Pam’s eyes darted between the pair of brothers, each towering over her. One was heavily armoured, his muscles hidden behind his armour, but from what she knew of the young man, he was ridiculously strong. The other was unarmoured, and though he was lean, there were certain times when she could glimpse the great strength his muscles possessed, especially when she glanced towards his thick neck and broad shoulders.

Jurot’s ears turned red hot as he swallowed, accentuating his wide neck for a moment, before he glanced aside.

“You shouldn’t tease your brother so much,” Pam said, her hands swiftly working the bread.

“What do you mean?”

Pam narrowed her eyes towards Adam. “Just because his grandfather is in a rush to have grandchildren, he shouldn’t be looking at any old baker.”

Adam flushed slightly, though his lips formed a smirk. “What’s wrong with being a baker?”

“For someone like the two of you, wouldn’t you want to marry someone better?”

“Better in what way?”

“Better. I’m just a baker. I wake up in the morning and I bake bread and pastries. We make enough coin to do the same the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. That kind of life, it’s no good for an Iyrman.”

“Would you want to remain here as a baker once you’re married?”

“Baking’s all I know. I’m going to stay here and bake, just like my mother and my father, and their mother and father, and their mother and father...”

“Well, it’s not like he’d ask you to stop baking. We’ve made a business, the one with the enchanter, and we are looking for a baker.”

“If you’re looking for a baker, then I’m interested. If you’re looking for anything more, you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

“Of course, there’s no pressure,” Adam replied, flashing her a smile. “As much as my brother has a huge crush on you, I’m not one who is going to force someone to marry someone they don’t want to. Nobby, the other big guy, the one that won the tournament, he’s meant to be marrying the Chief of the village beside the Iyr, well, her granddaughter, the future Chief?”

Pam stared at Adam as the young half elf tried to recall the relationship.

“I think she’s meant to be the future Chief… anyway, they promised to marry if Nobby became an Expert, but if they don’t want to, they don’t want to, and I’m not going to force the issue. Nobby’ll find plenty of pretty women who will want for him, considering he’s being taught by my brother here.” Adam pat Jurot’s back. “Still, we are really looking for a baker for our business.”

Pam glanced between the pair suspiciously. “Are you wanting me to leave this place to join the business?”

“Yes.”

“How will I know you won’t force me to do anything else.”

“If you don’t want to, you don’t want to,” Adam replied, shrugging his shoulders. “The business is partly to make and spend gold. We’ve got quite a few farmers and porters who we’ve made into Experts that want to join, even though the pay isn’t as good as what others pay.”

“What’s the pay?”

“The minimum is ten gold a month, and…” Adam paused. “We’re still figuring out the pay scale for the rest of us.”

“How much are you getting paid?” Pam asked, not entirely impressed by ten gold a month, but it wasn’t that far off for most people.

Adam blinked, glancing towards Jurot. “Nothing, yet…” ‘I should figure that out.’ “The business has been allowing us to spend hundreds and thousands of gold as we please, but I suppose we’ll need a proper wage eventually too.”

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Pam’s brow furrowed. “Ten gold isn’t that great of a sum…”

“We pay that little because we handle all the expenses one might expect,” Adam replied. “Food, housing, tax, religious tax, clothes, and so on. That ten gold a month is for luxuries, not the basic necessities.”

Pam raised her brow. She and her father made enough coin that they didn’t need to worry about all the various taxes that plagued them, but the rent for the business and all the other business expenses they had to pay did eat in to their profit margins. She and her father could put away perhaps a few gold coins a month away for a rainy day, but ten gold a month and all the necessities were paid for?

“It’s not a terrible offer…” the young baker admitted. ‘They did bet on my behalf too…’ She still hadn’t spent all that coin, which could have been used for so much, especially in the future once she was married.

“The business intends to invest a lot into the workers of the business, including their families. Of course, if you take a liking to my brother, never mind the ten gold a month, you’ll be annoyed by how much coin you’ll have without even lifting a finger.” Adam pat Jurot’s back once more. “My brother here brings back a few hundred gold yearly, and that’s not including the thousands he’s made recently.”

