《The Great Golden War》 Chapter 1 – Marketing Rule Number 1 – Strike First and Think later In a large spacious room with elegant purple walls there was a large beautiful wooden door that when opened would present one with a large golden table with elegant details that had gem, gold and food placed all over that could easily feed a middle, no even upper class family for the rest of their life. Beside the table on each side there were two large wooden thrones with gold lining that had red pillows on for comfort, one could easily mistake this room for that of a king but it was instead that of a merchant. On the two thrones sat an equal two overweight men who looked at each other with malicious grins , one had a emerald green merchant outfit on with a large silver feather adorning his hat, his right hand holding a large glass of beer while his other hand held a crossbow that was already locked. The other man had a elegant blue outfit instead with a large orange almost phoenix like feather on his head, in his hand she held gemstones in his left and a flintlock pistol in his right . The two men looked at each other in silence before the man in green said "So my old friend... it has come down to this. After all of my hard work and effort it''s almost comical that my final roadblock is my closest friend." The man in blue silently nodded in agreement as he fiddled with a large ruby in his left and while keeping his right hand on his flintlock before saying "Both of us were filled with greed and led this destructive path but truthfully if I could go back... I wouldn''t change a thing" The man in green gave a flash of disappointment before saying "It doesn''t have to be this way. We could work together, we could make a difference!" Suddenly the man in blue shot and hit the merchant in green dead in the head. The man in blue then rang a bell before looking down on the green merchant with a smug look on his face before saying "Marketing Rule number 1 - Strike first while thinking about later" Suddenly the large doors of the room open only for a humble maid to almost fall over in fear at the sight of the dead merchant. The merchant in blue gave a calm order "Clean up the body, I need to go check the revenue of the brothels." The maid who was clearly nervous gave a quick nod before running off the call for help. The man in blue then magically took out a small roll of paper filled with herbs before lighting it aflame and smoking it. He looked down at the green merchants body as he said "If I could go back in time I wouldn''t change a thing."
Jim Stone work up with a killer headache, he had such a weird dream about two merchants. It may have been a bad premonition for most people in his situation but for Jim he thought one thing about the men in the dream admiration. Jim looked around his room, to his right was his dad sleeping on the floor naked with a bottle of wine clutched close to his heart. The room was made of wood that were almost falling apart due to wear and tear. Jim looked at his bed or more accurately where he slept as he was sitting on nothing but a pile of dirty clothes with the comforter he usually used was taken by his dad on the ground. Jim stood up and grabbed pants, a shirt and a jacket from the pile of clothes he just slept on. Jim then walked towards the door (or well what use to be a door before it almost fell off the hinges) and looked far above the door to see a sign that he put up himself that simply said "Grow up rich and happy , unlike me - Mom" He made it after hearing his dad drunkenly yell about it being his loves last words, Jim then shook the thoughts of his dad''s drunken ramblings out of his head before going through the door and walking towards a large forest far in the distance. As he walked the houses to his left and right all looked almost the same as his, with broken windows and doors with bending and rotting wood, rarely he would see a house with entire planks missing from the front leaving a clear view to see the people inside. He continued walking only to hear a woman say "You free young man?" He looked over to see a woman who looked beautiful for the standards of the area but she was still dirty and had barely any fat letting you see her skin. Truthfully the only redeeming quality she had was her makeup but in these slums it was better than most. Jim looked at the woman before coldly saying Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. "Nope , tell your boss to move you into an area with actual money" The woman then sighed before saying "Like you know shit kid. It''s impossible for me to get customers when I have a body like this, I''m lucky they force us to wear make up for free" Jim decided to walk away and ignore the prostitutes monologue as he finally reached the forest. To his right was a intimidating drawing of angry eyes inside sign saying "Warning - Wild Animals Spotted" Jim ignored the warning, after all that same sign had been there his whole life. Jim walked into the forest carefully watching the ground to find a small but noticeable mound around a tree. Jim got on his knees and dug under the tree to find his trusty ax which he found in the forest broken but with some clever use of tree sap , spit and a vine he was able to repair the ax (although he has to hold it carefully to not break it). Jim then picked up the ax and walked into the forest while making sure to chop any and all branches he seen on the way. Hours went by of chopping and chopping but Jim was barely effected, after all it was his daily routine. Jim then sighed as he cut one more final branch, he picked it up and walked a few feet to his left to find a mountain of branches and sticks he chopped himself. He walked back to his hiding location as he re-dug the hole and buried his ax before taking off his jacket and piling branches inside of it before tying the bag and walking back to town. He confidently strode along ready to sale his branches and sticks to poor families needing fire wood for either cooking or heat. Jim felt triumphant as he walked to town with his jacket bag in hand. He sighed as he prepared for the hardest part of the day
