Chapter 8: The bakery and the visit

The following few weeks, Evin's family spent most of their time remodeling their house to look more like a shop. Although their house was quite empty, it was built recently, so it did not look so old and battered.

The family decided to turn one of the rooms into a shop front, and Theor was working on building some furniture and display stands. Lora and Elina were helping around with Theor, while working on creating the trinkets and accessories for the shop. They were mostly items made by knitting wool over metal wires. They also worked on a cloth banner for the shop, for a little marketing venture.

Evin did not have anything to do, so he started thinking of simple and easy things that he could replicate from Earth. Tools and weapons did not seem plausible to make for the time being, so he was thinking of replicating food recipes. The business that the family wished to take on was a bakery after all.

First in his list were cookies and cake, then came bread. This lineup was pretty good for a new bakery, so Evin planned to focus on it. He couldn't create modern cake, since the technology was impossible, but he could create fruit cakes, which were basically bread filled with various fruit pieces. Although the family could not afford to buy sugar in excess, the surrounding area was rich with berries, so that was what they opted to use in the end.

Evin was a bit confused, as there were some berries and fruits that he never saw back on Earth and was a bit overwhelmed, but thankfully, Theor and Lora being very experienced in baking and cooking in general helped a lot with Evin's ideas. Evin only had to pitch the idea, and the two would implement them in the best way possible.

Lora and Theor also said that the things they made were the most delicious pieces of food they ever tasted, so Evin was quite optimistic about the future of their small business.

…

A month after Evin's family became 2nd grade citizens, they opened their bakery to the public. The location of their house was slightly bad, when one considered the whole city, but it was good enough for the local neighborhood.

The first impressions were the most important, so the family decided to sell at half price for the first day. It was hard to not notice the colorful banner that said "BAKERY" and had a little icon of a steaming bread. Next to it was another smaller banner that said "Half-price for today".

The bakery's first customer was Liza, holding little Arza in her arms. The little red-haired devil was giggling loudly as his mother entertained him. Her clothing that was only reserved for 1st grade citizens were quite eye-catching, so Evin was thinking that it was really great of her to come today.

Evin asked her to sit outside on a chair and table, so she could attract people's attention. Although it was a bit chilly outside, it wasn't a big deal for most. Soon after, an elderly lady came close to the house with an inquiring look.

"Is that you, Liza? Been a while since I've seen around these parts," she said, while waddling slowly.

"Elder Nana? How long has it been?" Liza stood up and hugged the old lady.

"What are you doing here? Isn't this Theor's house? Why does it say bakery on top of it?" the old lady bombarded her with questions.

Liza explained the situation briefly and urged her to try out the fruitcake. The old lady bought one slice to try out.

"This tastes well, but you should know that even with a 1st grade citizen supporting it, they officials would not take this matter lightly, you know? There's a reason a 3rd grade citizen doesn't get any customers, it because the officials influence things in the background…" Elder Nana said in a hush.

Liza chuckled when she heard her elder and answered smilingly.

"Elder Nana, Lora and her family became a 2nd grade citizen weeks ago. Theor even quit his job, to help out with this new idea"

"Truly? Oh, that witty lass! I never got the hang of those numbers and multiplications, my rotting brain simply couldn't comprehend them. I suppose the young still have some juice in their heads," Elder Nana said with a smile and a hint of resignation in her eyes. Then, thinking about the matter a bit more, she added.

"Wait, why did these two blasted fools tell no one, then? Who are they trying to surprise, wait here, I'll go tell some of the others. Lowborn people like us need to look out for each other," the old lady declared and waddled away.

Two hours later a line had appeared outside the shop and the new bakers were having trouble meeting with the new demand.

'That old lady's networking abilities are quite impressive,' Evin thought as he spectated from one of the seats.

…

Long story short, the bakery did great, since it was the only one in the area. Lora's trinkets also sold well. They were quite cheap, and given their nice aesthetics, it was a popular item in the area.

Half a year passed since then, and Evin finally had the leisure to grow up without experiencing constant hunger and feebleness.

He now patiently awaited Aran's arrival, so he could get his mage studies started. He tried looking for books on mage studies, but found that no bookstore sold anything relating to magic, anywhere in the city. He once tried approaching the Mage Association building in the town with Lora, but was refused at the gates.

He then tried asking Liza, but the latter explained that information about magic was strictly confined due to the efforts of the crown. She even said that even Aran wasn't allowed to divulge any information to his wife, as the consequences would be dire. Apparently, rogue mages became a big problem at some point in the Empire's history, so there was a similar situation in most of the countries.

