer since that was the only way for my magic to grow, but that’s in the future. I will need to make sure that Robert and Luke are settled down before I go off gallivanting all over the world. They may even join me, so my next immediate step was for all of us to gather the knowledge that will make us effective adventurers. I will talk to the kids first about what they want to be in the future, then find them the teachers who will make it come true. If they wanted to be wizards, I would find them a magic tutor. If they wanted to be warriors, I'll find them a sword master. If they decide after a few years that they just want a simple life, I will make sure that we’ll have enough coins to let them follow any steps they want to take without worrying about coins. That means that it’ll probably be at least 6 to 8 years before I can go outside the city,” Ezekiel replied almost contemplatively.

Ezekiel knew that Edward was looking at him after he said those things. After that conversation, they remained silent while enjoying their food.

They still have a lot of things they needed to do to settle down in their new house once they moved in. All in all, everything was coming into place, and for just a moment, Ezekiel was content.