Jim yelled out "Firewood! Firewood! Haggling is accepted!" Eventually a small line of five people was formed as he started talking to customers with his first customer coming to the stall (or more accurately mat) on the ground, it was a tall man who looked like a gangster or criminal of somesort. Jim smiled the customer knowing he couldn''t get him mad before saying "What type of wood do you need, we have dry wood we have dampened wood and we even have woods for construction." The man picked up a log that had a maggot crawling on it. Jim said "Logs are tough to get so that will be a bit more than usual, my starting price is let''s say four shillings!" The man instantly said "Your log isn''t worth as much as a horse, eight pence." Jim then bit back with a quick "Alright alright alright, but this log was freshly cut from the forest this morning so I say two shillings and three pence." The man who was now disgruntled said "One shilling six pence" Jim instantly said "Two shilling!" The man gave a firm nod before Jim smiled and said "Alright one shilling is final but ten pence minimum!" The man bought the item without thinking saying "Have a good one, bye" Jim sighed before looking forward at another customer, this time an old middle aged woman that he remembered, she was someone who donated to this slum area at this time and was walking back, she was quite big and was obviously rich as she was gullible, she was named Betty Ruth and he called her Mama Betty but not because he liked her but because she was easy to scam. Jim looked up with a smile similar to a child and asked "What do you need today Mama Betty" The woman looked as if her heart dropped as she seen the young and thin sixteen year old boy look at her with so much love. She took a breath before saying "I need some firewood to use for two or three day, do you have any love?" Love was a nickname Betty used for children she liked, Jim smiled as he took out ten branches bundled up in a vine and said "That will be five shillings." Betty smiled as she says "That''s quite cheap today, it''s not even a quarter of my husband''s wage" Jim gave a clueless look as he said "I''m sorry Mama Betty , I don''t know much about money but this is what the big man who bought that log earlier said" Betty looked furious as she said "Well he was trying to get wood cheap. Here is ten shillings, it''s half of what I have on me." Jim laughed inwardly as he bowed to Betty he then thought to himself "Poor woman just bought twelve pence of wood for five shillings." Jim then ignored the woman walking away as he looked at his next customer only to see someone he recognizes, his best friend Jake. Jake was thin like Jim but was slightly more muscular due to him working in item transport instead of pedaling goods like Jim does, but today Jake had someone beside him. It was a tall dirty man with a posture so bad he could be mistaken for a "r" the man had a large beard with white specks inside. The man also reeked of alcohol and seemed to have a green beanie on that became so dirty it became brown. The man said "Smooth scam little man but you need a better product" The man took off his beanie to reveal a small brown pouch, inside was a white powder that seemed to be the same powder inside the man''s beard. Jim looked at Jack and asked "Why are you introducing this man to me?" The man waved his hand in front of Jim before saying "Merchant rule number 3 - The first person that starts a race is the first to finish" Jim suddenly has a flashback about his dream, he looked at the r shaped man as he thought about merchant rule number 1 - strike first while thinking about later. He then said "What is the name of that product?" Chapter 2 - Dirt
The crooked r shaped man with the green beanie looked down on Jim who was still sitting on the floor beside his bundle of branches as he said "This powder is called dirt. Any more questions about it?" Jim then looked at the man before saying "What does this dirt do?" The man gave a small grin before saying "It''s something you can smoke to feel real good." Jim then started thinking about both the risks and rewards of actually selling the powder, it was obviously a drug of some king and from the man''s words Jim could easily tell it can get people addicted. Jim then said "What is it made out of?" The crooked man gave a wide grin showing a smile with a shocking lack of teeth as he only had a total of three if you excluded his bright golden molar tooth near the back, the man then said. "I don''t make the dirt , my job is to sell the product to merchants, but I know it is a combination of