32 Meeting the Merchant King 2

The room was nice and comfortable. There was a long table fitting for little family of four. Painting on the wall was cool. I didn't get it, but I guessed it's expensive because the frame was made of gold. But the most interesting was the dining sets on the table. There was a pair of chopsticks in front of me.

"You are... little Frederick? You have grown up! Where is your grandpa?" C startled seeing a young man in his early 20.

"Grandpa couldn't come. He's 80 now, remember? But, thanks for remembering me," Frederick smiled.

Too long, let's call him Fred.

"Ah... it's been 10 years? You resembled your mother so much, and I'm glad for that. Oh, right! This is my friend, Sally. She's the one who ordering those glass bottles." C introduced me.

"Hello, Miss Sally. I'm Frederick Ernet. Nice to meet you." (Fred)

"Hello, Fred. Nice to meet you too..." I technically older, so I didn't need to be polite.

Haha... un, being old is great.

"Master..." a young lady approached Fred. Maybe she's a secretary or something. She put an exquisite wooden box on table.

Fred opened the box. Inside, there was a glass bottle. The bottle was transparent, with beautiful apple and bee carved on the bottleneck. The size was as big as my arm, enough for 10 or more cups of water.

"Is it to your liking? I wanted to make the Apple and Bee bigger, but I remembered you planning to attach a charm on it." (Fred)

"You worked fast," C complimented.

"It's just a piece of bottle for sample. And, I really like the idea, so I immediately got it made." (Fred)

How humble! I decided, I like this young merchant.

C brought out a porcelain bottle from his magical box. I didn't know when he changed the juices container.

"With a charm makes it in cool state, it can be preserved for two weeks or more." C poured juice inside the porcelain bottle to the new glass bottle. After that, he stuck a paper with complex runes on it.

Oh! The runes had the same pattern as the drawing on the porcelain bottle. The porcelain looked beautiful, I didn't realize. As expected from the charm master.

"Umm... is it ok if we sticking the charm backside? We can draw a name... or logo in the front, with date of production. Like that, people can see and know for how long they could use it. And... it will be nice if you use another color. White paper is nice... but, too bland, don't you think?" I voiced my opinions.

""This is great!"" two voices shouted together.

C looked at me like seeing gold. And in front of him, Fred looked at juices in his cup like a merchant (well, he IS a merchant tho).

Waiters were bringing in our food. I was hungry. Lobster and Mr. Crab distracted me.

"Can we eat now?" I asked, but the two men just ignored me.

They were busy with whatever plan they have.

I started eating by myself. I couldn't care about these two money mongers.

"Oh... this noodle is good," I ate in relish.

Seafood ramen, I guessed there's a Japanese here? Wait, no. She or he could be a Chinese or Korean. And who said western people couldn't learn to cook asian foods? I could make a French toast, I didn't even know where it was.

Yup. Internet is more magical than magic itself. I missed my smartphone, and busses.

I just wiped my sticky fingers on napkin. There's a small crown logo in the corner. Squinting my eyes... I found kanji character being part of the crown.

'King'

Err... so this merchant king stuff is this? I thought merchant king is a person, Fred's grandpa or his father. What a letdown!

Sigh...

I wondered if C calling them king was serious or not.