The room turned out to have two twin beds and was actually clean, over all it was better than he had expected. Still not worth five silver a night though. After they were sure they had a room the group headed out to see more of the town. They were only a few blocks down the street when a familiar voice yelled out.
"Thief, Robber, Highwayman! Baaa!" Peter came clomping down the street towards him fully dressed, even wearing shoes that fit poorly over his hooves.
Sael gave the satyr a half hearted glare. "Oh fine if that's how you want to be guess I'll keep this." He then summoned a copy of the Faun and the Fairy from his inventory. Peter instantly recognized Gregory's handwriting which caused him to hop up and down.
"Friend! Buddy! Business Partner!" Peter held out his hands making the gimmie gesture even as his hopping around caused his hooves to shred the shoes he was wearing.
Laughing Sael handed the satyr the book ignoring Beth's muttering of "Pervert." He instantly opened it to a section that folded out and hopped around baaing. "Excellent! Yes. Very good VERY good."
Sael cleared his throat interrupting Peters dance before Beth did. "So I take it you have things in order?"
"Yes! No!" Peter was stuffing the book into a satchel.
"Well which is it?"
"Found the gambling den. But haven't placed bets yet. Wanted to discuss our options." Glancing around Peter headed towards what looked like a tavern motioning for them to follow.
Once inside a tavern whose sign was simply a pair of puckered lips Peter found them a nice table in the back. Sael didn't feel like it was very private considering the number of people gawking at the party but Peter didn't seem to care.
"Ok the payouts in the early rounds are pretty small. Most don't bet big until later rounds. Based on the performance of each round the odds will be adjusted. We can try and play the system if you are as strong as you say. Pretend to be weak early then bet big when odds are higher. This away we make small gains each round and can see what you are up against."
Sael thought it over and felt he mostly understood it. He'd never gambled before. Once Peter felt Sael understood he continued. "Another option is go all in. Bet big not on round one but on the final round. No one bets on nobodies to win it all from the start so odds very high in our favor. But it is all in long shot. You mess up we all lose. Other way safer but this one can make lots more."
Sael debated the options not sure which was the better choice. Glancing to the others Ara spoke up first.
"I vote all in." When he raised an eyebrow in question she smiled. "My husband beat a Demon General. Winning some human contests will be easy."
Nee spoke up next "I've witnessed the depths of your power. I feel confident no one else can out do you."
Beth chimed in. "You are wearing my armor. If you lose and make me look bad, the money will be the least of your worries!"
Sael chuckled "Alright Peter you heard the ladies. Let's go place our bet!"
Peter was gawking at the girls he'd only seen as pretty faces before "Harem! So lucky! No wonder you didn't want to trades for Nymphs and love slaves! You already have so many!"
Sael stood up trying to ignore the mixture of glares and questioning stares not only from the girls but nearby patrons as well. 'Damn it Peter you are too loud.'
"Um lets go make our beAt!" Sael's voice cracked under pressure.
**********
The local gambling den was run by a man named Gree. Man wasn't right as apparently, he was an imp which peaked Sael's interest. Imps were said to be demons but they were one of the few that could be found and tolerated in human settlements. They were small and cunning but were apparently magically bound to any contract they made. Because of this they often were used as business negotiators and go betweens. An imp couldn't lie but they could twist their words or let you assume something so one still had to be careful.
Gree's place was called Greed's Den and compared to the other taverns he'd seen in the slums it was definitely a league above. Peter seemed awfully familiar with the bouncer who seemed just as familiar with Peter. Still, it let them get right in, Sael said it because he wasn't sure what the humanoid fish creature was. Everything was going smoothly until Peter told the bookie what his bet was. At that point the human bookie gave a bit of a double take and excused himself. Shortly after he returned but informed them their bet would require being made with Gree himself.
Sael frowned sensing this wasn't the normal procedure even before Peter started sweating bullets. "Something strange. Gree should not care about our bet." Peter whispered to Sael as they got up to follow the bookie.
Sael glanced around the tavern noticing all the different bouncers including one hulking figure that looked alot like what he expected an orc to look like. Still, he was pretty sure he could handle it but he was worried about the girls and maybe Peter… maybe. Cursing his decision to bring the girls along he decided to try and avoid a conflict.