over twenty different ingredients ranging from poisonous berries to the most basic looking of plants." Jim gave a small eyebrow raise as if questioning the product only for the man to quickly say "If you don''t believe that it works you should try some instead." Jim then instantly declined without thinking, he knew very well that people who sell addicting products always try making you try it for just one time but after you do it will be stuck both in your mind and tastebuds for weeks maybe even months afterword. Jim then said "How much does it cost?" The man then tossed the bag he was holding down to the ground directly in front of Jim. The man then snickered as he said "The only thing more addicting then using the product is being the bastard selling it. The first pack is free and however much you make will decide how expensive the next batch is, and before you ask at minimum I want a quarter interest." The man then paused before saying "If you don''t know how much a quarter is then I recommend finding out before I take a little extra." The man then walked away with a slight limp that Jim hadn''t noticed before. Jim then looked down at the powder the man dropped only to look up to see his friend still standing above him. Jim was about to speak only for Jake to quickly say "Alright , alright... alright. Imma be honest, I may OR may not have lost even more money during a card game." Jim looked straight at Jacob without changing his facial expression, almost as if this wasn''t a maybe but more of a common occurence. Jake then continued at a breakneck speed as if his life was on the line "But the one who beat me at that card game was that man from just now, he hasn''t told me his named but I call him Big Bean. Anyways I got sidetracked but uhm uhm oh yeah I lost the card game only for him to 0ver me to sell that dust to pay back his debt but as you know Jim I am not the best at that so I uhm brought him here." Jim sighed as he looked at the bag of dirt once again. Jim then said "Don''t do that again." Jake then gave a small grin as if to play the words off as a joke. Jim then grabbed a stick and threw it at Jake''s head. Jim then said "So how much money did you lose?" Jake casually said Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! "Not much just three pounds." Jim almost puked, he yelled out "Three pounds! that is sixty shillings! that is seven hundred twenty pence! even a noble wouldn''t spend that much gambling, what did you get us , no me into?" Jake gave a silent nod before trying to speak only for Jim to say "Nope, what ever you are about to say, close it." Jake looked like a sad puppy that just got scolded despite what he just did. Jim took a deep breath before saying "Did he wave the dept for forcing me into this?" Jake stayed silent as if he was afraid to speak , Jim looked straight at Jake which put even more pressure on Jake who eventually said "He uhm well he uhm... he removed a pound." Jim took a deep breath as he looked at the ground before saying "I''m sorry Jake." Jake then asked "Uhm why?" Jim then looked directly at Jake with a stare full of sadness "You may have to become a prostitute." Jake yelled out "Hold up! I''m not in that much debt!" Jim then tuned out Jake as he thought to himself, "Alright I removed his tension and I understand the basics but honestly what did Jake get me in to?" Jim then said "Listen I will not be able to help you with that debt but if you help me with selling then I can pay you a bit." Jake gave a big nod of gratitude before saying "Alright so what''s first?" Jim sighed as he said "First I need to go talk to my father"
Jim''s father, named Levi Stone, a middle class merchant who was well known for his talents. He had hundreds of books about both the buying and selling of goods as well as the psychology of men but despite this he fell in love to a poor and blind woman who entranced him with her music. They lived a life of joy and luxury as the man who wanted to let his love see the beauty of the world spent hundreds of pounds trying desperately to fix her eyes but to no avail. Eventually he and her settled down as lower middle class workers, but this all changed one singular day. The woman named Sarah Rose but now named Sarah Stone was pregnant and was with her husband at the doctors as her child was finally being born. They both experienced what could only be called true happiness as the child was born but that didn''t last long as only one minute later Sarah died as she made a single wish to her son that she named Jim "Please grow up rich and happy unlike me." Levi could never answer the question on why she said that single sentence, he who thought she was the happiest person alive just like him wondered if she had the same dreams as every poor person, to be rich. Levi after he heard these words felt terrible as if he had failed to make Sarah happy but that didn''t matter, Levi looked down at his dead wife as he felt like a failure. Levi cried as he held his wife''s hand as he completely neglected the child in her lap. Levi became a drunkard using his leftover wealth to buy bottle after bottle of alcohol almost every day leaving his child to grow up by himself. Eventually he sold his house and gave up on being a merchant with the only thing he still owned was the large beautiful piano he bought for his wife days before their child was born.
