The Hyrulian Valhalla Saga
By Queenie Z
A Lesson In Hyrulian Economics
The Hero of Winds inspected the ancient gold piece carefully, turning it over in his small hand and furrowing his brow. "That's definitely the seal of Ancient Hyrule," he said, "but I have no idea what these could have been used for… Engie, where did you find these?"
"In a chest full of junk. Probably came with me when I died." Engie frowned. "I always wondered what these things were - I thought maybe you'd know, since you went to the old kingdom and all."
"Your guess is as good as mine." Wind traced the Triforce symbol on the coin with his finger, then saw something that caught his attention - ancient Hylian lettering. "Hey, there's something written here!"
"Really? What's it say?"
"I can't read it - it's in Old Hylian, from before the flood."
"Too bad," said Engie, "I bet it says something cool. Maybe it's a magic spell!"
Wind beamed. "Yeah, like those medallions Light found!" He clenched the coin in his fist. "Let's see if Time or Mini can tell us what it says!"
Right on cue, Mini came walking from around the corner, munching on a donut. When the younger two Heroes saw him, they waved him over.
"Hey! Mini!" cried Engie, "We need your help!"
Mini's ears perked at the sound of his nickname, and he walked over to them. "What's the matter, guys?" he asked between bites of his donut.
"Can you read this?" asked Wind, handing the gold piece to their predecessor. "We think it's some kind of magic spell or something!"
"I'll take a look." Mini inspected the coin carefully. Then, after a moment, he began to snicker.
Engie cocked an eyebrow. "Well? What does it say?"
"'Property of the Hyrulian Royal Treasury'," he answered with an amused grin. "It's not magic, it's money."
"Money?" Wind frowned in disbelief. "Money doesn't look like that! Rupees are money!"
"Well," began Mini, "there was a time just before the Great Flood where Hyrule tried to switch to a gold standard currency."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It didn't last very long, though. Gold was too rare and rupees were just more convenient, so they switched back."
Engie tilted his head. "So this is what they used instead of rupees?"
Mini handed the coin back to him. "Pretty much, yeah."
"Man, what a letdown!" pouted the engineer, "I thought it really was a magic spell…"
"The truth is never as exciting as your imagination," replied Mini, shrugging.
Wind sighed. "I'll say. We don't even need money anymore! We're dead!"
"It'll make for a cool paperweight," joked Mini.
Engie pocketed the "paperweight". "I guess it would…"