Porter set Colby down. The moment his shoes touched the ground, his knees buckled, and he wobbled like he had forgotten how feet were supposed to work.

  “Thanks, Port,” he said, voice soft as he tried to steady himself.

  “It’s no biggie,” Porter said, holding Colby’s shoulder until he stopped swaying. Though he still felt very, very sick.

  Porter held the door open, and together they entered the shop.

  Ms. M was still here. Thank Gouda.

  She sat on the stool that Colby had pulled out for her before. Next to her was his father, Jack, having a lovely conversation as he held a plate of mini cubes of cheese with toothpicks sticking out of them.

  Samples, as his father would tell the customers.

  A nice way of apologising, he'd tell his family behind the customers' backs.

  Great, he wasn’t about to get quintuple-killed by his family. He was, however, about to fall down.

  “Colby!” his father shouted, rushing to the door, catching him before he could topple over. “What happened?”

  “I got supply runned,” Colby mumbled, words slurring together.

  “Sorry, Mr. Tyro. I think I ran too fast when I was carrying him.”

  “Porter? What happened? What happened to your clothes? Is everything okay? Why were you carrying, Colby?”

  “He said he needed to get back to the shop quick, so I offered to carry him. I think he got a bit motion sick because of it. Sorry. And my clothes? It’s just part and parcel of being a Supply Runner, no biggie.”

  Colby snorted. “Parcel.”

  “Thank you for that, Porter. And you’re sure, nothing else happened?

  “No problem. Well, Colby was being chased, but I think it was mostly the running that did this to him.”

  “He was what?” Jack shouted.

  All of a sudden, the door behind the counter slammed open.

  “Broby!” a high-pitched voice yelled. It was his little sister, Brie.

  She ran toward him, holding something in her hands. When she stopped in front of him, she held it out with a proud little grin. Resting in her palms was a ball of mozzarella shaped like a heart.

  “I'm sowwy for jumping out the window. Do you forgive me?”

  Still dizzy, Colby reached out and accepted Brie’s gift.

  “Of course, Brie,” he said,reaching out to pat her head, only to miss by a few inches before correcting himself and finding her hair. “And thank you for the gift.”

  “Yay!” Brie shouted in glee, rushing up to hug her big brother. “Now nom nom it!”

  Colby tore a piece of the heart-shaped mozzarella and stuffed it in his mouth. A burst of delicious cheese bombarded his taste buds, wrestling his tongue into succulent submission.

  “It’s really good,” he said.

  “Yay!” Brie shouted again, hugging him even tighter.

  Colby tore out another piece and offered one to his father and another one to Porter. They both accepted, plopping the cheese into their mouths.

  A smile lit up on his father’s face as he bent down and picked up Brie.

  “That’s so yummy, my little cheese puff. You’re a natural.”

  “Yay!” she shouted in glee, throwing her hands up.

  “Or she just has a really good teacher,” a voice came from behind the counter. It was his mom, Pepper, walking out from the door that led to their living quarters. A huge, beaming smile was on her face when she noticed how happy Brie was and how her husband lifted her high into the air. It immediately turned downward when her gaze landed on Colby, and she saw how green he looked.

  “Colby!” she shouted, vaulting over the counter and sprinting over to him. She placed a hand on his cheek, looking him up and down. “What happened to you?”

  Turning to Porter, she asked. “And what happened to you, Porter? What happened to Colby?”

  “Apparently, he was being chased, and Porter came to save him,” his father said, still spinning Brie around in the air. His little sister was completely oblivious to the distress their family was going through.

  “He was what?” she screamed.

  “Oh, relax,” Ms. M suddenly said, standing up from her stool. An Inventory opened right in front of her, and she pulled out a piece of candy wrapped in green foil. Just the sight of it made Colby want to add his own little splash of green to the floor.

  “He’s just a little motion sick. Here, have a sweet.”

  Colby grabbed it from her, muttering a soft, “Thank you.”

  His fingers struggled to undo the wrapper, fumbling about. Fed up, his mom snatched it out of his hands, undoing it for him. Inside was a sticky brown piece of candy that glistened under the soft crystal light. It didn’t really smell like candy. Hints of something earthy, woody, with a little bit of spice emanated from it.

  Before he could continue his evaluation of the mystery sweet, his mom popped it into his mouth.

