Fifth Problem: What to spend on

Fran cannot come in winter. But Ferdinand can predict how the family will spend their time there. Doing crafts. So its pointless sending Fran during the worst time of the year.

But he benefited from it all.

He learned how commoners work by observing Myne's Family as well as families near hers using spies.

Only Myne's family and home were the clean ones. Other than different in doing things. Myne's Family was creative in making their life better, while other families are in a set routine that won't make things better.

Those woven hairpins and combs, are mass-produced as they speak, and the market price was four small silver per crafted flower hairpin. Now how many will that family make and sell come springtime? Not only that, Myne also makes clothes.

Due to poverty, responsibility, hard work and diligence is instilled in children at a young age as survival is on the line. They were taught how to work as soon as they can talk and work those limbs. Thus even kids as early as five go to work, foraging for forest edibles and helping out in chores, or assisting parents in work.

Wealthy and noble children on the other hand...are not so impressive in comparison.

Unable to do anything without servants/attendants. Failures at life.

So maybe this was why he got those visions. The orphanage has become intolerable to whoever showed him those visions and something must be done.

Or get divine punishment for not taking action.

Thus he ordered the Southern Gate to send Captain Gunther to his office after one clear day.

He's clean, fair-skinned with vibrant glossy hair. His uniform is patchwork, giving his appearance some form of incongruity. At least he keeps his spear in mint condition.

'High Priest summons this humble Squad Captain?' Gunther saluted properly.

'Yes. You may sit.' said Ferdinand as Gunther looked sheepish before looking for a chair, but Fran offered him one so Gunther gave him his kind thanks. 'We are here to talk about your daughter, Myne.'

'Myne? What about her?' Gunther asked, perplexed.

'Your daughter possess the divine blessing of mana...powerful enough to become a Blue Priestess for the Temple.' Gunther choked at his words.

Blue Priests are nobles. Gray Priests are orphans who work thankless jobs without pay!

And Myne has mana of such levels she was along the caliber of Blue Priests?

Normally, Gunther is against that as being a priest would mean Myne must become an orphan even if she has family still around!

But High Priest will make her a Blue Priest like himself?

'We priests dedicate mana for religious ceremonies to keep our lands fertile for sustenance and offer prayers to the Gods. But only those with Mana can perform such duties.' he said. 'And many of our priests...retired at such a bad timing as you can see that you hardly see people around.' he sighed. 'The fewer we are the less power we can give. You can see its effect on the local markets.'

The truth is a lot different...not that Ferdinand will tell this guy that.

The country is still reeling from the aftermath of a coup years back that there was a purge of evil nobles. To fill the gap, a lot of blue priests are called back to join the noble's society again.

'...come to think of it...' Gunther frowned. 'But does my daughter really have the ability to use mana...she was normal and never showed anything magical so far.' he wondered aloud, perplexed.

'Yes. We sensed a large amount of mana last year's baptism.' said Ferdinand. 'We traced it outside...and its your daughter. We looked into your family's background to make sure things add up and you have a clean background before we can let her in here. And we have to discuss it with the Aub to allow her to become a Blue Priestess with benefits and protection it entails out of necessity.'

'But will she be alright? She recently recovered...' Gunther fretted with worry. 'Feverish for three years and suddenly she's OK...but she was stunted in growth as a result...it's only recently she could eat well and get some inches in her height.' that just confirmed that Myne has the Devouring Illness.

'Yes. We will assign her to be Orphanage Director. Our last one went to get married, so it should be an easy job for Myne.' get married...riiiight...

'Well, as a father, you understand my worries. I'm just glad Myne even had the incredulously, uniquely unusual opportunity to be a Blue Priest despite not being a noble.' said Gunther. 'I hope Myne has a salary from her job and she gets to go home like a normal person after office hours.' he said. 'That's my only hope. I want Myne to live normally even if she really does have magic.' he requested. 'Come to think of it, how do we even test if she had any?'

'We will test her next autumn.' said Ferdinand. 'She is using her powers so she is not at her full strength.'

'Eh?!'

