The brick house took few more weeks to build. The group did not stay idle, they did what they were the best at. Good amount of stuff was gathered and manufactured, resulting in good amount of profit. However, they were gathering quicker than the forest could regrow. As before they needed to go even further and deeper into the forest. Resulting in quite a few expeditions to the magic and more dangerous parts of it.

Currently the trio, Aiu and elf siblings, were making their way out of the border of magic forest. A loud howl echoed around them, and then another and another. The trio started to run hoping to escape from whatever was about to happen.

As they were running a dire wolf jumped on Ana’s back, knocker her over. It reached to bite her neck. Its actions were interrupted by spicy smell filling its nose, It sneezed in displeasure, repellent was doing its jobs.

Ell shot an arrow through its neck wounding the direwolf.

“We are being hunted. Ready yourselves!” Ana shouted.

Ell helped Ana to get on her legs, just in time before four direwolves caught to them. Aiu dropped her backpack and clutched few clay flasks in her hand.

Four more direwolves ambushed them from the direction they were trying to run; cutting their escape off. They were surrounded.

“They are more clever than a common wolves.” Ell made an observation.

“Can we do this?” Ana asked.

“We should be able to.” Aiu replied with confidence.

“Easy for you to say, you are the only one with armour.” Ell was referring to Aiu’s serpentine leather vest.

Elves did not waste time and shot their arrows towards the direwolves. They were too big to doge. The beats launched their attack and ran towards the trio with the intention to rip them to shreds.

Two more arrows found their targets. Four wolves had arrows poking from their bodies, but that did little to stop their attack, they were almost as big as a horse was.

“Taste this!” Aiu threw a flask towards the wolves approaching from the back.

It got smashed and released a violent bursts of irritating vapour. It burned their eyes and faces, stunning them and forcing them to back down. The four which had arrows in their bodies stumbled while running and fell, their muscles contacted rendering them immobile. This was an effect of distilled Corpse Serpent Poison.

Two dire wolves were still running towards the group. They were dangerously close. One of them leaped into the air trying to pounce on Aiu but this was a mistake. She threw one of her clay flasks towards its maw. The beast caught it, bit it and smashed it with its teeth. Big mistake. It was a potent acid she extracted from Acid Pitcher.

The dire wolves head started to melt from inside and it missed Aiu completely. It spewed blood and molten flesh, It would die within a minute or so at this rate.

Ana and Ell threw their flasks at the last beast who was attacking them. Flasks hit its head and side, its fur sizzled and melted away. It ran past the elves howling in pain as chunks of liquefied flesh fell from its body.

The acid flasks were deadly. However, they were hard to make requiring to distil whole pot of Acid pitcher juice. Not to mention the time it took to reach the magical forest, gather it, come back and process it. Aiu had only few of these, they were meant to be used only as a last resort. She will be able to make up for what she lost since they have gathered quite few pots of that plant’s juice.

The other two were out of their stunned faze and looked at the trio from the distance. Most of their pack were dead or disabled. They turned and fled into the forest.

“Lets finish paralysed ones before it wears off.” Ell took his knife and went to slit the throats of the remaining dire wolves.

They were not completely paralysed, they just couldn’t remain on their legs even if they stood up, their muscles kept spasming. They still could bite if someone got too close. Ell was very careful approaching them from the right angle and dispatched them one by one with a stab to their backs.

Aiu skinned the beasts using her skill. Obtaining four good quality pelts and two damaged ones. It was a shame they were too far from home and could not harvest dire wolves properly. The beasts had quite a few alchemical ingredients. They had already so much stuff to carry.

The trio drunk a stamina potion each and force-marched through the night towards safety, they did not want to risk being ambushed while they slept.

Back at home they stored their goods and went straight to bed; taking a power nap till early evening.

The elves were woken up by heavy steps.

“Done resting?” Master asked.

Ell looked towards the window trying to guess the time. “Yes.” He said even though he was still tired. He did not want to waste the day light, he will be able to sleep during the night.

“Good. I bring good news.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” He nodded “You two served me well, so I decided to promote you. I will pay 4s to each of you from now on.”

The elves already did so much and brought him good profit, it was sensible to raise their wages before they started to rebel.

“This is amazing!” “Thank you, Master!” the two were ecstatic to hear this.

