"What do you mean you didn't find anything!?" Ludwig shouted at the two boys who had just arrived in the room bearing bad news.
"..." The boys kept their heads down and remained silent even as Ludwig shook his hand in front of them while clenching a piece of paper, one that he recognised since it was from his own ledger.
"This! How can all of you be so incompetent and only find a single piece of paper!! Are you bloody kidding me right now!?"
"What were you wankers even doing there!? There were thirty bloody thousand Quid in that safe and all you found was this!!! Are you bloody serious!?"
Taking a deep breath in to control his anger, Ludwig swiped his hands over his face and tried to calm down, but before he could, he acted on impulse and picked up the iron rebar that was near him and tossed it at the two scared boys.
"Sod off now! I don't want to see your bloody faces ever again!"
The two hurriedly ducked and allowed the rebar to land on the wall and fall down to the carpeted floor with a dull *thud* as Ludwig glared at them until they finally left the room without a sound.
"God damn it!" Ludwig shouted tossing a delicate glass cup at the wall, shattering it in the process.
After a few minutes when Ludwig had finally calmed down, he looked around the room until his eyes spotted the telephone on the desk.
Ludwig nervously chewed his nails and began to debate something in his mind.
"*Sigh* I have to take responsibility."
He then moved to the telephone and dialled a number using the rotary.
*RINGG* *RINGGG* *RINGG* *RINGGG*
Ludwig heard the call connect and then fell into a strange silence as he felt fear creeping up while he remembered the message he had to convey.
The heavy breathing on the other end only made him feel worse like a knife with a sharpened edge was held to his throat waiting to slice it.
"Are you curious about the lord I believe in?" Having had enough of the silence, the voice on the other side of the phone finally asked.
"The Lord that Created Everything.", Ludwig responded like he was reading something from a script and continued.
"The Lord Who Reigns Behind the Curtain of Shadows."
"The Degenerate Nature of all Living Things"
As Ludwig finished, he felt his instincts honed on the street blare at him like he'd just come under the gaze of a predator.
Another bout of silence took over the office as the voice on the other side only breathed heavily seeming to wait for Ludwig to speak up.
But given how Ludwig was shivering with fear and clattering his teeth as if he was standing in Antarctica, the voice on the other side finally asked in a voice barely above a whisper, "Is it bad news?"
"T- th- the money we collected was st- stolen."
There was a breathless silence this time and Ludwig felt like he could feel the fury of whatever had been watching him all this time.
"Did the culprit leave anything behind?" the voice on the other side asked and Ludwig gulped audibly.
"He left behind a paper that said- Praise- Praise the-" Ludwig struggled while trying to get the words out but seeing he couldn't he took a deep breath to calm himself and then spat out all the words in a rap, "Praise the Error God! You-got-jebaited-you-bloodsuckers!"
Another bout of silence captured the phone call but this time Ludwig felt like if he made a single move he'd lose his head.
Beads of sweat started to form on his brows but he didn't move to wipe or get rid of them.
The voice started to breathe heavily on the other side of the call and Ludwig stayed put, he felt like his life depended on playing statue.
"Bring it to the black market at the edges of Knockturn Alley tomorrow." The voice said and before Ludwig could respond, he heard a *click* signifying the end of the call taking away the gaze that had kept him frozen in place.
"*sigh* that was scary."
A little while earlier, Loki and Elane laughed while rolling on the floor in the living room.
"Did you see that sis!? How we took away all their money!?"
"Yes, yes princess Rapunzel you took all the money! No one is taking credit for your hard work." Loki praised the indignant Niffler.
*Squeak* *Sqeuak* *Squeak*
"Haha, alright we'll decide a new name for you.", Loki said and looked at Elane.
"Is it alright to give him a new name lil' sis?" Loki asked.
"Erm…but doesn't Princess Rapunzel like her name?" Elane said hugging the Niffler and petting its head cutely.
"See Princess Rapunzel feels sad about it." Loki said pointing at what was unmistakably a frown on the Niffler's face. "Why not give him a name that better suits him?"
"Then in that case….ummmm….." Elane placed her hands on her head and began to think with all her little brain power.
"Since he is very happy all the time…erm… sunny?" Elane asked with a cute smile on her face.
Loki raised his eyebrows as he thought 'That's surprisingly insightful.'
'Sunny huh, but given his darkness pathway powers wouldn't it be fitting to call him sunless?'
'Wasn't there a character already called Sunless somewhere? Well, this one's called Sunless too now I guess.'
"What about Sunless little sis? And then we can call him sunny?"
"Like a nickname?" Elane asked with a cute pout on her face since she was still thinking hard.
"Yes! Like a nickname." Loki nodded.
"Alright!" Elane nodded and then they looked toward the Niffler in question.
"Would it be alright to call you Sunless and Sunny little guy?" Loki asked politely.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
Everyone clapped at the new naming ceremony and after a while when Elane fell asleep, Loki transported her to her bed so that she could rest well.
Sunny then dropped all the rolls of cash and vanished into the spirit world to sleep and take a rest. Updates are released by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽
Looking at the rolls of cash on the table Loki wondered what to do with them.
"Huh. How about placing them above the grey fog? So that when I eventually have followers and they ask for money, I can give them all money from this?"
"Hmm…I guess I can even leave the Darkness and the Error Pathway Blasphemy cards up there since I don't need it much and it'd be risky to carry them around all the time."
"I was probably lucky they didn't drop out of my pockets while I was running and jumping around the warehouse."
"But they do give me anti-divination and anti-prophecy abilities."
"Eh…fine, I'll leave it above the grey fog for now and then take it with me when I'm doing something Beyonder-related."
Loki quickly set up an altar to sacrifice the items for himself to receive above the grey fog.
But he paused for a bit.
'What is my honorific name going to be?'
'I can't just use the Fool's honorific name since it'll point in the wrong direction, but something similar should be alright I guess? I can use the alias I wrote down on paper I left behind?'