“So, you really care about your family, don’t you?”

For the first time tonight, I see Irene stumbling on an answer. She looks at her glass for a second, pondering.

“I just want them to try your food.”

She smiles at me.

This time, there’s no quippy response, no joking remark.

An opening, I think to myself.

“How did you get into baking?” I ask nonchalantly.

“What do you mean?”

“How come you chose baking out of all jobs? I mean, you could have been a [Blacksmith], for all I know.”

Irene shrugs, reaching for the bottle of wine. But I’m faster as I grab it and pour her another chalice.

“Thanks,” she sighs. “I wanted to feed myself. I thought that if I worked with food, I could eat more than in any other job. As an [Apprentice Baker], I didn’t exactly make golds.”

“Yeah, a friend of mine at Happy Bakery had the same problem. And she was probably going to get herself fired at some point since no one was teaching her the craft properly. But you must have been good if you managed to get where you are, right? I mean, what’s your role at the moment?”

“I was lucky,” she says with a grimace. “Many [Bakers] don’t make nearly as much as you would hope, especially considering they feed all of Amorium. Anyway, I am in charge of the kitchen, together with Amelia. I am her second.”

“Damn,” I say, genuinely impressed. “But aren’t the Three Roses all sisters? You managed to get into the inner circle? Woman, I wouldn’t undersell your achievements. It’s impressive.”

Irene shrugs again as she sips her wine.

“Is it? I never cared much about the achievement the way I care about the money it brings.”

“Sounds like you had it rough growing up.”

Irene goes still for a second before looking away from me, focusing on the window, and taking a deep breath. No answer comes my way. Not immediately, at least. If I were a rookie in the dating scene, I would keep up with the questions or just talk nonsense. But see, while not everyone might recognize the right type of opening, I do.

The thing you need to look for is a moment to establish a connection with a person. You need to understand if you two are compatible, right? But most people are so guarded against others or so fake that it becomes almost impossible to do so. That’s why you must tread carefully around the ‘comfort zone.’ Put someone in a spot where they feel comfortable talking to you as if there were no stakes, but don’t be afraid of letting them wallow in uncomfortableness for a second if they need it. Not everyone is a big chatterbox. Some people need their time to express themselves.

That’s what an opening is, really: just a moment to establish a deeper connection. Imagine you and the people around you were like robots with precompiled answers to most questions. A date goes well if you pierce that layer and get to what I personally call the ‘interview.’ The role of an interviewer is to pierce the shallow topics and go to the very heart of who a person is or what they do. Some are rude, obviously—rookies. But the point of ‘the interview’ is to get people to open up. Back on Earth, and perhaps even more here, it’s hard to talk about stuff. As a man, if you can ask the right questions, you have done 80% of the job; make her laugh, you are at 110%.

“Everyone had it rough. Amorium is rich, but people still struggle. You have seen the [Soldiers],” Irene finally says. “It was no different in my case.”

Oh, shoot.

This is extremely interesting.

She is in denial about whatever hardships she went through… but she is tough enough to make it to the top of the non-blood-related positions of the Three Roses, she has a terrifyingly sharp tongue, and she still worries about her family even when she’s on a date.

Holy…

Have I struck gold here?

But look, now, we get to the hard part. She is avoiding the issue, so I can’t really force it without putting her off. If someone doesn’t want to talk about something, unless it’s your spouse or committed boyfriend/girlfriend, you can’t really force them. However, you can circle around the topic.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Subtly.

Casually.

“Damn,” I say with a louder tone, making it sound like a ‘dayum,’ “I thought Amorium was super rich. Like, I think Lucillus always tells me how good the economy is and stuff like that. That the soil is hyper fertile too. Yeah. That kind of stuff.”

The ball is in your court again, lady.

“Not that rich, Joey,” Irene tches with her mouth. “Haven’t you seen all those people at the Pratus? Is that what you expect from a very rich city?”

“But aren’t they mostly there because they are [Soldiers]?” I ask, making a very confused frown.

“Everyone has one of their parents in the military, Joey,” Irene puts the chalice on the table. “And it’s not uncommon that both of your parents would sign up for it. And the chances that both your parents will die, either in or out of the military, is very high. Not everyone manages to get a class with a high-enough level to make it a job…”

She says some other stuff about classes and levels, but I’m not listening.

And the chances that both your parents will die…

Alright. She just told me about her family’s background. It’s not hard to piece together that she probably had to take care of her whole family, then. She must be the oldest or maybe the second oldest.

“So, are you the oldest of your siblings?” I ask with an innocent smile. “One would think you’re the youngest, though.”

