The escort was waiting outside their door. The tux with black shorts including fishnets reminded Arthur of a cosplay for Zatanna. The only things missing were the top hat and wand.

Valkyrie walked side by side with him, their hands clasped like it was their normal routine.

The escort led them to an area that most seldom goes to. The double doors were guarded by two half-orcs. One of them nodded and opened the door.

The dining room was easily good as a venue for a big wedding. The chandelier was sparkling and refracting the sunlight around the room. The only table that was adorned stood in the middle of the room.

A waiter waited with a tray of juices. Two people sat at the table and waited for them to get closer before rising to greet them. One was in an expensive suede suit, "Congratulations Arthur, my name is Michael Tanner. I am the manager of the Roulette. This gentleman is General Hurn Stonewill of the Imperium."

Arthur shook the man's hand and then turned to look at the hobgoblin whose muscles were straining the suit he was wearing. The hobgoblin general reached out and clasped his arm as a warrior's greeting, and Arthur reciprocated.

"And I am sure you both know the woman with me, Valkyrie," said Arthur to include the braided brunette.

She reached out and clasped the general's arm, "I'm here as his second and I'm his girlfriend."

The manager waved for them to sit. "A few things to conclude about your winnings. General Stonewill is here to offer an apology on behalf of the hobgoblins that you have defeated yesterday."

General Hurn looked at the young man, "I was under the impression you were not in good condition yesterday after your fight."

"I had a potion that helped heal my wounds. Mostly it is cosmetic but I'm still bruised and sore on the inside."

"All soldiers under the Imperium are under the responsibility of their superior officers. I am the one that they report to. Therefore it is my responsibility to apologize for the conduct that they exhibited to both of you. As reparations for the bet, the Imperium is offering you 100,000 per hobgoblin. That would be a total of 300,000 credits. The manager will transfer that to your account when you confirm that you accept the apology."

"Since the apology should be to Valkyrie, the credits should be applied to her account. I fought for her honor. The bet would be enough to satisfy me other than beating them."

"The bet that was recorded mentioned all the credits in the three offenders' accounts," reminded the manager.

The general sighed and nodded, "The Imperium will allow the zeroing out of those accounts. I hope this will be the end of this incident and you do not harbor ill intent with hobgoblins in the future."

Arthur looked at the general, "I never had ill will towards anyone until they hurt someone under my protection. If they don't cross the line, I would not bear arms against them." Arthur hoped that his wording was clear enough for a military-minded race.

An aide entered with a clipboard and handed it first to the general, "We need your signature to confirm the transfer of the credits to Arthur, Sir."

The general looked at the numbers and signed it then handed it to Arthur.

Arthur looked at the number and tried to not make a reaction and quickly handed it to Valkyrie. She looked at it and dropped the clipboard before passing it to the manager.

"The credits will be transferred within the hour for both of your accounts which will include your winnings. At 350 to 1, Arthur placed a bet of 11,00 which comes out to 3.85 million. For Valkyrie with a bet of 30,000 the winning total is 10.5 million."

They both looked at each other in surprise.

The rest of the time was small talk and partaking in the most delicious breakfast that Arthur had ever eaten.

Hand in hand, they got back to Valkyrie's car and settled into the seat. She drove within the speed limit probably because they ate so much that speeding would cause both to hurl.

She pulled over to the side after driving twenty minutes away from Roulette.

"I didn't expect the amount of money we would win from that fight," she said.

"I didn't expect that the credits in the hobgoblins' accounts totaled a little over 15 million. I guess we aren't going to worry about equipment anytime soon."

She laughed which tickled his eardrums, "And I don't have to be worried about having a broke boyfriend."

"Right, speaking of which. You are sure this is what you want."

She looked him in the eyes and kissed him until they both surfaced for air, "Yes, I want you."

Both phones buzzed at that time. They looked down and both said, "What timing." which caused them both to laugh for a few more before checking.

"Arthur, you are all over the adventurer boards. Three-to-one arena fight and you won!" texted Frank.

