"Yes, one should have opened up by now regarding the start of the tournament, even down here, and they will accept your coin. But why do you want to gamble? Are you feeling lucky after your team barely scraped the victory?" Vivienne pointedly asked Norbert, almost able to see the venom dripping with every word.
"Remember what I said before about what I would do in a day for training," Norbert asked her as he began to head towards the exit.
Vivienne stood still, replaying the conversation. "If I had any elixirs?" She asked him.
"Bingo," Norbert said, clicking his fingers to a finger gun. He let his hand move back like there was recoil after the shot.
"Don't; that will kill you," Vivienne said, walking towards Norbert as he left the booth, not wanting to let her investment go. He was walking down the stairs, his footsteps smashing onto the ground, and he could still hear from above.
"Hasn't killed me yet!" Norbert shouted, his voice echoing around outside the room as Norbert headed to the exit of the stadium.
"Let the human kill himself and spend some time with us instead." the giant said to Vivienne.
The woman looks back, giving the giant one-look
"Not today, Groof, not ever," Vivienne said coldly, leaving her hand by her side and letting her magic crackle in the palm of her hands. The lines over her body came out, slithering down her arm and landing on the ground, heading towards Groof.
The giant looked down at the witch before stepping back and turning his attention to the arena once more. The others looked back at the arena as well. An ebony man, ears turning to points, just smiled sadly at Vivienne before he turned to the arena.
***
Norbert exited the Colosseum, looking around as he wondered where the casino would be located. Not seeing anything instantly catch his eye, Norbert started walking down the busy street. All eyes were on Norbert as he walked around, going around the circuit of the street around the Colosseum, thinking that would be the most likely place to find what he was looking for.
"You lost little boy?" Someone said from behind him.
Norbert turned around, sensing how the conversation was going to go. The person in front of him looked like one of the zombies at the front gate, and skin fell off in places as Norbert looked them up and down, sure that they wouldn't be too much of an issue for him to deal with. Sadly, though, he was being impeded by someone so quickly without Vivienne's presence.
"Actually yes. Can you tell me how to get to the casino?" Norbert asked the zombie.
"I can do you one better; I'll lead you there," the zombie said, and Norbert nodded as he followed the zombie across.
The zombie instantly goes into a side street, the narrow passage having trash squashed between the two buildings. The zombie does not even try to make a pretence of showing him the right direction. Norbert stops in his tracks halfway down the alley.
Changing his vision to magic, he looked around the ground, and from what he could see, both walls were obscuring the trash on the ground, stopping him from properly looking for traps.
"Is this a shortcut?" Norbert asked the zombie.
"It is. Now hurry," the zombie said, looking back at Norbert, annoyed that the human was standing there with his arms crossed.
"If you're going to do some cliché thing like this, at least make the people jump out by now. Otherwise, I'm just going to go back out that way," Norbert said, pointing his thumb behind himself.
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The zombie looked towards Norbert. "Cliché? No, this is the way to the casino," the zombie said, continuing to walk further down the alley.
Norbert shrugged, turned around on his heels, and walked back the other way. He passed his hand over his leg and took a dagger out as he started whistling to himself. He went back into the main road, looking both ways as he made it properly with the people. Turning around, he saw the zombie just looking at him, shaking his head in frustration at the human before he disappeared into one of the houses in the alleyway.
"There you are, Norbert!" Vivienne shouted to him. Norbert heard the crowd on the street stop for a moment before continuing to walk. Everyone looked at Vivienne and why she raised her voice, realising none of them were in trouble as they continued with their day.
Norbert just nodded his head as the witch stopped next to him. Pointing behind him, Norbert asked, "Is that the quickest way to the casino?"
Vivienne looked over his shoulder before nodding. "It is, but that's a dumping street, not that clean," she said as she looked him up and down. But I don't think that will stop you," she said, pointing and staring at his feet.
Looking down at them, he saw sludge of the brown sort smeared over his feet. Shaking one of them off, failing to clean it at all. Looking up at Vivienne, Norbert waved his foot at her. Groaning, she held her hand down, the snakes once more wriggling down her arms, latching onto his boots and rubbing their body against them; after half a minute, they retreated into Vivienne.
On the ground around him, Norbert saw a puddle of grime and dirt, stepping around it and trying to keep them clean after the help the witch gave him. Norbert looked about.
"So, which way to the casino?" Norbert asked again.
"Follow me," Vivienne said, walking back to the Colosseum circle and making their way further around. Norbert went around as he started to think, "Is this place always so busy?" Norbert asked.
"No, most people and attractions come only when the tournament is in action. Otherwise, it's mostly a dust bowl with just enough people to keep it functional," Vivienne said as she made herself around.
"So the casino isn't always here?" Norbert asked her.
Vivienne waved her hand from side to side next to her. "Yes and no. There is always some gambling den here, but the casino of this size is awarded to whoever pays the most." Vivienne said.
Norbert nodded, understanding, "The guards need to get paid somehow, as well as the tedious work when nobody is here."
"Precisely. Though the illegal arms bust always happens to get their coffers full." Vivienne said, giving a pointed look to the stadium behind them.
Norbert turned to Vivienne, raising an eyebrow at the statement. The witch did not stop momentarily as she continued walking, heading up from the ring around the Colosseum and away from the oppressive structure.
Norbert followed behind her, wondering what the casino would be like and what other types of gambling were available besides the glass fish bowls that his acquaintance Elizabeth had.
Seeing lights coming from up ahead, Norbert stopped in his tracks. Vivienne continued to walk, stopping and turning after realising that Norbert was no longer following her.
"What's wrong?" She asked him.
Norbert just pointed at the glass structure in the sea of stone. "Is that it?" Norbert asked her, pointing at his fears.
"That's a strange insistence on having it built out of glass. All of the other times the casino has been in town, it's only been in a building retrofitted for events like that—not demolishing a block and placing that monstrosity in," Vivienne said, looking between Norbert and the building.
Norbert continued to stand there, not willing to budge a bit. Vivienne realised that something was wrong. "What's wrong? You hate that casino. Isn't this your first time here?" Vivienne asked him.
Norbert just sighed, seeing no reason to hold off anymore as he continued walking towards the casino. He took his belt and daggers off, already wrapping the leather around the handles of the weapons, stopping them from being drawn quickly.
"I've been to her casinos before. I was just hoping that I would be able to go to another type. See what varieties there are besides those glass cubes," Norbert said, pointing his weapons towards the structure.
The structure is now visible from the buildings around it. Norbert sees a stream of people entering it, wondering if they also came from the arena like he did after the Grimm's defeat.
Standing at the bottom of the steps, Norbert saw the three floors once again. Shaking his head, he wondered what type of fights they would have on the third floor. Would it be humans battling one another out for the enjoyment of the audience?
Not wanting to find out, Norbert erased the thought as he travelled up the steps, one at a time, trying to make a plan format in his mind.
Standing in front of the guards, Norbert noticed them as not human at all. "May I enter?" he asked, shaking his wrapped-up weapons, the handles clattering together slightly and the coin pouch drawing the guards' attention.