After conversing somewhat normally with Nola, I asked about the nearest butcher shop so I can finally get rid of the beef and see first hands what this world's currency looks like, apparently it's called Groshen. I asked Nola about it and she could not understand what I am trying to convey so she called in Sasha.
Using a small white board, Sasha explained to me the different kind of currency in the market.
iron coin equals 0.1 groshen, large iron coin equals one groshen
bronze coin equals 1 groshen, a large bronze coin equals 5 groshen
a silver coin equals 50 groshen, a large silver coin equals 250 groshen
a gold coin equals 500 groshen, a large gold coin equals 2500 groshen
For 5 iron coins you can get a bundle of straw for your cattle and if you are that desperate, sleep on it at night. For one bronze coin you can get some tooth breaking hard black bread, but for a large bronze coin you can get a sweet buttery soft white bread, she told me when they behave well Nola buys them that bread as a reward.
I asked her what they usually ate in the orphanage and all the kids gathered around me, one of girls who seemed to be close age to Sasha answered "black bread with beans!" another one answered "barley soup with salt sometimes!" "Gruel with cheese if we were lucky!"
I appreciated their enthusiasm, I asked them about "meat?" and they all got excited when they remembered captain Aerov when he brought them an orc shoulder 4 months ago, their mouths kept salivating.
I thanked them and went to Nola and asked "Nola, this how much?" Nola was staring at my container that i opened, pondered for a while, and said "220 Groshen", I was quite confused, I asked her how much does a gate guard make in a month?
She said that they make 120 groshen a month, I asked about the inns, she told me that the cheapest one costs 3 groshen, with food it becomes 5 groshen. DAMN, so a guard makes approximately 4 groshen a day, and he has to spend that to stay under a roof? This is slavery!!!
I obviously was not stupid enough to ask about how they survived in the first place, no wonder everything looked dirt poor and everyone was skinny, I honestly spoiled Sasha and Masha way too much. Whatever it was worth it
It was dark outside and somehow the city felt more alive than before, everyone was outside drinking and conversing, there were those weird looking bugs with giant stomachs that glowed a yellow light, they were like drones lightening up the whole city. They reminded me of fireflies if they were 20 times bigger.
Sasha wanted to accompany me to the butcher shop but got dragged by the ear by Nola, one of the girls who I assumed to be Sasha's friend went out with me instead, her name was Ayola, what grabbed my attention about her is that she had pinkish colored hair?! They were too poor to afford decent clothing so I assumed that this was normal in this world.
***
Nola was pacing back and forth trying to make out the most optimal and safest plan now that they had money, a lot of money, way too much for them to handle. She sighed and decided to wait for captain Aerov to come back and after that, they will go to the Adventures guild to try to strike up a deal with the guild leader since they all knew each other.
Captain Aerov was an orphan just like Nola, they both grew up under the same roof trying to survive each day in this cruel world. After puberty, Aerov was blessed with a mighty offensive physical magic that made him climb the ranks and be recognized by the local lord, he went under hellish training and became one of the four city captains of Canes Horos.
Being the youngest captain in the city at age 20, he let his power and authority get to his head. He began to see Nola as a woman and constantly harassed her until their relationship soured. Five years later, he is still trying to make amends, but Nola's heart remains closed to forgiveness, but unfortunately, she has no choice now.
Nola suddenly slapped her face when she forgot to tell Claudio something important! She remembered that in the Law of Canis Canem Edit that the new lord brought upon them, human laws do not apply to cripples, also known as people who cannot use magic at all! Right now Claudio could get murdered on the streets or something far worse and everyone would be okay about it! I am surprised no one decided to rob him of his possessions yet!
Sasha walked in on a distressed Nola and asked her what was wrong, she thought that it was useless to keep secrets now.
***
Ayola: Mister mister!, can you buy me a piece of white bread after you sell your meat? Pleassse
I only understood that she wanted the good kind of bread, I felt kind of bad that this kid only wanted bread when Sasha and her brother ate some restaurant quality cheeseburgers a couple of hours ago, I didn't have the heart to say no
Claudio: reward for guide
I replied to her with broken Voratrae, her face lightened up and she started cheering and jumping around me, she had too much energy for a malnourished kid if you ask me
After 15 minutes of walking, I was pretty tired, being low on calories sure sucked. I felt stupid when I called this place a town, apparently it is the biggest city near the borders, every place near here is a shabby village that are full of vagrants and outlaws. Through the whole walk Ayola kept jumping on my shoulder and singing and dancing, people kept staring at me menacingly and I had my hands on my reassembled handgun the whole time, either I was being paranoid or Ayola had the survival instinct of fart.
