It’s Not Easy Making Money In The Apocalypse

My mind was all over the place as I followed Lily into her bedroom. I wasn’t sure what would happen next, and I wasn’t sure what I even wanted. It wasn’t like I hadn’t had sex with Katarina once before. However, that was a sudden thing done after I saved her life, and we hadn’t done anything since. If I had to say who was more beautiful, Lily or Katarina, it was too difficult to tell. Katarina had more of a natural beauty. She had to. It wasn’t like fancy clothing, makeup, and hair saloons existed in the wasteland. However, Lily made use of all of those things and more, if I said I wasn’t interested in diving in and sampling her, I’d be lying.

Katarina had already assumed and permitted me to have relationships in this world. Didn’t that mean it’d be perfectly fine if I did something like this? After talking myself up to that point, I boldly followed Lily in. The bedroom was half the size of our entire apartment, and it included a massive king-size bed. I was still sleeping on a twin at this point. The bed was covered in expensive red sheets, and everything else about the room looked just as expensive. Fancy furniture, built-in lighting, and a large bathroom to the side.

Lily moved to the bed and then sat down, crossing her legs and looking up at me with an alluring gaze. “So, I guess that I’ll ask again. What do you think? Do you want it?”

As she spoke, my eyes landed on her exposed legs, which ended with her high heels, which were nearly touching my pant leg from where I chose to stand. I took a step back.

“I do want it…” I began.

“Good!” She slapped her hands together, causing me to jump as she stood up. “Then, I’ll get the paperwork started.”

“Huh? Paperwork?”

She spoke as she left the room. “I admit I’ve been having trouble finding a renter for this property. When you were suddenly asking for a place to live, I suddenly grew hopeful. Given the recent sales you’ve been making, I would say you’ll have no problem covering the rent.”

As she left the room, I was still standing there in stunned silence trying to understand what was happening. Her voice grew distant as she went to the kitchen and grabbed some documents, and by the time she stopped, she was right back in front of me, holding a folder. I took it dumbly, and it wasn’t until I looked at the title of the first form when I finally put it all together.

“Rental Agreement… this is the property you had for me?” I asked in surprise.

“Of course! You didn’t think I brought you to my place, did I?” She gave me a raised eyebrow.

“It’s fully furnished!”

She let out a melodic laugh. “Most high-quality places come pre-furnished. Ah… but you are responsible if something gets destroyed, so don’t be too rough on this property, okay?”

“I… I mean…”

“It’s a good rate, I promise. The complex also has a gym and a pool. The jacuzzi in the bathroom works… ish… and I can have your rent taken from the black card, so as long as you keep giving me things to sell, it pays for itself.”

The more I showed reluctance, the more she begged, as she did so, she pressed closer and closer to me until I started to remember what I thought was going to happen and grew hot. It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested in such a property. I just hadn’t mentally prepared for it at all. This was all kind of sudden.  I had only just started looking, and now I had a lease in my hands.

“This… is your property?” I managed to get out.

“Not exactly, it’s kind of a long story, but I ended up with this property and I need it rented out. You’d be doing me a personal favor. I’d be appreciative.” She asked, taking the last step until her breasts started to brush against my hands still clenching the folder.

I snapped it shut and cleared my throat. “Yeah, sure, why not? It’s fine with me.”

She let a long breath of relief. “Thank you, Daniel, I mean it.”

I finally couldn’t manage anymore and turned away. “It’s fine.”

“Can you please sign the forms in there?”

“Ah, right!” I turned red as I opened the folder back up.

I knew nothing about such contracts. I did know that my mom once nearly ended up in a bad situation because she had signed a lease she didn’t read, so I made sure to read through it. When I saw the actual monthly cost of the place, my eyes nearly popped. However, it seemed to cover utilities and everything else. Even if it was enough money to make me cry a little, it would be convenient to live there.

I left the bedroom and went to a nearby table. Lily followed me, and once I had finished reading it, I gestured for a pen. She pulled one out from her cleavage and handed it to me unabashedly. It was still warm, giving me even more complicated feelings as I signed.

“Can you be sure I’m good for this?” I asked.

“Well, there is another reason I decided to rely on you a bit,” Lily stated, suddenly growing slightly sheepish.

“What’s that?”

“The test on the bones came back, and they’re legit. I put a lot of trust in you auctioning those off. Had they turned out to be phonies, I would have ended up in a great deal of trouble.”

“There was no trouble with them then?”

She shook her head. “No, you got the money, right?”

I nodded. “I did. I can get you more as well.”

She smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

We talked for a short bit after that. I gave her the information about my factory. It would be extremely easy to bring the bones from the museum to my factory, and then have her send her trucks to come to pick them up. Therefore, we set a time to do that. She didn’t ask where I was getting all of these bones, and if she had, I wouldn’t have been able to give her an answer. It seemed like she had taken a risk trusting me. I had pressed her to get money for me quickly, and so she sold them without being certain they were legit. It was an understatement to say she’d be in trouble. She probably would have lost her job and might have even gone to jail. Since she put that kind of trust in me, I guess I should give her some trust as well.

I was a bit regretful when she said a short time later that she needed to go. It was strange that I arrived at this place to visit her, and now she was going and it was my place. It felt unreal. There was so much room, I found myself almost immediately feeling lonely. I almost wished my sister was there, pestering me about random things like she always did. I wanted to show her this place. I wanted to show mom this place too.

However, there was no way I could show them all of this without revealing more than I wanted to reveal. At some point, I’d finally be able to show them that I had made something of myself. I’d be able to give them all the things that I had always wanted to give them. That was coming closer, but it still hadn’t arrived yet.

“Cecelia…”

“Yes, Master?”

“How’s the downloading going?”

“You mean the specs on your world’s computers? I downloaded it ages ago.” She responded. “For all of the wonderful things your world has, it also feels strangely primitive. You don’t even have artificial intelligence.”

I lifted my wrist and looked through the Perco. After a bit of looking, I finally landed on the email that Cecelia had downloaded from my email account. It was a recent message from Mizuki. She was asking me about the business. So far, all I had done was demand she purchase an assortment of random goods with the date and labels removed. She had been shipping them to my factory, and they had been disappearing, but that didn’t make a business.

She had reminded me that in reality, starting a business was rather expensive, and even her startup funds wouldn’t last forever. It was one thing if we at least had a targeted goal, but since I didn’t even tell her what we intended on selling, she was quickly growing anxious as weeks passed by and nothing happened. Well, that was how I interpreted her message at least. I opened up a reply and then I sent her a quick message. When I was finished, I finally replied to Cecelia.

“I know… that’s why we’re going to change all of that,” I stated. “Cecelia, world travel.”

With a flash, I was no longer in the apartment.