The Balzec Signups

After walking for about five minutes, they arrived at this large round building. After walking around the building, they found the entrance, a double door-sized opening. The entrance was crowded with about 20 people waiting in a line, in front of what seemed to be a sign up booth that was to the left of the opening. The booth had a large sign above it that said, "SLOW PASS: Regular players sign up here". To the right of the opening was a completely empty booth with a smaller sign that said "FAST PASS: Legend players sign up here". The slow pass booth owner was a middle-aged man with greyish hair and a stooped back, who looked a bit overwhelmed. The fast pass owner was a teenager with sandy hair, who was practically sleeping at his booth.

James and Ebony looked at each other, somehow coming to a silent agreement that Ebony would take the slow booth while James and Verity would try the fast booth. They split apart, Ebony waiting at the slow booth line, while James and Verity moved to the fast booth. The fast booth owner looked up with a half open eye at James and Verity, but didn't seem that interested. Maybe he thought they were just some people with questions.

"Is this where to sign up for the Balzec tournament?" James asked, politely. The owner gave him a side eye, looking bored.

The booth owner sighed, then sat up a tad straighter.

"Well, yes, but also no. As you can see, everyone is signing up at that booth over there. If you're a regular player, you go over and sign up, as I'm sure you two will have to. If you are a legendary player with a special card to prove it, you sign up here. I doubt you or your little girl there are legendary players, so please move to the next line." The booth owner said robotically, as if he had said it twenty times before.

James looked at the rude booth owner for a second, before looking at Verity with a grin. Verity seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she reached into her pocket and produced her special card. James did the same.

Even though the cards weren't actually in their pockets, they could "produce" their special cards whenever they wished, due to some magical force the cards had or something. James looked at the booth owner dead in the eye, who started to look uncomfortable, before smiling in a way that James hoped looked disarming and friendly.

"Well, isn't that just great? Whew, I was really worried we would have had to wait in a line of... What is it now, twenty-one?" James said amicably, smiling with genuine pleasure at seeing the booth owner slowly wake up in disbelief.

"wait... you... seriously?" The booth owner stated in disbelief. He slowly looked at Verity, with even more shock. "The kid too...?" He asked quietly.

James nodded, smile evident on his face. But suddenly, he turned his smile upside down into a serious frown.

"Then again, I'm not a fan of the service here.The attitude I got just by asking a question? disgraceful. I think I might move on to a different tournament. I do believe Waltech is holding one." James said, his (fake) disgust evident. Ebony indirectly gave him great pointers on how to look disgusted.

The booth owner immediately looked panicked. Having a legendary player in a tournament that you hosted was a big deal. That's the whole reason he was out here manning this specific booth in the first place. If he gets a legendary player to sign up, it will probably earn him a raise. But this legendary duo just stated that they were going to join a tournament hosted by Waltech, their most bitter rival company. If his boss discovered that he indirectly turned away TWO legendary players, he would not only lose out on a raise, he may be directly fired!

"Um, my bad sir! I'm sorry for my poor service, We would really love to have you as part of our tournament! Uh, both of you." The booth owner added, looking at Verity's raised eyebrow.

James was having the time of his life, but he kept a straight face when he answered.

"Hm. Oh well, I suppose you did have a change of attitude to someone better than you-" The booth owner's face started to turn red with embarrassment, "-and Waltech is far too away to walk to anyways." James stated, looking at the booth owners slowly reddening face the whole time, acting oblivious to the fact that the booth owner was becoming angrier and more embarrassed by the second.

"Very good, sir." The booth owner said slowly, the possibility of a raise cycling through his mind being the only thing keeping his mouth shut. He really didn't need this at this moment. Not only that, he too was participating in the tournament, and two legendary players would spell trouble for him. Either way, this was an opportunity he couldn't miss.

"Please, just sign here. Oh, and I need to see your special cards." He said, pointing to the top of the paper. He suddenly had a thought that the two could be messing with him, but luckily they produced their special cards and verified themselves.

The booth owner raised his eyebrow as he realized he actually knew who these cards belonged to. He looked up at James, with the realization that he was looking at the "Traitorous Strategist", the scourge of Whenway alley himself. And the girl was the "Queen of Witchcraft" Verity, the gold hoarder. Despite knowing a bit about them, he rarely heard any exploits about them. It was only due to the fact that his boss told him to watch out for specific legendary players, "Just in case". He was actually a bit of a fan of Verity's after learning a bit about her. Didn't like James all that much, and his dislike of him only grew the entire time James spoke.

After James and Verity signed up, the booth owner made a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his face. The fact that he got two legendary players to sign up, one of them being Verity, someone he was a mini fan of, made the booth owner smile with genuine happiness as well as relief. James noticed this and raised his eyebrow a bit. James had a second of thought, before making a small, genuine smile.

"Thank you young man. It was surprisingly a pleasure to work with you." James said, showing that he is in fact, not heartless. The booth owner looked at him with slight surprise.

"Yeah! I hope you have a good day!" Verity said, as she and James started walking through the doorway.

The booth owner felt like he was floating on clouds.