A man walked out from the front passenger side of the car and moved towards the back, opening an umbrella for the passenger inside. The man had a neatly combed head of silver hair and a trimmed beard that added to his solemn expression. His eyes were sharp and his lips were tightly pressed together, giving off a strict aura.
Even though he was already sixty years old, his back was straight and his body was well developed, making him seem younger by ten years.
“Old master, this way.” The butler spoke.
With the nod of his head, he entered the building silently. In the hall, a fat man rushed towards to welcome him as he rubbed his hands together, “Welcome, Mr. Horn. I didn’t expect you to participate in the betting event, what a surprise.”
“Alster, if you don’t lose some weight soon, you might just burst your vessels.” The old man Horn spoke calmly in reply.
Wiping his sweat with a handkerchief, the fatty Alster spoke, “I’m just a small figure working to my bones here, where would I find the time to exercise? Regardless, Mr. Horn, come this way, the event is starting.”
The fatty resembled a hardworking salesperson as he led Horn and the butler towards the private lift. While he didn’t look extraordinary, he was chairman of the Death Ring’s committee, an employee of the government, and also the host of every Death Ring for the past 10 years. For such a person, he didn’t have a lot of people he had to personally welcome.
Not a lot at all.
The private lift brought them directly to the top floor, and as the doors opened, it revealed a 600 m² ballroom instead of the training hall. It wasn’t the biggest ballroom in Babylon, but it was extremely well decorated compared to the rest. From the statue of David at the door to the colourful Persian rugs; the angels made of stained glass on the ceiling and four Corinthian columns that acted as support and decor, one could easily see the efforts placed into decorating this place. The design of the entire hall gave it a modest yet luxurious feel that fitted the image of the current noble trends.
The butler handed the umbrella to an attendant as Alster led the both of them to a quiet corner. The aforementioned betting event had yet to start and small gatherings could be seen as light chatter filled the hall. No one had noticed Horn’s arrival at first, and only after a woman had accidentally glanced their way did she gasp in surprise, “Isn’t that Mr Horn from the Beskard family?”
Calming herself down, she quickly threw a smile on her face as she sauntered towards them. But before she could get any closer to Horn, she was stopped by the butler, “I apologise, ma’am. My old master wishes to be alone.”
The smile on her face froze in upset as she left unwillingly. And after her, a few more men tried to approach as well, but they were all stopped by the butler. The people here today were all somewhat famous figures in Babylon, and none of them were used to rejection.
But as the other party was Horn, they could only smile bitterly as they left.
In the high society of Babylon, they were all considered to be nobles. But nobles was just a broad term, in their circle, there were even more ranks. At the top of the nobility rankings were the wealthy, influential and famous. And those that were in these three ranks were families with at least a hundred years of rich history.
The Beskards were the part of the famous, and while it wasn’t as powerful as the wealthy and the influential, there was still an uncrossable distance between them and the regular nobles. Furthermore, the Beskards were not simply famous. Twenty years ago, they were part of the influential, but because of a series of events as well as the rise of another family, they slipped into the ranks of the famous.
That was the Alexander family!
Suddenly, the lights in the ballroom dimmed as the spotlights gathered on the small stage of the hall. Alster resembled a television host as he stood on the stage, and with a gentle cough, he spoke, “Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s skip to the main topic before I sweat a sheen of oil because of these damn lights, or maybe like what my old friend said, it’s time for me to lose some weight.”
Soft laughter erupted from the crowd as the atmosphere changed, Alster continued, “As all of you have seen, the Death Ring is upon us, and the participants have already gone through two weeks of training. For all of you, their rankings and points now are a good indicator for their further performance, so we will commence our betting as usual, please enjoy our grand event.”
With a snap of his fingers, the curtains on the stage were pulled open, revealing a large screen. The lowest ranking children were revealed first as Alster walked down the stage, allowing the other hosts to introduce the children.
The betting event was one of the entertainment programs from the Death Ring and it involved the entirety of Babylon, it was essentially a nationwide betting event. The host was naturally the government, and their goal was to excite the audience to place their money into the government. Of course, the participating children were also able to benefit from this.
Every child who garnered any support would receive 1% of the amount placed on them, and the money would then be converted into supplies that would help them within the competition. The betting event was the main reason for the Death Ring’s popularity in Babylon, and it was also one of the important income sources for the government.
Alster walked towards Horn, he was probably the only person here who was qualified to stand near him. Calling for an attendant to bring alcohol, he toasted Horn, “Is there any child here that caught your eye?”
With a smile, Horn nodded. Seeing this, Alster couldn’t help but ask, “May I know which kid it is?”
“You’ll know in a bit.” Horn treated his words like gold, and with this sentence, he went silent.
And at this moment, the host had already finished introducing the 21 children and announced the start of the betting. And as the other nobles zealously calculated their next move, Horn glanced at his butler.
Understanding, the butler raised his hand and spoke softly, “We will place a ton of high-grade platinum on the contestant Allen.”
Alster’s expression froze before he shook his head, “So the contestant Mr. Horn is interested in is Allen, he is a good choice, but don’t forget that he’s at first place now. Such a position isn’t very good.”
Alster’s words were the truth, while the first position gave the contestant a lot of support to strengthen themselves before the competition, they were also the target of the other competitors. When the game started, the children in the top three would have their positions revealed to the other children.
In the previous Death Rings, many of the first place contestants were hunted and killed by groups right as the competition started.
Normally, placing bets on the second or the third place would be safer, but the overall payoffs on the top three contestants were not very high. For those that were looking to earn a windfall, they usually betted on the dark horses at the ends of the ranking for a surprise.
Horns spoke, “I have faith in him.”
Alster nodded towards the host, and a total amount of 10 million federal coins appeared underneath Allen’s headshot, it was the market price equivalent of a ton of platinum. This amount was announced throughout Babylon, and every single person could see the change in the boy’s funds.
Horn’s generosity shocked the nobles in the ballroom, ten million federal coins were by no means a small amount. But they were quickly snapped back into reality as clapping resonated throughout the hall. A group of men were clapping as they entered, the middle aged man who was leading them had a head of brown hair that was slicked backwards with wax. His blue eyes seemed to be smiling, but with a closer look, one could see a deep blue sea in his eyes. He wore a custom suit from a famous tailor, and details from his sleeves to his collar were exquisite even in the most nitpicking eyes. A black and white tie rested on his chest, amplifying his professional aura while acting as an accessory.
Seeing this man, a bitter smile appeared on Alister’s face. This man was Horn’s arch enemy, the head of the Alexander family, Maine.
Maine spoke from afar, “Mr Horn is truly free-handed, spending a ton of platinum in one go. If ignorant, one might think that the Beskards were wealthy. But seeing the yearly reports, the Beskards have been reporting a 30% decrease in their incomes. Mr Horn, don’t tell me this one ton is your entire savings.”
Horn was unaffected, “No matter how strapped the Beskard family is, we still have our luck, and we are still stronger than some gleeful upstart family.”
Maine sat directly on Horn’s table, an extremely impolite action that he executed with ease. Considering that the Alexander family rose from a bottom ranked family into an influential family in just twenty years, no one could go against Maine. After all, there was an irrefutable connection between the family’s recent success and Maine’s rise to the family head when it began.
“The Alexander family definitely doesn’t have the history Mr. Horn’s family has, but taking out a bit of money like this is still within our means.” Maine smiled at the screen as he glanced over the children, “The kid named Ansi seems pretty pleasing to the eye, put two tons of platinum on him.”
Instantly, the hall was in an uproar. Anyone with an eye could tell that Maine was provoking Horn.
Puttty Translations 