After a long night's sleep, Ezekiel woke up, realizing that it was still pretty dark outside. I truly could use a clock right now so I don't have to keep waking up so damn early, thought Ezekiel, who was still somewhat tired. He remembered that Zoey wanted to take him around the town today, so instead of risking more sleep and being late, he decided to do what he could to prepare for that. Ezekiel went to the public bath shack to clean himself off, and once he was done there, he went to the kitchen and prepared himself a quick breakfast in The Crimson Tankard kitchen, which consisted of three pieces of toast with butter spread on it. Afterward, knowing that he still had some time left over before Zoey arrived at the front of The Crimson Tankard Inn, Ezekiel stepped outside to enjoy his breakfast and read his Book of Knowledge some more. He also thought about what he could do to improve things at The Crimson Tankard Inn. Since these people have no idea what a refrigerator is, I might be able to introduce the idea of a cooler or a freezer that could preserve foods longer than they do now. Also, if soap doesn't exist currently, it might be a good idea to invent it so we can avoid any health issues regarding handling food and getting customers sick, thought Ezekiel, as he realized that he was actually getting worried about how sanitary the food he would be eating was nowadays.
However, these thoughts and worries of his were quickly put on hold. As Ezekiel was finishing his first piece of toast, an excited Zoey was quickly walking up the empty street. Ezekiel put his Book of Knowledge away, stood up, and gave Zoey a polite smile and a quick wave. Zoey returned the greeting, and Ezekiel noticed that she was in her usual outfit, wearing the medieval version of what Ezekiel assumed to be a black kitten t-shirt and something that closely resembled a low black skirt. Ezekiel also realized that she was holding a small fruit basket in her right hand. Zoey asked, "Ezekiel, are you hungry at all?" Ezekiel held up his second piece of toast in reply, as he silently munched away. Zoey quickly put on a pouty face, saying, "I went through the trouble of making this fruit basket for breakfast for the two of us! Why would you even eat that disgusting piece of burnt bread?" "Because this burnt bread is actually pretty good when toasted the right amount," said Ezekiel, in a way that made it sound like he was just stating the obvious. Ezekiel noticed that bananas were among the assortment of fruit she had and quickly grabbed a banana from the basket. A startled Zoey then said, "D-Don't just grab fruit from my basket without telling me!" Ezekiel chuckled then replied, "Sorry about that! I'll show you just how good this burnt bread you made fun of can really be!" Ezekiel proceeded to open the banana and cut it into small circular pieces. "Your fruit killing skills are remarkable," said Zoey, with obvious sarcasm behind it. Ezekiel smiled at the subtle Modern Warfare reference that Zoey didn't know she made. Ezekiel then placed the banana slices on top of the remaining pieces of toast. If I had honey to make the bananas stay in place, and maybe some cinnamon or brown sugar, this would actually be some kickass toast, thought Ezekiel, with a visibly disappointed face. Ezekiel offered a banana-topped piece of toast to Zoey, who reluctantly took it from his hands. Zoey took a small bite, then her eyes widened in surprise. "It's good! The crispiness, the surprisingly good taste of a warm piece of bread, the subtle flavor of the butter, the softness of the banana, it works so well together," critiqued Zoey, with Ezekiel smiling in a smug manner. "My people have ways we make food, and this is just one thing we do. There's so much more that we could've done to make this toast better," said Ezekiel. Zoey simply nodded, too absorbed into eating the piece of toast, and happily finished it rather quickly. Ezekiel finished his piece of toast right after her and told Zoey, "We can probably save the other fruit for lunch, or maybe as a snack in case we get hungry walking around the town." Zoey nodded, then said, "Good idea," happy at the fact that her fruit basket wouldn't go to complete waste. Zoey smiled then said, "Let the day of fun begin!" Zoey and Ezekiel then began walking through the streets that were slowly but surely coming to life for the day.