Jim opened the door to his home, the old door creaked open as it almost fell of it''s singular hinge. His father was laying on the floor beside bottles of alcohol. Jim asked a simple question to the old man who seemed unconscious "What is a quarter?" Levi instantly responded as if from muscle memory "What ever is one fourth of the whole." Jim then asked "Can I get an example" Levi sat up and said "Sure , twenty divided by four is five, so five is a quarter of twenty" Jim didn''t even say thanks as he closed the door as if repulsed by his own father. Jim knew his father was smart but that didn''t mean he respected him. Jim then took out the bag of dirt from his pocket and looked at the powder. He thought about both where and how he could sell this obvious drug. He then looked directly beside his house to see Jake sitting on a small stump smoking a cigar. Jim casually said "You are already in enough debt, you should be trying to sell those not use them yourself you bloody child." Jake yelled back "I am not a child, I am an eighteen year old who is responsible with their own body." Jim casually said "You aren''t responsible for your money though." Jim then heard an "Eh!" from Jake which he ignored as he said "Listen in order to sell this there is only one place I think we can go to" Jake piped up "The Noble district?" Jim threw a rock at Jake before saying "No you dipshit, we need to go to the middle class district." Jake was about to speak before Jim interrupted "As for why that is the best option, it is simple. Everyone down here in the slums can''t even think about buying drugs aside from tobacco obviously and even if they did they might not even get addicted due to how much other stuff they already use. The King''s district is obviously way to risky due to only knights of the king and his family living there. Finally the Noble district may have the most money to give but almost every noble is to busy being cooped up in their home making money or are to busy taking hard drugs anyways, and even if we did find one out and about they will easily be smart enough to not even try the dirt." Jake then gave a simple "Welp let''s go to the middle class district then." Jake was use to Jim giving long essays about his plans, Jake after all was just a poor kid in the slums but truthfully Jim had a the genes of a merchant inside of him and Jake was happy to help out in selling a product because he trusted Jim''s plans absolutely due to them never failing.
Chapter 3 – I’m something of a wizard Slight of hand, a trick most well known and used by magicians as it made items appear almost like magic. This technique can easily confuse and baffle people who witness it, but it was more of a niche trick for beginners to magic and not much more unless one puts in an extreme amount of effort to sell the idea of an item magically appearing. Despite this the technique was useful to learn as a way to hide objects that needed quick use or to quickly confuse someone. Jim looked at Jake and asked "So you got all of that?" Jake then flicked his wrist only for a bag of white powder fall out from his sleeve. Jim then sighed before saying "It''s fine, we aren''t trying to do anything fancy but you should try learning as it could really confuse your customer making them more open to accepting your offer." Jake nodded before picking up the bag of dirt and trying one more time, he asked "Where did you learn this trick from?" Jim took out another bag of dirt, they seemed to have halved it between them. Jim then said "Well I was reading some books that my pop forgot about and I found a book called magic for beginners , so I started practicing." Jake then flicked his wrist again only for the bag of dirt to fall sadly to the ground as it slowly fell out of his sleeve. Jake then said "When we got back I want to practice that book!" Jim chuckled as he said "Sadly it doesn''t have many pictures so you can''t read it." Jake grumbled as he said "You should teach me to read sometimes" Jim then preformed the slight of hand trick seamlessly, it wasn''t all to convincing due to it just being a basic technique but it was obvious he had perfected it. Jim said "You are perfect just the way you are, all you need to know is how to read the basics" Jake seemingly accepted that reasoning as he bent down to grab the bag of dirt and try again, Jim then looked around, they were in a large alley way between to houses with bustling streets on each exit, Jim was sitting on a sack of what seemed to be grain Jake was struggling to perform the trick directly in the middle of the alley, they both had long sleeves on to perform the trick but their clothes were still in tatters as they seemed to be just barely more than a large brown sack with no design. Jim then said "I''m going to see if I can get a customer , you can stay here and practice. When you can preform the trick consistently come find me in one of these streets, I won''t go far okay." Jake waved bye as he sat down to practice the trick. Jim walked out of the alley to see small houses on each side of his view, each house was made of wood that wasn''t breaking down like the wood to his so called house. Jim was mesmerized as he saw not only completed houses but also some with paint on them making them vibrant colors of blue, yellow or white. The sight not only awed Jim but also inspired him even more to achieve his dream. Jim then pushed his amazement out of his mind as he walked near the walls to stay out of sight, he knew that some JPs might search him due to his poor clothes and shaggy appearance. Jim sat beside a barrel against a wall. It wasn''t good hiding , if you could even call it hiding but wasn''t Jim''s goal, he just wanted to out of mind until his first customer went by. He sat in silence just waiting till he see''s a gullible face, after almost twenty minutes of waiting and looking at the busy street of people walking by. He guessed that he has seen almost a thousand people walk by. Suddenly the barrel he was leaning on shook, he stood up to see a man crying as he had his face planted onto the top of the barrel. Jim smiled as he looked at the crying man. Jim didn''t know why the man was crying but Jim knew he made for a perfect target. Jim stood up and put his hand on the man''s shoulder as he said "Is something troubling you young man?"
