Eyes In The Crowd

"No," Kies answered. That was the expected and logical answer, or at least it was to him. The prize money from the tournament was already enough to hire the herbalists. There was really no point in betting as it would only increase the prize rewards, and he had no need for that much money. Food, travel, and other expenses that people usually had, he didn't have.

It seemed that the other three were also expecting that answer. None of them were surprised when they heard Kies say no. "Yeah... I guessed that," Nyana said.

"Then why did you bring me here?" he asked the elf. If she knew that he was going to say no from the beginning, then what was the point in bringing him here. Wasn't it just a waste of time then? Once again, it wasn't like Kies had anything better to do, but still...

"Now that you say it, I guess this was a fruitless visit... But for you to not bet, does it mean that you don't have confidence?"

"Confidence? Well, I would be lying if I said yes." It was true. He didn't feel that the soldier was a threat, but his anti-magic scarf was something he didn't know how to deal with. He could use magic as long as he had some reserved in the moonstone, but there was a limit to what he could use because of that. And that was not to mention the fact that he had to fight Rui too.

"He was holding back in that fight..." Kies told the elf.

"Holding back? That man was?"

"Yes. He had much more magic power than what he showed during the fight. If he really went serious then I might've lost," Kies explained, admitting that his opponent may have been more powerful than him.

"What are you two talking about? Holding back and what not?" Vistaken asked. He and Bachi didn't know what Kies and Nyana meant. "You talk as if you were the one that fought... But I don't recall seeing someone like you up there."

"Hm? Didn't you say that you didn't attend the match?" Nyana was confused. Didn't the two men just say that they didn't attend the fight?

"Yes, I didn't see the fight for myself. What I meant to say is that I didn't hear about someone with your appearance partaking in the fight," he corrected himself. "However, I did hear about an elf," he added, looking at Nyana. "That was you, right?"

"That was me."

"Oh. I heard that your fights were incredible and your magic was powerful, but you got taken out by a dark horse..."

"That is also correct."

"Really? May I ask who it was that you fought?" Judging from Vistaken's face and tone, it seemed that he was really curious to know just who could win against an elf. Bachi looked like he was just as curious.

"It's one of the final three contestants," she told him, not revealing Kies' identity.

"That means... Wait, is he the one that you want to bet on?"

"Yes?"

"Ah, no wonder." For her to choose the person with the lowest odds, it made sense now. "Since you fought them, you know their strength... And since you're vouching for them, it means that they're not as weak as people make them out to be..." he muttered to himself. "If I take that into consideration..." The tall man got up and paced around his room for a bit. Everyone else watched him silently as he did so.

After making three laps, he stopped and his head suddenly spun towards Bachi, surprising him. "What is it?" he asked his friend, not knowing why he turned his head like that.

"Do you have a recording of the fight?"

"Recording? Aren't you the one that's supposed to have it? You're in charge of all this betting stuff after all."

"Ugh..." Vistaken groaned and put his hand on his forehead like he had a migraine. "I don't have a recording because I didn't send any of my men to watch the second round. The betting starts in the third round so I wasn't prepared for what happened today. If I had known..." If only he sent someone for safety, then he wouldn't be in this predicament... "I have to make a bet on someone since this is my business. Although I don't "have" to, the other nobles expect me to, and if I don't bet at least a quarter of my wealth, there is a problem..." he explained his problem out loud.

"A quarter of your wealth!?" Kies and Nyana were shocked to hear this.

"Yes... I can always refuse but I would lose influence if I do that. The reason why this business is so successful is that I managed to get the winners right almost every single year. Unfortunately, in the past few years, the situation is just like it is now..." he mumbled, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Nyana asked, prompting him to explain the details.

"Well... You're outsiders, so I don't think there is a need for you to listen to my problems, but I'll tell you anyway..." he sighed. "You see, this place is pretty expensive to keep operating." Vistaken went to the window and pulled aside the curtains. Outside, even though it was getting rather late, people were still coming to the mansion. In fact, there were a lot more people than when Kies and Nyana had first arrived. In just a few minutes after they arrived, a line had started to form.

