"Another great day!" a 27-year-old man said to the rising sun and the sea. 

"Oh, Kristoffer. Just finished your daily jogging?" 

The man named Kristoffer turned and saw an old lady. 

He had known her for twenty years now, always up early to fetch the fruits of the sea. Well, the fruits of the fishermen's hard labor, to be precise. 

"You know it!" Kristoffer answered, then scratched his head. "Well, you call this jogging, but all I do is run along the harbor once, then twice to go back. I have a bakery to keep an eye on, and I don't have the luxury to be away for too long. It's just essentially stretching."

The old lady snickered, her short gray hair swaying with the salty flurry of wind.

"It's fortunate that I'm always disappointed after daydreaming about your house being on fire every time you leave it. Good thing you thought of hiring an orphan to watch your oven!"

Kristoffer froze, his face plastered with an awkward smile.

"Ohoho, please don't think I have a grudge on you or anything."

"Uh, no worries. One shouldn't take the Flame Tamer's words too personally."

Some kids had their pyromaniac days too, and he was one of them, so he understood the feeling at least a little.

"Ohoho, I know it was a bad joke, but at my age, you wouldn't know what would come out of this mouth of mine."

Kristoffer felt his eye twitch. He was no stranger to this town's history after all, including hers.

"If I recall correctly, even at your 50's you were already threatening nobles about burning their carriages and yelling curses at everyone who didn't agree with you." 

"What the fck did you just say, dear?"

"Nothing!" Kristoffer looked away from that wicked smile that could burn him even in his dreams, "Oh, look at the time, I have to return and sell bread, bye!"

 

.

.

.

 

Smoke.

When Kristoffer returned home, there was smoke coming out of his window.

His face was the very picture of fear as he sprinted through his front door. Inside, a 13-year-old boy was holding an empty bucket in front of a drenched baking oven, still fuming with smoke. Not far away, a little book titled "The Water Mage's Battle Against Hell's Invasion" was lying on the floor, just beside a stool where Kristoffer left the boy minutes ago.

"What the hell just happened?" Kristoffer asked with his eyes wide.

"I just destroyed hell with a couple of buckets," the boy smiled awkwardly.

A fist dropped on the boy's head.

"Ouch! Hey, what was that for!?"

"You freaking burned my bread! And almost, almost, caught my house ablaze as well. Weren't you supposed to "guard the oven with your life," as you claimed earlier?"

"I did, and I triumphed against the hellfire invasion. Why are you not satisfied that nothing worse happened?" the boy folded his arms, annoyed, but there was a hint of an apology somewhere in his eyes.

When Kristoffer's glare penetrated the boy's wall of confidence, the latter finally apologized. "I can't help it. I was getting to the good part." 

They both eyed the lonely book under the stool.

"Please don't fire me." The kid was about to cry. 

Don't cry here, kid! I'm supposed to be the one tearing up because something almost happened to my house! 

"Hello there!"

A glare and a pair of teary eyes swung towards the source of the new voice. It was a halfling woman. Her height and overall looks could also pass as a human girl if she did not claim otherwise. 

"I saw the smoke then caught you running inside. And here I almost thought you started making barbecue wraps," said the halfling, showing a saddened smile. 

Kristoffer, on the other hand, showed a bright smile upon seeing her.

"If it isn't Quill. What can I do for you today?" Despite the thwarted crisis, he can't help but cheer up in front of Quill. She's done him a lot of favors in the past. Yet, he's always amused at how she did not look any older after all these years.

Quill's sad smile quickly turned bright at the sight of his own. "Right..." Her eyes darted around the display, looking at the freshly baked goods, which were unfortunately still in quite limited choices at just three.

"I think I'll skip on bread today." Quill glanced at the kid, "Unfortunately, it seems you've already handled the situation."

Unable to blame anyone, Kristoffer could only query himself why he was surrounded by sadists who want for his bakery to burn down.

"Hey, Shota, I know how novels are nice and all, but you should secure some insurance just in case you don't want things like this to happen again."

"My name's not Shota! It's Shawn. What does that name even mean?"

Quill didn't answer and just revealed an all-knowing smile. Then two girls came. These two worked at the inn closeby and sometimes arrived to buy bread to sell later on as part of their breakfast menu.

"Ara ara, don't get mad at her, Shota," the one with the shorter hair tried to calm him down. The one with hair reaching down to her waist faced Kristoffer. "We heard something about a novel. Did something happen, Kristoff?"

Customers standing outside had an open view of the oven, so answering that question should be unnecessary. He just bowed and swept an arm towards the blackened baking oven as if pretending to be a professional butler.

The two girls shot the boy a reprimanding glare. "It seems we need to punish you again." For some reason, it sounded a bit different due to those nasty smiles. It came off as something more intimate.

"Ara ara intensifies," Quill said, mostly to herself while looking a bit nostalgic. "As a tip, why not try putting a bookmark every three pages or so, and when you reach them, it'll be like a reminder to take a look at the work's progress and such. You shall only need one bookmark, then transfer them every time you checked."

The blushing boy broke contact with the two girls' eyes and glimmered at Quill's advice. "Good thinking! You're a genius, Quill."

Kristoffer snorted. "I agree. I was planning on banning the book, but that could work too."

"He will need something to pass the time at his next workplace after all," she said.

"Eh?" baffled voices shot out from the two males.

Quill's expression transformed into something that Kristoffer would not desire to see directed at him. The cheerfulness was gone, smoothly replaced by an exasperatedly neutral face.

And when you see Quill having a neutral expression, that usually meant she's irritated or angry.

