The rest of the time went like this. Between examining patients, memorizing the Runes with nothing but his mind, and trying to sense mana without having to go into deep meditation, the day flew by in a flash.
In that time, though he couldn't sense the mana quite yet, he felt like he was close, which only surprised Jory that much more. According to her, Rey had a prodigy level aptitude when it came to magic, which made him happy.
"And that's it for today. You can have a few hours to yourself to explore Central Harrend and eat before you have to go back to the farmhouse and suffer under that cheap old man. Oh, speaking of, here's your pay for the day." Jory said as she handed him a small pouch of coins.
Rey saw a few copper and silver pieces, but had no idea how to calculate how much he had, as he didn't know each coins value. Seeing his confusion, Jory had a sudden realization.
"I nearly forgot your amnesia. Hmm, tell me this. What's 10 plus 8?" She asked suddenly.
"18." Rey answered without a hint of hesitation.
"9 multiplied by 22?" She asked again.
"198." Rey answered quickly once again.
"Hmm, If Sally bought 42 apples and lost 12 on the way home and gave 2 apples to each of her 3 siblings, how many apples does she have left?" Jory asked once more.
"24." Rey answered easily, as Jory nodded her head as if confirming something.
"Harris just might be right. You're well spoken and clearly highly educated, which means you can only be the son of a noble or a well-off merchant. Though your lineage may cause complications later, at least we know now that you not knowing the currency isn't from a poor education, but from the injuries that you've sustained. This is good news." Jory said with a bright smile, not knowing that Rey's memories were already slowly coming back after she healed him.
Rey wondered how she'd react if he said she was far off the mark, as he wasn't even from this world. But, he already resolved to take that secret to the grave, so he'd never know. Still, this nagging part of him kept saying things might not be as simple as he expected them to be.
"Now, the three coins in our currency are Copper, Silver and Gold. Copper is what you'll like see the most of, as a stay in an inn is typically around 5 to 10 Copper a night depending on the quality of the inn. It takes 100 Copper coins to equal 1 Silver coin. One would typically pay a Silver coin to a carriage when traveling between cities. Lastly is the Gold coin. It takes 1000 Copper coin or 10 Silver coins to equal one Gold coin. Now tell me, how much did you earn today?" Jory asked, sounding just like an instructor in an academy.
Looking into the pouch again, Rey's eyebrows shot up because he made quite a lot for only half a days work. "Did I seriously earn 2 Silver and 20 Copper just from half a day's work?" Rey asked, still stunned by the amount, as he could be taken care of for a while with this amount.
A small smile bloomed on Jory's face when he calculated his wages. "Being a Healer is quite profitable as finding a Healer is rare. Being a Healer requires a lot of tedious studying typically, and many see it as boring. That's why they choose to become warriors, adventurers or study some of the more destructive branches of magic instead. Though they may look down on Healer's as being weak, whenever someone is hurt or sick, who is the first person they look for, the brute that only knows how to swing a sword?" Jory joked as Rey joined her in a laugh.
Though he was also one of the people looking down of being a Healer as boring, he saw now that the profession was highly profitable, even in a village on the outskirts of the kingdom. Since Jory let him keep his new robes now that he was officially her apprentice, Rey slid his coin pouch into the inner pocket of his robe, grabbed his knapsack tied to his staff and left the clinic. He had already asked Jory for directions to where he could sell his salvage, and she directed him to a general store that wasn't far from the clinic.
Walking around Central Harrend at midday, the streets were incredibly busy and crowded, but compared to the outer parts of the village, Rey saw less merchants selling wares on mats and stalls and saw more storefronts, like the one he was standing in front of now. The sign hanging above the door read Perry's General Store, but for those who couldn't read, there was a symbol of a balancing scale, which was the universal sign for a store.
Walking in, it looked like a typical mom and pop store you'd find on earth. Multiple shelves full of tons of different things from dried foods, weapons, and even gadgets Rey didn't have the first clue how to operate. In the back of the store stood an older Dwarf man with a hunched back and glasses standing behind the counter. Though he looked like a decrepit old man with a groomed, white beard, when he heard the jingle of the coins in Rey's pocket and saw the large knapsack he was carrying, a slight glint went across his eyes as he gave Rey his most welcoming smile
"Welcome, welcome, Young Healer! What can Perry's General Store do for you today?" the old man asked with an energetic tone.
"Not a Healer yet, just an apprentice. But, I was hoping to sell a few items then have a look around your store if it wasn't too much trouble." Rey asked with an equally friendly smile. It wouldn't do good to be rude and risk the old Dwarf offer a low price for his things.
The old man only smiled more and gestured for Rey to empty the items onto the counter. But, when Rey took the knapsack off of his staff, opened it on the counter and the old man saw it's contents, he nearly went pale and even broke out into a sweat. Quickly, the old man closed the knapsack, looked around the store to make sure no one saw, then fixed Rey with a harsh looked. The friendly old store clerk was no longer to be found.