Zoey and Ezekiel wandered around the town together and looked at many shops for a good amount of the morning. Zoey also seemed to know a fair amount of history regarding the town, giving Ezekiel a history lesson every now and then. Ezekiel also noticed that Zoey seemed like she could switch personalities rather quickly. She would act very openly and honestly with Ezekiel and towards others she knew, but she would suddenly act shyer while interacting with shopkeepers she had never met before. Ezekiel decided not to pry into it too much, since he believed that she was someone who was uncomfortable around people unless she got to know them a bit better. Soon, both Ezekiel and Zoey were beginning to feel hungry, and Zoey led them to a spot that had a nice view of the marketplace, shaded by a huge tree. They both sat down and began eating the fruit from the basket that Ezekiel got stuck carrying. In fact, he got stuck carrying all the items that Zoey went and bought, so it was a relief when they decided to eat lunch so Ezekiel could set down the items they bought. Ezekiel was absorbed in thought while eating an apple, and remembered that he needed to ask Zoey something. "Hey, Zoey, have you ever heard of the term 'soap' before," asked Ezekiel. Zoey thought for a moment, then said, "I've never heard of soap. What is it?" Ezekiel casually said, "Something I'll have to invent." Zoey stared at him for a moment, processed what he had just said, then laughed. "Something you'll invent? Are you even smart enough to do it," sarcastically asked Zoey, who was still laughing. Ezekiel just smirked, and said, "I may look stupid, but I can guarantee you that I've got a bigger brain than yours." That shut Zoey up quickly. She made a very visible pouty face, turned away from Ezekiel, then angrily said, "Hmph!" Ezekiel sighed, then said, "Even if my brain is bigger, I still need your help." Zoey looked over her shoulder at Ezekiel, then turned away again. Ezekiel continued, saying, "What I need specifically to make soap are seashells, sea kelp, olive oil, and water. I need your help in getting these things to make soap." Zoey, still somewhat angry, said, "You never told me what we need soap for." Ezekiel sighed, then said, "Soap is a combination of different things that will chemically react to one another in order to produce a sodium hydroxide lye, which will then be cooled down in order to make soap." I simply remember this because my mother once asked me to make her some soap, saying that it was an "experiment" and gave me the supplies to do it. I followed my mother's instructions since she had a hobby of making her own scented soap, but didn't quite grasp the science behind it. My dad had to help explain the science portion of it, including why things happened at each step in the process. The end result was a pretty sturdy bar of soap, thought Ezekiel. Zoey was finally facing Ezekiel, but she wore a face that showed that she was very confused with Ezekiel's complex explanation. Ezekiel decided to simplify his explanation, saying, "Soap is a brick that will make you feel much cleaner once you use it." Zoey, after thinking about what Ezekiel just said, responded with, "I see!" Zoey, now in a much better mood, said, "I'll take you to the places where you can get those items then, on one condition." Ezekiel asked, "Condition?" Zoey nodded. "I help you make this 'soap' and be the first to use it!" Simple enough of a condition, I guess, thought Ezekiel. "Deal," replied Ezekiel. Zoey smiled eagerly in response to that. They both finished up the remaining fruit inside of the basket, and then they headed to the shops to get the supplies needed to make soap.
