Lucien stood in the middle of the shack, arms crossed, staring at the rough map Elara had scratched into the dirt floor with a stick.
The lines were crooked but clear enough—secret paths behind the baron's small castle, weak spots in the outer wall, the exact location of the strongroom where the old man kept his real coins.
Nyx lounged on the straw mattress, tail flicking lazy patterns, while Elara knelt beside the drawing, her short sword resting across her knees.
"We hit the baron tonight," Lucien said, voice low.
"Not just pocket change. Everything he's been squeezing out of this village for years. His official seal, the fancy ring Garrick was supposed to put on your finger—everything that makes him feel important. We take it, multiply it, and leave him wondering if he dreamed the whole thing."
Elara looked up, green eyes sharp.
She'd changed in the three months inside the pocket universe—movements smoother, shoulders straighter, that hunted look mostly gone.
"I know the back route. There's a drainage tunnel that comes out near the kitchens. Guards change at midnight. My father always bragged about how safe his strongroom was."
A bitter little smile tugged at her mouth.
"He never thought his own daughter would be the one showing someone how to empty it."
Nyx rolled onto her stomach, chin propped on her hands.
"I like this plan. Illusions for the guards, your bond keeping the princess calm so she doesn't stab anyone too early, and you stealing the soul out of their little empire. Sounds like a fun date."
They waited until full dark.
The village had gone quiet, the kind of quiet that came after bad news spread—whispers about the baron's bounty, doors bolted earlier than usual, dogs chained tight.
Lucien felt the Greed Bloodline humming under his ribs, eager but patient, like it knew bigger meals were coming.
Nyx wrapped them in layered illusions as they slipped out: shifting shadows, the faint outline of night animals, nothing that would make a guard look twice.
Elara led the way, her steps sure on the hidden path she'd walked as a kid when she wanted to escape lessons.
The air smelled of pine needles and damp soil, cool against their skin.
Lucien kept one hand lightly on Elara's shoulder, the Conquest Bond sending a thin thread of calm through the contact.
She didn't pull away.
The castle was smaller than Lucien expected—just a fortified manor with stone walls and too many torches.
They dropped into the drainage tunnel, water sloshing around their ankles, the smell thick with old rot and rat piss.
Elara wrinkled her nose but kept moving.
Nyx's ears twitched at every drip.
Inside the strongroom, after Nyx blinded the single bored guard with a quick illusion of his own mother calling him, they found the real haul.
Wooden chests stacked against the wall, leather bags heavy with coins, the baron's official seal sitting on a velvet cushion like it was holy.
And there, in a small box lined with silk, the gold ring set with a fat red stone—Garrick's engagement ring, meant for Elara's finger.
Lucien didn't waste time.
He opened every chest, every bag.
The Greed Bloodline woke up fully and started multiplying.
Gold coins became stacks, then piles.
The seal duplicated into perfect copies, each one carrying the same authority.
The ring split into five identical ones, the red stone gleaming brighter with every copy.
His Infinite Chaos Treasury swallowed it all without a sound, the weight vanishing into pocket space like it had never existed.
"Feels almost too easy," he muttered, running his fingers through a fresh pile of multiplied coins.
They were warm, heavy, the metal smelling faintly of oil and old hands.
Elara watched him, breathing a little faster.
"That ring… I was supposed to wear it tomorrow. Now you have five of them."
Nyx giggled softly from the doorway, keeping watch.
"Five fiancés. Greedy boy."
On the way out, things got noisy.
Three guards turned a corner too early, torches high, eyes widening when they saw the open strongroom and three figures that definitely didn't belong.
One reached for his horn.
Another drew steel.
Lucien moved before they could shout.
The Devourer's Gaze copied their stance, the Greed Bloodline improved the timing, and he dropped them with precise strikes to the neck and temple—clean, quiet, no blood.
Their bodies slumped.
He opened the Chaos Treasury again and simply stored the unconscious guards inside, like shoving laundry into a drawer.
They'd wake up later in some random field, confused and missing a few hours.
"Won't even remember how they got there," he said, wiping his hands on his tunic.
"Best kind of witness."
Back at the shack the sky was still the same deep night.
They spilled some of the multiplied gold onto the floor—enough to look like a small fortune without emptying the treasury.
Coins glinted in the dim light leaking through the cracks, the metallic smell mixing with the familiar damp straw and Nyx's sweet-smoke scent.
Elara picked up one of the copied engagement rings, turning it between her fingers.
The red stone caught the faint moonlight and threw it back redder.
With a sudden mischievous glint in her eyes she grabbed Lucien's hand and slid the ring onto his left ring finger.
It fit perfectly, warm against his skin.
"Now you're my fake fiancé," she said, voice light but carrying something heavier underneath.
"At least until the baron figures out his vault is empty and his future son-in-law's ring is gone."
Nyx crawled closer on the mattress, resting her chin on Lucien's other shoulder, tail wrapping around his waist.
"I approve. Looks good on you. Makes the whole harem thing official-ish."
Lucien looked down at the ring, the gold cool at first then warming to his body heat.
He laughed once, short and rough.
"Fake engaged to the baron's runaway daughter while wearing stolen gold. My old boss would have a stroke if he saw this spreadsheet."
They divided a smaller pile of coins—some for Elara to hide in case she needed to run again, some for Nyx to play with, most staying in the treasury for later multiplication.
The seal Lucien kept separate.
Official documents signed with that thing would carry real weight until the baron realized it was missing.
Elara leaned back against the wall, cheeks still flushed from the run and the theft.
"I spent years watching my father count every copper like it was his blood. Tonight we took years of that in one go. Feels… right."
Nyx nuzzled closer to Lucien's neck, her breath warm.
"Greed looks good on all of us tonight."
The blue system panel flickered into view without being called, hovering quietly above the scattered coins.
[Main Mission "Accumulate Everything" progressing nicely. Tier 2 of the Greed Bloodline unlocking soon.]
Lucien felt the lineage stir deeper in his chest, like a big cat stretching after a good meal.
The power inside him shifted, ready for the next jump.
Then the scream came from outside—distant but clear, cutting through the night.
Shouts followed.
Boots on dirt.
Torches flaring up near the edge of the village.
The baron had arrived in person, soldiers behind him, voice carrying over the chaos as he demanded answers about his missing daughter and the thief who'd emptied his vaults.
Lucien slipped the ring off his finger, tossed it once in the air, and caught it.
The metal was still warm.
"Looks like the old man wants his stuff back," he said, standing up.
Nyx and Elara rose with him, the air in the shack suddenly tighter, charged.
He smiled that crooked, sarcastic smile, the Greed Bloodline purring louder than ever.
"Too bad it's already mine."