Ezra thought of what would take these kids' minds off the past event and the answer came to him easily.
So he called one of the gang members, who told him that the boss had taken most of the members to do something.
Ezra then told him what to do and that he should be quick with it, before giving him twenty silvers for the job, as he turned his attention to the meek set of beggars who were eyeing him curiously and called…
"James"
"Yes, big brother?"
"Come here" Ezra beckoned him and James did so without hesitation.
"Good, now I know you're curious about why I asked you to call these people right?" Ezra asked.
"Hmm" James merely nodded, paying rapt attention to what his brother would say.
"There are a lot of reasons, but first, I need you to find someone for me. I don't know where exactly he is in the city, only what he does for a living and how he looks" Ezra said, letting James digest it, who then spoke with a thoughtful expression.
"So…you want us to help you search for him?"
"Exactly" Ezra gave a thumbs up.
"I need you and your friends to search the whole city, and don't worry, you shall be paid accordingly" Ezra said.
"Big brother doesn't need to worry about the pay, healing my sister is more than I can ask for" James declared, just for Ezra to hit him lightly on the head.
"Silly boy. What kind of older brother lets his younger sister starve? Also, I haven't done anything to earn their loyalty" Ezra said while pointing towards his friends.
"But-" James wanted to protest, but Ezra cut him off.
"No but's"
"Ok" James nodded weakly before saying…
"Shouldn't we head out as soon as possible to look for him?"
"Wait a little, and besides, I haven't given you details yet"
"Oh right, you haven't" James said, before asking…
"But why do we have to wait?"
"You'll see" Ezra said as a carriage stopped right in front of the door-less bar.
"Would you look at that, it's here" Ezra said as James quickly looked over to see what exactly it was.
Lo and behold, the carriage arrived swiftly and began offloading a snack, one he tasted only once thanks to a lucky encounter.
It was a pheasant fruit cake with enchanted coconut lime!
James was almost frothing when he saw this. It had to be known that just one of these pheasant fruitcakes cost around forty copper each, while the enchanted lime delight cost another ten.
Naturally, Ezra didn't know this. He had only asked that the gang member buy a delicacy the kids would love.
James looked over at the other kids, only to see most of them doing the same thing. Those who didn't were looking at the others with weird expressions.
At that moment…
*Grrrllr*
James' stomach protested by growling, which in turn spiked James's hunger.
Yet, as he was about to ask what was going on, he heard his brother's voice.
"Bring it in and drop it over here"
James: (+_+)
Other kids: (+_+)
All the kids turned their gazes to Ezra at this moment.
The boy in question feigned ignorance and directed them to put the food packs by the wall.
They were counting the number of packs inwardly as it was offloaded, and it was a whopping thirty!
…!
The kids were about to go crazy, but they remembered the devil in disguise near them and quickly controlled themselves. Well, they tried, because the froth never stopped coming out of their mouths.
After five minutes of offloading, which seemed like three days to the kids, Ezra went to the first wooden crate and opened it expertly, letting out an aroma that blew the minds of the kids.
But he then started to move things slowly for another minute, until…
"Oh, come on! Just open the damn thing already!"
One of the kids couldn't take it anymore and shouted, but quickly covered his mouth when he realized who he was talking to.
Even James was on the verge of crying from all this teasing.
Ezra didn't feel offended at all, he was rather happy that his plan was working perfectly.
'Good thing kids are easy to deal with' he thought as he took out the light-gray colored fruit cake, before taking one of the wooden bowls the restaurant had given them and adding a whitish-yellow liquid that was very thick.
It was the pheasant fruitcake and the coconut lime, before beckoning James, who ran like a boy being chased and expertly snatched it out of Ezra's hands.
Ezra could only be flabbergasted at the sight of the boy taking away the cake with such expertise. He had his horizons broadened once again.
'Never push people to their limits or they will do impossible things' Ezra thought, making a mental note of today's lesson.
James didn't know any of this, and neither would he have cared, as he dipped his hand into the fruitcake and used it to rub the coconut lime, before throwing it into his mouth.
Ezra looked at the others who were watching in extreme envy, while some were greedy for it.
He waited for a good thirty seconds for the others to burn this scene in their minds before speaking out.
"Two people"
"W-What?" the others couldn't understand.