Once they gathered all of the supplies needed, Zoey and Ezekiel headed back to The Crimson Tankard Inn to begin making soap. They both headed back into the kitchen where a table wasn't being used for anything currently. Ezekiel also noticed that the inn wasn't very busy at the moment, so if they wanted to make soap, this would be the best time to start. "There's quite a long process when it comes to making soap," explained Ezekiel. "The first thing we need to do is get the sodium carbonate from the sea kelp we bought." Ezekiel threw sea kelp into an oven, and Zoey stared in confusion. "By burning the sea kelp, it leaves behind ashes, which have sodium carbonate in it. This is needed so we can make our soap harder and more durable than if we used something like potassium carbonate." Zoey stayed silent, obviously confused, so Ezekiel simplified it down, explaining, "This ash that we're collecting from the sea kelp is needed to make the soap better." Zoey simply said, "Oh," and understood what he meant. While the sea kelp was being burned, Zoey was a bit confused as she watched Ezekiel put the seashells on the wooden table and began crushing them. "We need to turn the calcium carbonate that's inside of seashells into calcium oxide. In order to do this, we first need the seashells to be turned into a fine powder so we can heat it easier. By adding heat to the powder, we can get the calcium hydroxide we need." Ezekiel then took a moment to think, then said, "These ovens won't be hot enough for calcination. We need something that can get us to at least 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit." Zoey didn't quite understand, so Ezekiel explained it in simpler terms. "Calcination is the process that we will undergo to make lime, an ingredient needed to make soap. We just need to put the seashell powder in a really hot oven for a bit, then once it's done, we then have lime." Zoey then asked, "Can't we use magic to heat it up?" Ezekiel considered that thought, then said, "If I understand magic and it works the way I think it does, it would be hard to get it to that temperature with just one mage using basic fire magic. I assume that it would have to be a high-level spell that can maintain a flame for a good while. On top of that, maintaining that high-temperature flame for the length of time we need would be extremely difficult since a mage's mana is limited. I also assume a high-level flame spell will consume mana rapidly." Zoey frowned about her idea getting shot down, but Ezekiel's logic made sense to her. Zoey thought about it some more, then perked up, saying, "The blacksmiths might be able to let us use their furnaces!" Ezekiel nodded, saying, "If they can make iron weapons with it, then those furnaces can definitely help us with the soap making." Zoey, proud of herself for suggesting the idea, smiled to herself, then said, "I'll ask Bear! He should be able to convince the blacksmiths to let us use a furnace!" Zoey then happily walked out of The Crimson Tankard Inn, and Ezekiel continued to work.
Ezekiel finished crushing the seashells and put them inside of a leather pouch. Ezekiel also pulled out the sea kelp ash from the oven and let it cool for a bit. Then, Ezekiel placed the sea kelp ash into another leather pouch. As Ezekiel was scooping the remaining bits of sea kelp ash into the leather pouch, he saw Bear walk into The Crimson Tankard Inn, followed by Zoey, who both waved at Ezekiel. Ezekiel quickly gathered up what he needed, then followed Bear and Zoey out of The Crimson Tankard Inn. Once outside, Bear asked, "So I hear you're doing some voodoo mumbo-jumbo in order to make a magical block called 'soap' right?" Ezekiel just chuckled, and said, "Yeah, this magic block is gonna benefit everyone if we do it right." "A man of the people, I see. That's very rare to find nowadays," said Bear, nodding in approval. Ezekiel, hating to disappoint Beat, said, "I'm a man of the people in the fact that I will make and sell a product that can benefit everyone." Bear sighed, then said, "Of course, it was too good to be true. Well, a profit is a profit. This sounds much better than having to work all day at the inn." Ezekiel agreed, silently nodding. Zoey then asked, "So, will you be able to convince Murdan to let us use one of the furnaces?" Bear responded, "I'll do what I can, although I don't see why they would reject us. I do go back with Murdan, after all." Ezekiel, interested in this Murdan character, asked, "Who's Murdan?" "Murdan is a dwarf, and also the head blacksmith of this town," explained Bear. He then pointed at the axe on his back. "This axe? Murdan repaid my favor from a while back and made me this axe head with his own two hands, and I have to say, he's not the head of the blacksmiths for no reason." Dwarves are known for being good with their hands, after all. That would make sense as to why Bear's axe came out well done, thought Ezekiel.
Soon, they reached the blacksmithing camp, which was surrounded by a stone wall. Just from standing outside, you could tell there were people hard at work. Ezekiel, Bear, and Zoey then walked inside the main entrance of the camp. Bear then said, "I'll go grab Murdan. You both just stay here," and quickly walked off in search of Murdan. Ezekiel let his eyes wander around the blacksmithing camp. He saw that there were many huts with names on them, as well as saw many dwarves and some humans doing various tasks. Some gave Ezekiel and Zoey a strange look every now and then, but Ezekiel and Zoey didn't seem to pick up on it at all. After about two minutes of looking around, Bear came back to Ezekiel and Zoey with a short, plump but strong-looking old man. Bear then introduced the dwarf, saying, "Ezekiel, Zoey, this is Murdan, the head of the blacksmiths." Murdan smiled at both Ezekiel and Zoey, saying, "It is as Bear tells it. Nice to meet ya." Ezekiel and Zoey both said, at the same time, "Nice to meet you." Murdan studied Ezekiel with interest, then asked, "So, I understand ya wish to use our furnaces for somethin', youngin'?" Ezekiel replied, "I do. The ovens at The Crimson Tankard Inn won't reach temperatures high enough for me to do what I need to do." Murdan continued to study Ezekiel, asking, "And what is it exactly that ya plan to do with our furnaces, youngin'?" Ezekiel just smiled, then said, "It would be much faster to show you!" Murdan laughed, then said, "I like ya, youngin'! Fair enough! Please, follow me!"
