“The costs of living in North America have skyrocketed in the past 30 years. Where in 2025 you could have managed with roughly $7000 a month, which would have been 700k credits, these days the price is much higher. Even in the Outer City, with an average income of 1.3 million credits a month, the rent alone often takes up huge chunks of that. In 2055 the average rent per month for a one room apartment was roughly 700k credits here in New Savannah. In the Inner city? It is closer to the monthly income of Outer City residents. And that is only rent. Many people find themselves in a situation where they have to decide between eating and living on the street.”

- ‘Financial Guru Supreme’ article on the price of life

Not long after Chloe had bought the two oversized bears we finally made our way to a rather large grocery shop. It wasn’t the kind of place I was too familiar with, we didn’t really have any dedicated grocery shops in the redlight district.

Either you bought your shit on delivery online, getting vastly worse products than the dreams they put up for horrendous prices on their websites, or you went to a proper corner shop. The kind of place that sold a little bit of everything, where the snacks were next to weapons, which in turn were placed right next to the drugs, after which you may find some vegetables that very likely had gone bad already, only to finish the aisle with sex toys.

It was basically the only place that you could still get old school mags these days. Not that I would recommend buying them, not only were they hilariously overpriced, but chances were good that you might end up with a mag that someone had a sneaky wank into. Or took drugs out of. Or did other things, you really couldn’t know with those places.

Technically there were two types of corner shops in the redlight district, now that I thought about it. The first was the dingy kind, a couple cameras here and there, a brat or a teen for a clerk who would get the fuck outta there at the first hint of trouble; the type of shop that would be cleaned out by one group or another eventually, often in less than a month, before shutting down right after and sell it to the next idiot to move in.

Those were the kind of shops where you could literally get anything and everything, law be damned. During my early gang days I was working one for a little while as ‘protection duty’. In effect I whored myself out under the table for a handful of drugs and some cash for the gangs, while anyone who came in basically always tried to steal whatever they wanted and oftentimes even succeeded. Places like that didn’t survive long and made more money from any side gigs than the real deal.

Of course there were also the proper corner shops, the kinds of places where every single shelf had its own camera, the brat or teen running it still fucking off at every hint of trouble, but this time they came back with a vengeance, at least when the shop paid its protection money. Folks might still lay unconscious or overdose in one, but it was much rarer than the dingy kind, and generally the shop may actually have halfway edible food.

In a way those corner shops and little dingy places were the kind of hodgepodge of shit, not only because you could buy basically anything there, but also because it wasn’t rare for more interested groups to get together for their next little side gig. The sort of spawning pools of the redlight district economy, as much as we had one. Many ideas that later become redlight district successful, which means it lasted for longer than a month before everything went to shit, came from such a corner shop and a chance meeting there.

Hell, I’ve gotten my job as a joytoy in one. Different circumstances and not exactly applicable to most people, since I just wanted to have some drugs and offered myself up to pay since I had nothing else, but it wasn’t unusual for the store owner to have some kind of gang connection or side biz running. And in most cases the clerk was there to manage it all.

Then again, that depended a little on the age of the clerk in question. Kids were less likely to be involved. Not because they don’t know shit from drywall, more because teens can at least pretend to be dangerous to gang folk, while not many would be that threatened by some brat.

Not that that was always the case, I had seen a girl, at best ten, absolutely fucking manhandle a walking wardrobe of a man before. Not sure what the hell her deal had been, but she was the kind of person that would later rise through the lower ranks of the gangs, and might even make a name for themselves before they were either shot dead or OD’d on some shit. Nothing is sacred in the redlight district, and if you’re a streetrat that was basically the only option in life for you.

Compared to that kind of place, the shop Chloe, Jenna, and I entered was a damn cathedral of food, and not the completely shit kind either. It made me nearly faint at the prices. This was inner city proper and that meant much higher prices than you would see even in the most overpriced redlight district corners.

Jenna too seemed a little queasy over the prices, but Chloe didn’t have a single fuck to give the world at large and simply started browsing. She had picked up one of those shopping baskets, my two defenders following her example, and soon we found ourselves slowly meandering through the big shop, with Chloe picking out this and that.

All I could see in front of my inner eye was the sheer amount of people I would have to make extremely happy to even afford a fraction of it all. I was damn good in my job and I had stamina to go for days if I had to, but not even I would be able to make a dent in the kind of orgy I would require to pay for all of it.

The fact that Chloe was picking out packets and cans by the handful without even glancing at the prices… I mean, she did say she had made bank. But this was probably the first time that truth really sank in for me. So far it had all been rather distant and intellectual.