Gree was not exactly what Sael expected. He was only a foot tall and his skin was a deep indigo color other than that he looked like a perfectly proportioned man. Other than his small size and oddly colored skin the only other sign of his inhuman nature were too small very pointy horns coming out of his forehead. He also wore a very nice suit that reminded Sael of very expensive suits worn by the big wigs at his old job, it made him think italian. Standing on a small dark cloud he was eye level with Sael when they entered the room. Sael could feel him sizing him up just as much as he had been eying the demon. "So, You are Sael. The Fairy King. I expected you to be smaller." His voice was smooth as butter, after a moment he motioned to the chairs for them to sit. Sael noticed each of the chairs were different sizes perfectly matched to him and his companions.
Sael sat down in the largest of the chairs that fit him too perfectly. "Odd I expected you to be slightly bigger."
The corner of Gree's mouth twitched but if it was a smile or in anger Sael wasn't sure. "I get that a lot from Arrived. They seem to think I should have wings as well."
Sael didn't miss that he knew he was an Arrived and wondered how he knew so much about him. As well as why.
"The odds for bets on your performance during the ball have been updated."
Sael frowned. "Updated how and why?"
Gree grinned. "Well you see we've already had a rather large amount of money bet on your success. Because of the sudden interest the odds aren't nearly as high."
Sael's frown deepened, but said nothing and thought to himself 'Who the hell else is betting on me?'
Gree continued. "I wanted to see this nobody who was already somehow managing to draw attention to himself. Tell me, human, do you truly believe you will be able to win the ball?"
Sael debated for a moment glancing to his companions who seemed as confused as him before shrugging and going all in "Absolutely. I'm level five so I feel I can easily win in my bracket."
Gree's calm demeanor broke briefly, if Sael hadn't been so alert he might have missed it, the little demon said casually. "Enic bring us a testing stone please."
Before any of them could question who he was talking to, the door opened and a three foot tall pigeon waddled into the room holding a baseball sized stone orb between his wings. Sael tried to keep the shock off his face, tried. Really he should be used to odd things by this point.
The bird Enic put the orb down on the table in front of them. "If you would be so kind as to verify your level."
"Why should I? What do I get out of it?" Sael's greed overloaded his mouth again.
"Enic pay the man for his time please." Gree responded without hesitation as the bird leaned over and literally coughed up ten silver coins. "Will this be enough?" Sael resisted the urge to say no.
"What do you want me to do exactly?" He still scooped the wet coins into his inventory.
"Simply place your hand on the testing stone." Glancing at the others to see if they looked worried he followed the instructions when no one seemed overly alarmed.
Beneath his palm he could feel something moving and when he lifted his hand a number five was raised on the stone.
"Interesting. You really are only level five and on your first class. My body guards have appraised you as an extreme threat, enough that the highest level of precautions were put in place." Sael managed to keep the worry off his face but activated his combat awareness silently as a precaution, suddenly sending several invisible humanoid shapes in the room with them. "I don't know how you could be so low level but I now understand what I am dealing with. How would you like to make a lot of money?"
Sael's grin must have answered it for him. "Very well. I'll make sure the numbers are in favor of you losing, you simply have to win."
"So you want me to do what I was going to do anyway?"
"Yes, I just wanted to see you for myself so I knew who or perhaps I should say what, I was going to bet on."
"Then why even bother telling me?"
"Because I wanted to make sure you would bet on yourself. There are a number of seeded participants that are garnering plenty of bets. Those behind them will most certainly ask you to throw the match once they realize how powerful you are. If I ensure you are more invested in winning it will help ensure my own investments. Enic please see that Sael here is given a loan of one gold in credit. No interest if paid off the day the Adventurer's Ball finals are completed. I'd recommend you use this as seed money for a bet on yourself. But you may do whatever you like with it, just know the interest will be… unforgiving if not paid on the due date."
Gree dismissed the shocked party as the bird squawked. "Right this way." Before waddling out of the room. Sael followed the bird out of the room but pulled his companions together for a quick huddle.
"Well?"
"Good deal!" Was Peter's response while the rest looked mostly in agreement.
"I told you that I believe you can win. It seems like a good deal. Lets just double check any contracts before signing them." Nee stated calmly making the rest quickly agree.
'Damn it there she goes getting ahead again!' Both Ara and Beth thought at the same time.
Together they all read over the contract and couldn't find any issues with it. So Sael signed the contract and split the gold plus the rest of the money they had for each of the three rounds of the ball. He had wanted to put it all in on the final win but Beth wanted some early pocket money back after the first day.
They were just leaving Gree's gambling den when a familiar voice called out "SAEL!!!"