The list of groceries that Mrs. Emberglow wanted to get wasn’t long, but it could be expensive depending which store they went to. Ralph knew which stores would be best to visit to get the best deal and which ones they needed to avoid. Of course, there was a small chance they could get a discount since Lilian was with them, but he didn’t want to have the appearance of using her or her clan name to get a discount.
“So, Mr. Raizen, how are we going to do this?” Enzo asked, looking up at their teacher.
Raizen gave them a smile, “You three are going to work it out, as a team, to figure out the best way to handle this shopping mission.”
Ralph glanced at Enzo and Lilian. He opened his mouth, asking, “How familiar are you two with grocery shopping?”
“My mom usually does it,” Enzo shrugged, “Dad always needed my help in the smithy.”
“I sometime helped Mother with the shopping,” Lilian replied, “She has started to teach me to how to shop for a household.” Her tone held pride. “I know where to get the best price on the healthily of foods.”
Ralph blinked at her then directed his gaze elsewhere. He knew how to shop for a household. He had been shopping for himself for the last couple years. He knew better then to say anything. Most of the time, when he did say something against the elites in his class, he was often told he didn’t know what he was talking about or was accused of being selfish. Like the Clans knew any better. She probably shopped at that expensive store over in the Holly Forest District for the Clan families and got a discount, also. Holly Forest was a funny name if someone asked him.
“Let me guess, you shop over in Holly Forest,” Ralph drawled.
“Of course,” Lilian shot back, “There is no where else better to shop at.” She took a breath before she went on, “The store is very clean and the attendants are helpful.”
“However, it is too far,” Ralph pointed out. “We have to bring the food back in a timely manner. You live close to the store while we are currently on the far side of town. Plus, there are some better priced stores nearby.”
“Then we can just run back here,” Lilian stated. She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she went on, “I doubt there are better priced stores at this end of town.”
Ralph wanted to roll his eyes. He didn’t like running places when he didn’t need to. He was sure there was a trick the experience ninja used to get around, but he didn’t know how to use the technique. He glanced at Enzo who didn’t look pleased with the suggestion. He turned his attention to Raizen and his jaw dropped. Their teacher had disappeared.
“Hmmm, where did Raizen disappear to?” Ralph asked, looking around the empty street. Lilian and Enzo gazed at the empty streets.
“Well, damn,” Enzo commented.
“Isn’t the irresponsibly for him to leave us on our first mission,” Lilian said. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I will making a formal complaint about this.” She paused. “He needed to be here to guide us, but he ditched us with the shopping list.”
Ralph sighed. He resisted the urge to question how old Lilian was, but it took all of his will power. He cut in before Lilian could continue, “Alright! Our teacher ditched us on our first mission. We can either run around, looking for him; we go the Government Tower and file the paperwork for him ditching us; or we can go ahead and finish the mission and proving we can
“I guess we will have to figure this out on our own,” Ralph commented, “So, where are we going to do the mission?”
“Finish it,” Enzo suggested, “I mean we will have to learn how to eventually accomplish missions by ourselves.”
“This is our first mission,” Lilian protested, “This is highly irresponsible of him.”
Ralph opened up the grocery list and read it off to his teammates, “Anyway, we need to get Milk; Eggs; flour; Sugar; Cinnamon; Beef; Chicken; Cumin; Noodles; Carrots; Corn; Peas; 3 Towels - Dark color; Laundry soap; pork; broccoli; toilet paper; shampoo- strawberry scented; and green beans.” He looked up at his teammates, “I know we can get all of the meats at a decent price over at the Young’s Butchery. They have all of the animals on this list and they usually start butchery around noon. If we can put in our order, now, they should have it done by evening rush.”
Lilian suggested, “Or we can just over to the Holly Forest and get all of that now.”
“But the question how much?” Enzo asked, looking at both of them.
Ralph frowned, trying to remember how it was the last time he had to some serious shopping, “I think it only cost like 1 Gold for all the animals products I had to get the last time I was there.”
