I couldn’t help but let out a little sigh. I was a back in the basement of the Ascension headquarters, and Kiera was right alongside me. I didn’t know why it made me nervous this time. I had used World Travel countless times to jump back and forth between the two worlds. However, it wasn’t every time that I brought someone with me. Although Cecelia assured me that the spell would work as long as both parties could use sorcery and had a Perco, it still made me nervous.

  If someone didn’t have sorcery, the result of a World Travel meant death. I’d never be able to take Katarina back to my world, for example, since she couldn’t use sorcery. According to little Cecelia could skim off the subject from the underground research facility, the sorcery trait was quite rare. Only one in a hundred people had the skill. It made sense my sister would share the skill with me since we shared genetics, but finding Kiera with sorcery as a trait as well was amazing.

  Everything else could be trained or increased by other methods, but the very idea of sorcery was still in its infancy, and not something that was known at the public level. This meant that there weren’t any methods to increase sorcery that were known. Perhaps, that was another reason I wanted to get into Allco R&D. I shook my head. That was why I was here. I had to focus on other things first.

  I held out my hand and dumped out a variety of supplies I had placed in my digitizer. “I want to have a meeting with everyone. Gather them in the Ascension headquarters for me.”

  Kiera bowed her head. “As master commands.”

  “Ah… and don’t mention any details about where you’ve been.”

  “Of course, Master.” She gave me a look of surprise as if what I said was obvious.

  I supposed in this apocalyptic world, talking freely about your experiences in a colony would be insane. At best, you’d ignite the jealousy of other people who weren’t able to live with full bellies and nights where they could sleep and feel safe. If you spoke to the wrong people, you could wind up kidnapped and tortured to give any information and useful knowledge you might have. Those in the wasteland were always looking for ways into resource-filled havens like the colonies.

  When she disappeared, I returned to my world and made my way to the factory. Before I left, I stopped by the security guard. He gave a knowing smile, but it grew stiff when I shot him a glare.

  “It appears like the security of this place is lower than I was led to believe. The next time you allow someone up into my suite without my permission, I’ll be contacting my landlord and filing an official complaint.”

  His face turned white and he straitened up. “Sir, I’m sorry, it’s written under your permissions that if a pretty lady comes to your place under duress, to allow her in immediately.”

  I winced, remembering that I did leave such a caveat. It was intended for my mother or sister. If either of them tried to reach me when I was gone and were desperate enough to come to the address I left, I wanted them to have a safe place to stay. I hadn’t expected that to lead to them letting any girl they wanted into my place.

  “And you didn’t leave me any warning because?” I asked.

  This time, he didn’t have an excuse, looking to the side. “My apologies. We make a policy of not disturbing our guests unless they make a request.”

  It was clear his excuse was rather flimsy. The truth was that he wanted to see the drama of the two ladies running into each other. Since Mizuki left without descending into tears, it probably left him unsatisfied. If I wanted to cause him trouble and take his job, it was possible, but I wasn’t such a snob yet that I would get a person fired for spiteful reasons.

  I tried to smooth out my features. “From now on, only admit someone with my last name. Uh… the woman who came today has my last name.”

  Kiera was an exception I wanted to add to the list. Since Kiera didn’t have a last name, it just made sense to give her my own. I had a feeling if the wrong people knew that I had given Kiera my last name, it’d cause some unnecessary trouble, so I wasn’t going to mention it to her. If the time came when she needed help, they’d have her picture on file. As for my mother and sister, I gave them pictures Cecelia swiped off of their phones. Although neither were conceded women, I didn’t know any who didn’t take selfies of themselves from time to time.

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

  “Very well, sir, we’ll follow this from now on.” The guy sounded relieved that I was leaving it with this correction.

  “I’m also going to be leaving for a bit. When my… date… comes down, please make sure she gets a safe ride.” I wasn’t so shameless that I didn’t turn a little red, and the knowing smirk on the security guard’s face returned.

  I intended to send Kiera back anyway. She wanted to stay and I didn’t want to force her to go where it was dangerous. Once I was done doing what I needed to do, I’d send her back and she could return to Gabriella. I felt like the two women kind of need each other. Gabriella was a bit of a slob and Kiera needed someone who was worldly and understood this world.

  “I’ll do as you ask.” He nearly saluted, eager for me to overlook his previous transgression.

  “When I return, make sure to send me any messages.” I finished before bidding him farewell.

  Once I had left, I got a ride share and headed to the factory once again. Once I arrived, I cleaned things up and relayed orders to the defenses on the grounds I would be away for a while. Once everything was done, I made several journey’s back and forth between the factory and the basement. I was naturally bringing extra supplies to tide Ascension over.

  “Crystals sure do get used up quickly.” I sighed.

  I would have transported more, but I found myself running out of crystals. I had thought I had a rather large reserve after working with Twin Elms, but most of that was wrapped up in assets. I had purchased the debts of a large degree of people and hired even more, and after everything, the lumps of crystals I had received upfront just didn’t last very long. Transporting back and forth between worlds used a large number of crystals, and bringing a second person cost a lot too. Even when I kept the majority of it digitized, my heart still bled as I saw a pile that probably would have been the merchant group's yearly income disappear like that.

  I stopped myself from making any more journeys. I’d needed to limit these to when it was economical. I had to remember what I learned from the slavers. Quantity and quality were not everything. I had to control the market. Having a full inventory didn’t mean nonstop profit. What I left would be more than enough to keep the bazaar open, feed the residents here, and send the first shipment to Twin Elms, although if what I set up in the bank went forward, I wouldn’t need to send any shipments for at least a few months.

  When I was satisfied with the reserves, I headed up and found one of Dragon Claw's slaves working for me. I told them to move the stories to someplace safe, and as I headed into the main building, a group of strong men was already heading toward the basement to move it all to storage. I barely made it two steps when a massive thing leaped on top of me. I feared I was being ambushed as a creature of claws and scales quickly jumped on top of me. I saw teeth going for my face and almost saw my life flashing before my eyes.

  That’s when I felt a long, leathery tongue lick up my cheek. It was followed by a second and a third lick. My tongue felt like sandpaper, and my cheek was already turning red by the time I could reach up.

  “Okay… okay…” I tried to get to a standing position. “Lilith? Wow, you’ve grown.”

  The last time I had seen Lilith, she was probably the size of a lab. It had only been a few weeks, but he was now the size of a mastiff

  “She’s missed you.” I heard a voice speak out and couldn’t help but turn.

  As Lilith jumped around excitedly, bumping into my legs, a beautiful but rugged woman was standing nearby. She had her arms crossed and was leaning against the door entrance. The smart rifle had given her was slung over her back. She exuded a calm and cool demeanor, the kind of girl that would get attention no matter what world she came from.

  “Hello, Katarina. It’s been a while.”