Living is hard

A gold coin, I could start a whole new life with this!

At work, I studied it closely. The crest of an organization was stamped on it. The Kingdom's crest? I thought the silhouette of the King or the national animal would be on this...

"Hey, brat."

I quickly returned the coin into the satchel around my neck and tucked it inside my clothes.

Musias entered the barn behind me.

"I got somewhere to be, you'll take care of the pigs for me, yeah?"

He was becoming less polite with his requests lately.

"Ummm..." I calculated how long it would take in my brain, today they'd be having a job fair at the town hall. Even if the odds of being hired was low...

I nodded, my eyes dulling. Last time they didn't have any jobs for me.

Musias ended up getting caught trying to skip so we ended up feeding the pigs together.

My thoughts drifted as I poured buckets of slop into the feeder.

I slipped in a puddle of slop that must have spilled out from the full bucket and fell backwards into the feeding, at the same time, Musias was letting the pigs back in.

"W-wait!"

"Huh?" He turned around and his eyes widened. "You idiot! Get outta there now!"

The pigs came running.

I got up, ran towards the fence and corkscrew flipped onto my ass.

Musias ran over to check on me.

"You good?"

My chest heaved.

Tulip who was nearby came over after hearing the commotion as did our boss.

While Musias was cussed out, the boss told me to use the shower outback to wash the slop off, a change of clothes was provided for me as well.

When was the last time I flipped like that? Ah that's right, since I was born... I had nearly forgotten that rush, although I didn't stick the landing.

Tulip washed my clothes not too far away,

"HEY!"

but ended up leaving after being called away by one of the other farmhands for help, but not before hanging my things to dry.

I craned my neck to see a familiar goat racing for the hills.

Veryn had escaped again.

When I got out, my clothes were hanging on a line but the satchel was missing.

"Huh?"

Tulip had just returned. "Something wrong?"

"Umm...I had a money satchel here..."

Tulip blinked at me blankly.

"Money satchel? I saw Musias swinging one when he finished work just now." One of the new farmhands overheard and announced it to me as he walked the goats back.

My face paled.

"Where did he go?"

They shrugged.

No! My sanity ticket!

I booked it and ran towards the entrance.

"Oh, Candy would you like to bring home a bottle-

Boss was milking the cows when I sped past.

"I'msorrysomethingcameupandIhavetogo!"

I made it back to town in time only to see Musias entering a carriage. It sped off.

"No!!!"

I used one of the stands as launch pad to jump onto the roof, I followed the carriage, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, my eyes glued to the carriage I didn't notice when the buildings ended and fell.

I landed in the lap of an adult male who was eating on the balcony of the cafes.

I scrambled out of his lap and dipped my head.

"Forgive me!"

I hurried to the edge of the balcony to scan the area for the carriage only to get pulled away by the man's companion.

I was hauled backwards by the neck when I swung a leg over the rails to pursue.

"No matter how hard life is, suicide isn't the answer!"

"I'm not suicidal!"

I was pulled back and tucked under his arm like a pillow. He was a tall young man with feminine crystal blue eyes and long blonde hair.

"There, there now..."

"Please put me down!"

People stared as he and his companion casually paid for their order and left while I kicked and screamed.

I was set down outside the store, feeling helpless.

"There, there, go on now little girl."

Bitter, I stamped on his foot, my small feet did no damage though.

The man stared at my foot and blinked.

"What are you doing?"

"Because of you I lost sight of the thief that stole my savings!" I held out my hand. "Compensation!"

"I see..." Understanding dawned on the man's face.

"How much?"

"One gold coin, thirty silver and fifteen copper."

The man pulled out his penny pouch and stooped down.

"I see...I'm afraid I don't have any copper."

He was going to hand me a gold coin and fourty silver when his companion stopped him by putting his hand over the coin bag.

"Stop it, is this how you thank your savior?"

"I apologized!"

"Yet you gave no thanks, what would you have done were there no balcony? You would have fell to your death like a fool, even if you spotted them you would still have to run down the stairs, either way you would have lost sight of them. So he doesn't owe you anything. You have only yourself to blame for being so careless."

"..." I couldn't refute his words. He was right. My shoulders slumped. But still there was bitterness brewing within my very being. These two looked well off, can't they see I was just a poor kid? Wouldn't the chivalrous thing be to give me even more money than I had before?

I bit my lip and with it suppressed the shameless desperation clouding my mind.

My sanity ticket...

The blonde lightly laughed it off. "Now, now, I really don't mind..."

I walked away, my savings and sanity ticket gone. I was back to square one.

Why is living so hard?

He was at my front gate when I returned home.

"Musias?"

"Candy!" He walked over to me.

I felt betrayed.

He stooped down to return my satchel, the silver and copper were there but the gold was gone.

"I'm sorry but thanks to you was able to pay back my debt, and guess what? I met a guy who can give you a job! You've been looking for one ri-

I slapped him.

He fell back on his butt and held his cheek. My feelings bubbled up to the surface, to the point breathing became difficult for a bit. I trembled as my hands balled up to my fists. My mind was screaming at him "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?!"

Instead I roared, "Take me to this person!"