“I’m not for sure how it would be over the Holly Forest, but since we have to get other things as well,” Lilian said, “We will be one stop shopping.”
“Yes, I do agree there are benefits of one stop shopping,” Ralph started, “Holly’s Supermarket is on the far side of town and they are a big brand store. They are part of the supply chain, meaning they get their products from the local vendors like The Young’s Butchery and mark it up in order to stay in business.”
“So, it is apart of doing business as you said,” Lilian agreed.
“Mrs. Emberglow is a limited amount of income,” Ralph argued, “She can’t afford to pay marked up prices when we can cut out the middle man on her behalf and go start to the source.”
“I know I haven’t been shopping with my mom,” Enzo cut in, “But I have heard her say she managed to get some good deals by going straight to the supplier. She usually gets our laundry stuff at some store called Buff Soaps. From my understanding, they make customers’ order right there and are willingly to throw in some custom order scents as well. I know we can get the laundry supplies there. We might be able to get the shampoo there too.”
“It’s an idea,” Ralph voiced when he saw Lilian open her mouth to comment about one stop shopping. “Right now, we need to figure out the best plan of action. If two of us thinks it would be best to do the One stop shopping, then we will do that. If it’s not the one stop shopping, we will make multi stops and try to get the best deal for what kind of money we have.”
Lilian sighed. Defeat colored her face. “Alright,” she conceded, “I’ll just have to prove to you going to Holly’s Supermarket is a much better deal.”
Ralph raised an eyebrow at her, but he turned his attention to the grocery list again. “So, we can visit the Young Butchery and put in our order before they close the window for new orders.”
“They can do that?” Enzo asked, amazed.
“Yeah,” Ralph nodded, “They don’t have a lot of time to do direct to customer orders because they also supply the local small with their orders as well.” He paused, “I kinda learned if I didn’t get my order in by a certain time, it will be taken care the following day, but they do limit those orders as well to make sure they can fulfill them.”
“What if they can’t do it today?” Enzo asked.
“They are able to suggest who else to visit,” he explained, “the one time I couldn’t get my order in before they closed it for the day, they suggested I visited a smaller Butcher on the outskirts of town, close to the training fields.”
“Which one?” Enzo cocked his head to the side.
“I don’t remember what its called,” Ralph admitted, starting to walk toward the Young’s Butchery, “I usually don’t go there.” He shrugged, “It’s too far out of my way when I head back to my apartment. Plus, I don’t remember if they have any good deals compared to the Young’s Butchery.”
“It will be a lot simpler if we just went to the Supermarket in Holly Forest,” Lilian quipped, falling into step beside Ralph. Enzo and Ralph looked at each other before they sighed. She continued going on about the benefits of shopping at the Supermarket until they reached the Young’s Butchery.
“Would you shut up, already, Lilian?!” Enzo finally shouted, turning to her. “We get it, okay! You want to shop at the Supermarket because you think it is the best thing for you, not our client.”
Ralph paused by the doorway, glanced over his shoulder, and shook his head before he entered the Butchery. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim light in the store and he spotted one of the sons of the Young Family standing behind the counter. He heard the dying cries of an animal in the back, but he ignored it as he approached the counter.
“Good morning,” he greeted the son of the Young Family, “Are you still accepting customer orders?”
“Yup, sir,” the son gave him a wide grin, “What do you need?”
“Depends on the price,” Ralph said, “I need few pounds of pork, beef, chicken, a jug milk, and 2 dozen eggs.”
The Young son hummed and reached under the counter, pulling up a large scroll. He placed it on the counter top and unrolled it. He peered through the scroll, his finger skimming over the writing before he spoke, “How many pounds of each kind of meat?”
Ralph hummed, thinking about Mrs. Emberglow. She didn’t put down how many pounds she wanted. He answered, “3 pounds.”
“So,” the Young Son tapped his fingers against the counter top, drawing out the word, “It will be 20 silver pieces in total.”
“Got change for a Gold piece?” Ralph asked.
