168 Chapter 168
«I want a bet, but first, tell me about the situation in Boston. Is it possible for me, being a Stone of the first rank, to quickly and efficiently gain power in the kingdom?»
XiaoBai looked at his brother, curiously. - «You are an ambitious little fellow... Well, I won't tell you how to seize power, but I can tell you how to make quick money.» - The fat guy saw Kyon's eyes flash with interest and continued. – «I heard rumors from a reliable source that Prince Charles had fallen in love with a genius girl of mysterious origin, but she doesn't seem to be interested in him and avoids his company. The young lady has outstanding skills to slip out of sight. The smitten asshole can't find her. Therefore, he has announced a reward in one hundred thousand spheres to the one who will provide him with information about her whereabouts.»
«What's her name?»
«I have no idea. They say she is highly gifted, as well as incredibly beautiful, enigmatic and cold like penetrating winter winds. Everyone who meets her feels weak in the knees and an icy grip around the heart. These are the special features of our mysterious beauty. Why are you laughing? The royal moron said so himself…»
«It straightens things out, doesn't it? Is there anything else?»
«No... No more information about the girl. By the way, if you want to make some money, go to the nearest guild and take a couple of tasks. You're broke, aren't you?»
«Who told you that?» - Kyon took two heavy bags of spheres out of his spatial ring. - «There are two hundred thousand spheres.»
XiaoBai grabbed the weighty bags with his hands and began to scan them with pure force.
«Unbelievable! Where did you get them?! You were penniless at the party!»
«I sold my mansion.»
«It was out of gold or what?! It's too much!»
«And a family heirloom. Never mind. Let's get back to the point.»
The fat guy reluctantly put the money on the table. He looked like a fat troll who was forced to part with his treasure.
«Good call! I suppose you want me to guess your fifth element?» - Greedy little stars lit up in his eyes.
«You're smart.» - Kyon nodded matter-of-factly. – «Only it's even easier than that. You must guess the elements that I do not bend.»
The fat guy became thoughtful. «Hmm... You're a heavenly genius, therefore, my chances of winning are four out of five, which means if you win, I will owe you a million.»
«Exactly. Are you willing to take a chance?»
They were both brimming with unbridled excitement.
«He he, no way! If I lose, I will give 800 thousand! Otherwise, there's nothing for me in it! You're outnumbered, anyway, and if you win, it will be too much!»
«Smart ass.» - Kyon said like a brother. – «I agree.»
XiaoBai's eyes flashed, he hastily held out his hand.
«Let's shake hands. Then there will be no turning back!»
Kyon shook a warning finger at XiaBai. - «First things first, we'll discuss the details. You have 5 minutes to think things over. After you admit your defeat, you will never return to this topic, take your revenge or demand your money back. If someone informs you by any means, for example, a sound transmitter, you lose at once. Now we can shake hands, brother.»
«Quit busting my balls! You are also someone, sharp cookie. Do you intend to tell me the answer so that I instantly lose?! Sly-assed brother!»
«Ha-ha-ha-ha!» - Kyon laughed. - {XiaoBai is no fool. He is not as simple as he looks, little devil.} – «Alright, anyone but me. Deal?»
«You can't tell anyone, either!» - XiaoBai added.
«I won't.»
The pleased fat guy joyfully shook Kyon's hand, and then laughed to tears like a baron.
«Uh-uh… You're so inexperienced and stupid, Kyon! I've been pulling your leg all the time! I made you believe that I wasn't sure in my victory, that I was afraid to lose or be deceived. I even reduced the sum I might lose and changed your conditions! He he... For your information, I have the best informers in the world! Besides, I am an invincible player! My answer is the heat! Your fifth element is darkness, and I didn't choose it, which means I won!»
«He he, not bad…» - Kyon nodded. – «But how did you guess? Wait, don't tell me... When I saw you from the stage, you did not look surprised. Did you know the reason for the meeting? If so, who told you? Your mother? Grandfather? No... They kept it quiet till the last moment. Even Juno wasn't in the know, which means you got the information in the patriarch's office. But there were no servants, the door was soundproof, the guards couldn't hear a thing. Did you put a wiretap in grandpa's office?»
The smile suddenly disappeared from XiaoBai's face and gave way to an angry grin. He put on a sulky expression and looked even more like a huge mountain. His brother was no fool. He had come to the right conclusion that no one should know!
«Just dare to tell him, little snot! I'll strangle you!»
«It means I can blackmail you, right?» - Kyon realized.
«Ha-ha! Very funny!» - The fat guy said glumly. – «Nobody has ever blackmailed me yet. Alright, I'll leave you five hundred spheres from your two hundred thousand, and you will forget about this incident. Deal?»
His blatant greed was shocking. Five hundred from two hundred thousand? It wasn't even 1%! But Kyon was not going to give in.
«Do you think you won?»
«What do you mean?» - XiaoBai asked, surprised.
Kyon flashed a predatory smile and created a plume of flame in his hand.
«My fifth element is the heat. You hit the spot, brother.»
The color disappeared from XiaoBai's face, his little eyes widened. «NO! I heard the conversation in the office! IT CAN'T BE!» - He grabbed Kyon's hand and began to check it for nephrites or any other tricks. Everything was clean! Kyon wasn't cheating!
XiaoBai knew well that no one could bend more than five elements. He found out Kyon's four elements at the tournament, and he heard about his fifth element in his grandfather's office. He had chosen a random element from those Kyon couldn't possibly bend!
Kyon laughed loudly and rubbed his fingers. «I'm waiting for my 800 thousand!»
