Chương 35: Bonus story : The Druids' Guild: Part 5 : The Ritual of Payment

After finishing their shopping, Emma headed toward the checkout lanes, pushing her cart in front of her. Aldric followed with a sense of relief, convinced that their visit was finally coming to an end and that he would no longer have to discover new customs capable of overturning everything he thought he knew about this kingdom. Only one customer stood ahead of them, and the line moved slowly as they placed their groceries onto the conveyor belt.

With nothing else to observe, Aldric lowered his gaze to the contents of the cart. The first item immediately caught his attention. It was a large white carton labeled"Oat Milk," decorated with illustrations of several kinds of grain. Aldric examined the package from every angle, searching in vain for the slightest image of an animal. The longer he stared at the carton, the less he understood what it contained.

"Since when has oats produced milk?"

"They don't. It's not real milk."

"But it says milk."

"It's a drink made from oats. The grains are blended with water, then the mixture is filtered."

"So you grind oats to obtain a liquid that resembles milk."

"More or less."

"Then you have no cows."

"We do. Some people just don't drink cow's milk."

"Because they can't find any?"

"No. Because they don't want to drink it." Aldric studied the carton once again. In his world, when a village ran out of milk, people naturally sought another drink. Here, milk was plentiful, yet some preferred to spend time and resources creating an imitation from grain. The logic completely escaped him. The conveyor belt moved forward a few inches, revealing a second product. Aldric slowly read the words printed on the package before leaning closer, convinced he had misunderstood.

"Plant-based cheese. Plants produce cheese as well?"

"No. It's an imitation."

"An imitation of cheese."

"Exactly."

"Made without milk."

"That's right."

"For people who don't want to eat cheese."

"Exactly."

"But who still want to eat something that resembles cheese."

"It's a little more complicated than that." He could understand replacing a rare food with another. He could also understand a people trying to recreate a flavor that had become impossible to obtain. What he could not understand was why the people of this world deliberately made a copy of a product they had chosen to stop eating in the first place. The conveyor belt moved again, and another package appeared. This time, the label showed golden strips alongside the words "Plant-Based Chicken Style Pieces."

Aldric read the name several times, searched the ingredients for the slightest trace of meat, then realized there was none.

"So this chicken contains no chicken."

"That's the idea."

"So it isn't actually chicken."

"No."

"But it imitates the taste."

"Yes." Aldric remained motionless as a second package joined the first. This one was a plant-based steak, followed by vegan bacon and a product designed to replace tuna. Each new item seemed to push the limits of what he could accept without asking questions just a little further.

"Why imitate so many foods when you could simply buy those foods instead?"

"Some people don't eat meat or animal products. There are vegetarians, who mainly avoid meat, and vegans, who don't consume anything of animal origin. They do it for different reasons: ethics, the environment, health, or simply personal preference."

"So they refuse to eat animals. Yet they still want the taste of animals. So they turn plants into something that resembles animals."

"They're not turning plants into animals. They're making plant-based foods with a texture or flavor that's similar to meat."

"Why?"

"Because some people enjoy the taste of meat without wanting animals to be killed." In his world, religious orders sometimes imposed dietary restrictions, and certain knights gave up meat during periods of penance. Yet none of them had ever attempted to turn vegetables into an imitation roast simply to create the illusion that they were still eating the very food they had forbidden themselves.

"In my kingdom, when a food is unavailable, we replace it with something else. But this food is not unavailable. You deliberately choose not to eat it. Then you spend even more effort creating a copy of it."

"When you put it that way... I admit it does sound a little strange."

"So your alchemists can transform plants into meat without actually creating meat. They alter the texture, color, and flavor of plants until they reproduce a food of animal origin."

"That's food science."

"A branch of modern alchemy. They even managed to reproduce tuna." Emma glanced at the package the customer had just placed on the conveyor belt.

"All right... that one really isn't helping my argument." The customer then added a glass bottle filled with an amber colored liquid. Aldric read the name on the label.

"Kombucha." He pronounced the word cautiously, as though afraid he might accidentally trigger some kind of enchantment. Almost immediately, a second bottle appeared beside it, this one labeled "Kefir."

"What does it contain?"

"They're fermented drinks. Kombucha is usually made from sweetened tea that's left to ferment with yeast and bacteria. Kefir works in a similar way, using fermentation grains."

"So you allow invisible organisms to transform a drink until it acquires new properties. Then you consume it for its effects on the body."

"Mostly for the taste. Though some people also believe it's good for digestion."

