Chapter 51

I was standing at a distance from the security guard.

At first, he was surprised by the fact that I knew what was inside of the building. Though after mentioning Mara's name, he quickly changed in the face. Taking a few seconds to use something like an intercom, he asked me to wait.

So here I am, standing, occasionally jumping from toe to toe to draw away the coldness of this street. As I was getting cold and tired of waiting, I started doing a simple shadowboxing. Jessie said to do this so the circulation of my blood will speed up. It came along with other stuff I couldn't be bothered with.

A simple right and left jab, a duck, and a knee after it. An elbow, controlling the amount of rotation. When I started feeling the warmth my own body generated, that's when I heard his footsteps.

"Sir, sir, can you please come inside?"

"Huh?"

"You are awaited inside." the guard politely showed at the door.

"Oh, that's great! I was getting tired of waiting." brushing off the snow I've made my way inside.

Seeing the familiar carpets, white marbling, and rich furnishing made me both nervous and calm.

"If I'm not mistaken, you are…"

"Erlig Grimes." turning around from looking at a strange painting, I saw a man that wore a familiar butler-like uniform. But the man himself was someone new.

"You are an owner of this place?" This guy had his short brown hair slicked neatly to the back. His large dark eyes were sparkling with curiosity under the dim lighting. His height was lower than mine, while his exact body type was obscured with his clothes. The only thing I could make off is his slightly bulging belly stretching the red vest.

"Oh no, no, no! It has no owners as it's made jointly by so many people." He exclaimed with the utmost reverence. "I'm, just like my partner, a simple keeper, or a manager, you can even call us valets."

"Valet?"

"Yes, but if you insist on something more concrete, you can call me Shultz." He beamed at me.

"Okay…Shultz."

"May I inquire…" He pursed his lips slightly and showed an extreme look of concern. "Why are you here alone? Something happened between you and missus Mara?"

It was a bad question. I bet my future would be really murky if I answer this question honestly.

"I think that's a rather personal question?"

"Oh, don't take me wrong, the question came from my own shoddy curiosity. Of course, you shouldn't answer it." He bowed forward.

Your own curiosity, my ass. How can I answer this normally? Getting here instead of asking her for money after showing a rather intimate relationship. It was suspicious, wasn't it?

"We had a small fight."

Shultz's face grew darker. Damn, was it the wrong answer?

"It's because she left me here alone, and as she was going, we had a small fight. She said she couldn't connect me during her departure and one thing lead to another..." Stretching the last words, I simply let his imagination think of everything else.

"Ahhh, it's youth." He shook his head with a knowing smile. "But let me clear another misunderstanding, please." His snow-white teeth bared with a smile had a strange hue from the light. And every time he smiled, his eyes turned into two slits.

"Go ahead."

"Our security, he told us that you were asking for money and wanted to fight." He answered me with a drawl while shaking his head in disapproval. "Is it…right?" the last word flew from his mouth as if he signed me a sentence.

"Yeah, I want to try myself here as well as earning some pocket money."

"Hmm?" Catching his curiosity with my last words, I continued.

"I'm a fighter as well." I took the bag into my hand and shook it twice. "I felt something different here than normal sparring or a fight. I want to fight here. And I want to earn some money. With Mara leaving me, I'm tight in the finance area."

Shultz nodded to my short story and couldn't hide disgust glimpsing in his eyes when I talked about Mara.

"Frankly, Shultz, I need a lot of money, so it would be great if anything is coming up in a week or so. I would be glad to sign the contract of whatever you do here."

"No, we don't sign any contracts." he took a deep breath. "At least not a customary type."

"So what? You have anything going down? I'm ready to sweat it all in the ring." I hope I wasn't too pushy and straightforward.

"We do have something coming up... But how much money are we talking about? Can you perhaps name the sum? Visiting this place with missus Mara once, it should be…"

"Hundred thousand SURs."

Shultz exhaled the full capacity of his lungs.

"That's a bit of a stretch, honestly." his belly inflated more than his chest "I don't know how to react."

"I'm willing to bet this and give my all in all your upcoming… in whatever things you come up with." I pointed at my chest with my left thumb.

"Sir, with your enthusiasm, you put me in a difficult position. I don't know how to answer this. You also look like you are... How should I phrase this? In a dire need of... fluid finances?" His slit-like eyes glinted dangerously.

"That is…true. I need this money, but you have Mara and myself as backers. Ain't this enough?"

He stood there, tapping the carpet with his lacquered shoes, his eyebrows furrowed, deep in thoughts.

"Let it be like this, sigh. Please follow me." turning around on the heels of his shoes, he started walking to the depth of this building.

Left, right, up, left, left, up, right. I walked through the neverending maze of hallways.

After going here and there for so long, we reached our destinations.

"Please, come in." Opening the door with a key, he got from the insides of his clothes, Shultz held the door for me.

Inside was two armchairs, a small table made of redwood in between. The lightning in the room was good, but there was nothing else to it. A folder with a pen on the table was the only thing besides the aforementioned three pieces of furniture.

"Take a seat, please." As I moved toward one of the chairs, Shultz went towards the opposite one. Sitting down, I put my bag on my knees and nervously waited for his next action.

Was something wrong with the way I talked? This room looked rather menacing, stifling.

"So, it was somewhere here... Let me sort this out quickly." He took the folder and started quickly sorting through the folder. "Aha! Here it is." Skillfully taking out a single sheet, he turned it towards me.

