The town came into view, dirt roads, small houses, a few small production areas, and beyond the town were large rice fields. Different vegetable gardens littered the areas around houses. It wasn't the smallest of places.
It had basic facilities, a smelter, workshops, as close to a cafe as to you can get in an area like this.
As soon as they reached outskirts of town, they were attacked.
And by that, Chrollo meant, attacked by children. They came in a stampede, clustering a round them like bees to honey.
They swarmed Azuma.
"Azu, Azu! My brother was mean to me!"
"No Chisaki was the one who started it! I wasn't being mean!"
"Azu!!! What'd you bring, what'd you bring!?"
"Can you please play with us!"
Such cries were heard. Chrollo was rather relieved that they didn't seem to pay him much mind.
.
.
.
But if course, no good things can last, and just as he thought that, the children changed their focus. To him.
"Mister! Who are you!?"
"Are you Azu's husband!?"
"Play with us to!"
Suddenly he was surrounded by children bombarding him with questions.
One innocent wide eyed girl asked... "Are you the person Azu has finnaly decided to sex with?"
Chrollo nearly choked. This girl...did she even know what that meant?! Chrollo looked over to see Azuma cherry red. "All of you! Quiet! He's just a traveler that is under my care right now!" She shouted.
The kids quieted down. Azuma's face also cooled down. Azuma continued walking, Chrollo followed, along with all the children. Eventually the pair passed the town outskirts, and started to walk into the center town. The houses weren't exactly large, but they were more than shacks.
Probably about two or three rooms each, with the fanciest having an upper level, or in rare cases, two. Almost none had glass. There were shop stands set up in the town center. Vendors calling out, attracting attention from passing travelers.
Chrollo paused, from what he knew, most Taki villages were usually smaller than this. Azuma noticed his slight confusion. "I guess you noticed, this town is larger than most. It's in region with good fertile soil, not to mention, my medicine, so it became so town instead of a village." Azuma explained. As if she anticipated Chrollo's next question, she continued. "However it's in a bad geographical location, so its not as large as it would be."
Chrollo nodded in understanding. Even if a place has plentiful natural resources, if they're not very special resources, and the place isn't in a good geographical location, for example, being insulated, or far away from major towns, the place won't experience exponential growth.
After all, Geography is Everything.
"I see." Chrollo finally answered. They continued into the market. By now most if the children had run off, to play, or do whatever normal children do. Chrollo felt just a little longing, he wondered how it might be to live normally, free of pressure and responsibilities...
He shook his head. He shouldn't think about that. His responsibility as the head always comes first, above all else. An old woman came over. She was waving at Azuma. "Azuma! Nice to see you again!" The old lady boomed, with an unexpectedly loud voice for such a small stature.
"Ah, Halchi! Good morning, we're here for market as usual." Azuma answered with a smile, returning the greeting. It seems Azuma comes down for market all the time. Chrollo decided to stay quiet, he should simply observe.
"We?" Halchi, the old woman questioned. She looked over, her eyes widened. "Oh my! Have you finally found a husband!" Halchi exclaimed.
Azuma,a shook her head, unfazed. "No still no husband. He's simply a traveler who I found with injuries, I'm letting him stay with me until he recovers." She clarified.
"Oh." The woman sighed. "Okay then. Anyway! You wouldn't believe what's in market today!" The granny quickly changed subject. Igniting Chrollo's curiosity.
"Hmm? What is it?" Azuma inquired.
"The Kantum traveling group! And along with them, their sweets!" Halchi announced. In a voice of joy mixed with amazement.
Chrollo had no idea who this group was. They sounded like a group of traveling merchants. He glanced at Azuma to gauge her reaction. To his surprise... She was practically glowing with...happiness? He was shocked to say the least. What could this group possibly have that made her so happy?
"Thank you for telling me Halchi." Azuma regained her composure, but Chrollo could still see excitement in her face.
"No no, don't thank me. I mean, we all know how much you love those." Halchi replied. Chrollo frowned, seriously, what is this thing?
Azuma blushed a little. "Yeah...I guess everyone really does know..." She looked bashful. This really caught Chrollo's attention. He honestly hadn't seen Azuma show this much emotion before.
Perhaps they were talking about a lover? The more Chrollo thought about it the more it seemed likely. It must be that Azuma has a lover in this traveling group. Or something along those lines. No, the townspeople had said she didn't have a husband, or lover. He thought again. If not full on lovers, than she must've just had an affair, perhaps a one night stand. Yes he decided. That must be it. He couldn't find any other explanation for her behavior.
While he was contemplating this mysterious 'thing' Azuma and the old woman had finished their talk, and before he knew it, he was being pulled along by an enthusiastic Azuma. "C'mon Chrollo! We have places to go." She shouted.
"Right..." Chrollo responded, rather enthusiastically.
Chrollo was dragged around to the other side of the market. There was a crowns of people swarming around three caravans, all talking excitedly. Chrollo was curious about what what happening. He looked over and saw Azuma bristling with excitement. Seriously strange...
The closer they got the more Chrollo smelled it.....sweets? The fragrance of sweet bean curd, berry pies, maple syrup, and honeyed goods wafted through the air. Blending into a mouth watering breeze.