“Chloe,” I asked, a bit hesitant, “Are you sure you want to buy that much? There is no way I can pay even a fraction of what it would cost to feed me with this, even if I would starve myself as much as I could.”

She glanced at me, then stopped. “Really? I didn’t think it was that expensive.”

Her confused look made me giggle, “I’m not sure how much you earned before you became a Samurai, but I’m lucky if I make a mil and a half a month. If I go ahead and deduct everything I need to pay off per month, minus food, then I have at best 200k or so leftover. Sure, a good chunk of that is rent and all the drugs, but you gotta pay it all, you know? That package of instant noodles you just pulled out of the shelf is five grand. The vegetables? Ten grand. That’s like… at the very least twice as expensive as what I can get in the redlight district, if I buy the expensive shit, and there I live mainly off of brothel food, because otherwise it’d be too much.”

Chloe looked a little dumbfounded for a moment, then looked over at Jenna who shrugged.

“Yeah… I’m much in the same boat, honestly.”

There was a moment of silence before Chloe finally put the package she still had in hand into the basket and sighed, “Fuck… I mean I knew you didn’t have much. Booking you was almost insultingly cheap. But that is a lot worse than I imagined.”

“It’s how life goes. I make a lot more than most, considering I’m damn popular and almost always booked out. It’s why I take over such a huge part of our rent. The others couldn’t afford it. It’s also why I like working at Vic’s, otherwise my drug costs would be easily in the 600k, maybe more. I take a lot of shit and all that needs to be paid for. Of course, it means less income, but the deal is good for us.”

“Okay,” Chloe muttered, returning her attention to the shelves, “I planned to pay for it all anyways, I’m swimming in money, so I don’t need to worry about it too much. So at least let me make sure you’re properly fed, okay? I can’t imagine that diet was good for you.”

I laughed, “Oh, hell no. Kaysa was pretty clear that I was damn underdeveloped physically, mostly because of the drugs, but I don’t doubt that the food was helpful.”

“Yeah, you do look a little… childish,” Jenna mused, giving me a smirk.

I stuck my tongue out at her, “Well, apart from my height, I don’t mind too much. Too many people who love getting me all fucked up and then ruining me and that ‘innocence’ they think I have. You wouldn’t believe how many people pay good money to rail me.”

“Oh, I do. I’ve seen your statistics,” she just replied before she followed Chloe into the next aisle.

Of course I also followed, checking out all the stuff they had on hand, and gulping at some of the prices. Like, I knew it was expensive, but some of the shit was almost hilariously overpriced.

“Have you considered exchanging some points for credits?” Chloe asked absently, studying a can of… something very closely.

“Uh… I kind of forgot that that was a thing, not gonna lie,” I replied, checking a package of chocolate. It was the name-brand kind, something I could never have afforded. Probably damn tasty though.

Kaysa appeared next to me in a body that looked similar to the one she had taken in the sex shop, but also different. Probably not to spook people. Then again, I had my Queen’s Guard around, so that was kind of a lost hope. Maybe she just wanted to be fancy, who knew.

Then I looked at the body a little more closely, and I realised that she was playing around with various combinations of Jenna, Chloe, and my looks. I eyed her suspiciously, but didn’t say anything. Nor did she react, apart from a very, very faint smirk that might have been my imagination.

“At the moment you can exchange one point for roughly 30k credits. That of course kind of depends on what you trade and with whom.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Her comment made me raise my eyebrows. “That much? Holy shit… So what, I just say I wanna get rid of say 500 points and I can make bank?”

“In effect, yes. Of course, it depends on what you sell. You have quite some unique catalogues on offer, although the Hexclaw Catalogue is a bit restricted in that regard.”

“I figured,” I nodded, “The protectors don’t want a second Hive-Mind running around that can eat worlds. Honestly, I’m totally on board with that. The day we meet the Devourer of Worlds face to face is the day Earth fucking dies.”

“Indeed,” Kaysa agreed, “But there are some items on there that can be helpful. Mainly gene editing stuff, plus some more exotic items for quickly growing lab grown organs and the like. The rest of your Catalogues are equally rare, so they can make you a lot.”

“I can imagine. Okay, so let’s say I put 500 points on offer, of course excluding anything that could be dangerous or something. That’s, what? Thirty times fifty, 1.5k, times a hundred… Fifteen mil?”

“Yes, Seraphine, thirty thousand times five hundred is fifteen mil. It’s embarrassing to watch you sometimes.”

“Oh shut it, you oversized piece of malware,” I snapped back with a smirk, and Kaysa rolled her eyes, but she smiled faintly.

“Regardless of how much exactly that is, it’s a huge fuckton of money. A huge fuckton of money I could use to help out Tina and Sharon. Maybe Galia. How much of Sabrina’s debt could I pay off with that?”

