He reached into his pocket and dropped 100 Maranurrian dollars in a small, golden pot next to the boulder.

Then they headed on to cross the bridge over this ‘fountain’. His steps almost made no sound on the bridge to the point where he genuinely began to wonder if this was even wood, but it definitely added to the mysterious atmosphere that the place provided.

On the other side of the wall, a house came in sight, which the bridge obviously led to. Wait; was this a house, or actually a massive tree with windows?

The sparse light of the forest made it hard to see, but it seemed like this house was constructed in a way, that it mimicked the look of Mynesmesoya-Trees, the largest species of trees that was known on this planet.

When he came closer to the tree-building, he began to realize about the sheer size of that thing. It was less of a house, that mimicked a tree but rather a tower that stretched at least 50 meters into the sky. Elfish folk music was filling the air and Reso could see a lot of smiling Humans drinking alcohol and chatting with the traditionally dressed Elves around here.

“Wanna go in?” Reso asked Acarni.

Acarni smiled as a response. She was just as stunned by the visual sights as he was.

Together they approached the front doors, but suddenly, a bouncer stepped into his way, looking down on him.

“I'm gonna need your passport or driver’s license, before you can enter this, boy...” he said in a tone that made clear, that he did not believe that Reso was older than 18. This was actually correct.

With an annoyed sigh he pulled his backpack of his shoulder, reached into it and pulled out a Benjamin Franklin bill. With a stern voice he said: “Will this suffice?”

The bouncer looked at the $100USD note in his palm and grabbed it. After all, if Acarni earned $350 per month, this was worth a quarter monthly wage. And Acarni was an elite bodyguard, not some bouncer at a bar in the Neotonic district.

“Welcome to the Tree of the Fountain...” he greeted Reso with a much friendlier tone then previously. Reso entered the place, closely followed by Acarni and at first sight this place looked absolutely beautiful. Indeed, it seemed to be a bar, but also a restaurant, where young Elfish waiters in warrior costumes where handing out dishes that ranged from western junk food to exotic Elfish meals. Reso already looked out for a place to sit down; when he realized that... something was off about this place. On many of the tables, there where female Elves in short skirts and on some even male Elves with bare upper bodies. And in regular intervals, if someone would sit down with the Elves at a table, they would stand up again, the Elf would hug his humans company's arm and they would go upstairs.

A cheerful, female Elf by the entrance talked them up: “Welcome in the fountains tree, the finest and most exclusive restaurant in the entire Neotonic District. How may I help you, sir?”

Reso was still nervously looking through the room which seemed like a picture-book version of what one would imagine as an Elfish dining hall. He turned to the Elf who wore a leaf-bra and a short skirt and looked up at him with a tribal tattoo over the left side of her face.

“May I ask...” he said slowly. “What is on the higher stages of the tower.”

“The Elf giggled as a response: “Oh these are the private rooms. For guests who have already picked their company. You need to choose your girl first. Or is it guys you are interested in?”

Reso swallowed heavily as he realized what was going on here. This forest wasn't a recreation of Elfish mythology for the sake of atmosphere and advertisement, it was a brothel. The entire fucking forest was a brothel. And the Elves who seemed to live here in harmony with their ancestral roots and culture were employees who wore their traditional clothing as a work uniform like any cashier at McDonalds did. The realization what “love forest” actually meant hit him like a punch in the gut. The Elf girl seemed to notice that he wasn't feeling well and tried to save the situation.

“Or... where you perhaps looking for the luxury segment?” she asked. “Usually we only take bookings, but we have some free rooms currently. Do you want to take a look, sir?”

She handed him a tablet on which different rooms of this tower where marked, that seemed to have different themes.

There was the ‘Maid lover, Libera’ for 5000 Dollars per hour or the ‘Gaming girlfriend, Ginny’, for 3000 Dollars per hour. Reso didn't bother scrolling down, as Acarni started tugging on his arm.

“Let's go back...” she said. “I... don't like this place as much as I imagined.

Reso nodded. He suddenly didn't like this place at all anymore.

He and Acarni turned around and walked back over the bridge, passing the half-naked singing Elf and walked back through the forest path that was occupied by other Humans who had bought themselves Elf company.

