The next day, Colby got up bright and early. Brie was still fast asleep. Thornelius—that little betrayer—had opted to sleep in her bed last night. They were snuggled up together. Brie wrapped her tiny hands around the Thornwolf’s bushy body as they snored.

  He slipped out of bed, tip-toeing out of the room.

  For obvious reasons—Thornelius being part plant—he was going to grab the salt by himself.

  Downstairs, his parents were up bright and early as well. They sat at the dining table with a slice of delicious grilled cheese on their plate and a cup of steaming hot coffee beside them.

  Colby sniffed the air, noting the aroma that permeated through the kitchen. Like him, their cheese experiments had to be put on pause. So, they stuck with something simple. The cheese they used was a mix of cheddar and mozzarella.

  The mozzarella was his father’s recipe. It was the very same one he followed whenever he made mozzarella—barring the occasional modifications.

  As for the cheddar, though he was no expert on the cheese—not yet at least—his nose could tell that it was a bit on the sharper side. That meant it had been aged for a longer period of time, roughly nine to twelve months.

  “Morning, Colby,” his father said.

  “Morning, Dad. Morning, Mom.”

  “And why are you awake so early, young man?” his mother asked.

  “Oh, you know. Just grabbing ingredients to make cheese."

  “And how’s it been going?”

  “I think it’s been going well. Dad, what do you think?”

  “Um,” his father said, scratching his chin. “Better than expected.”

  “Good enough for me,” Colby said. “See, Mom. I told you everything would be fine. Now you don’t have to sneak around and watch me.”

  She sighed, shaking her head. “Just promise me to run away the moment you sense any danger. And don’t go too deep into the forest.”

  “I promise,” he said, raising his hand.

  “And what do you plan on getting today?”

  “Salt!”

  “Sounds simple enough. Now, have some grilled cheese. You need the energy.”

  Colby grabbed a grilled cheese and munched on it. After every bite, he slowly pulled the sandwich back, watching as the magnificent cheese stretched into long, thin lines before finally snapping.

  “Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. See you later. I’ll be back for lunch—probably.

  Colby ran out the door, towards the beach.

  Going down the steps that led to the beach, he took a left, instead of the right, which led to a cove beneath the lighthouse that used to be Elaine’s home.

  Moving further down the long stretch of sand, sand, and more sand, he eventually found what he was looking for. The salt farmers. Specifically, they farmed see-salt. (No, that is not a typo)

  Donned in straw hats, thick gray gloves, beige long-sleeved shirts, and equally light-colored long pants, these salt farmers were tending to the multiple pens of see-stars. (Again, not a typo)

  Based on what he remembered—which wasn’t a lot—see-salt was one of the major exports of Brinebrook. It was something about how harvesting salt from see-stars was much faster than salt from the ocean. And that was all the brain space he had allocated to arguably one of Brinebrook's most important resources. Or maybe it wasn’t. The only reason he even knew about it was because it was related to cheese.

  Instead of traditional wooden fences, the enclosure was a wall of clear glass that extended out into the shallow part of the ocean. The see-stars looked like starfish, their colors ranging from a light shade of purple to a deeper shade of purple—as you can tell, colors were not Colby’s strong suit. Most notably, and the source of the see-salt, was the giant eyeball right in its center.

  The see-salt farmers would attach these see-stars to the side of the walls and place buckets right below them, collecting their salty tears, which were apparently even saltier than the ocean.

  When the buckets were full, they’d lug them to the nearby warehouse where they performed some magical mysteries that transformed the salty tears into salt. It was most likely just evaporating the liquid, but sometimes in life, it was more fun to have a vivid imagination.

  Colby walked up to one of the farmers, heaving a bucket of salty tears that splished and sploshed, but never splashed out. It was a gruff old man with the widest-brimmed straw hat out of all the other see-salt farmers. He was also the only one wearing overalls and the only one without gloves.

  Time to see whether he was going to get salt the easy way or the hard way.

  Putting on his best customer service voice, Colby said, “Excuse me, good sir. Could I have some salt?”

  “What?” he replied, voice as rough as the sand beneath them.

  “I said, would you be interested in giving me some salt, good sir?”

  “No,” he said, continuing to hobble to that beach house.

  Colby ran up to the man and blocked his path.

  “What if I offer you some cheese?”

