14 Orphans
"You two know each other?" asked Clive, looking down with confusion on his face.
"Yes, this is the fool who tried to jump over the wall. Don't you remember? I told you about it," Kate replied.
"HAHAHA, It's the one" Clive laughed out loud, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room to him.
"Sorry to interrupt, but how did you recognize me?" asked Kevin within a slight miscalculation. He spent his own money to buy this mask, yet the second person he met already recognized him.
Kate didn't answer and proudly lengthened her spine while pointing to her nose.
"She has a sharp smell," Clive replied cockily as if he were the reason for that.
'Sharp smell? That's probably part of her god's art,' Kevin thought before muttering, "Anyway, thank you very much for warning me back then, I'll be sure to repay your kindness one day."
"Hehehe, I should thank you more, it was so funny I couldn't even fall asleep that day," Kate answered while she jumped on Clive's shoulder, making him look even more gigantic, "But what's a rich kid like you doing here"
"I'm not rich at all" Kevin replied scratching the back of his head as he truly didn't have any money.
"Your equipment doesn't match your words," Kate stated annoyingly, thinking she was being lied to.
"It's left by my father," Kevin replied.
.
.
.
.
"Are you ... an orphan, too, perhaps?" said Clive, after a meager silence.
'Are they orphans too? Wait ...they ' Kevin thought as he eyed them both again, eventually noticing some similarities, 'Siblings?'
"Yes, I am" Kevin remarked.
"Then welcome to the orphan club!" Kate exclaimed with excitement gleaming from her eyes. She didn't really like Kevin at first, thinking he was just another rich kid with an arrogant personality.
However, it seems to be different
"Haha... thanks, I guess?" Kevin let out a wry laugh, not really knowing how to respond to her statement.
"Did your parents also die against demo--"
*bump*
Kate poked Clive in the head with a punch, not letting him finish the sentence.
"Cheez ... Clive, how many times do we have to talk about this? You can't ask something like that," Kate whined.
"Anyway, Kevin, right? Don't get your gear stolen and go beat those rich bastards"
"Will do," Kevin remarked with enthusiasm shining from his eyes.
Kate and Clive nodded in agreement as if sensing his resolution.
"Strange, the receptionist still hasn't arrived ... well, let us explain how everything works here," Clive said.
"I'd really appreciate it"
"Alright, um...first of all, there's this code" Clive called out, pointing to his sleeve which had a 7 digit number printed on it, "Your code is changed after you manage to climb onto another floor so you can enter them"
"Enter?"
"Oh well, you can't even get a glimpse of higher floors if you haven't advanced unless you are watching it live"
Kevin nodded, finally understanding that this place wasn't as simple as he thought. Everything in God's Power had strict rules, but most importantly security was tight here.
After only a few minutes of coming here, Kevin already saw three men dressed in suits glancing towards him. Initially, he just wanted to ignore them, but the feeling of the danger they gave off, forced Kevin to be cautious.
"Are these three the security guards?" asked Kevin as he imperceptibly pointed at the gentlemen.
"Yeah, you better not piss them off," Kate replied as her expression paled a little.
"Hahaha, Kate fought them once and got demolished in a matter of seconds," Clive laughed out loud, remembering the past.
"Hey, if those Union bastards weren't staring at me, I wouldn't attack," Kate groaned out as one of her cheeks puffed out in embarrassment.
'Union? It seems this place is guarded by Hunter Association, even at such place like this they hold influence' Kevin thought, scanning the three men again with a side glance, 'I need to get stronger fast'
"He-Hey *poof* are you *poof* the newcomer?" announced a small woman, with brown blunt hair very elaborately arranged and carefully cleaned suit while taking a few deep breaths in exhaustion, "Sorry for the wait, we had some internal problems"
"Hey, Maria," Clive spoke softly as he scratched the back of his head, "Don't overwork yourself."
"Oh, Clive, Kate? What are you doing here, I thought your fight was about to begin" Maria replied, finally calming her uneasy breathing.
"Just welcoming the newcomer" Kate responded as she looked at Kevin "Since the receptionist is already here, we are leaving, good luck, Kevin, beat those bastards"
"It was nice to meet you" Kevin replied.
"Alright, we're leaving," Clive groaned as he turned to Maria, "Bye Maria"
'Despite his serious appearance, he's quite meek,' Kevin thought, waving his hand at the already moving duo.
