Five days of introductory lessons had given Xilutaiya a quick grasp of this world's common knowledge—copper coins, silver coins, gold coins, and how to judge a coin's origin, year, and value from the leaf designs stamped on it.
100 to 110 worn copper coins = 1 silver leaf coin.
100 silver leaf coins = 1 gold coin.
"Most silver coins have a leaf design on the reverse. That's because the earliest silver currency was made of silver leaves the elves took from the World Tree. When the other races later minted their own coins, they kept the design—most chose leaves, while some followed noble family crests instead. Marquis Walun in the east, for example, uses a wolf beast as his design."
"And though silver coins differ in design, they share a uniform standard of size and weight, along with a required silver content. Those standards hold across the whole continent."
"Then there are gold coins, also known as flower coins, because many of them carry a flower emblem on the back, representing the royal house that minted them," Wenni explained.
"So other nobles—who aren't royalty, just marquises and counts—can't put the flower on their coins as a design?" Xilutaiya asked curiously.
"They can't." Wenni shook her head bluntly. "Only royalty may use the flower as their heraldry. That touches on a very ancient history, and on the powers at the very top of this world."
Once Xilutaiya had a clear picture of the coinage, Wenni went on to describe the general state of the Raygas Principality.
The ruler on the throne of Raygas at present is its seventeenth monarch, Asatisi, who resides in White Cliff City. With the realm's decline, Raygas was no longer a kingdom; it had been reduced to a duchy, and its ruler was now titled the Grand Duke of Raygas.
Every autumn, great caravans set out from all regions to trade in the royal capital, White Cliff City, returning before winter. These trades lay in supplies and grain for the entire cold season; if some territory lacked stores to see it through, it would spend heavily during the trading season to buy up other territories' surplus grain and weather the hard months.
"Forests, mountains, and plains make up most of the terrain in this country, and every region produces something different. The area around Burnt Stone City, where we are now, is dominated by forest, so every autumn we send out caravans to buy grain stores, in case food runs short come winter."
"Of course, we have our own local specialties too—fir timber, tree resin, furs, smoked meat, and some preserved fruits."
Then Wenni walked Tiya through the rough prices of all the common everyday goods in the area, so that this sheltered young lady, innocent of the world's ways, wouldn't be cheated.
...
Four days later, at Wenni's home.
"Congratulations, Miss Tiya—you've finished every lesson. You know the local situation better now than ninety-five percent of the people out on the street." Wenni closed the book and offered her congratulations with a smile.
The girl looked back over all she had studied these past days: the growing seasons of the region's crops and the essentials of raising livestock, the map and terrain of the Raygas Principality, the meanings and origins of the various nobles' coats of arms, the rough structure and purpose of the many guilds, and more. Wenni had truly schooled her in the local environment from every angle.
"Thank you, Teacher Wenni." She rose and bowed.
"And I'm glad to have a student as clever as you." Wenni spoke with feeling. Tiya's learning speed was the fastest she had ever seen; complex concepts needed little explanation—mention a term once, and the girl could quickly reason it out through pattern and logic, and understand.
With talent like that, Taliel likely could never catch up in a lifetime. Glancing at her sister standing nearby, lost in her own thoughts, Wenni could only press the girl's head down in resignation.
"Let's stop here for today. You've absorbed a lot these past days—it's time you got out for a walk."
"Taliel." She called her sister's name, and the distracted girl snapped awake.
"I'm here. What is it, Sister?"
"Take Miss Tiya out for a walk this afternoon." Wenni stated the assignment plainly.
"Okay, no problem." At that, Taliel brightened with special delight—no more sitting here studying, at last.
...
After lunch, Xilutaiya and Taliel walked the streets of Burnt Stone City. The day was clear once more, and the city bustled as ever.
Xilutaiya, wrapped in a red-brown cloak, trod the gray-black stone tiles with her hands loose at her sides and an unhurried step.
