Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

It was now time for Barrett and Basil to lay down the plan for harvesting the rest of the money within the branch.

Still, there was one thing they needed to settle first, or rather, Basil felt urged to settle it first.

Which was... Dorbish himself, who was tagging along.

Basil turned around, shooed him away. "Dorbish bro, you’re a pauper like us, but without ambition, this isn’t a place you should be."

Dorbish shrugged, his droopy eyes as cool as ever. "I might learn a thing or two from you guys."

"Go learn fighting from Boss instead," Basil retorted right away, attacking Dorbish where it hurts.

"Basil, we don’t have time to waste," Barrett urged all of a sudden. "If he does anything, we can let Boss take care of him later."

Basil raised an eyebrow; he rubbed the mask over his chin before finally nodding. "You’re right," he agreed to the suggestion.

He turned around and gave Dorbish a threatening side look. Running his thumb over his neck, "Boss will surely take care of anything," he said before marching somewhere with Barrett and Dorbish following him.

Dorbish shook his head but didn’t say anything; he just followed the duo.

At an empty corner near the edge of the facility, Basil sat on the ground and signaled for Barrett to sit next to him.

The gambling book in his hand disappeared, and another new one appeared. "We will start over," he announced.

Barrett nodded; he certainly seemed to have an idea where this was going. He couldn’t help smiling.

Dorbish crouched behind to watch.

The two of them started making a new, fabricated list from scratch of those who placed their money on Moon and those who didn’t.

Basil made sure to increase the number of people who placed their money on Moon. They had enough reasons for it.

After writing and going back and forth with the total amount of money they had, the list was finally concluded.

Dorbish also watched as his name was being written down, with a considerable amount of money next to it.

"Would this work?" Basil asked Barrett next to him with an excited glint in his eyes.

Barrett nodded. "This, I can work with." He smiled subtly.

"Barrett bro, should we extort some money from that one-eyed bastard too?" Basil suggested.

Barrett shook his head. "Let’s get Colten done first. You can speak to Zera later, or have Boss do it."

Basil pondered for a moment. "Fine, the bastard is getting too violent lately now that Boss had him train us."

Dorbish nodded. "So that’s what he meant by taking care of the guy," he exclaimed in understanding.

Basil ignored him and marched into the dorms, where they would finally confront Colten for all the money he currently had.

Before long—

Knock~

Knock~

Basil knocked on Colten’s door; soon, small black eyes greeted them. Kase, one of the younger knights following Colten.

"Kase, bro, we wanna have a word with your boss," Basil said, waving his gambling book in the air. Kase closed the door for a second before reopening it.

"Come in," he said.

As soon as they entered, "You scammers, where’s our money?" The one who said it was Liam, the second of the younger knights of Colten, who had wide brown eyes.

Basil chuckled slyly. "Investing, of course," he said with a confident, low voice.

He ignored him right away and turned to Colten. "Up for making more money, rich kid from a rich family?" he asked.

Colten looked at him deeply for a moment; his eyes went to Barrett before settling on Dorbish, who smiled subtly and moved his hand in greeting.

"Explain," Colten said in a high and authoritative tone.

Basil looked at Barrett; it was now his time to take over.

Barrett took the book from Basil’s hands and walked closer to Colten. His business smile was starting to bloom with every step closer to Colten.

"Here, please take a look," Barrett said. He stood next to Colten and started explaining. "We honestly... Sigh—"

Barrett paused for a moment, locking his eyes with Colten’s. "We don’t believe Boss will win the next round, and we also think you share the same opinion."

The smile on Barrett’s face turned into heaviness. "We’re concerned about our future and the future of our Boss, which is a short trial for you, but could turn into a lifetime grind for us."

He opened the book and proceeded with his explanation. "Look here, there’s a great opportunity for us to make money."

Barrett pointed at one row. "Here are those who placed their money on Lady Talia’s win. You can see, only very few did, like her aide and a few other girls who idolized her." He slowly crept in the problem.

He pointed at the other row. "Look here, how many placed their money on Boss, who would eventually, and unfortunately, lose?"

Barrett watched the minute change in Colten’s face. "Almost everyone is afraid of Boss going after them if they placed their money on Talia," he said with a very troubled face. "So we need your help."

Colten went silent, watching the sum of money placed on Moon’s win. His eyes held a glint of greed and deep thought.

"What do you want exactly?" The minute reactions disappeared from Colten’s face as he asked, replaced by his usual coldness they were familiar with; both he and Basil remembered it perfectly.

Barrett smiled bitterly. "We’re seeking your permission to bet the money we won last round on Lady Talia," he requested politely.

"You’re still holding onto it; why ask permission?" Colten retorted.

Barrett shook his head. "It’s your money; we can split it now, of course, if that’s what you want," he said without flinching.

Behind him, Basil nearly cursed, but he held himself back. Dorbish was just watching, observing how this would go.

Liam brought a cup of tea for Colten, who slowly brought it closer to his nose to savour the aroma before setting it aside. He looked at Dorbish. "I’ll have another cup brewed for you right away," he said.

Dorbish waved his hand dismissively. "There’s no need; I’ll be leaving right away," he declined politely with a smile.

Colten rested his chin on his fist and looked back at Barrett, who steadily controlled his reactions and the book he was holding.

"You want more money from me to be placed on Talia’s win?" he asked with a laid-back tone.

Barrett’s smile widened. "Precisely," he nodded.

The two locked gazes for a moment, which stretched for a second.

Colten tapped his armrest. "How are you going to handle Moon’s reaction after he loses and discovers that his close men have betrayed him?"

Barrett looked down, looking troubled. This indeed is problematic. We don’t know how he would react since he has never lost till now.

"How do you expect me to help you if you can’t help yourself?" Colten asked, retorting to everything Barrett was trying to drag him into.

"Listen, having a large sum for us to survive what we’re about to go through in the next trial or after it is more important now, for both you and us," Barrett tried to weigh it for him, making it more in favour of their mutual benefit.

"I’m a rich kid from a rich family, as your friend there has said," Colten said as he pointed his finger at Basil, using their words against them.

Hearing this, Barrett straightened his arched back.

Sigh~

He sighed deeply before looking back at Basil. "Now that the situation has come to this, I guess we don’t have another choice."

Basil squinted but didn’t say anything.

Barrett looked back at Colten. "If we give you now a way out of the possible backlash Boss could bring on us, would you dare to do it?" His tone suddenly changed, becoming firmer.

Colten raised an eyebrow. For a few seconds, he didn’t say anything. His gaze went back and forth between the three uninvited visitors.

After a long moment of silence, "Fine, if you have a way out, let’s do it," he agreed.

Barrett smiled. He stretched his hand to Basil. "Give me the fake list."