Before Kaysa could answer me Chloe chimed in, giving me a kind of silly smile. “You know, that is exactly why I like you so much. You just talked about making fifteen mil, and the first thought that came to your little sex addled mind was not ‘How can I use this money myself?’ but ‘How can I use this money to help others?’ You are just too pure for this world.”

I snickered, “I have it on good authority that I am the opposite of pure.”

She giggled as well, although she did have a small blush on her face.

“You could,” Kaysa continued, “Probably help Tina, Sharon, and Galia, but Sabrina’s debts are a bit too high for that. You would need to sell most of your points to cover it.”

That had me raise my eyebrows, “Damn. That’s… a lot of cash. How deep in debt is she? Actually, never mind, don’t answer that. Privacy. Okay, I need to think of some way to make money, it seems, next to my job. At least for the short term. From what I’ve seen they offer quite the money for my time these days, right?”

She nodded, “Yes. Standard going rate on average is roughly two million per encounter, although many of those who requested your services have not yet decided what to offer, or have offered quite below that. Those are mostly the earliest requests you have gotten, which is very likely the reason why.”

Thinking about a moment I decided it didn’t matter that much. “Honestly, I’ll take their requests. They were the earliest ones to ask, so they get a discount, pure and simple. The rest can pay up, I wouldn’t be surprised if prices go up even higher after that.”

“Very likely,” Kaysa agreed, picking out something herself from the shelf, “So far the rise in price has been rather steady. It will eventually level out, but that might be a while still, especially considering how popular you are on the Samurai charts. And how popular you are very likely to become, considering your profile, disposition, catalogues, and all the rumours regarding your relationship with Chloe and Jenna.”

“Wait, why would a relationship increase my popularity? Wouldn’t it be the opposite? I don’t doubt for a moment that a good chunk of that popularity comes from them wanting to be with me themselves, if I’m spoken for that means less chances for them.”

“It’s kind of weird that you have to ask,” Chloe said, glancing at me with a bit of a blush, “The thinking is that they can get two, maybe three Samurai for the price of one. Not that it makes a lick of sense, but you know how commenters are online. All they see is a Samurai whoring herself out and very close to two other Samurai, one already a known Joytoy. There is so much discussion online about what they’d do with the three of us as if that’s already a done deal. And there are also those who kind of get off on the idea of becoming a homewrecker. Fuck you so hard and so good that you leave your lesbian streak behind and become a cock worshipper for the rest of your life, or just their little pet.”

That had both me and Jenna giggle, and even Chloe smiled at her own comment.

“Honestly,” I said with a bit of a smirk, “If they can make me submit like that, then I’ll give it to them. I like sex, and I enjoy myself quite a lot, but you’d have to be really good for me to go that far.”

“So, do you plan to sell your points then? I can put a list together relatively quickly, see who wants to buy what for what price and we’ll go from there,” Kaysa said, placing the can she had inspected into Chloe’s basket.

“Sure. You know my rules, nothing too dangerous, nothing too abusable, make sure we at least think a little about who gets it, otherwise go for it. If I can make some money I will, and I can survive losing 500 points.”

“Done. It will take some time for it all to go through and you’ll have to buy the materials that will be sold eventually to have them delivered. I’ll let you know when they’re ready.”

I shrugged, decided not to ask too many questions right now, and focused back on checking the shelves. The conversation slowly drifted back to more casual topics, what different kinds of food we wanted to try, what we liked and preferred, what we might be allergic to.

It was honestly kind of nice to just shop. Even if the prices were fucking ridiculous. Jenna eventually mentioned that she wanted to try proper pizza, not the cheap frozen stuff made from pure chemicals you find in the redlight district, and of course Chloe was all in.

One of my assassin drones grabbed another basket, giving some folk a near heart attack in the process when they rounded the corner not seeing her, and soon Chloe started filling that one with a variety of things she swore we needed to try on pizza.

The entire thing also helped Jenna figure out what exactly she needed to keep in mind for her new kitchen. Chloe wasn’t a master chef by any stretch of the imagination, but she had learned to cook for herself and has talked to quite a lot of people in her life who enjoyed cooking. Not least of which was her mother, and one friend from her old gang days who she was very enthusiastic about.

From her telling he was an asian guy who absolutely loved to cook for his boyfriend and who apparently ended up working as a chef in some Inner City restaurant. He seemed a rather chill dude if her stories were anything to go by, as gay as they came and the most lovable walking wardrobe you could find. He was the type of person who would gladly help you with whatever you needed, and who would hound anyone to death who tried to fuck with his friends or neighbourhood.

