Arknights: Mobile City

"You… issued your own currency?"

Laurentina gave Obsidian a long, searching look from head to toe. Obsidian just shrugged, noncommittal. For a moment, Laurentina stared at him in silence, then grabbed his arm and hurried him back to her place in Alley One.

"Let's go. We'll talk about this in my room."

"Whatever you say."

Obsidian grinned and followed her inside.

The factory they'd built near Alley One over the past two days—naturally, that was the mint.

After all the City's development, it was finally time to launch its own currency—even if, for now, it would only circulate internally.

As soon as they entered Laurentina's room, Obsidian set the new bills down on the table. Laurentina didn't even look at them; she frowned and immediately questioned him:

"You rolled out currency this fast… Why the rush? Couldn't you have just used Lungmen dollar as a stopgap?"

Obsidian just shook his head.

"So what about influence? How do you expect the outside nations to accept your currency?"

Laurentina clicked her tongue, sounding almost anxious. Obsidian only shrugged and replied in an even tone:

"You've gotten awfully invested in City matters lately. Not bad."

"Oh, spare me—Aegir's put money into this city. I'm basically one of the top managers now… Of course I care."

Laurentina shot back, half exasperated. At that, Obsidian finally stopped being coy and answered plainly:

"I have my ways… When it comes to getting people to accept your currency, there are always plenty of methods."

"Monopoly is the simplest—and just so happens to be the easiest for me. It'll just take a bit of time. For now, though, this currency is mostly for internal circulation, so it doesn't really matter."

He waved a hand, as if brushing the matter aside. Laurentina stared at him for a long while, then just let out a sigh.

"And… what about counterfeiting? Can you deal with that?"

"Pick up the bill again and take a closer look."

Obsidian smiled. Laurentina hesitated, but obediently picked up the banknote from the table, holding it up to the light.

Under the lamp, the note shimmered with a liquid flow, almost as if some special process had been woven into its making. But such techniques should be easy to reproduce—at the City's current industrial level, most processes could be copied by private hands.

That's exactly why Laurentina thought minting their own currency just wasn't realistic.

And yet—

As she examined the bill, Laurentina paused, fingers brushing its surface. Suddenly, a sense of doubt—and disbelief—rose within her.

"The material of this bill…"

"Yep, you've probably guessed it. Remember the medicine I used to treat you?"

Obsidian smiled.

"If you dilute that same formula a few hundredfold and mix it into the pulp, you get this bill. If you actually ate it, it'd still work as a healing item."

He said this with perfect calm. For a moment, Laurentina felt like her world was being shaken. Her eyes widened in shock as she blurted out,

"Wait… That medicine—you sold it at a premium to outsiders, didn't you?"

"That's right. Since I have a monopoly, why not set the price as high as I like?"

"Wait… I thought the reason was limited production…"

"Who told you it was hard to make?"

"You can really mint this stuff in bulk…?"

"Even printing a hundred thousand of these a day wouldn't be a problem."

Obsidian shrugged, utterly casual. Laurentina took a step back, staring at the note on the table, her expression complicated.

"Boss… just where do you get so much of that medicine…?"

"Human ingenuity is limitless."

Obsidian replied with a smile, the answer echoing with double meaning.

Hearing this, Laurentina's expression only grew more conflicted.

From her perspective, it sounded like a joke. But deep down, she felt something crack inside her.

Until now, she'd always regarded the City with an Aegirian's pride—subconsciously lumping it in with every other surface nation. But now, that line of thinking was growing harder to hold onto.

Pride is a sin—especially when it comes to the City.

She'd always assumed that the medicine she'd been given was some precious panacea. That was why she'd clung to her pride: after all, Aegir could develop medicines like that too. She was grateful for the help, sure, but she saw it as a rare luxury…

But now, learning that this medicine could be produced in limitless supply, Laurentina felt her entire worldview cracking open.

Just what kind of place… was this City?

In that instant, Laurentina finally looked at the City with new eyes—finally took its founder, Obsidian, seriously.

She couldn't afford arrogance anymore.

She had to face the City—truly see what it was capable of.

And the first step… was to start learning more about its founder, in earnest.

Laurentina let out a slow breath, looking at Obsidian once more—only now, her gaze was far more solemn than before.

Now was the time for a change of heart.

Now was the time to shed the arrogance of Aegir. Faced with such a strange city, she'd need to bring her full attention to bear.

"So, about the offer I just made—what do you think?" Obsidian looked at Laurentina with a smile and asked.

"…"

Laurentina swallowed, then spoke in a low, steady voice:

"You want my help to promote your currency…? Fine, I accept. What do you need me to do?"

Obsidian's lips curled in that faint, familiar smirk—one Laurentina had seen many times before.

"It's nothing complicated. A Corp will announce the currency's adoption, but as chief engineer of nearly every City project, I just need you to take the lead and use it yourself."

He gave a playful whistle, turning around to call over his shoulder,

"Anyway, I'll have to trouble you a bit more with this."

"Then… what are you going to do?" Laurentina called out to his retreating back. Obsidian paused for a moment, then left the room without turning, leaving only one answer behind:

"Obviously… to win the future of the City—for 'us,' to seize the first victory."

And at that moment, Obsidian eyed the great cache of [Lunacy] stored in his warehouse, feeling a sense of urgent anticipation.

I've saved up so much [Lunacy]!

Let me gacha already!