"You can say it's somewhat of a contract but in a more loose, simple way. We prefer to call it our own code of honor." He moved the pen towards me. "You only need to sign your full name and leave a signature there."

I took the pen and was about to sign it.

"Hahaha, wait a second there." He made a hearty laugh. "Wouldn't you prefer to hear the rules and obligations of what you are about to sign into?"

"Oh, ehem, yes, go ahead." I placed the pen back to the table and leaned back. Glancing at my bag, I put it down near the chair.

"So the only way to earn as much money here you should give your all to this. You are sure about this?"

"Absolutely."

"The event that will be the closest to us will be tonight. Are you still sure?"

"I can wait here, right?"

"Ehem, if you are so eager, I don't know what else to say. You are going to participate in a one-night tournament. The winner takes all. We can replace one of our fighters with you and stretch the reward for you, but it will cost you a lot of effort."

"It's great! I've just participated in a tournament a couple of days ago."

Hearing my one-line answers his eyes widened up as his face soured ever so slightly. Looking at me in exasperation, his facial muscles trembled.

"If you are insisting so much."

I took the paper and quickly wrote my name, and placed a signature down. Returning everything back, I leaned against the chair's spine and waited for the final verdict.

"Good." placing the contract back, Shultz stood up and went towards the door. I hurried up as well. "Now, shall I lead you to your resting room?" He gave me another polite, business-like smile.

That's it? Everything was going so smoothly that I couldn't help but wait for a setback. Just like that, I was going to fight for a huge amount of money? A simple mention of someone who holds's power, and you can bask in the shades of it. Was it the truth of this world?

As I was mindlessly following my guide, a sudden realization struck me.

"Right, ehm, by the way, what are the rules for the upcoming fights?"

"Rules?" Shultz's voice was rather uncertain as he asked me back.

"I've heard that you can choose the rules around here? When can I talk with my opponents?"

"There is no need to talk to them, as there will be no rules tonight, you can be certain."

No rules? "What about low-blows? Or strikes to the back of the head? Everything goes?"

"Oh, dear." He suddenly stopped, and I almost bumped into him. "I've remembered that we don't like eye pokes here."

"So the eye pokes are banned?"

"No, not all." He turned on his heels and looked at me with his sleazy smile. "You can use them, but if an eye suddenly pops out." He mouthed the sound. "Some of our dear patrons will be sad." He sighed deeply, his face expressing deep sorrow. "We had a streak of fairly disappointing gatherings, so our dear patrons wanted to spice everything up. So please, if you pop an eye, do it beautifully." Turning back, he continued walking.

Fuck, what have I got myself into?

"This is your waiting room. As you are of higher esteem than the other participants, you can have it all to yourself." He opened up a simple black wooden door and walked in. Turning on the lights, he invited me inside.

A long bench, a reclined armchair, a couple of buckets, and a washbasin along with a large double-sized locker. It looked like a simple changing room, but the fact that there was once again a single exit and no windows made me think of something else.

Was I isolated because of a different reason?

"You can do whatever you want here. When the time comes for you to fight, you will be guided by one of the personnel. Now, if you excuse me."

"Wait for a second, I have one last question. What kind of protec… gear I can wear?"

"I'm embarrassed to call myself a valet here. How could I forget? It's just your enthusiasm that swept me along... Still, it's inexcusable. You can wear light tape around your wrists and ankles. As for the clothes, anything that is thin enough goes. Good luck, sir!" He nodded to me with a smile, barely hiding his gloating.

I was left alone.

I needed to prepare, so I took my bag and wanted to change. No, it's too early now, and I will freeze. Or I can warm up with a few exercises. But won't I be too tired to compete?

I walked around the room, trying to come up with a plan for my actions.

"Fuck! Just let it be. Whatever happens, happens. I can always come back to Mara." Can I?

I shook my head and took my phone. It was early evening, so I probably had a couple of hours before the start.

Taking my earphones and plugging them into my phone, I sat on the reclined chair. I will take my time and relax, yeah, great idea. I need to relax. I searched through the music folders on my phone.

At first, it was hard for me to cleanse my mind from thoughts and anxiety. However, after the number of songs I've listened to exceeded the number twenty, I've finally started to relax. With my eyes closed, I've focused on the lyrics, trying to get every word I've heard, or a single sound, recurring constantly.

Delving deeper into the corners of my mind that were flooded with my worries, I've reached a near-catatonic state.

After an unknown amount of time went by, I started slowly changing my clothes. At first, I've made sure to tape my wrists and ankles after taking my boots and upper wear.

Slowly taking one part of my clothes at a time while listening to one particular song. It came from my earphones, which were put onto the bench along with my phone. I've only heard it barely but listening to it several times on repeat, it was already playing in my head.

As I was checking the tape, I was already standing on the tile flooring barefoot. My only clothes, consisting of my fighting, tight shorts.

I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Mister Erlig Grimes, it's your turn." Along with the voice of another valet, through the opened door, I heard a lot of noise.

Everything has already started, and the announcer was talking with the crowd as they cheered. I knew from my previous experience that there was a musical accompaniment, but I've only heard one song.

"Mister Erlig Grimes?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." I shook up my whole body in a single, quick, and sharp motion.

Walking behind the valet, I've heard my song playing further away at the back of my mind.