The restaurant was a spectacle of intimate architecture: low lights hung like golden orbs over the tables carefully separated to preserve the air of exclusivity. Walls in black oak panels and dark glass reflected only what was necessary, and the ambient music was a refined whisper of minimalist jazz.
Luna and Lisa were sitting in one of the rooms that still maintained a panoramic view of the city through dynamically polarized windows. In front of them, two digital menus hovered in holographic mode.
"I'm going to order the vegetal cervic filet with blue wine reduction. And you?" asked Luna, without looking at the menu for more than three seconds.
"Hmm... truffled risotto and crystal chrysalis salad." replied Lisa, already used to not trying to understand the luxurious names. "And a lychee juice with hibiscus... no alcohol, please."
Before the conversation flowed, a middle-aged man, well dressed, appeared beside the table with a polite smile.
"Sorry for the interruption, ladies." he said, bowing slightly in reverence. "I'm the house manager. It's an immeasurable honor to have Luna Malroth and Lisa in our restaurant tonight. On behalf of the whole team, welcome. If you need anything, anything at all, it will be provided immediately."
Luna just nodded with a subtle smile. Lisa thanked with a polite gesture and, with the same discretion with which he appeared, the manager said goodbye and disappeared into the soft shadow of the hallway.
"Is it always like this?" murmured Lisa, laughing. "Like... every place recognizes you?"
"Sometimes I try to go in discreetly, but my hair shines too much." joked Luna, twirling a strand between her fingers. "And you're also famous now, international champion. They recognize you as much as me."
Lisa laughed with the lightness of someone getting used to a new level of fame. "Speaking of which... tomorrow I go back to Phoenix. Time to start officially building our LoL team."
"Excellent." said Luna, with a sparkle in her eyes. "When you get there, contact Lumine. She will help you with everything — structure, budget, marketing, whatever you need."
Lisa let out a short laugh, more of joy than surprise. "Lumine herself? The ice CEO?"
"She seems like ice until you enter her best friends group."
Lisa nodded excitedly.
"Ah! I need to tell my parents I'm moving to Phoenix for good." she said with shining eyes. "I think my mother will faint with happiness."
Luna smiled, but inside... something tightened.
For a brief moment, her expression faltered. The mention of parents triggered a poorly stitched wound.
Memories arose like flashes: an abandoned crib, the silence of an indifferent foster home, the coldness of being left behind twice. A childhood without laps. A Christmas without bonds.
But before the emotion overflowed, Luna wore her poker face.
Lisa looked at her, still laughing. "By the way, my mother asked me to thank you. She said you're an angel for accepting her daughter into your team."
Luna was going to respond but didn't have time.
The food arrived.
Waiters dressed in minimalist suits glided silently like shadows over the table, serving the dishes with almost choreographed gestures. The aromas mixed into the environment like a new gala perfume.
"Bon appétit."
The two began to eat. Lisa savored with closed eyes, enchanted, and took the opportunity to tell more of her own story.
"I left home. I went to live alone in Belgium to play in a regional league. It was horrible at first. Cold, alone, and a rented room that looked more like a moldy shoebox."
Luna chewed slowly, listening with genuine interest.
"But it was worth every second. My first team was terrible, but that's where I learned to negotiate contracts, deal with idiots, and make instant coffee with tears."
The two laughed.
Lisa took another bite and then fell silent upon seeing a man approaching the table with a forced smile.
"Sorry to interrupt..." said the man, a tall, blond guy, with that kind of suit that screams "divorced lawyer who thinks charm is persistence."
"Give me your number, maybe we can go out to talk one day?"
Luna swallowed slowly and forced a polite smile. "Sorry, but no."
The man, as if he hadn't heard, sat on the arm of Lisa's chair. "Come on, just the number. We'll have some wine someday. It'll be fun."
Lisa recoiled a little, uncomfortable.
Luna leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table with narrowed eyes. "Look, I was being polite, but you're starting to make my trigger finger itch."
"You're threatening me?" laughed the man, as if it were the most absurd thing in the world.