Elves could not believe their luck. Every day was hard and gruelling, but their working conditions got better and better. Upon initial agreement they expected no food or clothing to be provided, but the opposite happened. They did not need to pay for food and all tools and equipment were provided for them. The working gear they currently had was quite expensive, being something a poor man couldn’t afford.

Also, they even had their own hut now, which they claimed as home. Most importantly they did not have to pay any rent. The job they have been doing now did not pay much, but the benefits were already quite amazing. The best of them was the opportunity to serve a Master who is this kind.

The elves were well aware how most Masters treated their servants. Their master was the complete opposite of that kind of scum and villains.

“This also means that you will be required to do more demanding tasks. I hope you will not disappoint me.”

“Never.”

“I wound not dare.”

“Good. Here, this is the payment from the last week.” He handed 8 silver coins.

“Not the usual 2?”

“Consider this as a gift to celebrate your promotion.”

“You are the most generous, Master.”

“Thank you!” Ana was coming to hug him but was pushed away gently. “Ah, sorry!”.

“There is no need for that, just work even harder from now on.” He said and then thought to himself. ‘The bribe worked this is good’.

Ana blushed, and nodded in agreement. She realised she overstepped her boundaries, she was a servant and not a friend to him. She forgot that as it did not feel that way at all.

“You two go and help Aiu with whatever she needs. I am heading off to the city.”

The elves waved their master a goodbye.

“What are we going to do with all this money?” Ell asked.

“I am not sure anymore.”

Originally they planned to save enough so they no longer had to live in a slums and move somewhere safer. However they already got that free of charge. The money was stored in a pouch and left outside the hut under the rock, they decided to save it until they thought of something they wanted.

+++++

The house was completed and within it the shop was opened. It was bad for profit to have it in a remote location, but it was very convenient. If he was to purchase a shop in a market place he would need to pay for the night guard, not to mention hauling everything from the forest all the way to the shop. Well, they used to do it anyway and will continue doing so. However, he expected that customers will be willing to come to his remote shop.

He named a shop as Everyday Essentials, a peculiar name for this type of a shop. Stamina potions and expensive oils and extracts were not considered an essential as only a few could afford such luxuries.

He himself currently was not manning the counter as he did not expect any customers any time soon. He was assembling big distillation apparatus for Aiu to distil stuff in large quantities. It was made of thick glassware with some metal tubing and costed a small fortune, it even wasn’t new.

He have sent Ana to sell minor stuff in the market and spread the news of his new shop. Ell was using the multipurpose furnace to bake some hard bread from the flower they have bought in the market. It was a rye bread and it took quite a while to make. A dough for it needed to ferment for a few days before Ell could fire it in an oven.

Aiu was improving her recipe of peanut butter trying to figure out the best way to sweeten it. The honey was probably the best substitute but it was quite expensive.

The doors of the shop opened, a stranded spoke meekly.

“Hello, is anyone here? Hello?”

Guardian heard it and went to check who exactly it was and what they wanted.

“Wow!” The young woman got surprised by the sheer size of the person emerging from the narrow doorway behind the counter. “Are you a guard or a shopkeeper?”

“I am the owner of this place if that is what you wanted to ask.” He did not expect customers so soon.

The shop shelves and counters were empty, displaying no goods at all. He was not prepared to have customers.

“That is perfect then. This place was not easy to find. The path is narrow and underused, also it is dangerous to walk alone in the forest.” The woman started to complain, clearly not too pleased.

He just shrugged it off.

“The elf sent me here, I want to place an order for some herbal soap.”

“Okay.”

“Can you make it smell more flowery and less like herbs? Also, it needs to make the skin soft and smooth.”

“I guess so.” He was not the one making it, it was Aiu.

“Oh and the lady I serve wanted a bottle of perfume. She liked the low price and the nice fragrance of it.”

“The price has increased. The reason for it is that it is very popular with the young ladies. That won’t be a problem will it?”

The price was upped just at this moment. This was a merchant’s trick.

“No no, not at all.”

“It will be 14 silver coins for a bottle. I can fetch it now if you have the money.”

The servant woman put the silver on a counter,

“Aiu! Bring a bottle of perfume for me!” He shouted extremely loudly.

Aiu came rushing with a bottle in her hands. Not sure what was the urgency.

“Aww, what a cute little assistant you have.”

“Pass it to her Aiu. You can come back for soap the day after tomorrow. You asked for something custom made so we do not have anything like that in stores.”

“But of course. I will let my lady know and come back later.”

“How much soap do you need?”

