TBE Chapter 69

  Ezekiel looked at the three people who arrived and saw that the couple, he assumed, and their daughter again, he assumed, were smiling, thinking that since he and his two brothers were children, they would hold no danger to them. Ezekiel wasn’t underestimating the newcomers by any means but he had confidence that he could easily subdue or even kill them with his magic if they had nefarious intention.

  “Good Afternoon. My name is Ezekiel and these are my two brothers, Robert, and Luke. We’re merchants on the way to the city of Lonmere the capital of Delantan to join our family. Can we help you with something?” He asked the hunters.

  “My name is Delon and this is my wife, Myrna, and my daughter Solana. We’re hunters as you can see and we’re on our way back to our village. We noticed your houses so we were curious since we know that there were no houses here before,” The hunter who was calling himself Delon said.

  “We saw these houses and there was a note on the door that any traveler could claim it for resting for the night as long as we make sure that it’s clean once we leave so we did. We will be leaving the next day so if you want to claim these houses, you can do so once we leave tomorrow,” He told the man.

  Ezekiel saw the man’s eyes glitter with a bit of greed and more than likely, he would return here the next day for these houses since even though they were small, they looked sturdy, cozy, and beautiful. He planned to leave the Galder’s Tower houses to dispel on its own once they left but he would renew the spell so the spell’s duration would increase for another 24 hours. That would give him and his brothers enough time to get far away in case this Delon wanted to question them regarding the houses suddenly disappearing.

  “We’ll be on our way to the village then so the night don’t catch up to us,” Delon said and both his wife and daughters nodded at the three boys.

  Ezekiel and his two brothers watched the three hunters leave but he commanded Yuki Onna to monitor them. Robert and Luke returned inside the bedroom house probably to continue playing with their new toy and he returned inside the kitchen house that was already set up as his working space to continue his plan of making wooden boxes since they do need more of them for storage purposes.

  He planned to create stackable large boxes that could be stacked on Prince Charming’s cart without falling even if the cart started moving with haste. Before he started though, he commandeered his Familiar’s eyes and ears to listen in to the three hunter’s conversation.

  Ezekiel heard the man tell his wife that he would be returning the next day to claim the three houses once they left since the houses looked good but at least, he didn’t hear the man planning anything bad toward him and his brothers. He felt a little guilty about the deception that he planned to do but even though there were possible choices that he could select, Ezekiel chose the easiest one. Besides, the deception wouldn’t really hurt the hunters.

  By the time dinner arrived, Ezekiel completed one box and was in the process of creating a second box. He was glad that he was able to design stackable boxes that would be firm and stable enough once they were stacked on top of each other but he was only able to finish one of them that day. The box that he had completed was a bit rough around the edges but with experience and more practice, he knew that he should be able to create more of them with a much more refined look and would be able to sell them at an appropriate price.

  While he was cleaning up so he could join his brothers for dinner, Ezekiel thought of the fact that he was earning a bit slowly by just relying on wooden arts and crafts and small furniture but he knew that by the standards of the villages that he had passed through, his rate of earning gold coins was tremendous but he wasn’t satisfied. The spell cost of higher-level wizard spells and even the storage space was tremendous on top of the living expenses that the three of them would need to live in the city.

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  Ezekiel wanted to live as a rich person since he thought that he and his brothers should experience it and as a powerful wizard with access to an equally powerful system, they should be living like rich folks but the problem right now was his age which was the only thing that stopped him from earning a lot of coins.

  He then thought that maybe he could sneak in some high-cost items that he could sell in some of the wealthier towns that they would pass through like refined salt, sugar, and other spices once in a while but he would have to check the area first if it were feasible. He would avoid selling anything costly in the villages since that would attract greed and possible attacks from the ruffians from those villages.

  That was also the main reason why he only planned to stay just one day in the villages since the coins that he would earn in a single day, although a lot compared to normal merchants, were still not enough to incite attacks. He hoped.

  Of course, even if he were constantly attacked by bandits Ezekiel could defend himself and that would also earn him a lot of experience points but he didn’t want to become a butcher. His body’s age and his brothers were still very young and he did not want them to think that the world was something dark and ugly.

  Ezekiel also wanted to continue crafting wooden things since he wanted to become a master carpenter someday but focused more on decorative pieces. He remembered that one of his favorite authors, L.E Modesitt Jr., created a series of fantasy books and most of the protagonists of his books were craftsmen like carpenters or engineers. He wanted to be like some of those protagonist who were able to craft beautiful things and use them to earn their living aside from doing their magical adventures.

  One of his favorite protagonists that Modesitt wrote was named Lerris and he was a carpenter. Ezekiel remembered reading about Lerris crafting some tables or cabinets and the creation process was detailed. Some may find it boring but he found it relaxing. Aside from destroying armies by using the power of “Black Order and White Chaos” which was the magic system that the series had, he was also a master carpenter able to live a slow life crafting wooden furniture.

  When his workshop was clean, Ezekiel went to the stable to feed, water, and clean Prince Charming then he went to the bedroom house. He heard Robert and Luke in the washroom so he went there and saw them playing with the ship that was floating in the bathtub filled with water.

  “Enough playing. It’s time for us to bathe, eat dinner, and rest since we will need to leave early tomorrow,” Ezekiel told his brothers.

  Robert and Luke obediently carried their toys downstairs and then joined him in bathing. After that, they ate some of the dinner that he cooked and prepared themselves to sleep but unfortunately, Ezekiel’s brothers wanted to hear more of Luffy’s adventures so he continued reading them the manga where he last read it to them and spent a horrendous hour reading the manga complete with showing them some action move and sounds.

  Ezekiel had to admit that he was also having fun since his brothers were really enjoying the storytelling but after an hour he had to put his foot down and tell them it was time to sleep.

  The next day after breakfast, Ezekiel prepared their cart and when everything was done, he renewed the Galder’s Tower spell as planned and left with his brothers who were staying inside the cart this time to continue playing with their toy Merry and the Pirate action figures.

  Robert noticed that the houses were still there.

  “Are you not going to make the houses disappear?” Robert asked curiously.

  “They will dissipate on their own after a day but we will be far enough away from here. The hunters from yesterday will return here to claim them and if they were gone and we’re still here, we might encounter a lot of questions.”

  Ezekiel and his brothers did encounter the hunter named Delon and the three of them waved their goodbyes at him. The hunter looked relieved when he saw them leaving and Ezekiel almost laughed out loud. It was obvious that the hunter truly wanted to claim the houses. He hoped that the hunter and his family wouldn’t be too disappointed when those houses disappeared since the houses were truly magical with the inside always warm and dry and the light always on and inviting. There was always water in the washroom as well as the kitchen sink and the cookfire and fireplaces were always lit. It wouldn’t be too noticeable if the house would only last for a day and after a while, Ezekiel thought that the hunter family would probably think of the houses as some sort of a dream and ultimately would become a family legend.