In the center of the belle square, before the belle rose, on top of the platform, the female heretic had been consumed completely by the hot flames created by the strange instrument.
But even after her silence and death, her curses and laughter still lingered in the air, as if echoing back her words. This made many people shudder in fear. Fear that the heretic would return and take their blood and organs.
That instrument doesn't seem like a laser. Or perhaps it is but a different type, a different model? Keifer trailed away for a moment before he quickly reined himself upon realizing he was in a completely new world with different rules. He could no longer apply the rules of his previous world in this one. There had to be a change!
He heaved a breath, his gaze looking up at the gray sky and the white sun.
"A new world... I can't stay here for long. I can't end up ruining yet another family with my presence. If I need to do something or anything, I will do it myself. I should minimize my human interactions."
"But apart from that, the fact remains that I might have some connection with this heretic lady. Or at least the previous keifer did. Which consequently led him to kill himself. However, it's also possible that the two occurrences are completely unrelated." Mouthing out his thoughts, keifer watched the crowd slowly scatter. The priest and the men dressed in leather somehow disappeared.
"I wonder if there's any truth to the woman's words. Or if it was just the rambling of a dying woman." Keifer turned around and walked away from Belle Square.
A few minutes into his walking, Keifer suddenly saw a boy riding a bicycle up the road. The boy was dressed in a brown jacket and trousers with a backpack. Just then, the boy dung into his pack and retrieved a crushed collection of papers before hurling it all into the air.
"Today's papers! The news of the streets. Read it all!" The young biker screamed while cycling on.
The papers rained down around keifer, like large collections of snow. He caught one of them midair and opened it up.
He fluttered through the pages, absorbing the information as quickly as possible.
After a few minutes, he spotted a section of the paper titled, "Hope theater music concert tomorrow at 2 pm."
Music.
Although the lettering of the paper was bizarre. They all collectively formed understandable words that were easily read.
It was another of his perks as a transmigrator.
Music, a theater. Hope theater. By 2 pm. Keifer repeated the relevant words.
Nonetheless, the rest of the paper contained other relevant information, such as; the serial killer named; Iron Man who supposedly killed his victims by injecting them with some kind of liquid that turns their organs metal. And just yesterday, he kidnapped the daughter of Baron Brown from her carriage. Furthermore, there were also matters regarding the building of a garden in the remembrance of the previous friscia kingdom.
Keifer memorized the information, before tossing the paper away. He cared little for the littering because the street was awash with filthy water which stuck to the cobblestone pavement, and junk packed on the sides of the room; smelling and attracting flies.
From the newspaper, keifer grasped that Canen City was situated west of the Tudor empire, surrounded by the Brine mountains, and the Gae River which flows from the mountains and breaks apart. One flowing into the city and the order by the side.
The main export of the city is the salt mines found hidden inside the mountains, which as a result makes the river that flows from the mountain extremely salty.
Furthermore, the city experiences frequent rain, which often causes the river to overflow from its route and damage or sink various houses, especially in the backwater area, which is the closest sector of the city to the river.
Keifer wasn't bothered by the junk, since he already knew that Canen City was divided into two districts; lower and Upper Canen. Which were ruled by different but joint governments.
And just like the names, Lower Canen was the slums of the city, while Upper Canen was the haven for the tycoons and upper-class men. So he already was in the midst of drawing up a plan to elevate his living quarters.
"Come and get roasted salmon. Hot and sweet!"
"Homegrown and fresh lobster rolls here!"
"Rice balls made here in your beloved city. It doesn't cost much, just 20 pence!"
"Come get your feet washed. Scrumb those nasty hard skins out! And don't worry we're not like those freaks in the backwaters that drink them. It just cost 1 pound...Per feet."
"Caned Green beans. Caned green beans from Port Santa!"
The mobile hawkers peddling on bicycles called out to pedestrians. Some would heed to purchase or haggle, while others will simply wave before continuing on their way.
The more he reached his apartment, the more the crowd seemed to intensify. It wasn't like this when he came out. This goes to show how important seeing somebody burn was important to the city.
Proceeding on, his stomach suddenly groaned in protest. Hunger shot into his brain, and he felt as if all his strength was sapped away from him.
Do I have any money?
Keifer dipped his hand into his pockets, feeling the presence of something, he scoped out the objects.
In his hands laid a paper bill, a few golden coins, and a golden pocket watch. He first snapped the watch open and saw the time which was 12:35 pm.
Closing it, he placed it back into his pockets and redirected his attention to the bill and coins.
The bill had a dark lemon color with the image of two figures dressed in robes that barely covered their body opposite each other. Their fingers stretched out to touch each other but were walled by a knife in the middle of the bill. The bill had the denomination "10" on it but the number was encased in numerous snake-like threads.
The back of the bill was of two unique buildings, facing away from each other but connected into one. However, the borders of the bill are black with intricate thread drawings.
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As for the coins, they had the symbol of a lion on one side and the image of a bearded man on the other.