"Yes... We can see that..." Kies said. The amount of money required to keep this whole place operational must be tremendous. It was outside the realm that he could imagine.

"Anyway," Vistaken continued. "The winner of the tournament the previous years have all been the same person."

"We also heard about that." Iris told Kies all about it. Apparently, the man had won so many times that his entire statue was plated in gold and he suddenly disappeared after that.

"Because of that, how do you think it affected the bets?" Vistaken asked the two, wanting them to figure out the problem for themselves.

"I see..." Nyana instantly figured it out and Kies figured it out as well just a second after.

"Yes, that's exactly why I'm in this crisis right now..." he sighed. Bachi went over and patted his friend on the shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Because the outcome of the tournaments are obvious, everyone bets on the same person, and that would be the returning champion, and that applies to me as well. Since the odds are practically a hundred to zero, if you win the bet, you get almost no profit."

"And the bets are a way of you making money, right? Since you have had no income for the past few years, maintaining this place has become difficult," Kies finished the rest for him.

"Yes, it is exactly as you say, word for word. I can only last two more years like this. I thought that this year would be different since the champion isn't participating, but it just happened that this year was special..."

So in a way, Kies was to blame for this. If he hadn't challenged all the contestants then Vistaken would've had a chance to win this year's gamble. The two contestants that would've made it to the end are Rui and the other one that Kies fought. Wait... Would it have been different? Rui would be heavily favored either way, would she? Kies thought about this for a minute. Even if he hadn't joined the tournament, the results would still be the same. It wasn't really his fault.

"There isn't much I can do about this..." Vistaken said sadly. "If only the final contestants had similar skills, then the odds will be more balanced..." He walked back to the table and tapped the glass with the percentage readings. It blurred a little and new numbers appeared. Rui's number had gone to one hundred while Kies' and the soldier's had gone to zero, indicating that there were so few people that bet on them, it was basically irreverent.

*Sigh...* Vistaken shook his head again and sat down. "Anyway, a thank you to you two for listening to this old man. It has nothing to do with you, so you don't have to worry about it," he told them. "While you're here, why not enjoy this place... While it lasts..." The last sentence made the atmosphere even gloomier. Vistaken had run this place for what sounded like years and it was on the verge of shutting down... What started as a light-hearted talk turned into a depressing one.

"What about the other places?" Kies asked, pointing at the horse race track in the center and the various other buildings all around.

"Them? Even if you combine all of them, they are nowhere close in popularity as the tournament..." he told Kies.

"Oh..." Well, fighting was Otane's main culture so it made sense. But for them to not generate even a moderate amount of money... It was mind blowing. Otanians really loved fighting to the point that nothing else mattered.

"Dad?" The door creaked open and a face poked through the small gap.

"Lelly?"

"Hey, long time no see!" Bachi ran over and picked the girl up and lifted her into the air.

"Uncle Bachi!" The mercenary spun the girl around in a full circle before putting her back down. She laughed and said, "I thought I told you to not do that anymore. I'm not a little kid anymore."

"You are to me," Bachi laughed, patting her head. The girl pouted and ran over to father, giving him a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Vistaken asked with a smile. His frown from before was gone and he had a cheerful expression on his face. He didn't want to let his daughter know what was going on and was hiding it from her.

"I wanted to see how you were doing," she told him.

"Oh, you wanted to see how I'm doing? Well, as you can see, I'm talking with some guests."

Lelly looked at Kies and Nyana and greeted them. "Hi!"

"Greetings," Nyana bowed respectfully. Kies also bowed since he wasn't sure what the customs were like here in Otane. She had blonde hair just like her father and looked like she was sixteen or seventeen. She was wearing a white dress and had a lot of makeup on. It was as Bachi said, she was beautiful. Even Nyana was impressed by her looks and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, didn't you fight in the tournament?" she asked them.

"Yes, I did," Nyana answered.

"I saw you fight. But..." she looked at Kies. He felt a chill as he suddenly got a bad feeling about what the girl was going to say next. "Weren't you the one that she fought against?"

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