  Holding out his hand, a ball of mozzarella appeared. It was a quarter of its usual size, but that was because he had a trick up his sleeve.

  “No,” the old farmer said again.

  “What about two pieces of cheese?” A second ball of mozzarella appeared in his palm.

  “No.”

  “Three?” A third piece appeared, shoving the other two aside for space as it materialized.

  “No.”

  “Four. Take it or leave it.” This time, he had to use both hands, cradling the balls so that he didn’t accidentally feed the ground his cheese.

  “No. Go away.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The farmer walked around him, still moving toward that beach warehouse.

  Huh. Did not expect to be rejected so harshly. Well, there goes that plan of bribing the farmer with cheese. If he didn’t crack, then maybe the others would.

  Colby turned around, about to walk towards the see-star pen, when a strong hand gripped his shoulder and stopped him in his tracks. It was that old farmer again.

  Maybe he had a change of heart and was finally willing to trade some salt for some cheese.

  “Where do you think you're going?” he asked.

  “To get some salt.” He pushed the four pieces of cheese closer to the farmer’s face, right under his nose. “So? Four pieces of perfect, delicious cheese, all in exchange for some salt. It’s a great deal.”

  “No. And don’t go near my see-stars or my farmers.”

  But if he wasn’t allowed near the farmers, how would he bribe them?

  “Okay, what if I give you these four perfect, delicious balls of mozzarella in exchange for letting me go near your farmers?”

  “No. Don’t disturb my farmers. And don’t disturb my see-stars. Now get out of here, before I call the Knights on you.”

  Curds! Why was bribing so hard?

  And Knights? There was no way he could take them on.

  Looks like he had to do things the hard way.

  “Okay, fine,” Colby spat. “I’ll go find some wild see-stars and harvest their tears myself.”

  The grip on his shoulder grew stronger.

  “Ow. Ow. Ow. Stop it. Or I’ll call the Knights on you.”

  “Don’t you dare go near the see-stars.”

  “Why not? They’re not even yours.”

  “Because I know your type. You’re hoping to make a quick buck, forcing the see-stars to cry and selling the see-salt on the black market to kingdoms with an export ban.”

  “That is not at all my type. And aren’t you forcefully making the see-stars cry too?”

  “You think we use such barbaric methods?” he growled. “You see that over there?”

  Colby turned towards what the farmer was pointing at. Between the warehouse and the multiple pens of see-stars was a simple wooden stage, with the curtains drawn down.

  All of the see-stars were fixated on it.

  The curtains opened. The background showed that it was spring, with blossoms falling down as a man and a woman appeared on stage. They were enjoying each other's company, having a picnic, reading books, and sipping on tea. All of a sudden, the woman started coughing, though she brushed it off as allergies.

  The curtains closed. When they opened again, it was summer. The woman was weaker, paler. Her hands trembled as she struggled to pour a cup of tea. The man smiled and took the pot from her, pouring the steaming liquid for both of them. She laughed, claiming that she was simply tired.

  Autumn came, and her laughter had been reduced to tired smiles. She sat by the window, watching the brown leaves float to the ground. The man brought her flowers, though she could no longer smell them. Doctors came and went in droves, though she never seemed to get any better.

  By winter, she was a literal shell of her former self. Confined to her bed, the man read aloud from their favorite book, pretending not to notice when her hand slipped from his.

  Spring came again, and the trees bloomed. He stayed at home, staring at the teacup that she had never finished, and the chair that faced the window. Blossoms fell to the ground along with his tears.

  “That was so beautiful,” Colby hiccupped, wiping away the flowing waterworks streaming down his cheeks.

  He looked back at the see-stars. They had migrated over to the walls. Tears flowed freely, dropping into buckets right below them. Right before they were completely filled, the farmers quickly swapped them out for a new bucket before lugging the harvest towards the warehouse.

  “That’s how you harvest tears from the see-stars,” the farmer said.

  “But what about earlier? Before that beautiful show.” He sniffed, wiping away even more tears. “You were already harvesting their tears.”

  “My farmers are trained to identify whether the see-stars have excess tears. It's just a little extra before the main harvest. Now, unless you can tell which see-stars need a tearing or can put on a real tear-jerker of a performance, I advise you to stay away from these magnificent creatures. Or else.”

