The Shards Of God's Eye

Leon bit into a bun stuffed with fried oysters. He didn't think he had to use Appraisal to find acceptable food too but after the first activation accidentally caught the following, he decided to be cautious.

[Dog Sausage. Aged two months, poor quality, poor art value, poor worth. An aged sausage made from dogmeat, not well-made, but with good aroma. May not be good for eater's health.]

'May not be good for your health'? Was it common for food in this world to come with shady warning labels?

He was curious, so the numerous streetfood stalls in the festival were the first victims to his flexing of the Appraisal skill. He had not expected to be horrified by food.

He knew hygiene standards started being widespread only because of money and technology, but this was ridiculous. Over half the food on a single street was marked by Appraisal as 'poor quality' or 'unacceptable for ingestion' and most of the other half was barely acceptable as 'average quality' or 'may not be good for eater's health'.

Of even the high-end expensive stuff in the shops, only about ten percent was labeled 'uncommon quality' or 'wholesome to digestion' and even less had both labels appended.

The quality levels Appraisal had were: Gray for Poor, White for Average, Black for Good, Green for Uncommon. So far he'd not seen any higher than those. But it was a town festival market anyway, so something rare would not turn up easily. He also was not completely certain, as Appraisal earlier lit a grey glow around a store sign and yet described it as uncommon.

He hoped the food in this world wasn't all like this. Seriously, something an ordinary restaurant on Earth would class as barely acceptable would be Appraised as Uncommon here. He consoled hismself. It certainly couldn't get worse, right? Food at festivals and tourist spots had reputations for being shockingly bad or extremely good after all. This wasn't representative.

It was an hour passed already. Nearly four minutes of Appraisal was not a small thing when he had the color effect to differentiate. But he'd only found the fried oyster bun to be both cheap and labeled 'uncommon' even if it had the 'may not be good for eater's health' description. He wavered for a moment, because considering all the mysterious being's less-than-satisfactory arrangements up till now, his gut flora may not be equal to the task of this world's food.

Unfortunately, 'uncommon' coupled with 'inexpensive' was not a common combination. He only had the equivalent of fifteen shillings left from his brief waiter gig (lol) and the five shillings Old Falk had paid him.

There was a gold coin named the guinea which was used only by the well off. And there were banknotes available.

The Empire of the White Isles consisted of five kingdoms, each with a unique government and characteristics, whose kings all answered to the High King. The court of the High King moved between the five imperial palaces every two years.

It sounded strange to Leon to have too many kings in one kingdom but the people here had made it work for nearly two thousand years.

Hvitur, the kingdom he was in now, currently hosted the High King and they were very gossipy about it. He couldn't help but hear a lot of gushing and boasting. The capital, Caerlunet, was only two day's walk away, and the imperial palace was built on the most prominent hill of the capital city.

There were many sighs about six imperial princes and two imperial princesses, three unmarried dukes, a marchioness just come of age, a passel of heirs and wealthy relations seemingly searching for matrimonial partners, this hunky werewolf and that busty vampire, sigh and sigh again.

Leon forced himself to walk slowly, lingering about the crowds. Hilarious how much accurate information about local preferences and the socio-political landscape can be found from eavesdropping around loud people. He'd once transferred to a high school in another country, so he was well acquainted with the virtue of staying in the background until he had enough data and skill to stand with those in the spotlight.

But these gossipers were all too polite! Where were the screeching harpies who would scream their fangirl preferences shamelessly to the world, or the strutting roosters that would flex their muscles and crow loudly about hunting trophies and impossible conquests?

How could he learn anything about the local pop culture without those loud and nosy busybodies, those shameless motormouths?

He chomped harder into his bun, causing the oysters to snap and emit more juice and flavor under his teeth. He quickly shoved the last bite into his mouth, mixing the bread nicely with the grease and fine sea flavor.

He hadn't heard anything about ghouls, so he was sure the police and the fae were suppressing the information. Potentially panic-causing information then, even if Detective Jeffars called them myths. He was sure he'd find that history books said they'd been wiped out or something similar.

