Mythran's Master Of All

The fat dwarf waddled up the ramp and came out into another section of the Garrison.

“Damn him!” He said as he approached his desk. “I've lost nearly all of the money I've gathered since I've been here, and on a single bet!” He sat down and opened a drawer, then touched a sending stone. “It's Khirbor Tarum. I don't know what he did for you to send him here, but he's cleaned me out.” The fat dwarf said. “You didn't say he'd be stinking rich!”

The Sending Stone glowed. “He outbid you, did he?” The voice laughed. “He's smarter than I thought. I'll increase your loan by a few more platinum to cover any losses.”

The fat dwarf sat there and fumed. “A few platinum!” He slammed the drawer shut because the Sending Stone couldn't be used for another hour. “I wish I only needed a few more platinum.”

*

It took about an hour for Ren to work out how to break up 300 fighters into divisions. It ended up with 12 men in each division, and Ren offered a gold coin for winning that part. The 25 winners would be divided into 5 man sections, and those 5 winners would get 3 gold each, and the second place would get 1. Those 10 fighters would fight in pairs, with 5 winners getting 5 gold; and all the dwarves would vote for a wild card fighter to make a total of 6. They would fight in pairs, and 3 winners would be left and get 10 gold each. If they still wanted to fight after that, Ren said it would be a Round Robin, 2 loss elimination fight. The winner gets 30 gold, second place, 20 gold, and third 10 gold. He'd drawn it all up on a large piece of parchment so everyone could see how it went.

All the dwarves thought it was a great idea, then someone mentioned that they wanted to bet on their favorite fighters to win. Of course, then that brought up how they would keep track of it all, and Ren walked over to the Warrior that stood beside the fat dwarf's huge chair.

“Your Lord's skills are needed again.” Ren said. “As long as you tell him his odds should be based on the facts.”

The Warrior smiled and nodded slightly. He went to the Warrior by the door, and the Warrior left. Ren stood there and waited, until the door opened and the fat dwarf slid through the opening sideways and waddled over to his seat.

“So now I'm working for you.” The fat dwarf said as he sat.

“No one is working for me here.” Ren shook his head. “I'm just trying my best to deal with the situation.”

“You've dealt with it well so far! I'm broke!” The fat dwarf said.

“I can fix that.” Ren said.

“Oho! Going to throw money at me, are you?” He scoffed.

Ren laughed. “Of course not.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I'm going to let you run the betting.”

The fat dwarf laughed. “I just told you, I'm broke. I can't cover any bets!”

“You're broke right now, yes.” Ren said. “You won't stay that way, however.”

The fat dwarf looked at Ren like he was crazy, and Ren grinned.

“You've been changing the odds for each fight to make sure you get more than you pay out.” Ren said. “You shouldn't do that.” Ren said as his Haggle skill activated.

“Then what...” The fat dwarf tried to speak, and Ren cut him off.

“When you take the bets, charge 5% for it.” Ren said. “By the time everyone bets, and you give me 4%, you should have a good balance going.”

“I thought you didn't want me taking their money?” The fat dwarf asked. “1% for your cut.”

“I didn't want you to scam them out of their money. Charging for your services isn't a scam, unless you overcharge, or don't provide the service.” Ren said. “3%.”

The fat dwarf frowned and then thought about it. “Well, I guess that's fair.” He said. “2%.”

“Deal!” Ren grinned.

“Alright, show me this 'tournament' you've planned out.”

It took another 20 minutes to explain it all. Once Ren was done, the fat dwarf beamed a smile at him.

“That's brilliant!” The fat dwarf said. “The bets will grow exponentially by the end of the tournament!”

“It's the best of both worlds.” Ren said and nodded slightly. “Everyone gets to fight, and has a chance at some gold; then they spend that gold to bet on the other fighters.” He said. “Not counting the guards, of course.”

“And the House gets 5% of it all, not counting the lost bets!” The fat dwarf exclaimed, then looked at Ren. “I don't see your name on any of the lists here.”

“I'm providing the prizes this first time.” Ren said. “It wouldn't be fair for me to fight.”

“Will you be making bets?” The fat dwarf scowled at the prospect of losing all of his prospective gains.

Ren shook his head. “You saw how that turned out last time.”