Eventually though we were done, Chloe had declared that we should have enough food for a couple of days and therefore it was time to head back.

“If none of you mind,” I said as we stood in line at the checkout, making a lot of people very uncomfortable, “I’d like to head over to the redlight district after this, check in with a few people. Just making sure nothing is amiss and all.”

“Sure, we can do that,” Chloe said, placing the last item on the conveyor.

It amazed me that with over 30 years of development, these things were still the exact same shitty conveyor belt as I had seen from shops in 2020 on my feed. Like, we have flying cars and fucking mesh dives, and yet these things were just as fucked as they had been decades ago. Well, whatever.

When it was finally our time to pay I nearly fainted when I saw the final total. Nine hundred fifty thousand fucking credits. That was more than my monthly rent and my drug costs combined. Holy fucking shit.

Chloe didn’t even blink, just paid up and together we left, myself feeling a little woozy. So much fucking money…

The way back was relaxed, we continued to window shop just a little, before we finally made our way back to the parking garage and into the shuttle. Which, to my amused surprise, was completely left alone. It was almost like it had some kind of invisible force barrier around it.

Quickly making our way inside, my Queen’s Guard gently placed the bags filled with our purchases in some compartment, and we took our seats once more.

“So, you wanted to head to the redlight district, right?” Jenna asked, playing around at the controls that I by now knew she didn’t need.

“Yep. Visit the Rose Carpet, talk to some folks. Oh yeah, I wanted to ask if you’d be up to send some drones through for maintenance and stuff. The place hasn’t seen any ever since it was built and if I’m going to use it for work, I want to have it look proper.”

“Sure,” she just shrugged, “I wanted to get some proper production drones anyways. Even already got the blueprints. Evelyn, please start the production of ten drones.”

“Of course, Jenna,” the AI’s smooth voice came from the speakers.

“When do you plan to start?” Chloe asked with a glance in my direction.

“Probably the day after tomorrow. I’m not sure if I have time tomorrow, now that we have some leads on the Lure thing. I also still don’t know if I might need to help Tina, Castas, and the rest, considering that they are still in the shelter.”

“Fair enough. I’m still not sure what I’ll do the day after tomorrow then,” she said absently.

“Maybe you can check in with your family? Friends? Make a day of it. Oh, I’ll also be away in the evening, I promised Castas a little reward. Hope you don’t mind?”

“Nah, all good,” she said with a smile, and a small blush, “Honestly, I kind of like the idea of you making the rounds.”

That had me raise both eyebrows. I had some idea that she might have a bit of a lewd streak hidden deep under her innocent facade, but so far she hadn’t been this outright with it. Not that I would complain, of course.

“Wow… Okay,” I said, giving her a smirk, “Want to turn me into a proper slut then? I see, I see.”

She blushed even more, but shrugged, “I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea…”

That made me giggle. “We can talk about it after we have our first time. I haven’t forgotten why you came to me in the first place, and while I’m definitely not going to complain if you want me to make the rounds, let’s focus on that one first, shall we?”

She was blushing fiercely of course, but none of us said anything more about it. The Legion Corvette grew larger and larger in front of us, before it opened the main hangar and we gently touched down.

“I think it needs a name,” Chloe muttered, watching the ship absently, “Something… dangerous.”

“I actually was thinking about a few options,” Jenna said as she got up, Chloe and I of course followed soon after, “But I can’t decide which name I want.”

“There was this story I read some time ago,” Chloe said as we left the shuttle, my Queen’s Guard carrying our things, “It wasn’t my typical fare, I normally prefer fantasy but that book had me hooked. Anyways, it mentioned a ship name that I found pretty damn awesome, and one that would also fit rather well with your theme. Your name is Legion, you are the Queen of Sorrows, at least to some, the Sentinel army. Why not call it ‘Bastion of Hope’?”

I had to admit, I liked that name. It had oomph, but it also wasn’t overly dramatic. The right kind of name with a kind of soothing feel to it.

Jenna seemed to think the same, since after a moment of thought she nodded. “Sure, that works out. I like it. Personally I had thought about ‘Lost Citadel’ or something, but while I love it, I don’t think it would fit that much.”

“‘Citadel for the Lost’?” I ventured, but even I wasn’t entirely convinced.

“Nah… That doesn’t seem to fit the theme, really. Well, ‘Bastion of Hope’ it is.” Jenna smiled at that and we made our way to the leisure room.

We didn’t spend too much time, just enough for Jenna to buy the kitchen, which was apparently very cheap despite the good quality, and then stuffed all the purchases into whatever shelf Chloe wanted things to go into.

Time to head to the redlight district, hopefully nothing burned down in my absence.