CHAPTER TWENTY

  Griffins to Dolrs

  Two days after the breakfast club’s first brainst session, Hajime Hideo Miyamoto—officially he Loom’s lead developer—went on a kind of solo quest of his own. Ohat caused his back to be coated i.

  “Don’t get all fidgety,” whispered Chris who spoke to Hajime via the earpie his left ear. “You’ll do fine.”

  Hajime frowned from behind the bck medical mask c the lower half of his face. “Chris-senpai, why aren’t you doing this again…?”

  “Because I did crypto. And we’re spreading the money jobs so the Feds don’t catch wind of what we’re up to. On that note, good luck!”

  Hajime sighed.

  It would have beeer if Bridget was the one in his ear, but she was already ba Aarde and busy with the job Bram had given her.

  “Hey, Bud, you good?” asked the voi Hajime’s ear. “You’ve been standing around for a while now.”

  “I-I’m okay!” Underh his bck baseball cap, Hajime’s eyes darted left and right to make sure Chris hadn’t followed him from the car park where he waited in what the Texan had dubbed the getaway car. “I’m going!”

  “Yeah, maybe don’t yell too much. Security might think you’re here to rob the pce… Hell, you’re dressed like you might.”

  Chris wasn’t wrong.

  Apart from the baseball cap and face mask that covered most of his face, Hajime was decked in a bck coat and bck scks to go with his bck trainers. bined with how anxious he was, the Japanese man looked like a shady character from an a wasn’t the impression one might want to give before entering a bank.

  Hajime looked up at the sign above the door…

  BANK OF MANHATTAN

  Reading it reminded him of ann he’d seely. Ohat Rowan had left intact despite having altered the cave entrah long-lost sorcery.

  HOPE DIES HERE WHERE ONLY FOOLS DARE TO TREAD

  “Bud, we don’t have all day,” Chris’ voice drew Hajime out of his musings. “I’ve got to check out office spaces and you—”

  “Have to help with the job system’s iion and tinue my training with Rowan,” Hajime finished for him.

  Besides learning from a sorceress as powerful as the rebel trickster of legend, the thought of witnessing new sorcery from the few experts of Bram’s household was a fort to Hajime. It instilled in him the kind of ce that allowed oo bravely enter even a cave that was home to a monstrous beast. Or in Hajime’s case, a den full of hungry bankers.

  “Chris-senpai,” Hajime whispered, “I don’t have to talk to a teller?”

  “Acc to the Loom, all you o do is log into your at from ihe bank,” replied Chris’ voice.

  After they’d woken up inside Hajime’s living room yesterday afternoon, the three Earthers had attempted to ect the Loom with Chris’ custodial wallet, the app managing the Texan’s digital assets, including his cryptocurrency. Chris had logged into his custodial wallet like usual—and that’s when something otherworldly happened; his smartphone’s s had frozen up like it was glitg and then numbers aers appeared like lines of oving in random dires across the s.

  Sinly Chris could see this strange phenomenon, he had described the se to his friends as if he’d suddenly glimpsed the ‘Matrixes’ iy, although the numbers aers moving around on his smartphone’s s had been pale blue instead of the iic green of that popur movie franchise.

  Sometime after they’d first appeared, the neon blue numbers aers had melded together to form a familiar shape, the ghostly blue window of the Loom of Ill Fates.

  GRATULATIONS! The Loom is now ected to your custodial wallet [Binancier]. You may access yital assets the ime you arrive on Aarde via the Loom’s new system [Finance] whiow includes a [Currency Exge] tool.A day ter, Chris still hadn’t fotten his otherworldly experience or the spiingliion it gave him.

  “I’m telling you, Bud, I was so spooked seeing that blue s on our world that I almost don’t want to return to Aarde…”

  Hajime, who’d just walked in through the Bank of Manhattan’s gss front door, avoided the gaze of a security guard while whispering, “But yoing back, right?”

