TBE Chapter 103

TBE Chapter 103

The next day, during breakfast, everyone talked about the film they watched the night before. Robert and Luke admitted to Ezekiel that they mostly understood just half of what was being said because of the language barrier, but because of the film, his brothers were more enthusiastic about learning English more especially when he mentioned that there were a lot more films.

Edward and Simon admitted that they only understood about a quarter of the spoken language in the film and were also determined to learn more.

That project would need to be put on hold because that day, they would arrive at the town of Cleaveland. Ezekiel couldn’t help but smile every time he heard the name, even though it’s meaning was different from the familiar one that he knew of.

When they were all ready to depart the place where they stayed for the night, Ezekiel dispelled all the spells that were running in the campground. He did find it creepy how focused Edward the minstrel was whenever he cast or dispelled his spells. It was as if there was a chance that the minstrel would learn how to become a wizard by simply learning Ezekiel’s gestures whenever he did magic. What the minstrel didn’t know was that Ezekiel was simply doing something equivalent to just clicking on an icon, and his gestures were just to focus on where the spells would be cast.

Ezekiel knew that he would need to allocate time to practice spellcasting without doing any gestures.

The weather that day was clear and sunny, and the umbrella helped make sure that all of them were under some form of shade. The only one who was under the sun was Edward the minstrel, but the man was probably used to it.

According to the minstrel, because of how slow the traveling speed was, they would arrive at the next town probably in the evening already, but the good thing about Cleveland town was, there was a high-end inn that they could stay in.

Ezekiel told Edward that they would prefer to stay at an affordable inn since any inn in that town probably would not be better than the houses that he conjured every night.

According to Edward, at a mid-level inn, they would probably need to spend around 12 to 15 silver coins for 3 nights, and that was including Prince Charming's stabling and their breakfast. Simon gasped when he heard the amount of coins that was needed for them to stay in town, but Ezekiel just handed 20 silver coins to Edward.

As usual, they stopped to eat lunch when noon arrived, and Edward admitted that even the high-end inn would not be able to compare to the kind of food that Ezekiel had been serving them. Ezekiel then reiterated to everyone that the only reason they thought his food was better was because of the spices that he had used. If the chefs of establishments in the cities or towns of this world had access to his spices, they would probably be able to cook much better food compared to what he had managed to cook so far.

They continued traveling after lunch. While they were on the road, Edward asked Ezekiel to allow him to handle the sale of the wooden knick-knacks and the kilo of salt and pepper. Edward planned to sell them wholesale to some merchant he knew. Even though the earnings would not be more than if they were the ones who sold them in the market, at least they would avoid any issues caused by red tape, since larger towns already had those. Not only that, Ezekiel was correct to assume that high-end products like salt and pepper were such volatile items that it was wise for Ezekiel not to engage in trading those things.

Edward, on the other hand, knew a lot of people from all walks of life and would be able to sell the items without much issue.

Ezekiel agreed with Edward, but he did ask the minstrel to bring Simon with him to teach their guardian the ways of the world. He could see that Edward was reluctant to bring Simon with him, but he was adamant to the point of threatening the man that they could part ways then.

He knew that Edward probably wanted to skim a lot more coins from the sale of the items, and to be honest, Ezekiel didn’t care too much since whatever amount of coins that would result from the sale of the items would be tens more than the actual value of the items.

Ezekiel wanted Simon to learn since, in the future, their guardian would be useful for their family’s growth. Not only that, they had already started to foster loyalty from Simon. He knew that Edward wasn’t the same. They didn’t know the man, and Ezekiel thought that the only reason that the minstrel would not be selling information about them anytime soon was because of the fear that his magic could truly curse him and the fact that the minstrel thought that there was a chance that he could learn magic from Ezekiel.

They arrived at the town of Cleveland at around 4 in the afternoon, and Edward led them to a nice enough inn. Edward handled everything to the delight of Ezekiel since because of the minstrel, he didn’t have to think of answers that he needed to tell those who questioned them regarding their family.

Ezekiel, Robert, and Luke would be staying in one room, and Simon and Edward would have a room each. Ezekiel almost laughed out loud when Simon expressed the desire to sleep in the same room as Ezekiel and his brothers, and he reasoned that he wanted to listen to the bedtime stories that he had been telling Robert and Luke.

Edward gaped at Simon, but just for a few seconds. Ezekiel thought that Simon probably told the minstrel his age, which was young enough to be thought of as almost a child.

It was still early, so Ezekiel gave Simon 5 silver coins for his spending coin while Ezekiel planned to go on a shopping spree with his brothers, but Edward told him that it would be dangerous for just the three of them. It resulted in them going to a nearby café to eat pastries until the sun set.

“I wish we were in our house so we could watch a movie!” Robert said with a pout while eating a pastry served by a cute waitress.

Luke didn’t talk since the boy was focused on consuming the sweetened bread while Simon did so while blushing, unable to look directly at their waitress.

“We’ll probably hold off on watching more movies since you mentioned that you’ve only understood half of what the characters were saying. I feel like it would be a waste for you to keep watching if you don’t understand them. I’ll continue teaching you English, and if I feel that you have all learned enough, then we can watch a new movie,” Ezekiel told his brothers, who pouted some more.

At least the new movies would be a good motivation for everyone to continue learning the English language. The sad part was, they were the only ones who could enjoy them because they were the only ones who would know the language.

After spending some time in the café, they returned to the inn and spent a few more minutes in the common room, but when Ezekiel heard the minstrel there singing some tawdry songs, he told his brothers and Simon that it was time to rest.

“It’s still early! Why can’t we listen to the minstrel?” Robert whined, and even Luke looked like he wanted to stay some more.

“The minstrel is starting to sing songs that are not appropriate for children. Even Simon is not old enough for them yet.”

When they reached their room, they took some towels, toiletries, and new clothing and headed to the bath, which was located in the inn’s basement, and there, they spent several minutes cleaning themselves. After that, they returned to their room to rest.

Soon, Edward arrived and reported that he had found his connections where he could sell the items, and Ezekiel just nodded. He was tired and wanted to sleep, but Robert and Luke demanded bedtime stories. The funny part was that Simon and Edward stayed to listen to the stories. Ezekiel guessed that the minstrel was curious why Simon wanted to listen in, but after several minutes of Ezekiel reading the One Piece manga to his brothers, Edward silently excused himself.

Ezekiel knew that the minstrel got bored with the story, which was understandable since he could not see the pictures that he was showing to Robert and Luke, and Simon was already used to listening, but he knew what the characters looked like because Robert showed them to their guardian during the day.

After a restful night, the next day was filled with excitement. Everyone understood that it was a day for them to enjoy themselves and spend coins. The first thing Ezekiel did was to retrieve the wooden knick-knacks and 1 kilogram of salt, and 1 kilogram of pepper from his 4th tab space and place them inside Edward’s room.

Edward told him that the first items that he would handle were the spices, since they were the most valuable. The rest could be left in his room since their room was secure enough, and at a glance, the wooden knick-knacks looked like toys that wouldn’t interest thieves.