Chapter 6
Ezekiel had a total of 10 coppers. 9 from selling the pheasant and 1 was from the remaining coins that his previous body owner treasured since it was hidden in a pocket sewn under his drawers.
He searched for a pack of cheap gumdrop candy on his shopping website and he saw some for 1 copper. The pack contained around 100 pieces. He surreptitiously bought one but made sure that it contained one color since he could give an excuse that he made it using some berries or fruits he found in the forest. He transferred the gumdrop from its plastic bag to a clean cloth that Ezekiel cleaned using his Prestidigitation cantrip.
His two brothers were looking at the candies in the store while drooling and Ezekiel was a bit glad that nobody was shooing them off. More than likely, their very clean clothes and clean hair and faces added to the tolerance they had been receiving from the villagers.
Ezekiel suddenly wondered why the villagers were calling the place Eagle Village since the place was as large as a town in his opinion. He approached the man who was watching the place like a hawk and left his two brothers who were busy watching the candies.
“Kid! You’re here. How can I help you? Do you want to spend some of your hard-earned coppers to buy yourself and your siblings some candies?” The middle-aged candy seller said.
“My name is Zeke. I found my parents’ belongings and in there it stated that they were planning to name me Zeke soon and my brothers would be named Robert and Luke. There was also a secret candy recipe that according to my mother’s handwriting was passed down to the family for generations. The candy was called a jelly gumdrop. I brought exactly 100 pieces of them and I would like to sell them to you for ten copper coins. You can probably earn more by selling them for 1 copper coin for 5 pieces.”
Ezekiel opened the cloth that contained the candies and the candy seller saw the candies that looked like glistening jewels inside the cloth.
“Go ahead sir, taste one,” Ezekiel told the man.
The candy seller was admiring the gumdrops. He took one and threw it in his mouth. After chewing several times, the man looked at Ezekiel and immediately said something that surprised Ezekiel.
“I’ll purchase all of these for 8 copper coins but you will need to supply me with this candy or you can just sell me the recipe,” The candy seller said.
The candy seller, like the butcher, didn’t introduce himself to him, and more than likely he was supposed to know who they were. At least he was getting away with calling everyone sir but he would need to ask Robert the name of everyone in the market soon.
“I will not be able to sell the recipe sir or else my mother’s spirit would come and curse me and those that I sell the recipe to. Her diary that she left said so. I can make 100 pcs only after 5 days but I’ve been working hard for the past few months and can supply you all the candies that I’ve already made. I have 600 of them and can bring them all to you tomorrow.”
The candy seller just smirked when he heard Ezekiel’s reasoning of why would not be able to sell the candy recipe.
Ezekiel hoped that the superstitious drivel would deter anyone who would covet the recipe from him but even if they do, he would just defend himself. He would like to low but he wouldn’t allow himself to take a beating.
“Are the quality of the candies, what do you call them? Gumdrop? Are all of them the same?” The candy seller asked.
“Yes, sir. Guaranteed or you can have your coin back.”
The man laughed when the candy seller heard what he said. The man took the candies from him and paid him 8 copper coins. Now Ezekiel had a total of 17 copper coins and the next day, he would be able to get 48 more from the man.
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After their transaction, Ezekiel gathered his two siblings and continued roaming the market to check the prices. He spent four copper coins to purchase serviceable clothes for himself and for his two brothers and with those clothes, at least they wouldn’t look so rundown and poor.
Now Ezekiel had 13 copper coins remaining. Now he looked at the market to check what kind of food regular people in this village eat and based on what he saw, it’s the same as any other fantasy book that he’d read. Bread, meat, and cheese. The meat courses of course were cooked several ways like stewed or grilled, or boiled, and probably more but the problem was, he didn’t know how to cook.
He decided that he would just depend on his shopping system to feed himself and his brothers.
“Brother, are we not going to buy food for dinner tonight?” Robert asked.
“No, since I can use my magic to buy better food for us. You don’t have to worry about food. I’ll handle it.”
Ezekiel and his brother then walked towards their shack at the edge of the forest but when they were halfway home, three young men blocked their way. He was flabbergasted. Are these boys bullies, wanting to take his coins? The three young men looked so healthy and Ezekiel wondered if they weren’t ashamed of the fact that they would rob from three malnourished boys. The situation was so cliché that he almost laughed out loud.
“Boy, we heard that you earn a lot of copper coins! If you give 2 coins to each of us we’ll leave you alone,” The biggest boy threatened Ezekiel and his brothers.
Robert and Luke hid behind Ezekiel and he knew that this was not the first time that these young men bullied him and his two siblings.
“Are you not ashamed of stealing from orphans? You three are so big and the three of us are so skinny and lack food that we need all the coins we can get. Do you not believe that heavens will not punish you if you keep doing something like this?” Ezekiel told the young men.
Two of the bullies blushed a deep red, meaning at least there was still some hope for them but the one acting as their leader was shameless and expressionless enough that Ezekiel thought that the boy was probably a psychopath.
“The heavens will not punish us since your mother is a witch! The heavens will probably bless us if we harm you!” The big young man shouted.
Ezekiel didn’t want to bother with the bullies anymore so he secretly cast Prestidigitation and formed some sort of auditory illusion of ghostly whisper. The whisper kept saying “Leave my boys alone’ over and over again.
When the three young men heard the whisper, all of them visibly looked frightened. Ezekiel then shouted that there was a ghost and that broke the bullies and the three young men ran back to the village so fast that dust rose on their feet while they were running.
“Brother, are there ghosts?” Robert asked suddenly scared when he heard Ezekiel shout but surprisingly, Luke wasn’t bothered and more than likely he didn’t understand what ghosts were.
“There’s no ghost. I cast a spell on the bullies and made them hear some whispers. I then shouted that there’s a ghost to scare them away,” Ezekiel told his brother.
When Robert heard his explanation, the young boy laughed and Luke joined him. They continued going home and when they arrived back at their shack, it was already a bit dark.
Robert immediately went to the fireplace to stroke it and make the fire large since that would be the only source of light they would have during the night but Ezekiel decided to spend a copper to purchase candles from the shopping site. The copper coins brought him 20 candles and according to the description, each candle would last for eight hours.
Ezekiel’s siblings were surprised when he lit one of the candles that he purchased using Prestidigitation and their small house was now bright.
“Where did that candle come from?!” Robert asked.
“I conjured it,” Ezekiel simply answered and his brother looked at him admiringly.
“It’s time for dinner. What are we going to eat? Are we going to eat the delicious bread?” Robert kept asking.
“Yummy?” Luke asked as well.
“Go get the plates.”
Ezekiel then put a single slice of bread on each of the plates but this time he splurged a total of 4 copper coins. He bought a whole roast chicken for 3 copper coins and a liter of milk for 1 copper coin. Now he had a total of eight copper coins left.
When the two boys saw the chicken appeared, they gasped.
“What is that?!? Robert asked while Luke drooled.
“It’s a roast chicken! We’ll each have a quarter then all of us will drink a cup of cold and refreshing milk. This will make us healthy!” Ezekiel told his brothers.
Using the family knife, he cut the chicken into quarters gave a quarter each to his brothers then told them to eat. He needed to assist Luke though since he didn’t want the young boy to encounter any accidents like swallowing a bone so he tore the chicken quarter into pieces and removed the bone. He did the same to Robert’s chicken just to be safe and told the boys to eat.
This time Ezekiel didn’t cast Prestidigitation on their food since the roast chicken and the milk were delicious enough on their own.