The Young Son nodded, “Let me run back and see if Da will be able to fulfill your order, first.” He turned on his heel and disappeared behind the wall. Ralph heard the Young Son’s voice talking with his dad from the deeper tone. He turned to look the front door to see Lilian and Enzo still arguing outside. He shook his head. He heard footsteps coming back and turned his attention back to see the Young Son reappeared. He looked relieved, Ralph noticed as he spoke, “We can fulfill your order.” He rolled up the scroll and placed it under the counter. He bent down and looked under the counter for something else. He stood up, holding a book in his hands. He placed it on the counter top and flipped through the pages until he reached a page that was still half empty. He looked around for a quill. He grabbed it and tapped the tip against the edge of the ink well, before he spoke, “Name?”
“It will Sapphire Emberglow,” Ralph said, “picked up by Team 17.”
“Okay,” the Young Son said, writing it down, “Teacher?”
“Raizen. I don’t remember his last name at the moment,” Ralph admitted with a sheepish grin.
The Young Son didn’t say to that, but he went on, “Okay. Your order will be ready at 4 pm.” He paused, reaching over for a slip of paper and wrote down a number with some more information. “Here’s your order number.” Ralph took the slip of paper and glanced down at it to see the number on it was Order 124, Pick up time 4 PM by Team 17, Teacher Raizen for Sapphire Emberglow. “You will need that in order to get the order.” Ralph nodded in understanding. “It will be 20 silver pieces.” The Young Son paused and said, “You said something about change for a Gold piece?”
“Yup,” Ralph reached into his pocket and fished for one of the gold pieces. He paused. He couldn’t remember who was holding the money. He looked at the Young Son and said, “I’ll be right back.” He dashed outside to his teammates, asking, “Who is holding Mrs. Emberglow money?”
Enzo opened his mouth and let out a long, “Huummmm?” glancing at Lilian then at Ralph as Ralph tried not panic.
“Do you think Raizen took the money with him?” Ralph asked, eyes darting back and forth.
“I hope not,” Lilian voiced, “This shopping trip would be a lot harder without him around, then.”
“Check your pockets,” Enzo threw out as his hands darted into his own pockets, but came out empty handed.
Lilian’s hand disappeared into her numerous pockets in her outfit. Ralph stared at her in amazement as she checked her front pockets at her hips then the thigh pockets, her back pockets, her arm pockets, her breast pockets before she reached into her small pack she carried around her waist. She let out a sigh of relief. She pulled her hand from the pack and opened her fist to reveal the 3 gold pieces Mrs. Emberglow had given them. Ralph and Enzo let out sighs of relief as well.
“Thank goodness,” Ralph commented, “This order will cost 20 silver pieces so we will need break one of the gold pieces.”
Lilian’s eyes widened, “Are you sure? 20 silver pieces is cheap. How much are you getting?”
“3 pounds of Chicken, pork, and beef, each, with a jug of milk, and 2 dozen eggs,” Ralph rattled off, “Unfortunately, it won’t be able to picked up until 4 pm.”
“When the deadline again,” Enzo asked.
“15:00 hours,” Ralph said, “or 3:00 o’clock.” He grabbed one of the gold pieces and headed back in, tossing over his shoulder, “I’ll see what they can do.” He approached the counter and set the gold coin on the counter top, asking, “Is there anyway we will be able to pick it up around 2:30? This order is for a mission.”
The Young Son glanced over at the order and shook his head. “I can’t promise anything. We got several orders before yours and a couple of them are rather large orders. Your order could be ready by then, depending how many of our employees show up for work and other factors like that,” He sighed. “In fact, your order is the last order we can take for the day.”
“I understand,” Ralph nodded. “I’ll be back later then.” He walked toward the door with the Young Son following him. He went through the door way and glanced over his shoulder to see the Young Son stopped by the door and flipped over a sign saying “Closed for New Orders, Come back tomorrow.”