Luna slowly took a small card from her pocket. When she clicked it, a hologram projected with the Tycoon logo and the "Legal Warning" symbol.
"No, but if you continue to bother a CEO, protected by legal layers and defense artificial intelligence, Tycoon automatically puts you on the international blacklist of access to our technologies."
The man widened his eyes. "You're kidding..."
"Try and see." whispered Luna, cold as polished steel.
The man got up and backed away as if he had bumped into an invisible wall. He muttered something that sounded like "crazy rich women" and walked away with the dignity of a wet cat.
Lisa burst out laughing. "Ok. You have to teach me how to do that."
Luna let out a theatrical sigh. "Men who think they're entitled to everything... are like viruses. They reappear with every update."
"At least you have antivirus from a billionaire company."
The two laughed.
They ate and talked calmly.
When the meal was over, Luna lightly touched the napkin to the corner of her lips, adjusted her earrings, and snapped her fingers.
A waiter came running, and she asked for the bill with a lazy look.
Minutes later, the same house manager appeared, wearing an even more elegant blazer, with a nervous smile, revealing the final amount.
"Final bill: one million, three hundred and twelve thousand and eight hundred dollars, Miss Malroth. Including award-winning wines, room fees, and the digital artistic cover charge of the table's interactive orchestra."
Lisa widened her eyes. The fork she was still holding slipped from her hand and almost fell to the floor.
"One point three million...?" she murmured, as if saying it would ease the impact.
Luna, however, just typed a code on the card.
"C'est fait."
"For God's sake, Luna, with that you could pay decades of my rent and still have enough for some trips to Korea."
The two got up.
Luna just smiled sideways, spinning the Bugatti key in her fingers. "Lisa... my dear ADC of the heavens... you'll have to get used to it. Because from now on you'll be making more than ten million a month. Not counting tournament prizes, personal sponsorships, and streams."
Lisa blinked. "...Ten million?"
"At least." Luna said with a dismissive air. "You haven't understood yet? You're the most talked-about woman in the global competitive scene after that MSI. The world finally saw what a real player can do."
As they left through the main entrance of the restaurant, subtle flashes of paparazzi drones hovered in the distance, respecting the location's contractual silence zone.
Lisa murmured to herself, as if trying to absorb the new reality.
"At my house... our most expensive dinners were around a thousand dollars when my parents got excited. Their combined income is like, sixty thousand a month. They don't even consider a place like this."
Luna gave a low laugh, almost nostalgic. "And yet, now they have a daughter who's going to own a mansion and a fortune."
"It's surreal... really."
Outside, the Bugatti activated the doors with a slight metallic whistle.
Lisa opened the passenger door, still a little stunned.
While Luna was fastening her seatbelt, Lisa rummaged through her purse until she pulled out her phone.
"Ah! I almost forgot." she said, typing quickly. "The MSI prize... I should receive my percentage today."
She opened the banking app.
Silence.
The balance remained the same.
"Nothing?" Luna asked, already anticipating the answer.
Lisa frowned and huffed, sliding her nervous fingers across the keyboard. She sent a direct message to Galáctico e-sports administration.
"I can't believe they're doing this right now..."
"You're telling me they haven't paid yet?" Luna raised an eyebrow as if already preparing a war plan.
"Not yet." Lisa confirmed, biting her lip. "They promised the payment would come by today. All players signed a contract with that stipulated. But now... total silence."
Luna slowly fastened her seatbelt, leaned back in the seat. "If Galáctico wants to play with your trust... then I'll step in. It won't be pretty."
"Luna—" Lisa tried to interrupt.
"No one tries to screw Lisa under my name. Not while I've got 'Seraphim.exe' tattooed on my chest and Tycoon on my back."
Lisa blushed a little but forced a small smile. "Just go easy, okay? They were still my team for two years... they were kind of idiots sometimes, but... they were my home."
Luna was silent for a moment, then murmured in a softer but firm voice.
"I respect your story, Lisa. But if they dare make a fool of you, even after what you did for them in that championship... I won't let it slide."
