Midday. I was heading back to my hovel of a home, having collected my prize from the job I'd just done for a village.

It was the usual for me: answering a request to off some Shades. A group of them had taken out some people travelling there; only one guy made it out. The villagers were worried about them invading; the one that escaped asked me to pick up a trinket he'd left behind. Honestly, I would have taken care of the Shades anyway; getting paid extra was the icing on the cake. So, I took the jo, and cut those dastards until they were confetti, before finding the fallen party, grabbing the thing the guy wanted, and heading back to show the job was done.

That guy was really happy about me finding his wife's wedding ring to remember her by. I didn't say it, but I was glad to be able to help him. I could relate wanting to keep something around that reminded you of someone special.

It wasn't too often that I actually felt good after doing a job. People only usually tended to irk me (to say the least), and hunting Shades only did so much to knock me out of whatever funk I was feeling. Now, I had extra money for Lunar Tear seeds, and made someone happy. Guess even I could have a good day once in a while, huh?

I'd been trying to grow them, but seeds were not only rare and hard to nurture, but expensive. I wish I had the green thumb my grandma had, but I was starting to get the hang of it. My goal was to have a field of them; with this extra bit of money, I was closer to doing just that.

As I got closer to my home, I noticed that someone was in front of my house. They were crouched down, staring at what few Lunar Tears that I had. They were even touching one.

Oh, hell no. I didn't know who this berk was, but they were not about to sit in front of my house, and ruin the work that I had done in raising these things! (I didn't know if they were actually going to pick it, but I was not taking that chance!)

I crossed my arms, and said in a gruff voice, "May I help you?"