He turned his attention to his teammates. Lilian looked at him with a questioning expression and Enzo seemed to bounce on his toes, waiting for his answer. “They can’t promise anything. They have several large orders to go through. Depending on how many hands they have, they might have our order done early, but like I said, they can’t promise anything.”
Enzo deflated and Lilian nodded like she had been expecting that and opened her mouth, commenting, “We should have gone to the Supermarket in Holly Forest.”
The male teens groaned at her tone.
It took them a while to reach the market square where the farmers, the bakers, and other craftsmen were located. They glanced at each other. The market was packed. Ralph knew it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, considering majority of the farmers were in the village’s walls, hoping to sell their early summer crops. Hopefully, Team 17 would be able to get what they needed to get for the mission and get going. He glanced at Lilian and Enzo as they stared at the market with wonder. There were other dangers of being in a packed market place like this one. He didn’t know if his teammates would have the sense to stay on alert.
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“Be on your guard,” Ralph whispered.
“Why?” Enzo in the same volume.
“In a crowd like this,” he gestured to the crowd, “There are going to be pickpockets and other street rats, looking for a quick coin.”
Lilian turned to look at Ralph as someone bumped into her. She stumbled to Enzo before she caught herself as Enzo raised his hands, preparing to catch her. Ralph turned to watch the person who bump Lilian walk away, disappearing in the crowd. He kept an eye on the person and asked, “Lilian, check your pockets.”
She paused. From her expression, she realized the reason why Ralph had requested her to search her pockets. Her hands darted in and out of the numerous she had. She let out a sigh and started to withdraw a hand from her breast pocket. Her fist was closed when Ralph saw, but she started to open it. He clamped a hand over her fist, keeping it from opening all the way.
“Don’t show them,” he warned, turning his gaze to her. “I just wanted to know if you still had them or not.”
“I do,” Lilian commented. Ralph relaxed. Enzo let a sigh.
“Let’s get the produce and find a way to get the other items on the list,” Ralph said. They nodded, agreeing. “Which way should we start?” he asked, gazing the large market. It covered the entire village square in the center of town. The various farmers and other merchants had formed rows going from the south to north. People crowded the rows, hoping to the best deal with the farmers. Ralph thought he spotted a few of his former upperclassmen roaming through the rows, looking at the stalls. He figured they were also on missions for the local elderly. He remembered hearing rumors of several of the nursing homes - the elderly who thought it would be best to place themselves there due to having no other living relatives - gave out missions on the behalf of the Elderly for their weekly shopping or various doctors appointments. Of course, there was a chance they were actually doing their own shopping.
He heard several children screaming in the crowd, complaining how they were hungry and wanted to go home, already. Women were talking to each other about various topics. Ralph heard a pair of them discussing the Community Day coming up and how fun it would be to get out before the Summer heat started. Another pair talked about the growing pile of trash near the apartment complex one of them lived in.
“Oh!” Enzo exclaimed. Ralph turned to him, saw he was a few feet away, and noticed his teammate pointing somewhere in front of him. “I know those farmers.” Ralph followed where he was pointing to, but he couldn’t tell which stall Enzo was pointing at. He sighed. He saw a group of kids running through the crowd, carrying wooden kunai in their hands, playing some sort of Ninja game. He glanced over them, seeing they were wearing clean clothes, had clean faces, and maintained a healthy weight. He pulled his gaze away from the kids and walked over to Enzo. He glanced through the crowd, looking for Lilian. He found her as she walked through the crowd, pausing every so often, allowing a mother and her child to pass her or an older adult to cut her off before she moved on, heading toward them.
“Which farmers?” Ralph asked as Lilian stopped on the other side of Enzo.
“The stand with the sign saying ‘The Halfing Farmer’,” Enzo said, sounding annoyed, “It’s on your right, Ralph, in the corner.”
Ralph turned in the direction and saw which vendor stand Enzo was talking about. There was a sign announcing the vendor’s name and standing under the sign was a very short man with curly black hair, big in the middle, and a huge giddy smile, Ralph could see from where he was standing.
