The Offer

"Arun," I say while forcing myself to smile.

"Hello," says the dark-haired, tall, lanky man.

"What brings you here at this late hour," I say formally.

"Why, to gamble of course," Arun replies, playing along.

"Oh, then please go ahead, I was just leaving," I reply and start walking away.

"Not so fast," Arun says while holding me back.

"What do you want?" I question.

"Nothing much, just a small game, me and you?" He asks.

I sigh, if I don't agree, I will be beaten up by the man's goons and then stripped of all my money. Although Arun does not look very dangerous, he is a mob boss with a vicious reputation and a lot of power. Arun is feared by even the local city patrol, he has connections with powerful people, connections that he carefully fostered, fostered by the input of money. He is a dangerous man with a Bounty of the eighth tier, specifically, 8B.

The Bounty is a ranking system, one which can be increased through a variety of means. The only way for the common man to increase their Bounty is to kill monsters, though rumour has it that there is a certain Stone which allows people to increase their Bounty by killing others with Bounty. This is only an unfounded rumour though it is widely believed to be true. A higher Bounty did not make the person stronger per se, but it allowed that person to use items, armour and weapons of a higher tier. A weapon of tier 5A could only be used by someone in the fifth tier, therefore, increasing one's Bounty was sought after.

"I will play a game with you, but only one, I have to leave," I reply to Arun.

"Does the little baby have to sleep?" Arun asks while making puckering noises.

Shrugging, I choose not to respond to his comment.

"How about a game of Knives?" Arun asks slyly.

"Sure," I respond happily, most everyone knows that I am amazing at Knives, thus Arun must have some ulterior motive on choosing the game. My marksman skills are on point and I am good with a bow.

The game of Knives involves both players throwing their daggers at a small target a few 10 metres away. The dagger only needed to hit the target, it did not require one to get closer to the middle or anything like that. The player's daggers were colour coded so you could tell which dagger was whose. After each turn of throwing, the daggers were not removed from the small target, thus it was harder to hit the target each consecutive throw. A player who was leading could take the alternative route of winning, one in which they aimed at their opponent's daggers to try to hit them off the target. The player who had the most daggers on the board at the end of the game won. Each game lasted for a minute and each player was given 10 daggers, thus each player was racing against time.

Arun turns to one of his men standing behind him, "Cochi, go."

My eyebrows turn up in surprise, Cochi is Aruns best marksman, he is a man of medium height, fair skin and blonde hair. His arms are long and his build is that of a dancer, not a bodybuilder, the perfect musculature for a long-distance fighter.

Meren says," I am free, I can preside over the game."

Arun nods and says," Lead the way," as he starts walking.

I catch up with the two and ask," Arun, what will be the bet, I was thinking something along the lines of 30 silver."

Meren smiles at my bet, she knows that the 30 silvers are my life savings and I have just gone all in. I wink at her, hopefully, she understands that I want her to keep quiet.

Arun looks at Cochi who nods self assuredly, then says," Meren put me down for 30 silvers."

Meren looks happy at the surprisingly high bet, especially for Knives, a game which is played for fun. The Lions Gambit takes five percent of all winnings that the gambler has won from other players, it does not take five percent when the player won the money from the house, the house referring to The Lions Gambit. No matter which side won the bet, The Lions Gambit would profit.

As we reach the part of the warehouse where Knives is played, Meren starts announcing the rules, rules which are known to all of us, yet we listen in case something has changed.

Holding the daggers in my hand, they feel unbalanced but I can adapt to it, my daggers are coloured green as opposed to Cochi's blue.

Meren switches on a timer as she says, " Start."

As soon as I hear the signal I let loose the dagger from my hands, it spins through the air, leaving an impression of a bullet leaving a gun. "Thwack" it is a hit, I didn't expect less, I would be very disappointed in myself if I didn't hit the target, after all, the first dagger was the easiest to embed in the target. I have to keep up an average of one knife thrown every six seconds, throwing my second knife, I see a blue knife in the target, Cochi has thrown and he has succeeded. I have 2 knives left, with 7 knives on the target, Cochi with inferior results, with only 6 of his knives on the target and one knife left. Cochi throws another one, but he aims for one of my knives and successfully hits it off the target, through luck, his dagger manages to knock off another one of my daggers, his dagger falling to the floor along with both of mine.

I turn grim at his manoeuvre, trying to one-up him, I draw two daggers one in each hand, one after the other I throw them, the first one hits one of his knives and both of our knives fall to the ground, while the other knife takes the place of Cochi's knife. "Trring" The buzzer sounds just as the knife hits the target, putting Cochi at five knives on the target and me with a higher count. I smile, quite happy with the results, Cochi heaves a sigh of regret as he looks at Aruns disgusted expression.

I hold out my hand in what I believe to be an imposing manner and Meren hands the winnings to me, minus the three silvers that The Lions Gambit takes.

Arun walks towards me, ignoring Cochi, "I have information that there is a ruin of the old Marath Empire somewhere west of here, I am assembling a party to delve into the ruin and find treasure, will you join my party?" Arun asks.

Cochi says," But you said you would let me in the party."

"But you lost, now quiet dog," Arun replies in a condescending tone.

"I will think about it," I say.

Arun hands me a token and says," Decide within two days, come to the northeast Bazaar, my men will find you if you wear this token."

I nod and accept the token, my mind is seriously considering the offer.

"Thanks," I say to Arun as he leaves.

He nods and does not reply, I watch him and his men leave before I realize that I have to leave too.