Zach needed to be careful with his sudden fortune. He was defenseless and clueless and didn't want to get robbed or tricked out of his newfound money. He already knew that the Hard Fought Rest did fair business, so he decided to start there in his quest for economic knowledge.

He went up to the bar that also served as the inn’s front desk and tried to read the sign there. There were some unfamiliar words that he assumed were the names of food and drinks, along with some English words that he recognized. Each line of text had a number and letter next to it to indicate the price, but he didn’t know what the letters meant. As best he could tell, ‘C’ meant Chip, but nothing seemed to match the high value Crown he’d heard of.

There were some prices marked with an 'H', including the entry for one night's stay, which cost '2H'. Zach looked in his bag and saw two kinds of coins. One had a silver ring around the outside, an embossed castle on one side, and an ornate crown on the other. The other slightly smaller coin was a uniform silvery-gold and had a deer on both sides. It seemed safe to say that the one with the image of a crown on one side was a Crown, but that deer symbol was the same as the one on the guards' tabards. Zach wondered, Maybe they're called the Crown Guard or something, and the deer coin is actually a Crown? Is either of them a Chip?

Before Zach could fully ponder it out, the man behind the bar cleared his throat and said, "You just gonna stand there all day?" He had bushy grey eyebrows and wore an oddly round leather hat that even covered his ears. He looked eternally grumpy but temporarily satisfied. He certainly should have been satisfied, considering how much money Shen had just dropped on the place.

"Uh, sorry," Zach blurted. Then he grabbed two of the most plentiful coin in the bag and held them up. "Uh, can I get a night's stay for this?" They were the silver-rimmed coins, and he had twenty of them in total. Eight of the smaller coins were still in the bag.

The innkeeper looked at Zach like he was an absolute idiot. The man blinked slowly, then said, "You can get twenty for that much."

Zach's face went slack. He tended to react too strongly to surprises, but for once he felt justified. Okay, so those aren't Hs. I guess they're Crowns? That leaves these… Zach thought as he returned those coins to the bag and pulled out two of the ones with deer on them. He held them up and smiled hopefully.

"Yeah, two Harts will get you a night. Want it?"

Hearts? Why are these coins called hearts? They just have a deer with antlers on them. Zach went deep into his rather extensive memory and emerged with a useful fact: the word 'hart' meant a male deer. He also remembered from the sign at the wall that the king's name was Gildahart. Ah, so that's why the deer is his symbol, and why the coin is named that!

Meanwhile, the innkeeper was staring at what he considered to be the dumbest man he'd ever seen. "What a waste of good gold," he muttered to himself. It hadn't been very quiet but Zach wasn't paying enough attention to hear it.

Finally, Zach grabbed two more of the Hart coins and held all four out. "Sorry about that, I was trying to decide whether I needed one night or two," he lied. It seemed like a decent excuse for his slow response, and he wouldn't miss two Harts while he had so many of the far more valuable Crowns.

"Sure," the man replied, unconvinced. He took the four coins and grabbed a key from a cabinet behind him. As he handed Zach the key he said, "It's the first room on the second floor. It can be a little loud, but it's convenient and even you can't miss it."

Zach didn't notice the jab at his intelligence. He was busy trying to deduce the value of his Crowns and Harts relative to the Crown-to-Chip ratio that he'd been pondering since the apple lady. He continued thinking as he climbed the stairs to his room, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.

He sat down on the room's small bed and put all the pieces together out loud, "A Crown is worth 20 Harts and a Hart is worth at least 12 Chips. If an apple is worth a Chip in this world and about 50 cents in the real one, then a Hart has the buying power of around six US dollars."

He looked around his tiny inn room, which amounted to nothing but a simple bed and a window too small to fit through. "And this room costs twelve dollars a night. That seems within reason. At least it's enough information to work off of for now." He stood back up and winced at the pressure on his battered feet. "Time to go buy some shoes."

Zach left the vast majority of his money in his inn room for safekeeping. Assuming Crowns were indeed worth 20 Harts each, he had a whopping 400 Harts to his name. There was no way he'd feel comfortable carrying around $2,400 in cash back home and that went double in this unusual place.

Of course, leaving valuables in his room was putting a lot of trust in the staff of the Hard Fought Rest. But given Zach's minor fame and friendliness with Shen, he doubted they'd risk their reputation on some short term gains. Or maybe they would, and Zach would learn a valuable lesson about this world.

With two Crowns and his remaining four Harts in his pocket, equalling around $250, Zach followed the cobbler's directions to his place of business. It was a small shop on the ground floor, underneath what looked like residences. A very plain wooden sign announced the name of the shop to be 'Best Fit Shoes'.

