Chapter 6

Six

I walkedaround the streets of the duchy, my blood boiling with anger. What kind of irresponsible attitude was that? Had the coin really thought “You picked me up, now I’m your problem?” Damn, it was just like my ex.

Well, if it was like my ex, I knew what to call it. “Hey, asshole?—”

“That’s not my name!” Coin protested vehemently.

“Who was the one, exactly, who pulled me into another world without my consent?”

Coin remained sheepishly quiet.

“As I said. Asshole. Now, answer my question. Was that really the only criteria? That I could see you?”

“That’s a stronger indicator than you’d think,” Coin maintained stubbornly. “Only someone with intrinsic power could see me, and you must be quite powerful in order to physically interact with me. A normal person, a human especially, wouldn’t have been able to do either.”

So it was a litmus test, in a way. “Why divine power, though?”

“Because that’s what your talent leans toward, and that’s what you need to solve the problem here.”

Ah-ha, now we were getting to the crux of the matter. “What problem?”

“I have given you a quest. You must go into the miasma to find it.”

I waited.

Waited some more.

“Is that seriously the only fucking explanation you’re going to give me?”

Coin remained silent once more.

Someone explain to me why I haven’t yeeted this bastard into a forge already. This whole mystic, cryptic air it was trying to maintain was annoying as fuck. Oh, right. There was a question I needed to ask it before I melted it into a cock ring.

“Coin. Is it possible for you to send me back?”

Again, silence.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

More silence.

Bastard.

I paused at the corner of the street and blew out a breath. For five years, I’d worked my ass off to become my own person. I’d put up with behavior I shouldn’t have just to get that necessary edge to walk away from a situation not of my own making—all to have a future I longed for. To be put back in a situation where I had to once again earn my freedom did not make me happy. To say the least.

Was I mad? You betcha.

“Coin. If I do your little quest, will you send me back?”

“I, uh, can. If you want me to.”

“Okay.” Then this was more doable. I had a reward to work toward, and hell knew I could work magic when I had a goal to obtain.

It wasn’t that I wanted to be reunited with my family, far from it, but at least on Earth I knew the culture. I had degrees, connections, a very healthy bank account. I could take care of myself there with ease. Here? I was beholden to other people’s kindness and that grated. I didn’t feel secure here. In fact, I felt like I walked on quicksand.

Theon had been kind and accommodating, but I also knew he needed something from me, so I wasn’t sure if his kindness was conditional.

If I really had divine power—and I had no reason to think I was being lied to—then that might be my ticket to make a living here. I could survive with this ability. At least Coin had given me a marketable skill. I was grateful for that, maybe even a little excited. My inner child was hopping around, doing the shimmy-shimmy because fuck yeah, magic powers! Inner child could celebrate all it wanted. I recognized real work when it was presented to me. I had to do this. People’s lives literally depended on me. So I might as well do this well, right?

Did that mean I forgave Coin? Not a fucking chance.

“Asshole.”

“Please stop calling me that,” Coin pleaded.

“Not until I forgive you. Tell me, is there anyone else on this world who has the same kind of divine power that I do?”

“Not really. I mean, other people have divine power, but on your scale? No.”

Ah-ha. So I had a major bargaining chip in my hand. Well, that was good to know. Also explained why the priestess and Theon were so excited. I might have the power to do something about that miasma.

Yes, the idea of me suddenly being able to wield magic felt weird as hell. I was past the age of being a protagonist, after all, being thirty. Don’t get me wrong, it was really cool, but mostly it felt…overwhelming. Yeah. Overwhelming was the right word for this. It was why my brain kept escaping back into more black-and-white terms of “product” and “demand.” My brain excelled at escaping reality.

All right, now how could I work this out in my favor…?

I felt a soft tug on my jacket and looked down. A child looked back up at me, large blue eyes set in a gaunt face, black hair in a messy cut that barely touched their jawline. I couldn’t tell gender from the way they were dressed, as the stained smock they wore hung dreadfully off the shoulders. In a different life, with proper clothes and nutrition, I thought the child might be quite lovely. It was just hard to see it now.

“Sir?” The child gave me a tremulous smile. “Are you a merchant?”

I turned and knelt to put us more on eye level. Merchant, businessman, same difference, right? “I am. Why do you ask?”

“Will you buy me?”

Everything in me went perfectly still. What did that mean? “Buy you?”

“No one has my contract,” she clarified eagerly.

Did this child just ask me to sell them into slavery? Was the situation really so bad here that they couldn’t see any other way to survive?

“You want me to buy you as a slave?”

The child nodded seriously. “I can do bed things with you too.”

Bed…things. Not only a slave, but offering to be a bed slave? My skin just about crawled off, that was how revolting I found the suggestion.

My god. I knew the situation was bad, but this was beyond bad. Words couldn’t describe this. My heart broke at their question. I dared any adult with a conscience to look at this child’s face and try to avoid them, or ignore the plight they were in, without at least trying to help. I certainly couldn’t do it.

