Chapter 21 - Bank of Alterna

The concept of credits was very convenient.

It was so convenient in fact, that Cecil thought,

'You wouldn't even have a need to go to a bank or ATM machine just to withdraw money. Since the money would be with you all the time!'

Of course, there were still banks out there. It's just that these banks would only be used to swap metal currency to credits. Track the flow of currency to determine any economic trends, which would then be relayed to the merchant's guild and used according to their needs. Lastly, the banks were there to keep a record of bank card ownersh.i.p.s.

The technique to swap metal currency and credits was given to all the banks of the world, but there was only one particular bank that was actually the source of this technique.

It was the bank that the mage who perfected the currency exchange spell created and this bank's name is the Bank of Alterna.

The Bank of Alterna had the authority and power to actually have influence on every single continent on Alterna.

This was because every kingdom and empire on every continent, with the exception of the Non Continent, had come to an agreement after this 'bank card' was created.

The agreement was called the Alterna Currency Accords. There weren't really any specifics about these accords from Lucia's family library, but there was one obvious agreement from these accords, and that was to acknowledge 'credits' as the universal currency.

You could still use metal currency in small towns and villages, but most upper-scale towns and cities would use credits as their currency. You could still bring metal currency with you, but it would be better to exchange it into credits at a local bank, if there was no branch of the Bank of Alterna in a town or village.

There were many different banks in upper-scale villages, towns and cities, but the one thing all these banks had in common, was that they'd have some sort of affiliation with the Bank of Alterna.

Without the Bank of Alterna's permission, you wouldn't be able to open up a bank. This was because without a license from the Bank of Alterna, you wouldn't be able to use the currency exchange spell.

Even if you wanted to find a backdoor, the problem was that the spell was so complicated that even trying to replicate it was almost impossible to do.

Of course, there were some who succeeded in stealing or replicating the technique, but they had to face the consequences of their actions.

Anyone without a license that used the currency exchange spell would have breached an amendment from the Alterna Currency Accords and would be hunted down and jailed.

The Accords gave the Bank of Alterna permission to execute perpetrators on site if they were to resist arrest.

Well, the bank cards were a neat feature of Alterna, and Cecil honestly thought that it's way more convenient than back on Earth.

Since the banks of the world kept a record of your bank card, you wouldn't have any worry of being robbed of your wealth.

Also the only way anyone could access a bank card was by using mana and every living being on Alterna had their own unique mana signature. This bank card had a bio-metric encryption on it, and it wasn't even an intentional one.

The functions of the bank card weren't only applied on the currency of the world, but it was also applied on ID cards as well.

While Cecil was left thinking back on the information that he studied in the past two months, the group finally arrived at the line where everyone was queuing up.

Cecil and Lucia felt very much conspicuous while staying on top of Silver, so the two immediately dismounted.

"Cel, catch me!"

"Huh?"

Hearing what Lucia said, Cecil, who just got his feet on the ground, quickly turned around and saw her jumping right off Silver.

"Woah!"

Cecil quickly grabs Lucia into his arms and places her down on the ground.

"Hey! That's dangerous!"

"Hehehe~"

Cecil shakes his head at her antics. He looks ahead and sees that they were lined up behind a wagon.

The people ahead of them were really surprised to see a huge, silver monster wolf heading towards them at top speed from the distance.

Even the town guards were rushing over from afar. But after seeing two teenagers dismount from the wolf and seeing as the wolf lie down soon after, the group turned back and only 2 town guards come over to inspect the situation.

"Hey! You two!" said the guard.

Seeing that their arrival startled many in the line, Cecil replied hesitantly.

"Uhh, is anything wrong, sir?"

"Just asking, but is this... wolf your pet?" asked the guard while stealing glances over at Silver.

"Uhh, yes, he's Silver and he's our mount as well as our companion."

"O-okay." Hearing the reply, the guard looked a bit relieved.

Silver barks at the guards and looks away. Seeing Silver act so docile, the guard continued.

"What's your business in town?"

"We're here to register as adventurers. We have a recommendation letter from Fauxe Village."

"Okay, but just a heads up. You won't be able to take your pet inside of the town. You can only drop him off by the stable just outside the town's gate. Another guard will show you the way when your credentials have been inspected later at the gate."

"Alright, thank you sir."

The guards quickly head back after taking another glance at the huge silver wolf. Cecil looks ahead and sees that the line is pretty long.

'This may take a while.'