Neither Red nor Marble looked happy as he pulled the three bags of counterfeit coins out of his inventory and into view.
They hit the counter soundlessly, any noise they might have made swallowed up by the whirling of machines and the crackling forge. Arthur had insisted they switch on any machine or tool in the shop that could make noise.
He even traded Marble one of his Slagsoul jars to close up shop for an hour. She’d been strangely excited to take the deal, but he hadn’t questioned it. Anything that would stop Mall Security from overhearing them worked for him.
After all, his two demon cores might not be enough to bribe his way out of trouble this time. Plus, he wanted to save them. If he could collect enough, the goddess’ reward would be substantial. At least, that was the hope.
“Would also be another reason to poach Dr. Lisa away from A Iocus Daemonium. If I can make the cores, that would be huge. I wonder if the Mall Security would buy them instead of simply being bribed. I wouldn’t say no to another income stream.”
Red clicked her claws and brought him out of his thoughts. She was scowling, and he took a step back. The heat of the forge grew a touch stronger, but he found he didn’t mind. It was nice.
“Explain again,” she demanded as she pulled a metal pole off a hook and started poking through the bags to open them up.
Coins spilled out, and Arthur noticed all of them landed dragon head-up. He frowned as she watched more spill and land the same way. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Marble looked over as well and frowned when she caught his eyes.
“Please,” Marble added. “I’m not sure I fully understand. This is a lot to take in.”
Arthur tried to flash his best smile as he nodded. “Of course. The people you have been selling your energy weapons to, Catfall Productions? They are using counterfeit coins to buy your goods. They’ve bribed security with demon cores to let them in. Today they attacked my store with said weapons, and I’m here to see if we can reach an understanding about it.”
“Nonsense,” Red snorted. “Counterfeit coins? You can’t make coins like this anymore. The Goddess forges each one herself. Or at least her magic does? I’ve never been terribly clear about how it all works. I know that she’s the sole supplier.”
Marble’s next words were so quiet he almost missed them; however, he couldn’t help but look shocked at what she’d said.
“Once more.”
“What?” he asked, leaning closer to the gray-scaled dragon.
She looked around and seemed to slump. “There was someone else who helped with the coin production. They quit. It’s not something we’re meant to discuss. Sorry.”
“I see.” Arthur nodded.
He wanted to pry, but something about the look in her eye made him decide against it. That, and the smoke that had billowed out of Red’s nostrils. So he changed the subject back to what he’d come here to discuss.
“Well, it’s clear she’s not making these. Do they look normal to you?”
Red shrugged. “That is a straightforward thing to test.”
With one hand, she scooped it up and moved over to the forge. In one swift motion, she tossed it in and then watched it. A minute passed before she grabbed a pair of tongs and pulled it out of the fire.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“What is it, dear?” Marble asked, and then covered her mouth as Red returned to their side of the room.
The coin was melting around the edges, a purple gas leaking from it as though escaping a container. There wasn’t much, but Arthur still did his best to stay away from it until Marble turned on a fan, which sucked the gas into the ceiling.
“Do you believe me now?” He asked, looking at the shocked faces on both of the dragons.
Marble reacted first. “Someone needs to inform Mother. This is a travesty.”
“I tried that,” Arthur said. “Both Pydes and Gastho know, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Pydes said the goddess’s secretary stonewalled him. Which means telling anyone in charge won’t help.”
“Oh great. In that case, what do you want us to do?” Red folded her arms as he spoke, looking at the coins on the counter as though they might explode.
“Don’t sell to them, and if they’ve made any orders, perhaps misplace them in my hands. It’s not like they paid for them.”
That got a rasping laugh from Red. “You want us to give you our wares for free? No. Nice try, though.”
“Not free.” Arthur pointed at the bags. “All of those. Proof that you can give to anyone else in the store to stop them from getting scammed the same way they tried on you. I bet you can make some kind of detector for them. Whatever Pydes used, maybe?”
Marble’s smile was kind. “Pydes detected them when they entered your box, correct?”
“Yes.”
“He wasn’t using a tool for that. Think of it like spotting the wrong-sized nail in a pile of them. It’s easy when there are only a few; however, when you’re dealing with the volumes we do? Well, that’s a different story. We can make a tool, though...” Her eyes glazed over, and she trailed off before she turned to a nearby machine.
“And she’s gone.” Red snorted. “But fine. It’s not like they ordered much—a few more of those guns and battery packs, alongside some shields. Human standard. Is there anything else you want?”
“When will the Mutagen Tank be done?”
“Soon.”
“Can you build me a charge point for the guns using these?” He pulled out one of his F-rank crystals.
Red stared at it and then nodded. “Radiation crystal? Standard one too. You couldn’t power up a pack with one of those, however. You’d need an E-grade at least.”
“I have those.”
“Alright. I can toss in a charging station. Now get going, we have actual work to do, and you don’t want to be caught here by the sounds of it.”
Arthur smiled. “Thanks, Red.”
“Don’t thank me. It’s business. That’s what people like me and you were grabbed to do.”
“Not Marble?” He couldn’t help but ask.
“Not Marble. Some of us were unlucky enough to be born into it. Now scram and go bother somebody else.”
