Eternal Elysium

The way my abilities work was always different. 

I had observed this for a long time but never reached a concrete conclusion. The people around me had abilities that made them look like mages and warriors from fantasy stories. 

But I was different in a weird sense. 

[Static] and [Kairosflow] were never made for direct confrontation with any enemies. What I just did was proof of this. The weird man who had been following me was not defeated with strength; instead, I had fooled him. 

Freezing him in time and also destroying things beside him had made him run away in fear. 

It was the best outcome I could possibly have right now, without any further preparation. 

Killing him was also possible, but this was not the right move. 

After all, I was almost sure he was sent by Elric to either keep an eye on me or get rid of me. 

If I had killed him, Elric would be sure I was not just a new merchant but someone he needed to be totally wary of.

However, I had played the persona of a powerful awakened who was also my bodyguard. This way Elric would think twice before involving me in his business; after all, it would not be wrong to assume that I also had a strong backing.

"I had also strongly opposed joining anyone." 

I muttered and continued to walk towards the market. 

My goal was now to just look for merchants. Hear what they were talking about and what's going around with my own two ears. 

Seeing a tavern not far from here, I started to move towards it. 

A building with a wooden gate and chains hung from the outside gave a strange yet attractive look. 

I stared at its handle and was about to open it, but then—

Clink—! 

The door opened from the inside. 

A man coming from inside reeked of alcohol and stared in my direction. 

He frowned and scoffed. 

"Hey, leave the way!" 

"Oh, yeah, sorry." 

Realizing I had covered the exit, I stepped aside, giving him the space to leave. 

As he came outside, I stared at him in confusion. He looked kind of… broke? 

The man started to walk away but then stopped. His gaze once again turned back to stare at me. 

With an annoyed look, he asked. 

"What?!" 

"You look kinda messed up…" 

Without any interest, I spoke out loud. I was not trying to get in trouble or anything, but seeing his condition,. I could tell without any doubts that he had a story. 

He raised his brows, anger flickering through his eyes as he shot his hand forward and grabbed my collar. 

"Are you messing with me, kid?" 

Seeing this, I sighed. 

'Maybe I was wrong.' 

"No, not at all, sir. Rather, you look distressed, so I thought I should ask what happened." I answered back. 

"Ha! Like hell! What's that supposed to even mean?" 

He said it loud enough for those around us to hear, then said,. 

"Those fuckers inside had already looted my money; now you want to make fun of me?!" 

'Money… Was he gambling inside?'

I pressed my lips tightly, then rolled my eyes. 

'Reasonable crash out, I guess.' 

As the man's grip tightened on the collar, he raised his free arm and clenched his fists. 

"YOU—" 

Thud! 

Clink—!

He blinked as his fist shot forward in the air. But it hit no one. He was on the ground, lying helplessly with his hand raised towards the sky. 

In the background he could hear the bell of the tavern, but he ignored it. 

His face went pale as his eyes started to shake in fear.

'Why am I on the ground…?' 

'Where is that man?' 

'What just happened?'

These questions flashed through his face, but no one was near him. 

A sharp pain started to come from his back as he felt his muscles twitch. 

"Dammit!" He cursed and rolled around, trying to ease the pain. 

"Where is that brat?!" He turned to look around but saw no one. 

"Urgh… I am drunk."

He growled and stood up, shaking his head. His hands moved to his pockets. His right pockets, which were supposed to be empty, now had something, as he felt weight in them. 

He frowned and pulled it out. 

Two ten R notes were in his hands. But how? He had no money to begin with. He turned to look at the tavern and licked his lips. 

Should he try once more…? 

He sighed, feeling sober all of a sudden.

"Not today…" He muttered and left. 

***** 

As I walked through the tavern, something weird caught my eye. The tavern looked weird from the inside. 

Its interior design was not exactly pleasant to the site. The size was way smaller than how it looked from the outside. 

I frowned as my eyes searched around but saw no one gambling either; the number of customers here was too low as well. 

Not more than twenty people, I would assume. 

I walked to the counter and sat at the seat near it. 

A waiter noticed my presence and came near me with a polite smile on his face. 

"What can I get for you, sir?" He asked, with a notepad in his hands. 

"Well, anything good… Also, why is this place so empty right now?" I asked. 

The waiter nodded, his smile widening as he spoke in a polite tone. 

"We also offer private booths to play games among customers for a small fee, of course." He paused and looked around to see not many customers present.

"Would you like to play as well, sir?" 

Sigh…

I sighed; my gaze moved to look around the room. Feeling no issue with this offer, I asked back.

"What's the price?" 

"10 R for a single game for ten minutes." 

In a heartbeat he replied back. 