Murdan led Ezekiel, Bear, and Zoey to a furnace that was hot and ready to use but not currently being used. Murdan then said, "Is there anything else ya need before I leave, youngin's?" Ezekiel asked, "Can we get three iron bowls, an iron pan, a bucket of water, and some tongs please?" Murdan then said, "Certainly! At least this youngin' knows how to be polite, unlike ANOTHER youngin' I happen to know that barged into my damn workshop today," shooting a dirty glance at Bear. Bear realized Murdan was referring to him, then angrily said, "Shut up, old man!" Murdan then responded in an angry tone, "This old man might just kick yer ass today to teach ya to respect yer damn elders, youngin'!" Bear then got up close to Murdan, angrily looking down at him, then shouting, "HUH?! SPEAK UP, SHORTY! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! THIS DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND ME IS LIKE YOU'RE TRYING TO YELL AT ME FROM THE BASE OF A MOUNTAIN!" Murdan then angrily responded, "YA GOT BALLS CALLIN' ME OLD, YOUNGIN'! YOU MUST BE GETTIN' OLD IF YER DEAF FUZZY ASS CAN'T HEAR ME FROM THIS FUCKIN' DISTANCE!" Bear and Murdan angrily glanced at each other, with tension very visible between the two. Then, out of nowhere, Bear and Murdan just laughed hysterically, and the tension disappeared in an instant. Ezekiel and Zoey had the faces of people who had no idea what to do except look shocked at the events that had transpired before them. Bear and Murdan slowly stopped laughing, then noticed the expressions on both Ezekiel and Zoey's faces and began laughing even more than before. Zoey slowly got angry, exclaiming, "Ugh! Just grab the damn tools already, old man!" Murdan was still laughing but managed to squeeze out an, "Okay," before leaving to grab the items Ezekiel had requested. Bear was on the ground at this point, still laughing his ass off, tears of joy rolling down his face. Zoey angrily looked at Bear, asking, "Would you kindly explain what the hell just happened?" Bear laughed for a little while longer, then was able to calm himself down. Bear then sat up, sitting on the ground. "It's a little complicated, but Murdan is like my grandfather in a way." Bear then got up onto his feet and looked at both Ezekiel and Zoey, asking, "It's a long story, but I could tell you about it after we get done here if you'd like me to?" Ezekiel, interested in Bear's story, said, "I'd like to hear about it." Zoey, glancing over at Ezekiel and realizing how interested he was in Bear's past, said, "I-I guess hearing about it would be okay." Bear's eyes lit up, then said, "Sweet! After we make soap, I'll tell you about it!"