She smirks and shakes her head, “Yes, I’m the oldest. Why?”

“Oh, nothing. I always thought about siblings. I am an only child, and I would often wish for older siblings.”

Irene’s smile turns sweet now.

“It’s great to have blood to rely on,” she says, looking at the window again. “It’s also a responsibility,” she suddenly adds, looking back at me, “when you are the oldest. You have to protect your siblings and care for them if your parents aren’t there to help. Everyone has to grow up really fast. There’s very little time to be around the streets and trees to play with other kids.”

“Do you ever wish you were the youngest?”

Irene’s frown makes her look like she’s just been whiplashed by my question.

“What do you mean?”

“What I said,” I laugh, “like, have you ever thought, ‘damn, it would be great if I could be taken care of instead of taking care of everyone?’”

“I—I have never thought about it,” Irene realizes. “Maybe? I—I don’t know. I would often think about going to the [Merchants]’ Guild and stealing all their money. That was a recurrent dream.”

I am currently imagining Irene dressed in a Catwoman costume, and I think a few seconds go by with me in a purely comatose state.

“Joey?” She calls me.

“Yeah, huh, I was thinking about some important stuff. Do thieves here wear very skin-fitting clothes? Also, how about cat ears?”

“What?” She is extremely confused by my question.

“Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking out loud.”

“You are a weird one,” Irene raises an eyebrow. “Are you weird by Human standards too?”

“I do like to think so.”

“Oh, why do you like being weird?”

“I think it helps with the ladies, no?”

She licks her lips for a second before giving me an understanding nod.

“It does. It makes you more interesting to get to know—that’s for sure. But who knows, maybe it makes it harder to stay with someone like you.”

I scratch my head, embarrassed. She’s really putting me through the wringer.

“Well, enough about me. How does one plan a heist at the [Merchants]’ Guild?”

“You would need a very high-level band of [Thieves]. Not just one, that’s for sure. Not even a Named Adventurer [Thief] could probably do it. Not in Amorium, at least. We have one of the biggest [Merchants]’ Guilds on the continent.”

“Damn,” I comment.

“Yes. It’s… unfair. The main reason the price of bread is lower in Amorium compared to many other cities is that bakeries buy produce directly from [Farmers] here. In other cities, a [Merchant]’s markup often means that the price of bread is usually twice our price.”

“Can’t we just put a bunch of bread over preservation runes and shuffle it across to other towns?” I frown.

“And who’s going to do that, Joey? [Merchants]. They just love money. They will never lower the prices like that. If they didn’t think they would get lynched for it, they would probably triple the prices without even thinking.”

“Damn. I think I heard from someone that if I started crafting soaps, they would, like, stop selling to me? Is that plausible?”

“They would probably poison your bread and discredit you across all Amorium,” Irene says with a straight face. “If you really have a formula to make soap, I would be very careful about advertising it. If you start flooding the market with soap, you might get [Assassins] coming after you.”

“Wait, are you joking, or are you serious?”

“Dead serious,” she says without even blinking. “Most [Merchants] are ruthless, Joey. And they go after the smaller businesses. There’s only one [Merchant] who went after the nobles. And they tried killing her so many times she eventually retired with all the money she’d made. Clodia’s mother, the Aureamanus.”

“The hand of gold? Damn, that’s some name.”

“You know the ancient tongue? Interesting. Anyway, she fleeced the nobles. The nobles tried screwing over the [Farmers] more than once. Aureamanus was legendary. She started offering exclusive deals to the [Farmers]. She would be negotiating on their behalf. I think that even now, most [Farmers] ask her for advice when it comes to sales. She started roaming the entire continent until essentially every single [Farmer] above level 30 hired her to sell their produce. She has brokered more deals than any other [Merchant] in existence—or so they say. Right now, she’s ‘retired.’ She doesn’t broker deals directly anymore.”

Let’s throw some bait.

“Is Marcella that famous? Wow.”

Boom. First name-drop.

“You know her? Right. I heard about the investment she made in her daughter’s bakery. Is it because of you?”

“Can’t disclose the details,” I say with a faint smile. “But it’s good to know that she is a good one.”

“She is,” Irene nods. “Some say that the Royal Family even hired her to quench some other noble families’ influence and ruin their plans to hoard money. I’d be careful around her if I were you, Joey.”

“Oh, you seem worried about me,” I smirk. “Don’t worry; I know how to take care of myself…”

“Do you?” A genuine worry flashes in her eyes for a second.

“Let me show you something,” I say.