"Pair with a partner and come to take a plate" Ezra had served another ten on the table.
The children quickly looked for partners but didn't immediately come forward.
'They're being cautious even in this situation' Ezra observed as he nodded.
They were still afraid of him, and so, each one was looking at the others and waiting for someone to take the lead.
But how could Ezra let them do as they pleased?
"Only the first ten pairs will get to eat"
Immediately after he said that, all the children dropped all pretenses and ran forward, and though the distance wasn't actually long, a lot of accidents happened midway as they pulled each other back, trying to get to the arranged plates.
Ezra who saw this, amplified his index finger and rapidly drew a line, before saying…
"The first ten who pass this line will get to eat"
Which immediately intensified the competition before adding…
"Oh, and only one member of the a team has to pass for the other to get a meal"
The battlefield once again changed as children who were meant to be slow and dim-witted rapidly understood the meaning of those words and acted upon it.
*Slap*
"Ouch" James shouted when he realized he was caught.
He had eaten one but it wasn't anywhere near enough. So he thought…
'It's just one more, big brother wouldn't get angry over it right'
As he stretched his hand to grab a plate, it was immediately slapped away by something he only saw as a blur, but the pain was very real.
He looked to see Ezra, who was watching the progress of the battlefield, as the children used whatever they could to slow down their competitors.
Ezra then said…
"Watch carefully, and you might learn something" he said, without turning his head, but James knew he was the one being addressed.
And as his brother said, James pushed the hunger away as he looked at the children who weren't able to get to the finish line because they were dragging each other down.
Nevertheless, they kept progressing as blood, screams, curses and cries resounded, with none of them staying down.
As James looked at this scene, wondering what exactly his big brother meant, it hit him like a hammer strike, and he suddenly found himself losing his appetite.
As he looked at the chaotic scene in front of him, he thought…
'I'm the same as them but the only reason why I'm not fighting is because…I was lucky enough to meet big brother. If I hadn't…let's not think about it'
As he realized this, he completely forgot about the food as he watched the others fighting with rapt attention.
A few minutes passed, with all of them employing different ways to fight while holding their partners at the side.
It turned from a solo battle to a duo battle, with all the pairs at a standstill watching each other, waiting for another to react, when…
"Ahh!"
A cute scream rang as a short girl flew over with breakneck speed, straight above the heads of the kids closest to the finish lines. Flying past the finish line, as all others watched, the girl braced herself for impact when…
"Ehh?" she suddenly found herself unmoving, before slowly opening her eyes to see the figure of the boy who had bought the food.
Thinking she had made a mistake, she immediately began to apologize with tears threatening to leak out of her eyes, but Ezra put his hand on her mouth and asked…
"Why are you apologizing?" he said, which calmed her down enough for Ezra to release his hand.
"Hmm, w-well I was about to fall and pour all the food away with what I did, so I thought I would be punished" she said while looking at the floor.
"What? Of course not. I asked you to cross the line and you did so. Call your partner and stand behind James" Ezra said, lightly patting her head.
She beamed a smile at Ezra, before happily moving away. Her partner, who was a tall boy, quickly came out too.
The rest, who heard what Ezra said, quickly acted upon it by throwing their teammates.
Unfortunately, the ones at the front weren't going to allow it to happen twice, as they caught every single one of them, before throwing them at others to slow down their pace.
Seven minutes passed before all ten teams were chosen.
The tenth being the most brutal of all.
As soon as the numbers were complete, Ezra clapped twice to get the attention of the kids who were still fighting.
"That's enough" Ezra said as they stood straight, cleaning the blood from their bodies, while others were crying over a fracture or something along those lines, before Ezra said…
"Line up in pairs and come to take a plate"
Everyone with the bar was dumbfounded, especially the five pairs, or ten members, who had won.
They wanted to protest and shout at the unfairness, but they chose to stay quiet so as not to anger Ezra, while tears threatened to spill from their eyes.
The bystanders, who were naturally the few remaining gang members, and even James couldn't fathom what Ezra was planning.
Nevertheless, the children quickly complied, as Ezra had the gang members give the ones with serious injuries a healing potion.
The children lined up numbered twenty-four, meaning twelve plates were given to them as they ate hungrily.
After this, Ezra then turned to look at the five winning teams.