"Are you a thief, Young Healer?! The weapons are normal, but the precious jewelry and space rings definitely aren't. And so many! How did you steal so many? I wasn't even aware there were that many rich nobles around here!" The old man asked in a rough whisper.
Though Rey was shocked by the old man's reaction, one thing he will never let himself be called is a thief. Sure, he had to scavenge a few things to secure his survival, but those soldiers were dead and he wasn't. It wasn't like they could take their things with them to the afterlife, if there was one.
"I am no thief! I stumbled onto the aftermath of a recent battle and found these things left under some thick foliage. Since they were just laying there and I saw no one that I could return them to, I thought to sell them." Rey said as he glared back at the counter.
He wasn't sure why he cared so much what some random old man called him, but his pride just wouldn't let himself be called a Thief.
The old man stared into Rey's unwavering green eyes for several long seconds before he let out a heavy sigh. Limping around the counter, the old man flipped the 'Now Closed' sign on the front door, locked it, and walked back.
"Okay, these items are extremely dangerous, so they'll have to be moved off the books to some special contacts that I have. That way none of these things will be traced back to us. There's 6 space rings, 3 swords, 2 Silver rings, 1 broken chest armor, 5 jeweled necklaces, and 12 arrows. Hmm, for all of this I can give you 3 Gold, 30 Silver, and 64 Copper." the old man said, looking at him with a neutral expression.
Though it was a risky transaction, the old man was obviously trying to low ball him, and Rey wasn't afraid to haggle. The issue was, he truly didn't know these items true worth, so he was at a disadvantage. But, he had one tactic that he was sure to work. Crossing his arms over his chest like Harris, Rey shot the old man a look that said, 'do you think I'm stupid?'. After being stared at like that for several long moments by Rey's intense green eyes, the old man started getting uncomfortable.
"F-fine, for a young Healer like you, I'm willing to go up to 5 Gold, 18 Silver, and 70 Copper coins." the old man said with a slight stutter, sure that Rey would take that deal.
Unfortunately for the old man, Rey simply flexed his arms and fixed him with a even more disapproving glare. The old man was slightly sweating now, as the tall young lion before him was looking more and more intimidating by the second.
"Fine! Fine! 8 Gold, 22 Silver and 16 Copper! But that's as high as I can go. I still have to eat you know!" The old man shouted, feeling completely worn and drained like he just went through the toughest battle of his life.
Without saying a word, Rey simply nodded his head and gave the old man a soft smile, making him release a breath he didn't even know he was holding. Reaching under the counter, the old man pulled out Rey's coin on the counter so he could count them, then he poured it all into a pouch and gave it to him.
"Damn, young man. If being a Healer doesn't work out, you can always become a Merchant or a Politician." the old man said as he complained in his heart. He still made an amazing profit from the sale, but he wasn't able to pull a fast one on the young man like he would like.
Securing his nice hefty pouch into his inner robe, Rey was starting to feel quite wealthy, so he decided to look around the store and possibly buy something nice for Rory. Looking around the store, there really was a lot of different things that he could get, but there were only a few things that caught his eye.
The first was a long, thin, hairpin shaped like a needle and made of silver, with a large blue gem embedded the bottom. It was being sold for about 20 Silver coins. Now that he had a little more experience with the prices of things, Rey thought it was quite expensive just for something that was only made to hold up hair. But, Rory saved his life. And the large blue gem embedded in it reminded him of her eyes, which put a small smile on his face.
The next thing was actually an outfit, which was a black shirt that cut off at the shoulders, wide green sash tied around the waist, a pair of black pants, and pair of black boots with the steel covering the top painted green. A simple outfit, but Rey felt it was perfect for him as he was slowly starting to like the combination of green and black more and more.
After that was something that Rey wasn't sure why, but his gut told him it was important. At the back of the store, hidden under a few dusty items was a large, thick scroll that looked incredibly old, embossed with the image of a ninja shuriken, which is what caught his eye in the first place. He was immediately reminded of a past memory of him watching an anime called Ninja Wars of a red-headed boy who had a dream of becoming the Ninja King.
When Rey tried to open it to see what was inside, the old man said he couldn't as the scroll had a Seal placed on it to where only the one who opens it can read the contents. So he would have to buy it first to know it's contents. Since it was only being sold for 4 Silver and he has so much money at the moment, he figured why not and got it.
After he bought his items, wrapped them up in his knapsack on his staff, Rey said bye to the old man and left the store a rich man. Done with the main thing that he wanted to get done, Rey bought a few meat skewers from a food stall that made growl, then made his way back to the farmhouse to start his training.
It was only when Rey left Central Harrend and entered the woods that the wide, well-traveled road led through, that he he started jogging like he was told. Sure, he could fake it by walking and saying that he jogged, but somehow Rey felt like Harris would know the truth and make his training that much worse if he lied.
As he was starting to put effort into his jogging, still surprised how well his new body moved, he heard a scream that made him stop in his tracks.
"Help!! Someone, please help me!" Yelled a feminine voice from within the forest.
Little did Rey know, this scream would lead to an encounter that would cause far more trouble than he bargained for.