The weather was good, the initial rain that had brought the temperature down was now gone. It would be good if Satin could have a walk outside, carefree and have a burger at some roadside small shop. This was the first thought popped in Satin’s head when he woke up.

His eyes opened. His hands felt heavy as if they were jammed. His torso was tied with the rope to the couch. He saw the guy sitting just a few steps away. He was watching TV. Satin opened his mouth, but the words didn’t come out. There was an itch in his throat, he wanted to scratch it by coughing, but was not able to. It became unbearable. Tears came out of his eyes.

“You are awake. Quite a nice and cozy sleep you had.” The man dipped a spoon in the bowl in front of him, he twisted the spoon to get the maximum amount of noodle, he continued, “Don’t worry about the ropes. Once you listen to me and understand what I’m trying to say I’ll remove them.”

“Oh sorry, where are my manners?” He stood and quickly came to Satin. He shook his head and gave a bow. “Sorry, I had to do this.”

Then he ran to somewhere and after ten minutes came back with some needles and some pouch of blood, with weird setup.

Satin’s eyes went wide, he whimpered.

The guy looked left and right, “I humbly apologize again.” He took the needle and inserted it in Satin’s arm, he placed the pouch of blood in the transfusion setup. After checking everything was fine, he went back to eating his noodle.

‘What is this blood?’

He couldn’t say a word. The guy had given him some paralysis drug, which is made him unable to move and talk.

He looked at the blood that was pouring in his veins.

‘What is this? Amy I lacking in blood? If so, then this guy checked the needles?’

It would be bad if he got an infection from this. Being kidnapped was a different thing, and being kidnapped and getting some weird infection was totally different.

“You must be wondering about the setup. Don’t worry, the blood and the setup, everything is clean. I double-checked them.” The guy looked at him. He narrowed his eyes.

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He went inside and came back with a laptop, “I will show you something. After that, you can decide what to do.”

He plugged the projector into the laptop and switched it on, “Let me give you some background info on this.” Satin could see some photographs of what looked like an old grocery store.

“This is called the ‘Pledge’, and this man here is known as Sigmund Charles.”

Satin saw an old man, probably in his seventies was surrounded by burly figures in a semicircle. He was the center of it. The old man was holding a paper in his hands and a man was on his knees.

“Have you heard about El Dorado?”

Satin tried to nod. El Dorado, The famous mythical treasure every adventurer talked about.

“I’ll take it as an affirmative. This man announced to the world a few days back, that he got the map of El Dorado.”

Yes, Satin had read about this in a magazine.

“A few days ago, this man sent a message to one of the biggest guilds of this country.” The guy stopped and went through the expression on Satin’s face.

Satin had seen some people who were adventurers. And he had also visited one of the guilds with his friends when he was in high school.

“This old man here has instructed them to organize a tournament. He wants to select a team from the winners of the tournament. He will send that team to get the treasure of El Dorado.”

The guy switched off the projector, “But he also proposed a condition. Only the ones who have the blood of kings can apply for these tournaments.”

He looked at Satin’s arm, “I was looking for anyone who can enter the tournament. I had my reasons. And I found you. Of course, you don’t have the blood of kings. So, through some of my connections, I was able to get some decent amount of blood from the underground. I have tested the concentration, it is 70% pure. Which will do the trick.”

Satin wanted to slap this guy and smash his head with the cup of tea he was served. His savings were pretty low already. He purchased the car on loan, he has to pay that, there are also rent, his internet charges, his groceries and many more. There was just barely enough to cover his expenses for a month at most. He desperately wanted a job.

“Sorry, I didn’t get your approval for this. I talked with some people before, but they all refused. I even talked with adventurers, but they were already associated with agencies.” The guy checked the setup again, “The blood transfusion would be complete by the time you would be able to move. Remove these things then. And if are worried about the money, I’ll also pay you. Think about it and let me know.” He placed a card on Satin’s belly. There was only a contact number engraved on the card.

He grabbed a bag and placed his laptop inside it. He looked again at Satin. He nodded and left the room.

Satin closed his eyes, ‘I’ll find you and then..’ He tried to clutch his fists but couldn’t.

Fuck this shit!

He didn’t know who that man was. After spending the whole day in this room and listening to his talk, he had no clue who that guy was. If Satin could guess, then he must be desperate. All he felt was anger towards this person. Sure, if what that man was talking is true, he would get a lot of money. But the odds and not in his favor. He was not ready to take the risk.