The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

What Is Money, Anyway?

Griffonstone did, in fact, have an inn. "Twenty bits per body per night, and that's final," the cranky proprietress demanded, polishing a glass behind a bar. "You can have one room or three, I don't care. Not like there's enough business to give us no vacancies, anyhow."

Gunther disappointedly weighed Gerardo's saddlebags, looking like he was itching to be somewhere else. "That's almost half your remaining money. Not leaving me with a very big operating budget, are you?"

"I think we're both assuming we'll never see that money again, fraud or no," Gerardo remarked. "So, shall we tour our room?"

The innkeeper tapped her bar with a first. "Bits first."

"It's your call, boss," Gunther sighed, tipping up the bags and counting carefully as a deluge of coins slid out. "There you go," he told the innkeeper. "Forty bits. I'm not staying."

The innkeeper scrutinized them. "You trying to short-change me, or something? That's thirty-eight."

Gunther huffed, quickly shuffling them about on the table until they were neatly arranged in four groups of ten. "Charlatan."

She counted them again, finally satisfied. "Have a nice sleep."

"I could have found you somewhere cheaper if you didn't mind not having beds," Gunther grumbled, shaking his head and pacing away. "Now, will you be fine on your own while I go speak with my back channels?" He hefted the considerably-lighter money bags, one talon itching at his pockets. "I know I said griffons don't do credit, but try not to get into debt anyway."

"I think I'm more than ready to get off my hooves." Slipstream yawned. "It's been a long few days, and these cramps are starting to get serious..."

Gerardo nodded heavily in agreement. "Until the morning. I hope to see you return."

With a rush of wind, the door was empty, Gunther and their money gone.

Slipstream stared after him with a fading smile, before whispering up to Gerardo, "We didn't actually give him all our money, right?"

Gerardo chuckled, revealing four deep pockets filled with gold and padding to keep it from clinking when he moved. "Of course not. Just enough to see whether he's trustworthy. Let's hit the sack."

---

Moments later, Gerardo was back at the foot of the staircase, looking irately for the innkeeper. "There are no beds or furnishings in our room."

"Beds are extra." The griffonness didn't look up from her endless polishing. "So is paying me to drag one in there for you, but you can do that yourself if you're feeling like an economy package. Get rowdy without one and break the floorboards, and you owe me your souls."

Gerardo blankly raised a talon. "Right..."

"Go ahead and laugh, but it's happened before." The innkeeper sighed. "I swear, it's impossible to get quality lumber for free around here... Thank your lucky stars I've at least got a second floor. That's why the prices are at a premium."

"Trying to save up for upgrades or repairs?" Gerardo tilted his head.

"What? No." The innkeeper gave him a weird look, like he had just missed something obvious. "I already have the best establishment in town, and no one even needs an inn when everyone just squats at the castle once their existing house falls down. The only folks who will pay for luxury accommodations are prissy travelers like you who don't know how to double down and cut expenditures. Not that I'm complaining. This so rarely pays off, you're the best money I've made in weeks."

Gerardo blinked. "Everyone is so miserly that none are willing to pay for reasonable quarters? If you haven't built anything better, are you really that sure?"

"I know better than to gamble against greed." The innkeeper continued polishing. "If I didn't, I'd be out my life's savings faster than you can snap. Tell you what. Spend your own money, build your own better inn, and I'll let you laugh if you ever beat me. You're still not getting a free bed."

"Is everyone truly so greedy they won't spend a single coin on improving the quality of their life?" Gerardo blinked harder. "It doesn't seem like the standard is very difficult to beat..."

The innkeeper shrugged. "You come from somewhere that's less of a hole? The bar is low because everyone's too smart for that nonsense. Spend a bit for some better food or a better bed one day, and you'll be in exactly the same place tomorrow except with one less bit to your name. Around here, we know how to prioritize."

"It doesn't seem like you're getting a lot accomplished with that logic," Gerardo cautiously remarked. "What value does your currency even have if you're so adamant about not spending it on basic improvements to your lives?"

"No free bed means no free bed." The innkeeper turned her back on him. "If you don't want those savings enough to pay the price for them like literally everyone else, then hand over your money and take your basic improvement to your life. You'll regret it when you're poorer in the morning, but... Eh, why am I even trying to talk you out of this?"

Gerardo shrugged, turning for the stairs. "In that case, my friend and I will make do with our own methods."

"Idiot..." The innkeeper quietly berated herself as he left.

Gerardo ascended, following a short hallway to the room where he had left Slipstream. "Any luck?" the pegasus asked, laying on the floor as he entered.

"Alas, it turns out the answer to any request here is a request in return for more money," Gerardo sighed. "Fortunately, I still have our tent, bedrolls and blanket, so we shall simply... make do with camping inside."

"Whooo." Slipstream cheered unenthusiastically, then giggled. "I haven't done that since I was a filly."

Gerardo blinked, laying out the bedrolls side by side. "You've camped indoors before?"

"Sure." Slipstream shrugged, rolling over and lazily crawling onto hers. "You never did? There wasn't a whole lot of space in the Stone District, and the Earth District wasn't exactly a fun and recreation zone. So, you get your friends over and go on vacation at home! We had this neat tent with multiple rooms, and would pretend it was a fort... This was like when I was six."

"I can't say I had the kind of friends who did that growing up," Gerardo replied, flopping down himself right next to Slipstream. "That said, had I possessed better attachments, I likely wouldn't have felt the call of adventure... or would at least have had a harder time getting up to follow it. And I've had a lifetime of real camping to go along with it."

"Does it stay romantic?" Slipstream asked.

Gerardo tilted his head, which was difficult when it was resting on a saddlebag used as a pillow. "Hmm?"

"I guess I should say..." Slipstream thought for a moment. "I've got a lot of fond memories, since it was fun to pretend when I was way little. But is setting up camp like that out in the wilderness something that gets... I don't know, old? Loses its charm? When you get rained on and bug bites and you can't just go inside when you're done..."

"Or when you've done it for years upon years?" Gerardo finished for her. "It has its ups and downs. I'd say there's a hump to get over. And I've certainly had so many story-worthy bad experiences it's impossible to even remember them all, though I try my best when I have the right audience. But likely due to a mindset that doesn't apply to quite everyone, I still find myself drawn back to the lifestyle time after time. It's worth the downsides for that horizon."

Slipstream yawned. "That's... really cool..."

"One thing you do learn is to appreciate having a roof over your head." Gerardo winked, then stared upwards. "Though this one does look rather leaky... but it's a cloudless night. Still, my point stands."

Slipstream had curled up. "And I'm going to have to stand on my hooves tomorrow..."

"Ah. Yes." Gerardo chuckled. "Well, if that's a signal we should make the most of our room and sleep... let's give this indoor camping thing a try. Until the morning, my dear friend."

"Yeah. Good night..."

Comments

[Phoenix Kitten]

Griffonstone, a city of poor idiots who all think they're outsmarting one another to get rich.

[alamais]

Wake up cuddling, wake up cuddling...
i.imgur.com/GwFVXfJ.jpg

[ponepony]

#LateStageCapitalism?