"Welcome. That'll be three silver coins," the shopkeeper said.
"Alright, here you go," Wataru handed over the coins.
"You're a new face here, are you a tourist?" the shopkeeper asked.
"I'm here for business talks. I'm overwhelmed by all these things I've never seen before," Wataru replied.
"Our store may be small, but we've got a lot of books. If you're looking for something, let me know and I'll keep an eye out for it," the shopkeeper offered.
"I haven't quite decided what I'm looking for yet, but I'll let you know when I do," Wataru said.
He untied the string holding the parchment together, and perhaps to save as much space as possible, the tiny letters were densely packed.
One large sheet of parchment had about as much information as ten pages of a modern paperback.
Realizing he couldn't read it all right away, Wataru stored the parchment again.
Stepping outside, the sunlight was dazzling.