  “There ain’t no way I’m missing histet made…nor all the fun shit that’ll happen to us from now on,” Chris chuckled in Hajime’s ear. “But I’m telling you, seeing the Loom oh, that was mighty strahan my first meeting with a teenage prind his freaky magic girlfriend.”

  “But Bram doesn’t look like a kid.”

  ‘No, he doesn’t,” Chris agreed. “Seriously, I work out like a plow horse at the start of harvest but that kid’s got muscles I’ll never have.”

  Hajime crossed the lobby’s parquet floor while avoiding eyes that couldn’t help turning his way. He didn’t know it, but the all-bck attire he thought would make him less noticeable was doing the opposite. Indeed, Hajime reached his destination without much fuss only because people moved to avoid the sketchy-looking man making a beeline for one of the bank’s ATMs.

  Hajime whispered, “I’m at the ATM…what now?”

  “Stick your debit card in there and see what happens.”

  Hajime frowned.

  “What if nothing happens…?”

  “Trust me, Bud, something’s gonna happen.”

  Truthfully, this was what Hajime was worried about. He wasn’t sure he was ready to see the ‘Matrixes’ for himself.

  “Are you sure we ’t try eg with the app again…?”

  “Rowan said that wouldn’t work, remember?”

  Flush with the success of iing the Loom to Chris’ custodial wallet, the Earthers had attempted the same tactic with his banking app, but the iion failed. So, stig to their eight PM schedule, the Earth trio returo Aarde st night, and the Texan shared the results of their experiment with Bram and Rorompting the trickster to expin a possible reason for the varyis of the two experiments.

  “There is great power in symbolism, and having you physically present inside a pce where wealth is stored and distributed might be necessary for the Loom’s sorcery to ie successfully with ah bank,” she’d deduced. “However, this wouldn’t be the case for your…”

  Rowan’s face had turned ptive like it did whenever she tried speakih words.

  “…Digital assets.” She’d gririumphantly at how she’d spoken the alien words without stuttering. “As you’ve expined, such a tool exists only on your device, and therefore wouldn’t require your physical self for a first-time trade.”

  Hajime had been recalling st night’s gathering when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

  “ I help you, Sir?” asked a breathy, soprano-like voice.

  An athletic-looking female security guard with light caramel skin and a pixie cut arrived behind Hajime without him notig. She’d given him a pointed look as if she was expeg him to cause trouble.

  “N-No,” Hajime bowed nervously, “thank you.”

  The security guard nodded back, though she kept eyeing him as she stepped away, and not very far either. Close enough that she could tackle Hajime if he proved her suspis right.

  “Chris-Senpai…I think she’s on to us…”

  “Rex, Bud. It’s not like you’re there to rob the pce. Just do what you o do and then walk out.”

  “If something happens…”

  “Worst case, you get fined for breaking an ATM. It happens.”

  Hajime’s brow creased. He wasn’t sure such things happened outside of TV.

  “Okay…” He took a deep breath. “I do this…”

  Surprisingly, Chris’ guess wasn’t far off.

  As Hajime slipped his debit card into the ATM’s slot, he felt a sudden chill flow through him like an ice cube was sliding down his back, and not in a fun way. A momehe ATM s showing a Bank of Manhattan ad froze like it was experieng a puter glitch.

  “Eh…maji?”

  Then things happened just like Chris had described it yesterday.

  Neon blue numbers aers danced across the ATM’s s, prompting Hajime to whisper, “I think I just took the red pill…”

  “grats, Bud, now you’ll see how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

  GRATULATIONS! The Loom is now ected to your personal bank at in the [Bank of Manhattan]. You may access it the ime you arrive on Aarde via the Loom’s Fiool.trary to Chris’ ay-building experience, Hajime’s worries were washed away at the sight of the system message. Instead of fear, he felt excitement.

  Hajime didn’t know this yet, but he and Bram were alike. Despite their many worries, both men dreamed of pushing the envelope and trailbzing the future. It’s why Hajime couldn’t help but pump his fists into the air and yell, “Yatta!”

