I looked over the group of younger boys. They seemed rugged but not poor. Too much weight to be poor, but they had that weariness to them that suggested hard times.

"Wha a greenie be do? This ity be lettin savages in?"

I tried not to cringe at the boys poor grammer and strange dialect. At the very least, it confirmed that they were not from around here.

Interesting.

"You sure you want to do this?" I asked the group who promptly ignored her in favor of scowling at Harold.

Well, I did give them a chance. With a sigh I turned turns Harold and spoke.

"Don't break their teeth or Jaws please."

I rolled my eyes as he gave me a vicous grin that promised her enemies would be destroyed with glee. He set the box of potions down and rushed into the fray.

The group of boys didn't stand a rats chance in hell.

I stood watching the one sided sluaghter as I idly drank one of my potions. I was pleased to find that my attempts to give it a minty flavor had born fruit. Unfortunately, I still gagged at the horrid taste.

Id managed to upgrade it from tasting like disgusting sludge to the more palpital but still disgusting floride taste.

After about 10 minutes of the rigerous excercise that was beating the shit out of a group of boys. Harold, Walked back towards me and I moved towards one of the boys who still looked concious.

"F-fuc" the boy didn't get to finish speaking before I slapped him. Not too hard on account of being weak. Just enough though to stun him into silence.

"You don't curse in front of a ladies. Now I just have a few questions to ask you. Play nice and I might give you a healing potion. Continue to be rude and I'll let Harold loose on you for round 2. Which one is it going to be?"

"Uh, Fir one?".

"Good choice. Where are you from?"

"Nardel" the boy responded rapidly. I just gave a blank stare.

"That is? Town? Village? City?"

"I ah - ummm... city?" The boy responded with a gulp clearly expected violent retribution. He recieved none. I might be a criminal, I was not however some common thug.

"How many days did you have to travel?"

"I uh... I think 10?" The boy said after a long length of awkward silence as the boy tries to remember.

Hmmm, 10 days travel would out it far but not to far. The kid had only hit on hard times recently and Serean wasn't a great city for anyone to move to. Which made it clear they were refugees. The question was what he was a refugee of. Now someone might think a smart person would keep pondering and figure out the answer through guesswork. No, fuck that. This is how a smart person figured things out.

"So what you brings you to my humble little city?"

The boy stared at me with a disbelieveing express that practically screamed increduality at how I didn't know. I pointed at Harold and gave him a pointed look.

"Da wer. " he said once again gulping.

It took me longer then I would have liked to figure out what the kid had just said. Once I did, I nodded. I'd heard some rumors of trouble in the south. So a war huh? Well it was good to know. children weren't really told about things like that. Catlenè children cuased adults to not even talk about it amongst eachother.

I threw the boy a healing potion and a single Siveà. The coin would be enough to get them some food for the week if they rationed said food out.

"If you and your boys want I could use some helpers. I'll let you keep a portion of what you make. If your interested meet me at the playground tomorrow."

God I hated the fact that I STILL had to suffer through being forced to go to a playground. You'd think at 10 years old they would finally relent on the whole mandatory play thing. Nope! In fact it turned out that it didn't stop until you turned 16! It could go for even long for me due to the fact I was a Catlenè.

Which I would like to say was speciest!

Still it was time to sell some health potions! I also needed to make the rounds with the various shop owners so that I could maintain good will.

A trip to lower Serean earned me 15 siveà. The next stop was a local alchemists shop. Incidentally the same place I had been born... which made dealing with the shop owner annoying. Still Annoying paled in comparison of the fact that she offered me more then double what my potions were actually.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

I stepped through the door, Harold carrying the minty potions, into the shop. A humble wooden building with shelfs containing jars of various colors lined the sparse place. Said jars were really just colored water. The actual potions were kept in an underground celler. Safe from most [thieves], it wouldn't stop anyone over level 30, luckily, those were very rare.

"Hello kitty! It's soo nice to see you." Said the grandmotherly voice of Terisom Dtyle. One of Sereans few alchemists and the highest leveled one to. I almost pouted as she good naturedly petted me. It was an annoying issue that came with physically being a child. With some will I stopped my body's attempt to pout and turned into a smile instead.

My body loved to try and do things like that along with crying, whining, and even fidgeting. I had years of practice and yet it had not ingrained itself into muscle memory. That meant thr issue wasn't simply one of being a child. I suspected it was an issue of female Catlenè. As far as I could tell my dad never had to deal with any of that.

Regardless I had Harold set down the potions on her counter.

"Hello Miss Terisom! I just made some new potions. They taste like toothpaste!"