“Come on,” Enzo hurried forward, pausing long enough to wave at his teammates to follow him, and cut through the crowd. Ralph glanced at Lilian shrugged. They followed him to the stall. It took them a few minutes to get through the thick crowd. “Hey, Merry!” Enzo waved his hand over his head to the short man as Team 17 reached the edge of the crowd. “How are you doing?”
Now, that Ralph was able to stand closer to him, he realized that the vendor owner, Merry, was a halfing. That was amazing, considering the Kingdom of Camelot outlawed the non-humans. He really don’t think there would be any free non-humans left inside the boundaries of the Kingdom, but he had heard rumors that there were some safe heavens for the non-humans, including the Hidden Bark Village. Seeing the halfing standing a few feet away from him proved those rumors correct.
“Afternoon, young Mr. Smith,” Merry’s smile seemed to grow at the sight of Enzo, “I must thank you and your father for repairing the farming equipment. They are working like they were brand new, again.”
Enzo’s cheeks brightened to a soft shade of red as he stretched the back of his head, replying, “It was no problem. We enjoyed the challenge of fixing them.” He glanced at his teammates and changed the subject, “However, my friends and I are on official ninja business today.” Ralph watched Merry’s face lost the joyful expression as color left his face and he started to shift from foot to foot. “We are shopping for Mrs. Sapphire Emberglow.”
Merry blinked and the color slowly returned to his face as did the joyful expression. Ralph thought it was a bit forced. Perhaps hiding the relief he felt or something else. However, Merry’s voice held a strong as he started to speak, “Sapphire Emberglow? She was the one who paid the price of the White Bark Treaty, correct?” Team 17 nodded. “I have met the old lady a few times. She is a sweet lass. What does she need, today?”
Ralph stepped forward and read off the list of produced they were hoping to get from the market. Merry turned around and grabbed the produced as Ralph named them, placing them in a wove basket. There wasn’t a lot of items left on the list since they were able to get most of the animal products at the Young Butchery. When Ralph stopped reading the list, Merry turned back to them. “That’s it,” the Farmer asked and Ralph nodded, peering over Merry to the basket which was surprisingly full. “Well, then, since this is Mrs. Sapphire Emberglow, this will be only 10 silver pieces.” Ralph blinked and glanced at Enzo and Lilian who looked just as surprise.
“Are you sure?” Ralph asked.
Merry nodded, “Yes, I am sure. I gave her a discount since I feel a great deal of debt to her and her family when the non-humans laws were enacted several years ago.”
Team 17 knew what he meant. The non-human laws allowed them to become slaves in the Kingdom of Camelot which there were many ancient and nobles argued against and plotted to the non-humans escape to more friendly countries, out of the reach of the Ruling Family of Camelot. They knew it was a great risk for Merry to be mingling with the rest of the Hidden Bark Village, but they knew the majority of the Nobles of the Camelot weren’t travel this far into the Dead End Forest to find out about the Village or its secrets. The only family that would travel this far into the Forest would be the White Hall Family, thanks to the Treaty.
Lilian handed over payment and gathered the change as Enzo grabbed the basket, opened a scroll, set the basket onto a storage seal before he did a hand sign causing the basket to disappear into a poof of smoke and he stood up. In the distance, they heard the bell tower rang out the hour.
“We don’t have much time left,” Lilian commented. Ralph agreed. They cut their way through the crowd. It was still jam pack for a Tuesday afternoon. Ralph figured it the reason behind it was the fact it was the first day of Summer break for the school. They reached the other side of the crowd and looked at each other, “We still need to grab the cleaning supplies before we are done.”
Ralph and Enzo nodded before Enzo spoke up, “Come on. The shop I told you before is nearby. We will be able to finish the list and head back to the butcher shop before heading back to the Emberglow compound.”
“Welcome to Buff Soaps!” a cheery voice called out as Team 17 entered the medium sized building, several blocks away from the farmer market. The owner of the voice stepped out from a stand, show casing the various soaps they had to offer.