Arthur put the phone away, he could reply later when he got home. He looked at Valkyrie who had a serious look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"I need to go home."

"You can drop me off where I can get an Uber or a bus," he offered.

"No, my parents want to meet you. They were watching the fight and knew we were acquainted," she said exhibiting a side of her that she hadn't shown Arthur before. The uncertainty hung around her demeanor.

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"Darling, we haven't been a conventional courtship. We went from hello to kisses on the first day. Our first date ends up being an arena last-man-standing fight. Meet the parents? Sure it's a little too early, but why not? You've been breaking the rules and because of you, I've been breaking the rules more now too. What's the worst that can happen? They don't like me? They aren't the ones dating me, you are. Your choice is all that matters," said the boyfriend trying to give her a pep talk.

She smiled softly, "I was right about you. We kinda balance each other. Ok, let's go meet my parents. It isn't every day that I bring home a suitor to the Vanderbilts."

She turned around and hit the gas making the car lurch into a blur of speed. Arthur held his stomach to try to keep himself from hurling. "Wait, Vanderbilts? THE VANDERBILTS?"

Amy Vanderbilt a.k.a Valkyrie laughed and kept driving, her face was showing the same determined and excited look from the first day they met.

Traveling over at nearly a constant 100 mph, the new couple arrived at a black metal fence that opened as they approached. She didn't even stop until she screeched to a stop in front of the main entrance. An old butler looked on with disdain.

"Young miss, do you insist on driving that car that recklessly?"

"John, I haven't wrecked a car ever!" she responded indignantly.

We got out and she grabbed my hand which caused the butler's brow to rise. "Wow, even the butler is pretentious," thought Arthur.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" she yelled while dragging Arthur behind her.

"Bring him to the study, young miss," said John the balding butler.

Arthur looked at the white marble floor that expanded to the staircases to the east and west wings of the mansion. Several bas-reliefs adorn the walls on the way up the stairs of ancestors from the looks of it. He could see the familiar features that showed on Amy's face.

The young Vanderbilt impatiently tugged Arthur up the stairs and entered the study. A woman who appeared to be around her mid-forties sat by a table with a tea set. She looked like an older version of Amy. A man stood right outside a window balcony with the door closed. A smoke trail reveals that he was smoking.

"Here he is," announced Amy.

"Um... Hello Mrs Vanderbilt, I'm Arthur Crown, it's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance," he introduced himself.

"Please sit Arthur, My name is Amelia. You may call me by my name. Thomas will join us when he is done with his Cuban," smiled the woman as she brought her teacup closer and sipped. "Tea?"

Arthur sat and waited, feeling out of place between the erratic girlfriend and her mother.

Mr. Thomas Vanderbilt came in. He was wearing a long-sleeved collared shirt under a knitted vest. He glanced at his daughter but then sat across from Arthur. "My wife and I watched the fight last night. Most would assume you used Tai Chi in that fight, but we know that you were using an elven unarmed martial art. Who taught it to you?"

Arthur blinked and looked at his girlfriend's father without answering.

"Dad, why are you asking? Everyone has secrets, especially adventurers."

"Be quiet Amy. I am asking your boyfriend."

Called out about her relationship status with Arthur, her face turned bright red while she sat quietly with a pout.

"I'm sorry Sir. I can't reveal where I learned it from."

"Last chance Mr. Crown. Where did you learn it from or who taught you?"

Arthur took a deep breath, "Intimidation is not going to work on me, Mr. Vanderbilt. I just faced off against three hobgoblin Imperium soldiers just to defend your daughter's honor. Even if you ban me from your residence, it is her choice if I remain within her life. My integrity, My determination, and My secrets are mine to share with whom I choose to share it. No amount of threats will prove otherwise."

Amy wrung her hands while she listened. She glanced at her mother who smiled when Arthur stood up to her father.

