AotB's Money Guideline

Rion- Currency. Value is at 1 point per coin.

1 Small Copper = 10Rs.

1 Medium Copper = 100Rs

1 Large Copper = 1000Rs

1 Small Silver = 10000Rs

1 Large Silver = 100000Rs

1 Small Gold = 1 million Rs

1 Large Gold = 10 million Rs

So for convenience's sake from now on, it'll be SC, MC, LC, SS, LS, SG and LG.

Working till Legal for Selling

For Main, life was pretty much simple while applying Security in South Gate areas so she could watch out for her family going home to their district.

By 'selling' the skill of Lacework to Corinna for Gilberta's 'unique product' but the skill's Patents belongs to Main as its discoverer, Main earned 5 small gold in very loose change on her insistence for safety in the form of LCs and SS. She also had to create lacework and its many uses in decorations. So without her mother seeing her magic, she used lots of strings which she wove at high speed with her sheer will alone because she could picture the pattern well, and created table covers, accessory trim to valances and curtains and even extra frills on a dress 'Corinna won't miss'.

She also explained when to appropriately apply lace as too much is 'bad taste'. For its simply, accessory. But for now, Corinna won't open a Lacework floor as they have to train on the skill first as it's 'embroidery and weaving merged together' it would be a challenge.

Tuuli's safe, going with their mother to work even if they work on different floors, but same company.

Her father whom she ahem, 'inspired' to train real hard by Earth and Magus standards, is so well-fit and a better fighter than anyone in his force without him knowing it. But if he ever was asked to spar...he might get promoted. Again.

Upon knowing what usual routes her parents use going to the market and what Eifa and Tuuli uses to go to Gilberta, she magicked that too.

When Benno called her out on it since he recognizes her 'signature' from her work...

'Ah, that? It's security.' said Main. 'So nobody will ever do anything.'

Its an intent-based sorcery.

Main created a field where nobody will ask questions relating to their good fortune till it became second-nature, and the other was to prevent attacks by neutralizing hostility.

'One would think you're marking your territory.' Benno deadpanned.

'Well, if you're once, as poor as dirt and then your luck turned about in such a short time, amazement would come at first.' said Main while thanking Mark for the offered Tea. 'Next comes jealousy. Next comes resentment. Last will be hate.' she frowned as the two men present shivered as what kid says stuff like this?! 'I've seen how mothers looked at my sister's baptismal dress, and I've seen how girls looked at my clean sister with cute accessories and fancy hairstyle. They would want what their parents can't get them, so...I fear for bullying someday for Tuuli at work so I'll have to deal with the Production Floors too.' she said.

'Ah, I get it.' Benno twitched.

'Tuuli's safe for now as she works in the Spinner Floors since she knows how to Dye courtesy of Mom. Mom told us that ahem, dirty people who can't afford to wash themselves much nor have time to, never get past the 16th to 15th floor here at work, never getting promoted since dirtying threads and fabric with dirty hands is a big No. Heck, she's a Dyer for six years, never getting to step a foot into the Production Floors until I discovered my wares by accidents.'

In Gilberta Corp or any company working on clothing, the Hierarchy from highest to lowest, is Embroiderers, Designers, Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers.

To even spin threads, you have to be clean. Thus for clean apprentices like Tuuli, she starts as a Spinner...even if she already knew how to weave. Her job as a Spinner is to produce threads out of provided material and she'll start with the basic Poppo thread, this world's much better version of Cotton but more comfy and sweat-absorbent...and a fabric only the lowliest commoner can afford if they 'earned' for it which is why clothing is hand-me-downs and Poppo is 5 MC a yard. Poor folks would rather spend that money on food and rent! Once her skill with Poppo is certified, she would move on to better threads to spin. And if she could perfectly spin her quota of threads with no mistakes, she would be absorbed into the company, and become a Weaver. But for spinners with no skill in Weaving, they don't get promoted.

Naturally if you're skilled in weaving but can't sew...

And as she and Tuuli rapidly grows up due to eating Reinforced Food, the parents will have to buy them new clothes and shoes. Heck, they're the healthiest humans in this city!

'Well, we do sell to nobles and rich folk after all.' said Benno thoughtfully. 'All women in this house are that strict. Then again, that strictness over clothes got us this far, until I created a separate branch that was in my taste though I still handle our original programs.'

'Oh...'

'So that stuff I made is common sense. At least dad can defend himself.'

So Main spent her days mostly Foraging, as her jobs are too easy.

Making soap and shampoo isn't that hard. Its foraging that's kind of physically taxing, but she didn't mind if only to re-train her body. Too bad she only has a year left for this activity, so she created her training tools where she trains physically on the sly.

And she cut her hair as it gets in the way to her family's disbelief.

'YOU CUT YOUR HAIR?!' her family gawked as Main's hair is now shoulder-length. Hime-style.

'It's getting in the way!' Main pointed out. 'I ended up tearing some off in the brambles in the woods so I had to even them out!'

