Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 136: Numbers, Currency, and Practical Tests

"Numbers are directly tied to trade and economics," Elyon explained. "If every country used a different number system, it would cause chaos. Even if you don’t understand the language, as long as you know the numbers, trade can happen."

That made sense. Damien realized it was probably the same reason why Arabic numerals were globally recognized in his own world.

Feeling a little envious of how knowledgeable Elyon sounded, Damien reached over and patted his head again.

"Wh-what are you doing? Stop—stop that!" Elyon squirmed.

"Can’t help it. It’s your fault for being so cute, Ely."

"D-don’t say such nonsense! Look here—pay attention! I’ll write them again. This is 1, this is 2, then 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and finally 0."

"Got it," Damien nodded.

"Next, you’ll also need to learn about currency," Elyon continued.

Currency—money. That made sense. Since Theo was currently dealing with an embezzlement case, understanding money would be crucial.

Elyon reached into a leather pouch and pulled out a few coins.

"First, this is a gold coin. In this country—and most others—it’s represented by this single character."

He placed a shiny gold coin on the paper and wrote a single symbol beneath it.

"And this is a small gold coin," Elyon continued. "It has a lower purity and is smaller in size. Ten small gold coins are equivalent to one regular gold coin."

Damien noticed that the symbol for the small gold coin was a slightly modified version of the one for the gold coin.

"Got it," Damien said, paying close attention.

"Next, you’ll need to learn about silver coins, small silver coins, copper coins, and iron coins," Elyon said. "Try writing them down until you’ve memorized the numbers and the currency units."

"Okay, teacher," Damien responded.

Elyon handed him a stack of paper and what looked like a pencil.

It was actually called a "charcoal pencil," Elyon explained. The tip of the pencil had a chunk of something black, resembling charcoal.

Damien tried writing the number 1 from this world, and to his surprise, the writing felt smoother than he expected.

He continued to copy down the numbers Elyon had written as examples.

"Every time you learn one, I’ll mark it as one of your debts to me," Elyon said, turning his head away.

Damien noticed the tips of Elyon’s pointed ears were turning red.

"Okay, but for each one I memorize, you have to give me a kiss," Damien teased.

"Numbers are directly tied to trade and economics," Elyon explained. "If every country used a different number system, it would cause chaos. Even if you don’t understand the language, as long as you know the numbers, trade can happen." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Wh-what are you saying!?" Elyon stammered, clearly flustered.

Damien smirked, feeling his energy returning.

...

The numbers and currency units were simple and easy to remember, probably because they were designed to be used across different countries with various languages.

Damien was able to memorize them in about an hour—or rather, even less than an hour, perhaps only a short while.

He realized he was getting more accustomed to the sense of time in this world.

He’d measured the time once before and noticed that a day in this world was slightly shorter than the 24-hour day on Earth. It was about 23 hours and 50 minutes—just 10 minutes shorter.

He had to get used to this new system.

By the way, Elyon had explained that the 10 divisions were based on the 10 major gods of this world, and the calendar was also divided into 10 parts for the same reason.

"Good. You’ve pretty much learned the numbers and currency units," Elyon said, nodding approvingly at the paper Damien was writing on.

There had been a few moments when Elyon pointed out minor mistakes, but now there were no errors at all. Damien felt confident that he’d mastered the basics of numbers and currency.

"Now, you just need to get familiar with reading them quickly. I’ll write some examples for you. After you read them aloud, write them down on the paper."

That made sense. To understand reflexively, he had to practice reading more.

"Once you finish that, the last step is simple calculations. Oh, by the way, can you do basic arithmetic?"

"Yeah, I learned that back on Earth, so I’m good."

Damien hoped that the basic operations would be the same, though if they weren’t, he’d have to relearn the whole concept.

He didn’t realize it, but Elyon was nodding in satisfaction while Damien had started to feel anxious about whether everything would match up.

"Good. Let’s start with this," Elyon said. "How much is this?"

"Um, silver coin 745... silver, seven hundred, forty, five..." Damien stumbled through it.

"Correct, but you’ll need to be faster both in reading and writing." Elyon nodded in approval. "Now, let’s try the next one."

Surprisingly—or maybe not so much, since Elyon was the teacher of Theo and Sebas—Elyon was patient and thorough in teaching Damien the numbers.

...

Damien sighed.

He was getting tired of studying.

Damien felt as though his head was more tired than it had ever been, despite the task at hand being something that could easily be tackled by a child in elementary school. The unfamiliar numbers made it particularly exhausting.

The short, intense training seemed to take more mental effort than his previous study sessions for exams.

"Hm, this should be good enough," Elyon said, finally giving his approval.

With that, Damien threw down the paper and charcoal pencil and collapsed face-first onto the bed.

"I... I’m done..." he muttered, relief flooding over him.

Elyon looked at the paper with a satisfied nod, glancing at the calculations Damien had completed.

"Hm, for this, I would give you a perfect score. Now, it’s time for the practical test."

"A practical test?"

Damien was puzzled. What kind of test was this? And what did "practical" mean in this context?

"Hmm, well, I’ll talk to Theo and Sebas about it during dinner," Elyon replied.