"These are probably beverages reserved for members of the brotherhood. They bear names no one understands, are produced with the help of invisible organisms, and are consumed to maintain the body's balance." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"You could describe a lot of foods that way."

"Which proves that alchemy is even more widespread than I imagined." The customer finally finished unloading their cart. The conveyor belt now held milk that wasn't milk, cheese without cheese, chicken without chicken, meatless steak, plant-based bacon, imitation tuna, and several fermented drinks with unfamiliar names.

"So your people have enough food to choose not to eat it, and enough knowledge to create an entirely different version of it. I'm beginning to understand why your druids abandoned the forests. They clearly needed much larger laboratories." Emma pushed her cart forward as the line began moving again. The cashier scanned the customer's last few items before announcing the total. Aldric watched the man, curious to see how the people of this kingdom paid for their purchases.

So far, he had seen strange products, alchemical preparations, foods recreated from plants, and fermented beverages with names unknown to him, but he had at least expected the act of payment itself to remain ordinary. In his world, regardless of the goods being traded, every transaction followed the same rules: the customer took out a coin pouch, counted the coins, and placed them before the merchant, who verified the amount before handing over the merchandise.

Instead, the man pulled out neither a wallet, nor bills, nor even a single coin. He simply took his phone from his coat pocket and held it near the payment terminal beside the register. A beep sounded immediately, followed by a message confirming that the payment had been accepted. The cashier handed him his receipt with a smile before already turning to the next customer. Aldric remained perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the spot where the exchange had just taken place.

He first examined the man's hands, but they held nothing except the phone and the receipt. Next, he inspected the counter, searching for a coin that might have fallen or a slot where money could have been inserted. Finally, he focused all his attention on the phone itself, convinced that some hidden mechanism might have released a small amount of metal at the moment of payment.

Despite his careful inspection, he found no hidden compartment, no opening, and not the slightest sign that any physical object had changed hands.

"Where did his money go?" Emma, already placing her own groceries onto the conveyor belt, absentmindedly followed his gaze.

"He paid with his phone."

"With his phone?"

"Yes. He held it near the terminal, and the payment went through." The knight looked once more at the device the customer was still holding.

"Where does the phone keep the coins?" Emma paused for a moment as she unpacked her cart.

"It doesn't actually keep any coins."

"But you just said he paid with it."

"Because his phone is linked to his bank account." Far from making things any clearer, the explanation only deepened the look of confusion on Aldric's face.

"His bank account?"

"A bank keeps your money. Well, not necessarily as physical coins. Mostly, it keeps a record of how much you have in your account. When you pay with your phone, the bank deducts the amount from your account and transfers it to the store."

"So the gold remains in the bank."

"There isn't necessarily any gold."

"But the bank safeguards his wealth. And this object allows him to use part of it from a distance."

"In a way."

"How does the bank know he's made a payment?"

"The terminal sends the information."

"All the way to the bank?"

"Yes."

"Without a messenger?"

"Without a messenger."

"And without anyone transporting the money?"

"The money is transferred electronically. It's information traveling across networks."

"Like a magical message."

"Not exactly. The terminal sends an instruction to the bank, which reduces the amount of wealth recorded in the customer's account and then credits that same amount to the merchant." In his world, even the most powerful mages could not transfer a fortune without physically transporting the coins or relying on enchanted chests, whose cost often exceeded the value of the treasure they contained.

Here, an ordinary citizen had just transferred his wealth through an object he carried in his pocket every day, without an incantation, without a magic circle, and without even speaking a single word.

"So even your gold coins have become invisible..."

"They aren't invisible coins. Money mostly exists as numbers recorded in bank accounts."

"Numbers that represent gold."

"They represent the amount of money you own."

"Even though that amount does not physically exist before you."

"Exactly."

"And everyone trusts the bank to maintain the true ledger." Emma nodded. Aldric took several moments to consider the implications of such a system. A single institution therefore knew the wealth of every citizen, kept a record of every transaction, and authorized payments whenever a recognized object was presented to a terminal. In his kingdom, any organization possessing that much information about the people's wealth would wield more power than most lords.

It could decide which merchants were paid, how wealth was allowed to circulate, and which citizens still had the right to use their own money.

"Your banks must be among the most powerful institutions in the kingdom."

"You're probably not wrong about that."

"So every phone is linked to a specific vault. One that corresponds to a personal reserve safeguarded by the bank. And the owner can open that vault from a distance simply by presenting the phone."

"He isn't really opening it."

