There I saw that a big, rectangular, wooden table was placed in the middle with three chairs, two on one side and one on the other. On the single chair, a man who seemed to be in his mid-fifties with white hair and a beard was sitting with his hands resting on the table.
"Sit," he instructed, his voice was deep and heavy.
Following his words, I went and sat on one of the two chairs. I looked at the man before me, and to say I was familiar with his face. His name was Robert Halls, Mr. Halls in short.
"Is my work done?" I asked in a polite tone.
"Hmm, yes," he replied with a nod.
"Can I see?"
He didn't reply to this, instead, he opened a drawer and searched for something in it. Then taking out a few documents he threw them toward me on the table as he said, "There."
I bent forward and picked one of the documents, holding it in my hands I skimmed through the pages.
p 'This went pretty smoothly I guess.'
Five days prior to today, I submitted an application to create a personal bank account for myself. There are several reasons why I want an account for myself but let's not get into it for now.
Now, to create a bank account one would normally have to go to the bank and register and do all the paperwork there, but since I'm a student of the Zaforths academy and not allowed to go outside, I had to apply for it via the school officials.
Fortunately, the academy had a policy for a matter like this so that wasn't much of a problem and I submitted the application pretty easily. After that, my parents were informed of this—that I want to create a personal bank account—by a messenger sent by the academy.
Their consult was taken—which went smoothly since Ron didn't was pretty easy going in things like this—and then they did all the paperwork in my stead.
I have already reached the age of 15, and in this world, you're considered an adult when you are of that age, hence I'd have the right to have a bank account for myself.
My parents approved of all the details and sent them back through the academy's messenger, afterward the papers were sent to the bank and my account was created.
Also, looking through the documents I currently had in my hands I came to know that Ron was kind enough to deposit 500,000 C in my account. I honestly thought that this amount was more than what I wanted but, sigh, can't do anything about it now.
I'll probably have to answer Ron about why I made this account but that can wait.
"Take this; this is your transaction card. You'll have to show this every time you want to withdraw money out of your account," said Mr. Halls as he handed over to me a small rectangular card.
I took it from him and from the looks and its uses described by Mr. Halls; I think this was something similar to a debit card from my former world. The card was of silver color made of metal with my name and account details engraved on it.
"There is one other use for it," Mr. Halls spoke; I looked over in his direction as he did so. "If you want then you use money via this card also; without actually withdrawing it in cash. You see those numbers in the bottom right corner, there it shows the money of C you have in your account. The information is transmitted to this card through some custom magic spells, those numbers will change according to the amount of C you have in your account."
I checked the card and as Mr. Halls said. In the bottom right corner of the card, 500,000 C was engraved.
"And? How do I use money via this card, as you said just now?" I appealed.
I was genuinely interested in this since a card like this did not exist in the novel.
"Flip the card over and you will see a black strip there," he mentioned. I flipped the card and there on the other side of it was a long rectangular strip dyed with the color black, just as he said.
"If you wish to pay someone directly through your card then you have to take the card of that other person and then tap the black strip of their card with yours," he explained.
"But what about the amount of the money? Like how'd I decided how I have to pay and things like that?"
"The transaction cards are equipped with many permanent custom magic spells, one of which allows you to decide the amount of money you wish to transfer. To do that, you will have to imagine how much money you have to give to the person while tapping your card against theirs."
"That's just it? Isn't this a little too simple? And what about those spells? I mean, can't they misfire or somethin'?"
"This system was implemented in order to make the lives of people easier, that's why the process is kept simple. And you don't have to worry about the spells; they were made by the best magicians of not only this kingdom but of the whole world."
"I see."
I was impressed, to be honest. I hadn't expected this world to be this modern that they have things similar to debit cards and credit cards here. Also, custom magic was working like the internet here; I wonder if they have servers and stuff for that too.
One thing was clear after this though; custom magic really has no limits just like they say. If it's something you can imagine and are skilled enough to bring into reality, then custom magic will be the medium you need to do that.
Well, after that exchange I cleared a few more doubts with Mr. Halls and then took the documents and the transaction card with me, and left the room; leaving Mr. Halls with, "Thank you for your help."
***
Coming out of the office building I went to the dorms. Entering my room I put the stuff—bank documents and transaction card—on the desk. Then I went into the kitchen and made a coffee for myself, drank it, and then left the room.
I was still in the school uniform as I entered the cafeteria. There I ordered my breakfast which was four vegetarian sandwiches—those I'd eaten before and liked them.
"Can I pay with the transaction card?" I asked the girl at the counter, this was a good opportunity hence I had bought my card with me.
"Yes, you can. Here you can use this," said the girl as she pointed toward a small cube that was resting on the counter.
A slanting rectangular sheet was attached to the front side of the cube and while it was not a card, a similar black strip was made on the sheet.
This machine seemed similar to the debit card reader from my former world, so I decided to try it without asking for help.
I placed my card on the metal sheet, with its back and the black strip facing the strip on the sheet. I imagined the amount I had to pay—it was written on the menu—as I placed my card.
Soon I felt a small amount of my mana getting transferred into the card, on the number which was engraved on the bottom right and showed my current bank balance shone in purple color.
The numbers then changed from 500,000 to 499, 700 and when it was done, the light in them faded.
"Thank you," said the girl on the counter. This must mean that the payment was done hence I removed my card and put it back inside my pocket.
I waited for a few minutes there and when my order arrived, I took the plate and turned to search for a seat.
The cafeteria was only half filled since a good amount of time had passed since the classes ended and most of the students have eaten breakfast while I was in the office discussing things with Mr. Halls.
Finding a seat shouldn't have been difficult; I could have taken any seat I wanted—out of those who were empty, of course. But still, I went for a certain seat near the glass panes.
On a seat that was meant for four people, only a single girl was sitting there. Her expression wasn't the nicest, her eyes glowed with sadness as she stared outside the glass panes while resting her chin on her hand.
"Hello, sis. Been a while since we talked, hasn't it?" I said as I put my plate on the table and sat before the girl.
The girl had long blonde hair and leaf-like green eyes. She was none other than my older sister, Anya.