A few moments later, in the bank…

Straf prances in, flapping the green foreign banknote in front of himself with a massive grin on his face.

「Straf!」

Nona's head once again perks up out of her bored slouch with a happy smile on her face. Her peaked cap rests beside her on the desk.

「Yeah, me…」

He shrugs his shoulders, grinning still as he approaches the long counter. Dressed in the Ministry's new uniform, Niklaus is fast asleep at his desk, holding onto his cap's brim with his fingers.

「Hey, have you seen one of these before?」

Straf asks, sliding the green banknote to the bank teller. She looks at it, and nods her head.

「Yes, once in a while someone comes in and asks if these can't be exchanged for drakes. We've had to turn away quite a few people in the recent days…」

The woman nods her head, and slides a golden drake over the counter to Straf.

「Hm?…」

He raises his brow, takes it into his fingers, and looks at it.

「…I've exchanged this into gold, but I think I may have made a mistake.」

The bank teller apologetically explains, keeping her head lowered.

「A mistake? How so? Don't tell me you gave some guy 10 gold for 1 drak- Hold the fuck up, something's not right here…」

Straf scoffs, leaning on the counter with his elbow. Something about the drake's appearance comes off as odd. He furrows his brows, looking intensely at it.

「…I've exchanged it into gold, but then I realized something about this drake is off. It looks a little… Angled?」

She explains, pointing her hand at the golden drake.

「What? Angle-? Wait a fucking moment, it is…」

Straf scoffs again, but then takes a closer look. Indeed, the drake's print appears to be a little diagonal along the paper. Just a few degrees, ever-so-slightly.

「Is this a mispri-? Heh. Heheheh…」

He squints, narrowing his eyes at the drake with wary eyes. Straf then lets out an amused scoff once more, and begins chuckling.

「…I thought that it may be a fake drake, but I wasn't sure. By the time I noticed there's something wrong with it, the man was already gone.」

The bank teller adds, explaining herself while Straf cackles to himself.

「Hehehehehe… Oh yeah, it is a fake… Hahahaha!…」

Straf stops cackling for just a second to concur with the woman, before breaking out into outright mad laughter.

「It is?… I'm sorry, sir. I'll do a better job next time. Please take the missing gold out of my pay…」

She apologetically bows her head while Straf continues laughing, banging on the counter with his fist as he tries to get his fit under control.

「…Sir? You're not upset at me, are you? I'm really, really sorry-」

The woman continues apologizing, but Straf abruptly shoves his palm in front of her face, still chuckling every few seconds of silence, doing his best to stop laughing.

「Heh… Heheh… Ahhh… Nah, I'm good, I'm not mad at all.」

Straf says, and lets out a huge, amused and relieved sigh with his fists on his hips, looking down at the bank teller.

《He's not being sarcastic, is he?…》

She thinks while looking at Straf's grinning face, with her brows furrowed in worry.

《Khahahaha! I can't fucking believe it! The fucking timing! The perfect timing! Thanks for giving me the perfect excuse, you fucking dummies!》

Straf thinks, throwing his head back as he fights another laughing fit. His shoulders jump up and down while hyena-like cackling escapes his teeth.

「Ahhohohohoohaha… Ahh… Anyway… Give me a drake. A real one.」

Straf demands, slapping the counter lightly. The woman reaches into her small satchel, and pulls exactly one golden drake. She slides it across the counter to Straf.

He takes the quill, dips it in ink, and starts scribbling on the drake. It takes a few moments, and Straf looks at the result. He lets out another amused scoff, slides the real drake aside, and pulls the fake one up.

Straf then scribbles something on the fake drake as well, then puts the quill back down. He compares the results on the two drakes for a second or two, and slides them over to the bank teller.

「…Sir?」

The bank teller looks at the two, and her confused eyes rise up to Straf.

「Okay, look at this one here. If the lines are perfectly straight, and they make a shape like this, then it's a real drake. Got it?」

Straf points at a constellation of small circles in the background of the portrait art, with lines drawn through them to form a crooked star

「I- I think so?」

The woman nods her head, looking at the drake with「Real!」scribbled on it, and an arrow pointing to the constellation of circles.

「And look at this shit. This one is blatantly fake. Not only it's fucking crooked, the paper looks like it was trimmed by a fucking 5-year-old child…」

He remarks, and brings his finger to the constellation of circles, which is vastly different from the real drake. None of the straight lines join to form a coherent shape. An arrow, and a text stating「Fake!」points to them.

「…And most importantly, you can't make a funky shape out of the circles. That's how you tell the fake from the real ones.」

Straf taps his finger on the haphazard and disjointed constellation of circles, and straightens out.

「By the way, each denomination has a unique shape, so you'll have to check. How many fakes do you think you've exchanged so far?」

He explains with a shrug of his shoulders, then asks.

「Just one, sir. I think, at least.」

The bank teller replies, apologetically bowing her head again.

「Well, next time you see this phony shit, you confiscate it and tell the loser that he had a fake drake…」

Straf taps the fake drake with his finger again, and turns to Niklaus's desk.

