Ingredients & New Face

Leaving Café Entwine, Max adjusted the Damascus knife in the leather scabbard that was attached to a leather strap around his thin waist. He also adjusted the pouch containing a few tens of Soli, tied using a thin strap of dried vine around his neck and tucked into his brown shirt that did not have buttons, and instead used thread, which was cheaper than buttons.

This was his casual clothing that he wore while exercising and doing chores outside the Café, so as to keep those white clothes in pristine condition, or at least as white and new-looking as possible. His pants were also brown but did not go all the way down to his feet, ending someone between his heel and knee to prevent mud from ruining them. Finally, he had a make-shift hat on that would block the sun of the late morning which could get pretty strong despite the weather being just as cool as before.

Walking through the streets of Tingen, Max felt it just as odd as the first time he walked on the streets with Old Man Uxas to reach Café Entwine. It felt really off walking on these very crudely built stone roads instead of the smooth asphalt he was used to. The pollution was also much worse here. 

Compared to the 21st century where the pollution came in the form of microparticles and radiation that were invisible to the naked eye and only caused harm in the long run through cancer of other terminal diseases, the pollution in this Steam and Machinery Era was much more direct; smoke and soot from chimneys of either steam boilers of firewood from houses to keep warm.

There was also a lot less noise since there were no cars, no mobile phones, no buses or aeroplanes. Only humans walking around while chatting physically with other humans or just contemplating their lives while moving from one place to another, with the occasional horse-drawn carriage which made some noise.

The only place that was actually full of sounds and noise was also the place with the liveliest atmosphere in all of Tingen; the marketplace.

Countless stall owners were waving around and encouraging passers-by to enter their stalls to purchase items, while customers who were already inside were arguing for lower prices or just inspecting the goods.

Max went straight for this place as this was the same marketplace that the old man had brought him just a day ago.

He followed the same route and bought all the harder-to-find and easily sold-out ingredients for the Café, before heading to one of the stalls to ask for something else.

"Do you happen to have the eye of a Blue-tailed Sea Bass?" Max asked the owner of the fish stall.

"No lad. That stuff'll rot before we can bring it here. You ought to go to the docks, there might be someone there who has it."

"Thanks, Uncle" Max said while leaving the stall. Of course, he would not give up asking for this item in this marketplace, not only because he did not trust the seller he had just met, but because he would definitely not know what every other seller had and did not have. Plus, he had many more items to collect for his Bender Potion.

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Sequence 9: Bender

Potion Formula: 100 ml of pure water, 2 drops of 21% Sulfuric Acid, 1 cm root of the Yellow Birch Tree, & 2 eyes of the Blue-Tailed Sea Bass

Recipe preparation method: crush the eyes of the …

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He needed to collect a good amount of materials, and by asking around, he was able to find someone who was selling Sulfuric acid at 50%, as well as someone selling pure distilled water, for a total of 12 Soli. Unfortunately, he would need to explore the docks soon to try and find someone there who was selling the eyes of a Blue-Tailed Sea Bass and the root of the Yellow Birth tree.

But it had already been 20 minutes since he arrived at the marketplace, and if he did not quickly purchase all the other items needed for the Café, the old man would either get worried and search for him, or suspect something… or perhaps both?

Thus, Max returned to the Café without purchasing the ingredients for his portion, and only the stud for the café, and continued this pattern for a few days before finally understanding where the docks were and making his way there in the morning, before purchasing any materials.

The docks were essentially a large area where the two rivers that flowed around Tingen met, resulting in a region of calm waters where boats and small ships would anchor for trading before heading downriver again and into the open ocean.

Here, Max had used his first month's Salary to purchase the root almost the moment he had found it, after haggling down the price to 10 soli of course. Unfortunately, he had not found the Blue-tailed Sea Bass yet, so he quickly rushed back to the marketplace and purchased all the material for the Café there, ignoring the sulphuric acid and water since these two were in large and constant supply.

Making sure none of the dirt from the docks was on his shoes or clothes, Max returned to the Café with confident steps, only to falter upon seeing that there was a strange man inside the Café, despite the shop still being closed. It was supposed to open at least 20 minutes later once the old man had prepared the ingredients for the morning horde.

Immediately becoming alert, Max held his bag of ingredients in his left hand, while holding his Damascus Knife in the other, hiding it behind the brown bag of ingredients from the intruder.

Carefully, he opened the door and glanced at the man in front of him. He was wearing a blue formal suit with a yellow shirt inside and a dark-brown tie. He was also wearing Prussian-blue leather shoes and was holding a silver-tipped black walking cane. Clearly, he was someone rich, and seeing the frown on Old Man Uxas' face while talking to the man, Max became even more on guard.

*Ting*

Both individuals inside turn to face Max, who has just entered. Max was only now notified that the intruder was almost just as old as the old man, but he also had a scar across his nose and into his mouth, greatly disfiguring him, reminding Max of a certain good cop in a very not-good city who was nearly burned alive.

Of course, it was not to that extent, but close enough.

"Old man…" Max looked at Old Man Uxas, before turning to look at the rich, disfigured intruder, then back at the old man, signalling something that only the two of them knew.

However, the disfigured man coughed suddenly seeing this, while the old man just closed his eyes and slapped his forehead. Only then did Max realise that the intruder was holding back his laughter, his disfigured face contorting into something only a mother could love while turning a shade of red he had not even seen in tomatoes.

"So, he's an old friend. From work I assume." Max ignored the dying intruder who was choking on his own saliva and walked to the counter before putting the groceries there. Both Old Man Uxas and the now recovering intruder noticed the Damascus knife that Kai tried to slyly put away, hoping nobody saw it, but he didn't care too much.

The intruder glanced at the old man, who just put on a 'whatever' expression and shrugged, opening the entrance to the back of the Café to allow Max to enter and change his clothes, preparing for the day's customers.

Max entered and got to change in the backroom.

Faintly, he could hear the two old men talking, and slowly the conversation was getting louder and louder. Decided it was safer with him, Max took his Damascus knife with him as he left the backrooms in his work clothes, and he could finally hear the conversation going on in the still-closed Café Entwine.

"…just once Uxas. All we have to do is a normal stakeout, just like the old days! Nothing but observing and reporting from a distance."

"I have said this once, and I will say it a million more times. I am retired. I will not be going back, especially not now that I have someone to care for again…" his words trailed off as he noticed Max entering, all prepared for his day of work.

Max decided to use his innocent appearance of a child somewhere between 10 and 15 depending on who you were asking, to talk to the intruder, who had not taken off his top hat, revealing a shiny bowling ball. He didn't even have eyebrows…

"Hey Old Baldy, are you a Beyonder? Or do you have some Beyonder items with you? Do you work for MI9 or one of the Churches? Or just for the kingdom? Oh, are you perhaps a detective working to solve a mystery?"

"Kpfttt-" This time, it was the old man who was dying to hold back his laughter.