yemalu

"You have to try their mango pudding! It\'s literally what I come to this city for," Melissa recommended.

"Oh! There\'s also their creme brulee! They caramelise the sugar so good it really just melts in your mouth!" Sabrina added.

They had brought us to one of the cafes close to the central part of the city. It was quite obvious that the closer to the centre of the pizza… Err… I mean… Centre of the city, the more expensive the things being sold were.

Incidentally, the inn we would be staying in was close to the edge, which would explain why it was so cheap.

The two female members from Jack\'s party shared a table with myself, Mother and Katsuki while the males got a table for themselves, though the only thing they ordered were cups of coffee.

Judging by the looks of exasperation on the males\' faces, this must not be the first time they were forced to accompany the girls on a trip like this.

As for myself… I was having the time of my life.

Various different types of desserts were arrayed before me and the two girls certainly knew their sweets, giving me recommendation after recommendation as we stuffed ourselves with the sugary treats this cafe offered.

I even got Katsuki to try a few of it, though it was obvious she didn\'t share the same love of sweets as I do.

Nonetheless, it was still fun watching her reactions whenever I fed her something, starting from being downright terrified that I was even trying to feed her as her Mistress before finally accepting it while being embarrassed.

After we had stuffed ourselves with all the sweets we could stomach, I asked them to guide us to where The Guild was located within this city.

Mother made some excuse about checking the inn they had recommended but again, I knew she just wanted to avoid being found out by the people there and allowing me to know who she really was.

Surprisingly, The Guild was located in the very centre of the city where the administration plaza was located, occupying an entire wing of the building.

Just like the Guild back at Dragon View Trade City, the interior of this branch was also designed more like some kind of fancy hotel than those stereotypical guilds you would see in these kinds of worlds.

Curious about it, I asked Melissa, "I heard that some Guilds double as a sort of bar, but the Guild buildings in both here and Dragon View Trade city don\'t seem like that?"

She smiled at me, "What you heard is true in some places, but for these two cities in particular there are reasons they don\'t do it. In Dragon View Trade City, it\'s located near the docks where most workers and sailors are already a rowdy bunch to begin with. If the Guild members were to provoke them while drunk, properties might be burned down in the ensuing conflict."

Ah… So to prevent such a thing from happening, The Guild simply removed the bar from that Guild to avoid taking responsibility for such people going wild.

"And what about this one?" I asked.

Sabrina was the one who spoke up this time, "As Miss Aster might have realised, the area closest to the centre of the city is the administration area and also where the more richer patrons and merchants might frequent. Thus, having drunken Guild members wandering around this district would be really bad for their image. Though that still hasn\'t stopped fights from happening but that can be dealt with easily enough."

I see… I hadn\'t really thought of that but I guess we learn new things everyday.

"Is there a way for me to join the Dungeoneers here as well?"

Melissa shook her head, "Unfortunately not. There\'s not really a reason for Dungeoneers to come here since there aren\'t any dungeons around. Although you would be able to register as one in the Crown Capital city though."

"I see… Where is the closest dungeon then?"

"Ah, near the capital city itself of course. There are a few just outside of the city\'s outskirts though they are not as big as the one in Dungeon City."

That\'s pretty cool. I\'ll be quite sad if there aren\'t even any dungeons around here for me to explore.

I also noticed that there were some men who looked like they were going to approach us but Jack and the others quickly took a step closer to us and glared at them, forcing them to back off.

At least the others are doing their job of keeping those kinds of idiots away at least.

Well, since we\'re already here, I decided to take the chance to go find a quest for myself to do. Maybe I can find something that I can bring Katsuki along as our first quest together!

I went to the Quest board with Katsuki while the others went to do their own check-ins with the receptionists, probably to report about their status of the escort quest with Dennis.

There were surprisingly quite a number of quests present on the board that I could take on, some of them being simple enough that I could definitely bring Katsuki along.

I turned to grin at her, "Katsuki! Let\'s get you registered as a Mercenary too!"

Katsuki gasped, "Eh? Is that alright, Mistress?"

"Of course! Why wouldn\'t it be alright?"

"Umm… Usually slaves who are registered with the Guild are meant as battle slaves for their owners. Two hundred Creas is not a small sum of money so the slaves are expected to earn the money back and that could take years..."

I tilted my head, "Even though that goblin subjugation quest already earned me two silver coins?"

"Mi… Mistress… Normally a full party is needed to wipe out a goblin camp of that size… Like a party the size of Sir Jack\'s party at the very least… But at this rank, it would be more common for a party of at least twenty to take on this quest. The two silver coins would have been split amongst everyone in the party…"

If it\'s twenty people, a quest like that would only earn you ten Creas? Wow ok…

"What about that herb picking quest? That was fifty Creas wasn\'t it?" I asked.

"Umm… A solo Mercenary would definitely take more time than what Mistress did to pick that many herbs unless they are specialised herbalists… But then they would need bodyguards to help deal with monster attacks which would cut into those earnings too…"

I scratched my head, "Ughhh… Looks like I\'m still getting an economics lesson anyway… I\'m more surprised that Katsuki is even more knowledgeable about this than I am."

"Eh? Umm… Well… I was taught about such things since assassins would operate individually and we need to know how to make use of our resources including our funds… We sometimes also might need to resort to stealing so we need to know the value of things too…"

"So what is the average income of the people here?"

"Umm… I would say a normal labourer might be earning five to ten Creas a month in the countryside, maybe a little more in the cities but the cost of living would be increased too."

"What?! But isn\'t the price of a loaf of bread two Creas? How do they even afford that?"

"Mistress… The only bread I know to cost two Creas is the bread made by the fanciest of restaurants meant for nobles that are made using gold as one of its ingredients… Ah… I suppose it would make sense for Mistress then."

No, no, no… I live on an island far away from civilization, you know? Oh wait… The person who first taught me the value of money was Mother… This makes so much more sense now…

But… That means Mother must be really loaded to even think about mentioning this bread…

"Then what is the normal price for a loaf of bread?"

"I would say a large one would be about zero point zero three Creas."

I blinked at her, wondering how in the world do you even get a decimal point in this currency.

"Umm… I suppose Mistress never heard of copper coins before?"

"I thought there was only bronze, silver, gold and platinum?"

Katsuki gasped, "There\'s platinum coins?!"

I nodded slowly at her.

"I… See… Umm… How much are they worth, Mistress?"

"A million Creas…"

Her eyes widened considerably, needing to take a moment before she finally regained her senses.

"Ah… To answer Mistress\'s question… There are copper coins as well, which is more commonly referred to as the \'Commoner\'s coin\'. They are basically worth a hundred times less than the bronze coins so a small copper coin is only worth zero point zero one Creas, which we would know it as one Decrea. So one hundred Decrea will be worth one Crea."

Ok, so let\'s just do a quick calculation… An average worker earns ten Creas a month, bread is three Decreas, so he would be spending ninety Decreas a month on food if they eat nothing but one loaf of bread a day. Coupled with other living expenses and the person being especially frugal, I guess they might be looking at a savings of maybe six Creas a month?

To even save up enough money to even apply to join The Guild would take them around thirty three months… That\'s just a little under three years…

Ok, I admit… My sense of money is utterly destroyed now…