Jake breathed out as he flicked his wrist while his arm was lowered to his knee as he sat on a barrel, he felt the bag of drugs quickly fly down his arm before quickly launching out behind his out of his long sleeve right before he grabbed the bottom corner of the bag while it was still hidden behind his hand. He then flicked his wrist one more time in a smooth motion before having the bag firmly placed into his palm. Jake smiled as he finally could do the trick consistently, but as he stood up to stretch Jake heard stumbling in the alley. Jake hid behind two crates as he peeked over to see Jim talking to a taller man with brown hair and a short beard, the man had clothes that were a soft blue pastel color with no design at all. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Jake assumed the man was on the poorer end of people in the middle class. The man had ankle length pants on with a hip length gray jacket. On top of all this the man had no shoes on while carrying a red hat of some sort Jake didn''t recognize. Jake knew that this man was almost certainly a sailor or some other lower rank position out at sea. His theory was based on the shirt he was wearing not looking fancy at all with the man not wearing a wig almost telling someone that he wasn''t rich. Jake then heard Jim say something to the man. Jake made sure to not interrupt the sale as he listened closely and heard Jim say "You must have it tough my good friend" The man gave a nod as he was still to busy crying to answer with words. Jim said "Every man needs a release, don''t you agree? Whether that be food or women every one needs to get rid of some steam, but when I look at you I can tell you a ruined from a tough day on the ship right?" The man sobbed out "How do you know I work on a ship" Jim smiled as he said "Listen I''m something of a wizard and due to my generosity I will give you an opportunity" The man asked "Wha- What is this opportunity?" Jim then went in for the kill as he quickly flicked his wrist causing a bag of white powder to almost magically appear. Jake instantly realized it was the bag of dirt. Jim said "If you give me everything on you I will give you the best feeling of your life." Jim then gave a smile before quickly saying "And if you won''t accept this offer... Well someone else will." The man instantly dug in his pockets only for some loose shillings and pence to fall out, finally the man dug out two pounds and said "Here this is all I have on me just please I need a break!" Jim smiled slightly as he said "With this you can buy just half of this bag!" The man stuttered out "S- So little?" Jim then angrily yelled at the man "What do you mean little, you ungrateful man! I am giving this to you at a discount because you are down on your luck! You are lucky because if I wasn''t in a good mood I wouldn''t even be selling this to a run down like you!" Jake was shocked because even though Jim was only seventeen he sounded intimidating. The man almost immediately apologized as he said "I''m sorry sir but please can I still have some!" Jim sighed as he said "Listen, you can try this powder for free in exchange for my outburst earlier. I apologize , I lost my cool" The man nodded and opened his palm as Jim poured a quarter of the bag which was just a few table spoons into the man''s hand. The man then almost ate it before Jim said "Stop, try this" Jim then flicked his other wrist causing a small thin sheet of what seemed to be tobacco to appear in his hand. Jim smiled kindly as he said "Roll it then smoke it as they say." The man listened as he smoked the powder wrapped in tobacco. The man''s face looked blissful as a child as he was obviously delusional already. Jim then casually walked over to Jake before bending down and saying "Go pick up those shillings and pence, he is way to drugged out to notice you." Jake asked "Oh yeah question , where did you get that cigar wrap?" Jim chuckled as he said "You gave me one man." Jake looked confused as he checked his socks, the place where he hid all his tobacco. Only to realize one of them was missing! Jake gave a scowl as he said "Those are almost five shillings each!" Jim then laughed as he said "Like you buy them yourself, you of all people should know about pick-pocketing." Jake and Jim gave a chuckle before Jim stood up and stretched as he said "I''m about to seal the deal okay, I''ll be right back". Jake stood up as he started to collect the shilling and pence on the ground as Jim said to the man "My good friend , do you enjoy my product. Wow that is great, good to know you enjoyed it!" Jake noticed that Jim wasn''t even giving the man a second to respond as he assumed answers to questions, it was a tactic Jim has used before to great effect to trick unstable people. Jim continued "Because it is dangerous I''ll walk you home big man and I may even give you a bit more of this" Jim then wiggled the bag of white powder in his hand as he followed the man out of the alley.