  For a candy, it was surprisingly spicy. It tasted almost like… ginger? Yet there were some notes of mozzarella mixed in. It was a surprisingly delicious combination. He couldn’t stop chewing as the flavors melted together, a strange harmony of sweet, chewy, spicy, and cheese.

  Flavored cheese—essentially cheese with stuff in it—was his mother’s specialty, and as far as he was aware, she hadn’t made a cheese that incorporated ginger yet.

  Screw the Skate Goat milk mozzarella, he was going to experiment by incorporating ginger into his cheese. He was going to outcheese his mother at her own game.

  “How are you feeling, Colby?” his mom asked, totally oblivious of his plot.

  It was either the burst of inspiration that cured him, the sweet, or both.

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  “I’m good,” Colby said. Actually, he wasn’t. He wanted to savor even more of the immaculate combination of ginger and cheese.

  “Thank you, Ms. M,” he continued. “What did you give me?”

  “Oh, just a little recipe I cooked up that helps with motion sickness.”

  “Can you tell me the recipe?” he asked.

  “Colby!” his father and mother both shouted.

  “I’m so sorry,” Pepper said to Ms. M.

  “Oh, it’s okay,” she said, waving her hand. “Youngsters these days are always very eager. I can’t tell you the recipe, but I can say that it’s my take on candied ginger. I’m glad it helped.”

  “What kind of—”

  “Colby!” his mother raised her voice again.

  “Sorry,” he sighed.

  It wasn’t his fault that he really wanted to know what Ms. M put inside her candied ginger. There were so many types of ginger in the world. And he specialized in cheese, not ginger. It’d be near impossible to narrow it down unless…

  If he was planning on making flavored cheese using ginger, technically, ginger was now cheese-related. And he excelled at anything cheese-related.

  Colby felt his mind open up, retrieving the throes of non-cheese-related information that had long been buried in the furthest corner of his psyche.

  Ms. M was an old lady, the textbook definition of an old lady. There was no way she'd be able to venture off to gather rare and elusive types of gingers—those harvested from super-strong monsters or protected by them. But she could buy them. However, they’d be expensive. Even if she were super rich and could afford such exotic ingredients, she wouldn’t be literally handing them out like candy.

  He could narrow down his search to ginger species that were in the vicinity of Brinebrook: Butterfly Ginger and Shell Ginger. The first being one that looked like a butterfly, growing in the nearby forested area. The second resembled a seashell that grew along the coast.

  He’d buy both from Mr. Goodsell first thing tomorrow. Or today, depending on how screwed he was for wasting all of the Skate Goat milk on his own cheese, making Ms. M wait, and then disrespecting her by asking for her recipe—twice!

  Hopefully, he’d be able to salvage this situation.

  Colby walked over to the counter and closed his eyes. Focusing on his Core, he removed the recently made chévre from The Cheesetastic Fridge, and loaded it into Smart Waiter.

  A delicious log of white chevre materialized from his hand. He placed it down on the counter before ducking below, pulling out a clean wrap of transparent sheet, wrapping the log up, and sealing it using one of the aroma-reducing stickers.

  Walking up to Ms. M, Colby offered her the cheese with two hands. “Here you go, Ms. M. Sorry for the wait. That will be—”

  “On the house,” his mom interrupted. “I’m so sorry for my son’s rude behaviour. And for such a delay. Please have the chévre on the house. It’s the least we can do.”

  “Oh, that’s no problem,” Ms. M, already reaching into her Inventory. “I can pay.”

  “Please,” Jack, his father said. He now carried Brie with one arm, the little girl leaning against his shoulder, smiling. “I insist.”

  “Well, if you insist. There’s nothing I can do about it,” she chuckled, pulling her hand out of the screen before it blinked out of existence.

  “I’ll see you again tomorrow.” She waved as she turned and walked out the door.

  The moment Ms. M was out of the shop, his father turned to him.

  “Colby….”

  Why couldn’t his mother be the one doing the scolding? They were both the same height. That way, there’d be no way she could look down on him.

  His father continued, “We can forgive you for using the shop’s ingredients for your own cheese. We can even forgive you for making an important customer like Ms. M wait. But we can’t forgive you for asking for her recipe.”

  “I know, Dad,” he sighed.

  “Do you?” his mother asked.

  Great, now he was being tag-teammed.

  Colby turned to Porter, hoping for some emotional backup, but the boy was busy browsing the shop’s offerings.

  “How would you feel if someone kept pestering you for a recipe that you spent hundreds or even thousands of hours perfecting?”