I gentled my tone even more. “I’m Jake. What’s your name?”

“Izzy.”

“Izzy, are you that hungry? That you’re willing to do…that?”

She nodded, still looking at me hopefully. “Will you? I’ll be very good to you, Master Jake.”

Fuck me sideways with a cactus. Hell no, I was not taking that offer. But I could see the gaunt hunger in her face, knew she was desperate. Beyond desperate. I wanted to help her. I could buy time, at least, right? Maybe I could speak to Theon—well, no, I felt sure he was doing everything he could to take care of his people. He might not have the resources right now. Shit.

I might have been a bit bewildered about helping this world before, but seeing a child willing to be a slave made it all hit home how desperate everything was. I might be in over my head, but I also needed to suck it up. I couldn’t in good conscience leave innocents in such a desperate state.

Oh. Wait, I did have a coin. Ha! Finally, I could put this bastard to some use.

Was it wise to spend all my money in one place? Likely not. Would I get a great deal of vindictive pleasure sending it on its merry way? You betcha.

“Tell you what, Izzy. I came here from another world. I really don’t know how money or trade or anything works. Instead of buying you, what if I hire you? You can be my guide today and help explain things to me. I’ll pay you for it.”

Her face lit up. “Is that all right?”

All right? It was damn preferable. “Absolutely. I have a shiny gold coin in my pocket itching to be spent.”

“Hey!” Coin protested vigorously. “You can’t pawn me off on someone else!”

Wanna bet? I ignored him. “Now, let’s start with the marketplace. Lead on, Izzy.”

“Sure!”

She turned on a heel and guided me to another street altogether. Her attention was mostly on me, though, as she was very curious.

“Master Jake, did you really come from another world?”

“I really did.”

“But I can understand you?”

Come to think of it, why could I speak their language? Surely they didn’t speak English.

Coin muttered, “I gave you intrinsic language ability. Be grateful, you fucker.”

Ha, not on your life. Coin still had a long way to go. I knew the only reason I had been given those language abilities was to further Coin’s own goals. Not for any other reason. I ignored its muttering.

“It was a skill I was given,” I explained to her. “By the being that brought me here.”

“Ohhhh,” she said with a sage nod, like this explained everything. “I’ve heard stories of heroes summoned from another world. Are you a hero?”

I fucking hoped not. That sounded like a lot of work. “Eh, not so much. I’m still figuring out why I’m here, honestly. Now, Izzy, tell me how many people are in your family.”

“Eight.”

For the love of god, why would anyone have that many children under thesedire circumstances? “Eight? Six kids, two adults?”

She shook her head. “Grandda, Grandma, Mom, Dad, Auntie Sylvie. And my cousins, Meek and Griss, and then me.”

Ah, okay. The family had banded together to survive. “Does anyone know you approached me like this?”

She shook her head, eyes falling to the packed dirt under our feet. “No. But there’s not enough food to feed everyone, and my grandparents are starving.”

They’d given their food to the grandchildren, no doubt, sacrificing themselves. Sounded like a very loving and generous family and my heart went out to them. This situation was hellish in the extreme.

I gave her a nod in understanding. “Okay. Let’s fix that for today, if we can. Izzy, like I said, I don’t understand how this world really works in terms of economics. So let’s go into a grocer’s. Some place we can buy food. Then I want you to pick out what your family would normally eat for a meal.”

Her head tilted back, those bright blue eyes inquisitive. “How does that help you?”

“It gives me something to compare to.” Which was true but also misleading. “I know how much food costs on my world, after all, so I can see how much it costs to buy food here and have a baseline comparison.”

She was still looking at me like I wasn’t entirely making sense. “Merchants talk funny.”

“Heh. Can’t argue that, kid.” It was fine if she didn’t understand. I didn’t need her to.

With a shrug, she led me into the “market” district. I used that term loosely because this didn’t look like any market I’d ever seen. Sparse was a generous word for it. There were maybe a dozen stalls, and none of them had more than three tables set up in front of them. The pickings were slim indeed, and I saw at least one box marked down to move quickly with fruit that was rotting.

If they were selling even rotting fruit, then… I didn’t have the heart to finish the thought.

Izzy led me confidently to the first vendor, a hulking Orc-like man dressed in matted furs and leather pants. His jawline jutted out, tusks protruding, one of which had a ring in it for decoration. He looked like he could go a round with a grizzly bear and win, he had that kind of intrinsic strength to him. He stood behind the table with a selection of meats. Fowl of some sort, legs of an animal, some flanks, and roasts. A sparse array, but it looked and smelled fresh.

My mission here was threefold. First, help Izzy. Second, figure out money. Third, meet people here and try to make friends. I was desperately in need of friends in this strange new world.

I offered a hand to him. “Hi, I’m Jake. I’m a guest of your duke’s.”

