"That's... Not a bad idea." Howaph looked contemplative. He looked up at the sky, "I don't know if you can pay my friends enough though."

  What? Of course I can! And even if I can't, I just need to give them food and make sure that they know the food I'm feeding them is part of the payment, then I don't have to give them as much of my hard earned money!

  I didn't say that of course, I only stared at my brother. Thinking. How do I spin this so that it benefits me?

  "I'm pretty sure I can." Not that it's impossible for me to do it, but I'd prefer that I can act frugal when paying my future guards if possible. "Can you at least trust me? Tell them that I'll only pay them 2 silvers but they get all the extra meat that I have by the end of the day."

  "That's the problem isn't it?" Howaph shook his head, he ran a hand through his dust brown hair– inherited from our dad, I got mom's which is green. – and let out a powerful sigh. "We don't know if you will even sell enough stuff to pay them back, and now you want me to tell them that you're offering the aberrant meat you work hard in hunting every day?"

  "Just trust me on this one okay? I promise you that this will work! Why are you so against it?" He didn't flinch from my glare, which I think is because he thinks I can't fight him. Hmpf. I wonder if he'll still think like that if he gets trapped in the hallways of our own house?

  "I'm not against it, I know you'll do well. It's just... My friends aren't exactly the kind of people I can trust to be with you? Not all of them are good."

  I rolled my eyes. God what is this conversation even about? If he's so worried then can't he just pick his more trust-worthy friends? "Then I'll go and ask the people in the pier to help me."

  "That would be better." Howaph was quick to reply, okay? You trust your sister with literal strangers but not your own friends? What? He looked like he wasn't joking either. "You should do that. I'm serious."

  "How about both?" My suggestion got him to pipe up, which, yes! Perfect! I doubled down. "I get two from my pier buddies, maybe even Wardcruncha can join–"

  "Wardcruncha?"

  "– the crazy old man people call a wizard, it's not important!" I glared at him. Again, it had no effect. "My point is, you give me two of your friends, and maybe even your girlfriend if you don't trust me that much, and then I get two people from the pier!"

  "Girlfriend?" Howaph raised an eyebrow, he looked amused. I didn't feel the same way. Does he think I'm stupid?

  "You have someone you like. Mom told me you haven't been giving her your catch and also said that you're preparing to start your own family." I made a 'tut-tut' sound with my tongue. "Send her over, I don't care. I just want people with the [Village Watcher] class, which I know some of your friends have."

  "Fine." My brother relented.

  Finally!

  There's a reason why I wanted him to do this so badly. Not only would [Village Watcher] be more trusted than [Thug]– which is the class the teenagers in the pier have. – they'll also be more appealing to the masses. It's sad that no one in the pier has that class but that's just what happens when you live there.

  I'm just glad that they're all exceptions rather than Heathens. But I definitely know some Heathens live there and are just hiding themselves. Heinous criminals aren't that strange to find in places like the pier.

  Actually, can I count myself lucky I'm still alive?

  Classes don't define a person but it also kind of does. The main class is determined by the life someone lived before getting it, so children who like to steal would get [Thief] and kids who constantly fight will get [Thug].

  Not all of them are bad, and even people with "good aligned" classes do cruel things but the fact of the matter is, in this world, classes don't just come out of nowhere.

  This is why I needed [Village Watcher]s.

  Looking shady isn't a bad thing inherently, but with the Day of Piling coming around and my plan to quickly build a customer base within Ghorise's populace, the chances of some other seller ratting me out as a "bad person" and getting me removed are pretty high when I'm with [Thug]s.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "I'm going." My brother rubbed my head and walked away, I also left shortly after. Since I have no choice but to go to the pier, I might as well do it now instead of leaving it for later.

  Wardcruncha– the only person I truly trust here. – was talking to a few people when I found him but he left them and walked over after spotting me. "Rontress? What do you want?"

  "I want two people here to help guard me in Ghorise. They'll be paid, maybe... 3 silvers each? They'll also get the extra food I have at the end of the day." I added to sweeten the deal. "And they won't be alone, the friends of my brother will be there. They're [Village Watcher]s." I told him quickly, not wanting to waste time. "I'm planning on selling stuff."

  "Selling stuff? Like what?"

  "Food." The shock on his face was understandable. He probably thought I was just a trapper too.

