I opened the door and Belri was carrying a young girl with white hair and cat ears with his arms. Her face was flushed and her breathing was ragged and rough.

"Bring her in quickly!" I told Belri. "Tuck her in one of the beds upstairs, Kian call Aunt Bifa she should know what to do!"

"A-alright." Kian ran off outside.

We quickly ran upstairs and gently laid her down and tucked her under the bed. I told Belri to well some water outside while I get a rag from the downstairs. Finally, Belri arrived.

"D'ya think she'll make it?" Belri asked, concerned.

"I don't know... Aunt Bifa should know." I soaked the rag in water and rolled it, gently placing on her forehead.

"Where did you find her?" I asked.

"Well, me and Kian set sail round second bell fer some fishin'. But after some sailing, we saw somethin' in the distance. We got closer to it and realized t'was a rowin' boat. Don't really know what we expected ta' find, but it certainly wasn't a young girl in the middle of the sea. So we brought her back ere' when ya came ta' mind."

"Wait, she came from the sea?"

"Well... yeah," Belri scratched his head. "Don't really know where she came from. We already found her passed out and havin' trouble breathin'."

After a few minutes of silence, with the only sounds being the girl's ragged breathing. Kian finally came back with Aunt Bifa. "Is that her there?" Aunt Bifa asked. Aunt Bifa sometimes comes to check up on the kids of the orphanage and helps me out when I have trouble.

"Yeah, I don't really know what's wrong with her. She prolly just has a fever." I answered and gave her a basic rundown of what happened and how we found her.

"Really pains my heart to see such'a pretty soul in pain," Aunt Bifa placed her hand on the girl's cheeks. "What... She ain't sweatin'."

"What do you mean?"

"She's dehydrated. She prolly got desperate and drank some salt water." Aunt Bifa said, looking a bit more relieved. "She's still in danger but tis' an easy fix. Let her rest, but when she wakes up give her some water. And some food, she probably didn't eat anything."

"...Alright," I replied, having mixed feelings. "Aunt Bifa, can you watch over her?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Fine fine, go to yer work," Aunt Bifa said. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Well... tis' is prolly where we go off too," Kian and Belri said. "Wind at yer back Ruben."

"Wind at your back, Aunt Bifa, Kian, Belri."

"Wind at ya back sonny."

Making my way to the market, I feel the sea breeze and the salty smell of the outside. I passed by the smithery, feeling the scorching hot air inside. I see lines of stalls and a few store buildings. That's to be expected, people would rather set up stalls than to build a store, most of the store owners decided to make their houses a store with the first floor being public areas where you can trade, and the second floors and above being private areas. Although that's only done by rich people.

"Yar' even more late this time aye?" Klaus, my foreman teased me.

"Well... something happened."

"Hoh?" Klaus squints his eyes, suspicious. "Something bad happened lad?" He started writing on a wooden board.

"Well..." I go on to explain what happened around second bell.

Klaus scratches his head and sighs. "Another mouth to feed aye? Don't worry about it. You have some work ta' do." He handed me a wooden board with a list written on it with ink.

"Oh... This pays more than usual."

"Yeah, something happened, anyways get ta' work son."

Using my saw, I carved into the wood. Mister Klaus has always been kind to me, but I can't continue like this. If I become more of a burden I'll drive our shop to bankruptcy. I know that all of my commissions were always ordered by Klaus for a while now. I mean, how can I even get customers if I wasn't around all the time? And now I have another mouth to feed. And... I want to save enough money to propose to Rita.

I sawed off four different pegs with varying sizes, two long and two short. I grabbed my hammer and some nails. I placed the long peg vertically and placed the shorter one next to it horizontally. I hammered them together, creating an L-shaped frame. After that, I did the same with the other two, then hammered both frames together, creating a square frame. Nailed it! ...All of my work will be recycled and used in actual projects anyway, so it doesn't matter if it's shoddy work. Tch. I'm basically working for nothing...

I then created more window frames, and a few chairs.

♦ ♦ ♦

"Mm...?" Lyrica opened her eyes. And tried to speak, but her dry throat wouldn't let out any words.

"Are ya' awake dear?"

"Y-ye...s..." Lyrica managed to cough out a response.

"Alright, just stay there and rest. I'll get you some water." Bifa said as she took the towel on Lyrica's forehead, soaked it in water from the bucket, and put it back on her forehead. Then she exited with the bucket and brought back new water from the well, and poured the water into a wooden cup. "Here, drink some water dear."

"T-tha...n...ks..." She reached her hand out weakly.

"...I'll just do it for you," Bifa gently propped Lyrica up into a sitting position and supported her neck, and with her other hand she brought the cup to Lyrica's mouth. "Drink it slowly."

Lyrica greedily gulped the water and coughed it all out.

"Slowly, the water ain't goin' nowhere."

She poured another cup and offered it to Lyrica again and brought the cup to Lyrica's lips while supporting her neck. Lyrica drank it in long and slow gulps, making sure not to spill a drop, learning from her lesson. "A...not...her... cu...p... ple...as...e..."

Bifa then continued taking care of the little girl.