「…Nona, if that causes a scene, you handle it.」

He then snaps his fingers, and points at Nona while she's sitting beside Niklaus as he sleeps.

「Got it!」

Nona salutes, straightening out in her chair.

「Um, sir, about the stock certificates!…」

Another bank teller calls out for Straf's attention. He turns his head to her, and walks up.

「Yeah?」

He asks, leaning onto the counter with his elbows.

「Two new companies delivered their certificates. A bottle cork producer, and a bottle label business-」

The teller says, and Straf cuts in.

「Great, what's the price per share?」

Straf asks with a grin on his face, rubbing his chin.

「…We've already ran out, sir. Sir Vinis bought all the certificates up-」

「Fucking prick, of course… Tsk.」

Straf curses out the moment she explains further.

「Now, we've been wondering… The companies are technically on the exchange, but there are no certificates available left. What do we do? Do we de-list them?」

She asks, tilting her head.

「No. For now… Hmm…」

Straf replies, and humms as he looks around the room. He points up, above the tellers' counter, at the wooden beam connecting each of the tellers' windows from above, so to say.

「There. For now, write out the company ticker and its last price, then hang it up on a paper there. If it went up, you draw an upward triangle, if down, a downward one.」

He instructs the teller, taking a few steps back as he looks at the empty beam with his fists on his hips.

「…What if the price hasn't changed, sir?」

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The bank woman asks, tilting her head.

「Tsk. Then just draw a little horizontal bar next to it. Update the prices daily. I'll get you a tool to do that faster when I'm back.」

Straf rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue, spreading his arms as he explains further.

「In any case, I'll deliver you new money tomorrow. Until then, keep an eye out for fakes.」

He snaps his fingers, and approaches the counter to take his foreign banknote while pointing his finger at the bank teller he explained the counterfeit notes to. He folds the green paper, and pockets it.

「Straf! Do you want to hear a funny story about-?」

Nona calls out, as Straf approaches the door with his hands in his pockets.

「Not now Nona, my busy week just got busier.」

He momentarily pauses in his track to glance at her with his mouth aslant, and shrug.

「But- What about tomorrow, then?…」

She asks, audibly deflated, her disappointed amber eyes reflect the light pouring in through the door, glowing like a sad traffic light.

「Hmmm… I'll be likely busy tomorrow as well. Don't count on it.」

Straf shrugs, and walks a few more steps to the door.

「But!- But aren't you leaving the day after that!?」

Nona exclaims with her eyes wide open, as she shoots up to her feet, clutching onto her magic-disrupting hammer's handle. She stares at Straf with her brows pitifully furrowed, frowning a little.

「…Yeah, after the blood moon. That's the plan.」

He replies, spreading his arms briefly before returning his hands to his pockets.

「…With the queen?… To that stupid magic school…」

Nona meekly asks, slowly dropping back to her chair. She slumps onto the hammer's handle, as she rests her face on her hands upon it.

「Hey, the fact that it's stupid is its main draw, Nona. What's the matter?」

Straf turns to face her, crossing his arms while she's very obviously avoiding eye contact, and staring at a nearby wall.

「…Can't I come with you?」

Nona quietly asks, frowning heavily at the wall.

「Do you know magic?」

Straf quickly shoots back his own question with a little incredulous grimace on his face.

「…I'm a nobody with dead parents. Why would I know magic? I'm not some sort of a queen…」

Nona grumbles under her breath, turning her face lower towards the floor and away from Straf.

「…Yeah, in that case, I doubt they'd let you in. Either way, I need you to stay here and do a good job, alright?」

Straf asks, and Nona continues staring at the junction between the floor and the wall in silence without replying.

「…Alriiight. When I'm back, I'll spend some time with you, specifically. We can go on a date, or whatever you have in your sulky mind.」

He throws his hands up in defeat, and places his fists back on his hips as he attempts to placate Nona a little. Her head quickly perks up the moment she hears the word date.

「Can't we go now? I don't want to have to wait two months-」

She looks up at Straf in his eyes, pleading him with her amber puppy eyes. Straf cuts her off with a large sigh.

「Nona… I said I'm busy. Wait your turn. Make a list of places you want to go, and stuff…」

「But-!」

Nona whines out, but Straf leaves the bank while shrugging with his hands, shaking his head.

Her shoulders slump, and her orange eyes drift back to the floor. Nona's head slowly joins her shoulders in their limp slouch, and she sits frozen in silence for a few moments, lightly frowning at her hammer's head.

Slam!!

She abruptly hammers the desk with her fist, clenching her teeth with her head hanging low still.

「Wha-!? Amnotsleepin'… Workin'…」

Niklaus slurs out, absentmindedly staring at the bank's open door with his eyes deep in the dreamland.

「Ah. Sorry, boss! I just- I got a little upset, and…」

Nona apologetically waves her hands in front of herself, explaining the sudden noise that woke Niklaus, but he lowers his head back down, and returns to sleep.