  That’s wheire bank lost power and the buildi dark.

  “Eh…?”

  A sed ter, the pixie-haired security guard tackled Hajime to the ground, ensuring he would miss today’s return to Aarde.

  “Enter,” Bram said distractedly.

  Atn’s seventh prince didn’t look up from his desk when the door to his study opened because there was a mountain of paperwork to keep him occupied.

  “Hey, Boss,” Chris called. “You look busy.”

  “Who knew managing aire kingdom would be so hectic,” Bram replied wryly, adding, “I saw the Loom’s message earlier in the day. Hajime succeeded then?”

  “He did.” Chris sat on one of the two plush chairs opposite Bram’s stately-looking wooden desk. “But he’s not going to make his appoi with Rowan.”

  “Why not?” Bram asked.

  “Because he’s been arrested by Earth’s version of a city guard,” answered the redhead who walked into the study after Chris.

  Hearing this, Bram couldn’t help but look up. “Arrested?”

  “We call them police,” Chris corrected, adding, “And yeah, he’s beeained for the night. There was more of a show to the iion than we expected.”

  “Is it serious?” Bram asked.

  “It’s fine. Feds won’t be able to prove anything.” Chris leaned into his chair. “They’ll chalk it up to d an etric fner gettied about money a Hajime go in a few hours.”

  “A few hours…” Rowan took a seat on the couear the firepce. “And I pnned su iing training session for him.”

  Gng over his shoulder, Chris gave her a wry look. “You were going to give him a hard time, weren’t you?”

  “Training is supposed to be challenging,” Roicked up a teacup from the small table between her and the firepce. “What about you, Chris…have you sidered Ser Anthony’s offer to train you so that you might bee our prince’s knight?”

  “Didn’t he offer you the same thing?”

  “He did. I accepted.”

  “Good for you… I don’t know if the chivalric path is the one for me. Still holding out for something more…” Chris’ face turned ptive. “…Fvorful.”

  The Texahe prince whose nose was buried in the pages of a thick ledger.

  Bram, who could feel Chris’ eyes on him, absentmindedly said, “If you’re curious about other jobs then you should go to the training hall.”

  “Bridget’s still in there cataloging your soldiers’ jobs?” Chris firmed.

  Bram nodded.

  Still sensing the Texan’s gaze, he looked up from his work. “Was there anything else?”

  “Yeah.” Chris took out a folded part from his leather jacket’s breast pocket and passed it to Bram. “Now that the Loom’s Finance feature is up and running, the bean ters on both sides of the veil have e up with aimated version rate friffins and dolrs.”

  Bram ied the part.

  “You’ve already talked with the bastion’s bookkeepers about this?” he firmed.

  “First thing I did after Rowan summoned me back here,” Chris reported. “I also went ahead a with an atant I’m thinking of hiring for the studio. I based my versation with Ser Anthony’s guys on her suggestions.”

  “What was the basis of version?”

  “Something both worlds got plenty of…a pint of beer and a loaf of bread, though y’all call it grog over here.”

  “Grog,” Bram repeated, his eyes narrowing slightly.

  Based oimates of his household’s bookkeepers along with the input of the atant Chris wao hire, a single gold griffin was worth a hundred of the ‘US Dolrs’ Chris assured Bram was the most used curren Earth.

  “The Loom seems to agree with you. It’s already accepted the exge rate,” Bram revealed.

  “Yeah, I saw that too,” Chris replied. “That said, I thought I’d try the currency exge tool here so y’all get a look-see with me.”

  “Iing.” her Chris nor Bram had noticed when she moved, but Rowan was now seated oher chair opposite the table. “Well, shall we begin?”

  At her prompting, the Texan pulled up the Loom’s menu aed [Finance].

  “Just so y’all know, there ain’t any ame oh that gives pyers an option to maheir finances while they py,” he said, his brow furrowing slightly. “Not sure it’s legal, to be ho. We may o tweak the feature a bit before we unch.”

