Cecilia ate the rest of her breakfast in silence, as she processed all the information within her head. Understanding the necessity of introspection, Gertrude just stood there, waiting for Cecilia to come back to the surface.
When she finishes her meal, she seems to have finally reached a conclusion within her heart.
"I will stay here in the inn for one week so I can get used to what you've just told me. Then I will go to the capital to see if I can learn more. How much would that cost?"
"Hm… let's see. But how are you going to pay anyway? You didn't have anything with you when you were rescued yesterday."
"Oh, that's not a problem. I have this."
Cecilia quickly opened her inventory. There was an entry with the currency she had. Normally, in the game, she would just 'pay' for whatever she needed through a popup window with a 'pay' button.
But she knew that it was possible to transfer currency to the inventory and spawn it physically in the world. It was often used as decorations by some extravagant players, and there were some alchemical preparations that used money as a catalyst.
So she did just that. As she was unsure of how much the stay in an inn for a week would cost, she took out twenty copper pieces and twenty bronze pieces.
To Gertrude, it looked like Cecilia was just moving her hands randomly as a mage would do when conjuring some weird spells. Obviously, she wasn't able to see the UI in front of the girl.
Then, suddenly, the coins appeared on the table, and Gertrude gasped audibly.
"Huh? Is that not enough? Well, I guess there's five hundred years of inflation to take into account…"
"No, no. On the contrary… This is too much. To be honest, I've never seen a briar before, and even the elendar I can count on my fingers the number of times that I've seen. May I?"
She asked, making a gesture of reaching for the coins, to which the girl answered by nodding.
As she took a bronze coin, the one called briar, she talked with a shaken voice.
"Tonight's stay doesn't count because you were here as a guest. An overnight stay is three nickels and three dimes, for a total of twenty-three nickels and one dime for a week. The meals are included in the price."
Cecilia tilted her head at the price.
"Nickels and dimes? I've never heard about those currencies."
This time it was Gertrude who became confused.
"They've been the currencies of the kingdom since forever… Well, let me explain, then. One elendar is one hundred nickels, and one nickel is ten dimes. So one of these coins of yours is more than four times the price for a week. You could stay a whole month here with it."
Cecilia scratched her head, thinking about what to do, then came up with an idea.
"I might probably end up here again during my travels. So take this coin as a deposit and just tick off the days I stay here until it's spent up."
That was the best Cecilia could think of so Gertrude wouldn't have to worry about returning the change for the big value of that coin.
Gertrude's eyes widened, but she accepted the coin without questioning.
"That makes things easy for me… but are you sure about it?"
"It's the coin I have with the least value. Unless sinar and dinar have devalued from my time."
Cecilia mentioned the other two types of coins that she held in her inventory. One briar, the bronze coin, was equivalent to ten elendar, the copper coin. One sinar, the silver coin, was equivalent to ten briar. One dinar, the golden coin, was equivalent - you guessed it - to ten sinar.
That meant one gold coin held as much value as one million dimes. At least if the equivalences of the time of the game still were true.
And Gertrude's face signaled that they were indeed true.
"No, no. Those are even higher. I would never imagine that you were such a rich person… Things in the age of players were really different from this day."
Game currency is something players always accumulate over time. What Cecilia didn't disclose was the fact that she actually had a couple dozen million gold coins.
((If the prices here are an indication of the economic state of the world, the money I hold would be enough to break the economy of a whole nation.))
Cecilia didn't have much knowledge of economy or finances, just what she learned from watching random videos on the internet. But she knew well the story of Mansa Musa and his shopping spree that crashed the markets of the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages.
She put the remainder of her coins back in the inventory and closed it, then a thought came to her.
"It would be really troublesome if every time I have to pay for something I only have those big coins. I should take some jobs so I could get the money currently in use."
Gertrude put her hand on her chin, thoughtful.
"Mom, I've finished cleaning everything. Can I stay here with Miss Cecilia?"
With the kind of sigh only a mother can give, Gertrude looks at little Marya.
"I've told you countless times to not disturb our clients, Marya."
"It's okay, I don't mind. Marya is a good girl."
"See, Mom? She allowed it."
Marya's eyes were glistening with happiness for being allowed in the conversation of adults.
"Well, if you insist. But, coming back to your question, this is a small village, far from the roads and trade routes. Which means that we don't have many open jobs. Maybe you could help in the farm or something…"
That answer was a bit of a letdown for Cecilia, who was expecting a quest to pop up.
((Huh? That's weird. Normally an NPC in an inn would give a quest. Even if it was something like exterminating some pests around the village or something. Is this a bug?))
Cecilia was still thinking about the people here as NPCs and about this world as being a game.
At that moment, someone entered the inn. It was a man in his forties, carrying a pair of dead dire hares on a stick. He had a strong build, though not overly muscular, unkempt hair, and a budding beard. His clothes were simple and practical, made of leather, and he had a bow and a quiver strapped on his back.
((A hunter.)) Cecilia was able to immediately surmise what the man was.
"Gertrude, would you mind butchering today's catch? I was really lucky, and it would be a waste if I tried to clean them myself."
He started talking when he was still halfway through the door, so it took him a bit to notice Cecilia seated in front of Gertrude, who was already standing up.
"You sure are a useless hunter, Mutt. Who would even imagine a hunter that doesn't know how to properly clean their prey? Put them in the kitchen. I'll take care of them later."
"Hooo, is that yesterday's lady? I'm glad to see you well and in good health. I'm Mutt, the village's hunter, and…"
"Go put those things in the kitchen and wash at least your hands and face. You stink of blood. After that you talk to Cecilia."
Gertrude looked like a big mother chastising a rowdy child. Mutt quickly acquiesced.
"I'm sorry. Gotta do what she said. Be right back."