After about two minutes, Murdan came back with the items Ezekiel requested. "Well, I'll leave ya to it. Please let me know when yer finished," said Murdan, as he walked away. Ezekiel's eyes lit up, then he began to get to work. Ezekiel grabbed one of the iron bowls and dumped the seashell dust inside of the iron bowl. Then, he placed the iron bowl inside of the furnace using the tongs. Zoey asked, "Why exactly do we need to heat the dust anyways?" Ezekiel, as if stating the obvious, said, "We need to undergo thermal decomposition in order to get calcium oxide." Zoey looked confused as ever, so Ezekiel, using the tongs, wrote down a formula in the dirt: CaCO3(s)⟶CaO(s)+CO2(g). "This equation I have written is called a chemical equation. On the left side of the arrow, we have what is called the reactant. The reactant is what we start with, and in this case, our reactant is the seashell dust, represented by the CaCO3," explained Ezekiel. He continued explaining, saying, "This symbol right here," as he pointed to the (s) in the equation, "represents the state of the compound we're working with. Since our sea shell dust is in a solid form right now, we put the "(s)" symbol next to it to identify it as a solid compound." Zoey and Bear look visibly confused, but Ezekiel continued. "To the right of this arrow is what we call the product, or what we want to try to make. We want calcium oxide, also known as lime, which is represented by CaO(s)+CO2(g). The "(g)" means that the carbon dioxide, represented by CO2, given off by this reaction due to being heated, will evaporate as a gas compound, leaving us with lime in its solid form, which is what we want," explained Ezekiel. He turned towards Zoey and Bear, asking, "Do you understand all of this so far?" By this point, Zoey and Bear were extremely confused due to them attempting to wrap their heads around what was going on. Ezekiel sighed, then said, "We heat up the seashell dust to magically transform it into lime, which is what we need to make soap." Zoey and Bear simultaneously said, "I got it!" Ezekiel sighed, and Zoey and Bear smiled nervously. Ezekiel chuckled, then said, "It's okay, that's why a big brain like me is here!" Bear then asked, in a passive-aggressive manner, "You're saying we're small-brained?" Ezekiel smugly smiled, then sarcastically said, "I never said that now did I, big brother?" Bear then put Ezekiel in a chokehold, saying, "You know, you shouldn't mess with your big brother like that, little bro." Ezekiel tapped out, and Bear released him. Ezekiel and Bear then laughed with each other. I'll never understand the things these stupid men do, thought Zoey, as she realized just how stupid men can actually be.
Ezekiel grabbed the water bucket and another iron bowl, filled the iron bowl with water, then set the water bucket and iron bowl with water off on a wooden table to the side. After about three minutes, Ezekiel could see that the bowl was now glowing a bright cherry red, which meant that the bowl was heated to the proper temperature in order for the reaction to occur. He waited for about a minute in order to let the carbon dioxide completely evaporate from the seashell dust, then pulled out the glowing red bowl from the furnace. He then brought the glowing red bowl over to the iron bowl filled with water and poured the newly formed lime into the iron bowl with water. Steam was given off during this, but not as much as Ezekiel had expected. Using the tongs, since he forgot to ask for something to mix the lime water with, he stirred the lime water for a bit. Bear looked over Ezekiel's shoulder, curious to see what Ezekiel was doing. Ezekiel, noticing Bear looking over his shoulder, explained, "I added the newly formed lime to the water and am mixing it so we can create a solution of calcium hydroxide." Bear looked confused after hearing this. Ezekiel then said, "I'm making the lime wet now by stirring it." Bear said, "Got it," then walked off to tell Zoey what was occurring. Honestly, I think I'll stop asking my little bro questions and just let him do his thing. He keeps using big ass words, and I truly have no idea what the hell is going on, thought Bear. Zoey seemed to be thinking on the same wavelength as Bear, as Bear and Zoey decided to stop pestering Ezekiel with any more questions. Ezekiel, after stirring for a bit, decided to go ahead and put the ashes of the sea kelp into the bowl with wet lime and continued stirring. Bear and Zoey did not say anything, but simply watched in silence. They're probably tired of me explaining things in terms of high-level science. God, why am I such a nerd, thought Ezekiel, who felt depressed at the fact that he had no one to talk about real science with. After stirring for a bit longer, Ezekiel smiled proudly, showing Bear and Zoey what he made, stating, "We now have one main ingredient to make the soap: a pure sodium hydroxide solution, also known as lye. Onto the next step!"
