"And what purpose did all that suffering serve? What was it all for?
Nothing he decides. Not yet. None of that sacrifice will be worth a single escudo unless S. can tell the world about what Vevoda has done and what he is capable of doing."
Escudo, as per Wikipedia, is:
"The escudo is a unit of currency. Historically it was used in Spain, Portugal, and in their colonies in South America, Asia, and Africa.[1] It is still used in Cape Verde to this day. Escudo is Portuguese and Spanish for "shield"."
The fact that S. uses escudo in his thoughts would indicate that:
1- S. is from any of the regions where the escudo was in circulation and the currency is embedded into his memory. Here is a full list as per Wikipedia:
Circulating[edit]
- Cape Verdean escudo (1914 - present)
Obsolete[edit]
- Angolan escudo (1914 - 1928 and 1958 - 1977)
- Chilean escudo (1960 - 1975)
- Mozambican escudo (1914 - 1980)
- Portuguese escudo (1911 - 1999)
- Portuguese Guinean escudo (1914 - 1975)
- Portuguese Indian escudo (1958 - 1961)
- Portuguese Timorese escudo (1959 - 1976)
- São Tomé and Príncipe escudo (1914 - 1977)
- Spanish escudo (1535/1537 - 1833 and 1864 - 1869)
2- One of the two cities S. had been to up to that point in the story, "A city where river meets sea" and "B____" used that currency and that's where S. picked it up.