Too optimistic, weren't they?

Unhallowed ground…probably not too near the church or cemetery. That's just the rest of the town and the woods. He'd sure narrowed it down, great job, he grumbled to himself.

He stopped. Why was he thinking about the ghoul?

His eyes focused on a man at the next stall. He walked closer. "Old man Falk, are you buying that?"

The man smiled when he recognized Leon. "With my old bones? I unfortunately have no one to currently bear it for me."

"No thanks." He had enough trouble when he had two arms functional.

Falk laughed. "Enjoying the festival?"

He eyed Leon's sling. Leon didn't say anything, but smiled in embarrassment. The old man probably was thinking he got drunk again.

"The festival of Light is fairly famous in the kingdom," Falk explained. "It has some regard in the other kingdoms of the Isles as well. The university is also well-known, and a number of scholars come to see the antiquities streets."

"Antiquities?" Leon perked up. That sounded like something Appraisal could sink its teeth into.

Falk puffed up his c.h.e.s.t. "You should know, as a young man, I was fairly famous in the antiquities circle. Why else would the university hire me, eh?"

"You teach at the university?" Leon had thought the old man taught children.

"So much surprise? I did tell you I am a teacher. Didn't you come for the university, eh? Come to the history department. You won't be disappointed. They have me, after all."

"Somehow, I feel the history department is not for me."

"Are you an aspiring Ritualist, then?" Falk rolled his eyes. "You and every other incoming student with dreams of greatness. Young people these days only like the fancy subjects. History endures. What would Rituals be without the history behind the elements? Why do they think we have such a rich array of Rituals? It's because people dug up ancient sites and brought those Rituals back! A Ritualist is not just someone who can draw formations, they have to be historians, philosphers, scientists. They think becoming a true Ritualist is easy? Hah!"

Leon leaned away from the fierce arm waving. Why was he meeting hard-core university teachers all over? Was this punishment for not having gone to college on Earth?

"I haven't decided yet."

"Oh, is that jade?" Leon pointed to a carved pendant.

Old Falk sighed as if the cares of the world were on its shoulders. But he humored Leon's transparent attempt to avoid the subject. "It is." He looked closer. "How surprising. You are able to identify jade at a glance? Such a stone does not exist in the Isles, only imported from the continent. Most people would have guessed serpentine or the green garnet, as they are more common."

"My father traveled. He used to bring home interesting souvenirs." While that was true, Leon's knowledge on precious stones came about mostly because he made a website for a gemstone cutter a year ago.

"The gem trade?"

"Among other things."

"Hm, I've never heard of a Pavel on the Darapan route."

"He wasn't that important." Or rather, he wasn't in this world, much less whatever the Darapan route was.

Old Falk nodded. "Come along then."

"Buy a donkey." Old man, you still want me to carry things for you? Get a couple of your myriad grandchildren to do it instead!

"Oh yes."

There were two streets of the festival just for antiques, which the locals called antiquities. Most looked like something out of Western museums, but Leon was surprised how many pieces from various cultures were displayed in a town festival. Even great museums of Earth could not display this amount of cultural pieces in their exhibition room.

How many nations did this empire conquer, to have looted so much stuff?

Unlike the food which was mostly labeled Average quality, the antiquities streets glowed black and green with Good and Uncommon quality pieces. Oh and he'd finally confirmed that the color blue glowed around Rare quality items.

The amount of people browsing was high, so much so that they had to squeeze between people clumped around various stalls and shopfronts.

"Are antiques really so popular?"

"Even having a single antiquity item is prestige to many, lad. The cultural renaissance, don't you know your history?"

"Not as much as I'd like." The Renaissance? It sounded like it happened differently here.

"Leaning toward industrial, then?"

"Undoubtedly, you speak well. Are you certain you have not decided a university course?"

"I haven't."

Falk shook his head and led them out of the antiquities streets to a quieter alley and down a narrow stair that opened to a place that screamed 'fantasy'.