'She brings home unknown goods from foraging. Things your wife and daughter doesn't know...yet she knows how to prepare it for edible consumption with just a touch.' Ferdinand cited an example. 'And she uses her powers to cheat in foraging by making a source keep growing ingredients she likes as she is clearly fond of mushrooms...she forces their proliferation and growth.' Gunther was understandably shocked. 'Then when you're not around? She cleans your house and cooking kiln with a snap of her fingers and all dust and grime would gather into a ball, and she throws it out the window with a wave of her hand while keeping Ash for a future project.'

That was what Ferdinand sees through Fran when Myne thought she's alone.

Gunther looked ready to faint.

Ferdinand decided to show this poor parent mercy.

'Myne never said anything...'

'Children have understandable fears as commoners usually don't know magic exists.' Ferdinand said as if that explained everything. 'Tell Myne not to use any more of her powers for a full testing of her magic limits next year.'

'Yes sir...oh yes, one last thing...my daughter is a soon-to-be seven year old...and you're making her Orphanage Director?' Gunther asked him. 'Why is that?'

'Well, nobody's available for the job for one thing.' said Ferdinand. 'And given your daughter...she would know what to do instantly and I can trust her with the funding from the allocated budget as I have foreseen.'

Gunther knew something was up, if the priest said he trusts his daughter with orphans' funding yet he cannot trust his fellow priests with it...?

That's...not reassuring at all...

'By the way, where is she usually?'

'Well, she's out on her first Winter Foraging, harvesting Paru Fruit...its popular for us commoners.' said Gunther. 'Its the only sweets we ever get in just one season for free on a rare clear winter day, but it's really tough to get that getting three is already considered lucky even for adults. But we'll share it fairly however we can.'

'...Paru Fruit huh...?'

It was then Fran understood that on next clear day...he'll go spying to satisfy his master's curiosity. "Aaaaahhh I knew it!"

xxx

Next Day...

At the forests that early morning...

Children had gone out for Paru Hunting.

It's Myne's first Paru Hunting that she came out with her sister and her friends.

'Myne stop if you're feeling bad OK? Harvesting Paru is a really tough job!' said Tuuli worriedly.

'OK.'

'Between us, we should be able to get two each like daddy and I used to. It takes time and effort to get just one within the time limit I told you about.'

'OK!' Myne chimed. 'Two shouldn't push me so hard.' she said confidently.

'Atta girl Myne! We'll make a fine forager out of you yet!' said Zasha encouragingly, Ralph and Lutz' older brother. 'Paru Picking is a rite of passage for foragers! Bringing one home alone makes you a fine forager!'

'Let's split!' and groups of siblings split up to look for their own trees.

From afar, Fran had to watch but unable to come near unless given opportunity. He would watch the sisters climb a tree made of pure ice without fear, take off their mittens, and rub on the icy branches as Gunther explained yesterday...until the branches break. It really takes a long while just to get one!

Once the girls had four, making Myne cry due to how raw her hands were from cold...

'My hands are like yours from last year!' Myne sniffled, her palms raw red making Tuuli force a smile on herself as Myne experienced the pains of getting a luxury item. 'This hurts a lot from cold!'

'Don't worry Myne, like last year, these painful hands will be OK when we drink Paru Juice. It'll heal instantly!' Tuuli reassured her. 'So this is all worth it! You'll see, it'll heal when we drink!'

'M'kay...' the sisters went home, happy with their harvest of four Paru as this means each member of the family gets one.

At home, Fran watched how they get the juice and pour it into four separate mugs per family member and they happily had it together and have satisfied looks on their faces.

Myne looked at her hands as the injury she got, was healed in seconds. 'Oh!'

'See? Told you!' Tuuli chimed.

Next day again, Fran brought home three Parus. One for himself to heal his hands and one for study, that Ferdinand shut himself in his quarters...

xxx

Spring has come.

They made ten of every design, carefully stored in baskets and the family as a whole with Otto's help, carried everything to Gilberta Company through a back door.

'Oh wow!' Corinna gasped out as she saw all hairpins and combs laid out before her. 'And you made ten of every flower in various designs?!'

