Chapter 22

The streets of Serephis bustled with usual activity as Oboro made his way down the streets and towards Countince Road where his job as a carpenter would be on. He made his way past Cornick and Westward road before he hung a left, leading him to Countince's Carpentry and Craftsmanship. He opened the door and headed towards the counter where he wrote his name on the dusty notepad indicating he was there for the day, then he grabbed an apron from the rack beside a series of doors, from left to right they read different professions. Woodwork, Blacksmith, Furniture, he looked at them all, but ended up turning the handle to the Woodwork door and stepped in.

He found himself instantly greeted by the sound of a band saw roaring loudly, as a young man with fiery yellow hair turned towards him, pressing the button to turn the machine off.

Ever since the industrial revolution of the late 1590's, more ample technology was created and opened to them through the council's decisions.

"What do we have today, Paul?"

Oboro asked, leaning on the wooden work bench beside the door, looking at Paul with his usual placid expression.

Paul looked at Oboro before grabbing the meter protection mask over his head and lifting it before putting it on the table near the saw.

"Well, we only have to manufacture a few things today, then we'll be out a few hours earlier than yesterday."

He said coughing from the sawdust that previously accumulated in the room. Oboro nodded as he grabbed a protection mask from the rack near the door before lowering it onto his head too.

Aizawa's eyes narrowed, glaring into the small list that Oboro gave us, which instructed us to get a pound of meat, a carton of eggs and two gallons of milk, which was pretty surprising that they were able to attain such items for the 1600's 

The market was bustling with ongoing looking to purchase different items and discussing different topics, going about their everyday business. My eyes scanned across the various markets, looking for anything that Oboro mentioned on his list, but nothing really caught my eyes.

"There's some milk."

Shinso announced, pointing to a booth a little down the street, with a few bottles of milk sitting in a bucket of ice in the shade under the stand. Aizawa, me and Shinso approached the stand while Aizawa fished through his pockets, attempting to find the coins that Oboro gave him for uninhibited purchase.

The vendor looked up at us and rolled his eyes, grumbling something under his breath while tipping his hat politely. 

"What can I get you guys today?"

He asked, his voice was obviously very annoyed and stern, from what I heard Aizawa and Oboro discussing earlier that morning, today was an extra day because the council didn't need an enhanced salary from the commission department, but it was because Serephis Kingdom was a somewhat poor empire and the longer people worked, the more that the people could acquire.

"I'd like to buy that milk, please."

He said, pointing at the various bottles of milk below the stand. The vendor looked back at us and rolled his eyes, before grabbing 3 bottles and putting them on the stand.

"That'll be 15 gold Lumin."

Aizawa looked down at his pockets and shuffled his hands through them, before pulling out the coins and putting them on the desk beside the milk bottles.

"Here you go."

The vendor smiled greedily as he flipped the coins in his hand before putting them inside a bucket underneath the stand, which was stock full of Lumin already.

"That was pretty expensive."

Aizawa groaned as he walked away, looking down at the list to see what's next.

"Alright...a pound of meat."

Just as he said that, the area around us was filled with the aroma of delicious foods, and most importantly, meat.

"Did Oboro specify what meat to get exactly?"

He asked, turning back to look at us with impatient eyes.

"I think it was beef."

Shinso reclaimed, pointing towards a large pound of beef hanging from a rope above another stand. Grease and oils leaked from the heap, causing the area underneath it to be coated in a darker shade than the rest of the table. 

"Well then, let's hope this isn't too expensive."

We all approached the table and looked at the woman who was working there, she pushed her brown hair from over her face and looked at us with a smile.

"What can I get you gentlemen?"

She asked, leaning in forward and putting her elbow on the stand. 

"We'd like that beef, please."

Aizawa remarked, looking up at the pound of beef that lay in the air. The woman simply smiled.

"That will be 10 Lumin."

Aizawa let out a small groan, before fishing into his pockets and pulling out 10 Lumin before putting them on the desk, the woman did the same by putting them in a bucket underneath the stand before pulling the meat down from overhead and giving it to us.

"Here you go."

She handed us the meat, which was pretty heavy for the most part which made me and Shinso have to heave it over our backs and carry it above our heads.

I could feel the grease running down my arms, making my skin shine, and the aroma of uncooked meat didn't make anything better.

"Let's hope that it can fit in Oboro's freezer."

Aizawa remarked as he continued to walk down the street, as we followed him a strange voice called out to me.

"Hey, kid."

I turned towards the voice instantly, and saw an old and lanky man standing at the stand with various things that I didn't see earlier, he smelled of smoke and alcohol.

"Want to buy some things?"