The fat dwarf smiled. “Well then!” He said in a much better mood. “Let's get this started!”

“It'll take 2 days to do it all.” Ren said and pointed to the chart he'd drawn up. “The first day are the prelims and the first round. The second day is semi-finals, finals, and the Round Robin.”

“Good, good.” The fat dwarf said and clapped his hands twice. “Make it so!”

The dwarves all sorted themselves into the groups needed, without any prompting from the Warriors guarding them.

“Aaaaaaaand... FIGHT!” The fat dwarf said and everyone started letting punches fly. Ren was the only one not participating, so he stood next to the wall of the pit and watched the spectacle. He thought about talking to Nathalia and his Sending Ring glowed slightly.

“Hello, My Love.” Ren whispered.

“Ren.” Nathalia whispered back. “We just finished breakfast. How are you?”

“I'm okay, but I don't know when I'll be able to talk to you directly again. It's really crowded here in the Hole.”

“The Hole? What's that?”

“An underground fighting pit.” Ren answered.

“By the gods, why did they put you there?”

“The Council apparently wants me out of the way, probably permanently.”

“Oh, Ren! What are you going to do?”

“I'm going to hope that my request is sent to the Council by tomorrow.” Ren said. “I've got Adventurer's business to take care of tomorrow night, and I don't think they'll let me leave to go to a Safe Zone.”

“What can I do to help?” Nathalia asked.

“I'm really glad you asked.” Ren said. “First, take command of one of the rented carts and go to the Library. Let the Librarian know where I am.” He smiled. “She'll get really upset if I miss yet another day without some kind of explanation.”

“Okay. What else?” Nathalia asked.

“Go back to the main Keep and to the Hall of Records. Ask the attendant if she got the request, and to forward it to where it needs to go if she hasn't done it already.”

“I'll leave right away.” Nathalia said. “Ma, I'm running an errand for Ren!”

“Thank you for this.” Ren said.

“Anything you need, let me know.” She said. “Ma says 'Hi'.”

“Tell her I'll be back to give her another kiss on the cheek soon.”

“I'm not going to tell her that!” Nathalia said and laughed. “You've kissed her enough already.”

Ren chuckled. “She didn't tell you to say that.”

“No, she wants to register a 'kiss on the cheek' as a new ritual.”

“If she wants to, that's okay.” Ren said and smiled. “I'm going to keep doing it anyways.”

“You're spoiling her, you know.”

“I can't help it. I love you so much, it's spilling over onto her.”

“I am definitely not telling her that!” Nathalia laughed again.

“Dammit, I better go. One of the fights is ending.” Ren said. “I might call tomorrow, if I can find some privacy somewhere.”

“I'll hope for that. Talk to you soon.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

The ring's glow faded, and Ren watched some of the dwarfs as they dragged unconscious dwarfs from the designated fighting areas. He assumed they were friends, otherwise he really didn't want to know.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Teepo, are you seeing this? Ren thought to his friend.

“I sure am!” Teepo said from his perch on the ceiling. “The only other time I've seen this many dwarves fighting each other was during the Great Divide.”

The what?

“The Dwarf Civil War.” Teepo said. “It all started when the King chose a common girl to marry.”

Ren's eyes widened. No way!

“I know, right?” Teepo chuckled. “The poor sap fell in love with the farmer's daughter. They'd been friends since they were kids; and when the Crown fell to him, he chose her as his wife.”

Oh, no... Ren shook his head in disbelief.

“All the Major Houses were in an uproar over the insult, and all the Minor Houses loved it.”

Which caused the Great Divide.

“You got it!” Teepo said. “Brothers against brothers, fathers against sons.”

What about wives, sisters, and daughters?

“They weren't allowed to fight.”

Holy crap! Ren thought in surprise. They couldn't have been happy!

“That's why the Great Divide is also called the Great Silence.”

No!

Teepo chittered in laughter. “50 years of not hearing a single female voice.”

Fifty... fifty years...

“While all this fighting is going on, I can tell you what I know about it.” Teepo offered.

I'd appreciate that, Teepo. Thanks.

For about half of the day, Teepo gave Ren an interesting history lesson, that he hoped no one would ever repeat. When Teepo said that it was all that he knew, Ren got a popup.