Y.O.W

Chapter 12: Problems and The Library

Ren sat there trying to imagine the scale of his wealth, but couldn't. Xavier cleared his throat and Mary got off the ground. She repositioned herself in her seat, but the look on her face made Ren feel like he'd done something bad.

"Well, that's the case, but there's a problem," Xavier explained. "I'm highly doubtful that you'll be able to access this money."

"Huh?" Both Ren and Mary said in unison.

"Well, while it's true that you deposited with us, you never gave us actual money. Flickers never do. It's just that our ledgers update with an account balance. Like a type of magic. So unfortunately, while you have an account, we can't give you access to any funds because they only show up in this ledger. You don't have a vault to access." Xavier grinned awkwardly.

That... I guess that makes sense. The money in Y.O.W was never physical, so I guess it makes sense it didn't transfer fully. Then why did my money I was carrying on me transfer? Maybe this world converted my character in a way?

"I see... Is it possible to open up another account?" Ren finally asked.

Xavier looked surprised. "Yes, I suppose we can do that, but you'll need the starting money amount to open the—"

Ren placed the bag on the desk and opened it to reveal his small fortune. Xavier looked taken aback at the money.

"Is... Something wrong?" Ren asked, wondering why he was reacting so oddly.

Xavier shook his head and quickly smiled. "No, I was just surprised... Yes, I'll get your account setup. Your account before was under Knight. We can't put it under that, though. Do you have another name you go by?"

Xavier took out a paper and quill.

"Yamato Ren..."

"Age?"

Ren paused. "Thirty-five..."

Xavier glanced up at him but didn't comment. "What is your occupation?"

"I..." Ren glanced at Mary. "Well, I was an Adventurer, but I don't think I can do that in this world."

The man stopped writing and frowned, but quickly continued with a series of basic questions. When he was done, he left the room and later came out with a blue metal card the size of a credit card that was supposedly the key to Ren's account.

"Ren, you should keep enough money out for food and stuff for a month." Mary advised him. It seemed she'd come to terms with the situation pretty quickly.

Ren bit his lip. "How much is enough for a month...?"

Mary's eyes widened, and then she closed them, thinking. Finally, she opened them and answered, "We can go to the library today too since you have the funds. So, keep 4 large coppers, 10 medium coppers and 50 small coppers. It takes a large copper to enter the library."

"Alright." Ren turned to Xavier, who nodded and pulled out a small box from his table. He took Ren's card from him and seemed to write something on it with a metal pen. Then he opened the box and pulled out the amount Mary had said.

Mary counted it out for him and put it into a small pouch that she gave to him. He hid it in the inner pocket of his robe along with the card that Xavier returned to him. While he was doing so, he found a strange looking black key in the pocket. What's this for? Oh, well, I'll figure it out later. After they finished up their business, they headed a few streets over to where the library was.

On the way, Ren tried to get a better grasp of the currency. "So, it takes a large copper to enter the library?"

Mary looked up and nodded. "Yes it... Oh, I wasn't lying when I said I didn't have enough for the library. M-my savings are for my business and bills..."

"Huh?" Ren looked at her, then remembered how much she'd showed him earlier. "Oh, no, I wasn't... I figured it was something like that. Suddenly having another person to feed... I wouldn't want you to strain your finances."

Mary let out a sigh, then smiled at him. "You're not stuttering as much."

"I... I guess I still feel like I'm in Y.O.W sometimes.... I didn't stutter in Y.O.W." Ren looked away blushing.

"Y.O.W is the realm that you were Knight in, right? Why did you stutter in the realm you were Ren?" Mary seemed to kind of understand his explanation about the two different worlds.

"Well... A-as Ren I... People are scary in that world. As Knight, no one was stronger than me..." He admitted.

Mary latched onto his arm and grinned up at him, making him blush. "Well, either way is fine. Look, that's the library."

She pointed, and Ren followed her finger. The library was a tall glass building that belonged in the modern era. That's the library? Odd. That building wasn't in Y.O.W. Now that I think about it, Amore didn't have a library in Y.O.W. Though there was one in the capital city. Mary led him up to the rotating glass doors, and they entered. The inside was sleek and made of white-tiled floors and black painted walls with a large open room for the entrance. It feels kind of like I'm back in Tokyo. Mary took him up to the circulation desk, where a sleepy-eyed clerk looked up at them. Ren pulled out two of the large copper coins and placed them in a coin box on the desk.

Mary looked up at him, shocked. She'd been digging in her pouch. "I was going to pay for myself."

"Huh? Oh, uh, but you're already taking care of me. I-It wouldn't be fair to make you pay for a visit that you didn't intend." Ren fidgeted.

Mary crossed her arms and pouted, but protested no more. The sleepy cat eyed librarian handed them two wooden tickets and pointed to the elevator. Ren and Mary got into the elevator and stood there. Ren looked around and didn't see any buttons to press.

"How—?" The doors shut on their own and the elevator ascended.

Mary tilted her head and looked at him confused, as if this was completely normal. Ugh, I have so much to get used to. As they ascended, Ren felt a question nagging at the back of his mind. Why is no one more surprised at me becoming a real person? It doesn't seem flickers becoming real people is common.... Am I over thinking it?

When the doors opened, Mary led Ren into the room. It was filled with books, but he couldn't read any of the words on the spines. Mary took him over to a large map on the wall. When he looked up at the map, his mouth dropped open. The map was huge. It was 10 feet high and at least 12 feet wide. Mary pointed to a small dot on the map near the lower part.

"This is Amore, where we're at." Mary smiled.

Ren stepped closer to look over the map. He recognized some similarities with Y.O.W but overall there was much more detail to it. There were oceans and lakes he didn't know and cities he'd never seen. Mountain ranges extended further than they had in his world, and there were strange markings all throughout the map that he'd never seen before. I really am in a different world. Where do I go from here?