Examining her new followers, Ada realized that she really didn't want to be near them. Unlike Leanne who took care of her hygiene, these farmers seem wholly unfamiliar with the concept of soap or baths. Ada knew that she didn't care to keep up her appearances back in her world but she certainly took regular showers. Ada wondered if there was an attribute for cleanliness.

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"We should probably move? I think these guards' moods are turning sour again," Leanne interrupted Ada's thoughts and gestured worriedly at the burly men glaring at them. The really ugly hippo-looking one was especially threatening and yelled something obscene.

"Pause systemhelper. OK, time to get a move on. We're clearly blocking the line. Let's find some food first," Ada said as she waved her arms in the universal language for "follow me".

"Czitu is like any other seaside trade city with the market near its harbor. We can follow the crowd and we will reach there," Leanne said.

"Wait, before we go, are you able to see anything with the Gunders?"

"I tried and I could not see anything different."

"Hmm, unlike the divine clouds or bread, humans appear to have all private attributes," Ada spoke aloud. Then she explained to Leanne, "What I mean is that your Divine Eye can't see details about humans. We will have to explore more on this later. Let's go."

Leanne nodded and relayed the message to the farmers. The Gunders looked at each other and muttered a few words before trudging along with Ada and Leanne. Meanwhile, Ada noticed that the half dozen wagons led by other merchants in front of them all headed toward one direction. Ada deduced that as the direction of the market though she still could not understand a word. I really hope the Gunders are going to be more of an asset than a burden, Ada thought glumly. She had the slim hope that as soon as these five became her followers, they would magically attain an understanding of the divine tongue. She wasn't surprised but she was still slightly disappointed.

"Well, I can do this. If I can learned C in a month, I could definitely learn Exicozan in less than a week. I just need to get my hands on a book," Ada said aloud.

"I'm sure we can find something even if Czitu has not a single public library or university. Yuano's followers are not too keen on knowledge unless it has to do with making money," Leanne replied distastefully.

"Leanne, I really need to get a grasp of this language and later probably Tesian as well. I also need to understand what these people know or rather what think they know. Do you know if there could be booksellers at the market place?"

"Booksellers would more likely be located near the temples since they're the main clientele for the written word."

"In a world where 99% of the people are illiterate, what you just said makes sense," Ada said and then added. "One of these days, this world will have its first printing press. Well, one step at a time."

"Printing press?"

"Another divine device that has yet to appear in this world but it will as soon as I figure out how one works."

"I think we have just arrived," Leanne pointed as the market appeared in front of them.

"That was surprisingly fast," Ada replied.

The noise drowned out most of Leanne's reply. The marketplace was bustling with both the temporary stallholders and the permanent buildings. Shopkeepers of every variety yelled out offers at the top of their lungs to attract customers. The competition was fierce for not a single empty space could be seen between the stalls and the people thronged together like bees. The footpaths were crowded with people of various nations aiming to reach the merchants selling sacks of nuts and dried fruit, sizzling meats roasting on skewers, powdered spices in rusty red and dusty yellow piles, grilled fresh fish, baked unleavened bread, and so much more. Ada drank in the colors and aroma. This was a scene that she would prefer to admire from afar. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

"This is a time that I wish supermarkets existed here. Fighting through this crowd isn't something I really want to do," Ada muttered to herself.

"What did you say?" Ada finally heard Leanne now that the girl was screaming.

"Nothing! Let's go get some fish. That stall over there seems to have less people," Ada pointed.

Leanne yelled what Ada presumed were her words to the Gunders. Ada hoped that they weren't vegetarians since that would make life quite difficult. Did vegetarians exist in the middle ages? Maybe if the person followed a particular religious order. She doubted any peasant was a vegetarian. Most peasants probably delighted at the thought of being able to eat any kind of meat. From the grins that appeared on their faces, they clearly had no qualms on eating fish. She didn't blame them. Though no doubt Ada would have to foot the bills, she planned to make sure that they would become useful very soon.

Pushing through this crowd was harder than getting on a subway during traffic hour. She couldn't think of any way of pushing their way through or dispersing the crowd without causing undue attention to themselves. Helping the farmers was a small risk but causing any ruckus here might become a debacle. With no other alternative, she tried her hardest to squeeze through the throngs of people. This was a bad idea. In scarcely a few seconds, Ada has lost sight of Leanne or any of the Gunders. She was now in the midst of a sea of people, the closest of them with no qualms of trampling her. Though as a goddess, she felt no pain nor heat from so many people, she was becoming quite irritated after a near minute of floundering to get through.