  As Chris fiddled with the options, Bram, who was using his administrator access to watch, caught the moment wheexahe currency exge tool to trade a thousand US dolrs from his bank at for an equivalent amount of imperial griffins as determined by the exge rate both sides had agreed upon from a parison of costs for a ‘pint of beer’ and ‘loaf of bread’ in both worlds.

  Proceed with this transa?As soon as Chris tapped on [Yes], the magiside him began to stir aale sparks of sorcery exploded out of his hand. A sed ter, a golden ticket y on his palm.

  Chris frowned. “I thought y’all still used s for currency?”

  “That’s a promissory note given by the Bank of Steel. It’s used to exge friffins from one branch to another,” Bram expined.

  “I’m assuming y’all get it made with magic because this one e five MP to gee,” Chris revealed.

  “May I see it?” Bram asked.

  A quispe of the item showed it was exactly like the promissory he Bank of Steel gave its ts down to the paper and ink used in its making.

  “The Bank of Steel has magical protes against fery, but this ten-gold griffin note could pass their tests with flying colors,” Bram observed.

  A further iion caused a curious look to appear on the prince’s face.

  “This promissory ’s credited to me.”

  Chris’ name was on the promissory note’s recipient line, while the at used to exge the dolrs into griffins beloo Bram.

  “So, if I got the griffins from you, where’d my do?”

  As if it were waiting for them to ask, a new message arrived from the system.

  ALERT! For this moary exge to be processed properly, a corresponding banking at from both Earth and Aarde must be created to act as the system’s financial foundations. Furthermore, these two ats should maintain a sizable amount of funds to ensure a smooth transa process whehe Fiool is used.“So, until we get these financial hubs set, I won’t be able to get my money?”

  Yes…“Well, ain’t that a pickle… And you’ve used Prince Bram’s bank at as the default setting for Aarde’s finaneeds?”

  This option be ged using the administrator’s access.Learning this caused Bram’s brow to furrow.

  As a prince of Atn, Bram’s personal wealth was siderable, though it wouldn’t be enough to fulfill the system’s needs, particurly if transas betweeh and Aarde became the norm. Of course, as Lotharin’s governor, he had the kingdom’s wealth to use as an option, but Bram was loathe to abuse his authority by misappropriating the griffins needed for the kingdom’s restoration efforts. The great uaking might be for Lotharin’s sake, but this was a secret task that couldn’t be written into the kingdom’s ledgers.

  After refleg on his choices, Bram said, “I’ll have Ser Antho up a new at with the Bank of Steel using a portion of my wealth… We’ll call it the Lotharin Iment Fund.”

  “Then I’ll take care of creating the bank at oh’s side with my savings for now,” Chris said, adding, “Maybe Hajime and Bridget chip in too.”

  Bram couldn’t help but smile at the man he’d chosen to be Loom’s co-executive producer, a man illing to share his life’s savings to help the great uaking succeed.

  “Your wealth will be returo you as soon as I’m able to transfer assets to the Earth at,” he assured Chris.

  “I know yood for it, Boss.” As he said this, Chris’ gaze drifted around the room to home in on obvious signs of prosperity; a gold mp by the prince’s desk, piles of gold griffins stacked on a side table, and even the plush chair he was sitting on. “We’ll be needing your iment to open our studio ASAP.”

  “We’ll get it done,” Bram grinedly.

  Chris shared Bram’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, we will.”

  Both mehat by tomorrow, they would have done something that had never been achieved before; a proper trade between two worlds.

  “Not to dampen your spirits,” Rowan cut in, “but I expect such a rge uaking will quickly drain the well that is the prince’s wealth…”

  Her prince’s smile hadn’t vahough.

  “You already have a pn,” she guessed.

  Bram took an unfurled scroll from the top of the pile and showed it to his panions. On its header was the title; A Report of the Troubles of Bellen and the Growing Dangers of the Red Forest.

  Grinning, Bram asked, “Well, are you both ready for our first adventure?”

  GD_Cruz