Arthur waited in his office while Theobold and Leo dealt with Benny.
They checked him over for weapons to start, finding none. Afterward, they took him downstairs to a box basement and supplied him with a fresh shirt. They didn’t even bother keeping his old one for rags. Not even the magical properties of the box could fix that one.
When he was ready, Leo brought him in as Theobold went back to check on the storefront.
"Please. Sit." Arthur gestured towards the opposite side of the desk. "And welcome to Apocalypse Assortments."
Benny sat. "Hi. Um. Sir."
As he spoke, Arthur noticed his teeth for the first time. Suddenly, he realized he’d seen the man before. With a snap of his fingers, he pointed across the desk.
"You were the one you winked at Leo when we visited Diaboli Theatrum, right?"
"I was. Um. Sir." Benny nodded. "I’m here to deliver a message."
"So I heard. What’s the message? I’m curious what Carina would send you to tell me."
With one hand, he flicked a coin into the air and caught it again. The metal felt warm against his skin. He squeezed it tight and then flicked it again. Benny’s eyes moved to watch the coin as it flew into the air, time and time again.
Leo gave a gentle cough, which seemed to bring Benny back to the moment.
"Sorry. Yes. The Message. It doesn’t make any sense to me. But she told me to tell you they have an orchard. Said you’d know what that meant."
Arthur stopped flicking the coin even as he checked the results. Jewel side up. He squeezed down on the coin as all his attention focused on Benny.
"Carina mentioned an Orchard?"
"Yes. Yes sir."
"Explain."
"Well. She told me to tell you that was how they got their money. They used the good coins, and then they buried them for their fake ones? I don’t know what that means. She said they used imps to harvest them. Only the board members have access. That and their assistants. I’m sorry if I got any of this wrong. She was talking really fast…"
Benny continued to ramble, a nervous edge dominating his words, as Arthur leaned back and listened. He couldn’t help but shake his head. It all made so much sense. They needed to make their counterfeits so good that the dragons in the mall wouldn’t recognize them.
Why not do it by corrupting the goddess’s own gifts?
As the man continued to speak, Arthur used his management courses on him. The results were predictable—large doses of fear and rage.
"The same as Leo. I would have expected greed or something similar if this had been a trap. Unless he’s afraid, he’s going to die like the others who came here did."
Benny interrupted his musing as he pulled out an ID card with a barcode at the bottom. Sandy smiled out of the picture, and he shuddered.
"What’s this?"
"Miss Heady gave it to me. She said it would get you access to the elevators, and you could get down to the floor you needed." Benny nodded before placing it on the desk. "Said it would help."
Arthur didn’t make a move to pick it up as he turned to look at Leo. "Can we trust him?"
That earned him a snort of laughter.
"Riccardo called him every version of stupid under the sun, sir. He never once questioned his loyalty. Benny is a good man and does what he’s told. I’m not surprised that Miss Heady chose him."
"Alright." He nodded as he turned back to Benny. "When did this all happen?"
"Yesterday, um, sir. I got out. I’m not strong, but I’m a good runner. That’s how I got away from the knights when the big battle happened. I ran and ran. Kept running and…"
Arthur resisted the urge to snort as the man rambled on about how he escaped. The coin flicked into the air as he thought about what he’d been told.
"If they have an orchard, that makes a pretty direct way to attack them. If we can destroy it, or better yet, take it over? That’s an easy way to disrupt their entire plan. We might not even need Dr. Lisa at that point. Though, I’d still like to hire her on. No point putting all my eggs in one basket."
"Do you know how long it would take them to realize Sandy’s ID is missing?" He asked, interrupting Benny.
"No, sir."
"Alright. Leo, can you take him somewhere safe? I need to go to the roof and try to work out what the next plan is."
"Yes, sir."
"Wait, do you believe me?" Benny asked, rising even as Leo moved to grab him. "Not that I’m lying. No, sir. Just the thing about the trees growing money? That’s all true?"
Arthur waved the question away. "Does it matter? Leo, find the man somewhere to sleep. We’ll keep you safe."
"Thank you, sir. You won’t regret it. I’m happy to help anyone who plans to rescue Miss Heady."
"It’s in the works." With one hand, he waved him off as he caught the coin with the other. Once they were gone, he sighed and rubbed his face.
"I have a plan now, sort of. Time to see how to go about it."
Arthur stretched and moved out of the room. It was time to see a dragon about how to take over someone else’s gold production.
***
He tried not to cringe at the thought of spending all the gold he had stored in his box on this. Though he was at least grateful, none of his money was going into it. Still, that was a lot of gold.
His gut churned at the idea of tossing it into a hole, even if he understood its value on a logical level.
With an annoyed grunt, he accepted the quest before he shifted his attention back to watching the skyline with Pydes at his side. The dragon had none of his usual elemental hangers-on this time. All the small creatures remained away from the pair, as though sensing the importance of what they discussed.
Arthur missed them in some ways. They would have made a pleasant distraction.
