Ari had worked in the tavern for two weeks, and he had gathered plenty of information. The town he was in when he woke up was a small town called Yellow Mining Town. It was called that because its main revenue came from a mine that was located in the southern part of the town. Precious stones and gold were mined daily in the mines, and the town prospered because of it.
The majority of men worker here was miner, that was why they were often big and rough. Many women also went to the mine to work, they crushed the bigger rock to find small precious stones to be collected by the mine owner. It was said that the mine owner had the backing of the kingdom's current ruler, and the majority of the town's mining result was shipped to the capital, the Sun City of Gloria Kingdom.
Unlike what Ari had been concerned about at his first day, the accommodation here was not that expensive. He could rent a basic room for a coin a day, and he had found a small room for five coins a week at the recommendation from the boss.
He had just woken up for the morning, the sun had been up for a while he reckoned it was nearing ten in the morning. There were no clocks here, he only had seen a sundial in the park so the citizen based their life to the sunlight to do daily activities. He had woken up at about six in the morning before, out of habit, but it was still dark outside, and it was so cold he came back to sleep.
At about ten in the morning the hustling and bustling on the street could be heard from the inn he slept in, as the activity for the day had begun. People trading for food and necessities or traveling for work had filled up the street. There was a market near the inn, so it was always busy this time in the morning.
He wanted to go to the market, so he cleaned up briefly before went outside.
The market was bustling, people trading their goods in the makeshift stalls were everywhere. There was even a fish merchant today, who was crowded by many buyers.
It was hard to grow food here, as the land was barren and the nearest canal was far away, so produce like fresh vegetables and fruits were expensive. The main food for common people were high yield crop that came from adjacent village like wheat, potato, corn, and soybean.
Ari was not interested in the food section, he went to one of the stall selling bag to buy a satchel. The merchant selling the bag asked him what he wanted.
"Something I could carry on my shoulder, preferably can contain this." Ari showed the merchant a wood board that he brought along. Yesterday he had looked for a board that more or less the same size as A4 paper, so he could look for a bag that could contain paper when he encountered them in the future.
The merchant showed him different options of shoulder bag, made from cotton to some kind of tree bark, then when Ari was not satisfied, he got out something that made Ari's eyebrow went up. A crocodile skin!
So fancy.
Ari shook his head so fast that he went dizzy. The merchant maybe thought he couldn't afford it, so he dismissed Ari quickly.
No matter, Ari went to another stall. Some of them were of crude handiwork, some were elaborate, and some of them were made from materials he had never heard or seen before. Even only window shopping was informative for Ari.
At the end he decided on a medium satchel made from some mammals' skin he never heard of. It was dark brown with decent handiwork, and after haggling he got it for twenty zhan.
The currency used worldwide was the one made from a faraway kingdom of Silas. People said that the riches and wealthy were abundant there. They produced gold coins called Vanna, which equaled one thousand silver coins. Silver coins were called Stila, which equaled one thousand copper coins. The copper coins, used most commonly for the low-income citizen was called Zhan. In some poor territory a zhan could be exchange with ten pence, which used commonly at Yellow Mining Town, although it was only recognized locally. The wage Ari had earned in his first day was three zhans.
After two weeks working as a kitchen helper, his back was somehow used to it, and his hands were rougher. He got his wage daily, five zhan a day, and he had saved forty zhan after buying daily necessities, as he ate lunch and dinner at work.
Now his savings had dwindled in half. Ari's coin purse felt way much lighter when he went out of the market. He went home and mentally tallied what he needed to do.
He had place to live, a temporary job, and meal to eat at his job. It was enough for daily life, but he won't advance if he continued like this.
He only planned for working menial jobs temporarily to stabilize himself, as he looked for a most suitable job, so he looked for a teaching job. But there was not a single school at this town.
Children were often seen gathering with their peers at various clearing in the afternoon, playing tag or roughhousing. In the morning, they helped their parents to clean their house and did chores. Then they played until sunset and went home for the day.
Ari also had never see a single paper in the town in his stay here. It seemed that the common people were illiterate. They communicate through word of mouth and if there were any notice from the governing body, they usually send an announcer who would read an edict loudly from the city center after gathering crowds.
He had come for one of these announcements, and the edict was read from a thin stone slab. Even they didn't use paper!
After that, Ari had a mild breakdown again.
He couldn't teach children for work, as there were no school, and doing menial jobs were not long-term solution. He didn't know what to do, so in the meanwhile he continued to work in the tavern.
He had been introduced to some locals, and he did meet again with the old lady who had given him an apple. The work at the mine was harsh, so people here had an impatient feel around them. It was common for the old lady to be ignored, so she remembered Ari who had helped her. Sometimes in the morning Ari went to the lady's home to help her doing chores, or just to chat.
"You seemed like an educated person, why don't you go work in a big city? What can be found in a small town like this, full of crude and rough people." The old lady had asked him this noon when he stopped by before he went to work.
"I'm broadening my skill set." Ari could only say. The front door was opened and a shout was heard.
"Grandma I'm here!" a small child's voice was heard before the person was seen. The child stopped his step when he found Ari with his grandmother, standing in front of the door while blushing and squirming, making the old lady chuckled.
"This child is shy, even though you have met this elder brother." The lady chuckled. The child hid behind her chair from Ari, making Ari smiled involuntarily.
He had met Julian, the lady's grandson who often times visit his grandmother when his parents went to work at the mine. The old lady's son, Julian's father was a rough man who dismissed him as soon as he saw Ari's lanky figure, noting him as an idler. The boy on the other hand was sweet and shy. He had crashed into Ari before when Ari had just gone out of the old lady's home and fell. After Ari asked whether he was okay, he squeaked and ran inside, mortified. Ari could only shake his head.
Afraid that the child became embarrassed before him again, Ari had come here prepared.
"I have time before work, wanna play a game?" Ari watched as Julian's eye lit up when he nodded excitedly.