Hours later Jake and Jim walk out of the man''s house, both of them holding the empty brown bags of dirt that were now filled with money and jewels. Jim chuckled as he said "Unlucky guy, his wife divorced him yesterday and is about to pick up her stuff tomorrow and he was just fired from his job due to his lake of work ethic. Then he ran into me." Jake laughed as he shook around a pouch on his back as he said "He even gave us his clothes for my bag, poor man was already not thinking after your trial of the drug. You evil bastard" Jim shrugged as he said "Well that is just what I do." Jake then said " much do you think we made?" Jim then responded "Well we can''t sell his clothes and stuff in the middle class district due to suspicion but we can sell them at the slums to some poor fallen nobles, aside from that we can sell the gems for a good few pounds in the middle class region by just saying we seen a large carriage drop them. We might not get a full deal but we will get a good few pounds. Finally he gave us all the money he and his wife was saving to buy a carriage." Jim and Jake laughed only for a man to suddenly yell "Thieves! Thieves! Get back here!" Jim looked behind him to see a group of three men running at them from the other side of the street with long sticks. Jim yelled "It''s the JPs! run" They took off running to the slums, they knew they could lose them there but the problem was they were being weighed down by pounds of items, Jim took off his sack behind his back and put the bag of money he was carrying inside of it, he tossed it to Jake as he said "Take a turn down this alley and run into the slums, I''ll distract these guys, see you soon." Jake nodded as he took off, both he and Jim knew that sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to guarantee the most profit. Jake took a corner only for him to hear the large snap of a branch before a loud scream of pain. Jake shook the thoughts out of his head and ran. The last thing Jake saw as he gave a quick look back was his friend kicked by three full men as they yelled "Where is the money you little thief!" Chapter 4 - Give me my money! Jake was sat on a barrel beside an alley near Jim''s house, he was eating a small cookie with a joyous look on his face, beside him was two sacks. While Jim was gone Jake had sold the gems and clothes in the slums for a decent sum of money. He knew Jim could have made more but Jake knew Jim wouldn''t be in the mood to haggle when he came back. Suddenly a loud groan rang out as suddenly Jim rounded the alley corner, Jim had bruises all over with a black eyes. His mouth had small cuts from abuse and he was bleeding blood from his lips and nose. Jake tossed over a cookie he bought with his half of the money, Jim tried catching it but missed. Jim bent over and grabbed the cookie off the cold and disgusting ground before eating it. Jim said "They couldn''t prove I was the culprit because our good friend from earlier who bought the dirt was naked in front of his door having the time of his life, apparently that drug does crazy things to people. Anyways though, they didn''t intrude and because I had given all the stuff to you all they did was beat me up before trying to chase after you." Jake chuckled as he tossed one of the two sacks at Jim, he said "Thanks for that, I gave you a gift in the bag other than the even split" Jim looked inside the sack only to see it filled to the brim with shillings and pounds. The sack wasn''t big but there was almost ten pounds of shillings and pounds inside the bag. The biggest suprise though was the very bottom of his sack was a clean shirt and pants for a middle class merchant with a nice red shirt with no detail, the man''s gray hip-length jacket and even shoes. Jim gave a wide smile at Jake and said "We took almost twenty years of that poor man''s work as he bought clothes and jewels for his love and his self... and all he had was twenty pounds!" They both burst out laughing only for them to hear a monotone almost dead voice say "What are you kids laughing about" Jim looked behind him to see a six foot behemoth of a man that never looked this tall due to him always being crouched on the floor or laying on the ground. Jim the gave a calm "Oh hi father."