Ralph took a sniff and forced himself not to take a step back, away from the store. The scents drifting in the air were almost overpowering. There were scents of lavender, rosemary, and flowers. He wanted to shake his head, but he thought it would come across as rude. He glanced at Enzo.
His teammate stretched the side of his nose before he rubbed a finger underneath it. His eyes darted around the store, lingering on the doorway they had used to enter the store before his eyes flashed over to the doorway, leading to the back half where Ralph had no doubt the employees gathered and kept more stock. He shifted back and forth on his feet.
Lilian immediately stepped forward with a wide grin on her face. She looked like she had walked into a candy store. She tilted her head up a bit and sniffed the air. She slowly spun, looking at Ralph and Enzo before she commented, “It smells wonderful.”
Ralph hummed in agreement, keeping an eye on Enzo. He didn’t like the way the other young man was acting. Enzo was acting weird. Maybe he did act this way in certain situations.
Enzo opened his mouth to reply, but he sneezed. Lilian stepped away from him. Enzo grabbed something from one of his pockets and blew his nose into it. He folded it up and stuck it back in his pocket before he apologized and said, “Yeah. The scents are somewhat overpowering.”
“Yeah, we get that a lot,” the salesclerk admitted, “Especially from members of the Ninja force whose jobs are Search and Rescues. They often pop in long enough to grab the non-scent items we have, pay for it, and leave as fast as they can.”
Ralph understood why they did that.
“Anyway, what I can help you with, today?” the clerk asked. Ralph noticed her name tag read ‘Connie’.
Lilian took the lead and explained, “We are on a mission, shopping for Mrs. Sapphire Emberglow, and she need some cleaning supplies. Mainly, laundry soap and shampoo.”
The clerk nodded and gestured around the store, “As you can see, we got a selection of laundry soaps and shampoos. Do you know which one she would like?”
The trio looked at each other. That was one question of many they had over the course of the shopping mission they didn’t ask. Hell, Ralph didn’t know if the old woman was allergic to anything.
“What about we get the unscented kind?” Enzo suggested.
“Well, I don’t know,” Lilian commented, “Maybe a floral scent.” Ralph raised an eyebrow at her. “She did have flowers in the room where she was sitting. If I remember correctly, there were lavender, roses, and Forget-Me-Nots.” She placed her finger pressed against her right cheek. “They weren’t together, but they were spread out through the room, but I did noticed the lavender branches were by the window while roses were in a vase on one of the tables within her eyesight while the Forget-Me-Nots were above the fireplace.”
Ralph blinked. He didn’t see any flowers, but he wasn’t paying attention to the small details of the room. He was more interested in the fact he was meeting the Sapphire Emberglow. He did remember there was fire in the fireplace and she wore a thick heavy shawl, but he didn’t bother looking around the room.
Lilian went on, “So, from those florals, I think it would be safe to assume she is not allergic to those scents. Do you have laundry soap in one of those scents?”
“Sure do!” the clerk chirped, “This way.” The clerk spun on her heel, causing her black hair spin around before it settled down on her back and shoulders. She walked toward the back area of the store. Lilian followed her while Ralph glanced at Enzo.
Enzo looked uncomfortable. There was a slight green in his cheek. His eyes darted toward the front door. A hand covered his nose. Ralph lend over and commented, “If you need to step out, go right ahead.” Enzo nodded, sending a thankful expression before he turned around and step outside.
Ralph walked after Lilian. The salesclerk looked up at the door opening and closed before she went back to giving Lilian her attention, still talking about some of the scents they offered. He turned his gaze to the tables he walked past, seeing some weirdest scents he thought he would ever see in a small rectangular box.
The sign said “Coconut” above the spread of small boxes. Who would want to smell like coconut? What was a coconut, anyway? He reached out and grabbed a small bar of soap, bringing it up to his nose and sniffed. It smelt sweet and vanilla. He shrugged and put it back on the table with the rest of the small boxes. He turned his attention to to the next one and saw the sign above saying “Coffee”.
