Since, I wasn't even a hero so I probably can't expect to be treated well; in the worst case, I might even be executed. I decided that it would be best if I left the castle as soon as I could. That's why, when they talk ended, I acted as humble as I could and said this: "Seeing as how I'm not a hero, I'd only be causing everyone trouble by remaining here. Doing that would riddle me with guilt, so if I could just have enough money to live during the two or three months it would take for me to find employment, I'd like to leave and live on my own." And just as I expected, they gave me 20 gold coins and tossed me out of the castle with the haste of someone getting rid of a nuisance.
And so we've come to the present, with me walking around the streets of the capital. I had no idea if 20 gold coins was a lot or nothing at all, but at any rate I'd been given enough money for me to at least live for a while. I thought to myself: I need to hurry up and learn more about this world, starting with the value of currency, don't I? And then I'll need to leave this country as soon as possible. With the king like that, I can't imagine this country is a good place to be, and I don't think anything good will happen to me if I stay, either. Okay, with that decided, let's hurry up and take action. This capital resembled a town out of medieval Europe. I started off by calling out to some children who were idling about on the street nearby. "Hey, do you guys have some time? I just arrived from way out in the country so I'm not really familiar with this place. I'll treat you to some skewers from the stall over there, so can you teach me some stuff?" They were wary of me at first, but they couldn't win against their stomachs and so they eventually agreed. I bought the children two skewers each and listened to what they told me. The first thing I asked them about was the value of the currency here, which one could argue was the most important thing to learn, and came to these conclusions based on what they said:
1 iron coin → 5 € cents
1 copper coin → 50 € cents
1silver coin → 5 € (5 euro)
1 gold coin → 50 € (50 euro)
1 large gold coin → 500 € (500 euro)
1 platinum coin → 5000 € (5000 euro)
The skewers I treated the children to were 5 iron coins each. If a family of four had 6 gold coins, they could probably live off of that for at least a month.
I also heard of the existence of the Adventurer's and Merchant's guilds, which weren't attached to any country (both of these were basically mainstays of any fantasy novel), and that belonging to either of these guilds would make moving from country to country or town to town smooth.
Basically, it would lessen the costs of doing so. If one had a form of identification not from either the Adventurer's or Merchant's guilds, or no form of identification at all (those from rural areas or children living on the streets often didn't have any of this), one would get taxed when trying to get into countries or cities therein.
This kind of stuff is common in this genre. These children knew more than I expected.
Apparently, they see and hear a lot because they take on a lot of menial jobs to earn money to live. Orphans are really tough...
Anyway, I'd planned to stay at an inn tonight and leave the capital tomorrow. I heard from the children that there's a stagecoach that goes to a town called Kiels which lies on the border to another country every day, so I was set on riding that to get out of here.
After that, I was going to cross the border, and figure things out again from there. At any rate, getting out of Melromarc Kingdom was the most important thing.
In order to do that, I'd need some funds, but I had an idea for that. I also already had the 20 gold coins I was given from the country. They probably gave me a bit more than was necessary because they were feeling a little sorry that they summoned me in a fashion like a pseudo-kidnapping.
Well, it's convenient for me that this shady country gave me this much. Let's live off these funds for a while, I thought.