"...Hey, where'd she go?" asked the geezer.

---

Urge to explore overpowering her anxiety, Lina was trying to keep her bearings in the crowd. Feeling claustrophobic, she was able to squeeze her way down some roads with less traffic, letting the sights and sounds of the city engross her. It reminded her of the festival and feast on Melonberry just the other day, but there didn't seem to be any occasion. Less drinking, for instance.

Heading down one street, windows began catching her eye, laden with goods placed to do exactly that. Lina found herself jumping from window to window gawking at fabulous dresses, fancy firearms, gleaming jewelry, ticking clocks, detailed antiques... She spent a bit too much time looking at one window with cookware, but for the first time she actually took a look at the prices, sobering her enthusiasm. 9800 beli for a skillet!? That made the Azure Company and their sugar prices seem almost fair. She had to get to the bottom of this.

Storming in...the store was actually pretty quiet on the inside. Lina immediately felt a little bad, muttering, "Excuse me," as she entered.

"May I help you young lady?" A man seemed to skid to a stop in front of her, his hair shaped like two handles as they curled away from the sides of his head.

Lina flinched, before beginning, "Ah, well..." Pointing to the window display, she said, "That stuff's pretty overpriced, don't you think?"

"Not in the least!" cheered the man, clapping his hands together. Grabbing a saucepan, he flipped it in his hands, insisting, "We have a personal blacksmith that takes care of our orders: these pans could pass as a suit of armor if you wore them the right way, ohohoho!"

Lina eye twitched, "Why would you need something like that?"

"Soup!"

"Just what kind of soup do you make!?"

"Over my lifetime? So much!" He mumbled, "It keeps for a while and it's easy to reheat, so..." Shaking his head, he spun the saucepan, chortling, "And when you have a pot that could very well outlast you, why buy ten 720 beli pans, when you can get this one for 6000 beli?" His face was stuck in his excited expression, but Lina was still unimpressed. Face falling, he made a jab with the saucepan. "Our cheaper stuff is over there."

A bit awkwardly, Lina went over to take a look, finding more normal cookware. She mumbled, "Not like I have much money in the first place..."

"Is that so?" came a woman's voice. Looking up, Lina saw a heavyset lady with her face caked in makeup, a bag of groceries in one hand and another resting on a rack of wooden stirring spoons. Putting a finger to her lip, she giggled, "I was just thinking a cute girl like you would be perfect. Would you be interested in a job?"

"E-eh? Er, I'm not sure..."

"Parents wouldn't allow it?" the woman sighed, noting, "I don't understand that mindset. This is Kesrizu..."

Not sure what the island had to do with it, Lina admitted, "Well, I'm kind new here, but I've only really worked as a cook and a...babysitter." She had almost added, 'bodyguard', which was the closet thing she could think of to that skillset. Despite her sword and rifle, the woman didn't seem to question it.

"Don't worry about that then. Those mafia types may be up to some nasty things, but it's pretty safe here. They say that 'spending money to get someone to do something' is the highest form of power, or something silly like that, but there's always people looking for workers! I'd bet that Kesrizu has the biggest job market in the North! Even if it is mostly under the table stuff. Lots of legal tape..."

"Ah, that sounds...good?" Lina replied. What could possibly go wrong?