He never heard of Coffee before. It must be a new thing from across the barrier. Sometimes, if the Hidden Bark Village was lucky, they would get a family or a loner on the village’s borders, confused. Once they were ‘vetted’ by one of the Village guards, they were welcome to join the village until they find a way back home. However, the loners who show up would roam the countryside until they find a way back to village. The Families would eventually settle down in the village and become a member of the merchant class or police force. It was rare to have a family to have a child already have the ability of use Spirit Energy unless the child was young enough where the child could enroll into the Basic Training with their parents’ permission.
“Ralph,” he looked up as he set the box back down, coming out of his thoughts. Lilian walked up to him. “I decided to go with Lavender for shampoo and unscented for laundry soap.” He nodded. “Where’s Enzo?”
“Outside,” he answered, “He didn’t look good.” He glanced around the store, “I think he was getting overwhelmed by the scents in the store.”
Lilian glanced around, slowly nodding before she spoke, “Yeah, visiting these places can be overwhelming for the nose.”
“Ready to go?” Ralph asked. She nodded and they left the store, joining Enzo outside. He looked much better, Ralph noticed as they approached him. “Feeling better?”
“Tons,” Enzo said. “Are we done, yet?” he pulled out a pocket watch and commented, “It’s nearly 2 pm.” He pulled out the scroll he had used earlier to placed the farmer’s goods in a storage seal and repeated his actions with the items they got from the soap shop.
Ralph pulled out the mission scroll. He was sure they got everything on the scroll, but it didn’t hurt to double check. They got all of the animal products, soaps, and produced. His face fell. “We still need to get some towels and Toilet paper. Shit.”
“The general store is nearby,“ Lilian commented, “How much of each?”
“Doesn’t say,” Ralph said, “I would assume she needs enough to last a week or so when it comes to the toilet paper, but for towels, we didn’t go over it.”
“I’ll go get them,” Lilian half turned. Ralph opened his mouth to protest, but she went on, “I’m the fastest runner between the three of us.” He wasn’t going to argue with her on that topic. She was the fastest one. He did noticed she was able to stay a head of them during their mad dashes around the village. “I will meet you at the Butchery at 2:30.” And she was off, dashing through the street, reaching an alleyway, bouncing back and forth off the walls of the building before she reached the rooftops and vanished from Ralph’s sight.
He turned back to Enzo, saying, “We better hurry back to the Young Butchery. Hopefully, they have our order ready for us.” Enzo nodded. They hurried through the streets.
They panted as they reached the Butchery. Ralph slowed to a walk as he watched a customer walk out of the Butchery, their arms heavy with their order of meats. Enzo walked beside him, panting, and said in between breaths, “We really need to work on our speed. I can’t do these mad dashes through the village.”
“It means more training,” Ralph said, “I’m sure we can suggest it to Raizen the next time we see him.” He paused before he added, “Of course, we can do it ourselves - get up early and go for a run around daybreak, taking mission days off from running.” Enzo nodded. Ralph didn’t know if the other teen was listening or not. “I’ll pop inside to see if our order is done, yet.” Enzo nodded again as he tried to catch his breath, cheeks flushed, and he stood with his hands on his hips, trying not to bend over to catch his breath.
Ralph glanced over his shoulder before he entered the Butchery. He hoped Enzo would be alright. He took a deep breath and pushed his worries out of his mind as he looked forward in the Butchery, toward the counter where the Young Son appeared. He walked to the counter, noticing he was the only customer in the shop. “Pick up for Team 17, on the behalf of Mrs. Sapphire Emberglow.”
The Young Son nodded, saying “I remember the order.” He paused, peering down at the orders papers. He shuffled through them and grabbed an order form. He looked up, “You are in luck. We had enough people show up today to work and managed to get your order done before the estimated time I told you. Let me go get your order.”
