Chapter 19

"Young lady, would you like to buy aromatic oils?" A middle-aged lady suddenly offered while grabbing Isabelle's hand.

"Aromatic oils?" Isabelle sounded very interested in them.

The middle-aged lady's eyes sparkled thinking she had a customer. "Yes! Yes! Here they are, I have a great variety! Is there one you are interested in? Have you heard of them?" The lady looked very excited and even asked an inappropriate question, eyeing their clothes.

Isabelle's were fine, but his...

"Do you have lavender oil?" Isabelle asked with expectancy. Hearing her, Ethan decided that if he could afford it, then he would buy it for Isabelle. It sounded as if she wanted very badly to get one.

"Lavender oil..." The lady disappointingly trailed off, obviously not having it. "I… Isn't that a flower? Young lady, I only have herb oils." The lady composed herself and properly explained the products she had. "Four types: garlic, basil, rosemary and oregano." She presented four different bottles with an amber viscous liquid inside.

"What about the others?" Isabelle asked, eyeing the other bottles.

"They are of the same, just different recipients. I also sell the classic olive oil to cook. 2 coins the olive oil, 3 coins the aromatic one." The lady quickly dashed off Ethan's enthusiasm to buy. 3 coins for a bottle of aromatic oil, he better buy saplings with that money and grow the herb!

"Are aromatic oils sought after?" Isabelle asked, taking a closer look at one of the bottles.

The lady hesitated a moment before sighing. "I have sold a few, but they are not popular. People are used to the classic olive oil to cook and putting the herbs directly. They claim there is no difference between having an aromatic oil and cooking the usual way. Garlic oil is the most sought after as not many like the pungent smell of garlic." Isabelle nodded along the explanation.

"Maybe you should stick to olive oil and make a few bottles of garlic oil." Isabelle suggested. "By the way, where did you get these glass bottles?"

"Oh, a store recently opened up selling these type of bottles. Olive oil is usually sold in ceramic bottles, but I thought using these ones, which show the content, makes it more attractive." The lady explained.

"However, these bottles are a bit expensive. Only after buying them in bulk I could get a better discount. 30 bottles for 50 coins, 1 coin and 6 dimes each when they are normally at 2 coins per bottle." She recounted her purchase experience.

Looking at the amber liquid, it certainly made it more attractive, but the price would spook anyone. Anyone who was as poor as Ethan, that is.

You could find almost anything in Basin Town and the residents could easily buy them, but the ones coming from villages have to prepare their wallets to actually buy something.

It was a sharp contrast of life quality between a town and a village.

"So you use dried herbs to make the oils?" Isabelle suddenly asked.

"Huh? Yes, the ones easier to air-dry." The lady inadvertently revealed.

"I am looking for herb saplings to grow my own garden. My family is going through hard times, and we cannot buy fresh herbs every other day, so we have decided to start our own garden. I am not sure if you can recommend us a stall around here..."

Ethan was once again surprised, but this time by Isabelle's gift of the gab. Buy fresh herbs every other day? Her family going through hard times?

"Oh! There is! David!" The lady loudly called out above the cacophony of noise in the market. In the distance, a few stalls away, a stout man stood up and yelled back, "What?!"

"That is my Husband, he sells herbs, tell him Cory sent you. He'll give you a discount." The lady easily promoted her Husband's stall and even gently pushed Isabelle to get going. Ethan and Isabelle quickly made their way to David's stall that was at the entrance of the market.

Plenty of saplings were in plain sunlight and very few were in the shade. There were lots of herbs saplings, trees ready to be planted and even flowers.

Ethan noticed Isabelle's longing gaze at the flowers before she looked at the herbs. He felt his chest tighten realizing there were many things they could not give her at the moment.

Although she had chosen to stay with them, they had, at some point, selfishly thought of forcing her to stay. With her deciding on her own, they had actually benefited from it while she made a loss.

"Cory sent you? Are you looking for something in special?" David amiably asked as he saw them browsing his stall curiously.

"Herbs." Ethan said. "We wanna start our own garden, and we're not sure which're easy to grow." Having learned from Isabelle, this time Ethan wanted to try making up deals in the market.

"Parsley, oregano, basil, mint, cilantro, rosemary, thyme… almost all of them. Those are the ones commonly used for cooking. Rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil are the favorites for drying and seasoning due to the different taste they provide compared to their fresh leaves. Basil and Mint can also be used to make tea. They are very aromatic. Lemon grass is also used for cooking, but it's not as popular as using basil. Oh, I also have lemon verbena, which is also easy to grow and you can use it for tea."

David easily shared what he knew, explaining what he had and what to use it for while pointing at the corresponding saplings.

"You know a lot..." Isabelle said, sounding very impressed. David laughed as Ethan scowled.

"I am the one in charge of cooking in the house, so I know a few tricks." The man confessed. "The saplings are 5 dimes, but since Cory recommended you, I can give them to you at 3 dimes."

"Ain't cha making a loss?" Ethan asked startled. Although herb saplings were normally the cheapest of all saplings, David had been very nice in providing them extra information about them that cutting off 2 dimes from the normal price made Ethan feel very uncomfortable.

"That's ok." David said, waving his hand. "Business has been good recently since it's Spring and many people are starting to buy saplings to plant their own vegetables and flowers. So, I can afford to give you a 2-dime discount."

"How much do you have?" Isabelle turned to look at Ethan who suddenly felt embarrassed to tell how much money he had in his pocket.

Coughing, Ethan reported a different quantity of the money in his pocket. "7 dimes."

Isabelle nodded. "At 3 dimes, then, we can buy 9 saplings. How should we do it, boss? What do you recommend?" Ethan stood rooted in place after hearing her.

He had not gone to school but he was aware 9 saplings made a total of 27 dimes. That meant 2 coins and 7 dimes. From where would they fork out 2 coins? Were they actually going to steal all these saplings?

Ethan's heart started beating really fast. He had been poor his whole life, but he has also been very honest. To suddenly steal…

"Mint and oregano spread really fast, so 1 sapling is enough to start your garden. As for the others, 2 basil, 2 rosemary, 2 parsley, and 2 cilantro. I will round it up and give you 10. I just hope you keep patronizing my stall in the future." David went and threw a nice hook for his new customers.

"We surely will! Next week, we will come looking for vegetable saplings, please have a few good ones ready for us. We will also leave it to your recommendation." Isabelle cheekily winked, making the man laugh.

"Oh, by the way, can we come later to pick the saplings? We still have to return to work. Until when will you be here?" She hurriedly added as soon as she noticed David was already packing the saplings.

"Oh, that's fine, too. I close down my stall before sunset. I will just ask you to leave a deposit, and then pay the rest when you come pick them up. I will give you a receipt to let me know you have a pending order. If you're ok with it." David paused and explained the way he did business which impressed both Ethan and Isabelle.

"Sounds very good. Here, 1 coin deposit should be fine, right?" Isabelle easily took out a coin and placed it on David's hand.

"It is! I will just make you the receipt, and then everything will be in order." With a receipt in hand, Ethan and Isabelle finally made their purchase.

Ethan still felt his heart beating loudly. He had been very worried just now about the money. But, who would have known that Isabelle carried coins on her? From where did those coins come from?

"Isabelle… those coins..." He really wanted to know about the source.

"From my job, silly." She replied with a smile, guessing his thoughts. "Mrs. Edris here will have a base salary of 10 coins plus commissions from now on. I was paid 2 coins today after being hired." She knowingly looked at Ethan who diverted his gaze. He was caught red-handed at his own mischief. But nothing could erase the big smile on his face at the sound of 'Mrs. Edris'.