「…Yeah…」

Nona nods at Niklaus, turning her lowered head back to the door. She lets out a large sigh, and slumps onto her hammer once more, her face bearing a large, disappointed frown…

…

Less than an hour later, at the dim, cluttered warehouse…

Clunk.

Straf enters, sending a few wooden balls rolling across the ground when they impact the swinging door.

「Tsk… Yeah, this place really needs a cleanup.」

He grumbles as he steps past the balls, and looks around the vast, crate-filled warehouse.

「…Yup, all this shit has to be gone from here. I need more space.」

He remarks, looking at the crates, stacked upon crates, stacked upon crates. He shrugs his shoulders, and starts throwing them into his [Portable Storage], with no regards for their content.

Roughly an hour of tedious manual labor later, most of the warehouse has been cleared of the clutter, along with the ruined and splintered crates from the previous experiment.

Only a few balls remain uncollected, the ones that rolled to the safety of dark corners out of the way, too far away to bother Straf, and consequently too far to be thrown into his inventory.

「Okay. Now with all that bullshit out of the way, time to roll out the plan long in the works…」

Straf snaps his fingers, grinning at the now-empty space ready for use. He then lets out a large, fatigued sigh.

「…Or, get started on it, at least.」

He adds, nodding with a tight-lipped grimace with his fists on his hips. After a moment of silent pause, he shrugs, and approaches the empty space…

…

In the evening, in the dark warehouse lit by iron braziers placed on the ground…

Dancing flames cast jagged shadows on the gigantic, convoluted machinery consisting of wide rollers. The whole machinery complex spans nearly the entire wall's height, and outright its entire length.

Straf dusts his perfectly clean hands off, and places his fists on his hips, admiring the perhaps oversized, and likely overtly complex crafted machine, with a grin on his face.

「And now let's see if it works!」

Straf declares to himself in a loud voice, and prances up to a conspicuous lever near one end of the machine.

「…It better fucking work, or the taxpayers are down in a hole big time.」

He adds after sucking the air through his teeth, pulling the lever down with significant, and excessive impetus. The gigantic machine stirs to life, its internal mechanisms audibly spooling up to work faster, and faster.

The grabbing claw next to a tray holding large sheets of papers begins to move. It violently snatches one of the sheets, and feeds the hungering machine. Before the machine can chew, it snatches another.

The tray of papers rapidly empties, and the noise emanating from the machine becomes almost deafening. Loud rumbling, grinding, and the sounds of metal impacting metal flood the warehouse.

The machine devours the last sheet in the tray, and instead of waiting for Straf to refill it, the tray shoots sideways, held onto by the machine's mechanisms.

A new one emerges from within, replacing the old one without Straf's input. The machine resumes its ceaseless consumption of the paper sheets, while Straf simply watches, grinning, hands in his pockets.

The far end of the machine begins spitting out bundles of banknote-sized papers into a pre-placed open crate. Like a winning slot machine, and all its accompanying, dopamine-inducing ruckus.

「Heheheh… Nice, but for longer operation, this isn't enough…」

Straf comments, leaning back a little to appreciate the colorful bundles of paper flying straight into the crate in an organized manner. He nods with satisfaction, and approaches a control panel at the machine's side.

「…Time for the real test.」

He adds, and flips the knob from tray feed, to roll feed. Grabbing but one more sheet, the hungering maw chewing through the paper sheets stops abruptly when it devours its last sheet, and the grabbing claw stops.

The next moment, a gigantic drum of paper slowly begins to spin. It unfurls its continuous, wide sheet of paper somewhere into the machine, and the previous noise continues, but slightly different.

The papers continue dropping in bundles into the crate. Straf casually approaches the output end, grinning and chuckling as if he just heard a good joke.

He approaches the nigh-full crate, peering into it, while bundles keep dropping in. Straf pulls out another empty crate, and deftly swaps the full one for the empty one between the batches.

Straf then reaches into the crate, pulling one bundle of papers out. He flips through it, and sniffs it. The odor of fresh, hot ink is unmistakable.

「Ahhhhhh…」

He sighs out, grinning at the warm bundle of drakes in his hand, bound together by a flimsy little paper tape boldly stating 10000. He pulls out one note out of the fat bundle by his fingertips, and pockets the rest.

With his other hand, he pulls the green, foreign banknote out, and compares the two. With a huge, smug wide grin on his face, he looks at the green paper and reads the text upon it.

「Banknote authorized by his royal majesty Malkor the Third and on his behalf, by Parnatau Royal Bank…」

He says, sounding unenthused.

「…For settling debts public and private…」

Straf continues, chuckling a little.

「…Redeemable at banks authorized by Parnatau Banking Authority for his royal majesty's gold and silver coins…」

Straf adds, and begins cackling, grinning at the floor while laughing like a madman.

「Ahhh… Oh man. The money velocity here is going to need a fucking delta next to it.」

He lets out a contented sigh, and flaps the foreign banknote idly, shaking his head with a gigantic grin on his face…