"I used herbs that go well with fish. But I didn't use them for the bird or rabbit since it might make it taste bad. I didn't want to ruin the scarce food we have." Ester explained why the herbs appeared out of the blue. Vincent saw a few bags that looked important when he removed most of the things when Ester was found sick. Because the small items were practically weightless, he left them in the cart. "Thankfully, someone didn't throw them away. " Ester sarcastically said. She shyly peeked at Vincent with a frown. But he didn't notice. The six fish got devoured in a few minutes. Then Lupa handed a bowl of soup each, with the pink clam in Vincent's bowl. She then said, "The winner will eat the clam. You have more food than us." Vincent opened the calm, and to his surprise, a beautiful pink pearl was inside the calm. He lifted it up as the four of them gaze at it. . [Name] Pink Pearl [Condition] Undamaged [Description] A pink pearl rarely found from Freshwater Pink Clams. "Inspection says this is hard to find. We might make some money with this." Vincent raised a grin while imagining how much its worth could be. "What is money?" Lupa asked with a curious frown. "Its the human currency to exchange for food or services. Ahh... Vincent, I didn't explain the currency of this world." Ester remembered how Vincent, Lupa, and Kazumi didn't know what the currency was. "We have gold, silver, and copper coins as a currency. My parents told me how there is a special version of each coin. It has runes engraved by a high-level crafting class and has a hole in the middle. It's used for magical contracts, and one is equivalent to ten of the higher version. " Ester explained. "So one hollowed copper coin is equivalent to ten silver coins. One hollowed silver coin is equivalent to ten gold coins. But what about gold? Do you know? " Vincent wanted to confirm that he understood well. He also asked so Lupa could better understand the human way of trade. "It seems only the legendary class called Synergist can create runed hollowed golden coins. Only in the dwarven lands do less than ten Synergists live rumors say. My parents told me its usually higher than fifty gold coins or trade with high-value items." "The silver and bronze versions can be made with classes less potent than the Synergist class. All kingdoms would appoint one person to do this job to deter coins not made by the kingdom and know from which kingdom the coins arrived." "Inspection gemstones are used in these types of trades, and there are different varieties, although I have never seen one." Ester finished the lengthy explanation of the new world's currency. [Her parents knew a lot, and I have the stinking suspicion she is hiding something from us. But she was accepted to become your retainer, so it shouldn't be a bad person.] "Your parents sure knew a lot. Did they once work in a high ranked job?" Vincent asked with curiosity. "Umm... I..." Ester averted her eye with shame while she abruptly stopped. She became afraid of what Vincent might think of her. But the honest gaze Vincent had reassured her to say, "I'm an illegitimate daughter." "And? Is something wrong? Why do you have a sad expression?" Vincent asked. As a person who lived almost half of his life without parents, he couldn't understand why she felt terrible. [Don't be dense. Like in many of the story's you read, this world might hate illegitimate children.] Vincent understood he messed up. He placed his bowl aside, and warmly said, "Only those that raised you are your real parents. Illegitimate children in my world aren't mistreated..." "Well, only when it involves money. But money corrupts everything, so that doesn't count. What counts is that you will always have us." [Woho. Listen to this casanova boy. Your skills are improving by the day, hehe.] Vincent had a faint blush, unlike his previous shy self. Ester placed the bowl on the ground and left for some quiet time alone. She wanted to hide her bright blushing face. "So... is that clam thingy, good?" Lupa took this opportunity to ask about the taste of the food she lost. She wanted to try it the moment her eyes laid upon it. "Here, you can eat the rest." Vincent gave Lupa his bowl. Then he stood up and went to the cart. He planed to brain tan the pelts this night. Vincent held the container with the boar brain with a frown. He felt that playing with brains after eating wasn't a good mix, but they had to keep moving and stop delaying their journey. [Looks like it's going to be entertaining to watch. Don't worry. I will remember everything you do.] -That is some thoughtful encouragement you're sending my way. It's my first time doing something like this.