“The people in the city look more wealthy, judging by their clothes, and they seem to belong to a different class,” I whispered to my companions.

“No,” Kyran answered, “no one is rich or poor here. They wear luxurious and elegant robes because that’s the style chosen by them; they can freely wear anything that suits them best. For me, as a bladesmith, I don’t wear fine clothes like that because they are simply not suitable for my work. I don’t wear silk because it isn’t durable and comfortable as cotton. I don’t wear rings, necklaces, or other jewels – not because I am poor – but I wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing them while I’m working,” he replied.

“What are the occupations of these people?” I asked.

“Most of them are artists. They perform various forms of art such as handicrafts, drawing, sculpting, or carving. Some work in the literary field like composing proses and poetry. Some are dancers and music composers, while others work in other disciplines of the arts, such as sewing and embroidering. The people here love all beautiful things and spend their life in creating art. Since they don’t do hard manual work, they love to adorn themselves with beautiful clothes and jewels.”

“Are there people working in any other occupations?” I asked.

“For example?”

“Well, like merchants or businessmen.”

“Let me explain what occupation means here. Occupation can refer to working in a profession to earn a living, but no one here works for that reason. Everyone chooses to do something that serves others. In this world, there’s no need for any other kind of work. We don’t need merchants since we don’t have a monetary system for the exchange of goods. We don’t have businessmen since we share products with each other, so no one sells and no one buys,” Kyran explained.

“Is everything here for free then?” I asked, quite incredulously.

“Yes, everything,” he answered firmly.

“Including the knives that you brought here?”

“Yes, everything that you can see,” Kyran responded affirmatively.

“I see, so how does your market operate here?” I asked.

“Since we’re very close to the market now, I’ll take you there and you shall see for yourself.”

Kyran and Koharu ushered me down a narrow street flanked with buildings. We could still hear the cheering going on behind us. There were a few two- and three-story buildings, one next to another, with narrow passages connecting them. In each building, there were open rooms displaying different products. Some rooms showed cotton dresses, like the one Koharu was wearing, and fine dresses with beautiful details. There were also kitchen wares like pots, jars, and bowls, including tea leaves and teapots. All those buildings surrounded a big building in the middle that was open, similar to a market for fresh food. There were vegetables, fruits, spices, and various seasonings. Every space was filled with all different kinds of food products.

“Here we are,” Koharu said, “when we walk past the next building with fresh food, we’ll arrive at our paper shop.”

“I saw a lot of goods displayed in each room, but I didn’t see any shopkeepers,” I told Koharu.

“We don’t sell or buy anything, so we don’t need shopkeepers. The owners deposit their items early in the morning and go back to their work. They don’t need to keep an eye on their products. If you want anything, you take it and put it in your basket. This market serves all the people from the entire city,” Koharu explained.

“This is such a strange market. Are we going to do the same with the paper that we carried here?” I asked.

“That’s right, we will leave it at the stationery shop, and whoever needs it can take it freely.”

“So here we are, our stationery shop,” Koharu said, pointing at a shop located across from the fresh market.

We headed into the shop and placed the rolls of paper on the floor and started to unwrap them.

“Here is the shelf where we stack the paper on. We came just in time, as the paper has almost run out of stock,” she told me.

She unfolded the sheets of paper and laid them with the curling side down to let them flatten out naturally.

“Let me get this straight … People come and take any item whenever they want?” I said, still doubting the concept.

“That’s right,” she replied and smiled.