“Oh, the lady will buy a whole batch. But it has to be as I described.”

“Twelve bars it is then.”

‘The lady must bathe a lot.’

The servant took the perfume from Aiu, put it in her bosom and went back to the city.

“Who was that?”

“Our first customer.” He showed the silver they just made.

“Nice! We need to celebrate.”

“Maybe next time. There is so much work to do.”

Incidentally he decided to install one of those bell things so he won’t miss a customer wandering inside. Also, a couple of signs along the way for directions would also help. He decided to leave that task to Ell.

+++

Ana was tasked to take orders from within the market where she was selling minor goods. She would take the order and tell Aiu about it once she was done peddling salves. The next day she would bring it to the market for the customers to pick up their order.

This way customers would not need to leave the city and brave the forest. However, this idea had a minor flaw.

“Oi you, hand over the money!” One of three thugs shouted.

This startled Ana and she tried to flee.

“Catch her!”

The men were quicker than her, the sack and basket she carried slowed her escape. She was caught within seconds.

“You slimy elf!” a man shouted trying to hold Ana within his grasp.

“There is no escape, empty your pockets.”

“Fine, fine. Take everything, but let me go.” She begged terrified for her life.

“We don’t need your permission to do things!”

Ana received a punch in the face knocking her down. The muggers quickly went through her belongings. No, to be precise everything she had belonged to her master.

“Meh… Nothing useful in her sack or basket just stinky herbs.”

“The satchel is full of money though.” one of the muggers said in glee, his fingers clutching silver and copper coins.

“Hahaha. This was easy.”

“You were right in stalking this elf. Just as you said this mere peddler was loaded with money.”

“Men lets go and drink!”

“And eat, and fuck.”

“Hell yeah!”

The mugger kicked Ana in her belly for a good measure and left with his friends to celebrate.

After few minutes Ana stood up shaking the dust from her clothes. She pressed her palm to her face, it was sore, her legs were still shaking from fear. She looked around, the muggers were already gone. There were people further around who saw what happened, but no one dared to interfere. Such was the dire reality in this city, strong will take what they want from the weak.

She collected scattered herbs and small containers of salves.

‘What will I tell to the Master? Will I be punished?’ she was thinking about the worst while slowly walking back towards the forest.

…

A bell rang and a woman with her guard stepped in the shop.

“Hello.”

“Hello.” Guardian greeted the pair.

“I am here for my order”

“Of course. The soap is ready but there was a tiny issue.”

“What is it?” she asked in a voice which was not too pleased. Her lady borrowed her the guard and everything. The servant did not want to bring bad news to her lady.

“Since you asked for something specific it did not turn out as you wished. It was too hard to make something which cleaned, smelled nice and took care of a skin, making it smooth and soft. The soap still cleans and smells nice but the rest… is not as effective as expected.”

“This is not good, but I understand.” She knew that her lady expected too much from a soap and newby alchemists. However, it was her duty to pander to her lady’s wishes.

“My apologies. However, that is not all. Please take this cream for your troubles. You can use it after using the soap and bathing. It will make the skin silky and soft. I hope this pleases you.”

“Soap and cream will do just what the Lady wanted. This should work. How much?”

“This will be 4 silver.”

Guardian handed a box of soap and a box of cream taking the money. The woman and her guard left pleased their job was done.

The bell dinged again.

‘Another customer, so soon.’

“Master. I am sorry, I am so sorry”

It was Ana who stepped in.

“What happened?”

“I got attacked, they took your money. I am so sorry.” She started to cry as soon as she finished her sentence.

“This is not good.”

“So-So-rry.” She bellowed in between her sobs.

Ana waited to be shouted at or even hit, but nothing happened. She braved to raise her head and look at her master, he was just standing there and looking at her. His gaze was distant.

“Will you punish me? What can I do to make up for this.” She braved to ask.

“What? Do not speak nonsense, this was not your fault.”

“But, the money. I lost all of it.”

“You are fine and that is what matter now. I will take care of this matter, do not worry and go to Aiu. Ask her to look at your face. It is all swollen.”

“Yes, Master.” Ana said and rushed to find Aiu fearing that he might change his mind.

“They will pay! I won’t allow my property being damaged.” He said to himself in anger.

…

The next day Ana went to peddle goods like she was used to do. Instead of working in workshop Aiu accompanied her. The plan was to lure the same thugs to attack Ana again and capture one of them. Girls knew that they would not attack if Master was anywhere close, so it was just the two of them. Two young woman posed no threat, or so Aiu wanted them to believe.