“This place is scum...” Reso said angrily, as they left the garden.

Acarni nodded: “This forest could have been so vastly beautiful, if it wasn't what the Humans had made from it.”

A spontaneous guilt came over Reso. He felt... ashamed to be a Human. Part of a race that went anywhere it wanted and took whatever it wanted with no regard for the former owners. He looked up to the casino, which resembled the forbidden city of China from this side.

“Alright... wanna do what we went here for?” he asked his company.

Acarni nodded: “Yeah, I could use a distraction.”

Reso ginned and led his lover up the fake-marble stairs up to the entrance of the huge, double winged entrance doors. Again, there was a bouncer in his way, but just like back in the park, a Franklin note easily opened passage into the building.

Inside, the light was blinding and the atmosphere was full of life. The building complex seemed to be separated into multiple sections and not all of it seemed to be a casino. There was also, kind of like in the Forest, a restaurant but with a much more Asian-Western appeal than Elfish. Right of it there were casinos with different themes and in the section above there were bars and even a dance-club as it seemed.

“Wanna grab a drink?” Reso asked Acarni. He could use some alcohol to relax after the shock from the forest.

A sigh could be heard from Acarni as a response and she said: “Reso, I can't drink alcohol...”

Reso flushed a bit as he realized how stupid he just had been. He kept forgetting, that despite all of the anatomical differences, Acarni still technically was an Elf and those had a very rough time in dealing with alcohol. In fact, now that Acarni mentioned it, he was surprised to see so much alcohol being consumed in a place that was a designated living space for Elves. Alcohol poisoning was a serious threat for them.

“Mind if I... still grab one?” he asked. “I'll get you something without alcohol too.”

Acarni shrugged: “Do as you please. Though, I think I could use something to cool down as we’re here. I have the slight feeling, that it will get hot in this suit as the evening progresses.”

“Alright...” Reso said and walked the stair up to the bars. Of course Acarni followed him like an extension of himself. Up here, Reso would still spot a lot of Humans sitting around with Elves in situations, where it was not quite clear whether they actually knew each other or whether it was more of a...business engagement. He looked left and right and decided to enter a bar that looked a bit more empty then the others, although he soon realized, that this was due to the show which was performed inside of it. When Reso sat down at the counter, most of the guests of that particular bar sat on small tables all around the room and watched a dancing performance of a young, skimpily dressed Elf at a stage. It took Reso a moment to understand that this was a burlesque performance, as he had never seen such a thing before. His head was captured by the rhythmic, suggestive movements of the girl on the stage, until the barman spoke up.

“What can I offer you, Sir?” Reso turned around and looked into the eyes of the barman. He too was a Woodelf, albeit a very huge one.

“Uhm... Prosecco please...” he said, more from the top of his head then as an active choice. “And you, Acarni?”

“Coke.” his bodyguard said with a stern tone. “A big one. With ice.”

The Barman nodded and turned around to get all of it. Reso’s look wandered off back to the Elf girl on the stage and for a second he wondered, if he should maybe actually look out for such a girl to spent the evening with.

“Don't stare like that.” Acarni said with a slight tone of jealousy in her voice, slipping Reso back into reality. He blushed slightly and nodded.

“Sorry... I just... haven't seen stuff like that before..” he said slowly.

“Dude...” Acarni said with a wide grin. “I know you watch porn. And as it happens, I can personally confirm that you know what a woman’s thighs look like.”

Reso looked his eyes and turned around, picking the glass of wine off the table. Seconds later a large glass of cola was placed on the counter with a criminally large amount of ice cubes inside of it.

“That's 20 dollars, sir...” the barman said. Reso paid without complaining and then walked out of the bar again.

“Let's get us some chips!”, he said while emptying the glass of wine at a criminally fast pace and walked downstairs again, so quickly, Acarni couldn't even sip on her Coke properly. He rushed back into the main hall and picked an Atlantis-Themed casino walking straight to the chip-handout. With a confident gesture he opened his backpack and slammed a dozen 100-bundles onto the table.

“I want chips for this. And pronto~”, he said with a cheerful voice, clearly enjoying the surprised look of the man behind the counter that immediately began counting the dollars and checking the money was real. After a short waiting time he nodded: “A-Alright, sir...”

