Chương 29: Chapter 28 - Fat Stack

Dustin looked at Shian.

"While you're here," he began, pausing as Shian jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. She must have been deep in thought. She looked up at him.

"Hmm?"

"Well, I've been meaning to ask. Does House Yountal have a family crest?" Shian looked genuinely confused by the question, which Dustin found interesting. So many things that she did surprised him, like not knowing what a family crest was.

"Crest?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows. He nodded.

"Like a visual symbol that others would recognize." She shook her head.

"No, why?"

"One of the ways to build trust with our customer base is to brand our products with a symbol of some kind that represents House Yountal. They will eventually associate that symbol with our products, and…" Shian's eyes started to glaze over, and Dustin laughed. She truly was the worst when it came to business talk of any kind.

"Well, nevermind. I'll get something put together. Also, now that our businesses are off the ground, how fast do we want to grow?" She looked at him quizzically.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" He nodded and smiled.

"I'll make sure our growth is sustainable and doesn't paint any unnecessary targets on our house, but within those bounds our growth can still be accelerated considerably if we want to put more upfront capital into it." Her eyes brightened with understanding.

"Oh! You're asking for more money! Why didn't you just say so?" It was Dustin's turn to blush. She truly had no tact, why did she have to put it like that?

"Mmm," he said, nodding.

"How much?" she asked sweetly, not a hint of offense or frustration in her voice. He considered the question.

"I still have over a hundred ruby coins from what you gave me before, and that will last some time yet at our current scale. If we wish to accelerate things, then I could see us using one or two hundred more on top of that over the next few years. I can get the ball rolling in a few nearby cities simultaneously, while still starting off small, of course.

"I know that is an immense fortune though, so don't feel pressured in any way. What you've already given me stewardship over is more than sufficient to serve our current needs, and will be for some time yet." He remembered a month ago, when she had handed him her storage ring with thousands of ruby coins inside it. If literally anyone else found out how much money Shian carried around with her at all times, he was sure she would suffer from multiple bandit attacks or attempted muggings every single day.

He coughed uncomfortably, "I know that you have thousands of ruby coins at your disposal, but it would still be unwise to throw around the type of money I'm talking about without giving it serious thought first. I don't expect an answer from you tonight." She got a strange glint in her eye, and an evil-looking smile formed on her face.

"I did promise to show you the full fat stack, didn't I?" Dustin suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He had no idea what she meant by those words, but her sudden eagerness gave her an almost manic look. She stood up and came over to his desk. He almost protested when she began scooting everything to the side of the desk, but thought better of it. The look in her eye scared him a bit – he couldn't tell if it was a look of excitement, or if it leaned more toward crazy.

Once a large portion of his desk was clear, she looked around, double checking that they were the only ones in the room, then piles of coins started appearing on his desk. Ruby coins, platinum coins, and gold coins. First thousands, then tens of thousands, then more. His desk was quickly overwhelmed, and the coins started spilling onto the ground. At first, he was impressed. Then as the pile grew, he became startled. As it grew to an outrageous size, he laughed. It was clearly another illusion.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Then his desk began to groan beneath the weight, and some of the coins fell into his lap. They were heavy, so… not an illusion. They clinked on the floor as they poured off the desk. He quickly scooted away from the desk, and his chair tipped over in his haste. Now he was scared. Shian was laughing like a maniac, the coins still pouring out of thin air onto the ever growing stack.

It was literally enough coins to crush a man, and she wasn't slowing down. The desk gave out, and coins spilled all over the floor with a loud crash. Shian jumped backwards out of the way and the coins stopped appearing.

"Whoops," she said. Dustin's eyes were as wide as saucers. His jaw opened and closed over and over, as he was unsure what to say. Everything that came to mind sounded stupid as soon as he went to say it.

"I guess I should have expected that," Shian mumbled under her breath, looking at the broken desk. A call from outside the door drew their attention.

"Everything all right in there, milady?" One of the guards must have heard the crash and come to check on things.