'Yes.' said Effa. 'Based on design, how much would they sell based on Commission?'

'I told you before that the hairpin you showed me costs 4 small silver...that was already the commission.' said Corinna, looking at the hairpins. 'Its market price is eight small silver as decided by the Merchants' Guild so it's 50-50 between you and Gilberta Corp. But these hairpins you brought are of even better quality! Your daughters are wasted as weavers when they can make a better living with these.' she said, admiring the hairpins and combs at how such a luxurious good they were~

'These things you brought me, can go as far as 1 large silver and six small silver for combs, while for hairpins it's nine small silver for your commission. These are already luxury goods by standards.' she said as Myne had...slowly manipulated her mother and sister into making combs and hairpins geisha would wear to sell better...

But not even she saw this coming.

'EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH?!' the whole family squawked in shock at getting to earn nearly a large gold in total which was rare even for them, causing Otto to laugh.

'Come on Captain! Surely you saw that coming!' Otto laughed. 'If I was still a merchant I'd secure myself an in to get to sell your wares since they're a steal in the market!'

'O-oh wow...to earn so much just for making combs and hairpins...?'

'One piece of advice though...these are all for adult women, make some for children too.' said Corinna as she waved one hairpin about. 'Rich little ladies cannot wear these, too adult. And for nobles to buy these so prices will go up, buy high-quality threads in your work for the price to reach 9 large silver levels in market price.'

xxx

Upon earning a lot from Gilberta Corp, the family left with smiles on their faces.

'Wow, we earned a lot today.' said Tuuli as they made ten of everything the whole winter as they can make two pieces per day. And there's five weeks in a month, so that's 35 days and three months per season. Their mother makes the combs while the girls do a type of hairpin each. They made a fortune just now! They made a total of 26,250,000 or 2 large gold, 6 small gold, 2 large silver and 5 small silver all in all.

But fearful of owning gold, Gunther requested all that be converted into small silver for peace of mind. So their parents' pouches now have half of 2625 small silver.

'Wow, I never dreamed we'd ever get to hold such an amount of money...thanks to bits of wood and crafted string.' Gunther croaked out, still in a daze.

'...can we replace stuff at home?' Myne suggested. 'Our bed. Our shoes. Kitchen tools. Knives. More containers. And repairs on everything.'

'Yeah, we can afford that now.' Effa agreed. 'And we can buy dad a new uniform set or three. Soldier Uniforms are so expensive...his patchwork uniform is what keeps him from rising in rank. Its our problem for years.'

'Yeah but uniforms are no joke, so we had to make do.' said Gunther. 'Tuuli, have you learned how to write and math yet in your apprenticeship?'

'Yes, but with every other day meetings, we make little progress even if I learn quick, but the problem is my peers who learn too slow.' Tuuli sighed. 'Math is easier.'

Myne thought that had Tuuli remained malnourished, her learning progress will remain slow. But since eating well and healed by Paru, she reaps the benefits of a strong body hence.

'Then I'll buy you and Myne a writing slate and a can of slate pencils so you can teach her at home and a used calculator.'

'Let's make a list of priority list.' said Effa. 'Top-most need is daddy's uniforms, socks and new boots.' she said firmly. 'I'm just glad armor and weapons is government expense or not even we'd know how to afford that...' she shuddered at the idea. 'We should also save up for a better place. So when the girls are ten years old, they would need their own bedroom separate from us parents.'

'Yeah, we gotta think about that...' Gunther muttered as they would need a better place soon too.

Thus they made a list by order of priority.

- Gunther's new Uniforms and Boots: 3 sets

- New and Complete Kitchenware, Cookware and Diningware

- Cleaning tools and equipment

- House Repairs

- New containers and basins

- Bedding

- Tuuli and Myne's learning sets

- Numerous thread spools of many colors

- The remaining money on food

- Scoping out for a new residence

'Sooo this is our priority! Let's all do shopping on the next Earth Day!' Gunther declared. 'I'll buy my uniform in my office today, a set costs about three large silver.' he said with a shiver. 'We'd best get that out of the way.'

'Right!'