"Buzz buzz buzz.."
The digital clock rang, and Aaron tapped it lightly to stop the alarm. It was already bright outside as the sun rose, so he opened the windows to breathe in the fresh air for a while.
Aaron groaned as he reluctantly got out of bed early on a Saturday morning. He wanted to continue sleeping for at least half an hour, but it was futile when he read the message from his boss. The head of department, Mr. Brooke, texted him and requested that he go to school to wait for the new furniture to arrive.
"Damn it, if you know no one is going to be free during the weekend, just hold it until next week," complained Aaron. He realized that he needed to go to school as soon as possible since the furniture might arrive at 9 AM.
He had always been forced to go to school on the weekend due to his boss's orders since he was the only unmarried person in the department. Everyone assumed he had nothing better to do with his weekend. Though he was mad, he forced himself to do it as quickly as possible so that he could continue with his original plans for the weekend.
As he packed his magical items, he felt excited to try out the new magical pen that he had recently acquired. He couldn't wait to see what he could do with it.
The Coolay Primary School located in middle of the town, normally it would take him half an hour of driving to reach there under the normal traffic especially in the morning just like right now.
He reached the place a few minutes and waited for 10 minutes until the furniture's lorry arrived. Thankfully he doesn't have to help them unloading the furniture into the classroom or else he would go mad already. The workers were friendly and hardworking which made Aaron impressed by their work ethics, he got less mad now.
An hour later, everything had already been unloaded, so he went to a nearby food stall just outside the school to get something to eat.
"Ohh Aaron, it's been a while, huh? I thought school was starting next week. What brings you here today?" asked Aunty Marina curiously as she stood behind the trays of food, ready to serve him.
"Ouh, something came up, and I had to come to school just for a while. So, can I have the usual food and drink?" Aaron immediately found a secluded place far from others to sit.
"Alright, gotcha." replied Aunty Marina.
While waiting for his meal, Aaron removed the leather backpack from his back and placed it on an extra plastic chair beside him. He checked the backpack to ensure that all of the magical items were still inside, and as he was holding the magical pen, Marina arrived with his food and drink.
"Hey there, Aaron. Here is your spicy chicken fried rice and warm chocolate drink.." said Marina as she placed the items on the table.
"Thank you, aunty. Here's 10 credits, just keep the change," replied Aaron.
Marina gladly took the money and she looked happy as she was leaving Aaron to eat. Suddenly, he heard a voice inside his mind.
"If only we had enough loyal customers like him, we wouldn't have to close this place soon... sigh..." thought Marina.
It was her voice, but she was already leaving and she didn't seem to be opening her mouth.
Aaron then realized that he was still holding the magical pen with his left hand inside the backpack. He guessed that's how the magical pen works.
While having his late breakfast, Aaron was planning where to eat in the morning once this stall closed. He had been eating here almost every working day before the pandemic. Although the food here wasn't the best, it was still decent and good enough for him since the taste of the food and drink had been consistent ever since he started to eat here.
"Damn it.. There are no nearby stalls that could beat this place.. Ughh.." Aaron muttered to himself.
Aaron took out his roll and saw that he had two extra tokens from yesterday. Before he started rolling, he checked the daily quest and found that the quest was the same as yesterday. He was glad that the daily quest was easy to complete before midnight, leaving him free time to play Diablu tonight.
Just like yesterday, he got a common and an uncommon magical item. The common item was the Tranquility Cup, which turned water into an elixir that could ease the mind and increase mental fortitude. While the uncommon item was the First Aid Pendant, which could charm or influence others during negotiations.
….
"Wow, these items are becoming less and less ordinary. I must not let others know about them, especially the system," thought Aaron as he closed his phone and started packing to leave the food stall. He still needed to get takeout for lunch to support Aunty Marina as much as he could.
He decided to not use the pen for awhile so he kept them safely in hidden pocket provided by the backpack. He then left the stall toward his car he parked inside the school area.
When he was almost there, he heard a woman voice called him.
"Mr. Aaron, it's a surprise to see you here at school during the holidays. How did the furniture unloading go earlier? Your head of department informed me about the newly purchased furniture that needed to be stored, so I came here this morning to oversee the process. How did everything turn out?" asked a slightly shorter woman with brown hair, wearing a blush pink flowered blouse and light blue jeans.
The school's headmistress, Laura Williams.
When Aaron caught sight of Laura, the headmistress, he couldn't help but wish to steer clear of her. They were total opposites in every way, and even though she made history by being the first headmistress under 30 in the country, she still had that sweet and passionate attitude towards teaching.
But to his surprise, she walked over to him, and when she was almost standing in front of him, she casually said, "Aaron, I'm sure you know we're just a year apart. I was hoping we could be more casual with each other. Can you do that, please?"
"Heck no, you're my boss! There's no way we can be casual! Why are you doing this T_T" thought Aaron. But he couldn't refuse her because he felt that she was just being honest, and he had a weakness for honesty that he couldn't resist.
"Sigh... Sure, I'll try.." Aaron said reluctantly.
She then offered her left pinky and said, "Pinky promise?"
He gave up and reluctantly offered his right pinky to her with a sigh.
"Since we're already friends, do you mind going with me to the nearby orphanage? There are a few donation items that need to be delivered today," she said, pointing towards some boxes near her black SUV.
Aaron sighed. "Sure, but let me store my lunch first. I'll be there in a sec." He stored his takeaway in his car before helping Laura load the boxes into the SUV.
He was so glad he wore a sports attire earlier, the boxes where not heavy but it there were so many of them and it should be filled with the reused clothes and books.
"Yepp, that's all the boxes. We can go now head.. cough cough Laura.." exclaimed Aaron as he closed the door and started wearing seat belt at the passenger seat.