Nightmare Realm Summoner

“Hold on,” Tiff said. She watched Alex through narrowed eyes for a second as if trying to peer past his mask. “You thinking that you’ll just pit us against the Outworlders for you?”

“I didn’t say that,” Alex said.

“I didn’t ask if you said it. I know you didn’t say it,” Tiff said. “I asked if you were thinking it. Just because we’re both from Earth doesn’t mean we’re instantly allies. Why should we believe anything you say?”

TryFinger waved his hand. “It’s fine. He’s not trying to manipulate us. I’m pretty sure. Enough to risk my run for it. We might have to evaluate later, but going on the offensive constantly isn’t always going to work. You have to leave room, you know. Can’t figure out how to win a fight if you’re always up its ass.”

Tiff made a small, choked exasperated noise. “Are we really going to have this discussion again? This is real life. It’s not—”

“It’s a frame of mind, Tiff. A frame of mind.” TryFinger tapped his forehead intently as if to make his point. “All about how you think. That’s the important bit. You just have to adjust your attitude.”

“You sound like a 2000s yoga coach,” Tiff groaned. “Fine. Whatever. What exactly is it that you’ve got to share with us, Ash? I’ll say now that we’re not promising to help. I prefer to be direct, so we’re not going to do the whole dance where I pretend to be interested before knowing if I even want to get myself involved in whatever it is you’re planning.”

Couldn’t have guessed that she liked being direct. Complete surprise, really.

“There’s no plan,” Alex replied with a shrug. “Not with regard to this, at least. It is quite literally just information that I’m giving freely. Thorn told me that he’s after an item called Wind’s End. It’s probably going to be very expensive. But there’s a reason he wants it. One big enough that he’d trade us a favor to stay out of the bidding.”

“He really thinks you’re that much of a threat?” Tiff asked warily. “If that’s true… I don’t know if there’s even anything we can do with that information. I think it’s safe for me to admit that we came to the auction to get an advantage. The Outworlders hold all the cards. You should know that by now.”

Not all of them. Not even close.

“They’re strong,” Alex agreed. “And yes. I’m more than aware. But what does that have to do with this?”

“We probably can’t afford the item if it’s that good,” Tiff replied with a shrug. “Thorn didn’t even mention it to us. He doesn’t see us as a threat. And he might be right. I doubt our funds are even close to the point to where we could compete with the Outworlders for a powerful item they really want, let alone compete and still leave ourselves enough Credits to buy what we want.”

“Unless the item leads to more Credits,” TryFinger mused. “That’s how it tends to work.”

“That’s assuming we have a way to use it. Who knows what this thing is or what it does. ” Tiff said. She looked to Alex. “Did he say?”

“Not more than a name,” Alex admitted. “Apparently, the part he’s after is within the item rather than the item itself. So it’ll be a risk. I have no clue what its purpose is. So… yes. It’s a risk. I couldn’t tell you what it does myself.”

“So you want us to take all the risk on ourselves?” Tiff asked. She arched an eyebrow. “And, what, we should directly piss off Thorn’s family just because we can? I fail to see what we get out of this deal.”

“The opportunity of screwing them over paired with whatever the item itself can actually do. An Outworlder family wouldn’t be desperate enough to get their hands on item to the point where they go around making deals if it wasn’t good.” Alex shrugged. “I’m not saying you have to. I’m just letting you know. What you do with that information is up to you.”

“We can at least take a look at the item when it pops up,” TryFinger mused. He tapped a finger against the flat of his tiny dagger’s blade. “Thanks for the tip. A potential advantage is always useful. But… damn. To be honest, I just don’t think it’s going to work. We’re here to strengthen our town. That’s our number one priority. Even if it wasn’t… Tiff was right. We just don’t have the funds to go head to head against an Outworlder family over an expensive item.”

This book was originally published on NovelFire. Check it out there for the real experience.

Alex nearly asked how many Credits they had, but caught himself at the last moment. That definitely would have been a faux pas. Nobody just went around asking people how much money they were carrying on them.

He could hear Sofia starting up an auction for yet another item, but he ignored it. TryFinger’s words had given him a small idea. One that actually seemed quite funny. It wasn’t the safest or smartest… but if it worked, it would really work.

“You know,” Alex said slowly, “while we agreed not to directly interfere with Thorn, we didn’t say anything about loaning Credits to anyone.”

