The armored car moved through the streets while Eric watched everything through the window, alert. His reflexes were sharp — maybe a side effect of the three or four cups of coffee he'd had before facing the loan sharks. Elena, beside him, was the opposite: exhausted, pale, still trembling. Her fingers fidgeted restlessly with the fabric of her pants as if trying to shake off the fear that refused to leave.
It was clear her mind was still trapped in the scene at the shop — the shouting, the weapons, the Black Falcons emerging from the shadows.
Eric tried not to think about it, but his body knew what had happened. It knew the danger. It knew the risk. His hands trembled discreetly.
He took a slow breath and turned to her.
"Elena, our partnership is official now. With that settled, I need you to start working as soon as possible."
Elena blinked, surprised.
She had almost forgotten she was now… his partner.
Or better: that he owned 51% of her shop.
She didn't know that Eric's interest wasn't in the shop itself, but in her — her skills, her contacts, the reputation her father had left in the underground world of gold and antique trading.
"What do you need?" she asked, trying to sound professional.
"A buyer for more gold coins," Eric answered bluntly. "I'll leave part of the profit as working capital for the shop. Or rather… for our pawnshop."
Elena recognized something strange in his tone: a faint panic, hidden under his usual composure.
"H-how many coins are we talking about? Twenty? Thirty?"
She did a quick mental calculation: Eric had spent over 200,000 euros worth of gold to pay her debt, but he must still have a few dozen coins left.
Fifty, maybe.
She could work with that.
Eric let out a laugh.
Now came the test — the moment he would discover whether betting on her had been a good idea.
"A thousand."
Elena almost choked.
"H-How much?"
"A thousand," he repeated casually, as if he'd said "ten."
"T-That's impossible… It'll take longer than… Are you serious?"
The car slowed — they had arrived at her building. Elena didn't know if she was shaking because of the encounter with the loan sharks, the adrenaline still in her veins, or simply the absurdity of his demand.
Eric parked the car smoothly.
"You have one week," he said.
"What?!" Elena twisted her body to look at him. "You can't give me a deadline like that! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get documentation, reliable buyers, logistics—?"
Eric lowered the window and looked at her with a calmness that — to her — almost felt unfair.
He was sitting in a black armored car, with personal security, looking like a man in control of everything.
The image radiated power, even if Eric didn't realize it.
"I spent the last few days without sleep to solve your problem. Do you really think I'm asking too much?"
Elena opened her mouth… then closed it.
She had no answer.
She stepped back onto the sidewalk, still stunned.
The window rolled up.
The car drove away.
Back to Familiar Chaos
Eric asked to be dropped off two blocks from his building — the last thing he wanted was for his nosy landlady to see an armored car dropping him off and start drawing conclusions. He was almost certain she entered his apartment whenever he left.
Finally, when he closed the door to his place, the weight of the last three days crashed down on him like a collapsing building.
His muscles ached.
His eyes burned.
His mind throbbed.
He had spent hours and hours running after ordinary coins, converting them frantically in the Midas System, packing gold, hiding gold, selling gold, buying silence, hiring private security, saving Elena, facing mobsters.
It was like living three lives at once.
And now…
He owned a wardrobe stuffed with gold — more than he could count.
More than he could store.
More than he could protect.
The inevitable question rose:
How do I protect all this?
What if someone breaks in while I'm gone?
What if the landlady sees something?
What if it gets stolen?
Eric sat on the bed.
His head dropped forward.
His eyes were about to close when a blue flash filled his vision.
The Midas System opened a transparent screen in front of him.
Letters appeared slowly, glowing like liquid gold.
"Congratulations, your Dimensional Vault has been unlocked."
"You may now exchange gold coins for square centimeters of storage space."
Eric froze.
Mouth slightly open.
Heart caught between fear and joy.
A dimensional vault?
Was it what he thought it was?
A space only he could access? Invisible? Safe? Untraceable?
He finally smiled.
Of all the gifts the System had given him…
This might be the most important.