Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Barrett turned his gaze away from Colten, now that he had reached a minor agreement with him. He looked deeply at Basil. ”Give me the fake list,” he demanded without warning.

Basil took a step back; his gaze was full of confusion and questioning. Yet, he failed to voice a single word.

Barrett took another step. ”We don’t have any other choice; the fake list is the only way. Give it to me.”

Basil looked like a thief who got caught, his hands stretched open before him, his eyes screaming, ’Bro, you have the list in your own hand.’

Barrett hardened his gaze. ”Just give it to me already,” he said casually, with a tone that didn’t match the sudden change in his expression.

For those who work as salesmen, they may always appear friendly and welcoming, even too fair and upright.

But in reality, things are different.

A salesman could dislike a rude client, even play tricks to give him the worst goods.

It was a common practice; merchants are known to be friends to everyone, but in reality, they’re never close to anyone.

Business was always a matter of trust, but what if a merchant gives a client the trust he requires, only for him to turn it down?

What if that client picked another inferior product that he thought was better than the merchant’s recommendation?

What if the client ends up paying the price of a higher-quality product for the price of an inferior one, willingly and happily?

Barrett was having his current business partner, Basil, switch.

Using the fake as real, while presenting the real as fake.

Basil, who’d worked his life as a thief, had no business knowing the techniques of merchants. Yet, he had no other list on him, and no other choice but to trust Barrett now.

”Fuck, dammit, here it is,” Basil cursed, handing Barrett the real book with eyes full of pleading.

Barrett took the book and exposed the lists, turning to Colten, who watched the entire play with confusion, then understanding.

Barrett looked down at the seated Colten and extended his hand with the list. ”Boss will never know; this is the only list he’ll ever see.”

Colten stood, holding the list with his own two hands. He looked closely at the numbers and names.

Everyone on the list had placed his money on Talia, excluding himself, his group, and the Basil/Barrett duo.

The money they had there was exactly the split they should have shared.

After looking for a moment, Colten couldn’t help laughing. He sat down in his chair, rested his forehead on his hand, and laughed more.

Everyone watched him, but no one said anything.

No one interrupted his laughter before he stopped on his own. He looked at Barrett, then at Basil. ”It’s my loss; I failed to see how useful you two were,” Colten said, while his hand went for a leather bag behind him.

He fished a pouch of money and threw it to Barrett. ”This is all the money I currently have,” he said before adding, ”That bastard is luckier than he seems.”

Barrett caught the pouch, took the two books under his arm, and smiled. ”You’ve made a perfect choice; let’s work together again,” he said before turning around to leave with Basil and Dorbish.

”Let’s go,” Barrett said as he opened the door and stepped out; Basil ran after him.

Dorbish waved, ”Let’s meet again, Colten,” before leaving.

Basil, as soon as the door closed, started sprinting away like crazy. ”Where are you going?” Barrett called.

”Coffee, will have coffee,” he said while running without turning back.

Barrett didn’t say anything; he decided to walk to the spot they arranged the fake list and wait for him there. But he suddenly paused; he turned around and asked, ”Isn’t it about time you left?”

Dorbish shrugged. ”It was a fun thing to watch, not gonna lie,” he said casually.

Barrett wasn’t very good at talking aimlessly; he was a salesperson, nothing else. He decided to walk on his way and ignore Dorbish, as he had been doing.

They didn’t know the reason behind Dorbish’s recent interest, but they had seen him with Moon a few times hanging around, so they would let Moon handle any problems that might come.

Once they were outside the building, Dorbish whispered, ”Do you know there was a fatal flaw in your performance?”

Barrett looked with evident disinterest before ignoring him.

Dorbish shook his head. ”It was impressive, but you should have asked him to send everyone out before pulling the last act,” he said.

Barrett looked at Dorbish in surprise. He paused for a second before nodding.

”Why do you say that?” he asked.

Dorbish looked ahead and started walking. ”Making deals in a shop is different from making them in a gambling den, and even more different from making them with thugs.”

Dorbish shrugged. ”My family might have not given me wealth or support like my elder brothers and sisters, but at least they gave me the education I would need to survive as a useless youngest son,” he explained.

Barrett looked at him for a second before nodding. ”I’ll keep that in mind.”

With that said, Dorbish went on his way, and Barrett moved to the spot to wait for Basil to return. But as soon as he got there, Basil was already running at him. ”BARRETT BRO, THAT WAS INSANE.”

Barrett turned around, watching his excitement. ”Did you get your coffee?” he asked.

”I chugged it right away; I didn’t get to catch my morning coffee and was slow to catch what you had in mind,” Basil clarified his reluctance. ”Barrett bro, you’ll do well on the third floor.”

”How so?” Barrett asked.

”You might be a better scammer than me,” Basil clarified before sitting down to reset the lists and money all over again.

Now that only he and Barrett had placed their money on Moon’s win, they would funnel the entire branch’s worth of currency into their pockets under the protection of Boss Moon.

Barrett sat down next to him. ”What if Boss loses?” he asked the question all of a sudden, and the possibility they were averting their gazes from.

”Well, we poor bastards stay poor, and everyone else gets his money back,” Basil shrugged, not concerned in the slightest.

Barrett nodded but didn’t say anything.

Dorbish, on the other hand, was heading somewhere they both forgot.

”Hey Zera, how have you been?” he greeted the one-eyed loner, minding his business now that Moon was busier than usual and had already beaten Basil and Barrett this morning in Zero Damage Hall.

He was relaxing on a bench near the eatery; everyone avoided getting close to where he was.

Except for Moon and Dorbish, of course.

”What do you want?” Zera asked back, not welcoming.

”We’re doing some gambling; care to join?” Dorbish suggested with a smile.

”Not interested,” Zera refused, looking absentmindedly at the sky.

”Well, I think participating willingly is better than anything else,” Dorbish said slightly. ”I mean, Dara’s money couldn’t be found either,” he added casually before turning around.

Dorbish shrugged. ”Either way, it’s none of my business anyway.” He took a few steps away, but his voice trailed off. ”I only came to do you a favour.”

Zera gritted his teeth; he fished a pouch of coins and threw it. ”Catch,” he called.

Dorbish turned around and caught it. He nodded at Zera, who opened his mouth and said,

”On Talia.”