"He's instructing the bank to withdraw part of its contents." The line moved forward again, and the next customer stepped up to a neighboring register. After having a few items scanned, they rolled up a sleeve and held their wrist near the payment terminal. Another beep sounded, and the payment was approved just as quickly as the previous one.

"He just paid with his watch. An object small enough to wear on the wrist, yet capable of communicating with a bank located an unknown distance away and instantly transferring wealth. You have somehow managed to fit a vault... inside a bracelet." Until now, he had believed the druids were the most remarkable brotherhood in this kingdom, but modern bankers seemed to wield an even more unsettling power.

They had made coins invisible, stored the entire population's wealth in distant ledgers, and given every citizen objects capable of moving that wealth in an instant. At last, it was their turn. Emma pushed her cart up to the register and began placing her groceries onto the conveyor belt. The cashier greeted them with a smile before picking up the first item. A beep sounded as she passed it over the scanner, and a number appeared on the screen. The total increased with each new product.

Aldric had already realized that these machines identified merchandise without the cashier needing to know the prices herself, but he had never watched the process so closely. Each item transmitted its value to the register the moment it passed beneath the scanner, as though the checkout possessed an invisible ledger containing the exact price of every product in the store. The first total reached twelve euros. Emma had selected several vegetables and a box of herbal tea.

He could accept that such a collection had a certain value, especially in a guild where every plant seemed to have been cultivated according to ancient traditions. Another beep sounded. Nineteen euros. The cashier slid another package across the belt before picking up the first dietary supplement. Aldric studied the small container with interest. These powders, advertised as improving energy, vitality, or the body's natural defenses, were clearly among the store's most sought-after alchemical preparations.

The scanner beeped again. Thirty-one euros. The increase seemed significant, but not yet alarming. In his kingdom, alchemists sometimes demanded considerable sums for preparations meant to strengthen the body or speed recovery. If Emma's supplements contained rare plants, their price could be justified. The cashier picked up the second container. Forty-five euros. Two small jars had nearly doubled the total, confirming that they probably contained ingredients of great potency.

He briefly wondered whether Emma truly understood the properties of these preparations or had simply chosen them on the recommendation of members of the guild. Another beep echoed through the checkout. Fifty-seven euros. The small bottle of oil had just passed beneath the scanner. Aldric recognized it immediately. It was the oil extracted from the organic tree, harvested in limited quantities, cold-pressed, and protected by several seals guaranteeing its origin.

A sacred oil, produced according to an ancient ritual and preserved in such a small bottle, could hardly be sold like ordinary cooking oil. The cashier continued. Sixty-three euros. Then seventy. Finally, after scanning the last of the everyday items, the screen displayed seventy-four euros.

"Seventy-four euros," she said simply. Emma took out her phone, held it near the payment terminal, and waited for the signal confirming the payment. A brief beep sounded, and the screen indicated that the transaction had been approved. Aldric watched Emma slip her phone back into her pocket with astonishing calm. She had just lost the equivalent of seventy-four invisible gold coins without so much as raising an eyebrow.

Perhaps she already knew the true value of the goods and considered the amount perfectly reasonable. The receipt emerged from the machine. The cashier tore it off and handed it to Emma, but Aldric immediately reached out his hand.

"May I see it?" Emma handed him the receipt. She was probably expecting another remark about the symbols, the numbers, or the way the register had recorded the purchases. Aldric mentally added the first few prices together. The result matched the subtotal shown on the receipt. He continued halfway down the list, went back to verify one line, then resumed his calculations. None of the figures appeared to be incorrect.

Every amount flowed perfectly into the next, leading inevitably to the seventy-four euros announced by the cashier. Emma was already packing the groceries into a bag.

"What's wrong?" He looked once more at the contents of the bag before returning his gaze to the receipt.

"And yet we only bought..." Four vegetables. A box of herbal tea. Two powders. A small bottle of oil. A few everyday necessities. Nothing capable of feeding a garrison, healing an army, or equipping a party of adventurers for several weeks. The cashier wished them a pleasant day. Emma thanked her, picked up the bag, and walked away from the register. Aldric followed, still holding the receipt between his fingers, his eyes fixed on the figures. They crossed the first aisle.

"Are you all right?" Aldric nodded.

"I take back what I said," he murmured at last.

"The druids are not the most powerful mages in this kingdom. The true Archmage works behind that register."

"The cashier?"

"In a matter of seconds, she made seventy-four gold coins disappear without casting a single visible spell."