Find the Shoe:

Once again Bōei had been tasked with another menial task; this time it was to find a lost left shoe for old man Mizuki. From what he could gather it was a loafer style shoe in a brownish color, or maybe black. It appeared the old man had not only forgotten what the shoe looked like but additionally what color it was. "Oh boy...here we go again...what a drag," he thought to himself. With the information in hand he set off to find the shoe of the old man. As he left the old man gave another hint, the shoe was lost somewhere in the market district near the fruit vendor. He set off in search of the shoe, heading toward the fruit vendors section.

Upon reaching the fruit vendors he realized the old man had left out a critical detail, just which fruit vendor he lost it near. "Damn old man..." he muttered to himself annoyed. He figured since he had no idea just where the old bugger had lost his shoe, he would start logically and ask each vendor whether the man had been there within the past 24 hours. Vendor after vendor, they each claimed the man had been there the day before. "Great, that was useless," he sighed with an increased annoyance. The next logical step was to simply ask the vendors whether they had seen the man's shoe. One by one, they all replied that the man wasn't even wearing shoes that day, he was wearing sandals. "Great...the old man doesn't even know what he was wearing".

With his faith lost in every piece of information he had received from the old man, he decided that he would just find any shoe and bring it back to the old man. He probably wouldn't know the difference anyway. He searched high and low between the vendors, coming up with a few lost shoes but none worthy of returning back to the old man. The were all beaten and tattered to the point where they only belonged where he had found them, in the streets.

WC: 368

With his frustration rising, he decided to ask one of the vendors whether they had seen the old man go anywhere else in the market district after they saw him. The vendor told him he had seen the old man leave his shop and head towards the shoe shop. "Thanks," he replied as he turned toward the shoe shop. The shop was relatively close by so the transit was quite quick for him. He walked into the shop and signaled over to the shop keeper that he wished to speak with him. The man welcomed him and asked what he needed. "I don't need anything myself but I do have an inquiry for you. Apparently old man Mizuki was here yesterday and he seems to have lost his left shoe. Would you happen to have seen it?" he asked the shop keeper. "Oh yes! He was in here yesterday. He bought a pair of shoes yesterday. Tried on the left shoe but forgot to take the left. I have it in the back. One second," the shop keeper said as he scurried to the back to retrieve the shoe. The shop keep returned with a brown loafer in hand, passing it to Bōei. "Well I guess the old man isn't so crazy after all," he thought to himself. He took the shoe from the owner and thanked him to his help. He tucked the shoe under his arm and headed back toward old man Mizuki's house. The trip was a rather pleasant one as his annoyance had simmered off given he found the shoe. When he arrived the old man Mizuki welcomed him with open arms. "Oh you found my shoe! Thank you!" he exclaimed to Bōei. "Here is your shoe. Make sure to keep it safe," he told the old man. "Oh, and you are welcome," he replied.

[~Exit Thread~]

WC: 314
TWC: 682
Mission WC: 650
Remaining WC: 682-650 = 32