When I got back to the shack, I found Herald standing in the doorway, the smile on his face stretching from ear to ear. He was hardly able to stand still.

“You got it! Thank god,” he said, as he walked over.

“Yeah, pretty easy when he was so focused on you. Good job! You looked pitiful enough to make even me  feel sorry for you,” I said, poking fun at my smaller friend.

“Sure, sure. Now hurry up and open the pouch! I want to see how much loot we got,” Herald said, eyeing the pouch at my waist and rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“It’s pretty heavy, feels like a good haul. Let’s go inside to avoid prying eyes,” I replied, untying the bag and tossing it to him.

He promptly caught it and walked through the door. We made our way to his bed and sat down. Herald was unable to wait any longer and swiftly dumped the bag upside down.

Gold and silver coins streamed out from the bag, like a river of gold, and Herald tossed the empty bag away, yelling out in joy. I jumped to my feet and hugged him.

A small pile of silver and gold coins were spread out on the bed, along with a small blue sphere.

I was already thinking about what I wanted to buy first, as we celebrated our new-found wealth.

With this money, Herald could get an education, gaining a new lease on life, and I could make sure that the rest of the orphans never went hungry again.

Tears fell from my eyes, like a gentle torrent of Spring rain. Up until this point everything had been so hard. I had pushed myself repeatedly to keep going in order to survive. Because of this money, I could finally stop for a brief rest and relieve some of the exhaustion and wound up stress that I carried with me daily. I just knew that everything was going to be okay.

After celebrating for a few minutes, we looked at each other and simultaneously said:

“Let’s get something to eat!”

Both of us had big grins, it had been a while since we were able to shop for food.

I quickly grabbed a few silver coins and hid the rest of the money under some rubbish and cloth in my room. For now, the future was looking bright!

I ran over to the sheet separating the rooms and tore it aside.

“What do you want to eat? Anything goes!” I yelled out to the kids. Some were out, but the younger ones were still here. They rushed over after they heard my announcement, instantly shouting out their favorite foods.

“Meat buns!” “Fruit!” “Eggs!” -Requests were flying at me faster than I could process them.

Herold saved me by yelling at them to speak one at a time.

After things calmed down, I was able to start making notes on what to get. Most of the food was pretty basic and not too hard to get. Eventually we were down to the last person in line.

It was Avery, the most shy and timid kid out of the whole lot. A couple months ago, she had lost her older brother, who was taking care of her. The poor girl had stumbled upon his corpse in one of the alleyways left by a gang that had probably killed him because of some insignificant aggravation. I had found her silently sitting there next to her dead brother, tears running down her face, ruining her angelic features. I took her in and she joined our group but, traumatized by the incident, she barely spoke.

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I saw she wanted something but was struggling to say it.

“Could you, maybe, get me a slice of sweet bread? I have seen people eat it and I want to taste it,” she asked, with the tiniest bit of light in her eyes.

I reached out and rustled her hair, reassuring her we would buy a loaf of sweet bread for everyone. Announcing that we would soon return, Herald and I set off I passed him half of the silver coins and told him that we should split up and start shopping at the various food markets.

I made my way to the bakery in search of sweet bread.

I decided to go to the best bakery in the city. I wanted the finest sweet bread available. If I could get Avery to smile, it would be worth every copper.

The bakery was a decent sized building, with a large window displaying a wealth of fresh baked cakes and fine breads. As I got closer to the door, I could smell the wonderful scent of freshly baked goods.

I walked through the door and the smell was amplified three-fold. My mouth watered just thinking about eating anything from here.

The store was still empty, due to it being quite early in the morning. There was a large man standing at the counter, who smiled as he heard the small bell on the door chime. His smile quickly turned into a scowl as he noticed my appearance.

“Scram kid. We don't give handouts here!” he said menacingly. He reached down and grabbed a small wooden club, showing me that he meant it.

“Wait! I can pay,” I said as I flashed him a glimpse of a silver coin.

The man’s scowl instantly morphed back into a smile upon seeing the coin. He took his hands off of the club and beckoned me forward.

“Sorry about that. What would you like?” he said in a warm voice, his arm gesturing towards a shelf containing food.

“Could I have a sweet cake, big enough that it could be shared with five people?” I asked, as I lay a silver coin on top of the counter.

The man coughed in surprise before saying, “Are you sure you don't want basic bread or something cheaper? I could give you enough to last a couple of weeks for that.” The man was obviously confused by, a street mongrel like me, blowing through money to buy something only the wealthy normally bought.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said, slightly irritated. I disliked when people looked down on me, even though I understood why they did so. I have had to work hard my entire life, just to survive, due to myc circumstances and yet they look at me like it's my fault that I am poor and dirty. This man thought I was dimwitted  just because I wanted to buy some sweet bread.

“Alright lad. It is going to take some time, I'll have to make it from scratch because we don't have any that large,” the large man said, shrugging his shoulders. If the street brat wanted to waste his money, it wasn't his problem.

“Alright then. I'll be back later, when it's finished,” I told him, walking out of the store and out towards the market. People were up and about now  and the foot traffic had increased.

I had some time before the bread was baked and Herold would be done, so I sprinted to the shack. I ran back to the hiding spot and grabbed the pouch of money. If I was going to be spending money today, why not go all out? I picked out a gold piece and returned the pouch back to its hiding place. I quickly made my way back to the market, in search of a tailor shop. I found a small shop with prices that weren't too bad and bought everyone a new set of clothes. I shelled out a bit more money to have a set made customized for myself. By the time the tailor finished my measurements, I assumed the sweet bread was done.

I gave my thanks to the tailor and made my way back to the bakery. Inside the bakery, a decently sized line had formed, waiting for the baker to come out of the back room. As I moved towards the pick-up counter, a hand grabbed onto my collar and roughly shoved me aside.

I helplessly tumbled to the floor and looked up to see a rat-faced man staring at me. I panicked as I recognised his face. It was Redrick, the captain of the guards brother, or as we knew him the Rat. The man was sadistic and by using his brother's position got away with torturing criminals. Normally this wouldn't be allowed by the higher ups in the Guards, but he only hurts those who won't be missed.

“What do you think you're doing in here beggar? Trying to steal?” Redrick said, kicking me in the side.

I cried out and grabbed the man's foot before he could swing it back, to strike me again.

“Stop! I am picking up an order!” I yelled.

“Yeah, right! Like you could afford to buy anything from here. Street urchins like you are a waste of a life,” the man shook me off and kicked me again, this time in the head. I instinctively lashed out with my small pickpocket knife to try and stop him. The blade slashed into his offending leg’s calf and created a small, but deep cut.

The man stepped back, swearing.

“You fucking trash! Now you've done it,” he said as unsheathed a sword from his waist. I tried to scramble away but the last kick had scrambled my mind. I wasn't able to get to my feet in time. I looked at the other people in the store hoping someone would help, but they all just looked away not caring about what would happen to me. The man raised the blade and I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see it coming.