The room in which Kantem and Reso sat down belonged to another casino, which was held in a palace theme style, suitable to the overall look of the casino. It seemed to be the biggest section of the building, on the opposing side of the main entrance and featuring fancy stuff, such as its own bar and a stage on which life jazz was playing. Kantem did not really fit into this setting. A vampire castle or a haunted mansion would've probably been a better fit for that creepy, small man. Inside of the room, there was a poker table for two persons with comfortable, old-looking chairs with leather padding.

“Sit down, Mr. Croix.”, the Elf said, after he had already taken his seat on the opposing side of the door.

Slowly, Reso pulled the chair back from the table and sat down in a resting position.

“I hope you don't mind we use my personal dealer.” Kantem said while placing the deck on the table. “If you want you can now check the cards for inconsistencies with the rules.”

“You haven't answered the question, which I asked you when we headed here, Mr. Neotonic.”, he said as he picked the deck up and briefly looked over the cards and their backsides. It seemed like a pretty ordinary deck, except for the fact, that each card seemed to represent a different figure from Elfish mythology, yet, Reso could not be entirely sure. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why?” he asked, with the expression of a man who knew how to act. “Well to have a chat with my dear friend’s son, of course.”

“Friend?” he said as he reached the deck over his shoulder so Acarni could check it as well. She was much better at spotting such minor details then he was. “I thought you said you where business partners.”

Kantem laughed slightly and shrugged: “Friends... Business partners... What's the difference? When you spend a sufficient enough time as entrepreneur, then the lines separating these words will vanish at some point.”

“And that's what you are?” Reso asked. “An entrepreneur?”

“That's what I see myself as.” Kantem responded as Acarni was handing Reso the Deck back, gesturing him that it was okay. “I'm the one who built this place after all.”

“You're really THAT Neotonic?” he asked, as if he had doubted it previously.

“Indeed I am.” he said with a complacent tone in his voice.

“People say a lot of negative stuff about you.” Reso tried to provoke him.

“Lot of bullshit.” Kantem said flat out, while he took back the deck from Reso and handed it over to the Elfish dealer in butlers attire, that had been patiently and silently standing next to the table so far. “But I will be honest with you, Mr. Croix. I invited you to this game, because I hope to make a lot of profit. After all, when someone places 10,000 American dollars in a single bet on my roulette tables that won't go unnoticed by me. Especially when it's my good old buddy Croix' son.”

Cards where handed out and Kantem was quick to swipe his of the table and into his hand. Reso too picked his cards up and looked at them. 8 of Spades and 2 of Clubs. Not great cards, but the dealer revealed an 8 of Diamonds, 9 of Clubs and the King of Clubs. So two of a kind. Something Reso could work with.

“We should first determine the height of our bets.” Kantem said looking over the edge of his cards. “Let's see.... 250 dollars as small blind and 500 dollars as big blind?”

Acarni sucked in air soundly from behind Reso. Kantem just had made the suggestion, to use more than a month’s worth of work for her as a blind at poker.

“Fine with me...” Reso said, trying to maintain a cool composure.

“Alright...” Kantem said and placed chips worth 1000 dollars in the middle of the playing field. “Here's we go.”

“I'll raise.” Reso responded and placed another 2000 dollars’ worth in the middle.

“I'll raise as well.” Kantem said and pushed another 2000 forwards with a calm gesture.

Reso hesitated. He once heard somewhere that it was a smart strategy to attempt a bluff in the first round, when playing with someone who didn't know him and he had originally planned to do exactly that. But Kantem seemed pretty confident too.

“I'll go with that.” he said and placed his 1000 dollars in the middle.

Another card was dealt, a heart 5. Not a useful card, but it didn't seem to pose much of a threat to Reso either.

“I'll raise again.” Reso said, placing 2000 dollars in the middle.

“I'll raise too...” Kantem said with a smooth, calm voice, placing 4000 dollars in the middle. Reso swallowed, but he had to stay in now.

“I'll... raise...” he said and placed 4000 more in the middle.

“I'll go with it.”, Kantem said, placing 2000 in the middle, not blinking an eye.

A drop of sweat rolled down Reso’s forehead as the last card was dealt. Queen hearts it was.

“I'll raise...” Reso said, keeping up the pressure at Kantem.