Evin could only give up for the time being and focus on other things. He decided to learn Imperial in his spare time as it was like the English language for this world. Unlike the Kingdom's language of dots and lines, this one had proper letters and everything, so it took Evin a bit longer to grasp with the added cacophony of useless grammar and lexicon.

The dot like language was much easier to grasp since Evin already knew the words and there weren't any confusing rules in it. The downside of that language was that it took way much time to write, as every dot and line had to be separately inputted.

But trouble came to find Evin's family as a gigantic man came inside the family bakery one day. The man struggled to fit through the small household's doorway and seemed to grumble about the small size under his breath.

Looking at the man's stature, Evin could not help but feel intimidated.

"Norna?" Theor asked incredulously.

Evin felt that he heard the name somewhere and realized that it was the inn owner that tried to marry Elina.

"Hey, Theor, thought I'd drop by to check whether you were fine or not, but didn't expect to see you running a bakery! You sure the citizenship officials won't find trouble with you all?" Norna said in his loud voice, not even bothering to hide his disdain.

"Oh, after I've left the job, we decided to take on the citizenship exam. Luckily, Lora managed to pass, and that gave us the confidence to start a business. We're thriving, I tell you. I would've told you about it, but the customers kept me busy all this time, sorry about that, eh?" Theor replied with a smile. He didn't need to grovel before this man in front of him anymore, as they were equals now.

"Is that so? How lucky. Oh, is that the mage kid that you were talking about?" Norna saw Evin and started walking towards the baby on a chair, surrounded by a stack of papers.

"How are you understanding those things, little guy? Want me to teach you some of them?" Norna asked and tried to lift Evin up. Evin tried to protest, but the man was too quick for him to say anything. His huge hands were almost as big as Evin's whole body, a single crunch from the man would surely kill Evin. Evin felt extremely vulnerable in such a state, so he started wailing for his father to come pick him up.

No one else other than Evin's family knew that he could talk, and he wanted it to keep it that way.

"Let me hold him, he doesn't like stranger that much," Theor said and went to Norna.

But something unexpected happened before Evin was delivered to safety. Norna tried to walk towards Theor, but he stumbled on nothing and threw Evin off in the process.

'What the fuck is wrong with this man?' Evin's thoughts raced as his hands went towards his head in an attempt to protect it. Theor rushed in to save the boy, but he was simply too far away from Evin.

As Evin braced himself for the hard-wooden floor, he instead fell into the soft embrace of someone. Looking at the owner of those arms, Evin sighed in relief inside his head.

'Elina, I love you'

Elina had hidden out of sight, when she first noticed the towering man approach the house. But she felt something amiss with the way Norna looked at Evin when he was holding him. Something dangerous. She rushed to Evin's side and managed to save the boy from an injury.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Theor raged at Norna the very next second.

"Chill out, friend, I just stumbled on something. Besides, Elina saved the boy, so everything's fine in the end," Norna replied nonchalantly as he stared at Elina with a cold gaze.

Being looked at by the man, Elina's knees shuddered with fear. Evin could feel the girl's hands beginning to sweat almost instantly, as she tried to look away.

'There's definitely something more that happened between them. Or else she wouldn't react so strongly,' Evin thought when he noticed the state that Elina was in.

"Get out of my shop! And don't come back, you fucking dog!" shouted Theor.

"What the fuck did you say to me?! I dare you to say that again, you little bitch!" his former cook talking back to him seemed to irk the man, as he shouted a threat in response.

"We're equals now, Norna, you don't have the right to threaten me," Theor replied coldly.

Norna's eyes thinned into slits, and he silently walked towards the door. He muttered something under his breath and slammed the door behind him.

"What is up with that guy?" Evin asked after Norna left. He got up to his feet and checked on Elina's condition. Elina's shaking seemed to die out, but her back was soaked in cold sweat and she was having trouble breathing.

"That's my former boss, don't worry, he won't come to find trouble with us again," Theor said and helped Elina up to her feet.

Evin was fine, albeit a bit shocked, so he told his father didn't really need any help. Theor was relieved that Evin was fine, but Elina wasn't doing that well, so he helped the girl walk to the girls' room.

Left behind alone, Evin cursed himself for his weakness.

'It sucks to be a fucking toddler. I wish I could grow up already, or at least I should learn how to use magic so I can fight back against these sub-humans,' Evin thought with a shudder. He truly felt powerless inside the palm of the man. Calming himself down, he started thinking about the situation.

'Something tells me that this won't be the last of this… Even if I'm wrong, it doesn't hurt to be prepared,' he decided and started thinking of what to do next.

He talked to Lora and Theor and convinced them to carry their most important belongings to Liza's house, just in case. It was mostly cash and documents, so it wasn't that difficult of a task.

…