The day following the Adeghast problem, you find that Eda is sending out Owlbert to gather human items that day. You, Senna, and Owlbert depart right after breakfast. Like a few days ago you pop out from the weird Torii gate in the center of the forest. Quickly scaling a tree you swiftly find that the gate itself resides on the other side of the Uzu island, the northern part divided from the southern half by a large river flowing from Hot Water Sea to the Ocean.
You motion for Owlbert to show you what way he usually goes and find that he typically takes items from residents of the Land of Hot Water to the west. You decide to follow him, the only thing you know about the land is that the place is well known for its hot springs near the capital and that one of your enemies, Hidan, was born in their ninja village.
Before you leave the area you make a few clones and send them back to Uzu ruins to make sure that not only is your emergency pack still hidden away, no squatters have made their way into the place, and nothing has been left behind. It takes roughly half an hour to run across the sea with Owlbert perched upon your head after he realizes that you can do so.
You let him do his thing while you peruse the village that you're in. Right off the back, you can tell that this village is mainly for civilians, based on the lack of weaponry stores. You see a few of the men around you take appreciative glances towards you, but you try not to let that get to you.
You do manage to acquire a few bundles of seeds for herbs, fruits, and vegetables for a possible garden near the Owl House. One of the local oba-chan, or grandmother, sells you a few mochi balls of both savory and sweet. You wait for a chance to seal the items away, not wanting to showcase your skills in case of wandering hooligans and the like catching sight and bothering you.
You meet back up with Owlbert to find that he has somehow managed to find a perfume bottle, filled to the brim, an arrowhead made out of an unknown metal, a coo-coo clock but instead of a birdhouse it's a Japanese shrine made out of brass, and a doll made to resemble shinobi of the Village Hidden in Hot Water. You make a mention that you would like to head to the capital if he would like to join you, to which he hoots a quick agreement.
After an hour of hopping from tree limb to tree limb, you finally get to the capital. Apparently, this is where the local Daimyo, lord of the local area, lives. You transform into a more... plain face rather than your eye-catching red hair and whisker marks on your cheeks. You allow Owlbert to perch on your shoulder knowing that some ninjas had nin-animals like him, while Senna hunkers down into your transformed jacket, giving you the appearance that you were more... top heavy than you actually were.
As you walk the streets of the capital you make it a habit of pickpocketing whoever you can without getting caught. You manage to successfully pickpocket five people, in two pockets you only manage to find a few threads of cloth, in another, you find a grocery list that has been scribbled on to the point of almost being ineligible. From another pocket, you pick up a key made of heavy iron that you wonder what it could go to, while in another pocket you find two handkerchiefs, one fine silk and the other made of lace.
Elsewhere in the city, you pickpocket another four pockets to find a small block of unknown material, a bag containing roughly 9,000 yen, or roughly $90, a rusty iron key that has seen better days, and a jutsu scroll that has only been half written down, but given enough time, and trial and error you think you might be able to figure it out.
Since you're in the capital you swing by one of the blacksmiths within the city limits with the Arrowhead that Owlbert found. To your surprise, the arrowhead seems like it was more of an ornamental piece rather than a practical one after you find out that the arrowhead was made out of platinum of all things. You decide to swap the arrowhead for yen after you learn that the blacksmith was willing to buy it for 36,000 yen or roughly $360.
While the man is busy, you point out a few items to Owlbert to snag, mainly a few bundles of leather, a few copper bars, and a few lead bars to experiment on in your free time. You and Owlbert leave the store without the store owner being none the wiser about what you have done. For the next few hours, you roam the city with Owlbert hooting at whatever catches his interest. If you thought that Eda could sell it you quickly seal it away before finding the next item to do the same to.
You also pick up a few of your preferred food items hoping to share them with King and Eda later. Yakitori, grilled skewers of chicken, beef, and vegetables, Taiyaki, a waffle in the shape of a fish filled with chocolate or custard, Dango, rice mochi balls on skewers grilled and slathered with a sweet sauce, Nikuman, or steamed pork buns, and Gyoza, steamed dumplings with an assorted fillings. There are more items you could choose from, but that would require ordering at a restaurant or making it yourself. You get more than you probably need but thanks to sealing scrolls the food is put into a time-locked area preventing the food from growing cold or spoiling.
