Black Iron's Glory

Those two Blacksnakes didn’t bring Claude far away. They walked to the end of the old street and took a left turn in a rather wide alley. Pointing at the large shed ahead, one of them said, “It’s there. We’re here.”

Claude intentionally complained, “It’s just a cruddy hut, and you call this a den? That’s a little too run-down, don’t you think?”

The lankier man smiled and said, “Friend, don’t judge it from the outside. The inside is completely different. You’ll get everything you can possibly want there, from women all the way to fine wine. This place is designed by an honored guest of our boss from the royal capital. I dare say that you won’t find a finer den in the three southwestern prefectures.”

“Oh, is that so?” Claude feigned suspicion. “It can’t be, I’ve come to Whitestag half a year ago and I’ve never heard about a den like this.”

“Hehe, friend, you came at just the right time. This den is run by our gang and it’s only been opened for less than a month. It’s no surprise that you didn’t hear anything about it back then. We don’t simply let just anyone inside either. By the way, friend, what do you work as?”

“I’m a shiphand that helps out on the ship, transportation and stuff.” Claude glossed it over. Eriksson had said that usually, sailors don’t really reveal their vocations completely. Only rookie sailors told the people they’ve just met everything about what they do.

“You aren’t one of the locals, friend?”

“Nope, I came from Simlock. I’ve been brought here by my uncle to sail in my youth and a decade passed in a flash. Half the time during a year, I’ll be at sea. However, I’ve decided on buying a house and settling down here. I’ve been taking jobs from this town lately after all.” Claude calmly lied and made himself sound like an experienced sailor.

The two gang members weren’t the slightest bit suspicious. Instead, they began to show interest in Claude’s intent on settling down.

“I see that your job is paying rather well, for you to be considering settling down. Do tell us what kind of house you like. Perhaps we can find you a suitable one.”

“Hehe, it’s not bad work, I can tell you that. We sailors risk our lives at sea to make a living and nobody can say when we’ll go to see the god of the sea. Well, as for a house, I think I’m looking for a lone two-storey building, ideally one with a yard and well. That way I don’t have to bother with getting water.”

Just as he was going deeper into his story, a figure suddenly appeared in front. Claude stopped in his tracks and readied himself.

“Don’t be nervous, friend. It’s one of us.” The gang member stepped forward and told the newcomer a few things, before the person faded back into the shadows.

“Don’t worry, that’s just a lookout,” the gang member said to Claude when he returned, “Don’t worry, friend. If the constables really come, you’ll get word of it immediately and our men will arrange for your clandestine departure.”

Claude nodded and no longer said anything. He followed the two men into the run-down looking hut.

The main entrance of the hut also looked really old and beaten. There were four to five huge men standing outside, stomping on the ground nonstop in the snowy weather. They complained nonstop about the weather and their bad luck for being given the guard shift at a cold night like that.

The thinner gang member walked forward and spoke a few words to a huge, smoking man and turned back to point at Claude.

The smoking man followed the gang member back and looked Claude down. All of a sudden, he reached out to pull Claude’s shawl.

Claude suddenly stepped back and evaded the hand. Angrily, he said, “What’re you trying?”

“Nothing, i was just trying to see if I know you,” said the man, slightly surprised that his grab missed. He seemed quite surprised at Claude’s quick reaction.

“I’ve never seen you before, so there’s no way you’ll know me,” Claude said in a low voice. He turned the bottle in his hand around and entered a fighting stance.

“Hehe, alright. Go in. I was just testing whether you’re really a shiphand.” The burly man put his pipe back into his mouth and sucked, before puffing out towards his back and waving to the other men there to have them make way.

Claude followed the two gang members inside while he kept his guard up. Fortunately, the other men standing guard didn’t move. They watched as Claude and the other two entered with their hands crossed.

Within the hut was an empty room with two lit torches on the walls that cast the room in a yellowish glow.

Just as Claude was going to say something, the thin gang member went to one of the torches and did something he couldn’t see. Then, a door-shaped hole appeared on the wall. There was a secret entrance.

When Claude went through the entrance, he found that there was a stairway heading downstairs. Sounds of chattering could be heard from below.

Claude continued downwards silently. After going down for around ten meters, he saw a wide corridor in front of him that was connected to a metal gate. Outside the gate on each wall was an oil lamp. By then, the sounds coming from beyond the corridor sounded far clearer. Angered ramblings, sensual laughter and other noises blended into a chaotic symphony. It was as if there was a merry market beyond that door.

Four huge men in short-sleeved black clothing could be seen outside the gate. They glared at the three that were approaching.

The thin man went forward and told them something before waving for Claude  to come closer. “Sorry, friend. I’m afraid this is as far as I can bring you. I’m not qualified to enter that place.”

Claude nodded. “Thank you. This place isn’t bad. The security’s tight and it seems rather safe. I can’t wait to jump in now that I hear the voices coming from inside. How beautiful it all sounds! Thanks, friend. Take this and consider it my token of gratitude.”