Zach shrugged at the name. That was what the man boasted about. I guess they specialize in custom fit shoes? In a world without mass production, standardized shoe sizes wouldn't really be a thing.

He opened the door and stepped inside, feeling rather self conscious about his lack of footwear. He doubted he was going to get a good price on shoes when his desperation was so obvious.

"Oh, it's you, the storyteller! I'd so hoped you'd come by." The cobbler from earlier ran up and beckoned Zach further into the snug little shop.

A variety of leather shoes were on display on a shelf near the front of the room, and there were two comfortable-looking elevated chairs behind that. The back of the room seemed to be a workshop area with bits of leather and metal tools scattered over tables. Oil-burning lamps lit the room and gave it a smoky acrid scent, even over the smell of so much leather.

"Please take a seat and I'll measure you right away," the man said, gesturing toward the elevated chairs. He wore a crisp grey suit and his short brown hair was slicked back, giving him a very orderly look.

Zach took a seat while he wondered whether the cobbler had sobered up enough after the storytelling competition. I guess he's just measuring and not working with dangerous tools, so it should be fine.

The man glanced at Zach's feet and recoiled in near horror. Zach's stolen socks were in tatters and dirtied to a very unpleasant brown. "Oh, that will not do at all! You were not kidding when you said you were in need of shoes, and now your socks are ruined."

"Uh, yeah, they were stolen this morning," Zach said. It was at least partially true, since the socks had indeed been stolen, by him.

The cobbler grabbed a pair of socks from a wooden cubby and tossed them at Zach. "Take these as a free bonus with your order." His face took on a serious expression and he asked, "You are looking to order a pair of shoes, correct?"

"Yes, absolutely," Zach assured him, nodding vigorously.

"Good. Take off those rags and let's get this measurement started."

After a few minutes, the man had a separate list of measurements for each foot. It seemed he took his 'best fit' claim very seriously and didn't cut any corners.

While the man worked, Zach picked out the style he wanted. To Zach's eyes, it was somewhere between a dress shoe and a hiking boot, and it looked both comfortable and durable.

As Zach twiddled his thumbs, unsure what to do next, the man said, "Okay, I've got the material on hand to make these, but it will take a while. I can have them done for you by the day after tomorrow."

Zach frowned. "Oh, I was hoping to get them today…"

"Sorry, but there's no rushing perfection. I can lend you a less-perfect pair in the meantime, for a price."

Zach literally leapt at the opportunity, jumping to his feet. "That would be wonderful. In total, what would I owe you?" Zach watched the man's face very closely after that, looking for any sign of dishonesty.

"Since you've been through some hard times without shoes, and since you're kindly sharing the fortune you won from Shen…" the man started.

Ah, so that's how it's going to be. I'd much prefer a flat price without all these special variables involved, Zach thought.

"Let's go with an even 20 Harts."

Zach blinked, trying to rein in his reaction. Only $120? That was a fair bit less than he'd been expecting. Either handmade shoes were inexpensive in this world or Zach's value estimations were way off. Regardless, he saw no need to haggle with that price. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a Crown, which he offered to the cobbler.

The man's eyes went wide. "Oh! I wasn't expecting a Crown! Were there Crowns in that bag Shen gave you?"

"Just a couple," Zach lied. If people were assuming the bag had just been full of Harts, he really didn't want the truth getting out.

"Lucky you," the man said as he took the coin. Then he stepped into the back of the shop and returned with a pair of plain shoes. "These will be a little big for you, but that's better than being too small. Bring them back in decent shape and I'll give you a Hart for them."

Zach pulled on his new socks and his loaner shoes, then stood up. He was instantly impressed with their comfort and fit. If these were considered a poor fit, he couldn't wait to try on his custom pair.

"Ah, much better. I'll see you the day after tomorrow," Zach said. Then he paused in thought. This man had treated him very well and could be a good business contact in the future. He offered his hand and said, "Also, I don't believe I caught your name. I'm Zach."

The man grasped Zach's wrist rather than his hand, so Zach went with the flow and grabbed the man's wrist back.

"The name's Alfred. It was good doing business with you." He let go, said goodbye, then returned to the back of the shop.

Okay, apparently handshakes are a bit different here. I'll have to remember that, Zach thought.

It had been several hours since his small lunch, and a single apple hardly counted as breakfast, so Zach was starving. He couldn't recall ever feeling so hungry in a dream before, or eating multiple meals in a dream, but he didn't dwell on it.

He stepped out of the shop and decided to let his nose guide him to some food. It meant staying far away from any stables, but he doubted any restaurants would set up shop there anyway.