Dagger

Time passed and it was almost closing time. Allen walked back inside the shop and saw James still reading the encyclopedia of precious herbs and plants, while Ivan was nowhere to be seen because he has already left several hours ago.

"Kid, it's almost closing time, go sweep the floor.", Allen said.

Hearing the shop owner, James immediately closed the encyclopedia and started cleaning the floor with a broom.

Allen sat where James was sitting earlier and opened the encyclopedia to alleviate his boredom.

"How much have we earned for today?", Allen asked.

"50 bronze coins and one silver coins.", James replied.

Allen nodded in response while sticking his sight to the encyclopedia. After a few moments, Ivan entered the shop.

"Mr. Morgan, there's going to be an important declaration at the city square later.", Ivan said.

"Huh, what is all about?", James asked.

"I don't know, they only said that it's a decree from His Majesty, the king himself!", Ivan replied, showing a bit enthusiasm.

Before James could say anything, Allen said, "Speed up the cleaning, James. It's probably important, let's go there later."

***

Several minutes later, Allen and James were walking towards the direction of the city square.

"I wonder what is the king's decree. What do you think is it about, Mr. Morgan?", James asked.

"If it's the king, then it's important.", Allen answered while putting his hands behind his back.

When they arrived at the city square, it was almost full people who were having conversations and guessing what was the king's decree about.

"Hais, there are so many people! I can't see anything!", James sighed in distress.

"Follow me.", Allen said.

"Uhh...", James could only follow the shop owner until they reached a nearby alley.

Suddenly, Allen started climbing the four-storey building which greatly shocked James.

When Allen reached the roof, James wasn't even halfway yet up the building. Seeing that the shop owner was already on the roof, the kid sped up. However, he almost lost his grip on the way, making him climb up slower again.

Finally, James reached the roof and panted. It was exhausting to climb up such a tall building.

The kid sat beside Allen looked over to the square. There was a platform in the square, where the king's decree would be declared.

"You're really good at climbing, mister.", James remarked, but Allen didn't respond to the kid's praise.

Afterwards, the people quieted down and made way for three people who were wearing robes with the symbol of the kingdom and other kinds of insignia.

"Aren't those mages, mister?!", James pointed in surprise to the two blue robed men, each of them having a staff, and were behind another man, who was carrying a folded gem-decorated parchment.

Allen shook his head and said, "They're adepts."

James' jaw dropped in surprise, adepts were rarely seen by the common people, in fact, this is the first time he saw adepts, and two of them at the same time.

"How did you know they were adepts?", James asked.

"Oh.", James tried to check their staffs but couldn't do so due to the far distance.

When the three of them reached the platform, the man holding the parchment unfurled the said object and read out loud.

"His Majesty, King Santos IV, hereby decree that after recently finding two large gold mines, bronze coins will have no more monetary value any longer.", the man declared.

It was a shocking and straight introduction.

A heated discussion instantly started among the people in the square. However, they weren't the most shocked, it was the merchants who were the most baffled right now!

Allen's interest was piqued and listened even closer.

"Quiet down!", one of the adepts magically increased the volume of his voice to be heard by everyone. All the people silenced themselves and waited what would be next.

Seeing that everyone silenced themselves, the man continued, "And because of this, the bronze coins would be replaced by crown bronze coins!"

The man took out a bronze coin engraved with a crown and there was some sort of tiny piece of metal on the middle on both sides of the coin, which was one of the indicators of its authenticity.

When everybody in the square heard the latter part of the declaration, they were surprised by the strictness and the severity of the punishment.

Nonetheless, the next and concluding declaration was a bombshell information for them.

"The bronze coins and crown bronze coins' exchange shall be 10:1, respectively. This parchment and decree is signed by His Majesty, King Santos IV.", the man ended the declaration.

In an instant, the whole square was in a commotion when they heard the last sentence. The city guards around the platform instantly rose their shields and protected the said location.

All the people where shocked for the third time, specially the merchants. While most of the former only care that their money would decrease, the latter were worried about the effects that the decree would cause on the economy.

"Excuse me, is this really the command of His Majesty?", an old man, who was obviously a merchant from his clothes asked towards the man.

Hearing the old man's question, the man answered, "Yes, it is. He also personally signatured it, do you want to see it?"

"No thanks. I'll be going off now.", the old man quickly left the chaotic and noisy area.

Hearing the man's answer, most of the smart merchants left the area to prepare to exchange the bronze coins tomorrow.

"The king is so stupid!", suddenly a man blurted out in anger.

Hearing what the man just said, the man on the platform's face became gloomy and said, "Slandering the king, capture him!"

However, the guards had already acted and immediately captured the man.

Meanwhile, Allen and James were still on the roof of a building while watching what was happening below from above.

"Why would the king even do this? Won't our crown bronze coins then be in much smaller quantity? Then we wouldn't even afford some basic things.", James remarked.

Hearing what the kid has said, Allen shook his head and said, "No, don't just focus on the aspect of the quantity of the crown bronze coins, pay attention to what will happen to the silver and gold coins too."

"What do you mean, mister?", James asked. He wasn't that good when it came to trading.

"Let's just say that bronze coins are like one of the foundation of the monetary exchange of the kingdom. If the kingdom could control the exchange of the bronze coins, then it will affect exchange of bronze coins to silver coins and vice-versa and silver coins to gold coins and vice-versa.", Allen said.

"But it's also not as simple as that they could just implement it, or else, the prices of commodities would surely rise even higher than they probably expected. Without the gold mines, the exchange rate of crown bronze coins to silver coins would then be 500-200:1 and silver coins to gold coins would also then be 300-100:1, by then, due to the smaller amount of crown bronze coins than the bronze coins; thus, making all things need more money to purchase. However, because of the two gold mines that the kingdom found, the exchange rate of crown bronze coins to silver coins and silver coins to gold coins would most likely then be at 100:1, though there'll be other factors to determine it, but I think that's what the king wants to happen. Making the kingdom more rich overall.", Allen explained.

"If you want to understand it, then read books.", Allen replied without any emotion.

After a pause, Allen added, "You should return to your house, it's about to get dark."

"Alright, goodbye mister.", James then climbed back down.

Allen looked towards the sunset while muttering, "It was as if it's the sunset that..." He didn't finish his sentence and only removed his right arm from the jacket he was wearing and looked at it. His arm was full of scars from long ago.

"It's like it's the same, yet it's not the day.", Allen wore back his jacket and breathe out cold air. Afterwards, he reached out with his hands, and a snowflake fell from the sky towards his gloves.

Everything felt cold.