Claude handed the bottle half-filled with gran wine to the gang member and took out a thale from his pocket before flicking into the air and catching it. He then handed it to the thin man. “Take this and consider it a gift. You weren’t lying that this place is a great gambling den. Looks like I’ll be coming here often in the future.”

Ignoring the two thankful gang members, Claude paced towards the metal gate. The four men saw how generous Claude was in giving mere guides a thale and found him to be the kind of customer the guest most welcomed, so they didn’t stop him from entering and quietly opened it and even bowed to show their welcome.

When Claude stepped beyond the entrance, the innermost man reminded, “Dear guest, it can get a little warm inside, so you may remove your outerwear and shawl and place it on the rack here. We have people guarding the place and we’ll make sure not to lose your clothes.”

Claude nodded, but he didn’t undress. “I want to look around first, would that be alright?”

“Yes, do as you please.”

Soon, Claude understood what the man meant by warm. At the end of the corridor was a large hall where hundreds of people engaged in heated gambling. The most exciting table was the one at the center of the hall. So many people surrounded that table that it was difficult to get around. They chanted, “Big! Big! Big…”

It didn’t take long before the results of the game was revealed. The victors cheered with frenzy and hurried the house to pay out their winnings while the losers cursed their bad luck with their heads lowered.

The heated atmosphere was one thing; Claude also found that the temperature of the hall was considerably warmer than the outside. He had an urge to remove his outer clothing. He looked closer and saw the copper pipes that surrounded the ten or so pillars inside the hall. The heat were probably coming from those.

It was truly an ingenious design. Claude understood with a glance that it was a copper pipe heating system which relied on the hot water flowing through the pipes to warm the hall up. It would be unsafe for them to use braziers for heat because it would cause fires easily and it would complicate the ventilation of an underground room like that. Nobody would come down to gamble with so much smoke around.

The copper pipes on the other hand wouldn’t have those shortcomings. Cold water could be piped through them to cool down the hall during summer too. However, Claude wasn’t intent on looking too deeply into the pipes. He wanted to look around to see whether he could spot Arbeit.

Before he reached the center of the hall, Claude seemed to be able to hear his voice. “11 points! Haha, you only got ten! I won!”

The game they were playing had similar rules to blackjack, but the largest allowed value was twelve instead of 21. The players drew a minimum of two cards and a maximum of three and made their bets according to the sum of points of their wooden cards.

I hear him. He must be hear. The problem was, Claude couldn’t see the fool amidst the crowd. He couldn’t quite tell where the sound had come from.

As Claude was trying to look around, his attire drew some attention to him. He was, after all, fully clothed and masked.

A young maidservant came to Claude. She looked rather beautiful and a hint of mischief and seduction could be seen between her brows.

“Dear guest, is this your first time here?” The maidservant pushed her shapely body closer to Claude.

Claude stepped back and made some distance between the two of them, before he nodded.

The maidservant pouted. “Sir, you aren’t thinking of shaking me off, right? If you don’t like me, I can find you a more beautiful maidservant to wait on you. She’s much prettier than I am.”

Shaking his head, Claude said with a hoarse voice, “Apologies, pretty lady, It’s not that I’m trying to shake you off. I’m just not too used to being in close contact with others.”

The maidservant giggled. “Sir, you’re joking, right? Don’t you get so close to women when you bed them too?”

“That’s a whole different story, miss.” Claude furrowed his brow. “We aren’t well-acquainted.”

“Well, we will once you come here more often,” she said unreservedly, “Naturally, if you’re generous, we sisters will quickly acquaint ourselves with you and then you can approach us closer and more freely…”

Claude didn’t say anything else.

The maidservant stopped smiling. “Sir, do you need anything? I saw you standing here for quite a while without joining in.”

She pointed at the group of gamblers huddled up at the center of the hall.

He understood that he had caught the attention of those running the den. “It’s my first time here, so I don’t quite know how things work yet.”

“Oh, is that so?” The smile returned to her face. “Well, it’s simple. Before you play, you must exchange something for gambling chips. The smallest chips we offer here are valued at one sunar. There are chips for one riyas and one thale too, and the highest ones are worth one crown. These four are the only gambling chips here. After you get some, you can freely join any game, whether it be dice or cards. The den is the house of the games and whether you win depends on your luck.

“If you want to gamble with a friend, we can provide a private room and premium service, but we’ll charge a ten percent service tax. Food and drink are all free here. If you want better food options, you can pay with the chips as well.

“Also, there’s a bath through the corridor ahead. You may take a bath with hot water and rest in a bedroom. If you’re willing to spend a thale, you can spend a night with any one of us sisters. Do you want to give it a try? I can make sure that you’ll be drowned in pleasure.”

“Is that so… Thank you for the introduction,” Claude said with a nod, “I want to look around a bit more. Would that be alright?”

“Of course,” the maidservant replied in a sensual tone, “But Sir, aren’t you feeling a little hot? Let me remove your outerwear for you, alright?”

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