This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist
Chapter 753 - 753: 753: Divine Game – Card Swap 2

Pulling her scavenged gloves back on, Rita tucked away her cheat-like abilities and clutched her bread as she began to think seriously about her next move.

Eat, sleep, school—those were the three pillars of life, at least from the ten years of experience she had under her belt.

If she wanted to go to school, she'd have to make money. And who knew—maybe she'd even learn how to use some of the weird abilities she'd seen around here.

She'd already seen treasure hunters and some of the townsfolk using what clearly looked like magic. She didn't know how it worked, but in her mind, knowledge came from school. Maybe school was where you unlocked magic?

She just hoped this world had some kind of mandatory education.

Getting adopted was out of the question. She already had Samuel and Scarlett. She had the best parents and little brother in the world. There was no way she was replacing them.

After finishing her bread, Rita changed into a cleaner outfit—still not quite her size, but it was the best she'd patched together over the past few days. Then she took off again, flying low over the rooftops and heading back into town to look for work.

Which brings us to her second cheat.

Back when she first arrived, her instinct wasn't to go digging through town garbage. No, she headed for the woods outside town to look for fruits or berries. That's when she realized she recognized a lot of herbs.

Even stranger, when she looked at some of them, detailed information about their properties, uses, and even potion recipes popped into her mind. Not just facts—she knew how to make them. It was like the knowledge had always been there.

She had two cheats.

Two.

If that wasn't the setup for a protagonist arc, she didn't know what was.

For the past three days, she'd been hiding in the shadows, observing the creatures that lived in this town and studying how the world worked. She didn't know much, but she'd picked up a few things.

The town was called Gilane, and the nearest big city was Asaein.

Gilane seemed to be a transportation hub of some kind—there were merchants coming and going nonstop. The place was bustling. The streets were lined with every kind of shop imaginable.

And because the people here seemed well-off, the trash they threw away was often wrapped, clean, and only recently expired. Their old clothes were barely worn. A powerless child like her could survive here, at least for a while.

At the moment, Rita stood outside a potion shop, craning her neck to read the job notice posted in the window.

She could only understand about half the words.

It was as if her reading comprehension from Earth had been directly translated into this world's education level—elementary school literacy, and that was pushing it.

Still, she could make out the job title and the hourly wage for an apprentice potion-maker: 5 silver coins.

She had no idea how much school cost, but before she could overthink it, she shoved open the heavy glass door with all the might her tiny frame could muster.

Two minutes later, she was unceremoniously tossed out by the collar.

Sitting in the snow, Rita pouted and blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling. Then she dusted herself off, stood up, and trudged toward the bakery next door.

Across the street, in front of a gem store, a kid with a mop of curly red hair sat on the steps, one hand propped under their chin, the other holding a milk bottle.

The redhead watched as this little stray, wearing oversized adult clothes, went from store to store asking for work.

With each rejection and each toss-out, her tiny topknot grew messier.

Tears welled up in her eyes again and again, but every time, she wiped them away before they could fall.

A few minutes later, Rita was ejected from the kebab shop. The toss was so forceful she couldn't even take off. She rolled straight across the street and landed at the redhead's feet.

The red-haired kid slurped the last bit of moo-milk from their bottle and looked down at her.

"You looking for a job?"

Rita straightened up, dusted herself off with exaggerated dignity, and adjusted the collar of her oversized black leather jacket. She gave the redhead a quick once-over, then glanced toward the shop behind her.

Clearing her throat, she furrowed her tiny brow and replied in a serious tone completely at odds with her childlike voice, "Yes. As you can see, I'm currently seeking employment to support myself. Would you happen to need a child nutritionist?"

The redhead turned toward the store and shouted, "Mother, do I need a nutritionist?"

Despite the closed door, the voice from inside rang out loud and clear. "You don't. I do."

The redhead grinned mischievously and looked back at Rita. "Sorry, I don't need one."

Rita gave a little nod, dusted off nonexistent dirt from her coat again, chin held high, face a perfect mask of disinterest. "That's unfortunate," she said coolly, then turned and walked off.

The redhead watched her for a few seconds, then called out, "West Street."

Rita stopped and looked back, confused.

"There's a girl on West Street also looking for work," the redhead said. "Maybe you two can talk."

Rita stared for a moment, maybe realizing the redhead wasn't actually that hard to deal with. She ran back over, eyes gleaming. "Excuse me, do you know where the nearest school is?"

"Gilane doesn't have any," the redhead said. "Only Asaein does."

"How much does school cost?" Rita asked.

The redhead turned again and shouted, "Mother! How much is tuition at Moonlight Wetlands?"

The woman shouted back, "A thousand gold per term. Which, as you know, is exactly what we'd get if we sold your father and me a hundred times over."

The redhead shrugged. "You heard her."

Rita gave her a dazzling smile, full of gratitude, waved, and ran off.

…

With a few key pieces of intel now in hand, Rita gave up her job hunt for the moment and made her way to West Street.

Job-hunting alone was just too hard. There were too few opportunities in this town.

But mostly… that thousand-gold tuition fee had knocked the wind out of her.

After checking the pricing chart outside the gem store, she'd roughly figured out this world's currency system.

One hundred silver coins equaled one gold.

Even if she managed to land that potion shop job and worked ten hours a day, it would take two days just to earn a single gold. She'd have to work two thousand days straight—with zero spending—to afford one term of school. And that didn't even include food, clothing, or travel costs.

And obviously, they wouldn't let her in if she only had enough for one term.

There was no way she was doing this with part-time jobs.

She needed to talk to that other kid on West Street—maybe they could team up, start something.

As Scarlett would say: age ten was the perfect time to start making moves.