The next day, Ana was woken up by her rooster as always. She fed the bird, prepared a small meal for her mother and left before the sun was even up.

In the following hours, the girl went from one place to another doing chores for anyone who would let her. Compared to every other day she had lived in the past year, the only difference was a skinny young man that was following her everywhere like a creep.

“Did you find yourself a stalker, Ana?” asked Mrs. Jones, a baker.

“No, he’s living with me.”

“You’ve made a stalker into your boyfriend? Come on girl, you can do so much better. Look at his sunken cheeks. And those eyes… Why is he looking at me?”

Of course, Ethan could hear everything. However, before he could decide whether to kill the wench who bad mouthed him or not, Ana had already excused herself and moved on.

After half a day of following her around, the boy was perplexed. Why was she washing clothes for two coppers per hour? How could a lady cut wood for a few measly coins?

When one of her patrons put his hand on her shoulder and began talking with a lewd grin, he had finally had enough. Right in the middle of his store, Ethan grabbed the man’s arm and spun him around.

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“F***k off.”

Ana's boss had no time to answer, for before he could say a word, the boy had kicked him in the groin. After ending his legacy, Ethan grabbed the wide eyed girl and ran off.

After putting enough distance between them and the pervert, he sat Ana down and started scolding.

“What the hell is wrong with you, putting up with all that crap? Don’t you have any pride? A young lady should try on dresses, not clean them. This is insulting. I can’t believe we're associated...”

He went on and on while Ana looked perplexed. However, she did eventually catch on to his meanings.

Immediately, her cheeks became red, and the corners of her lips went down in anger. Right in the middle of her friend's sentence, she got up and slapped him across the face.

“Ouch, why?” It was the first time someone had slapped Ethan in the past four millennia.

“You… You… Ungrateful brat!” It was the first time Ana got angry at someone in the past four years.

“I’ve fed you and took care of you, and yet… You think money grows on trees?” The confused look Ethan showed seemed to suggest ‘yes.’ “That man was one of my biggest payers! So what if he touched me? We could have eaten rice tonight!”

Ethan could almost see the vapors rising up from her head. Still, he protested.

“That is unacceptable. I will not let my friend be treated like this.”

“Then, you go make money! I'm sure you’ve eaten nothing but beef until now. Surely, you can earn coppers without even trying.”

Her irony went right past him, but he did understand the challenge. It was a bit beneath him to work for money, but considering the state of his benefactor, it couldn’t be helped.

“Fine! Since you can’t even do this much, leave it to me.”

He couldn’t allow his friend to keep living like a commoner. The first step was to free up her time. The next was to make her a mage.