  “Okay,” he sniffed again. “But then how am I supposed to get salt?”

  “Just buy it like everyone else.”

  “But, I’m broke.”

  “You are?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Aren’t you Jack’s kid?’

  “Yeah. Wait, how do you know my Dad?”

  “Are you serious? Where do you think he gets his salt from? The bloody sky?”

  “I mean… maybe?”

  “Look, kid, I’ll just give you a bag of salt and add it to your shop’s tab.”

  “No, wait. Okay, I’ll pay for it.” He reached into his Inventory, pulling out the two pieces of gold that he had earned. “This is all I have.”

  The farmer opened up his own Inventory screen, pulling out a small bag of see-salt. “Take it.”

  “Are you sure?” Colby said.

  “Sure about what? It’s salt. It’s cheap.”

  “Oh… I knew that.”

  “Look, kid, just stay out of my farmers’ way and stay away from the see-stars. All the see-stars, especially wild ones. Or else. Got it?”

  Colby nodded, shoving the bag of salt into his Inventory and skedaddling away before he learnt more about the farmer’s threat.

  Well, that was anti-climactic. Here, he thought he would have to wrestle with some wild see-stars and force them to give him their tears. Then afterwards, find a way to reliably evaporate the water away, all without any proper access to Fire elemental spells.

  Oh well, less work for him. A bag of salt should last him a while. And since he was already here, might as well grab some extra Shell Gingers. It most likely wasn’t what Ms. M used for her candied ginger, but

  Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any lobsters in the way. Well, maybe a lob-slash, because he needed a way to cut the Shell Ginger roots.

  After passing through the cove, eyes on a lookout for any Shell Gingers growing along the side of the cliff, it was his ears that found something first.

  Voices. A girl’s voice. And grunts. A lot of grunts. Was it some sort of monster?

  Peeking around the corner of the conveniently curved cliffside, he found the sources of those sounds. Unfortunately, it was someone whom he had met before. A girl dressed in all black and two large bald men with huge swords. It was double dagger girl and the dull duo.

  Wow, haven’t seen them since they last tried to rob him. And he would see to it that they wouldn’t see him. But didn’t Elaine say that she’d report them to the Knights? Something about their duty to uphold the peace of the Kingdom? Either the Knights were slacking, or they had much more important things to worry about.

  But what were the trio doing?

  “C’mon, cry already!” Double dagger girl yelled, kicking a see-star. When that didn’t work, she kicked sand into its eye.

  “You two!” she snapped at the dull duo. “Act scarier. Make it cry.”

  The dull duo grunted even louder. They bashed their dull swords into the ground, sending sand flying everywhere.

  “You idiots! Now I’ve got sand in my mouth and hair.”

  “Sorry,” they mumbled in a low and dull tone.

  So, these were the type of people that the farmer was talking about. The kind that would abuse see-stars to harvest their tears.

  But why would they do that? Were they dumb? Salt’s cheap. They could just buy some instead of doing this. But you know what wasn’t cheap? Information. Think about how much salt that farmer would give if he told him that a see-star was being abused. Maybe he’d even give their shop a discount in the future.

  He’d probably pay more if he dealt with the trio directly. But it was three against one. And they were adventurers! Low-ranked adventurers who still hung around Brinebrook for some reason despite the high taxes and Knights possibly looking out for their arrest, but adventurers nonetheless.

  Colby turned around, ready to earn some free salt when something slammed into the wall beside him. It dropped onto the sand beside his feet. Looking down, he saw what it was.

  A dagger.

  Curds! Double dagger girl had become single dagger girl.

  Why did he complain that things were anti-climactic?

  “You!” she shrieked. “You’re that cheese guy. I’ll make you pay for humiliating us and getting cheese stuck all over my daggers. Get back here.”

  “Okay,” he said, taking a step closer to her.

  “Wait, what?” she said, surprised that the line actually worked. The dull duo scratched the top of their bald heads, even more confused than her.

  “Whatever, just come here and give us all your gold.”

  “How about no.”

  Colby picked up the dagger by his feet and shoved it into his Inventory before sprinting back towards the farmer.

  “You can’t do that. That’s illegal!”

  “Says the person abusing a monster. Oh, farmer!” he sing-songed. “Do I have some juicy deets for you.”

  “Stop him, you imbeciles!” the girl shrieked!