Chapter 79: Becoming A VVIP, Going To Meet Carlotta
"Because of House Daelthorn. Frank Daelthorn was betrayed and killed by mercenaries from the States.
"Now, the House is putting pressure on every Exorcist in the U.S.
"Given the House Daelthorn’s history, many of us decided to move out before they went on a killing spree, or did something worse."
I nodded slowly.
’So it’s because of that.’
’House Daelthorn probably decided to hide the news that Monkey King’s disciple killed Frank, and lied that the mercenaries killed him.’
Now that I understood why the three dhampir sisters had fled to Greece, I turned around.
"See you later."
"See you."
I walked down the corridor toward the open area where the mission board stood.
I approached the front desk.
"Sir, how can we help you?" the staff member asked politely.
"I wanted to withdraw some money."
She nodded and pointed to the side. "Please go through Corridor 3, take a left, and enter Room 17. You can withdraw your money there."
I followed the directions.
In every Underworld branch, members could withdraw money directly from their Underworld accounts.
There was also an online option, but it came with ridiculous fees. A minimum of $100, plus 5% if the amount went over $10,000.
’Daylight robbers, dammit. Who the hell charges 5% for cash delivery fees?’
’And it’s not even a fixed rate. They could’ve at least made it location-based.’
Clicking my tongue at their greed, I entered Room 17.
Inside, there was a computer terminal connected to an ATM.
I sat down and pressed "Start."
A small tray slid out.
The screen asked for a blood sample.
I took out my dagger, pricked my finger, and let a drop of blood fall onto the tray.
The machine scanned it, and then the login screen appeared.
[Welcome, Alan Veritus.]
[Status: VVIP]
’They raised my status from VIP to VVIP.’
’Nice.’
I typed in the withdrawal amount.
$40,000 in cash.
After conversion, that came to about €35,600.
I placed the bills neatly into my pouch.
’That leaves around $60,000 in my account.’
Since I was already here, I decided to buy some alchemy materials online.
’Let’s see... materials for space stones and a few other things.’
After gaining VVIP status, the items available to me had improved a lot. The catalog now showed high-grade minerals, rare herbs, and spiritual materials.
I scrolled through the list and added what I needed:
Void Shard Ore – $8,000 per kilogram. (I needed this for space-type stones.)
Etherleaf Herb – $2,400. (This helped to stabilize volatile runes.)
Crystallized Mana Dust – $6,500. (It had multiple uses: could be used for advanced transmutation, or to draw runes)
Lunar Iron – $10,000. (The ore was hard to refine, hence expensive. It had a faint spiritual sense, making sure items crafted with it could be brought into the Cursed Spirit domain.
The ratio of ore to the object was important.
Unless I spent a lot of money to buy the ore in great quantity, the amount I could buy was only enough to bring things like small stones or knifes.)
Spectral Resin – $3,000. (Made it easier to bind multiple rune arrays together.)
Cursed Spirit Blood (Rank 2) – $30,000. The most expensive item on the list.
’That should total around sixty thousand.’
Rank 2 Cursed Spirit blood wasn’t easy to get, but quite a few Rank 2s could be taken down with brute force.
Their blood could be extracted after they were defeated.
I wouldn’t have bothered with Rank 1 Cursed Spirit’s blood.
The catalysts I had were already better than that.
But Rank 2 Cursed Spirit’s blood was valuable, it allowed me to make higher-tier materials for future projects.
[Select a delivery address.]
I chose the current Underworld branch as the delivery location.
[Please wait 10 minutes. You can collect your materials from the front desk after that.]
I stretched my arms and leaned back in the chair.
Ten minutes later, I walked back to the front desk.
"Collecting my delivery," I said.
The same staff member nodded and handed me a reinforced package.
I thanked her and stored it inside the Inventory Rune on my palm.
The package disappeared in a faint flash of light.
I checked the time on my watch.
’It’s three a.m.’
’If I hurry, I should be able to meet Carlotta.’
Carlotta lived in Thessaloniki. The same city I was currently in.
Quite a coincidence.
’Things get really weird when Fate starts to pay attention to you.’
I rubbed my neck and exhaled.
’Still, this works out for me. No need to travel anywhere else.’
I started walking toward the exit, my footsteps echoing through the hall.
’As for Fate,’ I thought with a cold gaze, ’if it’s going to use me, I’ll use it too.’
...
Carlotta POV
One Day Ago
Carlotta woke up at six in the morning.
The alarm buzzed for the second time before she finally turned it off.
She sat up, brushed her blonde hair back, and rubbed her eyes.
Her blue eyes looked tired but determined.
She stood and stretched, then walked to the bathroom.
The cold water helped her wake up faster.
After that, she went straight to the small kitchen.
The stove flickered to life as she started cooking breakfast.
The smell of fried eggs and toasted bread filled the air.
"Maria, Nikos, wake up! Get ready for school! I’m making breakfast!" she called from the kitchen.
"Okay!" two voices answered from the other room.
Maria was ten, her hair a lighter shade than Carlotta’s.
Nikos was twelve, quiet but sharp-eyed like his sister.
While the eggs cooked, Carlotta stepped outside to get milk from the downstairs shop.
She greeted her neighbors along the way.
Most of them were older women sweeping their porches or men getting ready for work.
"Morning, Carlotta," one of them said.
"Morning, Mrs. Thea," Carlotta replied with a smile.
She picked up two bottles of milk and hurried back up the stairs.
Once home, she placed the bottles on the table and went to wake up the youngest.
The five-year-old was still wrapped in his blanket, sleeping deeply.
"Dion, come on, wake up," she said softly, patting his shoulder.
He yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Five more minutes."
"No five minutes. You’ll be late for daycare," she said, lifting him gently.
She brought him to the table and gave him his small plate.
It had toast cut into shapes and a warm cup of milk.
The others sat down too, their school bags ready by the door.
As they ate, Nikos came running with his small shoes in his hands.
"Sis, look. My shoe got torn yesterday," he said quietly.
Carlotta took the shoe from him and looked it over.
The sole had come loose, and the stitches had worn out.
It looked like it had been fixed many times before.
She sighed.
That shoe had been passed down from her to Henry, then to Nikos.
It had lasted longer than she expected.
She started calculating in her head.
Rent, food, school supplies, bills... the number wasn’t good.
"Why didn’t you tell me about it yesterday?" she asked.
Dion looked down. "I forgot."
Carlotta could tell he was scared she might get angry.
She let out a slow breath and placed her hand on his head.
"It’s fine. Finish your breakfast. We’ll get you new shoes today," she said.
His eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yes. Now eat," she said, smiling faintly.
He hugged her and kissed her cheek.
"Thank you, sister!"
"You only kiss me when you want something, huh?" Carlotta laughed softly and pinched his cheek.
He giggled and went back to eating.
"I don’t want to drink milk!" Maria crossed her arms and frowned.
Carlotta could tell she was upset Nikos was getting new shoes while hers were old too.