We finally arrived at the butcher shop, It honestly looked like someone's house, when I entered it the butcher greeted me with a tired smile. He had a bald head, a moustache and hairy arms and chest, he looked like an Italian uncle, he was maybe 6 foot 3? I dropped the plastic basket that was full of ice and meat and told him "sell", he was surprised by the container and it looked like he had a million questions but he tried to keep it professional, he weighed in the meat, checked the quality and said with a straight face "120 groshen" OH HELL NO
He lowballed the fuck out of me, I shook my head and glared at him and said "large silver", he opened his eyes at my request and tried to negotiate again
The butcher: 110 groshen
Claudio: 240 groshen
The butcher: 100 groshen
Claudio: 230 groshen
He was getting irritated, he thought he can scam someone and make 3 times the value. He let out an aura from his core and I could feel my head and chest getting compressed, blood started coming out of my nose. Thinking that he intimated me ,he flared his chest and said
The butcher: 50 groshen
Claudio: large gold coin
I could hear his teeth grinding, he was about to lose it but refrained from doing so, he told me to get out of the store and never show my face around here anymore, he also called me a folsy cripple and I didn't understand what he meant by folsy. I honestly did not need the money, it least the kids at the orphanage will appreciate what I would cook for them when we got home. Before taking the container, I noticed someone lying in bed, presumably sick.
I went back to the butcher and asked him "who that?" he lost his cool, he grabbed me by my armpits and lifted me in the air as if I weighed 30 pounds. He asked "what do you want! Are you here to gloat your health or something?! You are a cripple!" I only understood the first part, and the cripple part…, apparently He got offended by my innocent question, must be someone important to him since he got this emotional about it. I tried to defuse the situation and said "i a medic, i help", he started angrily laughing at me, I could feel his grip tightening me before a weak voice reprimanded his actions.
Girl: da…d stop this nonsense! Put the man down!
The butcher's rage quickly dissipated and he put me back down gently, I rubbed my sore armpits and asked him "i help?"
The man probably thought what could a cripple who barely speaks the language know about what is troubling his beloved daughter but he can't refuse any help that is given to him, even if there is a slim chance it was better than no chance, the butcher quickly apologized to Claudio and reluctantly led him to his daughters room.
I entered the room and found what seemed to be a girl in her midteens, she had ginger hair, fair skin with freckles on her face, and a large pair of blue eyes. She looked nothing like the butcher, so I assumed that he adopted her. The moment I saw her, I could tell she had scurvy, a severe deficiency in vitamin C. I asked the butcher where I could wash my hands, but he got confused and led me to a bucket. I took out a bar of soap and started scrubbing my hands before I physically examined the patient.
Before I could create any more misunderstandings, I told them that I will be touching her face, arms and legs, I assured them that I am not a pervert and this was part of the procedure, the girl nodded her head enthusiastically and the butcher reluctantly agreed.
First, I checked her eyes, she had a hemorrhage in her left eye, I checked her teeth and thankfully, there was no gum disease, next I asked her if her chest hurts and if she had trouble breathing, she said yes to both questions. Then I asked if she had been sick recently, her father barged in and said that she has been sick many times this month alone.
After that, I started checking her arms and thighs, they both had hemorrhage, and bumpy chicken skin, I asked her if she could feel me pressing against her thighs and she told me that it was numb. Under ideal conditions, I would have taken some blood from her to run some test results to confirm my diagnosis but I really am in another world, who knows, maybe I could learn to do stuff like that in this world too.
The dad asked me if I knew what was wrong with his daughter, I smiled at them and confidently said "yes", I reached for my bag and pulled out a vitamin C supplement and handed it to her, I strictly said " I know it taste good, but one per day", she nodded in confusion, the dad was suspicious of me
The butcher: what do you want in return of this service?
Claudio: hm? Speak easy
The butcher sighed and said
The butcher: this medicine, how much?