Silence hung between them for a few seconds, until Lisa sighed, letting herself sink into the seat. "Well... at least now I have someone who defends me."
Luna gently accelerated the car, and the Bugatti slid like silk over the asphalt.
And as the city lights danced on the windows, Lisa looked at the window and whispered. "I think my life really changed."
"It did." replied Luna. "And it's just the beginning."
Luna looked at Lisa with that mischievous smile and declared. "Let's make a stop before going home."
"What? Now?" Lisa raised an eyebrow.
"Of course. You're going to Phoenix early tomorrow, right? You need... everything."
"Everything?"
Luna just laughed.
Half an hour later, the Bugatti parked smoothly at the glass entrance of one of the only 24-hour ultra-luxury department stores in the city — discreetly located on the 96th floor of an exclusive New York skyscraper, where the general public didn't even know stores like this existed.
Soft lights, ambient music, and holograms of models walking between the windows.
Upon entering, the store manager, a woman in a silver suit with a flawless smile, practically knelt upon recognizing Luna Malroth.
"Miss Tycoon. It's an honor to receive you again."
"Today I'm here as a fairy godmother." Luna said with a playful air, pulling Lisa by the arm.
"Lisa, current MSI champion and new face of the global LoL scene. I need her to leave this store with a new wardrobe worthy of her glory."
Lisa widened her eyes. "Luna... this isn't necessary. I can—"
"You can nothing. You'll try on clothes, try bags, put on heels and wear twenty-thousand-dollar sunglasses and get used to being a star."
And so began the marathon.
Luna chose with surgical precision: casual designer sets, sportswear with thermal self-regulation technology, lingerie, hand-embroidered gala dresses, coats and shoes that molded to the shape of the foot. Earrings, sapphire necklaces and of course... bags.
"This one is from Noir Chéri's new collection... only a thousand units made in the world." Luna commented, handing a bag worth the price of an apartment.
"I... don't even know how to hold one of these."
"You hold it like you were born rich."
Lisa found herself surrounded by saleswomen, stylist holograms, drones adjusting fit in real time, while Luna just sat in a velvet armchair, with a holographic tablet in front of her to approve the looks.
Hours passed.
The virtual cart accumulated clothes, accessories, perfumes, cosmetic products, gadgets, sneakers, heels, belts and more — all from the best brands in the world and with the best possible upgrades.
In the end, Lisa stood staring at the purchase total projected in the air:
Final amount: 17,425,900 dollars.
Lisa swallowed hard. "Luna... I can't accept this. It's... surreal. It's SEVENTEEN million!"
Luna only responded with a yawn while confirming the delivery with her black card.
"First: you can accept it. Second: you will accept it. And third: you have to arrive in Phoenix looking richer than the empire's princesses."
"But why?"
"Because appearance matters, Lisa. The world still underestimates women in the professional scene. We enter with skill, yes... but we also enter with presence. And tomorrow, when you step into that airport in Phoenix, they'll know that the new era of e-sports has arrived, and she wears heels, gloss, and carries a two-hundred-thousand-dollar bag."
Lisa smiled, defeated by the argument and Luna's charm. "Okay... but at least let me choose the colors of the underwear."
"Deal."
At checkout, the manager hesitated. "Miss Malroth, standard deliveries are scheduled for late morning."
Luna just raised an eyebrow. "I'll pay extra if everything's delivered before five a.m."
"Of course! We'll make a priority delivery directly to your mansion with a luxury crew."
Luna typed in the address of her property.
Lisa looked at the screen with wide eyes when she saw the extent of the property. "I stayed in that last night?"
"I exist in that." replied Luna with an arrogant smile.
When they left the store, the early morning was already beginning to cool.
Luna stretched and yawned as they got in the car. "I have to travel at seven. That gives me like... two hours of sleep. Let's go home, Lisa. You're officially my luxury ADC now."
Lisa looked out the window, seeing New York's lights slowly fading on the horizon. "Luxury ADC... I like that."
And the Bugatti vanished into the dark.
------
Hello, thank you for reading and following this chapter. Remember to use your Golden Tickets and Power Stones to help the work reach new heights!