Ezekiel grabbed another iron bowl and poured in a decent amount of olive oil. Looking around, he realized that another furnace was not being used, and it seemed like it had a much lower temperature than the current furnace they were using. If this oil gets to over 180 degrees, there might be a negative reaction if I mix the lye and olive oil together, thought Ezekiel, while moving over to the other furnace. That shouldn't be too big of an issue though. As long as I can let the oil cool down enough to use it, we should be okay, thought Ezekiel. Since the furnace was at a rather low temperature, he used the tongs to put the iron bowl containing the olive oil into the furnace. Looking around quickly, he found a wooden spoon to determine the temperature of the oil. After waiting for about 3 minutes, Ezekiel pulled the iron bowl out of the furnace with the tongs and quickly checked the temperature of the olive oil by putting the wooden spoon inside of the olive oil. If a lot of bubbles form around the spoon, then we should be good to let it cool down a bit, thought Ezekiel, remembering the trick his mother had taught him when frying food with oil. To his surprise, bubbles started forming around the spoon. Sighing in relief, Ezekiel walked back to the first furnace, then set the iron bowl with oil on top of the table next to the bowl containing wet lime. After waiting for about two minutes, Ezekiel poured the oil into the wet lime solution and began stirring with the wooden spoon he used to test the oil's temperature. After what felt like a while, Ezekiel finally had the consistency he was looking for: a glossy appearance that looked like it might feel waxy if Ezekiel were to touch it. Ezekiel then set the bowl down, grabbed the iron pan, and poured the newly formed "soap batter," as a curious Bear named it, into the iron pan. Ezekiel breathed a sigh of relief, stating to Zoey and Bear, "Now, we wait!"
Ezekiel, Zoey, and Bear thanked Murdan for letting him use the furnaces, and they all headed back to The Crimson Tankard Inn. Ezekiel dropped the soap batter off in his room so it could dry and harden, and realizing that it was already around dinnertime, the three of them headed downstairs to get something to eat. However, life at The Crimson Tankard Inn was never so simple. It would seem that a lot of customers were pissed off due to the Lad Steaks not being cooked right, so Whiskey, seeing Ezekiel come downstairs, forced him to make the Lad Steaks the correct way. "I haven't forgotten about telling you about my relation to Murdan, so I'll stick around," said Bear, assuring Ezekiel that he'd be able to talk to Bear after work. Zoey had Ezekiel prepare her a Lad Steak, which was on the house by the approval of Whiskey. Soon, the customers were satisfied with their properly cooked Lad Steaks, and the dinner rush was finally over. Ezekiel began cleaning up the kitchen a bit before leaving and noticed that Whiskey seemed ready to throw away some meat that still looked fairly usable. I forgot about the ice chest idea, didn't I, thought Ezekiel. Before Whiskey could throw away the meat, Ezekiel quickly stopped him, exclaiming, "I know of a way we can prolong the life of the meat before it goes bad!" Whiskey, interested in hearing what Ezekiel had to say, as well as jumping on a possible opportunity to save money, asked, "How so?" Ezekiel simply replied, "I need an empty barrel, as well as go grab a couple of people to do something here for me really quickly." Whiskey, a bit confused, simply nodded and walked away to find an empty barrel. Ezekiel hurried over to Bear, who was sleeping quietly all alone at a table. Ezekiel woke up Bear, and asked, "Can you do simple carpenter work?" Bear, still groggy from his nap, told Ezekiel, "Yeah, I did make my axe handle after all. Why?" Ezekiel explained that he wanted an empty barrel to be cut to where the barrel can open and close just like a treasure chest could. Bear thought about that for a moment, then agreed to do it. "Why do you want me to do this," asked Bear. Ezekiel replied, "It's a surprise." Bear took that as his answer then told Ezekiel, "I have to go grab a saw if I'm cutting wood. I'll be back." With that, Bear left The Crimson Tankard Inn.