He made some hand gestures, his daughter started laughing at this interaction between the butcher and me, and his face became red in embarrassment
Claudio: ooohhh… free is okay
I said with a smile, both of them were shocked by my answer, the butcher thought that I scammed them or something, the butcher got up and reprimanded me saying
The butcher: so you are telling me that you have the cure for the memorbus disease and decided to hand it out to us for free!?
The girl: dad calm down, enough with your useless anger!
I understood the situation and decided to give them a price for the supplements
Claudio: 20 groshen
The butcher looked at me and said
The butcher: I will pay you when the medicine works!
Claudio: no, pay now
I said with a stern face, it would take at least a month before his daughter completely heals! I would be long gone by then.
The butcher: ok we I will pay you now, if anything happens to my daughter I will personally take my time with your demise ye cripple!
The girl was not happy at all about how her dad was treating me, this time she gave him an ultimatum
The girl: FATHER! IF YOU DO NOT FIX YOUR ATTITUDE WITH MY HEALER, I WILL NEVER TALK TO YOU AGAIN!!!
The dad eyes shot wide open as he realized that he was being a dickhead for no reason at all, I deescalated the situation by assuring them that they will be seeing me again
Claudio: my name is Claudio, I stay at orphanage, I see you tomorrow, name?
The girl: my name is Viviane and my dad's name is Rom, thank you Claudio
The dad left the room with shame covering him while Viviane weakly smiled at me trying to make me feel better about the situation, but I really never took any offence in the first place, if they knew who I really was they would've never welcomed me in the shop in the first place, I had no room to argue
Rom gave me 4 large bronze coins and apologized profusely for his behavior, i took the meat container and waved them goodbye. I met an impatient Ayola as she puffed her cheeks and was scolding me for taking too long, I told her that we will be having meat today and she went back to her old self, or should I say that she was more energized than before
We went to the night market to buy some bread for Ayola while I was thinking about the dish that I would be cooking for the little kids. The baker tried to sell me a buttered load of bread for 10 groshen, do I have a sign on my head that says stupid or something? Or do these imbeciles just not know how to barter? The baker started getting frustrated with me before an old lady called me from behind, she owned a humble bakery shop that looked slightly worse than her peers
Old lady: Ooi, handsome! Come check oot ma baked goods, ye won't be disappointed
I did not understand a single word she said. I can barely speak the language, and there are multiple accents I need to be aware of?! Where is Kaneki when you need him! Ayola and i stuck out our tongues at the beast like human who bakes bread and proceeded to head to the old lady
I asked her about the price and she answered me enthusiastically
Claudio: hello, how much?
Old lady Brenda: tis cost 4 groshen but for yous I shall give it a three!
All I understood was that she gave me a discount. When I looked behind her, it was as if a revelation had dawned on me, there were multiple flatbreads that resembled tortillas! I knew what I was making for dinner, tacos!
Ayola and Brenda were conversing as Claudio was looking at the baked goods behind her
Old lady Brena: oi Ayola where ditcha get yer friend?! Did he fell from heaven? Ahahaha
Ayola: remember how Sis Nola came to search for Sasha and Masha all morning?
Old lady Brenda: yes I doo remember! What happened to yee troublemakers?!
Ayola: Brother Claudio found them in the woods, they were attacked by a gnoll and were covered in owchies! Claudio healed them using strange medicine and brought them back to the orphanage
Old lady Brenda: yous got lucky little Ayola, not many people is kind in this world nowadays, i lost me childhood friend to a gnoll once!!!
Ayola: I know I know you told us a hundred times!!!
Claudio: excuse me, how much for bread?
I pointed behind her, she turned around and told me for 5 groshen, she will give me 22 tortilla slices. I gave her 10 groshen I had on me and excluding Ayola's bread, I had 48 slices of tortillas, she threw in a couple extra ones that she did not need and thanked me for saving the Wilburn siblings, I did not know that this was their family name.
I went to the other merchants and bought 4 onions and a block of cheese for the the 10 groshen that I had on me, was I scammed? Probably, did I care? No.
I asked Ayola if she had a family name and she simply said that she was a peasant, Sasha and Masha used to belong to a noble family but after her father died, his other wife killed all of Sasha's siblings and mother to secure most of the inheritance, Sasha and Masha escaped through a boat.
Poor kids, this world really sucks, I am glad I went through the trouble of spoiling them when I met them near the truck, and tonight, everyone shall taste one of the greatest Mexican cuisines, tacos!