Thomas nodded, "Congratulations. You passed the test for continuing your relationship with my daughter. I don't need brown nosers and greedy boyfriends. And we have met many suitors who show up unannounced or even announced. All of them would give up everything just to get our approval. As for the future, that depends on how you treat your future possible in-laws."

"DAD!" exclaimed Amy while she hid her face with her hands.

The redheaded Arthur chuckled. It seemed that while the father was serious, he had a deadpan humor that was hard to catch. And he caught it, "Thank you, Mr. Vanderbilt. We haven't gotten to the point of considering where we will be in the future. I do admire the old ways and should I decide to wed your daughter, I will come and ask for both of your permissions."

"ARTHUR!" yelled the embarrassed daughter and she fled out of the study.

The parents looked at Arthur as they listened to the faded running footsteps and all three of them grinned.

"You may call me Thomas, but if you want to tease Amy. We can play the charade with the Mr and Mrs. Now that she is not in the room. That style can only be taught by a Shatterstorm. And since they are rarely in our side of the realms, how did you learn it?" asked the father as he stroked his mustache.

Arthur looked around, "Are there any recording devices?"

Amelia shook her head, "And we trust our current staff with our lives. What you say here will remain here."

Arthur stood up and walked to the study door and closed it. He locked it and returned to his seat. "Since you know from whom I learned it. I will share a secret with you." He took out the cell phone with the program and turned it on.

"Kelrick, I have a couple of people here who knew that I used Rain from the mountain flowing to the sea. Thomas and Amelia Vanderbilt, meet Kelrick Shatterstorm."

"Vanderbilt, I recall saving a Mathew Vanderbilt a few decades ago," came the voice through the phone.

Thomas and Amelia looked at the phone. Thomas answered, "That would be my great-grandfather. He told my grandfather about you. He told my father and then to me. I didn't expect to be able to talk to you. I didn't know you had a cell phone."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Thomas and Amelia. Yes, I am a very private person. I will not reveal my number to anyone, but if you or Amelia need to ask me a question. You can reach my apprentice and he will relay the message to me."

"A human apprentice to Shatterstorm. My boy, I give you my advance permission to wed my daughter. Just let me know when you intend to pop the question so that I can act appropriately."

Amelia put her hand to her lips to cover her surprise at her husband's proclamation but spoke softly to reply as well, "Yes, I agree with my husband. A human trained by an elf will achieve greatness that the world has not seen."

"Arthur is a very private person. The association with your daughter is causing him to break out of his shell. I sense that the two of them are what the Chinese call a yin and yang of each other. They balance each other."

"There was a feed from the arena fight last night. We saw how Amy was acting. She has never shown that much concern over a male companion. She normally would fight herself but he took the decision away from her. He even challenged them without prompting. He has reservoirs of courage," said the soft-spoken mother.

Arthur felt rather odd that they were talking about him while he was in the room.

"Arthur, give me a call tomorrow when you are home," requested Kelrick to the young man while playing off that they were having a conversation on the phone.

"I will Master. Talk to you soon," and he put the phone away.

Thomas stood up and reached his hand out. Arthur shook his hand and both sat back down. The two smiled then Arthur asked, "Why did you want to confirm where I learned the style from?"

"Truthfully, I was concerned when we hadn't heard from an elf for over two hundred years. A part of our wealth came from the Shatterstorm. I believe that they will need the financial resources in the future when they are ready to make waves. Since you are an adventurer, you know about the separation of humans and non-humans. My wife and I know about them. We are both retired adventurers too. It's actually how we met."

A loud knocking came from the study door, "Mom, Dad, please don't torture my boyfriend."

Amelia rose and unlocked the door to let Amy in. She had changed into the dress of a high society lady instead of her sultry style or adventurer outfits.

John the butler stood behind her, "Mr. Crown, please follow me. We have some clothes for you to change to and perhaps another shower. The Master and Madam will be going to a dinner event at the Waldorf Astoria. You will be the young lady's companion for the night."

Arthur looked at Amy's parents. They both smiled and nodded. Seeing their approval, he followed the butler to get changed.