They finally reached the front. On the sides of the caravans wooden tables had been set up. They were little more than a slab of wood on two opposite logs, but they served their purpose.
The side caravans, on the left and right offered items not found in this region. On the left, well carved bowls, with minimal designs, even a few delicate painted china items. It also had few metal items to offer. This was obviously the section for people with just a bit of money lining their pockets.
On the right there were more practical items. Raw materials. It was by far the largest display. Raw ores, minerals, and other such ground mined displays. Iron, copper, coal. Things like that. It also had uncooked bags of grain or agricultural products that weren't grown in this area. Besides that there were various woods and logs lined up for sale. It was all material that was needed, but not produced or collected in the area.
But neither of those were the main attraction. In the middle was a large table, laden with sweets or all kinds, savory, salty, sweet, thick, thin, small large, cooked, raw.
Savory sweet bean buns, sweet tender honeyed pork, crumbly maple sugar candies, sugar topped rolls, sticky strawberry mochi, pies of all kinds.
The pies were especially appetizing. Being seemingly fresh baked they gave off a heavenly sweet smell of all kinds of cooked berries and fruits. They had pies of every kind. Wild berry, strawberry, wild current, cherry, apple... They even had walnut-maple pies. And to be expected, there were juicy meat pies made of deer, wild turkey, and pheasant.
Even Chrollo, who was almost never tempted by anything, felt his stomach growl. He hadn't eaten since dinner last night, and those sweets really did look appetizing, juicy and delicious...
His thoughts were abruptly cut off by Azuma's stomach letting out a loud growl. He looked up at her face. Her eyes were glimmering, and drool was pooling at the corner of her mouth, she licked her lips. She seemed positively infatuated with the goods.
No....surely a woman like her wou- "Sweets, sweets, sweets, my love, oh~ how I missed you~!" Chrollo's doubts were swept away at that whisper. No room for doubt, Azuma, the one who Chrollo had this far viewed as a completely calm, collected, and seemingly flawless woman, loved sweets.
Chrollo wasn't sure why it brought him such great surprise, amusement. It's not uncommon for a woman, or rather, anyone to adore sweets. It's a common, normal trait. There certainly wasn't anything funny, or amusing about Azuma liking sweets.
There's definitely no logical reason for Chrollo to be fighting off an honest chuckle. Not a fake laugh, designed to fool others, but a real one, and expression of emotion. Emotion, amusement, sincerity, joy, normal emotions, foreign emotions.
"Chrollo~!" Azuma sung. Chrollo was snapped back at this. He rose questioning eyes. "Take these." She took a wooden jar labeled 'fever' from her basket. "Now with this, go buy four good baskets." It wasn't a request, it was an order.
Although he wasn't sure why Azuma needed four baskets, Chrollo nodded. He had a feeling something really bad would happen is he refused.
-
Chrollo came back with four baskets. Still puzzled to their use. Azuma immediately grabbed them, and turned towards one of the men selling the tantalizing deserts.
"Robert, Six pies for a bottle of red fever medicine." Chrollo watched as Azuma started bargaining with one of the men.
"Six! You must be crazy! With a crew our size a bottle of that'll only last a few weeks! The next place with it it two regions away! You must give at least four bottles!" The man, Robert, exclaimed.
Something Chrollo never understood was why the Taki Region (country) separated itself into regions. So you have the Taki Region (Country) ruled by an emperor. But you also have a bunch of Taki Regions (States) governed by a lord that reports to the emperor. To make it even more unnecessarily confusing, each state is named after its current lord, so the name of each state changes every few decades...
Chrollo always though it would be far less confusing if they just named it the Taki Country, named their regions Taki States, and finally, didn't change each state's name every time they got got a new lord!
While Chrollo contemplated the intricacies of life, Azuma had acquired six pies, a basket full of small deserts, jars of refined honey, tender juicy honeyed meats, and maple syrup. This took up an entire two baskets...
Azuma, was definitely obsessed with sweets.
Like really.
Chrollo had never seen anyone, even Shalnark, who loved his deserts get so excited over them.
"Okay that's enough for now!" Azuma announced. She grabbed Chrollo's arm, and pulled him away. Chrollo could've sworn he heard her whisper 'wish we could've got more though...' But no. That would be impossible. Surely this was enough for her.....she couldn't possibly want more.....right?
They spent the rest of the afternoon buying wood, and ingredients for cooking. Beans, rice, soy, vegetables, herbs, spices. All they needed do make good food. They also went to the smith to repair the knife. Which, once again prompted another argument over who broke the knife.
That night Chrollo went to sleep worn out and tired. Yet somehow.... he didn't feel so exhausted, despite how tired he was, his mind felt refreshed, happy even.
It was...strange. He couldn't remember the last time he ended the day without feeling that familiar sense of weariness. That ever-present responsibility, that feeling weighing on your heart and mind.
He didn't understand why he felt so content.
Neither did he think about it for more than a minute, for you see, he was already deep asleep.
***
Did ya like the chapter? I'm not sure if I did those last paragraphs very well. It's like... You know when you just go to sleep happy? Feeling like your worth a shit, and that everything is fine? Chrollo felt like that. I dunno how to express it well, sorry.
I was kinda hungry when I wrote this...ahahaha....
Anyone get the Geography is Everything reference?