'You didn't have to cut it THAT short!' Tuuli wailed. 'Only boys have hair that short!'

'Huh...?' OK, what part of culture did Main miss?

'Main honey, only boys are allowed to have short hair.' Gunther choked. 'Your length is an inch away shy from raising eyebrows! You could have at least, had the tip of your hair past the armpits!'

'Well, we didn't tell her that...' Eifa face-palmed. And they didn't because they thought she'd be bed-ridden for life. 'Well, now she knows.'

Dammit, Main sighed. She needs to know culture. And soon.

'Er, what else should I know about boys and girls?'

xxx

During foraging...

Main only gathers enough for a whole day to be fair for other poor kids, while reinforcing the sources with her magic so they'd grow quickly for others to get, and plants seeds of edible wild food and instantly grows them in a way that you can pick a lot when its ripe.

However, while fruit is OK, vegetables are something she saw out of that anime Toriko. You need to specially prepare it before consumption. Like that radish she jokingly called 'Mandragoradish' as IT BITES if it sees death incoming and try to bite it off. And it'll hurt that most people who don't know how to cook tends to get 'invalid'-ated if handling it wrong. So in order for it to be unable to bit you, hit it hard with the flat of the blade, knocking it out, so you can slice it.

Yes, slice without peeling it.

Because as you slice it, red spreads on the vegetable as if its like blood. It creeped her out at first. And upon slicing, you can peel off the peels like you would an onion.

Because farm produce is hard to come by, poor had to forage for wild...but sentient food. Heck, there's even mushrooms that sinks into the ground so you have to dig it up!

The anime Toriko got Lord El-Melloi II into a fit of mischief and sought to try creating 'difficult food' by using current vegetables as base just for kicks.

After gathering enough for full tummies, she gathers firewood. Good for arm muscle training.

Rinse and repeat until its too cold to come out.

And preparing food for Winter has never been so better before.

She now has access to alcohol dammit. Spending her own money to buy cooking alcohol by the loads and the only cooking alcohol is Honey Wine. Thing was, men also drink it...

'Honey no! That's for food preservation!' Eifa cried. 'You can get some but not too much!' Sooo when food prep was done, daddy can happily enjoy the alcohol that's left...

xxx

Winter came.

'Oh dear, you two have grown so big...we'll have to make customized clothing soon.' Eifa fretted as her daughters are bigger than average children. 'No shop will sell clothes your size!'

So Eifa spent winter dressmaking. While she and Gunther will never grow any taller or bigger, their daughters do...

By Earth standards, their sizes were normal by western standards. And the clothing of this world is by asian sizes. Main took care in cooking food that's gender-segregated. Good for developing female and male bodies. She wasn't Clock Tower's best healer for nothing!

And every week, she finishes dresses, alternating between Tuuli and Main's sizes.

One day...on a clear winter day...

Time for work.

'Main, aren't you going to pick Paru with me?' Tuuli asked her sister as they dressed for winter.

'Well, why not come with us, Tuuli?' Main told her. 'Picking Paru with helping hands because Gilberta is interested in my Paru Shampoo so Benno's employees will help us out!'

'Huuuh?!'

'Well, we'll split the juice halfway with Benno though, and we get to keep the lees and the shells.'

And Tuuli never imagined she could obtain more Paru than she and her sister can pick combined.

'Well, we got this much!' in Gilberta, the harvested valuable Paru was smuggled to Benno's residence.

'Alrighty! Time to harvest!' Benno grinned as he paid the hired help 'handsomely' for their work. They harvested the juice...and bottled them up, splitting it between Benno and the sisters. They got about, fifty juice bottles that got Tuuli fainting from shock.

Moreover, they got the lees even.

'Well, how's that?' Main grinned. 'My job is cool in winter isn't it?'

'I never thought we can drink as much Paru as we want...' Tuuli choked out. 'It's a dream come true! We're like nobles who can enjoy this every day!' she gushed out dreamily, almost drooling.

Yeah, Main thought wryly. Elixir every day is a dream come true alright...puberty will be wonderful for them both.

Actually, according to Benno, not even Nobles can have this much. Because Paru was so valuable they can never get their servants to pick for them. Rather, they have to get their own too.

Upon producing the valuable Shampoo, the lees were given to Tuuli's friends' family in exchange for poultry.

Come to think of it, its her first time meeting the boys of said family as Tuuli pointed where they live as she has work.

'Hello.' Main smiled as the door opened for her.

'W-whoa! Who are YOU?' Zeke, the second-eldest brother gawked at the beautiful, clean girl outside their door.

Tuuli has lots of ahem, male friends Main feared for the future and drama that this will cause.

Ralph the eldest who was Tuuli's age followed by his twin Zasha, then Zeke who was nine months younger and finally, Lutz who was just her age.

And outside these brothers was pink-haired Fey who was another friend from another family.

Main wondered how the hell can you get pregnant again right after nine months of bearing twins, but alas, that's another mystery of this world. This world throws out what she knows out the literal window.

