“Where do you keep the coins?” Ash asked

  “There are no coins.”

  Ash punched him in the gut.

  “Wrong answer, try again.”

  “I’m not lying,” Fatty Cash wheezed. “There are no coins. I liquidated everything.”

  Samael stopped flipping the ledger.

  “Liquidated into what?”

  “Mostly harvested echoes. From the Reapers.”

  “What?!” Black Rose shouted. “You did business with those lunatics? What were you thinking?!”

  Everyone had looks of apprehension on their face as fear flashed through their eyes.

  Samael looked between them.

  “Anyone want to clue me in?”

  Malachai answered.

  “The Reapers are one of the gangs of the slums. Well… after this long, I don’t think they can still be called a gang. They might have upgraded into becoming a guild, but who knows? These gangs always hide their true strength.”

  Samael stared at him.

  Malachai continued.

  “I forgot. You don’t remember much, do you?. To go from gang to guild is a huge milestone for many organizations. Gangs aren’t allowed within the walls. A guild is.”

  Samael blinked. “And what makes the difference?”

  “It’s not entirely clear,” Malachai said. “But one open secret is the registration fee. If you’re uncultivated.”

  “—twenty-five million gold,” Fatty croaked weakly.

  Malachai nodded.

  “If you’ve already obtained your tier, then two and a half million shards.”

  Samael let out a low whistle.

  Even in his past life, he felt like he hadn’t dealt much in gold currency. But twenty-five million sounded obscene.

  Malachai went on.

  “Most don’t live long enough to see inside the walls. As for the Reapers… they don’t need the walls. Their business is established out here. They are harvesters.”

  “My echo,” he said to Samael. “You saw it. Remember how I told you everyone has one?”

  Samael nodded.

  “Most people are born with it. We believe it’s part of the soul. Research has shown these shards are pieces of something bigger. Echoes are considered edicts of the world, and we are its children.”

  He paused briefly.

  “If you’re not born with a desirable echo, you’re discarded. Even if you are, unless you bind yourself to a House, there aren’t many ways to advance. Nobles guard the path of cultivation.”

  “That’s where the Reapers come in,” he continued. “It’s rumored they capture orphans under eighteen. They use a technique to remove the echo and store it. Then they sell it to nobles. Or anyone who wants to change their fate. As long as you have the funds.”

  “Granted,” Fatty Cash added weakly, “some are more useful than others. But people have weird taste.”

  “Exactly,” Red cut in. “This is why I can’t believe the Black Rose gang is doing business with those savages.”

  Black Rose turned on her immediately.

  “Do you think I would do something so disgusting?”

  Malachai shook his head.

  “From what I’ve heard, the Black Rose gang never dealt in that. They stuck to protection.”

  While they were speaking, Fatty Cash tried to inch backward.

  Ash grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back, staring at him menacingly.

  “Keep talking. I refuse to believe you spent it all on harvested echoes.”

  “I did!” Fatty Cash said quickly. “I also bought shares. Twenty percent of the Desmokrates gang.”

  “And that is?” Samael asked.

  “It’s a slaver guild,” Fatty Cash said immediately. “It’s all legal”.

  “I also invested in a plot of land inside the walls,” he rushed on. “And the rest I turned into bonds.”

  Fatty Cash cleared his throat.

  “Oh yes. I’m assuming you want to know where those are.”

  “Where what are?” Ash asked.

  “The bonds,” Fatty Cash said quickly. “I have one of my subordinates carry them while they follow caravans, so the funds are always on the move. I made sure he isn’t a strong one, so he doesn’t attract attention. The bonds are separated into three different carriers.”

  He nodded to himself proudly.

  “You should see one of them. He’s so ugly that he has a face only a mother would love. Who would want to rob him? Ha!”

  Red spoke.

  “Aren’t you afraid of them finding out what it is and running with it?”

  Fatty looked offended.

  “First of all, the bonds are sealed. Second—so what if they run? I know where their families live. I have my people watching them.”

  He sniffed.

  “I couldn’t find a place for the harvested echoes yet. So I stored them at Cherry’s place.”