"So to sum it up. I need to break into the grove with the elementals and redo the ritual there?"
"Yes," Pydes said as his tail flicked against a nearby tree with enough force to shake it. "I can’t believe they did this! It’s an abomination!"
"You mentioned that," Arthur said. "How is it possible, though? Gastho said it was dragon magic. Is that common?"
"No." The tree shook again, this time harder. "No, he must be mistaken. They can’t do this."
Arthur shrugged. "Well, they did."
"You need to go there right now and stop them."
"What?" He laughed as he turned towards Pydes. "No."
Pydes glared at him. "What do you mean, no?"
"This is clearly a trap? I’ve read about this before. I’ll go, and they’ll have done something, so when I try to use the access that Benny gave me, it’ll alert security. Besides, they’ll know he came to me. It’s not like they won’t be expecting something."
"So what do you intend to do, then?" Pydes asked, smoke rising into the sky.
Arthur looked across the skyline. "For now? I want to get those ads out there. Get more people here while starving them of a customer base. Maybe get in contact with Dr. Lisa. This isn’t like Riccardo. We have some time to plan and think about it."
Pydes growled and stepped forward. "Do you? Every minute you spend not acting, they corrupt Mother’s system further."
"True." Arthur nodded. "But if I go in there and get beaten to death by demons, who does that help? I’m not a fighter, Pydes, and honestly, I don’t want to be. The few times I’ve done it haven’t been fun."
"Bah." Pydes snorted another plume of smoke. "And what if you wait and they fortify the place? That is just as much of a risk."
"At least then I can gather allies. Hire people to help push them back. Both have risks, but I’d rather have the chance to plan."
"Bah," Pydes repeated.
With a shake of his head, Arthur changed the subject. "I thought the elementals couldn’t leave the store? How am I supposed to get them there, anyway?"
"They’ll survive for a little while. Long enough for you to do what you need to do." Pydes looked towards the small creatures playing. "Don’t take too long, though. They need the magic of the grove to sustain them."
"And what will happen to the imps when I take it over? Will they get expelled? What?"
This time it was Pydes’ turn to shrug. "I have no actual idea. Mother’s magic should make it hard for them to stay, but I can’t say with any real certainty. My advice would be to be careful."
"Fantastic." He sighed as he turned away. "In that case, I suppose we have some work to do. The Hero is out looking for our missing members. There might be Slagsoul Chimeras in the sewers, and I have to finish hiring my counter staff. I’m going to bed."
"Always Busy," Pydes agreed. "Good night, Arthur."
"Night Pydes," Arthur said as he moved the fire escape and toward bed.
***
When he fell asleep, he didn’t end up in the goddess’s office or The Multiverse Mall.
The area he was in was dark and cold. It smelled faintly of dust and mold. He shivered, unable to hear a single sound. With careful movements, he reached out to see what he could feel around him. For a horrible moment, Arthur feared he’d returned to the void.
He was about to shout out when his hand touched a solid surface. It took a minute or two, but he realized what it was. A desk. With effort, he groped around it, trying to ignore the thick layer of dust.
When he found a small desk lamp, he flicked it on. It wasn’t bright, but it allowed him to see enough. Arthur blinked at the dust-covered, yet somehow still grand, office that he found himself in.
The first thing he noticed were the planks of wood that covered both the doors and windows. No posters or any form of decoration hung from the walls. In fact, aside from the desk, the entire room looked someone had stripped it of anything they could carry.
With nothing else to check, he examined the desk. The first thing he noticed was how expensive it was. It reminded him of the goddess’s version during the times he’d visited her office. Even the chair behind it had a high back and looked far more comfortable than his own.
"Where am I?" Arthur thought, unwilling to say a word out loud.
There was a presence in the room. One that made him feel small, as though he was breaking into somewhere he shouldn’t be. Which he supposed he was. He kept his movements small as he moved around behind the desk.
The drawers slid out without a hitch, and he found them filled with paperwork. It all looked perfectly preserved, not that it helped him. Numbers and complicated lines written in corporate jargon that he didn’t understand sat there. Though he checked the dates, he could see they were out of order.
"Someone else searched this place. But for what?"
Arthur sat in the chair, dust exploding upward, causing him to cough. With an effort, he flew it away and then paused as he noticed something off. The particles danced through the air, but a clump appeared to vanish into the corner of the desk.
He frowned as he moved to touch the corner, but nothing happened.
"Ok, not touch activated. They are dragons? Maybe…"
He blew more dust toward the corner, and when he ran out in the air, he scooped more from the desk. A click echoed in the room, and a small drawer sprang open as the mechanism clogged with dust.
Inside sat two small objects—a demon core and a dark purple dragon scale.
Arthur grabbed both and shut the drawer as he heard noises in the corridor behind him. A pounding started on the door, hard enough to rattle the boards. The next thing he knew, he was looking up at the ceiling of his own office.
Both items remained clutched tightly in his hand.179Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvm1MIfflcr
