Leanne exchanged a few words with the Gunder family. From what Ada could see, they were the easygoing type who were genuinely grateful of what Leanne and Ada did for them. However, Ada could also tell that they didn't harbor any particular reverence towards her like Leanne did which indicated that they most likely didn't believe she was actually a goddess. At the moment, seemed to be glad to hear that they were going to be able to rest for a little while. Ada shrugged since she knew that time would come for them to believe. She could unveil her powers right now by changing their sleep status but with everything that she needed to do, she preferred to wait until they were back at her palace so that an ample time to talk could transpire after their shock.

Leanne's wave captured her attention. Alfre went first and pushed through the crowd with his family and then Ada and Leanne following. With a bit of elbow dodging and foot stomping, they were clear on the street, which was still very congested though not on the same level as the market. With the market crowd behind them, Ada and Leanne took the lead again with the five following. The air smelled like a mixture of ocean salt, human sweat and animal dung. If there was a way for her to turn off her sense of smell, Ada would have done so. The sight, though, was quite marvelous. They walked on a main avenue that was paved with well-fitted rectangular stone slabs. If the object belonged to Ada, she would have asked Leanne to look at it but unfortunately she could only speculate on the material composition. She did notice that the slabs were approximately 1 meter by 0.4 meter. She would need a larger sample size to determine the margin of error.

Mathematics aside, Ada shifted her thoughts to the remarkable achievements of ancient civilizations. For her humanities elective this semester, she's taking history and one of the required books that she actually enjoyed reading was called The Ancient Engineers. The ancient Romans built roads which have lasted millennia whereas many modern roads have potholes after just a few years; perhaps this was an example of where ancient technology supersedes modern technology. The buildings were a hodgepodge of a few grand buildings with Ionic columns made of possibly cement interspersed with smaller high-rise apartments made of similar material as well as smaller wooden structures. The contrast was striking but even the wooden buildings looked to be sturdy and well-constructed with multiple floors and some with balconies as well.

The mortals walking on the streets were similarly a hodgepodge of dress. Most wore shades of brown or white made of coarse materials but some were truly dashingly vibrant showing off their purples and blues like peacocks. Green was especially common among the wealthy as well. There were also numerous carts that rattled down the street carrying wares in giant barrels and chests. This is what an ancient metropolis looks like and it's so much more interesting when I just saw empty ruins in Europe, Ada thought as she calmly observed.

"When do you suppose we need to go back to the palace?" Leanne interrupted her thoughts.

"Soon. I don't trust that the fog we left behind will last until the night," Ada said. "The inn is just a place for the Gunders to stay while we get what we need."

"I agree," Leanne replied.

"Speaking of which, why didn't we go to an inn in the first place instead of going to the market? I should've thought of this. The inn should have food," Ada wondered.

"I believe the original plan was to purchase food and other items to take back. We never thought of going to an inn since there were just the two of us."

"Right, I should have changed my plans with the farmers onboard," Ada said. "Also speaking of which, I should stop referring to them as farmers. That seems kind of derogatory."

"In God’s eyes, all work done with integrity has equal value."

"Is that another quote from the Holy Book?"

"Not exactly. This was a quote some of us told worshippers who did not like their work. It is the moral of a parable written in the Holy Book of a poor farmer bemoaning his fate to his rich neighbor."

"Very interesting. Well, in the divine world, around 70% of people hate their jobs so I'm not surprised that's a common complaint you received here as well. On another note, thanks for reminding me that this is another book I need to get. Also, the Book of Truth as well and any other religious books. I imagine you know all of them?"

"Many but not all. I was not the best student when it came to literature," Leanne said abashedly.

"You seem pretty informed to me and whatever you don't know you always seem to want to learn," Ada said. "In my previous world, I think you wouldn't have any problem fitting in with the nerds."

"Nerds?"

"Yeah, you know, really smart people who like to learn things. Now, there could be negative connotations associated with the term 'nerd' for people of lower intellect but that's because those people are naturally just envious."

Leanne nodded with appreciation and spoke, "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones."

"Good quote but I think I had my fill of religious verses for now. I can only take so much at a time," Ada interrupted as an unpleasant thought arose in her mind. The thought was a collage of moments where she had to sit in church as a child with her grandma listening to boring sermons by pretentious priests go on interminably. Thankfully, her parents moved and neither of them were believers.

"Ah, here we are! The Second Fish," Leanne smiled and pointed at the sign of the inn. "We can rest a little while we wait for the Gunders to catch up."

Ada looked back and saw that the family have fallen behind two city blocks. The youngest one, aptly named Alfre Jr., was on his father's back but the other two were walking on their own. Even for a big man like Alfre, he could only give a piggyback to one child at a time. Barring any neuromuscular disease in the children, if I do a quick calculation on the average walking speed of a child compared to that of an adult, the ratio would be approximately 2 to 1 and given their current pace, they would take approximately two more minutes to reach here, Ada quickly calculated.

