"Yes, I hear you. The eleventh dress will be saved for you. You can pay when you receive the dress," Miss Sinu said as she made a note on a piece of paper.
She laid back onto her chair. A soft creaking sound was heard from the old, chipped thing. The chair was old, really old—probably as old as the village center. Miss Sinu had gotten it for free from a carpenter who was closing shop and moving to the town.
"That's the eleventh order I've gotten today." She stretched out her hands. "It's going to be some long work days. Vars said I should start with 10 dresses, but seeing the speed of the orders, 10 won't be enough."
She took a pile of different-colored clothes and put them on one side of her table. She took out another pair of silver needles from a drawer built into the table.
"I wonder what area of the kingdom he's from... I mean, he didn't even know about 'Kuhaka'..." she thought as she did her work.
(1 hour earlier)
"So you're able to move those needles because of something called Kuhaka, is that right?" Vars asked.
"Yes. Kuhaka is not 'something'—it's everything. Kuhaka is the energy of the world. The air that the gods breathe and the force which gives existence itself its shape."
"So... can everyone use Kuhaka? How would I know if I can?" Vars asked.
"What's your age?" she asked.
"About 18 years and 10 months, I think."
"One can only find out when they turn 20. It's the age when your body is ripe to feel and use Kuhaka. But don't get your hopes up, young man. Only about 2% of the world's population can use it. And a pretty large part of that 2% can only control it in small amounts. Like me, for example—I can only lift my needles and cloth to make clothes. It's still much better than having no control, though."
"And what about the people who have a larger amount of control over this Kuhaka?"
"It's complicated to say, at the very least. Since I mentioned that Kuhaka is basically the world's energy, having great control over it means you have control over a part of reality itself. The part of reality they do get control over is random, and many times, it gives them abilities beyond reason. For example, a popular noble of the Kingdom, upon awakening his power, had 26 golden coins manifest into his hands. He can place them anywhere in the world and teleport to them whenever he wishes—though doing this uses up the coin he teleported to. He has used 6 of the 26 he had received initially.
These abilities are very broadly divided into 3 types: Combat, Mix, and Support. Combat types have abilities that support them in battle or combat; Support types have abilities not suited for combat and have other uses; and Mix just means they can have both combat and non-combat-related uses. They can't be classified further just because each ability is so unique and different from one another—it would just waste people's time in classifying them."
She took a sip of water after talking for so long.
"But don't get worked up over this. You statistically have a very low chance of getting any power at all. So I just suggest you continue what you're doing."
Vars got up and wholeheartedly thanked Miss Sinu for giving him her time.
"Oh, it's nothing. You helped me a lot more by bringing me all these customers. Feel free to drop by whenever you feel like it. You're always welcome at my shop."
After having some water, Vars got out of the shop. It was afternoon when he emerged back into the village streets. The sun was shining as bright as ever, its rays covering every nook and cranny of the place. Most people were inside their houses at this time, eating lunch and avoiding the glare of the sun head-on.
"The apple and berries won't last much longer," Vars thought as hunger once again started to take over his body.
Miss Sinu had given Vars 20 copper coins as a "Thank you." Initially, she wanted to give more, but Vars managed to somehow convince her to give only 20.
He started to look for shops that would sell him food like bread or a local dish. After walking around a little, he found a group of teenagers and, upon asking them, got directions to a local bread bakery.
Vars happily purchased a loaf of bread. The loaf looked delicious—it had a sweet scent and a brown texture. When he put it into his mouth, he could just feel the flavor explode. The bread was warm and had just a hint of sweetness, which greatly enhanced every part of it.
Vars happily munched on the loaf, sitting on a long bench nearby. A gentleman, no older than 40, made his way to the bench and sat just opposite Vars. He ordered a small loaf of bread for his own and stared at Vars with an expectant gaze. He wore noticeably better-looking clothes than all of the people Vars had seen in the village.
"Vars?" he asked in the most polite of tones.
"Yes, that is me," Vars replied with a piece of bread in his mouth.
"Let me introduce myself, then. I am Marco Themsof—the biggest merchant in the whole village. I run the cloth shop, the weaver shop, and this bakery you're eating bread out of right now."
"Oh wow, you seem like a smart person to be able to manage all the businesses at once," Vars said, clearly impressed by the person before him.
"Well, you too seemed like a smart person. I'll come to my point directly: I want you to design the Cinderella-like dresses for our weaver shop. I've heard how your design has sparked a flurry of excited young ladies to Miss Sinu's old shop, but I believe our shop will be the best for this since we can produce them at a much faster rate than hers. Of course, to be a fair deal, we will also give you a percentage of each sale that we make of the dress so that you're appropriately rewarded for your efforts. So, what do you say?"
"I have to sadly refuse your tempting offer, kind sir. Although the temptations of money are very great, I didn't make the dresses in an effort to make money. I did them to help Miss Sinu's declining shop. Your shop is running very well on the other hand, and I believe does not need more income," Vars said calmly.
Marco's face twitched a little, as if he didn't expect this kind of response from Vars.
"I advise you to once again think of this matter seriously. This is a lot of money you're leaving on the table. No sane person would do this."
Vars just smiled and said, "Then maybe I can be insane, because I'm not doing the deal."
"I was just trying to be a good sport and offer you a reward for your idea, but no—you have to be a 'good person' and help others out." He got up and leaned closer to Vars's face, and in a threatening tone said, "I can take the design without your permission, and you couldn't stop me. What will you do if I start making the exact same dresses and start calling them Cinderella's dress? Nothing! You can do absolutely nothing." He said, clearly pissed by Vars not willing to part with his design.
Vars, upon hearing this, started to laugh uncontrollably. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" He almost fell out of his chair at one point and had to forcefully close his mouth with his hands to calm himself down.
Marco just looked at him like he had gone crazy. It was the first time he had seen someone have such reaction to one of his intimidation.
"You really think you're scary? 'Cause if you think I'm gonna get scared by your little threat, you might have underestimated me. I don't think you know the truth of stories just yet. You think you're hot shit just because you own some businesses? You picked a fight with the wrong guy! Not many people know this, but I'm often told that I have a few screws loose," Vars said as he walked past Marco.