On the way out of town, you spot a group of Chunin gathered around the west entrance of the capital. You can hear them catcalling whoever catches their fancy making your eye twitch. Without thinking about it you walk behind the group and snatch their kunai and shuriken pouches as you do so. You happily stash four of each away before walking out the gate. You don't even hear them make a noise before you leave hearing range so you assume you got away with that without a hitch.
The run over the sea and across the northern Uzu island takes roughly two hours which you attribute to running a new path. You arrive back near the portal an hour or two before dinner to find your clones from earlier. One tosses you a sealing scroll while the other gives you a nod before they both disperse into a cloud of smoke. You focus on filing the new memories away as you step through the portal. Owlbert is still perched on your head as Senna takes a nap in your Hanten.
You quickly figure out that not only is your emergency pack still hidden away in your hunting blind on the village outskirts, but there is still no hide nor hair of bounty hunters, scorned co-workers, or the like anywhere within the village limits. A small smile appears as you appear in the main room of the Owl House. You take in the sights before you, and you have to stop yourself from cooing at the sight of King lying on the couch, seemingly asleep. You quietly place down the sack of items Owlbert had been carrying as he flies up the stairs.
You head into the kitchen while pulling out the scroll that contains the food that you had bought. You figure that you're only missing two things to make this a more traditional meal, green tea and soup. There isn't much you can do about the tea, seeing as you were never a huge tea lover, but you've thrown together plenty of campfire-made soup before this and this time you have space and tools to make it. You quickly scavenge around the fridge and gather a few vegetables, carrots, potatoes, onions, and several herbs plus a clove of garlic.
You get to work chopping the ingredients to similar sizes and rough chopping the herbs before throwing them all into a stock pot filled with water. You bring it to a boil as you hear footsteps approaching you. You glance up and catch Eda's eye before you look back at the pot. Eda asks you about the trip as Owlbert settles on her shoulder and gives the occasional hoot seemingly giving his two cents to the conversation. You have to smirk as she asks you to clarify that you walked across the water as you skim off the scum on the boiling soup.
When you make mention of your pickpocketing the people of the capital Eda gives you a wide smile showing off her golden fang. This leads to a talk about crimes as you kill the heat to a simmer and place the lid onto the pot before turning your attention fully to Eda. You never mention Kuruma, but you do mention how you took up pranking when you were young and took to it like a duck to water, momentarily confusing her but she seems to roll with it. This leads the two of you to exchange pranking stories, her stories seem a little out there, but you assume that is mostly due to the difference in magical capabilities. You even mention that pranking seems to be in your blood considering most of the previous generation considered your birth mother to be the village's Prankster Queen, which makes her crackle at the thought of a multi-generation prankster family.
By this point, King has somehow managed to sleepwalk his way into the kitchen, and over to the table at which point you carefully pick him up and place him into his highchair with little difficulty. After doing so you head over to the simmering pot and carefully remove the lid, allowing the overwhelming scent of the vegetable stock to waft over the room. You taste the stock to ensure that it's ready to be eaten before asking Eda to help you with the food. You leave the stock 'plating' to Eda, you're still not sure about dishware locations, as you roll out the storage scroll.
You unseal the Yakitori, Nikuman, and Gyoza leaving the Dango and Taiyaki still sealed until dessert. You arrange the three foods on their own platters before bringing them to the table where King now sits wide awake sniffing the air with wild abandon as Eda brings over the bowls of stock/soup along with the cups filled with Apple Blood. King seems to prefer the meat Yakitori and mostly avoids the soup, but you assume that this is nothing new considering Eda only dished him a small portion of it. Eda on the other hand seems to prefer the chicken Yakitori and Gyoza, Owlbert even attempts to steal a piece from her but she shoos him away so you give him a piece of yours. You enjoy the Nikuman mostly because of the soft fluffy exterior and salty porky filling.
As the entrees disappear you briefly get up to bring Dango and Taiyaki over to the table. King enjoys ripping apart the Taiyaki calling the custard spilling out its blood while Eda rips Dango after Dango off their skewers. You just watch this happen with a small smile as you share a chocolate Taiyaki with Owlbert. You both exchange a glance and you know that this might just become a thing from here on out.