Arc 2 - Chapter 7: The Trickster (3/3)

There was an informal organization in Rolderhelm known as the Betting Company. No one knew why the government allowed it.

Rolderhelm was a state of law in Yu's eyes, and until a few nights ago he had thought there was only a little illegal activity here.

He could somehow understand what was happening in the back streets of the Hull Quarter. Even though Yu argued that the state should immediately send its soldiers there and put everyone in dungeons, the state could not touch them if nothing illegal was going on in sight. Otherwise, Rolderhelm's impression of the rule of law would have been damaged and investor confidence would have been diminished.

But the Betting Company was making illegal bets in full view of everyone and everyone was silent about it.

People could bet on arena matches in casinos, but because illegal Betting Company didn't pay taxes, the odds offered by the bookmaker were higher than in casinos, and that's why people chose to bet with the bookmaker.

During his research, Yu found out that Rolderhelm used to fight the bookmaker, but five years ago, for some unknown reason, the government began to tolerate its existence.

All this was unimportant to him. Yu didn't care about the history of the company or the struggle of the past. His goal was to make money without lifting a finger.

"The company takes about a thousand bets on a match, and in the best of times, three thousand three hundred to four thousand four hundred. I will tell them that I will bring at least two thousand bettors and I want thirty percent of the company's revenue."

If the letter plan worked, people would rush to the bookmaker's door and put their money on the team they thought would win.

"What if they don't accept, or if one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine bookmakers show up?"

"If they don't accept, there's nothing I can do, and I'll be upset if only one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine bookmakers show up."

He would be happy if the bookmaker would deal with him and give him money, but he would be more than a little upset if he couldn't make a deal with them because he had put almost no effort into it, or if he couldn't make money because of a rule he had set himself.

"Will I have to do magic again?"

"Yes, please."

Fear was an effective tool of control used by those in power over the years.

Beyond fines, imprisonment or death penalties, people obeyed the law, fearing even the hell they had never seen.

Yu could not throw away such an effective method of control and security. It would be more efficient to use fear to gain people's loyalty and to secure the loyalty of the agreed party than words and papers.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, please come to my room."

A red-haired man in his thirties entered the waiting room. He was the current director of an organization called the Betting Company.

Yu and Yurine followed the red-haired man into the executive office on the top floor of a four-story building. From the Betting Company building, one could see the coliseum where the arena game was played. It was larger in diameter and shorter in walls, but similar to the colosseum in Rome.

"Welcome, my name is Barney Loyd, I'm the director of the Betting Company."

"Yu Valarfin." Yu shook hands with Barney. "And my daughter Yurine."

He hadn't meant to just say Yurine. It was the first time he had introduced Yurine as his daughter to someone he had just met.

Yurine's eye twitched and one corner of her lip turned down.

"You can sit down."

Marino's office layout was the same as Barney's. Yu and Yurine sat opposite each other in the chairs in front of Barney's desk.

Barney saw Yurine's reaction. "Your daughter didn't seem to like the way she was introduced."

"We're still getting used to it."

After they left here, Yurine had a few words to say about the way she was introduced.

"If I remember correctly, you had a business offer, right?"

"Yes."

"We don't get many people coming to us with business offers, in fact this is the first time I've had a business offer in my time on the board."

Being an illegal company, it was normal for him not to receive business offers that required trust. Paper contracts were worthless unless the government recognized them, and there was no one to complain to if the Betting Company failed to honor its agreements.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you."

"Then let's get straight to the point. I'm waiting to hear your offer."

Yu waited a moment before speaking. He wasn't thinking about what he was going to say since he had already decided in advance, he just wanted to keep Barney waiting.

"I'm from abroad, I have some savings and I have dreams of sailing in different seas after multiplying my money the easy way. Before I came to you, I did some research on your company, and I found out that the number of customers who come to your company to bet on a match is usually around a thousand, and the number increases by three or four hundred at most for big matches that attract the public. In casinos the numbers are even lower."

"People don't find betting interesting anymore. In fact, the industry is driven by the bets of some of the big bookmakers." Barney interjected with a little briefing.

As Barney said, the people who put the biggest bets into the Bookmaker were rich criminals like Pepe Don who didn't want to pay taxes on their gambling winnings.

"As you know, there is a tournament in honor of Rolderhelm's centenary. I think this tournament will be a great source of income for me, and for you too."

Agreements were based on mutual interests. If one or more of the parties gained something and there was no reward for the other party or parties, it would make the deal less likely to be accepted and would give a bad impression to the party offering the deal.

"I will work to get you at least two thousand punters for the final match, and in return I want a thirty percent share of your revenue."

