“And you all decided to live here in Saung? Who is Frederick?” Damion asked.
“Frederick Telfer, your school principal,” Gerrad answered. “You never knew he was a mage did you?”
“No, I had no idea any of you were, well except for Ms. Teft.”
“Well, we didn’t exactly all decide. It just sort of happened. I was the first to retire. Just not as talented as everyone else.” Gerrard told Damion. “Certainly not as talented as Helga, she was the best of us.”
“What Rank did you reach?” Damion asked curiously.
“Me, only C Rank. Frederick and Demetri both managed to reach B Rank. Demetri followed me here a few years after I retired. Apparently they had a close call on a mission, and he’d had enough. Frederick and Helga started teaching at Silver Spire after that.
“If he was a teacher at Silver Spire, how did he end up as the principal of my school?”
“Well Frederick couldn’t stand the entitled behavior of young mages. Drove him mad. So, he left and taught at a few schools. Eventually, he landed at yours as the principal.
“Helga though, she managed to rise to the Dean position at Silver Spire. With the talent she had it was only a matter of time before she reached S Rank, but well… nothing in life is certain I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
“How she ended up here is for her to tell you. Now, tell me about the mission you are looking at taking.”
Damion was somewhat taken back by Gerrard’s request. She said she was his teacher’s friend and seemed to be friendly to Damion, but he just was not sure how much he should trust someone he just met. However, since Demetri had treated him well at his store, Damion decided to accept her tale and see what advice she might have for him.
“It’s an escort mission. Taking a research assistant to the Benault Forest and back.”
“Oh, one of those. Not as routine as a trade caravan, but still pretty run of the mill. Usually, these researchers are used to cushy office jobs, so they don’t want to stay out there for a long time and will rent a ground car to go out there and back. All you really have to do is keep an eye on the researcher while they are collecting samples, doing measurements or whatever else they need to.”
“Why is that?” Damion asked. Surely if the mission was to be an escort, the researcher needed to be protected, but was he only expected to protect them when they were collecting samples?
“The researcher will be a mage. Probably D Rank, so they can take care of themselves. You just have to make sure nothing sneaks up on them while they are distracted.”
“Oh,” Damion said as he realized what the mission entailed. “I should hurry back to the Association and accept the mission before someone else does.”
“You probably don’t have to worry. Most seasoned low Rankers won’t bother with those missions. Research mages tend to be, shall we say, snobbish. And the missions usually aren’t taken, unless someone like you comes around and doesn’t know any better. Most knights don’t want anything to do with snobbish mages.”
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“Well, at least it will help me afford better kit,” Damion said as he stuffed his new tent and rations into his new backpack.
“Don’t worry about it kid, soon enough you’ll be rolling in more money than you can count. I would recommend you get a payment card from the Association.”
“What’s that?” Damion asked confused.
“Haven’t you ever seen your parents buy something?”
Damion thought about it and realized he had never seen his parents with much actual money. The few times he had, it was money given to him as pocket money for him to spend how he wanted. Thinking back, whenever his parents bought something they tapped what he thought was a credit card on the payment terminal.
What Damion saw his parents do dozens of times was colored by his past life on Earth. That card his parents tapped was most likely the payment card Gerrard referred to. He didn’t even know if this world had the concept of credit.
“How do those cards work?” Damion asked.
“The Adventurer Association is the largest and most universal organization, so they wanted a standard way of paying their members without having to worry about having a large number of physical coins on hand. That and adventurers wanted a better way to get paid without having to haul around chests of coins since very few could afford spatial artifacts to keep their money in.
“And so, the payment card was born. With it, adventurers can receive their payment directly on their card, which can only be used by them, so it also cuts down on theft. Once adventurers had it, it was only a matter of time before the average person started to use them as well.”
Hearing Gerrard’s explanation, Damion understood the payment card was essentially a bank or debit card. As long as he had money in his account, he could use the card to buy things, but he had to have the money, unlike a credit card where he could buy now and pay later, usually with insane interest rates.
“Thank you for all your help,” Damion said as he waved goodbye to Ms. Gerrard.
“Don’t mention it, I know Helga can be a bit forgetful.”
Damion’s next stop was back at the Adventurer Association and after accepting the escort mission. Even though Gerrard said the mission would still be there, Damion was somewhat surprised. Damion just hoped Gerrard was not right about the research assistant being snobbish.
“Excuse me,” Damion said getting the Adventurer Association’s clerk’s attention. “How can I get a payment card?”
“I’ll just need your license,” the clerk answered.
Damion quickly handed his knight adventurer license over to the clerk. The clerk scanned his license at her terminal and then handed it back to Damion.
“And now for the initial deposit,” the clerk said with a smile.
Embarrassed that he did not have a single silver coin left, Damion took out the few coins he had in his pocket and dropped them on the counter. The coins were of varying sizes each with a number stamped on either side indicating their individual values. This allowed people to carry more hard currency than if all the coins only had the value of 1 coin.
Copper coins were the lowest valued coins, then came silver, gold and finally platinum. Each type took 100 to meet the value of the next in line. The coins came in values of 1, 5, 10, 25 and finally 50. The size of each coin increased in its value and supposedly the coins were enchanted to prevent forgeries and to condense the material in the higher value coins, so they truly represented their face value. Damion had no idea if that was true or not, but perhaps one day he would find out.
Damion counted it out, he had a 50-copper piece, a 10-copper piece and five 1-copper pieces. The clerk quickly scooped up the coins and entered 65 coppers into her terminal and set the payment card on the counter.
“Please place your hand on the card,” the clerk told him. Damion did as instructed and then felt the card heat up for a brief moment. “The card is now keyed to you. Unless you are physically holding the card it cannot be used for payment. If your card is ever lost or stolen, go to any Association branch and we will issue a new card for you.”
“Thank you,” Damion said as he pocketed his new payment card and license.