Did I feel ashamed to talk like a child? Yes. However... shame would always be trumped by money.

"Oh how many times have I told you to drop the Miss. Your practically my granddaughter. You can put those over by your stand and I'll give you your pay."

I did no such thing. I couldn't even lift the box. No, that was the job of good old Harold. My trusty minion ((read: brother.)). I was given 3 Treydel. Which was worth double what I made selling potions to the poorer districts. I knew that she only payed me because she thought I was adorable and wanted to encourage my alchemist endeavors. If only she knew about my second class.

Afterwords I told her goodbye and as per usual was given a piece of candy. The moment I was out of sight of the building I chucked the surgery treat as far as I could. Which was about a few feet away. I sighed.

"Harold. Can you throw it as far as you can?"

He did so with a smile and I looked on non plussed as he managed to throw it over the nearest house and I was pretty sure he broke a window.

"Show off" I said to him and he signed an... approximation of "your just jealous". I really needed to work on that, that would be later problem though for we had just entered the market square.

The market was a busy bustling place were colorful stalls held everything from jewelry to fruits and spiced meats. In every stall merchants hawked their wares at a crowd of people out to get their weekly groceries.

Situated around the market was various taverns serving cheap bear and meals to an already rowdy group of clients. Blacksmith shops could be seen around the area smiting various things from horseshoes, to hammers, to nails.

Their were also a few smaller alchemy shops, enchanters, and even clothing and cobbler shops.

Serean may have fallen on hard times, but it was still a bustling city with a large population. The fact that even the poor could afford to consistently purchase my potions even my cheap prices was proof of that.

I walked up to a few stalls and attempted to buy things.... of course I ended up with a bundle of free snacks, sweets, and even a cheaply made tiara which I had to wear because I wanted goodwill. Must not pout. Must not pout.

What was the point of money if everyone kept giving me free stuff? I sighed as I knew my coins would be going into he savings jar. Sitting down at a nearby bench I started to eat the various food, pretending not to notice the merchants watching me, I started off with one of the pastries.

It was a bread with peices of fruit In it then dipped in some kinda of chocolate like substance I had yet to figure out what it was. Not my favorite, but it was more about earning good will.

Once I had eaten more then my stomach could handle I gave the rest Over to Harold who happily consumed it in seconds. With that bit of business done it was onto the next part of my daily routine.

I walked over to a nearby bakery, ignoring the attempts of the seamstress to get me in her shop, The place was well stocked. Various breads sat prepared in plain view and I could see the man who owned the place hard at work cooking more.

I patiently waited pretending to shift and fidget much to the amusement of those around me. I mostly did it because it somehow got people to enter the store. That part I still could not figure out.

Once the man finished I put on a bright smile and he returned it with a wide smile that showed of his pleasantly plump face. The man was not fat by any means and could be better described as well rounded. He wore a brown apron over a green cotton shirt and trousers.

"If it's isn't my favorite customer! I've already got your usual in the box." He said in the loud cheerful voice of his. Sure enough a box full of fresh bread was placed neatly in a nearby corner.

I gave him 2 Treydel and once pretended not notice him keeping on me. He was probably making sure I didn't try and pick up the box myself. Do not pout. Do not pout. Once Harold picked up the box the baker called out.

"Oi Harold, Mind making sure she gets to the playground on time? Those old bats keep badgering me."

Harold gave a nod and my smile grew a little bit more real. Jorry was one of the few people who actually treated Harold like he was their. While most people weren't throwing insults or trying to mobd him. They still saw him as a non person and would often try and subtly hint that I should be warry of the ork.

Once we left saying our goodbyes as we did so. I begun the task of handing out bread to the various guardsman patrolling the market. They thanked me and went back to guarding. This was an important part of my future criminal endeavors. I was planting the idea of the helpful little Catlenè girl who gave them free bread.

This meant that in the future they would be more likely to let me off with a warning or a scolding.

We made our way to the Nearby playground and I snuck a quick glance at the shady part of middle Serean were most of the criminal underworld of Serean was situated.

I cursed as I noticed a guardsman sitting their giving me a bright smile, harness right next to him.

I shivered at the thought of being put in that again. Once I had made multiple attempts to try and get into that part of the city only for guards to literally pick me up and plant me at the playground.

Eventually one guard had the bright idea of putting me in a child harness for a day and carrying me around. That had proven to be more then an effective deterent for me. I still made the odd attempt but it always landed me in that damn harness. I knew for a fact the guards saw it as a badge of honor.

I did not like being said badge.

Once we made it to the Nearby playground I smiled as I saw a familiar group of boys clearly waiting for me. It was time to put my schemes into action.