She jumped over the display of bread and beautifully executed a front flip without even disturbing a speck of dust or committing a sound as she landed just in front of Shota, dawning down on the boy's face like a predator eyeing a curious stone statue. "You have a problem with that?"

"None at all, Ma'am," Shota whimpered.

"Good. Burning bread is fine. But a house? And possibly houses of other innocent people? Not so fine."

"But I- mph."

Shota tried to talk back, prompting Quill to squeeze his face, effectively shutting him up.

"Kristoff."

Two dangerous dark holes stared at him. "... Yes?"

"It seems to me that this kid doesn't realize the horror that he almost committed. But since he's only a kid and only partially responsible," somehow implying that he's also to blame for hiring an ignorant kid, "I'll only be taking him for some re-education. As for you, yes, this is a good opportunity."

"Pardon?"

She almost mumbled the last part. Kristoffer stretched his ears, not wanting to 'miss out' on anything she said when she's this serious. A grin suddenly carved itself on Quill's face, almost forcing Kristoffer to step back when he saw shark-like teeth ready to pounce on anyone in the room. "It's a surprise."

Oh, Kristoffer liked surprises, unless it's a punishment!

Quill snapped her fingers. Before Kristoffer knew it, the two girls were already behind him in a blink, kneeling on either side. He almost toppled in surprise, if not for the fact that his fear of Quill was making him plant himself to the floor. Quill shot an unapproving glare, the two not noticing as they were bowing their heads.

"Take this boy back to the orphanage and tell the director we'll be 'borrowing' him later on," she said, gently shoving the kid towards the two.

"As you wish, boss," they both answered.

The halfling then slid onto Kristoffer's side and patted his shoulder. "Sorry about this, but as you know, my gang hires a variety of people. This boy will be happy to meet my nightingale friend later."

"A pet bird?" he asked, confused. Why would Quill introduce a bird to Shota?

"...That magically induces nightmares," she added. Kristoffer didn't know why he did not avert his eyes at the time but seeing that smile was already half a nightmare. Thankfully, he already got used to her tendencies over the years.

Kristoffer was now aware of what Quill needed the kid for, but he wouldn't comment on it.

"We'll be careful not to break him," said the short-haired girl as she grabbed Shota, licking her lips. "A healing session shall be underway shortly after."

Now he wished he could swap places with the kid. The little boy didn't seem to struggle anymore after hearing that too.

Kristoffer and Quill shared a look. "You want to swap places with the boy?"

He grabbed his face, trying to feel what his face looked like; was he grinning stupidly?

"Uh, no, it was your eyes. They were looking on with envy," Quill said.

"Ew, we'd rather have a boy than a man in his 20's," said the short-haired hugging Shota.

That comment hurt, but the other girl quickly added, "Fina doesn't mean what she said. You're handsome, but people have their favorites. Am I right?"

"Yes, whatever, Dina," Fina answered lazily.

Kristoffer thanked Dina in his mind for salvaging his pride.

Quill was watching on with boredom and decided that it's time to wrap things up. "Okay! We'll leave you on your own now, sorry for keeping you. Do you need help with cleaning up? I'd be willing to share some of my boys for some copper," she offers, making a money sign with her hand. 

It's a tempting offer from Quill, who, as always, was appreciated for her helpful services. Additionally, 'some copper' definitely meant crazy cheap. Aside from cleaning, he also needed a hand on restarting and finishing the bread. Although, that would probably mean scary men in his abode.

Kristoffer instinctively shot a glance at his door and finally discovered how the two girls managed to get in and what the disapproving glare earlier was for: his door was barely off its hinges!

"Thanks for the offer. However, I'd like my door repaired instead, please," Kristoffer managed with a calm tone but inside was a mix of emotions--mainly irk.

"You heard him, Fina," said Dina, smirking.

"UwU, but isn't it Dina who suggested that we need to kick down the door the next time boss calls for us?" Fina defended.

"I did, but I also said that at the time after we raided a bandit's den, not a bakery!"

Their little boss strode past them and went outside, literally steaming a bit.

As an entrepreneur himself, Kristoffer could understand this feeling. "Instead of gaining coin, she's the one who had to give up the coin," he nodded.

Dina and Fina's faces dropped as they realized how grave it is they have done. The two raced towards their boss, making excuses, and promised to cover the cost themselves. The mention of the latter brought quite a satisfactory result.

All that's left was to clean up and continue baking. Hopefully, the repairmen would arrive early.

 

---

 

Inside a large office, Quill sat on her comfy presidential chair as she listened to Fina and Dina's report about safely returning Shota to the orphanage.

"Boss, that Kristoff, he's quite a tough cookie, ain't he?" Dina said.

"Yeah!" Fina nodded. "Never until now have I seen someone so calm in front of the boss when she's like that." 

Both Dina and Fina have been in this town for a couple of years already. Yet, it seemed Dina and Fina still find it a mystery how some people are not afraid of her. She's the harbinger of death, something that not a thousand soldiers, not even the current hero, could defeat. A natural disaster!

Well, even natural disasters like floods or earthquakes would not be cruel to every living being, right?  

Raising her head from a small pile of documents, Quill smiled at them. "Kristoffer's door, please."

The air in the room shook and the two girls scattered like little cubs.

Despite being so far away, their sensitive hearing could still hear Quill chuckling to herself and saying, "If only they knew why."

They were curious. But that curiosity faded away as they finally reached the blacksmith's workshop.

All this time, Dina and Fina never realized that their boss had a dangerous temptation. The temptation of revealing all her secrets had always been knocking on Quill's mind. If it ever got out, the world wouldn't ever look the same.