Chapter 40: Eastern District

I followed Emeri to a gate leading to the East district of the capital where my employer and escort, Farmi Satris, set up her shop.

But as we arrived, I noticed there was a line at the front gate, Emeri telling me that it is, apparently, a requirement for all who enter the East District to write their name in one of the books set up before the gate in. Something that seems rather useless if anyone were to fake their name or something of the like. 

Thankfully, I was taught by Uldrei how to write on top of learning to read the book. The book helps improve my understanding of the language I had mostly forgotten, 'Unless I didn't know it before,' but writing out the words appears to have a better effect on my memory.

'Yet it's still an odd feeling. Unfamiliar yet familiar.'

Just as we finished, I looked around and noticed the minor detail of more people entering than exiting.

'Is this a time of day where people all come to the east district or are there certain things sold at this time that many people want?' 

By the time we were able to enter, half an hour had passed, but the first thing I saw was that there weren't any buildings in the district. The only thing I could see from one wall to the others in every direction were the rows of set-up stalls occupied by the merchants and peddlers. 

People come and go, looking at all the items set up at the stalls that have a minimum of three people on the other side, mostly tough-looking bodyguards standing behind the one or two employers looking to sell their merchandise.

'I think this looks more like a 'flea market' than a marketplace.' 

Shortly after, I witness some of the merchants at the stall begin packing up before soldiers escort them out and a new band to take over that stand.

'So they allow merchants to set up at open stalls for a set amount of time before swapping with the next merchant.'

There seem to be more merchants lined up along the walls, waiting for their own turn at a stall with their merchandise sitting in their carts but there doesn't seem to be restrictions in allowing business to happen if a customer comes to them. 

"That's a lot of merchants." I mutter.

Emeri nods. "I know right? Just about all of them are peddlers from Hugo Desert coming to Siltria to make a profit."

After she mentioned it, I began to notice that the merchants were almost all of a darker skin tone while the buyers were mostly from the other districts. The hired muscle was the main exception, being of the most varied origins. 

But then a thought came to me, "Isn't the Alcrime Septims a currency of Siltria though?"

"They are, but it's still gold. And gold is something important to the people of Hugo, considered to be an important material for contacting their God by the same name."

"To get his attention? How does that work?"

But Emeri only shrugged. "Maybe he gave them an artifact that requires gold to function. But let's set that aside for now to look for your Peddler."

Taking a quick look around I realized quickly that finding Farmi like this was like looking for a specific stone in a cave before turning to Emeri. "It's great and all but... How are we going to find Farmi? It could take hours if we wander around blindly." 

Emeri scans through the crowd. After a minute, she makes another scan before looking back at me, a little dejected. "I... was hoping to show off my great eyesight to spot her without it, but I guess we'll have to go to the board..." 

'S-she was trying to impress me, but this area is too big and too crowded with the hundreds of carts and thousands of people that even those with good eyes would have a hard time spotting one person.' 

I followed Emeri towards the inner wall, spotting the thing she called a board rather easily, it covering a large portion of the central wall, probably over a hundred meters wide and almost reaching the top and bottom of the wall itself.

The number of Knights and Soldiers along the platform just under the board also wasn't a small number either, hundreds of soldiers stationed with probably an eighth or so holding clipboards. They all were writing something down, rarely taking a break while the names on the boards were continuously shifting positions.

'There has to be thousands of names on that board and the names on there are constantly shifting places every 10 seconds.'

"When we have a big announcement," began Emeri. "We use this stand to make the announcement, like how we recruited for your escort to the University. Because of news of bandits hunting caravans on the road west of the University, only 5 peddlers applied. And after further inspection, Farmi was the only one trusted to enter the palace, by Lejer's final judgment."

She grumbled the last part before continuing. "He might get under my skin but he's skilled in understanding people, especially merchants and peddlers." 

Right... the Keeper of Trade would be the one to choose the peddler, but Farmi does seem competent as a merchant. Though she acts arrogant, that looks to me like an outer shell she made to protect herself. 

Emeri stops just at the edge of the stage. "And this is an artifact called the board of records. Created with the purpose of keeping track of and monitoring all who enter the district, it holds the names of everyone who enters, keeping track of who is where every 10 seconds.

"The limits of the board are based on what is visible so it can't work when there are buildings present like in the other districts, but it works for this area created to eliminate those weaknesses while maximizing its strengths. Unfortunately, it can't discern between truths and lies so a person can use a fake name in one of the 'Book of Records'. But..."

She looks around before whispering. "...there are some positive features in the book I don't want to spoil in public." 

The moment I look at the north-western corner of the board, I notice that both mine and Emeri's first and last names are written in the handwriting we made in the book before passing the gates.

'Then the positions of the names must be where the person is while the names beside them are who they are next to.'

This Artifact would make the Knights' job simpler in catching a thief on the run. They only need to follow the leading name sprinting for an exit whenever a commotion takes place. It also helps those looking for an individual discover their current location. Be it the location of a peddler's stall or a child lost in the crowd, this is the place to start the search. 

'A useful tool despite the drawbacks. Maybe if they combined a Ke...'

My head stopped thinking as a spike of pain came at the word... what was the word? My body was still shaking, uncertain as to why I became like this.

I hear Emeri speak, "Ah there she is! Near the center in the eastern sec... Veda are you alright?!" 

The moment she noticed she tried to check up on me. I didn't know what happened myself so I could only reassure her. "I'm just a little tired. But did you say you found Farmi?"

Emeri looked at me with worry in her eyes but pointed out the Eastern part of the board in the center where the name, Farmi Satris, could be seen. With the information, we begin heading to what we can confirm is her stall seeing as it hasn't changed in the last 3 ticks since finding it. 

Because of the incident, Emeri kept a closer eye on me while I looked at the many items crafted from a different land. There were many potteries and carpets of interesting designs with some unique fruits and animals brought from the eastern kingdom.

When passing by a shop, I see a few weapons, a lot like the Scimitar my other has in his possession. Some were much bigger but still had a hefty curve while others were smaller and acted more like daggers, still with that hefty curve. The biggest difference I could really see in their designs was that some had handguards while others didn't, Verei's being part of the ladder version. 

This might be a place to revisit as Verei to find a compatible off-hand sword if I ever want to do the 'keep my shield at my back while dual-wielding' strategy I did yesterday. 

But while I was looking around at the many merchandise and Emeri was keeping a close eye out for me, someone I hadn't known ended up having an eye on me.