Kantem raised as well and the whole thing went back and forth 4 times until 42,000 Dollars were piled up in the middle. This was the point, where Reso said, with a shaky voice: “I'll go with that.”

Kantem smiled and placed his cards on the table. A Queen of Spades and a 2 of Diamonds.

Reso’s heart sunk down into his pants as he placed his own cards on the table. The dealer announced: “Mr. Croix, pair of eights. Mr. Neotonic, pair of Queens. Mr. Neotonic wins this round.”

An amused cackling could be heard from the Neotonic boss as he reached out for the chips.

“Seems like lady luck is on my side today, Mr. Croix.” he said while sorting his chips into orderly piles again. “But it's interesting that both of us tried the “bluff in the first round”-move. It would've almost worked for you.”

Reso snorted as he watched the Elf stack up his money.

“Do you watch professional poker as well, Mr. Croix?” he asked Reso, still being busy with his money.

“Yes.” Reso lied, trying to keep the last bits of his dignity.

“Oh, then I really should be more careful with you as my opponent. I almost lost 21,000 Dollars to you just now if Fortuna hadn't saved me.” Kantem grinned. “Anyway... Do you regularly visit such establishments to spend your father’s money, young Mr. Croix?”

“I'm doing it for the first time.” Reso defended himself. “And I have a damn good reason for it.”

“Oh yes, I heard about that.” Kantem responded with a tone that almost sounded like genuine empathy. “That American oil-lord. Feuerstein was his name right? He wants you to bond with his daughter, doesn't he?”

Reso’s eyes widened angrily: “How do you know this?!”

“If you want to stay alive in the business world of Maranurr as an Elf, you need to be extra careful.” Kantem responded. “And have extra good intelligence. I try to know EVERYTHING that is to know about this city. And this specific thing is a tragedy, especially after witnessing this honest love you share with your... bodyguard.”

Kantem looked up to Acarni as if he noticed her for the first time in this moment. Acarni looked back, trying to make her yellow eyes as threatening as possible. Kantem withstood the staring contest for a few seconds, and then he just ended it by looking back into Reso’s eyes, who felt an icicle piercing his heart.

“You're going to tell my father about this won't you?” he asked, not able to completely hide the fearful undertone.

Again, Kantem smiled superiorly: “Oh, why should I? Just because your father and I are friends, that doesn't mean he gets anything for free here.”

A breath of relief escaped Reso’s mouth and he said: “Alright... Thank you very much.”

“I'm always trying to be generous, Mr. Croix.”, Kantem responded. “Speaking of which... I don't want to ruin your first night in my town. So why don't we reduce the stakes a little bit?”

Reso nodded slowly. He didn't want to admit it, but he did not want to lose another 20,000 Dollars to a badly executed bluff, not to speak of the beef that this would cause with Acarni.

“Alright.” Kantem said. “100 for a small, 200 for a big blind. Let's go.”

They continued to play and Kantem proved to be a vastly superior poker player in simply every regard. Even though he had won the first round through mere luck, it did reflect his skill as better player, since he kept collecting money back from Reso hand for hand that was dealt.

“What do you think of my town?” Kantem asked after a few hands, seemingly getting bored of his winning streak.

“I don't know...” Reso responded carefully. “I really don't know what to think of the establishments here.”

“Why?” Kantem asked, placing his next bet in the middle of the table.

“Well... take the Forest for example.” Reso said slowly, still thinking about what exactly he even wanted to say.

“Ahhh, you visited the forest?” Kantem asked delightfully. “Isn't it a marvel of Elfish culture in this city that lacks culture so much.”

“It's a brothel...” Reso said pretty flat out, pushing his raise into the middle.

“So what?” Kantem asked. He went with his opponent, so the next card could be revealed.

“I wouldn't call a mythology-themed brothel a marvel of Elfish culture.” Reso stated.

“Why not?” Kantem asked again, placing the next raise in the middle. “It's exactly what these Communists and Anarchists in the Clans want.”

“I'm pretty sure, they don't want their mythology turned into a brothel.” Reso raised. “They want work and equality for their people.”

“Ah, but that's exactly what I am providing.” Kantem said self-satisfied, going with Reso. “Most of the Elves who work in this district never would've gotten a job and had always dwelled at the bottom of our society as welfare-parasites. I have negotiated with the government a lot to get the suppressing restrictions on this town loosened and when that happened, I turned it into a workers paradise. The Las Vegas of the Pacific with millions of tourists each year. High wages, fair work conditions and employment for everyone who has two hands to offer.”