Ezekiel left The Crimson Tankard Inn right after Bear, and he knew the person to go to who could use water magic. Ezekiel walked into the magic shop, and sitting behind the desk in the back was Margaret, who smiled at him. "Welcome back, young man," said Margaret, in a cheerful voice. Ezekiel asked, "Is Aqua around? I need her assistance in something." Margaret nodded, then said out loud, "Aqua? Someone is here to speak with you!" Aqua then appeared from behind the shelves lined with magic books and blushed intensely after realizing who it was that wanted to see her. "Don't be shy now, Aqua," said Margaret. Aqua, while attempting to hide her face from Ezekiel as best as possible, slowly made her way over to him. She was so focused on hiding her face that she accidentally ran into Ezekiel, who stumbled back just a tad bit. Ezekiel laughed, then asked Aqua, "Can you do me a favor really quick? I promise it won't take long!" Aqua blushed even brighter, then timidly asked, "W-What favor d-do you ask of me?" Ezekiel grabbed her hand, which made Aqua yelp in surprise, and said, "Just come with me!" Margaret smirked, then said, "You better not do anything naughty with my Aqua! Okay, young man?" Aqua blushed even more, staying silent, then Ezekiel, not really paying attention to Margaret's comment, said, "I just need to borrow her for a short time so I can test out an idea I had. Her magic is going to be extremely helpful!" Aqua, still blushing, looked down at the floor, then quietly said, "I-I don't know if I-I'll actually be helpful..." "Sure you will since I know that you can do it much better than I could. I believe in you and your magic," said Ezekiel, with a warm smile. Aqua looked up at Ezekiel and felt a strange warm sensation growing from inside her, and she felt her heart pounding faster and faster. Without hesitation, Aqua, on instinct, said quietly, "T-Thank you." Ezekiel smiled, then said, "Let's go!"
Ezekiel and Aqua soon returned to The Crimson Tankard Inn. Bear noticed the pair of them walking in, asking, "Little bro, who's the little lady you brought with you?" Ezekiel replied, "A friend who's gonna help me with my idea." Bear gave Ezekiel a sly, suspicious look. "Just a friend, aye, little bro? Are you sure she's not your girlfriend?" Aqua immediately blushed and turned away from the both of them, silently muttering to herself, "G-G-G-Girlfriend?" Ezekiel said, "No, Bear, she's not." Bear took a more careful look at Aqua. She's a bit, uh, "underdeveloped" in certain areas, and her face looks more like a child's, thought Bear. Bear then said, "I didn't peg you as the kind of guy who went after younger girls." Ezekiel, flustered by the comment, said, "What the hell do you mean by that, you idiot?" Bear smugly replied, "Nothing at all whatsoever," then chuckled in a mischievous manner, then quickly said, "Lolicon!" Bear started laughing at his own remark, and Ezekiel finally realized what Bear meant. Before Ezekiel could flip shit on Bear, Aqua turned towards Bear and angrily said, "I'm not a little girl! I'm 19 as a matter of fact!" Realizing her outburst, she quickly apologized to Bear, saying, "I-I'm sorry! I-I-I didn't mean to d-disrespect the older brother of Ezekiel!" She was like a whole different person just now, thought Ezekiel. Aqua glanced nervously at Ezekiel. I-I hope Ezekiel doesn't think I'm w-weird because of this, thought Aqua, feeling worried that Ezekiel may go as far as to hate her. Bear just laughed it off, saying, "Don't worry about it! A friend of my little brother is a friend of mine!" Aqua felt a tad bit better but nervously looked at Ezekiel. Ezekiel said, "Technically, Bear here isn't actually my brother by blood. In fact, that's really just something he decided on his own," and shot Bear a glance filled with annoyance. Bear, in surprise, said in a way that sounded like a mix of sarcasm and sadness, "What are you talking about, little bro? Even if we aren't related by blood, do you hate being my little bro that much?" Ezekiel scratched his head and said, "Well, I never said that I hated it..." Bear exclaimed, "Good! But yes, what my little bro said is right, we're not actually brothers." Bear then put on a serious face, saying, "I also wanna apologize for the way that I treated you just now. That was inconsiderate of me to do." Aqua looked silently at Bear, then gave him a quiet smile. "Y-You're the first person t-to apologize to m-me with sincerity." Bear leaned back in shock, and unsure of what to say to this, said, "Thank you? I did mean my apology though." Ezekiel, deciding that the situation might've gotten a bit awkward, asked Aqua, "Do you want anything to eat? It's on the house and I can make it really fast for you." Aqua turned to Ezekiel with a smile, then said, "T-T-The Lad Steak, m-made by you, please!" Ezekiel then left to go make the Lad Steaks, and Aqua sighed in relief since it appears that Ezekiel didn't hate her after that ordeal.
