"Well, you seem a bit better now," smiled Ayfia as she retracted her energy from Arthur. "But you should continue refraining from using your abilities until you have fully recovered."
"Yes, ma'am," nodded Arthur.
Earlier, Arthur had dived into his Soul World and observe that the random ripples across his golden sea had diminished significantly. And to further confirm that the flow of RE within his body was stabilizing, he asked Ayfia for a check-up. Though the process was slow, he could already tell that it won't be too long until he completely recovers.
"Oh right!" Abruptly exclaimed Ayfia as she clasped her forehead. "Have Cisse take you to grab something to eat. Hot chocolate isn't exactly something a person can live of…. even though you and Cisse would beg to differ. Seriou-"
KO-KO-KO!
About to dive into another lecture, Ayfia was quickly interrupted as the sound of knocking echoed in Arthur's room.
"Did someone mention my name?" Came Cisse as he peered his head through Arthur's door.
Since Arthur was the only patient within the infirmary, which was awfully lonely. Along with the fact that he was practically family now. Ayfia moved Arthur to one of the spare rooms within the chief's manor. And at Cisse's request, the room next to his.
"As a matter of fact, I did," replied Ayfia." Take Arthur and go grab some 'actual' food. The excuse that hot chocolate speeds up his recovery you've been using for the past few days isn't going to fly anymore."
Darn it," mumbled Cisse. "Well, it was good while it laste-."
THUCK!
Failing to realize that Ayfia was right before him as he mumbled those words, Cisse's lack of vigilance was rewarded with a firm flick to his forehead as Ayfia was making her way out of the room.
As to how Cisse and Arthur manage to convince Ayfia that hot chocolate boosted Arthur's recovery? That can be attributed to an interesting belief in the tribe that seemed to work.
The belief? Offering sick patients all of their favorite foods on the claim that the food's irresistible appeal would encourage them to recover quickly. And if one wants to amp up the effectiveness, they simply needed to eat the food besides said, ill patient. Bonus point if the person says things along the lines of 'oh my gosh, this is soo good' or 'mmm, you should really try' or even better, 'you have no idea how much you are missing out, right now.' Though it worked more often than not, the patient always recovers in regret. After all, when one is ill, one's appetite is greatly affected. Thus discouraging them from accepting gracious tribute for their health. Was this a form of cruel and unusual punishment? Ehhh.
Nevertheless, wishing the boys goodbye, Ayfia left as Arthur climbed out of bed with a gloating look as he looked at Cisse.
…
Conversing as they made their way down a path in the market zone. Arthur couldn't help but be drawn by various shops providing various services. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that the market zone was the busiest place within the tribe. There were goods to be sold and people to buy them. And during this time, Arthur observed the currency used in the Realm for the first time.
According to Cisse, they were called Deriz and were the prime currency used in the Realm. Deriz consisted of bronze, silver, gold, and platinum coins, with each type of coin having three variations: low, standard, and high. For example, a low bronze is worth 0.1 Deriz, a standard bronze is worth 1 Deriz, and a high bronze is worth 10 Deriz. And in such fashion, low silver is worth 100 Deriz, a standard Silver 1000 Deriz, and high silver 10,000 Deriz. As one moves up, by variation, one adds a zero, or in other words, each variation is worth ten times the previous. Thus following such fashion, each high platinum coin is worth 10 billion Deriz.
Nevertheless, as Arthur and Cisse walked, they suddenly picked the sounds of playing children behind them.
"Waah! You can't run forever, Zion."
"Haha, watch m-"
"OMPFF!"
Not watching where he was going, a brown-eyed kid with dreads bound in a bun crashed into Arthur's leg.
PUFF!
As if hitting a wall, Zion fell hard on his butt as his head began to swim.
Surprised by the kid running into him, an unexplainable wave of apprehension suddenly washed over Arthur as he bent down to check on the kid. "Uhh….you….good not?"
Shaking his head to clear his daze, Zion raised a puzzled gaze. "Huh?"
Giving Arthur a puzzled gaze, too, Cisse turned to Zion. "You okay, Zion?"
Shifting his gaze to Cisse, Zion replied. "Uh, yea Cy, I think so."
"GOTCHA!" Laughed a deep brown-eyed short-haired girl as she clamped her hands on Zion's shoulders.
"Nope, this doesn't count, Ash," replied Zion as he cast a glance at Arthur before shrugging off the girl's hands.
"Apologies." Said Arthur as he stood back up.
"Nah, it's my fault for not watching where I was going." Replied Zion with a shake of his head. "Well, anyway, it been a pleasure to meet you fine gentlemen, but this gentleman's got places to be. Peace!"
With that, Zion flashed a smirk at Ash and the group of kids that stood beside her before dashing past Arthur and Cisse.
"Hey!" Protested Ash, as they all began to run after Zion again.
Seeing the kids run off again, Cisse threw Arthur a questioning gaze. "Uhh, what was that?"
"I-I don't know."