Even those who threatened to leave, ended up halting in their steps. And they weren't to be blamed, even in this fort, such a number of spirit crystals was considered a decent wealth for many.
The eyes of those around turned from mocking William into firing up in pure greed. William noticed this and his smile turned into a grin, while he started to store his spirit crystals slowly, in a slower pace than how he took them out in the first place.
"Holy sh*t!"
"T… Ten million spirit crystals as a bet?"
"For what exactly?"
"Yes, tell us the conditions!"
"Tell us everything!"
"I want to join, regardless of what, I want to join!"
As William took his time in taking the crystals back, many started to exclaim in shock and excitement. And soon enough, the entire place was blown out, turned literally into a circus.
What William did was to take more time in storing the crystals, letting the fire fester and the excitement to spread and even explode.
"Now…" after a few minutes, he finally took the last spirit crystal. Then he turned to all of the eager faces, waved his hands around, as if he wanted to calm them, "the bet is simple. You came here to watch me clear the traps. And so let's bet on this. Either I'd win and clear all the traps, or I'd lose and die in the process."
"..."
"The bet will start in five hours. Make sure to prepare whatever you have, think carefully about which side you'll bet on. I'll see you in five hours."
William gave this time not to the people here, but for the news to spread over and reach even the ones adventuring the world around the fort.
He even wanted the wealthy merchants who were either coming or moving away from here to also hear the news. He wanted everyone to hear such news, and then come to bet.
As for the bet itself, he knew if anyone got a sane mind, he'd not bet on his success. There wasn't a precedent event about someone succeeding in taming this cursed place. In fact, the old and bloody history of failure related to this place was the strongest asset William got.
With such infamy and reputation, no one in their sane minds would bet their wealth over his success. Only those crazy folks, those who loved to go against the tide, those extremely rare folks would bet on him.
What did that mean? It meant when he'd clear this place out of traps, then he'd end up not just having a treasured spot as a team base, but a scary amount of wealth that he never imagined getting this fast.
Paying ten million spirit crystals and getting a couple hundred million in return? Or even more? That was a dream to him, to anyone.
He just decided to clear this place at any cost. And now he had more reasons to do so.
"Where are you going?!"
"Yes, don't throw such a grand event and plan to leave!"
"Surround him! Don't let him leave!"
"Yes! Don't let him leave!"
Just as William took a few steps forward, many shouted and many others moved fast to surround and stop him.
"Who said I'm going to escape?" William showed a puzzled expression on his face, "I'm going to buy a few things. If you want to tag along then it's fine. I won't get away. If you aren't confident, then how about this?"
William took out the token of Ben again, waved it in the air so everyone here would be able to see it clearly, "I'm part of the Lockheart impact. And I live in the Royals hotel. If I ever escaped, didn't show myself here in five hours, then go and get your revenge from me at any of these two places."
He hated the Royals already and wanted to bring more trouble to Ben's way. And so he made sure to give these mobs the names of these two well-known entities.
"Damn! He is one of those maniacs!"
"And here I was wondering how a sane person would do it! He is one of those crazy dudes!"
"One of the Lockheart impact? That explains it then."
"Ok, go, we will wait for your return."
"If you dared to not show up, we'll go and burn that damn crazy place."
"Yes, that's something we should have done a long time ago."
"Good," William nodded in satisfaction to their response, "come," he motioned to Thomas to follow, and then the two passed through the lots of people here.
Thomas was stupefied all this time, pretty deeply shocked about all this. He watched how William dealt with all this pressure without any speck of hesitation or weakness.
When he saw people here, he easily guessed what William did as well. But when William spoke about this bet event, and even made Trevor go to the Refos group to make it happen, he couldn't help but have the image of William change in his eyes.
This kid… He might look as weak and little as any eleven year old kids he knew of, even looked more wasted and weaker than most. But William was different. He wasn't acting like a kid, even acting in a more mature way than Thomas himself.
Thomas knew he got such a viewpoint about life thanks to his vast and various experiences. And that made him wonder, what exactly did such a kid live through to have such a sophisticated and complicated mind?
"Master, can I participate as well?" and just as the two of them went out of the big gathering around William's place, Thomas suddenly said.
"What? Do you want to bet on my loss?" William rolled his eyes, while showing a faint smile on his face.
Thomas already thought about this. He didn't know why, but against all logic and sense, he felt like William was toying with everyone here.
