TBE Chapter 31
Robert and Luke ran past the old teacher towards the courtyard and sat on the table there. Ezekiel and Mr. Duvon followed them to check what they planned to do. The two boys took their backpacks from their backs, put them on the table, and then began putting the things inside on the table.
Luke hugged the teddy bear first then opened the coloring book. Robert did the same thing, which was to open one of his coloring books as well. When Mr. Duvon saw the books from the inside of the house, the old man immediately went to the courtyard and borrowed one of their coloring books. Robert hugged his coloring book first and then gave the book to the old man which made Ezekiel smile and the kid just chose to continue with a second coloring book.
Mr. Duvon examined the book and saw the cartoon images and the foreign words on the coloring books.
“What language is this?” The old teacher asked.
Ezekiel shrugged saying that he didn’t know. He told the old man that they found the books deep inside a chest that was buried within their parent’s belongings.
“Are you saying that those things that your brothers are using were also among the things that your parents left you even though they all looked new?” Mr. Duvon asked while smiling and then the old man just shook his head not waiting for Ezekiel to answer.
Mr. Duvon gave the coloring book back to Robert but the two kids were already busy coloring the cartoon characters inside the books using their crayons. Ezekiel was impressed that he didn’t have to teach the two boys what they needed to do to start coloring, they just did it.
“Mr. Duvon, I brought the collapsible cart. Let me get it for you.”
Ezekiel then ran towards their cart and retrieved the collapsable cart that he placed there. He then showed the old teacher how to set up the collapsable cart.
The old man kept saying “Such an ingenious design!” while he showed how to collapse and build the cart to Mr. Duvon. After that, he gave the cart to the old man and Mr. Duvon tested the cart by pushing and pulling it. The old man said that he was impressed by how smooth the wheels were and he didn’t even recognize the materials that were used for the cart.
Mr. Duvon gave Ezekiel 3 silver coins for the cart then they headed to the living room to start the lessons.
“I’ve heard that you purchased a severely injured donkey from the horse trader. Your donkey doesn’t look injured though,” The old man suddenly said.
“How fast does news travel and why does it feel like people are watching my every move!” Ezekiel sighed exasperatedly.
“It’s because you’re an anomaly. People were actually expecting you and your brothers to die but here you are earning a lot of coins. You three are also beginning to look healthy and your brother was outspoken about how magical you are and some are silly enough to begin to believe him. I could believe your brother. You keep doing things that are not normal. The potion that you sold me alone is already a confirmed magical item.”
Ezekiel knew that it was a good time to ask his teacher about what kind of world this new world that he was living in now.
“Can you tell me more about that, Sir Duvon? Are there such things as wizards or witches and magical creatures like dragons, goblins, and fairies?”
“Some said that far in the west, the countries there are rampant with magic but everyone has been telling that for centuries and we never had proof. I did see a woman who called herself a witch when I was younger who cured a wound in seconds, much like what your magic potion did. Regarding magical creatures like dragons and fairies, again, rumors said that they’re in the West but here in our country, we’ve never seen anything like that.”
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Ezekiel did see after a few days of roaming the forest that there were no signs of any magical creatures.
“So you’re saying that magic is almost non-existent here in our country? What will the local people do if they encounter an actual wizard with magic like someone casting spells to fly.”
“Oh, that would be wonderful! But as you know people are people. They will condemn those who are different than themselves probably because they thought themselves better than anyone else or because of jealousy. For example, your mother. Some considered her a witch because of her odd behavior but honestly, I thought that her odd behavior was just some sort of mental issue either brought on by an old injury or some sort of mental trauma or maybe she’s just that way ever since she was a child. She’s hardly a singular case. A lot of womenfolk here were just jealous because she was an incredibly beautiful woman and a lot of the the villagers were smitten with her even though your father and mother were clearly devoted to each other. The only magical thing that your mother had done was for some reason, animals behaved well when she was around and she’s an incredible hunter. Much like you are now.”
“Will the villagers condemn me for the way I am right now like, I don’t know, capture me to burn me as a witch or something?”
Mr. Duvon laughed heartily.
“You don’t need to worry about that since our village still follows the law even though we’re a bit far from the capital. If people really accused you of being a wizard, the best thing that they would do is shun you, at least publicly, but some will come to you at night to buy stupid things like love potions or maybe ask you to curse their enemies or something like that.”
Ezekiel was a little familiar with what Mr. Duvon had said since he had read and seen the same situation and setting in some novels and movies. What intrigued him was the country that he was living in right now was a low-magic world. There was still magic since Mr. Devon did encounter a witch who can heal a wound rapidly but since his teacher was old, if there were any incredible magic in this place, Mr. Duvon should have at least seen some of them.
Regarding the supposedly magical West, that place was very far from where he was right now. The best thing that Ezekiel could do was to live his life well until he was old enough to do things. Ezekiel being so young was a great obstacle because it limited what he could do. If he were of age, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to become a traveling merchant, for example.
With him being young and small, if Ezekiel showed any signs of wealth, there was a good chance that bandits would target him and his brothers while they were on the road or even in their home since he looked so weak. Even though he had the power to kill those bandits, it would be a bothersome thing to do all the time. But if he were old enough and showed enough strength, at least physically, those instances would lessen to a large degree.
Ezekiel was almost surprised that he and his brother hadn’t been targeted before because even though the villagers were warned not to touch them, there were low lives in every place who wouldn’t care about any prohibition as long as they could get coins to feed their alcoholism, drug, sex, or gambling addiction.
Granted that he had been earning coins for just a few days so more than likely those types of low lives were still waiting until he earned enough coins before they actually attacked him, that’s why was always preparing his spells to be ready for any sort of engagement, especially at night.
After their discussion, the lessons began. Mr. Duvon praised him after three hours since the old teacher said that he learned really quickly. The old teacher assured him that in a month at most, he should be able to read and write without any problems.
“Sir, I saw you have plenty of books. Once I’ve mastered reading and writing, can I borrow them from you?”
“Sure, that’s no problem.”
After their lessons, Ezekiel saw Mr. Duvon bring the cart that the old man purchased from him to the table and began studying the contraptions that allowed the cart to become a collapsable device. He could hear the old tutor saying, “It’s ingenious, truly innovative!”
When Ezekiel went to get his brother, he saw Robert and Luke copying some of the cartoon characters from the coloring book to their notebook using their pencil and began coloring them. Again, he was impressed that they had discovered the function of the eraser.
Once he mastered reading and writing, Ezekiel would begin teaching his brothers to read and write as well. He told his brothers that it was time for them to leave so the two of them carefully arranged their things and put them inside their backpacks.
Ezekiel then remembered his plan of going into the horse trader to learn how to take care of Prince Charming so after he gathered his brothers, They rode their cart pulled by the donkey and they went there and looked for the young man whom he purchased the donkey from.