Reso was happy. This stunt alone had given him quite a bit of attention of the people around here and he bathed in the curious looks of the girls and the jealous and irritated looks of the men. Acarni on the other hand didn't feel comfortable with this at all. If they ever had any chance to pull this through relatively unsuspicious and smoothly, then Reso had just completely ruined it. And for a bodyguard, being the centre of attention in an unknown setting always was a horrible thing to happen, especially when her charge was so insanely overconfident in her skills.

As soon as the chips where handed out to him, Reso took the chips and threw them into his backpack, before gesturing Acarni to follow him.

They ended up at a roulette table, with mysterious lights and mature men in suits playing over amounts ranging around one thousand to two thousand dollars. Then, Reso joined in and casually spread 10,000 Dollars all over the table with his first bets. He placed 2000 on red, 3000 on the high 12 and a few hundred dollars on numbers like 0, 16, 28 or 36.

For a second, Acarni thought this was going to be a short night, as the ball started rolling inside the barrel, but then something remarkable happened.

“Red, high end, 36.”, announced the dealer and Acarni’s jaw dropped while Reso jumped straight off the table shouting a delighted “FUCK YEAH!” through the entire casino. She couldn't believe that this little idiot had just won over 100,000 Dollar with a single, careless move. Everyone on this table was equally speechless. Apart from some Elves who mostly stood at the tables as company, Reso and Acarni where the youngest people playing here and none of these old, respectable people in suits could believe that such a greenhorn idiot with t-shirt and sunglasses had actually just won more money than they were willing to bet this evening.

“Next table, next table!” Reso demanded with the adrenaline and alcohol getting brightly visible in his face. Acarni grabbed his arm, so firmly that she was sure that it hurt him.

“Ow...” Reso confirmed her and turned around, clearly annoyed. “What?”

Acarni looked down at her lover, knowing that he was vulnerable to such situations and bent over whispering: “Reso, you just won a shit ton of money through pure luck. You realize you could've just as well just lost this 10,000 Dollars?”

Reso rolled his eyes: “Hey we agreed we'd waste the money, didn't we?”

“You said that.” Acarni said with a quiet but stern voice. “But just think about the possibilities here. If you took the money you just earned home, you could take the 50,000 Dollars home and give them back to your father and still have...” she looked at the chips he had just won, trying to get an estimate of the sheer amount of money it represented. “... Have enough money to do some really good things with.”

Her words seemed to reach Reso as he lowered his head for a second and seemed to consider. Then he nodded.

“Alright... let's make a deal. We'll only use 50.000 Dollars of our money, alright? The rest, that we have won currently, we will keep, no matter what happens.” he suggested. “That means we can spend a whole fortune on helping the Elves, okay?”

Acarni looked back at Reso for a second, then she let go of his arm and nodded slowly: “Alright. Ill slap you if you spent more. Not as your bodyguard, but as your girlfriend.”

Reso’s heart did a small jump when he heard that.

Girlfriend?

Yeah, that was probably the title that applied to Acarni, but he never had dared to actually view her like that. After all, she was protecting him and he had nothing he could offer her in exchange.

Trying to at least superficially maintain his composure he turned around to the table and said: “Well, gentlemen... let's... let's continue.”

And indeed his next moves where more careful. He still placed easily 100 dollars in one move at a given field, thus outmatching any of his competitors, but it wasn't enough to leave a considerable dent in his budget. He was now losing more often than winning, but it was still not enough to grind down his massive luck in that first round. It took almost an hour of slow trickling down of money, before Reso got bored again and packed in his chips again.

“Excuse me, gentlemen.” he said and stood up from the table, throwing his backpack over his shoulders again. While he looked out in the room for another game to play, an Elf approached him. She was wearing a fancy dress with glittering fake-gems on it and similarly fake necklaces around her slender necks. Still, she was an absolute beauty with fiery, braided hair and eyes in a mesmerizingly ruby-red shimmer.

“Hello, Sir.” she greeted him with a shy expression on her face. “Are you in need of some company for the night? I know some of the best hotels in this district and... Who knows, maybe I know a few more tricks...”