The first day was uneventful and nothing happened. Second day was just the same. On the third day Ana noticed that they were being followed to the market.

The thugs were not as dumb as they seemed. They waited for Ana to sell her goods first, it was money they were after not stinky herbs and poultices.

Then the girls were done trading they headed back home. Another man was now shadowing them from the distance.

Just as they crossed a narrow alley two thugs jumped on them, the third one cutting their escape. Ana recognised him from before.

“Hey, money bags! Drop the coins and we will let you go.”

“Are they the same men who attacked you before?” Aiu asked ignoring the thugs.

“No, I haven’t seen these two before. Only him.” She pointed at the man behind them.

“You recognise me? Hahaha. I thought I punched the memory of my face out of you. I will make sure to do a better job this time.”

The man approached Ana clenching his fists.

“Money now! You too, little girl. If you behave I won’t hurt you. I am not a fan of beating the kids up.”

Aiu reached in her satchel pretending to take the coin purse out. The thug was smiling, thinking about the money he will make.

“I am not a kid. Eat Shit!” Aiu took a small flask instead of a purse and threw it towards the thug.

He was caught off guard and it smashed on his chest, splashing sticky and thick liquid on him.

“Whaaaaaaa!” The man yelled in agony as the acid quickly ate through his shirt and then his skin.

“What the hell!” One of the thugs reacted taking a few steps back. He has never seen flesh melting away like this before.

The third thug reacted as well. He pushed ahead trying to punch Aiu from behind. Ana had her back, however. She took identical flask out and threw it at the man.

He knocked it away with his hand by reflex, it got smashed. Acid got on his skin, eating it away.

“To the hells with you!” he shouted in pain.

Aiu did not idle and threw another flask at the man who was further away. He dodged it, flask broke on the cobbles making them sizzle. He had enough, he turned and ran away.

“Ahhhh! Where are you going?” the thug turned and shouted at his friend through the pain. Getting distracted in battle was a mistake, his leg was kicked to the side by an elf. He lost his balance and fell. He tried to break the fall with his injured hand making another regrettable thing. His injured arm slipped and he brushed it on the cobbles smearing sizzling flesh and blood.

“Got what you deserved you scum.”

Ana and Aiu ignored him and approached the one with a sizzling chest, he was laying unconscious. He passed out from pain. Aiu and Ana poured thick soapy substance on his wounds.

The other thug took his chance to flee and catch up with his friend.

“Quickly get the salve and bandages. We need him alive.”

The two patched the outlaw and dragged him towards their home for the interrogation.

The man took some time to wake up, the jug of cold water to his face helped. He found himself bound and still in excruciating pain. It was hard to breathe.

“Rise and shine Mr Crispy.”

“W-what?”

“Does Mr Sizzle sound better?”

“What are you tal…” he shook the water off his face trying to focus his vision on a man speaking nonsense to him.

And then he saw it. A huge monster standing in front of him, it spoke. Usually, monsters did not speak and this terrified him.

“Wha-what are you?” he asked terrified.

“I am asking questions here. You know what this is?” He showed a small vial in between his fingers.

“Yes.” He had an idea by now, it was the same stuff that melted his chest.

“No? Ok. Let me demonstrate.”

“I said I know. I knowwww… Auuuuuuch.” Acid started to eat a hole in his leg.

“You will tell everything I want to know. Or else… You already know, yes?”.

“Yes, yes, yes.”

The information was tortured out of the man. It turned out that while his two other pals were boozing the money away he decided to be smart. He did not wait for his money to run out to plan an attack with his pals, he made a deal with other friends instead. He told his other ‘friends’ about the easy money and in return he will get a bigger cut. He did not want to split it equally again. It had to be at least three people in case elf brought some help or decided to fight back. The tugs knew they will be safe in numbers.

The Guardian wanted revenge and he needed to know where to find the rest of the thugs. It turned out that they had a house where the whole gang would loiter around in. The city guards did not bother them as they were petty thieves and their leader always paid the guards their cut.

Finding all he needed the Guardian punched the man in the chest. He was not holding his punches, the ribcage was shattered and the bones pierced the heart killing the man.

“Now I will dispose of you and the rest of the trash.” He said picking up the fresh corpse, carrying it away deeper into the forest for the beasts to eat. His next task was to do some cleaning in the city.