Billy didn’t blink as he pulled the duffle bag out of thin air and slid it across the counter into the hands of the clerk.

The goblin woman opened the bag, pulling out the denarii he’d placed in there. Making ten, tall neat stacks with the bills and counting out roughly five million denarii.

He winced inwardly as he heard the person beside him gasp. The clerk took the money and gave Billy a magically ensured receipt.

He could feel Edna’s eyes on him and realized that he might have maybe forgotten to tell her that he was going liquidate some of their valuables like he had.

If she got mad, she wouldn’t be mad about the money, she’d be mad that he didn’t tell her first. That he’d been making plans and not involving her.

She was a steady person but she got skittish, like a horse if one made moves without explaining them first.

Except unlike a horse, she didn’t like the sense that she was being lead along and she’d never put up with any sort of blinders. It was a trust thing.

He got that, he was the same way actually. He also understood that the current him might be one of the worst pairings for such a person. Acting seemingly at random, moving along the lines of a script that he’d written in his head ages ago. If it was him, he’d be a bit irritated too.

Honestly, Billy’s real problem was that he was still not yet acclimating to being part of a group. Still getting used to having conversations that weren’t with himself and in his head. Thirty-two googolplex was a lot of time to build a lot of bad habits.

******

Edna frowned and then she sighed, Billy had done it again but she decided that she wouldn’t say anything because it wasn’t her money.

It wasn’t hers to fret about and she didn’t want to make it seem like she was counting it as such. She wouldn’t have even known about the expenditure had she not come along.

She still kind of wished Billy wasn’t so secretive, but then again, she wasn’t sure if he was actually being secretive or if she just was bad at guessing what he was up to.

A big part of why she let it go was knowing that if she had guessed what he was doing, or simply asked him if was planning something,  he probably would have explained it.

What he did wasn’t lying. It wasn’t even omission of truth. It was just him being plain non-communicative. The Billy of her youth hadn’t been much of a talker back then either.

Had their parents not encouraged them to play together, he probably  would have just remained ‘that kid’. The one that stood on outskirts of everything, usually just watching, hardly ever taking part.

The clerk took the money, and then she brought out some forms for them to sign. It was mostly a mixture of what you’d expect if you were applying for a job or a loan. Age, Date, Birth. Employment experience and education. Last residence. Current worth in assets. As well as the all important question of current aether rank. Things like that.

The only question that threw her for a loop was the one that came shortly before her signature. This question asked for her handle. Practitioner handles were important things.

Once one’s handle was acknowledged by a major body, be it a kingdom, a major guild or company, the handle was more or less the same as a legal name. It’d spread everywhere following you forever or till another major body allowed you to change it.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Which usually didn’t happen till one was so prominent a figure that one was heading a group of their own. It served the same purpose as the superhero codenames used by the champions of old, or the eldritch descriptors used by ancient sorcerers.

If one ended up becoming notable, this was the name one ended up being known by. At first she was going to leave it blank. Then she looked over and saw that Billy had already put in an answer for his.

“Nine-Eyed Asphodel”

She wasn’t sure what an Asphodel was, but apparently he was one now. Still going with the flow and not wanting to be left behind, she changed her mind about leaving that part of her sheet blank.

Frantically searching her thoughts and memories for something that’d make for a fitting name. What she came up with was,

“Cold-Mercury Dancer”.

A nonsense combination of words that she regretted putting together  almost as soon as she’d written it down. Despairing because she’d written it in pen but refusing to scratch it out or ask for another sheet for the usual irrational reasons that one would have for making such a decision.

Instead choosing to just tamely hand in her sheet when Billy handed in his.

*****

Fifteen minutes later, they stood outside the building. In each of their hands was a black metal plate. A metal card with their Handles on it and a crystal that was keyed to their blood and their aether.

Billy looked over at the Edna and saw that she was looking particularly glum.

“Nh...Sorry about not telling you that I was going to be doing this.”

He said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. Looking strangely young as he did this.

“Mhm?! Oh...No it’s fine... I guess you sold that stuff you got from your father’s safe right? It was ‘your’ dad’s stuff, your call...don’t worry about it.” said Edna.

He was relieved, it’d seemed she wasn’t as mad as he’d thought she’d been, but she still sounded distracted.

“Mu..Then what’s wrong, Ed?”

She blushed beneath her mask, soft brown skin growing darker.

“....It’s nothing important. Forget it.”

“Nh...Okay, but, “we’re” okay right, Ed?” said Billy.

“Mhm, Of course.” said Edna, the question startling her from her self-recriminations.

“Actually, how about explaining what whatever you’re planning is? Last I checked joining either the KOG or the EITC shouldn’t cost over five million denarii and require a blood sample.” said Edna.

“Oh, right...So I, we...are starting a company. I’m the Chief Executive, you’re the Co-Chief. Thus the cards and the dual registrations and the admittedly exorbitant fees. We had to do that if we wanted to apply as corporate level members.” said Billy.

Edna was a little startled to find out that she was now suddenly co-chief executive of a company but it wasn’t too bad as surprises go. Mostly she was just glad to be included.

“....but why did we have to apply as corporate level members?“ said Edna.

“To save time. Whether we joined the EITC or the KOG, or both, if we joined as regular members we’d have to work our way up the ranks before we could do anything worthwhile or make any real money. Or have any real independence in the way we run things.”

“Oh...I didn’t know we were in a hurry though.” said Edna.

“We’re not. It’s just easier this way. Corporate Level membership comes with very few restrictions and things will become even easier once we’ve got a good record beneath our belts. ” said Billy.

“So this is...uh...serious then, I guess. We’re really opening a company of own...just like that?” Edna. The enormity of what they were starting now striking her.  Five million denarii was a little less than a sixth of the Maddoc family’s yearly holdings. An enormous amount of money for two young people like them to bring out to bear. This wasn’t something that Billy had done casually.

“Of course.” said Billy.

“Okay...cool.” said Edna. Not knowing what else to say.

“What comes next?” said Edna.

“We prepare for our first job.” said Billy.

“We have a first job?”

“Yes. Of course we do.”

“Ouch….” said Billy, not really hurt, but aware that he’d been pinched.

“What was that for?” said Billy.

“Come on, Billy. You’ve got to at least give me a heads up before you go and do things like that. Hell, we’re apparently ‘co’ -executives now, aren’t we? We’re officially working together.” said Edna.

Her tone scolding, while her inner monologue was simply just questioning itself, trying to figure out when he’d been able to get up and choose a job for them to undertake.

“True….Sorry.” said Billy.

Edna could only sigh, feeling a mild headache coming.

“Anything else for today?” said Edna.

“No.”

“Then let’s go home.” said Edna. Shaking her head and sighing.