“Thousands?” Pam asked, raising her brows towards the Iyrmen. “I hear that you Iyrmen give all your coin to the Iyr.”

“Much of our coin is given to the Iyr, much of it is given to our families, but not all.”

“So, how rich are you?” Pam flashed an innocent smile.

“I wield an axe which could be sold for thousands of gold,” Jurot said, clasping his hand around the handle of Phantom. “My shield is also the same.”

“What kind of magic does it have?”

“My weapon is Greater Enhanced, my shield is Basic Enhanced.

“…” Pam raised her brows in alarm for a moment but furrowed her brows. “That’s… awfully impressive.”

“Yes,” Jurot replied. “They were gifted to me.”

“You were gifted the weapons?”

“Adam gifted them to me,” Jurot replied.

“The Enchanter enchanted them, but they did not suit me, so I handed them to my brother and I was gifted other items,” Adam replied, smiling innocently. “My axe is worth about the same, and my shield too.”

“Phantom is one of the best Greater Enhanced weapons I know of.”

“Well, yeah, it is pretty good,” Adam replied, his lips twitching into a smile. “Wraith isn’t too bad. It’s slightly weaker, but it has slightly better utility for a man of magic like me.”

“You’re a Guardian?” Pam asked, having originally though he was a Warrior. ‘He did mention you used magic. I thought you were a Priest first, but now…’

“Something like that,” Adam replied, still smirking lightly.

“Anyway, even if you reject Jurot, we still need a baker. If you don’t want to swim in gold, we can at least guarantee you won’t starve, and that your eventual children will also be looked after well. We’ll give them a decent education and we’ll make sure they’ll learn a trade too.”

“My children will be bakers like me.”

“Baking is a trade too, so that’s fine.” Adam shrugged his shoulders. “If they have aptitude for magic, we can teach them to be Wizards or Priests or Guardians.”

“What?” Pam’s eyes darted to the young half elf, her thoughts having gone from the potential to marry the Iyrman and living her life as an Iyrwife, to the utter shock of hearing Adam’s words. “You’re going to be training children to become… or do you mean if I marry into the Iyr?”

“If you join the business and your children have aptitude for magic, we’ll teach them magic. If you marry into the Iyr, my brother specifically, if doesn’t matter if they have aptitude or not, we’ll teach them whatever they want.”

Another figure cleared his throat, emerging from the back. He was a tall man, thickly built as though he had ate bread all his life, with large forearms. He was clean shaven, with a bandanna over his head.

“I didn’t mean to intrude, but I heard you teasing my daughter,” Bam said, glancing between the pair. “I heard about your business, and though I can’t say I’m not interested, I hope you’ll keep the discussion professional. It’s not good to mix family business and professional business together.”

“How does the offer sound to you?” Adam asked.

“I can’t say I’m not tempted…” Bam’s eyes fell to Jurot. “Is it true that you’re the Mad Dog’s grandson?”

“Yes,” Jurot replied, standing taller.

“Who?” Pam asked.

‘I was wondering why his name sounded so familiar…’ Bam thought. ‘Mad Dog…’

“Who?” Pam asked once more, this time jabbing her father in the side with her elbow.

“Mad Dog was an Iyrman who made a name in the north and the surrounding lands,” Bam informed. “Pa always spoke of him like a ghost, sending me to bed, telling me the Mad Dog would come after me if I didn’t listen.”

“What did he do?”

“He killed more nobles than I can count.”

‘You’re not that good at counting,’ Pam thought, though she decided not to say it.

“Yes,” Jurot replied, smirking slightly.

“Old Joe, Little Joe’s grandfather, he came across Mad Dog back when he was adventuring. Said he never knew Iyrmen were so dangerous.”

“Old Joe?” Pam asked. She had met him a few times, though she was more familiar with Little Joe.

“Mad Dog’s the one that forced him to retire.”

“I thought he said it was some kid?”

“Yeah,” Bam said, recalling all the tales he heard about Jarot, his eyes focused on Jurot. “Jarot The Kid.”

“…” Pam turned to face Jurot, whose lips had formed a proud smile, the most obvious smile the Iyrman had ever revealed. ‘…’