"I have an offer for you. Are you interested in hearing this?" 

Hearing my words, the waiter frowned, his lips parted as he said,. "Sir, if you wish to lower the fee, that's not possible." 

I smiled and shook my head in denial. With a low voice I answered back. 

"No, I don't want to lower the fee… I only have a small favor to ask for." 

The waiter nodded as he saw a small bundle of money being placed on the table. 

"What's the job?" 

"Bring me to the place where people deal with shipment or… are going to bring something in the city." 

He frowned and shook his head. 

"That will cost more." He said. 

I sighed and shook my head. 

"I am not talking about anything illegal, everyday stuff I mean." 

He looked around and leaned toward me.

"Can you not say exactly what you are looking for, sir?" 

I sighed and nodded. "Does anything related to soap come to mind?" 

He thought for a moment, then slowly nodded his head. 

The waiter knew it was a wrong thing to do, but he also knew that good deeds won't bring him money as well. So, the choice was obvious.

"Let me guide you, sir." 

I stood up and handed him the money. Following his steps to enter a door at the back of the room, I asked. "Explain whatever you could." 

Understanding his customer's intentions, the waiter looked around to make sure no one was listening and said in a small voice. "Inside are two awakeners and one awakened. After two or three days I have heard they will be guarding a big shipment related to some big-shot merchant… Whether I am right or wrong, you will need to check it yourself, sir." 

Stopping beside a small door, he grabbed its handle. 

"Here, take this." 

Seeing another bundle of notes, the waiter looked at me in confusion. His eyes clearly asked what this was for.

I smiled and put the fifty R in his hands. 

"To keep your mouth shut." 

His lips curled up as he suddenly tilted his head. "About what, sir?" 

I couldn't help but laugh as I heard his reply; with a grin, I nodded. 

"Yup, just like that." 

Click—! 

"I hope you all have fun playing." He bowed and left after leading me inside. 

As I entered, I saw three silhouettes sitting in the dark around a small table. The smell of cigars reeked from one of them, making me frown as I sat on the empty chair. 

It was hard to see their faces, as beside the table darkness had filled the small booth. 

"Finally someone joined us; I was dying from boredom!" The one sitting opposite me said loudly. 

"Pleasure meeting you." I brought my hand forward for a handshake as I gave my greetings. 

I could see the man's lips curl up into a grin as he shook my hand in a tight grip, making me frown. 

"Same, same… Now let's start the game." 

The other two on both sides nodded in my direction. 

"Sure, what are we playing?" I asked, looking at the deck of cards with intricate designs at the back. 

"Oh, nothing great, we will just play a normal game of cards and keep the bidding at the same time for each round of 7. The one with the highest number of cards by the end of each round wins. If the wins are equal among us four, then we will keep the money for the next bid by pooling it." 

I nodded. 

The game of cards was simple and easy and followed the normal rules. I had played it a long time ago with Kit and the others, so my confidence was not very low.

"Alright." 

Hearing my answer, the man nodded and then started to shuffle the cards and distributed them on the table. In front of me lay seven cards; each card meant one round with a number written over it. They contained numbers from zero to twenty-seven; the person with the highest number wins. 

That was how the game was generally meant to be played among kids. 

But it had additional rules as well, which made it popular among adults. If you play the zero card, the game ends in a draw. In the case that a number above twenty is played, then a special rule is applied to all players: if even one person has played a single-digit card, then all the players with card numbers above twenty will have their digits added to create a new number. 

For example, a powerful card of number twenty-two will be left as nothing but four after adding up. And in case after addition two players end up with the same numbers, which are also the highest digits, a coin will be tossed. 

People also make new rules based on their interests and moods, but these were the general terms for it that kept the game clear and easy to understand. 

"Shall we start the game now?" The man who seemed to be awakened among the three asked. 

No one has touched the cards yet. 

So, I was confident nothing could have tampered with them in front of me. It would be another case if they had done it before, though. 

"Yes, please do." 

I said politely, maintaining the meek persona. 

"First bid 15 R." He placed the money on the table; we all followed his lead and placed our bets. 

I grabbed the cards one by one and shuffled them in my hands. 

Only one person can look at his cards at a time. 

As they all saw their cards one by one, my turn finally arrived as well. 

'Having a wide variety of cards was the best outcome in this game.' 

Praying to get good cards, I finally turned to see them. 

Flick

Zero… seventeen… nine… twenty… nineteen… twenty-seven… twenty-six…

Several emotions were about to be flashed through my face as I checked the cards one by one. 

Maintaining a small smile on my face, I turned my gaze to look at each of them as a single thought went through my mind. 

'My cards are way too good!'