  "Only Crayfish?" That question is a bit unexpected.

  "No, I bartered some of the meat for other ingredients, like eggs and goat milk." My response made Wardcruncha pause.

  A moment passes, Wardcruncha's expression turned contemplative for a few seconds before he opened his mouth again.

  "I'll come with you." Wardcruncha's words were a bit of a shock, seriously? I thought he'd just stay here like before.

  He'll escort me when going to Ghorise but not aberrant territory?

  "... That can work, yes. I'll also pay you." My feelings are irrelevant right now and I want to prioritize earning money so I agreed. "How were the rats by the way?"

  The rodents that I got from my traps this morning were pretty big, enough that these guys probably had two days' worth of food from them alone.

  "They were good." Wardcruncha replied. Guess I did help these guys out after all! "And you don't have to pay me, just the two guys who will be with you."

  "Okay." I wasn't going to complain about this decision if that's how he's going to do it. Usually I would do that but earning money isn't for the faint of heart and a bit of hypocrisy is the industry standard.

  "When are we leaving?" He asked.

  "Tomorrow. I still need to prepare some of the things I'll be bringing, after that we're going to leave." Speaking of that, my class proved useful in my preparations because who would have thought that air tight containers counted as trapping air? I didn't.

  "Is that so? Guess I have time to find people who will help you then." Wardcruncha sounded relieved for some reason. "I'll talk to them later, okay? Then you can meet with us by the shores in the morning."

  "Got it." And that settles it, I now have escorts to come with me to Ghorise and I'll be safe while selling stuff there.

  After talking with Wardcruncha some more, I left the pier and went back home. It's still pretty early– just short of afternoon. – and usually I'd be out in the forest hunting aberrants but I have a lot of their meat right now so there's no need for it.

  Currently, leveling up is also a bad idea so there's also no point for me to hunt them for exp.

  Instead I spent my time making homemade butter, cheese, and other things. My mother helped me out, she knew how to make cheese and even had a class catered to doing it so I left her to work on that. I also agreed when she said she wanted to make butter.

  On my end, I made mayonnaise. Thanks to my increased dexterity, separating egg yolks from the white had been easy. I did it while the egg is still in its shell even.

  Since I didn't have any lemons in the kitchen, I had to make do with a swamp fruit similar to citrus. It worked pretty well as a substitute all things considered.

  The price of filling an entire clay jar with mayonnaise was a few hours but it's worth it in the end.

  My mother and I finished at the same time too, she took a break and when she got back she caught me working my ass off trying to stir the separated egg yolks. While the white got turned into mayo, I wanted these to soften enough to be made into cake batter.

  "What are you doing? If you're gonna fry an egg then that's good enough Rontress." She chided but didn't move to stop me. "And don't stir too hard! It'll spill!"

  "I'm trying to make something for bread." My explanation clearly wasn't enough because she raised one eyebrow. I sighed. "It's... Can you please pass me the flour?"

  "I'll do it, I too am curious what this is all about." My mother had a smile that made me shudder while grabbing the aforementioned sack of flour from her hands. "How do you feel about cooking for us tonight? I can prepare the table instead of you, I'd love to taste your cooking too."

  ... I nodded. Fine. It's not like she doesn't have the right to make that demand, she did help me. "Okay."

  "Good!"

  And that's how my family ended up spending a minute staring at the things I prepared for them: butter cakes, crayfish fried in butter and topped with melted cheese, hollow cakes with mayonnaise and brined fish for fillings, and leaf-wrapped crayfish.

  "You don't have a [Master Chef] sub class do you Rontress?" Howaph asked as he took a seat, he wore nice clothes for some reason.

  "This isn't a high class restaurant." I glared at him and his clothes. I feel mocked. "I cooked these for all of you, you know?!"

  "Yeah, sorry." Howaph raised his hands in surrender, chuckling. "It just felt appropriate."

  My father didn't talk and instead grabbed one of the cakes that I made, it's the one with stuffing. He sighed after one bite. "Rontress, you're gonna have to stay in this house for a while, no man will be able to marry you given how expensive I'm planning your dowry to be."

  "I agree." Mom is also eating her own cake. She nodded. "You're gonna have to stay here and take over my job as the cook when you get old enough."

  I rolled my eyes but smiled at their antics. They barely hid the fact that they liked my food.