The next morning, Farn decided to show Aurelie his tasks as the Village Head's son. Mainly he looked after the market place, making sure that no fights broke out, no loan sharks, or scammers appeared, and no one extorted money. Basically, they were the policemen of the market.

While they were there, Farn told Aurelie about the main income of Lejus and Meir Village. It was the forest itself. When Aurelie asked how they managed cut down such gigantic trees without creating a small earthquake each time, Farn looked shocked. Apparently, unlike on Earth, harming the ecosystem on Sorainella was a huge taboo.

No, the way they made an incoming was through the adventurers. On Sorainella, being an adventurer was a popular profession. Adventurers were practitioners for hire who usually protected merchant's caravans and hunted Magic Beasts, selling their pelts, meats, and other materials. The rarer the animals, the more money received.

There were schools whose sole purpose was to teach cultivation and martial techniques and give students battle experience by pitting them against each other in various events. The entirety of Sorainella was ran by the law of the jungle. The strong defeated the weak, survival of the fittest. Someone who was weak couldn't even lift a finger against someone strong, and the strength difference was made all the greater by cultivation. And even the strong couldn't really relax, as they were constantly challenged. A bloody world in which killing was not only an accepted action, but a necessity for survival.

'Sorainella is starting to sound more and more like my kind of place.' Aurelie thought, munching on a strange fruit that Farn had given her, after assuring her that it cost close to nothing due to the combination of him being the Village Head's son and the fruit being extremely common. She started to think of how fun it would be if, after she found a way back to Earth, she convinced Zane and Uncle Chase to come back with her and they came. The only true reason she wanted to go back was because of those two, anyway. Sorainella was where she truly felt she belonged. Here, she had no need to hide her instincts and her knowledge of the darkness that hid behind the civilized mask everyone wore. It was okay to be herself without repressing any part of her personality.

"Well that sounded overly cheesy, even to me, and I was the one thinking it." Aurelie muttered, jumping off the stone bench she had perched on and looking around. Farn had left to solve the urgent and pressing issue of whether the newer or older barber was better, which was threatening to turn into a brawl. Why any two competing businesses would open up their shops right next to each other was beyond her, but business wasn't her business, so she decided not to comment.

Instead, she patrolled the other parts of the market. As she passed through, shopkeepers called out to her and waved. Waving back, Aurelie marveled at Farn's influence. When he passed though, people waved him over to shoot the breeze, or complain about in laws and illnesses, and Farn always knew what to say and how to say it. It was as though he was close friends with everybody in the marketplace. Even adventurers passing though called him over to tell him stories about their travels.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

And being Farn's friend instantly gave her the status of a trusted person, even though she undoubtedly looked suspicious wearing a large hood that covered her face, though it's main reason was to hide her hair and eye color. Apparently, hair dye and colored contacts had yet to be invented, though she could dye her hair with fabric dye if in a pinch.

It happened as the sun began to slowly descend past the trees and market was closing for the day. Aurelie noticed a rather dirty urchin brush past a customer, who was some kind of noble, and quickly lift his money bag. The customer, to busy yelling at Farn about how bad the quality of this market was (hey, not everyone could be Farn's friend), didn't notice, and the urchin strolled past, looking and acting innocent.

'Smooth~' Aurelie thought, grinning and resisting the urge to whistle as she locked her Spirit Energy onto the boy and used it to follow him into the crowd, after waving to Farn. She wasn't going to ask the boy to give the spoiled little noble his money back (he was a jerk), but she did have a purpose in tailing him. 'Take me to your leader.' she cackled in her mind. Over the course of the day, she had observed this kind of thing happening many times, and what struck her immediately was that the same person was not struck twice, it was never a regular and polite customer, and it was never any of the struggling shopkeepers. More than that, there was a system to their hits, and their ease and ability spoke of practice. These weren't just random kids picking pockets to earn a bit more cash. No, it was somewhat like an organized crime racket of pickpockets, one that had an intelligent head.

A head that she had to meet.

Before long, the kid ducked into a large dirt hut that was hidden with cleverly placed vines and overgrowth even she would have bypassed. Taking a deep breath, she cut the Spirit Energy tracker on the kid and slipped in as well, not hiding her presence this time. As it was, she walked so quietly and quickly that it took a good minute for anyone inside to react to her. That was enough time to take in the room. A bunch of kids stood around, some talking to one another, others giving the only guy sitting down, as well as the only teenager in the building other than her, the money that they had stole. He was obviously the leader. Walking up to him, Aurelie stopped, waiting for people to notice her. This awareness came as a growing hush and the rustle and clinks of weapons drawn. Instead of responding in kind, Aurelie pulled down her hood and squatted before the leader.

"I have something I need to talk to you about."

~~~~~~~

The leader of the urchins looked around the room after the Elemental Apprentice that was not an Elemental Apprentice left.

"What do you think?" He asked, spreading his hands.

"Objectively, I think what she said was a bad idea. It gives us no benefit. But I still want to do it." A girl spoke up. Many nodded. The leader nodded as well.

"I agree. We will do as she says. Those who don't want to, don't have to take part in this operation, I will not object. But it is about time we got some recognition for our varying… talents, don't you think?" the leader said. Nobody said anything, but nobody left either, and excitement glittered in their eyes.