Chapter 156: The Balance Exchange

November 17, 8714 ARC

Courtspire City · Metrava Prime

Late Ninth Continuance

About a week had passed after the attempted kidnapping incident at Courtspire City’s Lantern Plaza. Marek’s Sunblind period was fast approaching, but his thoughts were still leaning toward that incident from time to time.

Whenever he thought about the environmental-monitoring device Silas had found near where one of the kidnappers had fought. it bugged him, as his guts were telling him—that could be a valid lead to his father’s location provided that he was still alive.

However, as Rhovan already told him, there was nothing he could really do about it.

Irial was still a mystery to them. They didn’t know where she lived. Neither was he aware of who the men trying to kidnap her were working for… or whether the equipment they saw there even belonged to them in the first place.

So, instead of getting himself involved in something he barely understood, Marek continued searching for his father utilizing the resources he had at the moment. Despite the chances being slim, he found it still worth it to search for his father.

And his Standing Card made things much easier now.

Before, there were several records he couldn’t even request because he wasn’t properly registered in the city. Now, he could use his identity as Newton Machiavelli and access more government services without Rhovan standing beside him like some kind of guardian.

And now, he had taken small steps toward his goal.

One of the requests Marek submitted was still being reviewed. Another gave him several people with similar names, while one record even had someone named Tomas Vale.

Marek almost thought he finally found something.

Unfortunately, the man was already seventy-three years old and apparently worked with agricultural equipment somewhere else on Metrava Prime.

‘Unless Dad somehow became an old farmer, this obviously isn’t him. Moreover, he’s definitely not 73 years old yet.’

Marek closed the record.

He spent another hour searching before realizing that he was checking some of the same things again.

Rhovan, who was lying down on another one of his self-made golden recliners inside the study, eventually noticed that Marek had been looking through the same records on his communication device for quite some time. “You’ve been searching for several hours already. Did you find anything?”

“Nothing useful,” Marek said, still searching for clues.

Rhovan looked at the communication device in Marek’s hand. “Then, why are you still searching?”

“Because stopping isn’t going to help me find him either, so I’d better use this time to search for more clues. Who knows? A miracle might happen all of a sudden,” Marek reasoned.

“Neither will opening the same records over and over again.”

“Certainly, Authorities can make miracles, but you need to be strong enough to make it work. Moreover, opening the same records over and over again wouldn’t help you at all.”

Marek looked at him, and he hated that Rhovan had a point.

Rhovan sighed. “Newton, searching the same records over and over again won’t make your father suddenly appear.”

Marek looked at the list on his communication device again. Most of the names were already familiar to him at this point, while the requests he submitted earlier still had nothing useful attached to them.

“I know,” he replied. “It’s just annoying that I can finally access all these records and still find nothing.”

“Then, stop for a while. You’ve been inside this study for most of the day. You have to rest.”

Marek wanted to argue, but after looking at the same records again, he eventually switched off his communication device and placed it on the table.

Rhovan smiled. “Good. We’re going somewhere tomorrow.”

Marek looked at him. “Where?”

“Outside.”

“Great… very specific.”

Rhovan ignored the remark.

The following morning, he brought everyone out of Goldwake House again. During the next several days, those trips became more frequent, and the group gradually started seeing parts of Courtspire City that they had never needed to visit during their first few days in the city.

They had already visited several districts because of their registration, Tongue Scripts, transportation, and other things they needed after entering Libra’s territory, but there were still large portions of the city that none of them had seen.

The city was simply too large to explore in just one day or one week. Even after a whole month, they wouldn’t be able to.

Marek had initially thought the areas they passed through after arriving were already enough to understand what the city looked like.

But he was wrong.

Some districts were almost entirely composed of government offices, while others were filled with commercial buildings, residential areas, markets, schools, even museums, and establishments belonging to people from other Houses.

At least, they could understand everything now.

Having the Tongue Script made such a huge difference that Marek sometimes wondered how they managed during their first few days without one.

He could read public signs, understand announcements, use his communication device properly, and talk to people without Rhovan translating everything.

Rafe had also become significantly better at navigating through the city.

He kept checking the transportation maps wherever they went, even when he already knew the route.

One morning, Kellan finally asked him, “Why do you keep looking at that thing? You already know where we’re going.”

“Routes change,” Rafe replied.

“Did this one change?”

“No.”

“Then, why are you checking?”

Rafe stared at him for a moment. “To make sure it didn’t.”

Kellan looked confused.

“…”

Marek just continued walking. He did not want to be involved between Rafe and Kellan.

One of the places they visited was another section of Mirrorline.

The last few times they went there, most of their destinations were related to government services and the Tongue Registry. This time, Rhovan brought them farther into the commercial area.

There were more businesses there than Marek expected.

Some offered legal services, while others dealt with healthcare, education, communication devices, Wroughts1, interworld transportation, and even assistance for people moving from one House territory to another.

Marek stopped in front of one of the establishments after reading what it offered.

Apparently, people could actually pay them to process some of their registrations and other documents. “So there are businesses that make money from helping people with paperwork?”

Rhovan looked at him. “Yes.”