“And rampant drug abuse...” Acarni suddenly threw in from behind Reso. “And gang violence. And abductions. And murders...”

Kantem looked up and a slight expression of misunderstanding spread on his lineaments. He did not respond, but instead uncovered his hand.

“Mr. Croix, three of a kind two.” the dealer announced. “Mr. Neotonic, full house with Kings and Queens. Mr. Neotonic wins.”

Kantem looked at Acarni for a few more seconds, then he looked back at Reso and finally he turned around, looking through the room. His eyes scanned around for a few seconds, then he spotted what he looked for.

His finger reached out and pointed to an Elf with long blonde hair and a tight, purple dress, standing next to some Humans in suits. She had turned her back to the group, but Reso could easily see, even from this distance, what kind of absolutely amazing body-shape this woman had.

“Take her for example.” Kantem said. “When she came here, she was a dumb teenager with no perspective, education or job. She was just running around wasting the few dollars her parents had given her on drugs, men and parties. And when she had wasted all of it, she still couldn't get enough of the drugs. So I offered her a job. A well-paying job with generous work times, to a drug addict that had proven absolutely incapable of even managing the tiniest of all investments. Her name is Liandra and today she is admired as... a symbol beauty in this town. The highest earning escort girl with literally no other skills then offering her body to someone. And what is she doing? Is she saving that money to grant her two daughters a better life or to invest into the future? No, all she is doing is spending it on drugs again.”

He leaned back forwards to face Reso again saying: “It is not my fault that this world is largely made of sub-Humans and imbeciles who are unable to manage their finances and their future in an appropriate way and it is people like me, the entrepreneurs, who enable these creatures to survive.”

He snapped his fingers and called loudly: “LIANDRA!”

The casino went mute for a while and a lot of heads turned towards the poker table on with Kantem and Reso sat.

Liandra was one of them who turned and looked over. For a second she held onto the arm she was currently hugging, then she slowly let go and walked over to Kantem.

The closer she came the more apparent the sheer beauty of this woman became. Her face was almost perfectly symmetrical and her purple eyes where just mesmerizing for everyone who looked over her small, well-shaped nose. And even though tiny, tiny wrinkles in her cheeks showed that this woman was already past her prime, she looked nothing like a person who already had children. Just like from her backside, the shape of her body on the front side was just as beautiful, almost as if an artist had tried to create an embodiment of femininity and attractiveness.

“May I introduce?” Kantem asked rhetorically. “Liandra, this is Reso Croix.”

A clear, surprised expression got visible in Liandra beautiful face as she looked down at the boy with the mismatching emo-cut and the wardrobe of a woman in his company.

“Reso Croix?” Liandra asked slowly. “Like in...”

Kantem nodded and interrupted her: “Yes, he's your favourite secretary's son.”

A slight disgust appeared on Liandra’s face, an inappropriate look for such a beautiful woman.

“Favourite?” she said. “That man has beaten the shit out of me when we last met... Just because I could get his impotent ass to... well...”

She stopped in her rant; obviously getting some awareness of the dangers she was currently positioning herself in. Reso’s belly froze. He had always known his father was cheating on his mother, but now, meeting the prostitute he did that with? That was a punch right into his face.

He looked over into Kantem’s complacent face. This man was a master of mind-games and he was playing a particularly sadistic one with him right in this moment and perhaps even with Liandra too.

“So, Liandra.” he said in a calm tone but with the expression of an eagle ready to strike down at its prey. “How about you sit down at this boys lap and... well, do what you do best.”

“What the...” Acarni interrupted but Reso quickly gestured her to be quiet. He wasn't going to let Kantem win that easily. Liandra did not seem particularly fond of this idea, but it was Kantem who ordered her too and she did not seem like the person who still had the power left in herself to question such an authority. She walked over to Reso, pulled up the skirt of her dress a little and sat down, with her breasts ending up right in front of his face. She smelled... heavy... but absolutely fantastic and whatever perfume she was wearing was probably worth a recommendation to Acarni and no matter how much Reso tried not to get aroused by having her this close to him, he did not entirely succeed.