Norbert spilled the beans on his nightly activities, removing the clothes he used as his disguise to gain entry. Norbert explained his dastardly plan of making money as quickly as possible when he explained the card arriving and him keeping the guests entertained as long as possible, sharing the drinks around.
Martitia interrupted his explanation asking, "And what makes you think that getting a massive crowd around you and doing the same thing you nearly got kicked out for doing before would result in anything different?"
Norbert stared back at her, explaining his reasoning. "Well, since I'm making all this coin from the house, they aren't going to be happy about it, and it will result in me getting forcibly removed," Norbert said, fiddling with a straw on the hat. "If everyone else spends enough money on drinks and food, joining in on other games and losing, then that would offset their cost of me raking them dry."
Martitia just groaned at his response. "That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Purposefully getting attention." She finished shaking her head.
"What? They even started betting on me, money was changing hands and flying around faster than I could keep track of. And anyway, I haven't told you about what happens next."
Martitia just stared at him. "Next, there's a next?"
Norbert smirked and continued his story about going to the desk, getting his chips out and going upstairs to see the owner. Being interrupted again, Martitia quickly ended the story. "And it resulted in you fleeing the establishment, being chased around the city in a manhunt for the entire night until you made it back here."
Norbert just nodded in response, feeling the wrath that would soon enter
"Now-"
"Hey, Norbert", Dobert shouted from above interrupting what Martitia would have said. Norbert looked around, seeing Dobert standing on the steps before he continued, "Was it worth it?"
Norbert just chuckled. "Depends on how deep I've dug myself. If this blows over, then most definitely. In the last checkout, that was nine gold coins. And that doesn't include any other times I checked out before."
Dobert and Martitia just looked at him, gobsmacked about the amount of coin he had. "What, why do you think I have this sack with me" Norbert explained to them, hearing Dobert barrel down the stairs, the other people in the force also rushing out of their rooms, crowding around the sack.
Norbert realised they all must have been listening to the conversation crowding around. Norbert stuck his hand into the sack, everyone hearing the chinkling of coins. Pulling out a fist full, Norbert showed it to those around, seeing a handful of silver coins and gold caught in his grip.
Everyone silent, as one they all scrambled upstairs. Norbert sat still as everyone returned downstairs, fully geared and started going outside. The room now empty again except for the three, Norbert, Martitia and Obsius, who was sitting on the chandelier again.
Norbert watched as Norbert spotted someone milling around from the group outside on the other side of the street.
Norbert just waited for Martitia to say something. Hours passed, and Norbert started feeling exhausted from his constant rush. One by one, they all returned, all telling the same news about the heat is lower than before; word on the street of what happened was only a brawl between two people got out of hand, with no mention of the casino. The door at the front was already repaired, and looking like nothing happened.
Martitia looked at Norbert, asking, "Did you talk with this owner?"
Norbert nodded and explained what she said, explaining his insistence on cheating and the lull in the conversation and ending how they had to do this for her to keep face.
Martitia just shook her head. "That owner is a strange one", she said to herself.
"How so?" Norbert asked
"Came in a while ago, set up the casino you see there, brought in all new games, odds, everything new. Some people made it big there, and word spread. Ever since it became popular and has thrived ever since." She explained, reaching forward and getting a drink of water. Quenching her throat, she continued.
"Other stories like you have circulated if you know where to ask, and like this, they always seem to disappear. I don't know why she does what she does in the first place. And since the first one in other cities the others have become similar, all as successful."
Norbert just nodded, seeing Earth's strangeness and odd similarities. Wondering if his questions ever would be answered, Martitia interrupted his thoughts.
"But that does mean one thing; you got away with all that coin. Now you need to spend it." Everyone came running down the stairs smiling as they prepared to leave, changing clothes into the more casual kind again. They looked around, waiting around the door, sitting impatiently.
"Oh, you can go on out first; this one here will need a guide anyway with all he's carrying." The others raised their hand in the salute, fingers clasped, and the thumb behind the pointer raised in the air.
Norbert and Martitia joined in as they also left. Finally, the three of them, well and indeed Norbert, saw Martitia relax; leaning forward, she rested her head on the bar. Norbert hopped off the bar stool, placing all the items he had taken for the night in their rightful place.
Returning to the common area, Norbert saw Martitia had also changed, now wearing a black jacket and pants with a cream top. Norbert looked at her change. "It's time to spend some of that coin you have; any idea what you want to get?"
Norbert smiled in response, "Well, what this was about the entire time, elixirs." Norbert said, before looking at Martitia and her clothes and Norbert wearing the Frontier gear "And probably some clothes."
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
***
After walking in the city, getting closer and closer to the tree, Norbert passed it, following Martitia as she walked forward, finally stopping at a store. Norbert looked, it being a one-story building, unlike the others around it. The wooden sign at the front with a potion bottle, Norbert not able to read the words.
Entering, the bell rang as a wave of drugs smells overwhelmed him. Surprised to smell the same smell of capsules after opening a box and that pharmacies sometimes had. Looking around, Norbert found glass cabinets lining the walls and the centre, seeing the same blue lines slowly moving through it.
All evenly spaced the rows were, on the ebony wooden floors his boots thudding against. Examining the tops of the bottles around Norbert saw them in all different sizes. Some small, others tall and narrow, and some was circular with a little top as it sat in a cradle. The only thing they all had in common was a silver dragon acting as a stopper Norbert assumed, all cradling around the spout of the bottles.
Seeing it again, Norbert realised it was reinforcing the glass hiding away what he assumed was the elixirs. He saw some recognised colours: red, green, and yellow, but he did not know what they did. The blues, and even a brown.
