Valerie took a few more items from her shadow, and with Bai Yin’s assistance, wrapped them individually in cloth, as if they were delicate artefacts from the ancient times rather than random loot she picked up from Dawd, before stuffing them all into a duffel bag.

However in the process of all this, her shadow seemed to notice the disturbance, and shifted on its own. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

There was a tugging deep in her chest, and a wave of exhaustion immediately struck her as all of the newly acquired energy was drained out of her and channelled into the shadow beside her.

She managed to catch herself before she fainted, supporting herself on the arm of the couch and leaning back to relax, her chest heaving heavily. Weakly turning her head towards the shadow, Valerie frowned slightly at the dark void, wondering what took so much power, when the void opened its eyes.

A bright smile spread across Valerie’s face as the glowing emerald eyes tilted curiously, before the void shifted, and a pitch black cat stepped from the shadow.

It tenderly stepped across the couch, took a tentative sniff of her hand, before hopping onto her chest, plopping itself down and curling into a ball on her chest as it stared into her eyes. With a shaking smile on her face, Valerie gently stroked the cats back, dragging her hand down its tail where the softness hid the wicked spike at the very tip, before she let out a soft laugh.

"Hey Beans... I was wondering when you would join me here. Guess it’s time we finally met for real, huh?"

Valerie whispered to her faithful familiar, who vibrated her chest as he purred lowly, and flicked his tail amusement, or whenever Bai Yin shifted behind him, as if he was threatening her to keep her distance.

Valerie couldn’t help but laugh at the two of them, as she kept gently petting Beans, completely lost in the silky softness of his fur, before she finally said with a smile,

"Wanna help momma get some Ollies?"

To which Beans eagerly swished his tail in delight, and let out a soft ’Mreow’ of agreement.

***

Ollie’s was not the official name of the currency in Valerie’s world. It’s not as if they were going around performing various skateboard tricks for food, with a kickflip being worth ten and a finger flip being worth fifthy. Although... that would be quite interesting...

But no, it was not the official name. The official name was actually United World Trade Credit. But not only was that name an absolute mouthful, it was full of lies. The world was not united in the slightest, only sharing a singular currency after the corpos took over nearly everything.

Ollie’s stemmed from the idea that in the so-called "United World" there was only one thing that the corpos actually cared about. The Almighty American Dollar. Even if the dollar itself had been consumed by the new universal credit, the term stuck, and then degraded over time as everyone further shorted it.

Almighty American Dollar. Almonds. Alms. Alls. Ollie.

It was Ollie’s that Valerie was after, and she knew exactly how to get it. Although she might have wasted her money on plants, which were now a little useless to her at least, and nonrefundable. Her [Eternal Companion] had brought with it some loot from the Grimshawls, and there was little more valuable than real, non-clone grown wood.

As much as she hated the chair, when she tried to walk out and took nearly ten minutes to get to the front door, even with Bai Yin’s help, Valerie eventually relented for the moment. It was either that or be carried by Bai Yin, and her thrall was far too eager when the suggestion came up for her to actually consider it.

It was just creepy.

So Bai Yin had been restricted to pushing Valerie’s chair as she rolled down the streets. They were both dressed in their best clothing. In Bai Yin’s case, that was yet another suit and sunglasses that hid her red eyes.

She fit the role of bodyguard perfectly, which wasn’t very difficult considering that’s exactly what she was. But it meant that Valerie had to fit the role of someone worth guarding, and that was harder.

Even with her best clothing, she didn’t really fit in when they rolled into the upper district, and especially into one of the high end luxury stores. Such was usually the case when you were rolling instead of walking.

In fact, it was only because of Bai Yin’s long, quick strides that they made it a whole ten steps inside the store before one of the attendants seemingly appeared out of the shadows in front of them, blocking their path with clasped hands and a strained smiles.

"Madam, Is there something I can help you with?" It was a question that sounded nice and pleasant on the surface, but held another meaning under the surface.

The real hidden meaning was, "What do you want? Tell me so I can get you out, you are stinking up the place."

If Valerie were alone, she would have probably understood that message and quickly left. However she was not, so she simply raised her chin and twisted her face like she was disgusted by his presence, instead of the other way around, while she let her guard dog loose.

Her guard dog being Bai Yin, in this case. If she let Beans loose, who was currently curled up in her lap, snoozing happily, there would be a whole lot of trouble on their hands.

"You do not speak to my Lady," Bai Yin barked, drawing the attendants eyes up to her, "You will speak to me and my lady will speak through me."

The employees smile twitched on his lips, and his clasped hands tightened ever so slightly, as if he was preparing to lunge at them and claw their eyes out.

"Very well..." He muttered through gritted teeth, before widening his smile at Bai Yin, "How can we help you today? Are you looking to make a purchase? I have to warn you that all of our prices are final, there will be no negotiations."

Bai Yin scowled at the employee behind her shades, not even attempting to hide her murderous thoughts, but kept up her cold facade, as she pulled a small wrapped parcel from her pocket. She slowly unwrapped it, displaying the shimmering, pure gold of a Regil coin. It’s rough edging and the slight dirt from its time with the Grimshawls giving it the perfect wear to pose as an ancient artefact.

"My Lady thought that this establishment, with its interest in artefacts and pieces of great value, would be interested in some of her collection."

Bai Yin said, making sure to give the employee a good look at the coin, until his jaw was slack and his eyes were sparkling all on their own, before she quickly wrapped the coin back up and shook her head.

"But perhaps we were too hasty in our decision."

"N-no wait. I’m sure we can assist you, that is why I am here after all." The employee quickly stammered, his mouth stretching into an even wider smile. However this one was even more disturbing, as it barely hid the overwhelming greed that filled his mind.

But that was exactly what Valerie had been counting on.