Chapter 349: Collecting Bets

Complete and utter silence ensued inside the spacious arena. The spectating crowd looked at the unbelievable results of the duel with utter and wild shock on their faces.

The strongest of them, the idol and the unbeatable leader, the skilled swordsman, Sir Michael Sonovan was defeated. Just like that, with one single attack, he was sent flying like a broken kite. 

The boy was so incredibly fast that nobody even managed to catch his attack. One instant he was standing still looking aloof, uncaring, and calm, and in the next, he was in front of Sir Michael who was then suddenly sent back flying, crashing against the wall violently.

Nobody dared to utter a single word, everyone was looking at the scene, unable to come to any proper conclusions in their disturbed minds. Slowly the gazes of the people wandered from the motionless body of their defeated leader to the casual looking, thin frame of this unknown boy.

Just who was he? Where did he come from? But most importantly, what just happened?

Not bothered by the gazes of the people above them, Aiden turned to Sara, looking at her with a questioning look on his face. Without the need for words, Sara nodded, before walking next to her. She raised her right hand in the air, grabbing the attention of everyone.

As she spoke, just like before, her voice was ambiguous, ringing in the air like a heavenly melody.

"The duel has been concluded, as his opponent is unable to continue fighting, the victor is clear! Aiden, the adventurer! As a result, he will be credited with the results of the two aforementioned 5-star quests, and thus will also be now considered as the second official Rank 3 adventurer of Higrove's Adventurer's Guild. This duel can also serve as the rank-up test." 

She turned towards the crowd, slowly scanning them over. A pair of purple gloving balls lit up, glowing ominously as she continued, addressing her question to the crowd this time. "I presume nobody has any issues with this?"

Nobody dared to speak a word, the pin-drop silence remained as the ruling atmosphere in the room. What a joke! Even if someone would have any concerns, would he or she be stupid enough to go against someone that even the leaders of the city can't touch? Why on Earth would they do something like that?!

No, everyone liked to retain their miserable lives, no words were uttered, no hands were raised.

Seeing that there were no disputes, Sara's eye's returned to normal. 

"If that's the case, then you are all free to leave."

After saying the magic words, the crowd instantly erupted with a loud noise, as they began to scurry far away from this scene and at the same time, from this monstrous boy. 

Amidst the crowd, a particular chubby figure was sweating heavily as he tried to mingle into the midst of the moving mass, hoping to escape the premises and get out of the city. He had only one goal in mind: to get as far away as possible. He stupidly accepted a bet for such a huge sum of the guild credits that even if he were to sell everything he owned and then sell himself off to the guild he would still be far away from even gathering half of the surmounting debt he now owed.

'Please… Gods just let me get out of here… I swear I will turn into a better person! Just this once… help me escape!'

He continued begging, praising in his head, whilst trying his hardest not to stand out. Unfortunately for him, all his efforts were ultimately futile. As soon as he left the room and walked down in the midst of the crowd downstairs, a hand reached out to him and pulled him out. 

A moment later, the very young man he was desperate to avoid was standing in front of him. To his left and right two girls, one sporting fiery, vibrant red hair and one blonde that still wore a light brown, linen hood,  surrounded him.

The young, silver-haired youth was grinning expectantly at the man. His left hand was resting atop his wrapped, bandaged blade hanging on his side, serving as a warning and a not-so-covered threat.

"I presume you were just about to get to me, Mr. Thon." Drake grinned, leaning closer to the chubby man. "You see, I remember us making a bet, and you owning me quite a sum."

Beads of sweat rolled down from Rick's forehead, he was trying to wreck his brain to come up with anything to get out of this situation. Should he just charge ahead? He was heavily debating the idea.

Even if he was a friend of that golden-eyed monster, he shouldn't be like him. Nature shouldn't allow two of such abominations to exist simultaneously, right?

Then his eyes slowly wandered to the red-haired girl, who was already holding a short blade, a dagger in her right hands. 

'Nope, not that way either…'

The only option he could think of was to go through the blonde girl. Although shoving her to the side and causing her potential harm, would mean that he would no longer be welcome in this place, he was fine with that. Why would he even want to come back to this damned place anyway?! There are many other opportunities waiting for him elsewhere!

Also, she had no weapons in her hand, and looked feeble, just like how a normal teenage girl should look like. He could just push her out of the way and hope for the best in escaping.

With the plan formulated after a couple of seconds of silent thinking, he looked up at the smirking silver-haired youth in the eye.

A hideous-looking grin stretched his unshaven face as he started to speak.

"You see… Mr. Drake, I was about to go to the others and collect their pay that had lost their bets. With their losses, I could cover your bet, and-"

Rick was abruptly silenced before he could finish his thoughts.

"Don't waste my time lying. You have taken all payment beforehand, just like you did with me. Do we look like idiots? Pay up, or else…" 

Giving more weight to the meaning behind his words, his right arm slowly wrapped itself around the hilt of his strange, heavily bandaged sword hanging in its sheath on his left side.

"Ehrm… You see… I…" Suddenly, as he spoke with a nervous look, Rick jumped to the left, ready to shove the weak-looking blondie to the side. 

Thinking that she would not be any problem, he was surprised when suddenly he felt his legs suddenly being flung to the back, shifting the center of his gravity higher, towards his face and causing him to swiftly crash against the wooden floorboards.

His escape was put to a stop even before he had any chance of escape. Feeling the taste of iron slowly seeping into the corners of his mouth, Rick cursed at his own luck inwardly, trying to push himself back up. Before he did, however, he was pushed back down, as Drake stepped on his back.

"I did warn you not to try anything funny before we made the bet, didn't I? You accepted the conditions and took my money, so now, you will pay us back. Don't worry Mr. Rick Thon, I'm sure we can come to an agreement. After all, we are all gentlemen here, are we not?"  Drake spoke with a wide-perched grin stretching his lips, contorting his facial muscles.

Rick could only sigh in defeat… He had no other options, left after all… His group had left him to suffer, and there were no ways out of this mess he himself had caused anymore…

—

Sometime later, the group was now sitting in the meeting room where Scarlet already spent an arduous amount of time waiting for Sara. Just like then, their group was situated around the large long table, waiting for Sara to show up once more.

"Argh, I hate this place! Can't we just start already? Why do we even need to wait for her?!" She exclaimed, not willing to waste another moment in this tense silence.

"We need her expertise as well, Scarlet. She has a certain… connection we will need if we were to be successful. With her, we could only charge head first, and hope for the best." Aiden, sitting at the central position, explained in his usual calm tone causing the girl to fall silent. 

"Who is this Sara to you, brother anyway? You keep talking about him…" Sitting on Aiden's left, Lily asked. A moment later, as if realization hit her, her face brightened up, a wide-stretched smile curving it upwards. "Oooooh! Could she be your… your girlf-"

"No! She is an important friend to me, to us!" 

Seeing how nervously his brother responded to the question, Lily only giggled with delight, not pushing on the topic any further. 

Luckily, before anything further could be said, the door to the room slowly creaked open, and Sara walked in. As soon as she closed the door behind herself, she pulled down the hood, unveiling her purple tinges for the first time for Lily to see.

"Sorry for the wait everyone." She spoke, walking with large strides towards Aiden's right.