The third table from the door was empty. It had two seater chairs on both sides, with the window facing them. Max and Lin sat side by side, Lin near the window, while the Samurai sat opposite to them. The table itself was bright red in color, matching the vibrant style of the town.
Lin: So...what you got on the menu..??
Sigurd bowed down and gave them a wooden block, an inch thick and the length of an arm. It was an ancient menu. Max was kinda disappointed to not see the usual paper.
Max: You guys know, it's actually cheaper to use normal paper right..?
Sigurd: Well...wood appeals to the customers here..
Albert nodded in response, while Lin was looking at menu. Max bad his arms stretched out to his sides and looked up at the ceiling. It had some unusual patterns on it, and he was just admiring the symbols, as he was aware it wasn't a language. Max looked around to see several tables everywhere, most of it filled with customers. The one right across them was occupied by the family that they had seen at the door.
The little girl looked at Max and their eyes met. Max smiled at her and the girl gave back a warm bright smile in return. Max then looked away, enjoying the peace he had found. Sigurd had taken a fancy notepad from his pocket and began jotting down the items that Lin asked for.
Lin: Get me this....and this...and this...
As Lin kept pointing at different stuff in the menu, Max grew concerned for him. Did they have enough money..?
Sigurd: Right away, young lad!!
Sigurd bowed once more and took away the menu. He then went yo the kitchen area and vanished. Lin simply waited along with Albert.
Max: Don't you think we ordered a bit too much?? Do we even have that kind of money..??
Lin looked annoyed. He then pulled out a purse and showed it to Max. He opened the zip and showed its contents. The bag was filled with gold, silver, bronze and a few dark blue coins.
Max: Woahh...what is that..??
Albert: I'm pretty sure that's our currency...you haven't seen it right??
Max shook his head, saying a no in the process. Lin smiled at this.
Lin: Let me educate you then..!!
He emptied the entire purse and as soon as it hit the table he pulled everything closer and divided the coins based on colour. He then pointed at the bronze ones.
Lin: These are copper coins. They are the lowest level of coins in the world. Or atleast in this region..
Max nodded wondering if the entire world followed the same currency. The copper coins that he was seeing had weird shapes in it too. With there being a full copper coin, and another one with a huge gaping circular hole in between it. Max wondered what that was about.
Lin: You see...the gap copper coins are just called one Gap. Just like what they look like. And four Gaps, amount to the same as one full copper coin, called a Roopa..
Max: That's a woman's name!!
Max knew a lot of Roopas thanks to his girlfriend. But Lin ignored his comment entirely and went on to the next section, the silver coins. It also had three types. The full version. The one with the copper in between. And the one with triangle hole in between.
Max: I get the gist of it but continue.
Lin: The silver ones are called Austros! 1 Austro is worth ten Roopas. But three of this semi-Austros can be an Austro, and two of these Triangle Austros can be an Austro too.
Max brain collapsed under his own weight. Trying to comprehend an entire new system of money was too much for him, despite being a God.
Lin: And finally...
Lin looked at the golden ones. There were only two types. The gold coins were slightly larger than the others and one was plain gold while the other had a square of silver in between.
Lin: The pure gold one is called an Dairho. 1 of those is worth ten Austros. The one with the silver square is called an Sigua. One of those is worth five Austros. And you get that, that means...
Max: Two Siguas make one Dairho.
Lin nodded in response, feeling like a proud teacher. Max was trying to get used to the money system, but he knew he needed time. It was much simpler in his time. He then noticed the blue coin like stuff. It was a shade of dark blue, that almost made it look black. There were only three of it in the table, and Max was curios.
Max: And...what is that??
Lin understood what he was talking about and nodded.
Lin: That...is a Plato. It's made from a metal that's only found near the Towers. It's very rare to obtain...and so when it became a coin, it was worth twenty Dairho.
Max gasped. He had three of those insanely expensive coins. Although he never thought he would think money is expensive, cause money was supposed to be something to but said expensive stuff.
Lin: But most places don't really accept this as payment and only the fairly rich families still have them...
Max wondered what he meant. He knew that Melissa gave him the money, but he didn't know if it was stolen or if she was actually rich. He didn't know a lot about her in the first place.
Sigurd returned with four plates of food, and set it on the table, as Lin quickly cleaned up the clatter of coins and put it back in his pouch.
Sigurd: Here you go Sires...
Albert: That...was fast..
Sigurd: We specialize in fast service...
Max: Well...thanks I guess.
Sigurd: If you need anything else please feel free to tag me in...I'll be glad to help you out.
Sigurd did another fancy bow and began to turn. But suddenly electric static sounds could be heard. A huge sound resembling that of a thunder, boomed everywhere and things shook for a few seconds.
Max and the gang were confused, but then they saw everyone, both in and out of the restaurant, standing still. It wasn't like time had stopped, but it was intentional. Nobody dared to move. Everybody had fear in their eyes and even Sigurd was sweating profusely. And yellow lightning/electricity entered the restaurant and slowly took shape of a man. Sarzar, the electric Ameliorate, was here.