Barney put his hand to his chin, as Yu did when he was thinking.

"There are problems with your offer."

"Tell me."

"First of all, I want to know how you're going to do it. If it's advertising, there's already advertising that teams do for themselves, what more can you do?"

"Please understand, I don't want my ideas to be used without my permission, so I won't tell you how I'm going to run things. While I realize that deals are based on mutual trust, I can't allow a person I've just met to get rich off my plan by using what I told him after he rejected me."

He couldn't tell him about the letter plan, and he couldn't tell him about his plan even if it was something other than letters. If the Betting Company was an official company he could secure his ideas with documents, but for an illegal company there was no such security.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, although I'd like to know how it's going to work. Let's move on to the other problem, the odds you're asking for are too high. As you said, we already have a bone of a thousand customers per game, I can't give you thirty percent odds for the customers who will come anyway. But I can give you ten percent of the revenue we get from bettors after fifteen hundred bettors."

"Ten percent is not worth my time. You are not counting the bets of the first one thousand five hundred punters. If two thousand punters come, I will only make money from five hundred of them. If we count your commission at ten percent and assume that each punter will bet two gold pieces, your profit will be one hundred gold pieces and my profit will be ten gold pieces."

Yu knew that future punters would bet more than two gold coins, and Barney must have realized that two gold coins was low for punters. Nevertheless, the result of the calculation was mocking.

"But giving you a share of our bone mass would also put me at a loss."

"Okay. I knew you would reject it, but I wanted to save some of my money and time for a rainy day, so I started with a simple offer. I guess I'll have to take a risk and present the real plan."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I want fifty percent of your winnings from every punter after fifteen hundred. In return, I'll guarantee you at least three thousand punters. If you miss a single one, you won't have to pay me."

"You must be very confident to suddenly increase the numbers like that."

"I was aiming to make a lot of money with little effort, but thanks to you, I will have to make a lot of money with little effort."

He was almost certain that at least three thousand people would follow his letter plan. In fact, things were going Yu's way.

"Fifty percent is too much."

"No, it isn't. Remember that in your best case, the number of punters you get is fifteen hundred. I'm bringing you bookmakers that you wouldn't get under normal circumstances. It's not even certain that you'll get fifteen hundred bookmakers on top of that, you might not even reach the one thousand bookmaker limit. You'll probably get there because of the bookies I'm bringing you, and I'm being humble and not taking a commission on the bookies that will get you to the fifteen hundred mark. I'd like you to be as polite as I am."

Barney wanted Yu's plan to work, but he also wanted to make as much as he could from it. He didn't mind ripping off his potential partner in the process.

"Let me make it clear again that I will have at least three thousand punters, and I will not charge a commission on the first one thousand five hundred punters, and I will share fifty percent of the money you make from the punters who come after the first one thousand five hundred punters. I will not charge a fee even if there is one less than three thousand punters. Only under these conditions will I spend my money and time to bring you punters."

"You must be a con man." Barney was smiling slightly.

"Sort of."

"Let's make a deal, then, as you say."

Barney took out two sheets of paper and a pen from a drawer under the table, wrote down the terms Yu had offered on both sheets and signed his name on both.

"I didn't say we were going to do the deal with papers."

"Oh?"

As Yu stood up, Yurine created a sphere of light as she had done in the morning. The orb floated in the air and landed on Yu's outstretched hand.

"You're an illegal company, any paper signed with you is worthless." Yu's voice was so dark it was blood-curdling. This was the first time he had a real opportunity to enjoy the fruits of his high school theater classes. "We're going to make a magical pact, I'm sure you've heard the stories. If one of the parties betrays the pact, his soul is shattered. I think it's a safer way of dealing."

"I thought you said something about mutual trust."

"After we do this, there will be mutual trust."

Barney's face paled. "I'm not going to betray you," he said and shook Yu's hand. So far, whoever he had shown this agreement to had accepted it, even though they were scared.

"In addition to the items I listed, if there are any problems, you will not say anything about us. After both sides have received their reward, you will forget about us completely. Otherwise your soul will be torn to pieces, Mr. Loyd. Do you accept?"

"Y-Yes."

Yu's cold, terrifying voice made Barney's lips tremble, who is at least ten years older than him.

Yu alone could not have had this effect, Yurine's magic had a lot to do with it.

"Burn those papers, and your name and signature will not appear on such a document."

"Yes."

"I will come and collect my money when the bets for the final match are closed, until then, take care on yourself."

As they left the company, Yu was pleased with the impression he had made. With Yurine's simple demonstration of magic and the maximum amount of acting, he was leaving scared people in his wake.