Levi sat down in front of the two teenagers. On the ground were two small brown bags filled with money, Levi looked down at the bags and up at his son before sighing and calmly saying "Where did you get this?" Jim gave a cold stare directly at his father before saying "Me a Jake were in the noble district-" Levi yelled out "You were where!?" Jim sighed before continuing "The noble district... But Jake and I pickpocketed a random drunkard who may have just gotten paid but he had this much money on him." Levi looked directly at Jake before saying "Jake, how did you pickpocket this drunkard" Jim tried saying something only for Levi to angrily say "I want to hear what Jake says, not you" Jake gave a heavy sigh as he broke a small sweat before saying "uhm... yeah we uhm- we I mean I, found the guy in a-a an alley yeah and uhm" Levi gave a simple monotone "Please just stop... You are a terrible liar Jake." Jake looked down and said "Yeah, I know." Levi then said once more "You both know I won''t do anything but I need to know what you did to get this much money" Jim then sighed and tried speaking only for Levi to say again "Son... I have known you for all your life... No. Now Jake be honest and tell me how you got this money" Jake quickly spoke as if he was guilty of a crime as he said "Well uh I got into some debt and I roped Jim into helping me sell... uhm, well drugs to pay off the debt." Levi seemed unsurprised as he calmly said "Can you pay back the debt?" Jake happily said "Uhm... well not currently." Levi slightly gagged as Jim said "Wait you said you only owed three pounds" Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Jake looked down as he said "I''m sorry Jim... but I lied so you would help me out. Truthfully they are the same people from each and every other time I gambled so my debt is almost fifty pounds" Levi instantly grabbed a bottle a liquor on the floor and chugged it as Jim instantly yelled "You son of a bitch! That is money even nobles are scared of, what the hell did you do!" Jake sat quietly as Levi and Jake yelled at him. Jake then remembered
Jake was walking in the dark of night on a cobblestone street. Jake looked up to see a large building with loud sounds and dancing as it stood majestically upon a hill. Jake sighed as he took out a cigar a smoked it before walking towards the building in the distance Jake arrived at the door to see a large man in a knight uniform standing at the doorway. Jake took out his cigar and asked "May I come in?" Only for the knight to give a calm "You don''t deserve to be inside this building." Jake was about to complain only for a long skinny arm to go around his shoulder, the arm belonged to a tall man in complete black, clothing which almost blended into the night sky. Jake was awe struck as almost no one wore black, the clothes gave the man a mysterious and powerful look from his attire alone. The man said "Open the door Knight. This kid is with me" The knight got on one knee as he prostrated himself, he said "Sorry sir I did not know." The knight quickly opened the door as he was almost afraid, Jake looked inside to see multiple large chandelures covering the ceiling giving off a beautiful golden glow around the entire building. The man then said to Jake "My name Caviler, what''s your name kid?" Jake stuttered out "M- my name is Jake" Caviler slapped Jake on the back before saying "Starting today, whenever you enter this Casino your name is... let''s call you Cage. How do you like it" Jake nodded his head as a yes before asking "Why do I need a fake name?" Caviler gave a firm pat of Jake''s back before saying "There are a lot of scary people here who you don''t want to anger. So the name is a back-up just in case you do make them angry" Jake nodded only for Caviler then say "Follow me, I''ll show you a personal favorite game of mine, it''s called poker" Hours later Jake had a flush red face with a cigar in his mouth as he was playing Poker with eight others as Caviler was the dealer. Beside Jake was a large stack of shillings and pence with a single pound at the bottom. Caviler then said "Game number fourteen, minimum bet is five shillings!" Caviler then quickly sends out five cards to each player in a speed that seems almost inhuman, Jake picks up the cards to see a three of diamonds, a five of diamonds , a three of clubs , a king of spades , and a queen of diamonds. Jake grabs the queen, king and three of clubs before giving them back to Caviler. Caviler smiles as he says "Cage is discarding three!" Caviler then quickly shuffles the deck like a wizard only for three cards to slide on the