  Ash raised an eyebrow.

  “Cherry with the leg?” he said slowly. “You mean One-Legged Cherry?”

  Fatty Cash’s eyes lit up. “Oh! So you know her too?” he laughed, leaning closer before kissing his fingers like an Italian chef and saying proudly,

  “Hey, listen, Cherry is—mmm.” He smacked his lips and waved his hand in appreciation. “With one leg… when you know, you know, right? Hehehe.”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Ash coughed into his fist and immediately smacked him in the back of the head. “Where’s the deed to the plot of land?”

  “The deed is on me,” Fatty said quickly. “I was on my way to give it to the boss lady as a present.”

  Black Rose didn’t respond.

  While Fatty kept talking, Samael went still, remembering something.

  A flash of a memory.

  Closed doors.

  Hands clasping in shadow.

  Numbers whispered over wine.

  It clicked.

  He looked up slowly.

  “You were preparing the Black Rose guild for expansion.”

  Fatty blinked.

  Samael continued.

  “The harvested echoes were to create new blood. The bonds were for easier payment. The land is a foothold inside the walls.”

  Fatty hesitated.

  “…Yes.”

  Ash glanced between them.

  Fatty straightened slightly.

  “Unlike the other gangs out here, we would survive inside the walls. There are plenty of rich people willing to pay for protection. With different shards, we could specialize. Like the nobles do. Create our own path.”

  Ash went quiet.

  Then suddenly grabbed Fatty by the throat and shook him.

  “Call back the people with the bonds.”

  Malachai grabbed his brother’s shoulder.

  “Ash.”

  Ash twisted back toward him, speaking fast.

  “Mal, this little bastard was planning to pay the fee for the organization upgrade. That means those bonds, combined, should be worth at least twenty-five million gold. Maybe more.”

  Malachai froze.

  Then moved.

  He stepped in beside Ash and smacked the bowl against Fatty’s head.

  “Call them back.”

  “There’s no way to call them back,” Fatty said quickly. “As I said, they follow the caravan and check in with me when it returns. They should be back within the next two days. I timed it that way. If the boss agreed to the upgrade, she wouldn’t have to wait.”

  “How much?” Red asked.

  Fatty swallowed.

  “Thirty-one point eight million gold.”

  “Damn,” Samael muttered.

  He started pacing.

  Even if he wasn’t fully used to this world yet, money was still money. That number carried weight no matter the currency.

  He stopped.

  “You really are good at your job, aren’t you?”

  Fatty straightened slightly.

  Samael turned toward Black Rose.

  “Why do you let him have so much control in your business?”

  Malachai answered instead.

  “She was Tier one. For most cultivators, once they upgrade, gold becomes almost irrelevant. Their currency shifts to shards. Shards directly increase strength.”

  Samael glanced at him.

  “And before you ask,” Malachai continued, “no, gold can’t be exchanged for shards. Not many are willing to sell.”

  Ash was already patting Fatty down.

  “Hold still.”

  Fatty squirmed.

  Ash found the folded deed tucked inside the robe pocket and pulled it out.

  “How are we going to split everything?” Ash asked casually.

  “Split what?” Fatty said immediately. “Do you know how hard I worked—”

  He stopped when Ash looked at him.

  Samael stepped closer.

  “Read the room, buddy,” he said calmly. “Even your boss, who this gold belongs to, isn’t saying anything. Why are you being so noisy?”

  Fatty shut his mouth.

  Samael felt slightly bad, so he added.

  “Don’t worry. I can see how capable you are. If you keep proving yourself useful… when I'm rich, I’ll give you a job.”

  That made Fatty blink.

  Samael suddenly had an inspiration.

  “Where is your money?” he asked.

  “What? What do you mean?” Fatty Cash stuttered, thinking,

  Don’t tell me this guy plans to rob me and pay me with my own money. Isn’t that a little too shameless?

  Samael continued, “If you handle the tower’s finances and you’re that good at making money grow, there is no way you don’t have any.”

  Fatty Cash began to panic. “I don’t have that much.”

