"Valkyrie, the results were as you expected. He is tentatively ranked B. We are adjusting his account to match, but the system seems to think he could be higher. Cultivate your relationship with him. He is a good find, thank you for bringing him to my attention," texted Steve from the elevator as he went to his office on the forty-fifth floor.
"Don't worry about that. I had my sights on him since I kissed him," responded Valkyrie from the parking lot in her Maserati.
Steve nodded to his secretary and entered his office. There was a green-haired elf waiting by the window. The sun was muted by the tint on the window.
"Lord Forestfog, how may I help you?"
The elf stared down and watched a red car move slowly to the front of the building. "Sooner or later the human world will find out that the monsters in the labyrinth are not the only non-humans there are. The Veiled Council is worried about a future war between races. Not just between the human and non-human. The missing giants and dragons will always be a leviathan shadow of dread. And the undead have started to appear in the labyrinths."
"Why be afraid of the undead? It's just skeletons and zombies."
"There's more dangerous ones that will eventually cross and when they do, it would be a repeat of the war against the dead. I am here in secret. None of the Veiled Council wants this to be made public and none want to work with the Guild Ministry. I would suggest that you start the preparation we discussed. I know you are in the same position as me within your organization."
"Yes, I am slowly collecting individuals that I believe will be beneficial to our cause."
The elf nods and without looking at the human all this time, utters a spell and disappears from view.
Steve walked up to the window and stared down at the red sports car. "I suspect Mr. Crown will be a wild trump card that no one would expect."
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Arthur got into the red Maserati. He managed to look at the sexy red dress that Valkyrie was wearing before trying to put the seatbelt on while the car was moving at sudden dangerous speeds.
Valkyrie laughed wildly while driving the sports car toward an unknown destination. The sun had already set and Arthur decided to just go with the flow. He still didn't know why Valkyrie liked him, nor why she transferred credits to his account and put his name up to Steve McClaren.
"Who is Steve McClaren? And what is he to you?"
"Steve McClaren is the assistant deputy director of the Guild Ministry. He's the third biggest honcho of the organization. And he's my uncle. You don't have to worry about him being a rival for my affections."
Arthur turned red, "That wasn't what I meant, wait... third biggest leader of GM. Fuck why did you put that spotlight on me?"
"Because you have potential and you need to be pushed to grow," glances at the blushing redhead. "And I want you to grow so we can partner up on missions, it only took a few days for you to get reevaluated as a Rank B. Imagine what your rank would be in a month."
"I... ok, I will try to do my best to grow. Where are we going?"
"We are going on a date at the Roulette."
"Oh great, an adventurer's casino," muttered Arthur. He was being dragged by a very powerful current that he couldn't free himself of. A current named Valkyrie.
Valkyrie parked close to the entrance. The building was located on the outskirts of the city. The formerly industrial warehouse got a makeover. The neon signage of the name was in bright red on a billboard on the roof and a roulette table decal was on the side of the building.
Arthur could feel that a strong spell enveloped the building and nearby surroundings. This was his first time here and looked at the crowd lined up at the entrance. Valkyrie hooked her arm around Arthur's and pressed her warm body close as they walked towards the entrance.
A bouncer looked up and that was when Arthur noticed that it was an orc. He looked at Valkyrie who just smiled at him and waved at the orc like a regular. The green-skinned orc glanced over and eyed Arthur up and down like fresh meat. He nodded to the brunette on Arthur's arm and made a thumbs up, using his thumb to motion for them to enter.
"I thought the humans and non-humans don't mingle," leaned Arthur closer to Valkyrie.
"For most places, we don't. Roulette on the other hand is kinda a grey area. The land this warehouse is on is on native american land which means the Mohegan have a say on what happens on their land. This establishment is listed as a casino. They only have a few basic rules. All fights are not allowed in the public spaces. Challenges are all done in the arena and are non-lethal but otherwise, everything goes depending on the fighters' agreements. Everything can be bet on. There are pit bosses that wander around and are the ultimate judge on any disputes from gambling to conflicts. Some of the orcs you see are half-bloods. Half Mohegan and half-orc," explained the flamboyant partner as she pulled him to the bar.