table towards Jake. Jake picks them up before smiling as he says "Half!" Caviler nods as he looked around the table hearing different voices of confidence of dread. Everyone then flipped their cards before Caviler yells out "That''s a straight flush from Cage!" Jake laughs as he says "Alright that''s it for me" Caviler then says "Hold on Cage, let''s do one more round but I add something a little special for the winner" Caviler then took out a large metal case, it was shinier then the stars up above and more than anything Jake has ever seen. Caviler says "Winner takes the whole case but you have to go all in otherwise the case stays mine." Jake being none the wiser sits down one more time with his stack of shillings as he say''s all in. The other players all nod as the take out pounds of money equalling Jake''s tower of shillings in just five or so bills. Caviler smiles before dealing all the cards. Jake smiles as he says "Deal em Caviler!" Caviler instantly shuffles the deck in the wildest way yet with cards flying above his head as the cards seemingly do tricks that shouldn''t be possible. Caviler then gets all the cards and with a quick flick of his wrist instantly gives the player to Jake''s left a card. Caviler then gives cards to each player with a smooth grace like that of a swan before saying "Good luck to all" Jake checked his hand to see the worst hand he could possibly get with a two of diamonds, eight of clubs, six of spades, three of hearts, and a five of diamonds. Jake sighs as he grabs every card but his diamonds and throws them back to Caviler who quickly gives out a new hand that is amazing with all diamonds. Jake smiles Caviler says "Flip!" Jake yells out "Give me my money!" Suddenly the man beside Jake laughs, the man had a green beanie and had a terrible posture and looked like he was as poor as Jake. Jake almost asked what he was laughing about only to see on the table, a royal flush. That was the start of Jake''s gambling addiction and great debt
Jake sat alone in an alley after being yelled at from Jim''s home. Jake sighed with a cigar in his mouth only for Jake to hear "Did you make your money back yet?" Jake looked left only to see the r-shaped man once again. Jake sighed as he took his cigar out and said "Nope, not yet." The man smiled as he said "I had a friend of mine watch you scam that poor innocent man. He had a daughter you know? That was very cruel of you to do, you dirty street rat" Jake looked up at the beanie wearing man before spitting on his shirt as he stood up. The man responded with "You know if you really need money I''ll play a quick game with you real quick, I''ll flip this shilling and if it lands up you owe me a pound and if it lands down I''ll give you a pound" Jake put his hand out and said "I won''t fall for those tricks, I''ll only agree to this if I flip the coin" The man had a devious grin as he handed the coin to Jake. Jake flipped the coin only for it to land upwards. Jake punched the wall behind him as the man chuckled out "That''s around seventy pounds you owe me, how funny" Jake gave an angry look at the man before the man calmly said "I''ll let you off for this debt... if you lick my shoes clean." Jake looked down at the man''s disgusting shoes before saying "I''ll rather waster away on the ground then give anything to you" The man laughed before saying "That little kid, what was his name oh yeah, Jim" Jake yelled at the man "Don''t bring Jim into this, he is only sixteen!" The man chuckled before saying "I never brought him into this, that was you." Jake angrily looked at the man before saying "What do you want, or are you just here to make fun of me." The man said "Oh no no no, don''t get me twisted. I hate making fun of people, but I''m here to tell you that if you don''t hurry up with the pay we might force your friend to give you a helping hand." Jake couldn''t stand it anymore as he threw his lit cigar at the man and dashed at him trying to tackle him only for suddenly a large pike to pop out the corner almost cutting Jake''s head off. Around the corner a knight emerged with his pike in hand. The knight said in a rough monotone voice "Dirt costs five pounds, if you want better products ask Jim to buy them for you. So far he seems to be a more reliable customer. Secondly, if you try something like that again we will make your mom a prostitute." Jake tried yelling at the knight only for in a fraction of a second the knight to stab Jake in the foot. Jake cried out in pain as his vision went dark. The last words he heard was a friendly voice saying joyfully "Where is my payment Michael?"