But having more kids means more access to money for a family if everyone works, which means lifestyle will improve.

'I'm Main, Tuuli's sister.' Main introduced herself.

'Oh, that sickly girl? You're looking better now at least.' Zeke mused, looking at Main awkwardly. 'Never saw you till now so what is it?'

'Well, this, for six big birds.' Main took out a small sack of bird feed, pulling it close to her from her left as it was outside Zeke's doorway vision. Zeke took a look at the feed and gasped.

'Whoa!' Zeke smelled the bag. 'Paru lees? And this much...?'

'Well, mom's employer wanted only the juice when he went Paru picking with his family servants.' Main quipped. 'But they got no use for lees so here we are!'

'Damn that's lucky...' Zeke scratched his head. 'I'll go get you some birds!' and he dashed back in with the sack.

Well, she also hid money in the sack. In the market, one whole bird costs 2 LCs and 5 MCs.

Again, not every commoner can afford meat.

Not even Poultry Farmers can afford to eat their own meat when they sell said meat! They only eat meat sparingly too. So she hid a SS at the bottom of the sack.

'Main, was it? Well the feed you gave us will last throughout the winter now, so we can't accept the next batch, OK?' said Zeke when he got back a minute later.

xxx

At home...

To save up on their pork and to have it different for a change, Main cooked chicken soup for warmth.

Although instead of lees, she pays with money.

And when winter ended...

She started making Auctional Paru Shampoo, with one spare bottle as a sample to showboat to get customers into buying. And to organize such an event, you need lots of food and drink as bidding wars is insane.

And she has one last winter come next year too. All those shells got her twenty-four bottles. Twenty for bidding, one small sample spare for demonstration, one for Benno's family's use and the rest, for her family.

And when her Baptismal came...

Her dress was a copy of Tuuli's that fit her, but the thread on the embroidery went well with her hair, though she made her own hair accessories.

As Main's hair was shorter than Tuuli's, the concubine-style was impossible, so she settled for a fancy headband. A piece of wood Gunther carved to her specifications, covered in cloth with lacework.

And this was one Winter that Gunther could attend as he said, 'I'll really be angry if I can't attend TWO ceremonies! Bad enough I missed Tuuli's!'

xxx

On the week before her big day...

The whole house was cleaned. So clean that they can even sleep on the floor without dirtying their clothes.

Early morning, earlier than usual, they woke up on the crack of dawn.

On the big day, Gunther paid the Bathhouse extra so they could take a bath using their 'special'. And make a big breakfast as the event takes till lunch break.

So upon getting out...her family again, was the center of attention.

The parade began till the square as usual.

Kids waved at everybody as its a world-wide celebration for kids turning seven all over the world thus in cities, a big event like this happens. In villages, children would have to make a trip to the nearest city for the nearest temple for baptism. So its always a big parade from east, west and south main roads of the city, but never the north where the nobles are. And when there's so few children, families bypass the parade and go straight to the temple instead at night to get less attention.

Then the pointy-fingers happens...for obvious reasons.

Just like for Tuuli, Main also got attention for her looks.

In Tuuli's time, word spread of a 'beautiful, doll-like girl'...then there's her, rumor x 2.

Upon getting to the square, Main can see the temple again.

The temple is a building made of white stone that stands taller than the city's outer walls. In fact, it's as tall as the castle ramparts themselves. It's a large, splendid building, but between the long, narrow windows that line its surface and the fact that it's built so that it's almost jutting out from the castle walls themselves, she can't help but wonder if it was originally used as a fortress or if it was even part of the castle walls themselves.

At the plaza, the other two processions assemble as well.

Upon gathering, only then can they go north. To the temple.

From this point on, both the people along the sides of the road as well as the children who join the procession are wearing noticeably different things. It's clear that the cloth itself is worth a lot of money, and even though the outfits are still basically all white, the cuffs and hems are all lavishly embroidered.

After we walk a little ways, Benno's shop comes into sight. Lined up in front, I can see Benno, Mark, and Corinna with her husband Otto, all surrounded by other familiar faces from the shop and she waved at them as she got their congratulations.

Before the several stairs that lead into the temple, guardsmen stand, looking imposing. They wear blue clothing underneath what appear to be simple pieces of armor. There's fine ornamentation on it, and it is polished to the point where it gleams in the light. Coupled with the fact that their clothing is glossy as well, it seems clear that even this is ceremonial.

The enormous double doors loom over us, towering taller than two grown men. Both the doors and the thick wooden gate they're set into, are crafted expertly and carved intricately. The gates have been opened wide, and beyond them is a long white stone plaza stretching ahead. At the end of it is a large, five-story building, and to either side are smaller three-story buildings, all tied together by walkways. All three buildings are built from the same white stone, but only the one in the center has been decorated with carvings and reliefs.

'This is it Maine, good luck!' Tuuli told her sister in a whisper. 'Be very quiet, sounds tend to echo!'