Ralph nodded as the Young Son walked away from the counter. He couldn’t believe it. They were in luck. Their biggest order was competed ahead of schedule and Lilian was off, grabbing the last two items on the list. So far, their first mission was going good. Ralph looked up as the Young Son appeared around the corner, carrying several packages of meat, an container of eggs and large jug of milk. Maybe he should have asked for Enzo’s help to carry the order outside, at least. He glanced over his shoulder. Na. He should be alright. Enzo was just outside the shop, recovering his breath and should be waiting for him.
“There you go,” The Young Son said, “Your order.” He set the order on the counter top and stepped back. “Thank you for ordering at your local Butchery and I hope we see you again soon. Have a nice day.”
“You too,” Ralph replied automatically as he started to grab the meats, trying to balancing them in his left arm before he grabbed the eggs, placing them on top, right under his chin. He grabbed the jug of milk. He walked away from the counter, trying to be careful as he could. It didn’t weight a lot, but it was awkward to carry everything in one go.
He stepped outside of the Butcher shop and called out, “Enzo!”
“Yeah?” Enzo’s voice rang out before Ralph heard, “Oh, snap.” There were a rustling sound and Enzo went on, “I’m sorry, Ralph, I didn’t realized we had this much.” He appeared on Ralph’s right and took the jug of milk. There was the scent of smoke before the eggs were taken from under his chin and disappeared into the storage scroll. Enzo repeated the same process until all of the meat was safely stored away.
A soft thump alerted them and Ralph turned to see Lilian, red-faced, raising up from a crunch, carrying a large package of toilet paper and a set of towels. Enzo still had the storage scroll out and Lilian handed him the last two items on the list. He placed them in a couple empty storage seals.
Team 17 looked at each other and Lilian commented, “Now, we have to get this stuff back to Mrs. Emberglow.” The two young men nodded in agreement and they ran back to the Emberglow Compound.
The two guards still outside the Emberglow Compound as they approached. Raizen appeared to blinked into place several feet ahead of them. He waited long enough for them to reach him before he walked through the gate of the Compound as the Guards waved them in. Their teacher led them through the hallways to the room where they had first met Sapphire Emberglow. Ralph panted as he came to a stop in the room. Mrs. Emberglow looked up from what she was doing and gave them a grandmotherly grin.
Enzo stepped forward, knelt, unrolled the storage scroll, and proceed to unpack the items they managed to get for Mrs. Emberglow. Lilian grabbed the animal products and asked, “Where’s the kitchen?”
“Through there, dear,” Mrs. Emberglow pointed to a doorway nearby. Lilian went through it, disappearing from sight. There was a voice behind them, calling out they were home and it wasn’t long before an older woman, perhaps in her 20’s Ralph guessed, appeared. She talked animatedly about her day as she grabbed the produced from the storage scroll and walked to the kitchen. Lilian appeared a moment later and stood with the team. “Thank you, my dears.” Mrs. Emberglow stood up and walked over to the mental place. She reached up and grabbed something from a jar before she turned around. “How much is left?”
“A gold piece, ma’am,” Lilian said.
Mrs. Emberglow looked impressed and nodded. “You did a good job, you three. As for a tip, you keep the gold piece, Little one. I will give you boys these.” Enzo and Ralph held out a hand. Mrs. Emberglow dropped a gold piece in each of their hands.
Ralph’s eyes widen. A gold piece! As a tip? He never got one before as a tip.
“Thank you for the mission, Mrs. Emberglow.” Raizen bowed to her. Lilian followed his example. Enzo and Ralph were a heart beat behind them, saying the same thing. “Alright. Come on, kids.” Raizen said as he turned around, leaving the room and the Compound. Ralph and his teammates walked after him.
It wasn’t until they reached Training Field 15 when Raizen turned to them, and said, “Congratulations on finishing your first mission as a group of Ninja.” The three exchanged excited, proud grins. “You need to file a post mission report.” They nodded, knowing it was routine. “And I think you three have tomorrow off. We will gather back here the day after tomorrow for a training day at 6 am.” Raizen waved at them. “Enjoy your day off. You have earned it.”