Ezekiel then came back with the steaks freshly made. One for Aqua and one for Bear, since he had a feeling Bear would've asked for one. "You know me so well, little bro," said Bear, digging into his steak happily. Ezekiel sighed, then asked, "Did you do what I asked you to do about the barrel?" Bear pointed at the barrel next to him, which Ezekiel didn't even notice in the first place. Ezekiel inspected the barrel, and the side could now open just like a treasure chest. He set the barrel down on its side, and the lid could now be open and closed from the top. Perfect, thought Ezekiel. Ezekiel grabbed the barrel and put it back inside the kitchen. Aqua was munching her steak quietly, observing Ezekiel and what he was doing. Suddenly, Ezekiel came out of the kitchen, turned to her, and walked directly to her. This surprised Aqua and made her almost choke on the piece of steak she was chewing. Ezekiel, after reaching Aqua, asked, "You're a water magic user right? Can you make ice?" Aqua, in a shy manner, replied, "Y-Yes, I can." Ezekiel then asked, "Would you mind making small cubes of ice and putting them into this barrel?" Aqua replied, "S-Sure." Both Ezekiel and Aqua made their way to the back of the kitchen, and she quickly made a bunch of ice cubes that filled up about half of the ice chest. Ezekiel then asked Aqua, "Can you teach me how to make ice cubes using magic? I'd hate to rely on you every time to make ice cubes for this ice chest." Aqua was a little sad to hear that since she thought it would be the perfect excuse to see him a lot more. However, she understood that it was going to be a hassle for Ezekiel to come to get her every time he needed ice. "O-Okay," said Aqua. She then began to teach Ezekiel the absolute basics of magic, such as imagining what you want to be formed in order to form it with magic. She also taught him basic mana control, which allowed him to make a lot of ice cubes without exerting too much mana into a single ice cube. Soon, Ezekiel was able to fill up the rest of the ice chest with not too much problem. Ezekiel, tired from expending a lot of mana, suddenly collapsed right into Aqua, and they both fell. Aqua found herself on the ground, and a tired-looking Ezekiel was right on top of her. Aqua was blushing to the extreme at this moment, and Ezekiel asked, "Are you okay?" Aqua quickly said, "I-I-I'm fine," and quickly got up. Aqua helped Ezekiel stand up, and this only furthered Aqua's blushing. Ezekiel looked proud, saying, "We now have an ice chest to store the rest of the meat and other items in." Ezekiel, after gaining some of his mana back, began storing meats and other items he knew could be "refrigerated" in order to prolong their life. Once done, both Ezekiel and Aqua headed back to where Bear was sitting, who asked, "Well little bro, did you need to do what you needed to do?" Ezekiel smiled, then said, "I did, and it's all thanks to both of you," who then looked at both Aqua and Bear. Aqua blushed even more, looking down at her feet, while Bear simply said, "Anything for you, Ezekiel," while smiling.
Aqua, out of nowhere, suddenly asked, "E-E-Ezekiel, is it okay if I stay here with you for a bit longer?" Ezekiel, who was very oblivious to the situation, said, "Sure, that's fine." Aqua blushed even more and silently smiled to herself. Bear noticed what was going on, and a sly smile appeared on his face. However, Bear said nothing to point it out. Ezekiel, after a little bit, seemed to remember something, then asked, "Bear, will you tell me your story now?" Bear replied, "Certainly!" Then suddenly, a chair was pushed up towards the table, and Zoey sat down at the table to the left of Ezekiel. "I wanna hear this story of yours as well, Bear," said Zoey. "I-I also wanna hear it, B-Bear," said Aqua, very quietly, sitting to the right of Ezekiel. Zoey realized that there was another girl at the table, and she asked, "Who is she?" Ezekiel said, "She's Aqua, a friend of mine who works at Margaret's magic shop and helped me with something today." Aqua timidly said, "N-Nice to meet you, Z-Zoey. I-I hope we c-can be f-f-f-friends!" Ezekiel then said, "Aqua, this is Zoey. She works here at The Crimson Tankard Inn." Zoey then said, "Nice to meet you as well, Aqua, and I think we can become good friends!" Bear laughed, then said, "Well, ladies and gentlemen, I shall start my story now if we're done with all of that! Here we go." With that, Bear began his story.
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