“Good evening, little ones!” Vikalos smiled as he walked into the room, holding three folders. He knew that the young Decay Lords would all be together, so he was taking advantage of this time.
“Hi,” Arkay awkwardly waved back, swallowing his bite of sandwich. “We’re kinda eating right now.”
“I know. Which is why this is a good time to give you all some good news!” Vikalos sat down at the table alongside the Decaylings, handing each of them a folder. “Of course, all Decay Lords and Decaylings get their food and board covered by Deathven. Yourselves included. But now that you are Decay Lords, you also get your own currency accounts and can earn money.”
Retvik and Litvir both glanced at each other, putting their spoons down.
“There is money out here?”
Vikalos nodded. “Indeed.”
“Did you not state that most of our needs are always accounted for?” Litvir asked. “What would we use money for?”
The elder Decay Lord shrugged at first. “I thought you two in particular lived in a society similar to that of the Decay Lords? Basic, required needs are given for free, while anything else is paid out of pocket from your standard earnings?”
“To be fair,” Arkay butted in, “Retvik and Litvir are from a semi-hivemind society. Even though they were both higher ranked members, things just sorta worked out for everyone automatically.”
Vikalos shrugged. “I assume then you all understand basic universal income? Because that is what you are getting now. Alongside the responsibility to use your income wisely.”
“But…” Litvir looked confused. “What do we use it on?”
“Fuel. Additional food. Weapons and armour. Hookers. Things like that.”
“Why would we need, as you so politely put it, hookers though?” Litvir was still confused. “Are Decay Lords that desperate that they-”
“Ssh, Litvir, it’s not fair to judge!” Arkay butted in again, snapping his fingers. “Not everyone has a flaming hunk of a being at their fingertips!”
Vikalos ignored both Litvir and Arkay, then proceeded to hand a sealed file to Retvik. Retvik eyed the file then curiously opened it, revealing three sheets of paper.
“The first is your account information, how to access your money, that sort of information. The second is your terms and conditions, including your payment structure, how much you are allowed over every period and any limitations. The third page is your balance.”
Retvik immediately flipped to the third page, to see how much he had. “Is… is this a lot?”
“I do not know how much you have.”
“It says D3550.”
Vikalos shrugged as he handed out the files to Arkay and Litvir. “A bit below average. Not by that much though.”
“Why?”
Litvir and Arkay both immediately turned to their third pages as well, both of them very curious.
“D3220 here…” Litvir muttered. “Seems weird…”
“Not really. You two were both mortal beings, so having an initial balance of over 3000 is not too bad.”
“Hm. I wonder how many swords that could buy… Arkay, how much do you have?” Retvik asked.
Arkay didn’t answer at first. He was busy flicking between the three pages, clearly not understanding something.
“Arkay?”
“Is something wrong, Arkay?” Vikalos offered a hand, also rather curious. “I should point out that, as part of your being Decay Lords, your initial balance is partially determined by what Overlord Deathven calls RDI, the “Righteous Death Index”. Based on your time from before you were even a Decayling.”
Arkay though continued to flick between pages. “Surely this can’t be right…”
“Do you need…”
“No!” Arkay snapped. “Yes! I don’t fucking know!”
Vikalos grunted. “Do you want me to take a look?”
Arkay frowned, then cautiously showed Vikalos his third sheet.
“Hm… Hm… That does seem about right, actually, all things considered…” Vikalos smiled as he handed the sheets back to Arkay. “Try not to spend it all in one place…”
“But…”
“But what?”
Arkay shook his head in frustration. “This number is insane!”
“You were a Death God, Arkay. Of course your RDI is going to be higher!” Vikalos continued to smile. “I shall leave you guys to it. Let me know if you need anything…”
As the elder Decay Lord left the room, Retvik and Litvir both eyed Arkay suspiciously. Arkay eyed them both back, then sighed.
“How much, Arkay?”
“Uh… D690,690…” Arkay muttered. “Clearly this… is somehow based on the number of beings we killed… before we became Decay Lords…”
Much to his surprise though, his fellow Decay Lords were both smiling.
“Nice…” Retvik grinned. “Very nice…”