"Pause systemhelper. What the hell? How did they get there so fast? Really, if people don't start moving, I'm really going to have to push someone, literally," Ada growled. "As a goddess, my physical strength should be greater than that of any mortal right?"

Though Ada wasn't someone who would usually resort to physical prowess to solve her problems, in this situation, doing exactly that to her was the easiest solution. The closest target was a heavyset man dressed in fine garb standing in front of her who has been staring at a piece of jewelry at a particular stall for about a year now. She pushed him aside with no fanfare. He toppled over and fell down on the lady next to him.

"Oops, that was a little too much. I see Leanne now."

Before anyone took notice of who the culprit was, Ada dashed over to Leanne.

"Thank the gods! We thought we lost you in this crowd," Leanne exclaimed.

"Your statement is quite ironic. Change it to thank the Ada next time," Ada laughed.

Upon realizing what she just said, Leanne smiled back. "Alfre or Mr. Farmer as you called him was very good at pushing through the crowd. You went into the throng so fast that we lost you."

"I admit. It was my fault," Ada agreed.

"I did not mean to needlessly correct you..." Leanne began.

"It's okay! If I wasn't clear enough already, I'll repeat again that I consider you a friend rather than a mortal worshipping a god. Don't hesitate on telling me whatever is on your mind."

Leanne nodded. "I ordered eleven pieces of grilled fish and the merchant is cooking it now. I'll eat one and the rest can go to the farmers."

"Eleven? Yeah, I heard that in my head when you paid the man for the fish," Ada replied. "Can you order four more? You ought to eat more and I'm genuinely curious on trying at least one piece of the fish."

"Sure, I will let him know."

Leanne turned back to the merchant, a young man in white attire sweating profusely under the combined assault of heat from the afternoon sun and the lit grill. He grunted a one-word reply which probably meant the equivalent of "okay" and took a few copper pieces from Leanne. The man grabbed a few more fish from a water bucket. Taking a sharp butcher, he hacked the fish into three pieces before tossing them on one of the emptier grills. The fish started crackling immediately as the fire burnt its skin.

"Pause systemhelper. Is he not going to put any seasoning like salt?"

"He would have to charge triple the price if he adds salt. Even if this is a coastal city, a commodity like salt is still precious enough that it won't be used for street food," Leanne explained.

"As an inorganic compound, I can definitely make some salt but I'm not sure how this will work when an object I create goes through a human body and then gets absorbed. The wise move is to test my created objects on a rat or some other animal first instead of on you or the Gunders. I do wonder what happened to that bread from earlier though. Does that still belong to me as an object? Regardless, bioethics 101 state that humans should never be initial subjects for risky biological tests. Well, unless you're either the Umbrella Corporation testing the T virus on little girls in Resident Evil or the US Public Health Service testing syphilis on innocent African Americans."

"I am sorry but I understood nothing of what you just said."

"Don't worry about it. The divine tongue is not always comprehensible to mortal ears," Ada said with a big sigh. If mom was here, she would know how to make some good fish stew with plenty of salt, Ada thought.

Leanne looked a little concerned at Ada's tone but her mood instantly shifted when she saw that the fish was done. Without another word, the Gunders and Leanne grabbed the grilled fish pieces from the merchant's hand. Leanne had the sense to give a piece to Ada before she dug in. Then it was all chaos. Between Leanne and all the Gunders, there was a tie on who finished everything first. They should all participate in a food eating contest was the thought that went through Ada's mind seeing the frenetic mashing of teeth. In barely a minute, they have eaten everything they just bought. Ada nibbled on hers and decided it wasn't half-bad. A little dry and a little bland but the actual meat was tasty.

"Are we all satisfied now or do you guys want seconds?" Ada asked with a slight smirk as she saw Leanne wipe her mouth tenderly in a lame attempt on pretending she had used proper table manners.

"I am satiated," Leanne replied.

"How about them?" Ada asked.

A brief exchange later and Leanne relayed the message, "They said they want more. I told them that we have to find you a book first."

"Yeah, I don't see them as the reading type. I don't want to lead them around like a mother goose but at the same time, we can't just leave them here."

"What if we find an inn and situate them there? Definitely we would need a room as well."

"Great minds think alike. Let's go find ourselves an inn!" Ada said.

"I already asked the merchant. He told me that there are a few good ones three streets over towards the west. I'll tell Alfre, Tyra and their kids to follow us."

"Wonderful! Then, once we get them settled in, we can finally go find ourselves some books."