The walk back was really tiring, when Ayola finished her comically large loaf of bread she regained some energy and started dancing and singing louder than before, the stares I got seemed to be worse this time, a group people were sitting near the road spat at my feet when I walked near them, The fuck was their problem?! The path of redemption is really…really tiring
Finally, after 15 minutes of walking, we arrived at the orphanage
***
Sasha: no… this can't be…
Nola: it is the truth Sweetheart, we need to protect him until Aerov returns
Sasha: but I don't understand? Why would anyone want to harm Claudio? He did not choose to be born a cripple!
Sasha was furious! She could not help but feel frustrated, when they were walking towards the orphanage everyone stared at Claudio throughout the walk, she thought it was because of his looks but now she knows that they were planning on harming him!
After an hour, Claudio returned with a jolly Ayola, Nola fainted when she saw him, she thought that she sent him to his doom! Sasha dash towards him to hug him but Claudio was too tired for this bullshit and dodged her, she crashed face first into the wall.
Claudio ignored the overdramatic girls and signaled to Masha to light up the stove!!! He announced loudly "EVERYONE, TODAY WE EAT MEAAAAAAT!!!" the children carried Claudio with ease as they were chanting his name while Sasha was tearfully rubbing her reddened nose, no one cared that Nola was passed out on the ground, some even accidentally stepped on her and went on their way
Hmmm… i need to prepare 48 tacos and divide it to 11 girls and 6 boys, thankfully, there was a big cast iron pan, I pulled out my seasonings and condiments and proceeded to oil up the pan. I told the children to gather around me to spectate my cooking technique hoping they could learn a thing or two
I quickly diced the four onions into cubes, threw them on the hot pan to toast up nicely, and threw some salt while I was at it, Masha drooled at the smell and said "yeh okay we eat now" and tried to reach for the pan before he got snatched back by an angry mob of girls.
After the onions were slightly brown, I threw on 20 pounds of ground beef and proceeded to smash it down on against the onions, I gathered my taco seasoning that consisted of onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, paprika, chipotle seasoning and finally oregano.
After the taco meat browned, I threw on a little bit of water to deglaze the pan and help elevate the spices. While the meat was cooking, i pulled out two of my condiments that I brought with me and made a simple sour cream and sriracha sauce. After I was done with mixing the sauce, the whole orphanage smelled like a Mexican restaurant and the kids could not wait any more
I told them that this was the last and most important step, I pulled out the other pan and oiled it up, when the oil was hot enough I threw on multiple slices of tortilla so they can fry a for a little bit to get rid of the floury taste and for a better bite and texture. I flipped all the tortillas at the same time, and proceeded to the final step, throwing some cheese to melt and finally, adding the meat.
Nola and Sasha were plating down a grounded table and everyone stared at the tacos in front of them an awe, they immediately took a bite and everyone again, turned super serious and silent for some reason…
Everyone took a medium sized bites while carefully handling the food, after they were done they all shot a glare at Nola, as if they were saying how dare you, Nola felt ashamed and turned her head down in embarrassment, This is the second time something like this has happened. I asked, "What wrong? You no like?"
Masha was the first to break the silence "yeh Claudi, is you finished with your plate?" i did not have the heart to deny him, I got up and gave him my plate while patting him on the head. I went up to the so called restroom and brushed my teeth near a bucket before I started getting ready for bed, I was honestly so tired today so much information, so many new things, i felt a slight warmness in my chest that made me let out a chuckle.
All of us slept under the same roof except for the older girls, they went to sleep in Nola's room, it was only today that I learned that Sasha was going to be 13 years old soon while Ayola was only 12, Masha was 11 years old, the poor kids were so malnourished that it slightly stunted their growth. i hope the gold I gave Nola helps their situation, and I hope Nola figures out a way to use it without it causing trouble for anyone.
I slept on the cold floor while sharing a blanket with Masha, he had a visibly large bruise on his forehead for some reason, he told me "yeh Claudi, thanks for the delicious meal, it is only second to ice cream though".
While lying on the ground trying to sleep, a familiar book appeared besides me, I opened it and was greeted by the same old annoying way
[Hello Leroy]
Leroy: 'let's cut the bullshit, tell me what you know about mageia and how is it used by people'
[Very well…]