“If you think we want to get indebted to some loan shark…” Tiff started, her eyes narrowed. Then she paused for a moment. “But… how much money do you have?”

Hah! You asked first.

“Enough,” Alex replied. Then it was his turn to pause. He coughed. “Okay. Honestly, I don’t know if that’s true. We can’t really go giving a lot of it away. But we’ve got some stuff for sale. A pretty good amount of it. If that goes well, we’re going to have a sizable amount of Credits to play around with. I’m not above loaning you guys whatever you need if we can afford it and if you’re using it to screw the Outworlders over.”

“On what plan?” Tiff asked. “When would you want it back?”

“Er… I suppose it depends on how much we give,” Alex said. “If it’s a lot, I don’t imagine you’ll be able to get it back quickly. I’m not trying to run some kind of scheme here. I can honestly say that my main goal is screwing over the Outworlders and maybe getting a bit of profit in the process. But I’m not trying to kill anyone with debt. Maybe it depends on what you spend the Credits on?”

“How would that work?” TryFinger asked curiously.

“Dunno. Maybe we could call things even if the item gets you access to some kind of event or the like and you bring us along,” Alex suggested. “Given most of the other stuff flying around, it’ll probably be a dungeon key or something like that. An opportunity to get stronger is always worth more than money just sitting around waiting to be used.”

“They did kill the River King,” Tiff mused. “Must have brought a metric boatload of his Credits along with them.”

Actually, I don’t think the majority of his wealth was even in Credits. We’re still trying to sort through and get to all of it. All our credits come from items we got by stealing from an Outworlder family and digging around in the depths of the waste bin of reality.

That explanation felt like it wouldn’t do his case much help, so Alex kept it to himself.

“Okay,” TryFinger said, giving Alex a nod. “We’re interested. Assuming the item pops up and we do decide that we’re interested in it but don’t have the Credits, we’ll give you a ring. But are you really sure that you’ll have the Credits yourself?”

“Sold for 310 Credits!” Sofia’s voice cut through the air. “And up next… another Riftwarped Core, preserved in a Harvester! Who would have thought! That’s right. We have the pleasure of auctioning several of these off today. Is it the last one? Who knows! But it very well might be, so if you want to get your hands on it, now is the time! Bidding begins at 150 Credits!”

The corner of Alex’s lip twitched.

“Yeah,” Alex said. “I think we’ll be good for them. I can’t predict how much money the Outworlders will be working with to a point, though. It’s just a guess.”

“Probably thousands,” Tiff muttered, glancing over her shoulder. “Maybe 10 or 15 for the richer ones? The System had to have forced them to leave most of their Credits behind. I refuse to believe anyone could be that far ahead of us this early on. Even with all their cheats and external knowledge, it takes time to build wealth.”

It was a good thing Alex was wearing a mask. He didn’t even bother concealing his grin.

“Probably,” Alex said. “Anyway. You guys just give us a call if you need to pick anything up but can’t afford it. So long as you’re not bidding against us, we won’t have a problem with it. I’m not going to lie and say that I’m some kind existence looking out for you for the sake of it. I want to crush the Outworlders beneath my heel. I’m helping you because it’s convenient and because we’re in the same situation.”

Strangely enough, that seemed to be first sentence Alex said that didn’t get him a glare of some manner from Tiff. Instead, the blonde grinned.

“Good. That’s something we can work with. Better than fake smiles and hidden daggers. We’ll think about it. If things go the way you’ve said… you may have yourself a deal built on a lot of ‘ifs’, Ash. Was there anything else you wanted?”

“Nope. I’d say that just about covered it,” Alex replied, rising to his feet and starting for the door. He paused as its outline started to form in the wall. Then he glanced back at them. “I will say that I’d appreciate if you don’t go telling the Outworlders that we’re from Earth. It’ll make things a bit awkward.”

“That’s it?” Tiff asked, tilting her head to the side. “Just awkward? They’d crush you like a bug for lying to them.”

Alex let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, they’ve tried.”

Then he pulled the door open.

“Wait,” Tiff called after him. “Tried? What do you mean, tried?”

She didn’t get an answer. Alex had already stepped through the door and it had sealed behind him. A grin still lingered on his face.

Nobody could go fishing without at least a little bait. Alex would be hearing back from Room 4.

He was certain of it.