As he followed Martitia closer to the desk, a man sat down and stared at them as they neared. Norbert looked and saw ones of different kinds, no longer the straight colour but something else swirling within. Making spirals stopping and leaning closer to one, careful not to touch the glass, Norbert realised what it was.
Within the main concoction, this one being green, swirls of orange were seen. Wondering what that could mean, Norbert followed the rows, watching as they grew odder and odder the closer and closer to the front he went until he stood before the clerk. Wearing a suit, the old man moved his glasses off his nose, his wrinkled face looking back at him.
Not detecting any age but one of profound knowledge, Norbert knew he was in front of a master of his craft. He looked at his fingers, although wrinkled as they tingled with an object, turning it around and moving it this way.
The old man coughed into his hand, clearing his throat. "Anything you like?"
Norbert stared back at the man's face, white hair on the side as it clashed with his black suit, looking more like Dracula than anything else, just missing the fangs. "Would like an elixir", Norbert responded.
"Well, you've come to the right place then." The old man said, not moving off his seat. Norbert looked back to Martitia, who just waved her hand in a gesture to continue talking. Nodding his head in response, Norbert said, "Well, I'm after an elixir for ten gold" Norbert said.
The man placed the metal object; Norbert assumed a puzzle of some kind; looking back at Norbert, he moved his glasses up his nose, getting a look at Norbert.
"Well, that's not something you see every day. Have it here?" he asked
Norbert just nodded, bringing out the nine gold coins and ten piles of ten silver, all on his desk. The man nodded in response, knowing he would have a field day.
"Well, I would suggest one of these," he said as he slowly creaked to a standing position and walked around the shop. Walking back to the front, Norbert followed, Martitia trailing the group as she was silent. The man stopped at one of the front ones. "For a scout, strength is the best bet, assuming you already have the perception and endurance. If that isn't your style, vitality is also recommended." He finished, pointing to a red one and then to a pink one. Norbert just nodded his head, having had those already.
"And what if someone already has had them?" Norbert asked.
The man raised an eyebrow before saying, "Well, care to tell me what this individual has consumed then?"
Norbert looked back at Martitia, knowing more questions were coming from her after this; looking back at the store owner, Norbert responded, "Well, if you've had green, yellow, red, pink and orange, what would be the next one you would recommend?"
The man just looked back at him. "I would recommend nothing; the next one could tip you over the edge." He explained, Norbert, seeing him become standoffish.
"Yeah, yeah yeah, but what if? What would be the next best thing?" Norbert pushed, wanting to get an answer out of him.
Thinking for a moment, the man responded, "Then over here, to either increase your magic capacity or strength" He finished pointing to a dark blue one and a light blue one, respectively.
Norbert shook his head, knowing that it would be useless to him. "Nah, that won't do; what about that brown one? What does that do?"
The man looked to where Norbert was pointing. "I see you have a good eye; that would be my next recommendation resistance. It makes it harder to get hit and has slight bonuses in others like poison and whatnot, though there are specific ones for those as well." He finished
Norbert remembered what happened to his arm the other night, how it shattered under his force, the bone-cracking under pressure. Not wanting that to happen again, Norbert just nodded. "And how much for the resistance, then?"
"You can have many brown ones for gold you brought. If you are after that, I would recommend an augmented elixir." The man said, walking back to his counter. Stopping at the section with swirls, he pointed to many brown ones, each a different swirling colour inside. Norbert looked around, seeing some with multiple colours within them.
Norbert looked around, asking, "What's the most expensive one I can get," he asked, wanting to get rid of the coins as fast as possible in case someone came after him, not comfortable walking around with that much on him.
"Then this one would be best," he said, saying a spell; his hand passed through the glass like it wasn't there, picking up a bottle with gold inlays around it. The round base with a short spout on top, the gold in the form of a dragon, its jaw open, protecting the opening from anyone.
"This is a resistance with strength and vitality mixed in, giving you a nice base to push off from if you want to become more specific in the future." He said.
Norbert just nodded. "Then that would be perfect, and what do you mean by specific?"
"The more you have, the less effective they become, only adding the extra and not multiplying. To get the same amount of kick, they specialise in what they want, extra bone resistance, quicker reflexes in their hands, perception in the dark increased." He continued taking the bottle and walking over to the counter.
Bagging the coins, he placed it down, taking off the silver dragon from the top, as Norbert saw it crawl to the side of the desk, where the man opened a drawer with the dragon hopping inside, lost from sight.
Norbert was bewildered by what he saw, not knowing if he had tried to pick it up. Norbert looked to the man, gesturing to the elixir if he could take it. The older man just nodded. Norbert picked it up, uncorking it and smelling it.
A hint of chocolate wafted in his nose, placing it to his lips; both Martitia and the older man tried to stop him, but Norbert had already downed the drink. Remember chocolate strawberries and roast meat with cherry sauce on top. As it rested in his stomach, Norbert felt it spread out once more, a familiar feeling.
Martitia held him as the man ushered him further into the back of the shop, not understanding why until he was on a tiled floor; entering the room, Norbert looked around, seeing tiles everywhere and a drain. Neither Martitia nor the older man entered but closed the door.
As he stood there wondering, Norbert had the urge to sneeze; unable to fight it, he sneezed, unable to cover it with his hand as black snot covered the walls. Needing to sneeze again, Norbert did so, a clump of something coming out.
On the final sneeze, nothing more came out that Norbert could see. Something was coming off his nose. Norbert wiped it, just some typical snot. Norbert turned around, banging on the door to be opened.
Finally, they did, the two of them looking at what Norbert had done. He stared at the mess, saying, "A tissue would have been nice."