"Goodbye, until later" Maria spoke as the atmosphere around her grew serious, "It seems that Clive and Kate have already explained to you how this place works"
"Indeed"
"Since you want to keep your identity secret, all you have to do is accept this contract" Maria said while taking out a white paper which slightly turned black from the endless amount of words.
'There sure are many clauses,' Kevin thought.
He took the paper in his hand and read through the contract carefully, which took a few minutes. Maria was a professional, so she didn't press him and let him read at his own pace.
The contract mainly stated the potential income and how fights were run. There were two types of fights:
The arranged fight, which was settled on a specific date against the other party. The participant had more time to prepare for the upcoming fight and got more money, precisely because the spectators knew the date of the battle.
The other type was an unarranged fight, where someone was invited to battle without a specific date. This type of fight had less income, but you could rank up quicker this way, which also meant getting more money.
"If you are not comfortable with the way contract works, you can always decline, there are plenty of other ways to make money," Maria said, remembering the pitiful people who had signed the contract for money but hadn't won a single penny.
Kevin just looked at her in confusion, because this deal, on the other hand, was a blessing straight from the gods.
Kevin just smiled wickedly under his mask and signed the contract. Maria couldn't see the sinister grin on Kevin's face or she would have surely freaked out.
"By the way, how do you know Clive and Kate?" Maria murmured while taking the contract into her hands.
"Why do you ask that?" Kevin asked, thinking it unprofessional to ask such questions.
"I'm not asking as a worker, I'm asking as their friend," Maria countered.
'As a friend?'
"It's my first time seeing them," Kevin said half lying, half not.
"Really? You may not know it, but they're not really a chatting duo," Maria specified with a calm expression, "so I wonder what's so different about you."
Kevin just ignored her words, believing she was going too far in asking such personal questions even if she was their friend.
"Anyway, I guess you can be considered their fellow now, so please help them if they need aid, life has been unfair to them from the day they were born. They even had to enter our God's Arena at the age of seven to earn money for food," Maria said while slightly bowing.
'Who did life go easy on during such times?' thought Kevin as he nodded, causing a smile to appear on Maria's face.
Even if their lives were devastating, Kevin still wouldn't help them, but since Kate had saved him once, he would surely return the favor.
"Give me your hand," Maria said while taking out an oval-shaped bracelet from under the desk.
Kevin followed her words stretching his left hand forward.
Maria wrapped the bracelet around his wrist and an immediate jolt of pain followed, causing a silent scream to escape Kevin's mouth.
Maria removed the bracelet away, letting Kevin see an unknown code written on his skin.
"If you ever decide to abolish the contract, we will remove your code," Maria demanded as she giggled slightly, still remembering Kevin's scream.
Kevin was dumbfounded at such unprofessional behavior but decided not to bother with it and create less trouble for himself.
"Do you want to have an arranged fight or not?"
"Not arranged," Kevin answered straightforwardly, believing that was the better option.
"Follow me," Maria said while she moved towards what appeared to be an elevator, "Extend your hand up here with the code"
Kevin had already read about this in the contract, before the fighter could go into the "arena" the machine had to check the code on their sleeve to determine what floor they were going to.
It was a simple and non-painful procedure, so Kevin simply stuck his hand into the machine.
A bluish laser examined Kevin's code as a number "1" appeared above the elevator.
*Ding*
With a soft sound, the elevator opened, causing the surrounding warriors to become interested, but when they saw the [1] on the screen, their affair vanished.
"You're on your own now," Maria told while she signaled Kevin to go inside, "Good luck in your next battle."
Kevin nodded before continuing on his way. As soon as he entered, the elevator closed and began to move downward.
'Underground?" thought Kevin, gripping the metal rail on the side due to the force increasing by the second.
*Ding*
The elevator stopped and the door opened symmetrically, giving Kevin a view of the vicinity from above. It was a huge area with a medium-sized arena in the middle.
Countless people were scattered around the stage, all cheering and screaming in sheer delight.
Kevin cautiously looked at the spotlight, and finally saw the reason everyone was so excited.
Two men in torn, blood-colored clothes were fighting recklessly on the stage, which was also completely smeared with blood. Kevin glanced at the judge on the side, wondering if this fight should be stopped.
However, he only saw a sinister smile on the referee's face, causing Kevin to instantly understand what was going on.
'It seems that fights aren't as safe as they've been told to be'