"Yeah, we're fine!" Shian called, and quickly began sucking the coins back up into her storage ring. Although, now that he thought about it, Dustin doubted these coins would all fit in the storage rings she was wearing, since she only had two of the rings on. He remembered what she had told him about having a soul storage space. That must be where she kept them. Moving both hands in wide arcs across the floor, Shian gathered the coins into her soul storage. Any coin she touched disappeared.

Within a few seconds, most of the main pile of coins was gone. When the desk broke, coins had spilled all over the floor, and some had rolled quite far. Shian began chasing down the larger piles of stragglers, but stopped once the only remaining coins were spread far enough apart that she had to do them one at a time.

"Okay!" She announced proudly.

"How about you take whatever is left." She gestured around at the remaining coins spread throughout the room. Dustin could tell just by glancing around that it was more money than he had asked for, and she was simply saving herself the trouble of gathering the remaining coins up. Lazy. So incredibly generous and lazy. * Visiting Lord Grivalt's estate without her [Invisibility 2] ability being active felt weird.

As soon as she stepped out of the carriage, she began glancing around furtively, suddenly very aware that everyone could see her. Including the guard driving the carriage, four guards had accompanied them in case of bandit attacks, but only two of them followed her inside. Dustin walked half a pace behind her, with the guards following behind him. The guards at the estate door bowed slightly as they opened the door, and Kiara recognized them from the times she'd snuck in to see her family.

They, of course, did not recognize her at all. The inside of the estate looked different than the times Kiara had snuck in. Furnishings that used to be scattered around the estate had been gathered near the entrance to provide the facade of wealth and elegance. Lord Grivalt was trying very hard to make a good impression. She whispered as much to Dustin, soft enough that only he could hear her. A servant led them into the dining hall, where Lord Grivalt was already seated at the large oak table.

His guard captain, Trevon, was also seated at the table, which Dustin apparently found odd. Kiara caught Dustin's eyebrows furrowing at the sight, and he stared a bit longer than she expected him to.

"Welcome!" Lord Grivalt called out with a big smile as they entered the room.

"Please, come in and be seated. The food will be arriving shortly." Dustin bowed just as deeply as social etiquette called for. Lord Grivalt bobbed his head in return, while Trevon gave a shallow bow. Kiara had mentally prepared herself for this moment, but she still froze up slightly. Here was the man that had killed her without any real reason, then forced her family into indentured servitude. The last time he had spoken to her, he had berated her, called her trash, then eliminated her without a second thought.

And now he was speaking to her in such a congenial way, it was sickening. Dustin gently touched the back of her arm. Just a nudge, to ground her in the moment. She pulled herself out of her mental spiral, and bowed slightly, although not quite as deeply as Dustin had. Although Lord Grivalt was a noble, and she was expected to pay the proper respects, as the lady of a wealthy house she had some standing herself. They took their seats. Lord Grivalt was at the head of the table, with Trevon on his right.

Kiara sat at his left, with Dustin on her left. The two guards that had come in with them took up positions by the nearest wall. Almost immediately the door to the kitchens opened and plates of food were brought out. Grilled chicken with herbs, steamed rice, and fresh vegetables. A simple meal, all things considered, but it still smelled delicious. Lord Grivalt had launched into a small welcome speech, obviously something he had prepared beforehand.

Dustin was listening politely by Kiara's side, but Kiara was sidetracked. Her mother, who was part of the kitchen staff, had brought one of the plates of food out. She was looking even more tired and haggard than the last time Kiara had seen her. She was losing weight, and Kiara wondered if she was getting enough to eat herself.

The maid crew that her little sister Ava worked with had apparently been brought in to help serve the food as well, and Kiara spotted both Ava and several of her coworkers bringing in the plates of steaming food. After the food was placed in front of those that were seated, the servants all stepped back, but stayed nearby to help refill the drinking glasses as needed.

Most of them kept their eyes downcast, avoiding drawing attention to themselves, but Kiara caught Ava shooting searing glances at Lord Grivalt when she thought no one was looking. Kiara's heart skipped a beat when Ava threw a nasty glance her way as well. She hadn't been expecting that.