"Two Long Island ice teas," she yelled out to the bartender.
The drinks were put in front of them. Arthur noticed that no money was exchanged and looked at his date.
"I have an open tab whenever I come in, I pay at the end of the night or I transfer the credits the next day," came her reply as she took a sip of her drink. "Let's go find a seat on the third level close to the arenas."
Arthur kept looking around and let her guide him. Various slot machines and card-playing machines were scattered about the place. Table card games were concentrated in the center of the floor. Drink waitresses scampered by in very short skirt cocktail dresses that would make many men heated up.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The second floor showed some glass-walled rooms towards the center of the room. Inside these glass rooms were various games of skill and accuracy from darts to arrows and axes. The glass walls were likely to prevent stray projectiles from hurting the customers. The remaining rooms had normal walls and the doors were marked with gold numbers under the letters VIP. Private rooms were very likely for high-stakes games or clandestine meetings.
They passed VIP 3 when the door opened up. A blonde woman came out adjusting the straps of her wrinkled evening gown with a high slit. She quickly looked down to not make eye contact, but Arthur saw the flush on her face when she nearly ran away. The orc at the door smirked and eyed Valkyrie with hunger. Valkyrie removed her hand from his arm just long enough to give the orc the finger before hooking it back and continuing its way to the third floor. The orc closed the door muffling the noise of further lewd actions happening in the room.
The third floor was laid out like stadium seating. It would be the fourth floor as the third floor is set up into four arenas which they were looking down into. Valkyrie led him to a table that had two consoles on it. Each quadrant seems to cater to the view of the arena that is closest to them. There were large monitors nearby to show the feed from the remaining three fighting areas.
They sat down on a loveseat and Arthur looked at the empty arena in front of them. Four custodians were mopping and clearing out debris. There appeared to be blood that was being cleaned. He glanced at the monitor and gasped.
One of the monitors was showing a fight between an elf and an orc. Valkyrie nudged Arthur and pointed at the console. He picked it up and pressed the feed that showed the fight on the monitor. It gave the name and profile of the fighters and a button to place a wager.
The elf was named Danistrae with skills in unarmed, bows, and all blades. This was the first time he saw handguns listed as proficient and marksmen with rifles. It also showed that she was classified as a trap finder and tracker. She was fighting in the arena with a scimitar.
The orc was named Urgula with skills in unarmed, axes, and hammers. Known professions among the Veiled: Bodyguard, Convoy Armed Escort. Known profession around humans: Construction worker, and building demolitions. The orc was fighting with a battleaxe and swung it around like it was as light as a child's toy.
The reason for the fight was a disagreement concerning an error while they were both on the same bodyguarding job. The odds were favoring the orc.
Valkyrie peered at the two fighters and asked, "Want to place a bet? I think this fight is skewed to the orc. They have a higher physical resistance and strength."
"I didn't know there were profiles for non-humans. The GMs wouldn't have this info in their database," he asked.
"No these are on the Veiled Council servers. Roulette has access to both for arena information. They need to be able to compare and quantify for setting odds and such."
Arthur nodded and continued to watch the elf with the long black hair tied into a ponytail. He knew that elves live long lives even from the stories but his recent association with Kelrick made him aware to never underestimate an elf. They have a vast advantage when it comes to experience even when they appear young. He guessed that Danistrae was likely around 400 years or so. This would mean that she has fighting experience of 100 to 200 years at the least. He pressed the wager button and selected the elf. It asked him about his GM account information and showed how many credits he had. He entered two thousand, which was nearly half the credits that Valkyrie gave him.
Valkyrie grabbed the other console and placed a bet on the orc. Arthur thought she was just wanting to be contrary. They settled down and Valkyrie snuggled in while they watched the fight. Arthur froze at first then slowly placed his arm around her shoulders. She responded by leaning her head to rest on his shoulder while they watched in silence, feeling the warmth of their bodies and the slow deep synchronized breathing. They were starting to enjoy the closeness when they heard the sound of loud voices.
