Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Chapter 112: An Unexpected Bet (1)

When Sitara woke up, the blizzard was still ongoing. Well, as far as she could tell, it had not been over ten minutes since she went unconscious. She was freezing in the cold, as she was laid on the front of the fortress, but her worries were somewhere else.

She stood up abruptly from the spot, but felt no disturbance in the fortress. 'The conflict is over?' she thought, 'I have to see.'

She did not ponder long, strode into the fortress with consciousness and alert. Fortunately, the bow and arrows were with her; the invader did not care to take it away. Perhaps they were overconfident with their ability.

After arriving at the hall, Sitara did not see what she was looking for. Instead, it was a scene of lost friends meeting once again. Michelle was hugging the girl that held the knife against her neck merrily. The male swordsman with glowing white eyes and long hair was sitting with Aasan, though his eyes lost all their glory. Another lady of tall calibre stood beside them with an aloof posture. Her underlings did not know what to do and only stood sillily.

"What the heck!" Sitara muttered, looking at the scene.

"Ah, Sitara," Michelle said, finally noticing her. "No need to worry, they are my friends."

'I can see that,' she sighed. Well, it was better than battling it out. 

"Come, I will introduce them to you," the redhead said joyously. 

Sitara did not know if it was a good thing or not, but she went to greet the invader with a cheerful smile on her lips. Just a moment ago, they were the enemies, now allies.

.. . 

"Hey wake up," a sound reverberated in Anton's ear as he felt someone shaking him.

With a little effort, he opened his eyes as the shaking made him remember the pain. He eyed the guard, asking what was the matter. It was the same red-faced man that was in charge of his beating.

The red-faced man gave him a scorn before saying, "Don't worry you are exempt from today's beating."

Anton says nothing. For the last five days he was beaten day and night to break his will, though it was not working in their favour. Perhaps they would change their game, as it was not working.

"Stay awake, Sir Ben will be here in a minute."

He left saying that while Anton waited. The mana in his body was sealed, while every muscle he could name hurt. He paid an enormous price for his mistake. Now the only thing he could do was wait. 

Sir Ben did not arrive in just a minute, as a man mentioned. It took him a quarter of an hour before Anton saw a few men coming. The crazy fellow was leading them. He waited for the red-faced man to open the cell.

The lock of his cell opened again, while a guard came in first and left a stool just in front of him. Sir Ben, who could be called crazy in Anton's term, nodded to the guard before entering the cell. 

He had been here before. He had personally beaten Anton a couple of times, but after finding no enjoyment, he left the job for his underlings. Anton was waiting to see what this crazy fellow would try now, so that he could pay tenfold the amount later.

"Oh, no need to glare. I came in peace," Ben said with a radiant smile, as if he was meeting his friend. He sat on the stool before examining Anton's body with his gaze. "You two are a lot tougher than I thought." 

Anton said nothing at the compliment, but did not escape the eye contract either.

"But that makes me more to want you, Anton Blaciel," Ben said again. His eyes looked for the starling look on the captive, and seeing that, he gave a satisfied nod. "No need to be surprised. I know few others as well. Like, Wrik Evernight, and a few other names I forgot."

Anton did not find what this crazy bastard was plotting, nor did he know how he found his name or Wrik's.

"Are you thinking about how I found out about your name?" Ben snickered. "Well, I know a lot more, and as for the source I was told to not mention for now."

"What do you want?" Anton asked finally.

"What I want is very simple, Haven't I told you before?" Ben asked with a genuine expression. "Well, there's no harm in telling you again. Let me make the thing a little clear.

"You see, the maha tower is full of sin and violence. It is only balancing on a thin string that could collapse in any moment. What I want, or rather my boss Scythe wants, is to purge the tower, but there is a lot of resistance in the way. You know Scythe was meant to be one of the pillars of the tower, something great, but to achieve that, one Scythe is not enough, nor one Ben with the Scythe."

Anton laughed out loud. "So you want me to work as a dog under you?" he snorted at the man on the stool.

"Um, not like a dog," Ben agreed. "A hound, to be precise."

"And what makes you think you can make me like that?"

Ben pondered for a moment. "For now, it looks near impossible," he said. "Beating, or torturing won't work on you, but fear not after a lot of deliberation, I found a solution."

"And what is that solution?" Anton did not hide the scorn and mockery in his voice. 

"After getting the information on you, and your brother, I figured the way I'm applying would not be useful." Ben continued. " So, after long deliberation, I came to a conclusion. How about we make a bet?"

Anton did not open his lips, but his ears were listening to what this crazy bastard had to say.

"You seemed to have a lot of faith in your adopted brother," Ben continued. "Oh wait, did I say something wrong?" He paused for a moment to hit his palm with a fist. "I know, I know. He was not adopted, but you are. How hard was it to live as an orphan?

"Oh, I am going off-topic. Knowing you are an orphan made me remember my past." Ben reminisced about the past. "How are they, your parents? Did they love you?" he asked, leaning forward towards Anton. "Well, they probably were, but I can not say that about mine."

There was no doubt in Anton's mind now. This guy really was insane. "If you are trying to sympathise with me, then give up. I will not"

"Oh no, no. Trust me, sympathising with someone else is the last thing I would do. It's just that I always have a boundless curiosity in this regard." Ben said, sighing. "Let's go back to the topic of the bet again, shall we?" Seeing he had the utmost attention of Anton, he continued as his voice turned sharper. "But before that, let's talk about the wager first. What I want is simple: If you lose, not just you, but your brother Wrik Everknight as well, will work under Scythe, unconditionally.

"And as for the bet, it is simple as well. Say, we are in the test of the very first floor of the tower. There would not be anything better to do here. The bet is: I will set you free and leave you and your brother loose for a couple of weeks, but after that, we will go to war. The one who wins the Little War will be the winner.

"What do you say?" 

Anton had the urge to vomit on the smiling figure of the crazy bastard. But before he could say anything, he heard the noise of beating, with the moan from Kevin. He looks past Ben to the cell in front. The men did not leave after opening his cell; they were just waiting for a proper time to do their job, or the guy sitting on the stool gestured for them to do so. 

"From now on, you are exempt from the beating, but not your friend," Ben said. 

Anton gritted his teeth. The blood vessel on his temple popped out. He knew this bastard was doing this so that he would agree to the term.

"You think this is injustice?" Ben laughed, noticing his expression. "So why don't you accept the bet, then? Or is it, you have no confidence in yourself or your good brother?

"I will leave the cell unlocked and tell someone to deliver your equipment." Ben stood up from the stool and was about to leave. "If you choose to leave, I will take it as you have agreed to the bet." 

Leaving those words, Ben left the cell. Only after a few seconds, he came back again, with a cheeky smile on his lips. He did not enter the cell again, said from outside, "I forgot about what should we do if you won. Silly me, always forget things that are not important. How about you think of what you want if to choose to agree to the bet? 

"By the way, the Scythe is not in the castle, and I did not tell that fellow about the plan either. I don't know what that fellow will react. I advise you to think quickly."

_______________ 

THE CHAOS CYCLE is out. If you have free time check it out.

It's a time-reversal story with a twist and a lot of comedy.