As Jacob stepped out of the mayor's building, the world he found himself in suddenly felt so small- with the money that he has now, he can practically set himself up for life and Jacob couldn't help but be worried about how he's gonna turn out, by technicality, it really wouldn't be so hard for him to just sit back and relax for the rest of his days using the money that he earned- He's rich now, and it didn't even take him that long to do so. Idly, Jacob wondered how the people around him would feel if they learn that he, a newcomer, managed to earn money that they (probably) wouldn't even see throughout their whole life.
The feeling that he got from that thought was a nice mixture of paranoia, disbelief, and anxiety borne from worrying about the fact that he simply has too much money. Fuck, how the hell did his father even spend this much money? Did he just keep it? Chances are... he probably did but Jacob knew that the man had one project after another, and that knowledge allowed him to also realize that his father definitely threw money at projects so that he can get more of the stuff.
Jacob paused mid-step. Is that what he wants to do?
He stared far in the distance at the direction where his farm is supposed to be and held back a sigh.
'Investments. Huh?..' He thought sadly. Ever since he was a child, his father had drilled into him the importance of investments in a capitalistic society and it's not like the man is wrong or anything but... maybe a medieval world with a literal thing called merchant's guild on it isn't gonna react kindly to Jacob throwing out one investment after the next.
So with that in mind, he shook his thoughts away and walked down the street. Where? Who knows.
Jacob's feet eventually led him to a little building, one that had an oddly familiar looking sigil at the top. The gigantic pair of glasses placed on the building's roof stared back at Jacob as he looked up and eyed it, somehow, he can feel Horos staring him down through them. Jacob shook his head and looked away, down to the entrance of the church?..
His eyes went to the side and saw a six-pane window with concrete lining, it was carved- 'Obviously.' Jacob thought in hindsight, this is supposed to symbolize a god after all and he's pretty sure the people who built it wouldn't risk making it ugly. - and looked to be similar to the many outcroppings of the mansions that he is used to all his life.
Curiosity was the reason why Jacob walked closer, and when he was in front of the window, it wasn't his reflection that he focused on, it was the children sitting on chairs in front of a blackboard. Jacob stared for seconds, time ticked and passed until his shellshocked state got broken by the window suddenly opening to reveal a bearded man who lacked one arm. Specifically, his left.
"What do you want kid?" He asked, voice laced with a deep baritone. It was like listening to a tuba- not that he's familiar with it, he was never one for the orchestras his older sister was into - and it was the first time that Jacob saw an actual deviation from the norm when it came to the features of this world, the man had brown hair sure but his voice- "Kid?"
Jacob shook his stray thoughts away and bowed, "This building belongs to Horos correct?" In response, the man looked left and then tilted his head up to where the God's symbol is. Jacob cleared his throat, "As good as an answer as any." He said calmly, "Will you guys accept a donation or two?"
The man raised his eyebrow, "A silver coin isn't enough for us kid."
"How about ten gold then?" Jacob's hand went inside his coin pouch and fished out 5 gold coins, "Or 5000 Silver."
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"That's only 2500 silver." The man said bluntly,
"I'm gonna have to go to the bank and check out my reward." He replied.
The man nodded, "Fair enough. If you want to donate then go to the front, there should be an old woman there who sits in front of a box on a desk."
"Thank you." Jacob bowed and left and seconds later, he heard the window slamming shut behind him. The kids were probably curious about what happened and Jacob commended the man for teaching them to behave well enough to have shouting matches. Especially since the age range inside that classroom was only around 8-9 years old.
Walking to the front desk had been as easy as going in the entrance and going down the hallway- which Jacob would've found odd if he wasn't walking on top of the church of the very God who gave him his [Crafting] skill and [Locate] spells.
The old woman the guy told Jacob about had gotten obvious signs of aging on her face, with wrinkles on the side of her eyes and smooth yet obviously loosening skin. Despite that, the life was obvious on her body and her eyes told Jacob that even when she's old physically, mentally, she's probably capable of talking to younger girls with the comfort of a peer yet the wisdom of a grandma, "Hello."
Did Jacob think about her potentially having the tone of librarians? He didn't but he should've expected it.
He waved in greeting, "Hi! Where's the donation box for this place again?" He asked as peppy as he could.
The chuckle he got from the old woman more or less made his sudden uncharacteristic act worth it, "Here," she slid over a metal box made of copper as if it weights nothing, "Just place em ere."
Jacob did just that, feeding the thing in front of him 5 gold coins that made the old woman's eyes go wide with every drop. "A- thank you!" Jacob nodded when she grabbed his hand and shook it fervently, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." He said, not willing to mention the part where he's gonna go back with 5 more gold lest it brings the old woman to tears. "I'll be going now, take care alright? The education of the youth is pretty important, after all."
She nodded, "You're right. It is."
----------------------------------------
A quick trip to the bank later and Jacob is out with his reward, counting all his money down got him to finish with 46 Gold and 250 Silver and at this point, he's sure that he can definitely live with just the gold alone.
The walk back to the church had met him with smiles on some of the people who had glasses hanging upside down from their neck- bronze, all of them strangely enough. When Jacob entered the place and threw in five more gold coins, the old woman simply nodded at him with a stiff smile, most likely having been expecting his further donation from the one armed he talked to earlier. "See you."
"Once again, thank you." Jacob let a genuine smile creep up his face, it did well in place of an answer.
Getting out on the town once more, Jacob considered the places he needed to go for living necessities. He heard there's a market full of food somewhere in here, he's also heard that there are tanneries, cobblers, cloth stores, and an honest to god witch's building inside this village. He wasn't interested in any of them at the moment because he wanted to buy expensive furniture before getting anything less crucial, he couldn't do with a built yet empty house after all.
And so the furniture store he went, [Locate] more or less allowed him to find it with relative ease, though he also made sure to ask for directions so that people wouldn't get suspicious at him. Suspicious at him for what? Exactly? Who knows? But being a spy sent to the village to infiltrate it is on top of that list, his paranoia recommended it.
From the outside, the furniture shop called Bailey's Fur looked like a simple, run of the mill building with even simpler things for sale, its wooden walls didn't have windows, and the roof, slanted it may be, had basic brick tails on top of it, their only function being to stop the rain from seeping into the building and ruining everything inside.
And for good reason because the interior wouldn't be that different from the inside of the merchant guild's main building and that is a compliment that Jacob wouldn't give to his own house: The place was pristine, with waxed floors that glistened red, shelves full of rolled up carpets that looked to be made with high quality materials and the place well and truly earned the massive space that the building provided it, furniture of different kinds- from a simple wooden stool to a couch made of leather - were placed neatly and organized so that the common shopper can walk a single step and then pick up the simple wooden stuff at the front.
Clearly, the man at the desk- a guy in his early twenties wearing simple yet oddly striking woolen clothes- noticed Jacob's surprise because his grin reached his ears, "Well then, sir- how may our humble family shop help you?"