The first ones to arrive were goblins that were five feet tall. The green skin is darker than the pigment on the orcs with pronounced elongated noses. They seem to have scouted tables and settled on the table next to Arthur and Valkyrie.
The next to show was closer to the pigment of humans but taller than the goblins. The tallest stood six and a half feet. The shortest hobgoblin was six feet. There were three of them and they seemed to boss the goblins around.
The goblins pulled a couple of loveseats over so that each of the hobgoblins had individual seats. The tall one sat down and picked up the console. He spit on the floor beside him, "Stinking elves." He punched in his wager then waved for one of the goblins and gave him his drink and snack order. The goblin scurried off and left the remaining one to tend to the group.
By the time the goblin returned with several bottles of whiskey and plates of chicken wings, the fight was over. Danistrae suffered a broken arm but in the end, she managed to disarm the axe and had her curved blade against Urgula's throat. The orc had conceded defeat.
The hobgoblin grabbed a bottle and drank half of it in several gulps and anger threw it towards the arena. There was a glass pane that separated the viewers from the arena and the bottle crashed against it, shattered and spilling the whiskey and glass onto the couple on the loveseat. The other two laughed and grabbed the bottles and did the same thing.
Arthur stood up and glared at the hobgoblin. Valkyrie screamed in anger, "Is this the first time you have been in the area? Everyone knows there is a glass pane in the front you ignorant ass."
The hobgoblin took one look at Valkyrie and her soaked dress that clung to her body. He didn't give Arthur a second look, "And what can you do about it? Do you want to propose a challenge? We can book one of the private rooms on the second floor and I'll show you how long we could horizontal spar." He sneered.
The other hobgoblins smirked and knew that their boss wanted her.
Arthur looked at Valkyrie's face and noticed a line of blood dripped down from a scratch from the glass shards. He turned the angry woman towards him and reached up to wipe the blood off her cheek.
Arthur noticed an orc pit boss in a suit had arrived at the entrance to their section of the arena.
He waved him closer then turned to the hobgoblins. "I can't fight you here, but I'll fight you in the arena. I challenge you three asses on a three-to-one fight, no weapons, no spells. The last man standing wins. Do you assholes accept?"
Valkyrie looked back at her knight in a whiskey-drenched shirt in surprise at the soft care that he provided and the sudden change in his attitude toward the hobgoblins.
The hobgoblins laughed at the confrontation of a scrawny human. "Let's make this more interesting. We want the girl when we win for the night. No holds barred."
Arthur looked over at the brunette, seeing that she was about to blow up again, and responded before she could get a word out. "I agree, in return I want an apology to the lady and all the credits in all three of your accounts as reparation."
The pit boss whispered into a mic on his lapel and likely passed the info of the challenge to the broadcasters.
The tall one glared at Arthur and responded for the three of them, "We agree, but you won't see a single credit or get to use it. Too bad they don't allow for lethal."
Arthur reached for Valkyrie's hand and walked up to the Pit Boss, "Which way for me to freshen up before entering the arena."
The pit boss waved for a server to escort them. The hobgoblins were escorted in the opposite direction.
"Hey lady, you might want to freshen up too. We got all night to get acquainted," yelled the tall hobgoblin.
Arthur gripped her hand tighter and tugged so that she wouldn't respond. On the walk to the changing room, they could hear the announcement for their first three on one last man standing fight. The odds favor the hobgoblin heavily especially when the images of the fighters came on the screen.
"You didn't need to challenge all three of them. They are from the Imperium. The way the tall one acted, he might be an officer in their military."
"You know about hobgoblins?"
"I hear things now and then and I've seen them here sometimes. Why did you challenge them?"
"No one disrespects my date and damages that pretty face," he answered and leaned in to kiss her deeply while his own heart pounded hard. Valkyrie unconsciously moaned into his mouth.