“Thanks, Red,” he said as he turned and took his leave. He still had the Seller’s Alley to visit to knock out Dr. Muriler’s list.
***
People packed Seller’s Alley as tightly as it’d been the first time he’d visited.
With effort, he pushed himself through the crowd as he did his best to reach the stall with the faceless slime. It greeted him, and together they spent some time going over Dr. Muriler’s list.
His hopes of a quick resolution to that were dashed quickly. Most of the simple things requested it had and was happy to trade away. The issue was with the equipment. Most of what Dr. Muriler wanted was high-end lab equipment, including a personalized computer. None of which the slime sold.
From what Arthur understood, none of that was likely to be found outside a specialized shop, and it would be expensive. More expensive than any individual purchase he made.
Arthur had thanked the slime with a small two-gold tip on top of the fifty-gold purchase before finding himself lost in the crowd once more. Although the list was a bust, that didn’t mean he left empty-handed. As he moved, he did his best to compile a mental map while purchasing essentials.
First off, he needed bedding to make it easier for his employees to sleep. He found a machine that produced both for cheap, and he thanked it when it was done. It beeped in response, though he wasn’t sure if that was communication or if it simply did that.
After bedding, it was books. Bumarthian Shimmerwing had appeared ecstatic at the sight of the Slagsoul jar. Without being asked, he’d tossed three books on fencing towards Arthur.
“I’ll take any more of these you have. How often do you think you’ll get them in?”
“I’m not sure. Often?” He’d said, a touch afraid of the Fae’s exuberance.
Bumarthian laughed. “Excellent.”
Once he’d extracted himself from the bookshop, he went to a store that sold hand-crafted furniture. He purchased a cheap single bed for Nyssa. It would mean she no longer needed to share the couch with him, and it should be small enough to fit in the basement.
Casual clothes were the last thing on his mental checklist as he watched how quickly the suits and other items went. The blonde woman behind the counter was quite happy for him to purchase her entire discount box on the cheap. Most of what was inside was shabby, but still of a higher quality than what his people wore now.
“Now then, something for yourself, dear?” She asked in a drawling accent.
Arthur shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
That earned him a smile, one he noticed was full of sharp teeth that reminded him of a shark. Her blue eyes reminded him of an ocean as she shook her head. “Well, why don’t you look at one thing before you go?”
He wanted to say no, but curiosity needled at him, and he nodded. Her smile widened, contorting her face strangely as she tapped a small rhythm on her counter. Suddenly, a miniature dress dummy sat there. What it wore caught Arthur’s attention, and he couldn’t look away.
The suit was a pea-green similar to his uniform, with two golden buttons to hold it together near the bottom. It came with a pair of matching trousers, along with a black undershirt and green tie.
From the way the woman chuckled, he could tell he was wearing his thoughts openly. He wanted it.
“If I’m going to lead, I need it. I can’t keep looking like I serve on the counter forever.”
“How much?”
“For you?” She asked, her voice all artificial sweetness. “One hundred and fifty gold.”
Arthur paused, considering, before he nodded. Time was money, and he’d never needed to haggle before. Besides, he didn’t think staying away from the store long-term right now was a good idea.
“Done.”
That seemed to catch her off guard, and it was Arthur’s turn to smile as he opened up the window to initiate the trade. She shrugged and accepted it as he nodded and moved away. There was a feeling in his chest now that he had it. One of pride.
He couldn’t wait to get home and try it on.
***
As he neared the end of his walk back to the entrance, he saw a disturbance in the crowd. Ahead of him, people complained, and a large familiar dragon in riot gear stood by the entrance, checking people over.
“Step forward and check to be scanned!” Officer Zerreon snarled and breathed out a plume of purple gas as he waved people forward. The stick in his hand glowed briefly before it turned green, and he let them pass. “We have a criminal to catch. Don’t dawdle and don’t waste my time!”
He resisted the urge to step backward as he turned slowly towards a nearby stall. It sold small buttons, and he pretended to look them over as he listened to the gossip. Most of it was nonsensical. Dragons and not making up wild claims about what it could be.
While he sorted through the button shop’s wares, he heard everything from a terrorist attack to a practice joke to some kind of security drill. Arthur was about to move on when he heard something useful.
“I heard they’re looking for a thief,” one man wearing what amounted to a fruit basket on his head said.
The orange-scaled dragon next to him snorted. “Come off it. They’ve got better ways of catching pickpockets and shoplifters than this. No. They’re scanning inventory. That means someone bought in something they shouldn’t have or is trying to smuggle something out.”
Arthur didn’t stick around to hear the rest; he simply turned and tried to keep his head down as he moved through the crowd. From what he could tell, no one else seemed to understand the significance of the purple smoke. However, he did.
Officer Zerreon had used a core. Which meant this wasn’t anything security-related. No, this was a robbery, plain and simple. If he tried to get past the dragon, they’d take his cores from him under any excuse he could think of.
That would leave him two cores down when he needed them to upgrade his store. He wondered how they knew he was here as he moved. Was it a tip-off from the cultists, or did the security have him flagged somehow?
Either way, it meant coming back here was far more dangerous than it was worth.
With that in mind, he moved back into the sea of people and stalls, letting the current of the crowd take him away from danger.205Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vRGHOlgeA