«А-а-а-а-аh! YOU HAVE SET ME UP!» - XiaoBai grabbed his hair and pulled out a few tufts. Tears poured from his eyes. He fell to his knees and looked with hatred into the sky. - «Disgrace! It's you to blame! YOU HAVE DECEIVED ME! А-А-А-А-Аh!» - The walls trembled with his loud cries. Hector, the mustached servant, rushed inside, holding out a tray with shaking hands. - «Please do not punish me, sir! I'm just a minute late. Your pies are still hot! Here they are, savory, nice and brown. I am begging you! I have a wife and children!»
«Get lost!» - XiaoBai barked. – «But leave the pies!»
The servant dropped the tray and pies in a hurry.
XiaoBai showed an incredible sleight of hand. He grabbed the pies on the fly and immediately stuffed them into his mouth to cope with his pain.
The silence lasted for a few minutes. It hurt to look at XiaoBai. He was the embodiment of sorrow and despair. He pulled his hair out, cried and howled in distress.
«You won…» - XiaoBai concluded glumly. – «I will send the bird with the spatial ring tonight. You will find the money inside.» - He said and trudged to the door. He blamed his auditory hallucinations rather than his brother's cunning trick.
{Great. XiaoBai can accept defeat. Let's continue.} – «Would you like to win your money back?» - Kyon asked, kindly.
The fat guy turned around and stared into Kyon's innocent eyes for a long time.
«Tell me. I'll hear you out and give my answer.»
«Right. I bet the eight hundred thousand you've lost with the rate 1 to 1. All you have to do is to guess if I bend nine elements or not.»
XiaoBai froze. His mind was racing with ideas. {What the heck?! Does he want to lose eight hundred thousand?! Hmm... Wait a minute... If he hoped to win, he would bet the whole million. Is he really going to give my money back out of fraternal feelings? It makes sense! The world is full of losers who put family first! He must be after my affection!}
The fat guy was about to agree when suddenly he had a bad feeling about all this.
{Wait… What if he really bends the darkness?} – He looked at Kyon's ingenuous face and couldn't believe that the boy might be the greatest swindler. – {No way! He said nine elements, not six. There are no geniuses who bend six, let alone nine elements. He just wants to give me my money back and make things right. Hehe... Silly little brother, kindness will ruin you! What a goof. Too bad! I've only just started to believe in you…}
«Alright, it's deal.» - XiaoBai said with a sinking heart, praying that Kyon would not renounce his own punishment.
They shook hands.
«My answer is no. You don't bend nine elements.»
Kyon sighed and closed his eyes.
«Thank you, Kyon.» - Xiao Bai said in a soft, ingratiating voice. His heart was beating fast with happiness. He had just returned a lot of money, more than a third of all his possessions. – «It's so kind of you... Your brotherly love is beyond praise. I have never met such los... such extraordinary altruists like you! If you ever need help, just tell me. I will always help you out with a couple of hundred spheres if I can.»
«Who told you that you won?»
«What do you mean?» - XiaoBai asked in disbelief an odd sense of deja vu washed over him.
Kyon created water in his hand, then wind, then sparks of lightning and a cloud of darkness. One by one, he showed all the remaining elements. Kyon showed them however he wanted and as much as he wanted, enjoying the chaos of emotions on XiaoBai's face.
XiaoBai turned pale, his eyes rolled up, and he lost consciousness. Sometimes reality is too frightening, and it's better to wait out the crisis in the dark. One cannot destroy people's expectations so unexpectedly, they might have a heart attack!
«Wake up! You owe me money!» - Kyon poured cold water on XiaoBai. There was something in the fat guy's face that cracked Kyon up.
Juno's brother looked like a deadman who refused to return in the world of the living.
«Don't worry! I won't blow all your money on booze.» - Kyon repeated the phrase that XiaoBai had said to him at the party.
The fat guy was shaking and shivering. In fifteen minutes, he had lost more than 75% of his fortune! His dear money, earned by sweat, blood, and risky financial transactions...
In XiaoBai's eyes, Kyon had risen to the highest level. The boy added his condition during their first bet on purpose. He made XiaoBai admit his defeat, never return to this subject again, and not to avenge Kyon or demand his money back. And then, during the second bet, Kyon put on his innocent face lure the fat guy into a psychological trap. He had wrapped XiaoBai around his little finger!
{He is damn good…} – Xiao Bai admitted against his will, looking at the devil in the guise of a nice guy who had become his brother.
«I admit you have won the second bet. However, it's time to blackmail you. If you do not give up your win from the two bets…»
«You will tell everyone that your brother bends nine elements?»
«…»
«XiaoBai, stop drowning in the whirlpool of despair. It makes your mind grasp at straws. You can't make me give up my win. But you can try and not give me anything. It will change my impression of you, and I will treat you accordingly.»
The patriarch's grandson shook his head and slapped himself on the cheeks, trying to come to his senses. His code of a profiteer said: know how to lose. Otherwise, he was no better than scum, gaining ill-gotten wealth. Besides, he'd better not show his dishonesty before this amazing scammer and an incredible genius in one. Guys like him were messengers from the goddess, no less.
«I am sorry... I'll give you everything. I need to cry and get drunk. Expect a ring with money tomorrow.» - XiaoBai said. Then he humbly shook hands with Kyon and left the room, staggering and shedding tears.
His heart was bleeding. How could he lose 1,600,000 spheres in just fifteen minutes! However, he did not feel like a total loser. When a god of deceit fools a scammer, there is no point in getting angry.
XiaoBai exaggerated the awesomeness and craftiness of his newly-made brother because huge amounts of money were in question. The question of his skills and ingenious methods had faded into the background. They would talk about Kyon's talent another time. It wasn't the time or place to get to know the details.
{Great, XiaoBai! The whole three turns of darkness! Kirsan gave me as much under infernal tortures! You fat stingy ass! Is it really so hard to part with money?} - Kyon wondered, grinning.
