Finn had tried selling the sauces in the hearth market, but it would not accept anything that was not Essence food.

Sauces, condiments, and so on could not be considered as essence food because they were not consumed in and of themselves. Not to mention, there was no meat, carbs, and so on.

However, when he used his [Assessment] skill, the sauces he made could grant about a 10-15% increase to turn something into essence food!

Not even considering the taste, wouldn't chefs scurry just for the effects?

This number was much smaller than it actually appeared though. After all, if a food someone made had little to no chance of becoming essence food, then drowning it with his sauce wouldn't make a difference.

Still, that'd be enough for people to spend a fortune. In fact, it could even be a source of pride since those who could really make essence food would find it especially useful. Someday, maybe owning a bottle of his personally-made sauces could be—in and of itself—a point of pride.

This was something for later, of course.

Sigh

So many plans, zero customers.

It had been nearly a week since the Traniels left the inn. He wondered if Marcus and the others had gotten home by now?

…

BANG!

Smack!

Slap!

Inside the alley of one border town, Marcus…was being beaten up. Rather, he was barely defending against the enemies, but he was somehow still standing.

All that defense training courtesy of Durgan was helping him quite a bit in this case.

Also, don't ask him how he knew, but he had a feeling that eating Finn's essence food for so many meals helped a lot, even if it was just a psychological motivation to taste them again.

Behind him was a shivering and barely moving young lad. The lad tried to lift himself up, but his arms were shaking too much to provide proper support. "Sorry, Marcus," he said, croaking. "You got dirtied by these bastards, too."

His words angered the men, and someone ran and appeared right above the lad. Marcus cursed and punched, causing the person to block the attack with his arm.

Marcus and his friend were now surrounded by half a dozen men in uniform, all around Marcus's level. They were mercenaries, and they had sneers on their faces.

They barraged them with attacks, with both of them quickly focusing on defense. Their lack of comeback just made the enemy even more arrogant.

"Pff, adventurers are all talk. So weak," one said, giving another kick.

In every territory, Mercenaries were far superior in numbers compared to adventurers and Lotus Town was no different.

After all, adventurers specialized in taking missions in the danger zone, while mercenaries handled the rest of the world with decidedly less risk.

Not to mention, many adventurers tended to be simple-minded. Some Mercenaries could buy some goods from newbies at a good price and earn quite a profit by reselling deeper into the safe zones.

Anyway, they were overall a much more powerful organization than adventurers and had always been fond of putting them in place.

Today, though, things weren't as smooth as they usually were. For one, the bloke was still standing and even fighting against so many of them.

Another—

Whoosh!

"HEY!" one screamed, seeing the sharp glint of the dagger he barely avoided.

"Nona…!" Marcus gasped, voice cracking in weakness. Nona's dark eyes traced over his body, and her already dark expression devolved even more.

Her jaw clenched, and she held up her dagger. "I will help him fight you. Unlike him, though, I have no qualms using weapons."

Fights in Towns were not prohibited as long as no private property was damaged. However, murder was not allowed, and by extension so was the use of weapons, at least when it was used against other people.

This was why the Mercenaries were just punching and kicking. Repeatedly, and with the intent to break bones, but still within the rules.

They glared at Nona, who didn't seem to care that she was breaking this rule. "What are you doing?"

"You said it, right? Adventurers are insane," she said. "Wanna bet how many fingers I can cut before you get rid of me?!"

She was covering for the two injured men, and they had a feeling she really would retaliate if they tried attacking again.

They seriously considered taking out their weapons, but the suspension of guild activities that'd come from an all-out weapon battle in town was not worth it.

Not to mention, even if they wouldn't lose against the women, she was known to get rabid when she wanted to. She made them feel like even if she were to die, she was sure to take a few fingers, an eye, or an organ from each of them.

"Psh, bitch."

"You'll never get married."

"She's not even pretty. Why is she so proud?"

Marcus growled at them, headbutting the nearest person. The bloke was about to counter until he saw Nona's dagger was already raised, ready to stab him!

The mercenaries had no choice but to jump back and go away, cursing.

Soon, the alley was empty again except for the three of them, and Nona sighed, handing them a healing potion each.

The man was practically disabled by now, and Marcus had to feed him. "You idiot."

The other adventurer looked at him, feeling wronged. "I was minding my own business, okay? Wait til I get a hold of them—" he wanted to sit up but was pushed back down.

"You can barely move, Micc…"

Marcus looked at him. Mercenaries often did bully them a lot, but it was rarely this harsh, especially on a lone bloke. So there must've been something that happened before that that triggered their anger.

"I refused their invitation…" he said.

They could see it happening. Micc was an excellent earth user, but he could get a bit tactless at times.

Micc sneered, mocking. "What are they so proud of when they spend most of their professional life outside the danger zone?" At this, Marcus and Nona did not refute him. It was true.

The danger zone was far smaller than the rest of the world, so there were naturally fewer people going to the danger zone, especially when there were times when heading there would not be worth it.

It was a miracle to see something like the Wanderer's Refuge there. It was dangerous on paper, but they had never felt as light as they were there.

Sigh

They miss the inn already.

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