After the trio were declared the winners, they were able to go back to the residence. The battle for top 3 is the next day. Many people are excited to watch this. But to their surprise, before coming back to the house, the trio threw a bombshell at them.
They are not going to participate in the next fight. They just distributed the top 3 places among them.
This time Jack had to do the most work inside and he was given the first place, followed Philip and Watt.
When the audience heard this, they went on an uproar. But the judges just couldn't force the match, they agreed with the trio and let them go for now. The rewards would be collected next day.
Sam didn't go back with them. Instead, he went to administration office of the arena where a long queue was already present.
Even though it was long, it was only in a relative sense. Compared to the actual number of people in the arena, these people are not even one percent of them.
They are all here to collect their bet money.
Sam was not surprised by the number of people. There are more people who believed in trio than he expected.
He just stood in the line normally. His face is a bit well-known within the Planet 2, particularly in that capital. But here he is not that big of a deal, nobody recognized and nobody wondered just how big of a bet he placed.
But as soon as his turn came and he gave the token which is the proof of the bet, the hand of the employee who is clearing the bets halted as he looked at Sam with a nervous gaze.
He took the token with shaking hands and checked the information. From the looks of it, he already knew that a large bet is coming and he recognized the bet as soon as he looked at the token.
He whispered something to his colleague who looked at Sam and asked him.
"Sir, Our manager wants to meet you. Will you please come?"
"Sure, after I collect my money."
"Sir, it is about that money. We need to discuss something."
"Discuss? Did I place the bet properly?"
"Yes." The employee is getting nervous, he didn't know why Sam is so stubborn. He could have just followed him and this guy would be the manager's problem. His pay is not enough for him to go through all this.
"Did I win the bet?" Sam continued asking and this gaining too much attention.
"Yes."
"Then give me my money. We can discuss anything later."
The Employee looked at the people that are observing the situation. If this goes on the situation will be out of hand. The news will spread all over and they would be in some serious trouble.
The trouble which they cannot afford at the time of elections.
Currently, the arena is under the administration of the faction 1 as the current king is also of that faction. There are many types of matches and tournaments that will be held throughout the year, and the bet money is some decent revenue.
But now Sam's bet is taking the revenue of the past two to three years. That is why the manager wants to work something out. But Sam is just making it worse.
If the manager knew who Sam exactly is and what kind of relationship he has with the faction and the trio, then he wouldn't have even bothered asking Sam. After all, it will be fruitless.
"I placed the bet properly, I won the bet, but you are not paying and asking me to meet the manager, I think there is something fishy going on here. Don't tell me that you are planning on reneging the debt you owe."
The employee became nervous and said.
"No sir. It is just that the funds are a bit short on hand. We would like you to wait for a while."
"No problem, I will wait here."
The employee couldn't do anything and went back into the office to report the situation to the manager. The manager felt something is wrong and sent some people to get information on Sam and when he learned about that, he couldn't help but curse Rajan and his ancestors for the loss. He figured out that there is no use discussing. So, he can only send people to get the funds.
After two hours of waiting, Sam just stood there without doing much. There are some people who had free time on their hands waiting there.
Two hours later the same employee came with a bunch of spatial rings in his hands. there are around ten of them.
Sam grabbed the bunch of them verified each one of them before saying.
"Thanks."
When Sam was about to leave, the same teenage who he paid last time to give details came running to him and asked.
"Big Bro, do you remember me?"
Sam looked at him and raised an eyebrow before nodding.
"May I know how much did you bet?"
Sam smiled and asked.
"Why?"
"Just curious."
"Six billion. I gained five times."
With that Sam left the surprised teen and a bunch of adults who are equally surprised.
The word spread like wildfire by next morning. But there is an even intense flame burning within a meeting room the next morning.
The meeting room for the faction 1. Everyone is looking at Rajan with eyes full of coldness and malice.
Rajan is also not as calm as before. He is also feeling rage burning inside.
"Rajan, in the past few months you caused repeated harm to our faction. Because of you, we lost two cloaked force units, officers in the Planet 2 and now thirty billion spirit stones.
Thirty billion. Do you know how huge that amount is even for the whole faction. We lost so much all because of your fragile ego and a bet that you are not even a man enough to honor. You have to give us a proper explanation."
"What do you want me to do?" Rajan growled as he controlled the urge to kill them right there and then. He already suffered enough humiliation. This is not something he can endure.
His position within the faction is weakening and all because of a puny human.
"That is up for you to decide. If you cannot show any substantial gains to the faction through your or your family's contribution, you can just forget about the two positions you asked. Until then don't even think about dealing with Raunak and those friends of his."
Rajan gritted his teeth and agreed.
But before he left, he made sure to ask for something.
"Stop them from meeting the king for their rewards. I don't want them to ask something that shouldn't be asked before I did what I have to do."
He left those words and left the room.
The rest of the exchanged looks and were surprised.
Meanwhile, Sam is with trio and Raunak as they enjoyed a feast in the residence.
"So, what reward are you guys getting?"
This is the only time Sam actually thought about what reward it is, he knew it must be something exciting for the trio to take such a risk.
"We will get a meeting with the current king and we can ask for anything. Not something too outrageous though. Those are the only requirements. And if the King feels it is appropriate for our position, he will agree."
Philip replied as he dug into the meat like a savage.
"But isn't it too vague and can be rejected because of king's willful behavior."
"That is not going to happen. The elders will be monitoring and they will evaluate the requests. If the king really wants to reject it, he would have to find a proper explanation. It is not that easy to reject."
Raunak explained from the side.
Sam nodded and asked the trio.
"What are you guys asking?"
"We didn't think much, even third price is enough for what we want. We don't need anything specifically.
Do you have anything you need?"
"Not really."
Sam shrugged and all four of them looked at Raunak.
Raunak who is silently eating looked at them and asked.
"What?"
"Do you need something?"
Philip is the one who broke the silence.
Raunak widened his eyes and said.
"Are you guys out of your mind? You can ask for anything, don't waste it on me."
"Don't be too quick to reject. Just think about it. We don't have any use for them anyway. You have until tomorrow." Watt said and went back to his eating.
At this moment, someone knocked on the door which surprised them.
Sam opened the door and there stood a man in golden armor. An elf holding a golden spear as he looked at Sam with emotionless eyes.
"Are the three winners of the tournament here?"
"Yes."
Sam gestured for the trio to come and when they arrived, the man in golden armor spoke.
"Your meeting with King has been delayed because of an emergency. We would inform the meeting time later."
With that, he didn't even wait for the reply and left.
All five of them frowned in confusion.