Holding the bill and coins, Keifer grasped the relevance.
From Belle Square to this place, he heard certain people talking about purchasing things or entering a carriage. Their whispers of words gave him enough information about the world's currency.
The Tudor Empire was the ruling force that owned the city, and also their currency was the pound and pence. With the pound bearing the denominations of 5-10-20-50-100-200-500-1000.
And most expensive things in the city went for 5 to 50 pounds with most middle-class families making up to 40 to 50 pounds a month while the truly wealthy made about a few thousand a month.
As for the gold coin; pence, keifer grasped it. It bore the denominations of 1, 5, 10, and 50. With a hundred pence being worth a single pound.
Knowing this, keifer estimated his wealth which totaled 10 pounds and 30 pence.
"Is this all I have?" Keifer glanced at the duo bills. "I guess this explains why I'm so starved...I'm poor."
In that case, I should conserve as much as I can. Using only 10 pence should be enough to get by the day. Keifer made an optimal plan based on the observation from the market callings.
Stuffing the pound pill in his pocket, he glanced around for a suitable place to purchase the necessary goods.
Soon, he spotted a bicycle with an infused contraption on the back which added as an extra case for some of the goods. The peddler was a woman dressed in a white, red-stained shirt and baggy skirt with a lemon-yellow apron tied around her waist.
The woman wore a bonnet and despite her obvious advanced age, she wore thick makeup which was used to hide her wrinkles. Her body was overweight with fat arms and legs that seemed to be drooping. She was gasping for breath with each motion the bicycle took.
Obviously, peddling it was tasking for her.
Keifer spotted a few cans stuffed in her aprons. These cans were uncased in silver-colored zinc materials and were labeled with what was inside.
Walking up to her, keifer lost his solemn expression and smiled.
"Madam, what do you have?"
"Madam? How old do you think I am? Lad, I will have you know I'm a beautiful lady still in her youth." The woman suddenly spat in annoyance.
Keifer glanced around the bicycle before giving an uncaring nod.
Tsk!
The lady clicked her tongue, before pulling out a few cans from her apron.
"This is canned food. Food in cans. So it's very popular and only a few are left. So," The lady licked her lips, "You might pay a higher price. Anyway, I have canned rice and salmon stew. Obviously, both are in different cans and go for different prices. On with that. There's also bean porridge and soup with three pork chops but they are small in order to fit into the cans. And don't worry about spoilage. I cooked them myself today and they can still last till 8 pm today."
"What sort of preservatives do you use?" Keifer felt the need to ask.
The lady grinned and tapped the square iron contraption fitted on the back of her bicycle.
"This is a heat case, made just early this year by the newest addition to the upper-class society; the nors family. It is very expensive. I had to sell one of my kidneys. By crafts, now I can't digest some foods. Oh, and the case; it uses special batteries underneath the box to power the bulbs inside that keep the cans warm. But they usually die before 7: 30 pm. Which is why I say they last till 8:00 pm."
Keifer glanced at the box and asked respectively, "How much is the canned rice and stew and bean porridge?"
The lady smacked her lips and said softly, "You see...The beans and rice are very sweet. So, how about 30 pence for all three?"
Keifer stared at the woman for a moment before sighing, "And here I thought I wouldn't have to cook today. Oh well, bye. I have better beans at home." He instantly turned around and proceeded to walk away.
But before he could take a few steps, the woman exclaimed, "What about 25?"
Keifer glanced at her momentarily, saying, "You don't understand, I have food at home, I'm just lazy, but not anymore." He took a few steps forward but was stopped again by the woman.
"Okay, I can only do 15 pence." She compromised.
Turning around, keifer looked at the woman and said, "In that case, give me two cans of bean porridge for 10 pence." He passed the money to her and awaited the goods.
....
The lady stood with a perplexed expression as she watched the thin male customer walk away with two cans of beans. Her brows knitted as she couldn't help but feel cheated in some way.
"May the crafts be with me." The lady mumbled before, with much difficulty climbed up to her bicycle and peddled on.
....
Upon reaching his building, Keifer noted that the structure was divided into three with two floors, Each part had an entrance and a staircase which was isolated from the rest. The building was dark red, almost brown with a flat roof and multiple bronze pipes lined on the walls of the building.
He also noted countless shops on the road with bulbs. Electric bulbs glowed with a bright yellow light while emitting a buzzing sound.
Technology seems to have reached a significant height here. They already have the technology, they have electricity. This shot down his initial theory.
This world was more advanced than it first seemed.
His part of the building was the door on the left. Just like how the apartment had three sections with different staircases, they also had three doors.
Entering the brown door, he saw another door on his right. It seemed to connect to another room. But he couldn't guess who lived in it. Although he guessed it was a shop of some kind because from outside the building, he saw big tinted windows in the place the room leading from this door would be.
Perhaps someone is using their house as a shop. Keifer contemplated.
Climbing the iron steps, he soon found his way into his room.