Chapter 3 Market

“Gahaha you lost little Ez, your meat is mine gahaha” Martin proudly and shamelessly announced his victory. Eznho couldn’t be bothered by it and started to pack up their cleaning materials.

“Look at you, you are such a mood killer, hmph. Sometimes I wonder if you are mute, you should start talking with other people or children your age”

“Okay” Eznho answered blandly.

“Whatever, one of these days, I wonder what would you do if you are forced to talk your way out of something” Martin teased.

“Then I’ll talk or just stare at them” Eznho replied.

“Haha, that’s more I like it, you should continue talking like that from now on.

It’s already nearing lunch, bring the cleaning materials at the back and I’ll go cook lunch for the three of us. Wake Miss Minchin up after half an hour and meet with me in the kitchen.”

“Okay,” Eznho replied.

The two of them finished their cleaning job before lunch as planned. They packed their cleaning materials, Martin went to the kitchen while Eznho did as he was instructed.

Half an hour later Miss Minchin and Eznho entered the kitchen. Minchin already started to grow gray hair, she was already over forty years old. She had an elongated face, sharp blue eyes with curved eyebrows, a straight nose, and thin pink lips. She was wearing a pair of pale blue upper garment and a skirt. There was an air of discipline she carried around her.

“What’s for lunch Martin?” Minchin asked.

“Good afternoon, Miss Minchin. Our lunch for today is my special stirred vegetables with pork meat.” Martin greeted while walking towards the table to put the food.

Eznho went to one of the cabinets and brought out plates for them to use. The three of them sat at the table and started eating.

“Oi, little Ez, aren’t you forgetting something?” Martin looked at Eznho and smiled bashfully.

Ezhno rolled his eyes and started to pick a slice of meat and put it in Martin’s plate.

“What are you doing?” Minchin curiously asked.

“Well you know Miss Minchin, he lost the bet so a man has to honor his words and never go back on it, right little Ez?” Martin said shamelessly.

Minchin squinted her eyes and looked at Martin.

“Ahaha, just kidding, just kidding, look at you little Ez you are so thin. Tsk, people might think we are not feeding you” Martin picked two pieces of meat with his chopsticks and put it on Eznho’s plate.

“That’s more I like it. Ahaha let’s eat, let’s eat. It’s more delicious if the food is eaten hot” Martin started munching his food. The three of them sat there eating their lunch like a family.

Most of their days were spent like this, Miss Minchin works at night until morning along with the other staff of the establishment. Eznho is still young so he works only during the day, he started this job when he was five. Minchin and Martin did not entirely approve it but the owner of the establishment insisted. He didn’t want someone to stay on his property for free. Besides, he didn’t have any playmates so Martin taught him about cleaning, he was also a cleaner and at the same time an errand runner.

.....

Sin city is located in the eastern part of the Carson Kingdom. It was only fifty kilometers away from the border with the neighboring Kalbo Kingdom. The area of the city spans at about forty kilometers, it was divided into four sections. North was where the city lord, the city guard captain and the other people with influence were staying. South was the entertainment district, while the east and west were a combination of trading area and residential area. The population was over a hundred thousand. The whole city is enclosed by a wall of gray rock with a height of about twenty to twenty-five meters, there were exactly ten towers built and spread around on top of the wall. City guards can be seen patrolling above the walls with their full set of armor, a saber on their waist and a three-meter long spear pointing to the sky tightly gripped by their right hand.

“Let’s go little Ez, we have to go early to the market so that we can get the fresh supplies to restock the kitchen.” Martin was calling for Eznho while putting the empty baskets inside the cart to be used later on.

“Coming” Eznho replied blandly, he was wearing a simple black trouser, a wooden sandal and a dark gray sleeveless upper garment.

He still had sleepy eyes, it was still an hour before the sunrise but he had to wake up to help Martin buy supplies.

He helped himself and sat beside where the cart driver sits.

“Okay, everything is good. The early bird catches the worm, gahahaha. Hiyah!”

Neigh! The horse started to trot going in the direction towards the market.

.....

“Fresh cow meat! Just butchered a while ago! Come my dear costumers!” a chubby woman in her thirties was shouting, trying to sell her goods.

.....

“My veggies here have just been harvested a while ago, look you can still see the dew on its leaf.” A farmer was advertising his products.

.....

“Look here the fishes are still jumping, how fresh can they be?” a burly fisherman was displaying his plentiful catch.

Shouts and indiscernible noises can be heard from every direction. This was the city market, almost every kind of ingredients for cooking can be found here. This time was the busiest because farmers, fishermen, butchers and the like come at this hour to sell their fresh goods.

.....

“Ten coppers!” Martin was haggling with a lady.

“No! The last price is twelve coppers, no more no less. If you don’t want it then stop pestering me, there are others who are willing to pay, shoooo!” the woman was insistent and stood her ground.

“Tsk! Fine, you win this time, but you should add one piece of that fish.” Martin wasn’t willing to back down and pointed one of the displayed fishes to be added as a bonus to cow meat that he bought.

“You!” The woman was taken aback by this man’s thick face.

She didn’t want to bicker anymore and just picked the smallest fish and added it to the meat. She handed the goods with a sly smile.

Martin just widened his eyes with shock but didn’t say anything. He went back to the horse cart where Eznho was waiting while guarding their goods. He took out the fish and tossed it along the other fishes on one of the baskets.

“See, little Ez, that’s what you get for being a good talker. You can get a lot of profit if you can talk your way out of things, gahahaha!” Martin laughed proudly while looking at the basket full of fish with varying sizes. These fishes were “bonuses” he got from haggling.

Eznho just rolled his eyes, he was used to this scenario every time they come to the market.

“Hmmm, we saved two silvers during this trip” Martin was snickering while counting the coin purse.

“Here you go little Ez, that’s your bonus gahaha.” Martin couldn’t help but laugh while tossing a silver coin to Eznho.

“Thanks!” Eznho couldn’t help but smile while watching his lively big brother.

“Alright, that’s about everything. Let’s go back, argh! We still have to clean the pavilion later on. Hiyah!” Martin grumbled while sitting and commanding the horse.

The horse neighed and started walking towards the south, the distance was a few kilometers.