Three days later, Tony returned carrying a black duffel bag.
He looked exhausted; there were dark circles beneath his eyes, and he was still wearing the same clothes as three days earlier.
Mattheus doubted he had slept more than a few hours since their last conversation.
There was one customer sitting at the counter—a bald middle-aged construction worker nursing a beer.
Tony looked at the man.
“Take a walk.”
The customer took one look at Tony’s expression, then at the duffel bag and quickly finished his drink before hurrying through the door.
Mattheus frowned.
“He hadn’t paid yet.”
Tony placed several bills on the counter.
“That cover it?”
Mattheus glanced at them.
“Yes.”
Tony lifted the duffel bag and dropped it onto the counter with a heavy thud.
Mattheus unzipped it, and just as he expected, it was full of cash.
There had to be thousands of tightly packed bundles of fifty-dollar bills in it; Mattheus swallowed— he had never seen so much cash in his life before.
He doubted most bank employees had seen that much money piled directly in front of them.
This looked just like a scene directly taken from a film or a TV show.
Tony looked him directly in the eye.
“When will I have the potion?”
“A few hours.”
Tony nodded.
He turned toward the door and stopped with one hand on the handle.
“If you fuck me over…”
Mattheus looked at the duffel bag, then back at him and nodded.
“I know.”
Tony stayed still for another moment before walking out, and as soon as the door closed, Mattheus transferred the money into the system.
The bundles vanished one after another until the bag was empty and his balance had risen by seven hundred and fifty thousand points.
He opened the Store, found the potion, and for two seconds his finger hovered above the purchase option.
That much money could transform the pub.
He could build an apartment, a proper kitchen, bathrooms, storage rooms, and dozens of other upgrades.
He could even buy the Change Door Location upgrade and move the pub to the other side of the world.
Tony would never find him.
And even if he did, it would take months, perhaps years.
By then, Mattheus might have unlocked another universe or gained enough powers or magic to no longer care.
The temptation was there, but that’s not the kind of man he was raised to be.
Mattheus pressed purchase and a small vial appeared in his inventory.
The crystal vial was no larger than his thumb and the liquid within was transparent and utterly ordinary-looking.
Three-quarters of a million dollars fit inside the palm of his hand.
Mattheus carefully returned it to the Inventory—he was not taking any chances with something that expensive.
***
Several hours later, Tony returned.
Mattheus locked the door and removed the vial from his Inventory and transferred it beneath the counter.
He placed it on the wood and slid it forward.
Tony stared at it.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
He picked up the vial as though it were made of glass thinner than paper with trembling hands.
Tony carefully wrapped the vial in a handkerchief and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
Mattheus had never seen Tony so—so…
he did not have the words for it; whoever the person he wanted to help was, it must mean the world to him.
“The whole thing?” Tony asked.
“The whole thing.
One dose.”
“And it’ll work?”
“Yes.”
Tony looked at him.
Mattheus had no evidence beyond the Store’s description, but the common-cold potion had worked perfectly, and the system had never lied to him before.
“It’ll work,” he repeated.
Without another word, Tony walked out.
***
The following day, the pub door burst open, and Mattheus looked up in alarm.
His stun gun was already in his hand, ready to shock the shit out of any would-be thief but there was no thief, just Tony.
“To—”
Tony strode across the room, walked straight behind the counter, and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug before Mattheus could say a word.
Mattheus’s feet left the floor.
“…Can’t…” he wheezed.
“Breathe…”
Tony released him.
“My little girl…” His voice cracked.
Mattheus stared at him, catching his breath.
Tony rubbed at his eyes with one hand, but tears escaped anyway.
“She’s walking again.”
A smile spread across Mattheus’s face, and his shoulder relaxed as he let out a small sigh of relief.
“It worked?”
“We went to the park this morning.” Tony laughed, the sound breaking halfway through.
“She walked the whole way.
She got outta bed on her own, kid.
She stood up and walked like there was never anything wrong with her.”
Mattheus felt something tighten in his chest, and damn, he might cry as well.
It was like those videos on YT, just in real life.
Tony grabbed Mattheus by the shoulders.
“She walked, kid.
She fucking walked.”
Mattheus had never seen Tony look so happy; hell, he had never seen anyone this happy before.
“You saved my little girl,” Tony said.
Mattheus smiled awkwardly.
“I’m glad she’s all right.”
Tony pulled him into another bone-crushing hug.
***
Several hours and many beers later, Tony was thoroughly drunk.
He had celebrated the miracle with several beers, followed by whiskey, followed by another beer, then a tequila shot, another beer, and a second whiskey to finish the night.
It was well past midnight, and it was just them in the pub.
Tony sat hunched over the counter, turning his empty glass between his fingers.
“Kid…”
“What?”
“How much was the potion really?”
Mattheus frowned.
“I told you.”