  “How much?” Ash asked.

  “Quarter of a million!” Fatty Cash said in resignation. “But please, I’ve been saving that money since I was young. It’s to take care of—”

  He quickly closed his mouth, realizing he may have shared too much. He put his hands up and covered his mouth.

  “Where is that money?” Malachai asked him.

  Fatty Cash kept refusing to answer.

  That’s when Samael thought of something.

  He quickly opened the ledger and searched through it. Then he spoke.

  “Who is Old Hen?” Samael said. “Here it says, and I quote: I am my own person and Old Hen keeps trying to control me…”

  He paused, flipping another page.

  “…and is this your diary? Why would you even take this thing out in public? I don’t know you, but I’m embarrassed for you.”

  “It’s his mom,” someone said.

  Looking up, Samael saw it was Black Rose talking.

  This whole time, Black Rose wasn’t defending Fatty Cash, but she wasn’t helping him either. However, when she heard about his savings, she couldn’t help wondering if he had been embezzling. Even though she didn’t care much for gold, that didn’t mean she liked people stealing from her.

  While she was lost in her thoughts, everyone else looked at Fatty Cash with odd expressions.

  “You call your mom Old Hen?” Malachai asked.

  Ash slowly turned toward Fatty Cash.

  Then Ash smacked Fatty Cash in the back of the head again.

  “How dare you call your mother that?”

  Fatty Cash yelped.

  Ash leaned closer.

  “You keep your savings at your mother’s house?”

  Samael nodded, agreeing with Fatty Cash’s way of doing things.

  “Actually, if you think about it, it’s not a bad idea that he does it that way. Minus the fact he’s probably endangering her,” he continued, looking at him pointedly

  Then he said for confirmation, “That is where you keep your money, right?”

  Fatty Cash slowly nodded, realizing he couldn't hide it anymore.

  Then he added quickly, “I don’t mind giving you my stash, but you can’t take everything… I mean, you can, but please leave something for her. I haven’t been the best son, and she actually thinks I’m useless. I try not to spoil her. Leave some money so I can take care of her. I can take you there—it’s not that far from here.”

  He proceeded to give several directions, which Samael somehow seemed to remember very clearly.

  While Samael was thinking about his newly acquired photographic memory—and how useful it would have been during his college years—Fatty Cash wiped sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his robe.

  “See? I’ve been cooperating this whole time,” he said quickly. “So we’re done here, right?”

  Ash didn’t respond.

  Samael went back to flipping through the ledger again, scanning the words with growing curiosity. The more he read, the more he understood why Fatty Cash had been trusted with the tower’s finances.

  At some point during the conversation, Red had moved to the alley entrance and was quietly watching the street.”

  The conversation behind her had drifted into numbers and plans, the kind of talk that she found boring. She couldn’t figure out why, but she had been feeling a looming threat. The slums had taught her better; she always trusted those feelings, but she couldn't tell where they were coming from.

  Her gaze moved slowly across the alley.

  Broken bricks.

  Hanging laundry.

  A stray dog was digging through a pile of trash.

  Nothing unusual.

  Still, something felt off.

  Maybe it was an old habit. Or maybe she just wanted to prove herself. Since she had been around these guys, Malachai had been doing the thinking, Ash and Samael had gotten them food. She felt like she hadn’t done much yet.

  You don’t survive long in places like this without picking something up, though.

  Suddenly, she heard Fatty Cash suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.

  Red’s eyes narrowed slightly.

  Behind her

  Noticing Black Rose hadn’t spoken in a while.

  Fatty Cash had glanced toward her without thinking.

  Then he froze.

  Directly in front of the boss lady, a rose-shaped shard hovered near her chest. It trembled once. No one noticed when it appeared.

  Fatty Cash’s eyes widened.

  Anyone who had worked under Black Rose knew what that rose meant.

  His voice came out as a whisper.

  “…Boss?”

  The others looked at him in confusion

  The shard trembled again.

  Fear flooded Fatty Cash’s face.

  “Wait—”

  That was when Samael heard those familiar words.

  [ECHO DETECTED]

  .