- [And I'm going to enjoy every last second, hehe.] Kazumi giggled for quite a while in his mind. It seemed she was having fun, but he decided to forgive her for learning Dimensional Storage in his stead and helping him in the fight. Vincent opened the container with the boar brain. The stench almost made him puke. Kazumi, on the other hand, laughed her wisp ass off. With great difficulty not to puke, Vincent made the brain tan mixture as he learned. He then began removing the dried pelts from their frames and cleaning with water until they became damp and applied the brain tan mixture with his trembling arms. Ester approached Vincent after he started working on the second pelt. She saw two bowls and wondered what he did with the brain she froze inside. This type of tanning knowledge didn't seem to exist in this world. "Should I freeze the fish?" Ester asked. Vincent turned his gaze at Ester. He felt refreshed for not watching his hands playing with brains anymore. He then said, "Yes, you can freeze and put them in a sheet. It would be easy to store and freeze them that way since we better leave the barrels for water." Ester left to do that. She felt happy about being useful with her ability can help them in their journey, even if it's not combat-related. Vincent folded the pelts on the gut side. He learned that the solution must not touch the hair when the pelt is left for a day or two to enter its pores. Lupa approached. Her nose twitched from the unusual smell. She sat beside him with a curious gaze and thought he was playing with the pelts that kept them warm with a strange, smelly substance. "What are you playing with? Didn't you like how I framed the pelt?" Her curiosity got the best of her. She wanted to know and try, as well. "It's for the next long process, but." Vincent noticed her tail wag showing her interest. He continued with the hope of receiving help, "This is boar brain in warm water, and I need to rub it on the gut side. Want to help?." Lupa unhesitantly nodded. She grabbed a damp pelt and imitated Vincent. She didn't mind the solution helping Vincent feel less disgusted by the process. Later, they finished and folded all the four pelts with some of the brain tanning solution inside. "Go and rest, my mate. This good girl and her sister will stay guard." Lupa proudly said. She felt like a reward was due if she kept helping him. "Thank you, and good night. Both I and Kazumi are too tired to keep watch tonight." Vincent gently ruffled her soft hair. He then approached Ester and said the same thing while giving her his watch. Vincent left to sleep, feeling exhausted from the long day, both physically and mentally. He forced himself to finish the pelts so that they could soak in the solution and finish the tanning quickly. Vincent could only guess as his heavy eyes closed shut, 'It's because of Ester's cold magic that a newbie like me might do it in the first try.' "Sister, do you need help?" Lupa asked. "It's going to take some time to freeze the fish. So why don't you sleep first? I will wake you five hours later." Ester had only frozen a few fish from the forty-two lying on the ground. Lupa nodded with a bright smile. She skipped over to Vincent, and like usual, she took his arm to use it as a pillow while taking a whiff and closing her eyes. She could smell it was Vincent, yet his smell changed along with his body and longer hair. "That wolf doesn't have a sense of decency. I have a lot to teach her like a big sister." Ester sighed at the spoiled wolf. Ester spent five hours channeling her mana to freeze all the fish non-stop. She felt the pain from mana fatigue but hardheadedly kept her Frost Sigils active. *Day 16 A new day arrived, and a while later, the timer buzzed. The exhausted Ester then switched shift with Lupa after receiving help to place the heavy bag of frozen fish on the cart. Lupa had a nightmare that night. One where she couldn't help anyone, a useless wolf standing in the sideline while her family fought. She was energized to train and become stronger. Lupa sneakily pulled the adult mudcrab corpse a bit farther for what she planned. She shapeshifted her arms to combat form and used the boulder shell-like carapace to train against, hoping to break or leave a deep scratch like how Vincent did. Lupa spent five hours frantically swinging her arms and trying new ways to attack. However, her sharp claws became dull, and a few broke after five hours of abuse. The shell had a few scratches only visible under the reflection of the rising morning sun. Lupa went to wake Vincent after she shapeshifted her arms to normal. She wanted to hide her damaged claws. But unfortunately, her nails appeared damaged as well. It seemed both nails and claws shared a link of damage and possibly of regrowth. Vincent opened his eyes, but it felt strange. Lupa didn't excitedly wake him up like usual as she placed her hands behind her back. The naive wolf girl didn't know that the more she tried to hide her hands, the more apparent she had something to hide. [Morning Vincent. Don't worry, Lupa practiced against the adult mudcrab shell and might have broken a claw or two. Her intention is as bright as day.] Vincent pulled himself up and asked, "No need to hide your hands from me. I only hope you're not hurt." Lupa slowly nodded. She gulped at the thought of receiving punishment. She then showed her hands. [Her nails are damaged, but I can feel mana surrounding her nails. I have a feeling the Beast Shapeshifter class might help her regenerate her nails faster.] -That's good news. She is proud in her claws.- "Don't worry, my little wolf. I have a feeling your nails will regrow in a few days." Vincent warmly said to the scared Lupa.