He blinked in surprise but took the hand. “Gren. Pleasure, Master Jake.”

“Nice to meet you, Gren. Can I ask where this meat came from?”

“Hunted it yesterday. It’s been treated with salt to preserve it.”

“Is hunting good in this area?”

Gren’s face fell. “Used to be.”

Miasma driving away all the game? Made sense to me that the animals would have the sense to get out of Dodge. “I see. Tell me, what’s the price of all this?”

Gren walked me through what each was priced. Then, being a nice man, he gave me a crash course on coins and how they worked. I had to repeat it all back to make sure I had it straight—which I didn’t, both Izzy and Gren corrected me—and I knew I’d have to write this down to remember it all. From his explanation, most of the meat on the table would cost twenty-five zons each, which was equivalent (roughly) to twenty-five dollars.

That’s depression prices, folks. Yikes.

I took Coin out because he was about to finally be useful. “All right, so how many zons is this worth?”

Gren took it, bit down on it—the yelp Coin made was satisfying to the soul—and grunted before holding it up to the light. “Pure gold, this. I’d say it’s worth about a hundred zons, maybe a bit more. Depends on the exchange rate.”

Fair answer. “If I asked you to break this coin, would you have enough to do it?”

“Eh. Not really.” Gren perked up hopefully. “I have enough to give back half in exchange.”

“That I can work with. Give me, hmm, two of the roasts. That’s about fifty zon, right?”

“Sure is. I’ll wrap them for you.”

“You can’t use me to buy something!” Coin protested, voice turning shrill like an out-of-tune violin. “You can’t abandon me like this! I won’t let you!”

Possessive little shit, wasn’t it? I didn’t care what it thought, though. Hasta la vista, bitch. I handed it over with a bright smile, took the meat, and went to the next stall with a merry bounce in my step.

On this world, much like Earth, meat was the most expensive product. With the remaining fifty zon, I bought a sack of grain and then a sack of squash-like vegetables. I bought something from every vendor in the market. I couldn’t not—they were all hurting for business so badly, their eyes following me hopefully. I spread the wealth as much as I could. I spoke with each vendor at length, getting down names but also establishing connections. It seemed obvious to me that dealing with the miasma was only part of the issue in revitalizing this place. It needed trade and commerce more than anything. I made a mental tally of what people could offer as I went. Hopefully, I could use this information to create some kind of business plan later.

At the very last stall, a woman sold honey. Now, I was no nutritionist, but I knew calories were the most important thing for someone on the brink of starvation. Izzy was visibly malnourished, and I could only think that honey would help with the whole situation. The woman had four small jars, and I used most of the zon I had left to buy them all.

Needless to say, I left a lot of smiles behind me.

At the end of my shopping spree, I had three han, two slin, and fourteen zon. Basically the equivalent of fifteen dollars and three cents. I had Izzy show me to her house, and I could tell she wanted the food so badly, but didn’t dare challenge me for it. Silly child. Of course the food was for her and her family.

A very worn-down looking woman knelt in front of the house, weeding a garden bed.

“Mama!” Izzy greeted, running toward her.

“There you are.” The mother lifted her head, trying to smile, but I could tell she just didn’t have the energy for it. The panda eyes on her were as deep as craters. “Where have you been, Izzy?”

“Working!” She turned and beamed up at me. “Master Jake, this is my mother.”

I offered my free hand out to her, as the other held an overflowing basket of groceries. “Pleasure, ma’am.”

She took the hand, looking confused. “Are you a visitor here, Jake?”

“I am. A guest of your duke’s. Izzy was very kind and helped me by showing me around.” I pulled her to her feet before offering her the basket. “This is part of her pay.”

With trembling hands, she took it, her eyes glued to the food. The hunger in her eyes was stark.

“I bought what would make a good stew, or at least I hope so.” I gave her my best smile. “Plus honey and grain so you can have honey and toast. Izzy, here’s the rest of your pay.”

She took the seven zon I gave her, the joy on her face radiant. “Thank you so much, Master Jake!”

I knew the answer before asking but asked anyway. “You were a tremendous help to me. When I need a guide again, can I call on you?”

“Of course!”

“Excellent. I know it’s near lunchtime, I won’t keep you. See you later, Izzy, ma’am.”

With a wave, I took myself off, heading back toward the castle. It was in plain sight above the houses, so it wasn’t like I could get lost trying to find it. Behind me, I heard a lot of excited chattering between mother and daughter, the idea of having a full belly for once making them squeal with delight. It made me both happy and sad to hear.

That food might last them a week, if they were very careful with it, but I knew it was only a temporary solution. What they needed was the means to grow their own food, to not live in fear of the miasma coming in and destroying everything.

I needed a way to support myself and thrive in this strange land.

Two birds, one stone, as the saying went.

I was determined to succeed here, which meant it was time to work on the first step—establish myself as an employee of this territory. In other words, time to write a work contract.