Marek remembered how much time they spent trying to understand government procedures after arriving. “That actually makes sense.”

Rhovan laughed.

Meanwhile, Kellan was already somewhere else. He had stopped in front of a store displaying several transportation Wroughts.

One of them looked like some kind of floating board.

“I want that,” Kellan uttered.

Nadia, who was standing beside him, looked at the price. “No. Are you trying to wipe your money clean when you don’t even have a job?”

“Why are you answering for me?” Kellan asked, frowning.

“It’s just something not necessary. Unless you’re some rich kid born in this world, you can’t buy luxury. Besides, we have trains and other cheaper transportation methods like the trains and stuff. Set your priorities straight, young man.”

Kellan, although incensed by her remark, ignored her and looked toward Rhovan instead. “Can I buy it?”

Rhovan didn’t even bother checking. “No.”

“What?!”

“I’m not paying for that.”

“I have money!”

Rhovan turned around. “Whose money?”

Kellan suddenly became quiet.

Marek chuckled.

After that, they visited the Balance Exchange Quarter.

Eren was probably the happiest among all of them when they arrived there.

The entire area was filled with banks, currency exchanges, commercial institutions, lending services, and other establishments involving money.

Large displays showed exchange rates between different House currencies.

Marek recognized the Measure 1and Leo’s Laurel2, but there were still several currencies from other Houses he had not memorized.

Eren immediately started checking the rates.

“The exchange rate here is better than the one we used when we arrived,” he said.

Rhovan looked over. “Barely.”

“It’s still better.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered regardless,” Rhovan said, trying to dismiss Eren’s idea.

But the guy still argued. “It could matter if you’re exchanging larger amounts, like material ones.”

Rhovan sighed.

After that, Eren started explaining the difference in transaction fees and some other things Marek stopped paying attention to. He understood that a small difference could become larger if someone repeatedly exchanged money.

Dario suddenly handed Eren several receipts.

Eren looked at them. “What’s this?”

“Expenses.”

“For what?”

“Food.”

Eren looked at him for a while before simply taking them.

Apparently, everyone had already accepted that he was going to handle their expenses from now on.

Marek had no complaints. If Eren wanted to keep track of everything, then he could. That would be one less hassle for him.

They spent several hours around the district, mostly because Eren wanted to understand how the financial system worked.

Marek learned that people who traveled frequently between House territories could keep several different currencies in their accounts.

There were also institutions that handled transactions between Worlds connected through the Meridian Roads.

Earth wasn’t properly connected to most of those systems yet.

And of course, that was expected.

Their World had only recently become accessible to everyone else.

After visiting the Balance Exchange Quarter, they also went to several public galleries and other places Rhovan thought they should see.

One gallery contained old Wroughts, historical artifacts, documents, weapons, and displays showing important events from previous Continuances.

Silas was interested in most of those.

Rafe, on the other hand, disappeared into an entire section about the city’s transportation history.

Marek eventually found him staring at a large model of the city. “What are you doing?”

“They changed this route.”

Marek looked at the model. “What route?”

Rafe pointed toward one of the old railway lines. “It used to pass through this district before they moved it farther south.”

Marek stared at the route. “Okay.”

Rafe looked at him.

Marek looked back at him, clearly bewildered. “What?”

Rafe shook his head and continued staring at the model.

Marek left him to his own. He didn’t understand why the guy was so interested in old transportation routes, but if Rafe enjoyed it, then Marek supposed there was no problem.

Meanwhile, Dario had found the gallery’s café.

That wasn’t surprising either.

During the following days, the group slowly stopped moving everywhere together.

Eren sometimes returned to the Balance Exchange Quarter because there were still several things he wanted to understand. Rafe went around the city and memorized more transportation routes.

Nadia liked visiting shopping districts, while Kellan usually followed her and somehow spent more money than everyone else.

Silas preferred quieter places where he could read or observe people.

Dario wanted food.

As for Marek, he mostly divided his time between looking for his father, training Spatial Parallax, and going with the others whenever they visited somewhere he had not seen yet.

Courtspire City gradually became easier and more convenient for them to navigate.

There were still plenty of things Marek didn’t understand, but he no longer needed Rhovan every time he went outside.

He already knew how to use the trains. When he paid for things, like buying street food, which happened to be present in this world as well, he already understood how they did it. Doing all of these, he needed no translators anymore to move through the city. It was even easy for him to ask for directions now.

Such a huge improvement, but he did not feel like it was rewarding. After all, his family…

One afternoon, they visited a large food market in another district. Dario found a local dish that the vendor specifically warned was extremely hot.

Naturally, he bought it.

Kellan saw him eating and immediately wanted to try.

“You sure?” Dario asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Dario gave him some.

Kellan took one bite.

At first, his expression didn’t change.

Several seconds later, his entire face became red. “What the fuck is this?!”

Dario continued eating. “Spicy food?”

“I KNOW IT’S SPICY!”

Nadia started laughing at him.

Kellan then challenged her to try it herself.

She agreed without thinking much. Her laughter disappeared after one bite. Marek watched both of them start drinking whatever they could find.