“No.” Tony shook his head.
“You told me what you charged me.”
“That’s usually what something costs.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
Mattheus began wiping down the counter, but Tony caught the cloth beneath his hand.
“I know people who need these things too and they ain’t got seven hundred and fifty grand lying around.” He released the cloth.
“They can’t afford rich-people prices.”
“Tony—”
“I’ll cover your profit myself if I have to, but I need the real number.
How much did your wizard charge you?”
“It was seven hundred and fifty thousand.”
Tony waited, but Mattheus said nothing else.
“…That’s it?” Tony asked.
“That’s what it cost.”
Tony’s brow furrowed.
“How much did you make?”
“Nothing.”
Tony opened his mouth, closed it, then looked down at the empty glass.
For once, he seemed completely unable to find something to say.
Mattheus looked away and busied himself wiping the already clean counter.
“It didn’t feel right,” he muttered.
“Making it more expensive, I mean.
Not for something like that.”
Tony stared at him for a long time, making Mattheus increasingly more uncomfortable.
“What?”
“Sei proprio un bravo ragazzo.” (You are a good kid)
Mattheus suddenly found a blank wall very interesting.
“I made a hundred and eighty bucks from curing your cold,” Mattheus muttered.
“I’m not running a charity.”
Tony laughed—a wet, broken laugh that ended with him rubbing his eyes again.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
“Real ruthless businessman.”
***
The next day, Tony returned carrying another duffel bag.
Mattheus eyed it as Tony placed it on the counter.
“How many more potions do you need?”
“None.”
Tony pushed the bag toward him, and Mattheus unzipped it: more bundles of cash filled the inside.
He lifted one, checked the bills, and looked at Tony.
“What’s this for?”
“Yours.”
Mattheus closed the bag.
“I can’t take this.”
“Yes, you can.”
“No.”
“Take the money, kid.”
“No.”
“You gave my daughter her life back.”
“I didn’t charge you extra yesterday, and I’m not going to change my mind now.”
Tony slammed one broad hand onto the counter.
“No.”
Mattheus fell silent.
“For ten fucking years,” Tony said, “I went from the hospital to my house and from my house back to the fucking hospital.”
His hand remained pressed against the counter.
“At first, she could run.
Then she needed help getting up the stairs.
Then she needed crutches.
Then a chair.”
Tony’s jaw tightened.
“Every morning, I went into her room wondering if that would be the day she couldn’t move her legs at all.
Every time the phone rang, I thought it was the hospital telling me she was gone.”
Mattheus did not know what to say.
“I promised my wife I’d take care of Chiara,” Tony continued.
“I promised her nothing would happen to our little girl.
And I couldn’t do shit.”
His voice cracked again.
“I had money.
I knew doctors.
I threatened doctors.
I paid for treatments, specialists, experimental shit—all of it.
None of it mattered.
I just stood there and watched my daughter die a little more every fucking day.”
Tony pointed toward the duffel bag.
“Then you gave me that tiny bottle.” His eyes were red now.
“And now she can walk.
She can dance.
She can laugh without being in pain.
She can grow old, fall in love, have kids, make mistakes and live her life.”
He pushed the bag closer.
“She finally has a chance at a real life.”
“Tony—”
“There ain’t a fucking thing in this world worth more than that.”
Mattheus looked down at the bag.
“This money isn’t close to enough for what you did,” Tony said.
“So take it before you piss me off.”
Mattheus nodded and pulled the bag toward himself.
“All right.”
Tony grunted.
“Good.” He sat on his usual stool.
“Now get me a beer.”
Mattheus smiled and reached for a Messina.
“This one is on the house.”
“Damn right it is.”
The money disappeared when Mattheus put the bag behind the bar counter, leaving him with 250,000 SP in his app.
He stared at the number on his phone and grinned.
He could expand the pub.
Build a proper kitchen.
Add tables, better furniture and enough stock to make the place look like an actual business.
More importantly, after nearly two weeks of sleeping behind the counter, washing himself with bottled water and shitting in a bucket, he could finally build a bedroom with a proper shower and a toilet.
Life was finally turning around.
And soon, Mattheus would have a place to shit.
Autho’s Note: What are your thoughts on Tony so far?
He is the first Original Character with a part to play in Mattheus’s story beyond buying some beers and he was also one of the first characters I came up with when I started thinking about this story.
Tony is heavily inspired by Tony Lip from Green Book, played by Viggo Mortensen (one of my favorite actors).
He’s not meant to be the exact same character, but that’s definitely where a lot of the inspiration for his personality and mannerisms came from.
Anyway, I’m curious to hear what you guys think of him!
Soon, Matty will unlock the second world: Which one do you want it to be?
You have today—and maybe tomorrow at most—to throw your suggestions at me.
Be quick, be fast, be swift, be speedy, be hasty (I know synonyms; give me a golden star, teach).