  “Not that good.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But what if Ms. M didn’t mind handing out her recipe? You won’t know till you ask?”

  “Sure, but you were asking after you made her wait for her order. Not just a regular wait, you were literally about to lock her in the shop if we hadn’t come back in time. She was kind enough to wait, and when you returned, you looked horribly sick. Don’t get me wrong, we’re going to have a talk about what happened to you, but imagine the impression you gave Ms. M. Then, she gave you a piece of candy out of her own volition to help you feel better. Sure, I can understand that it was so good you couldn’t have helped yourself, but then you literally asked again after not being able to take a hint.”

  Colby opened his mouth, but nothing came out. There wasn’t some smart comeback available to him, nor was there even a dumb one. He had goofed up.

  “Sorry, Mom,” he sighed. “Can I at least blame it on the fact that I was being chased?”

  “Who exactly was chasing you?” his father asked.

  “Some adventurers. They were pretty bad adventurers, though, if not, they wouldn’t have been wasting time chasing me. And their weapons were pretty old too, dull swords and rusted daggers.”

  His mother immediately shifted gears, dropping her scowl. She leaned in close and hugged him tight. “Are you hurt?”

  “You mean other than emotionally from your scolding? No.”

  “I’m not scolding you,” she said. “I’m teaching you how to be a better person. If I were scolding you, you’d know in a heartbeat.”

  “Your mother’s right,” Jack said. “If she were scolding you, the whole town would be able to hear it.”

  “Jack!” she said, slapping her husband’s shoulder. “Whose side are you on?”

  “The family’s side,” he said, putting Brie down.

  “Is everything okay, Broby?” she asked, walking up to him.

  “Of course, Brie,” he said, patting her on the head.

  “Is Port Port okay?”

  Colby turned around, looking at Porter, who had gone from browsing the shop’s cheese offerings to sitting on the stool that Ms. M had just vacated. He gripped the front of the round seat, swinging back and forth as he listened to Colby’s family drama.

  “Port, you good?”

  “If you’re good, I’m good,” he said, flashing a bright smile and a thumbs up.

  “I’m so sorry, Porter, I didn’t even ask if you were okay,” Pepper said. “And your shirt. Oh my curds! What happened to you?”

  “Just part and parcel of being a Supply Runner,” he said.

  “No, it’s not,” she said. “You don’t have to risk your life delivering supplies, especially with everything going on in the world. Come work for us. I’m sure Colby wouldn’t mind the company.”

  “Sorry, Mrs. Tyro, that’s a big biggie. Being a Supply Runner is my dream. And this war will pass, if it even comes to it. It’s just another obstacle I have to overcome.”

  “War?” Colby asked, “What war? Wait, is that why you were asking if the supply issues have hit Brinebrook? There’s a war coming?”

  Both of his parents sighed.

  “You have to get out of the house more often,” his mother said. “I know you want to work on your cheese, but it’s good to learn what’s going on in the world.”

  This was embarrassing. There was a war on the horizon, and he was too engrossed with making cheese to even hear the rumors. Why didn’t the customers mention it when he tended to them? Or maybe they did, but he was just too busy thinking about new ways to improve his skill.

  Curds!

  “As long as there’s no conscription in Brinebrook, I’m sure it’s no biggie. Colby can continue to make his cheese. I can even deliver him the news every once in a while.”

  “Oh, Porter. Our little Colby doesn't deserve you.”

  “It’s no biggie,” he said.

  Conscription. That word made Colby shudder. Imagine being forced to take up arms and go to war. If that ever happened to him, he was packing his bags and setting up shop in a cave. That cave would double as a natural aging spot for his cheese. Or maybe he should do it in a cellar? Another great aging spot.

  His internal cheese monologue was cut short as the door to the shop burst open.

  A tall, red-haired lady stepped in. She wore a white sleeveless shirt that exposed her muscular arms. A scabbard hung at her waist, that no doubt housed a sword that was far from dull. On her chest was the crest of Paralos, an open oyster with a shining sapphire within it. That oyster was held up by two massive waves, symbolizing that she was one of the knights of Paralos.

  Colby gulped.

  He took it back. Double dagger girl and the dull duo were much better than encountering her. Heck, maybe even being conscripted would be a better turn of events than this.

  “Laine Laine!” Brie shouted, rushing up to her.

  It was his ex-best friend, Elaine.