"Say, can ordinary people go have a look at the Adventurers' Guild?" She was remembering the letter of introduction Frien had given her.
"Of course they can. But those adventurers are far beyond ordinary folk in strength, so commoners don't quite dare go near them."
"So that's how it is." Xilutaiya suddenly wanted very much to know roughly what caliber of people the city's adventurers were.
"Let's go see, then."
"I want to go too." Taliel was genuinely interested in adventurers; it was just that her own strength fell short, and that was why she had once put down the thought of becoming one.
Soon the two stood before the gates of the Adventurers' Guild. They took in the towering doorframe, then walked inside.
The front hall was remarkably spacious—it could have done service as a tavern—but no drink was sold here. Instead, plenty of empty seats were left open for visitors to rest.
Wherever the eye fell, adventurers and mercenaries stood with weapons in hand. Most wore leather armor; a smaller number were fitted with half-body chain mail. Unlike soldiers, these adventurers carried all manner of tools about them—rope, iron clamps for seizing prey, net cages, fire oil, and the like.
Just then a crowd had gathered under the notice board, reading the bounties posted there.
"A monster that attacks merchant caravans has appeared near Ditch Town. Form unknown. Bounty: 60 silver coins."
"Buying teeth of first-order beasts: 3 silver per tooth, 20 silver for fangs."
"'Water-Mist Orchid' wanted: 23 silver coins per plant, three plants needed in all."
"Kill the mutated otters upstream of Forest Creek Village: 2 silver per otter. About twenty of them."
...
Under the notice board stood a party Xilutaiya found faintly familiar, their eyes sweeping the board for a bounty they could take.
"Big Brother Jieluo, why don't we go take out those otters? That one looks easy." The speaker was a boy in plain leather armor, his slightly elongated eye corners lending his face a somewhat fierce look.
"Otters are no easy quarry." The burly man called Jieluo shook his head and pressed his broad palm down on the boy's head; it was wide enough to cover nearly the whole of it.
His rough fingers ruffling the boy's hair, the man split into a grin and explained: "To finish off otters, you have to go into the water. But the moment we're in the water, our fighting strength is nothing like what it is on shore."
"Those otters are probably beasts stained with attribute power. They're extremely fast in the water, and clever, too. If we took a boat, they'd chew straight through the hull."
"I've watched plenty of adventurers come out on the losing end over this," he said, speaking from old experience.
"Ah, then how do we handle this job? Would we have to hire a proper hunter to help?" the boy asked, pushing the palm off his head with both hands.
"Hahaha, nothing of the sort. When it comes to otters, I have experience to spare. Come on—we'll take the job first, then head over to the Apothecary Guild next door and pick up a few things." He clapped the boy on the shoulder, then had his companions squeeze to the front of the board and claim the bounty.
"This job—we'll take it, in the name of our adventuring party."
"All right, I'll register you. House rules: please pay a 5-silver deposit first." The girl at the front desk came over at the words.
"Heh heh. This one's just an appetizer to start with." With that, the group walked over to the counter to register.
After they left, the space under the notice board quieted somewhat, and people murmured over the other bounties.
"Sixty silver for the Ditch Town monster—that looks tempting."
"My guess is it's a first-order Fang Beast, or the bounty wouldn't be set this high."
"If it is first-order, then sixty silver is actually a bit low," one man said, shaking his head.
"That depends on the haul. If a first-order Fang Beast carries plenty of valuable parts, the hunting value alone would more than cover the bounty."
"Look at Jieluo and his people—the Red Wolf they hunted down last time. The bounty money was only a small share of it; the real bulk came from the wolf pelt and the materials on its body."
The buzz of talk kept the adventurers' hall in a steady clamor, these men who licked blood from their blades gazing at the bounties with hungry eyes. The road was thick with danger, but that silver, solid and visible, was a beautiful thing. Bring down a single bounty and it equaled a year of hard work—an allure few could withstand.
Chapter 13