The inn was a three story wooden structure with wide balconies on the second and third floor. Patrons were gathered outside drinking and talking loudly. Outside of its front door, there was a wooden sign with two fish made of iron embossed into it. The picture depicted the smaller fish about to be eaten by the large fish. There were no words. Ada presumed that in a society where most people were literate, signs had to have easily recognizable symbols for the common people to know what they meant. Even to Ada's untrained eye, she recognized the excellent craftsmanship. She would like to find the person who made this and hire the man (or woman) to make some metal decorations for her.

"What happened to the first fish?" Ada asked.

"In the third fish's stomach?" Leanne smiled and offered a helpful answer.

"I wonder where the 0th fish went. I still don't understand why some languages like FORTRAN default to starting at 1 for an array. At least you can change it. Anyway, let's go in."

"I hope they have something more than more fish," Leanne remarked, clearly ignoring the first part of Ada's ramblings.

"Yeah, I don't want you to get scurvy," Ada replied with a grin. "I hope they have some fresh citrus fruits as well."

"Scurvy?"

"Yeah, it's a nutritional deficiency disease caused by a prolonged lack of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is a nutrient that the body needs which unfortunately primates cannot produce on our own due to an evolutionary quirk."

"Evolution?"

"Yeah, I used to believe in evolution but I'm thinking that Creationism is much more likely to be the correct theory," Ada sighed and shook her head. "God has certainly turned my understanding of the world around. Charles Darwin, you are so wrong."

Leanne looked even more confused.

"Don't worry about it for now. Once we get resupplied and back at our palace, I'm going to have to give you classes. You can call it vocational training as one of my followers."

"I do have a lot to learn," Leanne readily agreed.

"I'll have to think of a curriculum for you. I think we can start out with math, biology, physics and chemistry. Later, we can go into the squishier soft sciences. And it won't be just you. All my followers need to learn."

"Are you sure? The Gunders cannot read," Leanne said with surprise.

"I believe anyone is capable but we shall see. They will need more guidance than you at first but I'm sure we can all be on the same page soon enough."

"You will have to be able to understand them first," Leanne pointed out.

"How hard would it be for them to learn the divine tongue?"

"No one has ever tried. I am able to speak it naturally."

"The idea is worth entertaining but I'll put it on the backburner for now. I just don't think I'll have any time."

"Backburner?"

"Ok, another course needed is colloquial English. People from my former world throw around these phrases which can be confusing."

"True, there are many phrases you use which I do not understand. Oh, there they are."

The Gunders have finally caught up. Alfre gently placed the little Alfre on the ground. Then, he turned and said a few words to Ada and Leanne. Ada guessed that he was apologizing for arriving late. Leanne responded with words of reassurance. Ada patiently waited for their exchange to end.

"If we're all good, let's go in?" Ada suggested after a moment.

Before Leanne could respond, the door of the inn suddenly crashed open with a bang and hit Ada on her back.

"What the hell?" Ada said with surprise.

She turned around to see a skinny young lad running out of the inn with a desperate frightened look on his face. The door banged open again but Ada was quick enough to grab Leanne and move out the way. A bald man with hairy bush beard that was three times larger than the lad bursted out of the inn chasing after the first man. He looked very angry and was shouting obvious obscenities. Not only was he big, he was also very fast. The lad had longer legs but the bald man caught up with him in a few seconds. The bald man grabbed his shirt and shouted a few more things with spit flying out of his mouth. He shook the young man like a ragdoll and took a bag out of the young man's pocket. The young man said something, appearing to be begging for mercy. Some onlookers paused and gathered in a crowd to watch. They gawked with curiosity but no one interrupted.

"Shall we do something?" Leanne prodded Ada. Leanne pursed her lips and had a troubled conflicted look on her face.

"If we do, we'll completely blow our cover," Ada responded thoughtfully. "He's probably a thief so maybe we should just hold off as long as there's no excessive violence."

This proved to be not the case. The city was loud but the sound of an impact of a fist to a face was still distinctively heard. The dazed young man suddenly had a broken bloody nose. The bald man shouted some more and then arched his right arm back for another punch. There was another loud crunch and the young man fainted. The aggressor was still not done and arched his arm back for a third punch. Before he could do so, an old man from the gathering crowd stepped up and shouted something to the bald man. The bald man tossed the young one aside and shouted something back. Both men pulled out swords.

"Well, this is certainly getting interesting," Ada said. "What are they saying?"

"Oh no, the older gentleman has just challenged the other to a duel," Leanne replied with shock.

"Where are the guards that's supposed to stop things like this?"

"Once a duel is called by one party and the other party agrees, no one can interrupt it. They will have to fight until one acquiesces or one dies. This is the law in these trade cities," Leanne explained.

"And I can see that some of these people are despicably betting on who would win," Ada glowered as she observed the crowd. "I would like to just ignore the situation but I feel like I can't. If one of them is going to kill the other, I will interrupt."