Thirstfall - Memory of a Returnee-Chapter 48: Someone Else’s Money

I know she’s watching.

Freya isn’t the type to make a threat and just walk away; she’s the type to put hounds on your scent immediately. To shake off any unwanted eyes, I take the long way back to the Top Graded residential sector, weaving blindly through crowded courtyards and blending into the chaotic flow of morning cadets.

When I finally reach our corridor, my heart skips a beat.

The heavy mahogany door to my suite is cracked open. Just an inch.

My hand drops instantly to my belt. My thumb rests on the ignition ring of Eventide.

Did one of Freya’s shadows pick the lock? Did Rhayne forget to close it? Or is this Rae’s handiwork?

I push the door open with the toe of my boot, sliding inside like a ghost. I clear the corners. Bathroom. Closet. Under the bed. Nothing. The room is dead quiet.

I step over to the large window, peering down into the courtyard to see if I can catch a fleeing silhouette.

Empty.

I exhale a long, tight breath, releasing my grip on the hilt. "Door discipline, Rhayne," I mutter, assuming the Void girl just forgot to pull it shut behind her.

But as I turn around, my eyes lock onto the nightstand.

Resting perfectly in the center of the polished wood is a small, crimson velvet pouch and a folded piece of heavy parchment.

The paranoia spikes again. I don’t touch it immediately. I’ve seen men die for far less in the Deep—contact poisons, explosive runes, you name it.

I use the tip of Eventide’s scabbard to nudge the pouch.

Clink.

The heavy, crystalline sound makes a genuine, cynical smile spread across my face.

"Shards."

I pick up the pouch and open the drawstring. Six pure blue Shards glow inside. I unfold the note. The elegant, thin handwriting is unmistakable.

"A small sponsorship to ensure you execute the plan correctly. Don’t disappoint me."

I snort, tossing the note into the trash bin. "Ah, how careful of him. Paying for his own dirty work."

I pocket the pouch. If the executioner wants to pay for his own funeral, who am I to refuse?

Six Shards from a dead man walking, two from the Academy, and whatever’s left in my pocket. Time to spend someone else’s money.

I head straight to the Academy Treasury. As a Top Graded cadet, I am entitled to a weekly stipend. The clerk hands over two additional Shards without even looking me in the eye. Word of the Battle Royale has clearly spread.

I tap my inventory.

[Scales: 1,275]

Time to go shopping.

I hit the logistical quarter. First stop: Medical. I buy six Accelerated Healing Potions. They won’t regrow a severed limb or cure fatal organ failure, but they will knit flesh and close deep wounds almost instantly.

[Scales: 1,275 -> 795]

I smirk as the glass vials clink in my pouch, remembering Lola sniffing the cauterized wound on my shoulder.

Smells like crackling...

I shake my head, focusing on the next stop: Combat consumables.

I buy a box of 20 OXI candies. They are painfully expensive, but they are a tactical necessity. Chewing raw scales in the middle of a fight is a death sentence; it takes a solid twenty-second window of non-combat meditation to properly digest them without throwing up.

I don’t have the luxury of brewing high-yield OXI drops while dodging spells. The bullets are refined, instant-absorption tablets. Overpriced, but they keep you breathing when the pressure is on.

[Scales: 795 -> 595]

Finally, the civilian supply post. I grab some dense sweet bread, three bottles of Lunaria juice, and a whole Lunaria fruit. It’s a sweet, highly citric fruit native only to Thirstfall.

It’s one of the very few things in this wretched world that actually brings me a sliver of genuine joy.

[Scales: 595 -> 420]

Armed and supplied, I head to the girls’ suite.

The plan is simple: tell them the Academy hit me with a solo punishment detail, leave them under Veric’s protection, and hit the train station alone.

I push their door open.

Lola is sprawled upside down on an armchair, her combat boots resting on the headrest, idly spinning a star-shaped plushie by its string. She looks profoundly bored.

"Where is everybody?" I ask, leaning against the doorframe.

Lola doesn’t look up. "The kitty went to the treasury to get paid. She said she was starving. And the Pot went away."

Did they even hear me about staying together?

I frown. "What do you mean, ’went away’?"

"He said he had something urgent to do on Earth," she hums, catching the plushie.

I freeze.

Of course.

Veric is a Rank-D Vanguard. He has a massive OXI pool, more than enough to handle the atmospheric drain of a dimension transition, and the noble wealth to buy a Reentry Pearl.

He probably went back to Earth to report his Top Graded status to House Azurea, or just to sleep in a real bed.

I don’t judge him. If I had the OXI capacity, I’d be checking on my mother and Lili right now too.

But his little vacation just completely ruined my operational security. I can’t leave a traumatized Void battery and an unstable child-nuke alone in a dorm surrounded by Freya’s spies and Rae’s potential assassins. Not even counting the other noble houses.

"Damn it," I whisper. They have to come with me. And keeping them alive during a heist is going to cost me a lot more than just Scales.

The door behind me opens. Rhayne walks in, freezing like a deer in headlights when she sees me. Her cheeks are slightly puffed out, and a few crumbs of sweet pastry cling to the corner of her lip.

She bought new clothes—almost identical but clearly made of new leather.

For a second, she just looks like a normal, hungry teenager.

"Dryden," she mumbles, quickly wiping her mouth with the back of her heavy glove. "When did you get back?"

I ignore the question. "Gear up," I order, my voice dropping to a hard, tactical clip. "Both of you. We’re leaving in five minutes. And you better be ready to pull your weight, because where we’re going, dead weight actually dies."

They don’t ask questions. They just move.

Lola immediately flips upright, popping the heavy latches on her massive black case. She pats the barrel of Lullaby with a disturbing amount of affection.

Rhayne, on the other hand, stands in front of the vanity mirror, nervously adjusting her oversized gray cloak and checking her hair.

I watch her, completely baffled.

We are about to commit high treason and rob an Academy train station, and she’s worried about her bangs.

Priorities...

While they prep, I step over to the window, pulling the heavy velvet curtain back just a fraction of an inch.

Down in the courtyard, near the main gate of the elite dorms, two senior cadets are leaning against a statue. They aren’t talking. They aren’t looking at their datapads. Their eyes are locked squarely on the exit of our building.

Freya’s hounds. She kept her promise.

I let the curtain fall back into place, a dark, predatory smirk tugging at my lips.

"Ready?" Rhayne asks, stepping away from the mirror.

I draw Eventide and clip it securely to my belt.

"Oh, we’re ready," I say. "Time to go play with the neighbors."