Archmage Kyleas, a former magical prodigy, was once a highly respected mage from a prestigious wizarding school. But one day, for no apparent reason, he left his past life behind him and started making easy, dirty money. Things changed quickly when...
In one pleasant afternoon, a horse race is about to take place in Driza District, Suovi. This district is well-known to be a gambling hotspot. There, a guy wearing a Radlanovian mage robe that looks absolutely out of place was seen approaching a bookmakers place. This particular mage was often seen around anytime a horse race or any race event about to start.
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To the people of Driza, he was seen as no more than a simple gambling addict. No one actually knew why he dons the robe of Radlanovia, a prestigious magic academy. Some people speculated that he stole that robe and pretended to be someone else. No one dared to ask him, they mostly just left him be.
Over time though, people grew suspicious that this mage named Kyleas would often cheated his way to win bets using some kind of magic. The bookmakers around Driza had hired two henchmen to track him down and collect all the money he won from cheating. But it seems like they won't have to track him at all as he appeared again all by himself.
"Boss, how are the odds looking?", the mage said.
"Here take a look for yourself", the bookmaker replied.
The bookmaker showed him a piece a paper with betting odds written on it.
"16 to 1 odds, huh? 30 argentis on horse number 4, boss", said Kyleas as he handed the money.
"Of course you would bet for the worst-rated horse...", said the bookmaker.
"Boy, I swear if horse number 4 won today...", the bookmaker added.
The other gamblers looked at Kyleas cynically, because this is nothing surprising, he always did this every time he bets in a horse race which made everyone ever the more suspicious of him.
As scheduled, the horse race started. Horse number 2 dominated the whole race, with number 1 not far behind it. Yet, somehow on the final stretch, all the horses seemed to slow down, allowing horse number 4 to win. Kyleas alongside a very few amount of people cheered as they won their bet.
"4 auris and 80 argentis, hand me the money, boss", Kyleas demanded.
"No auris nor argentis for you boy, the other bettors can get their money, but not you", he said.
"What do you mean I can't have my money? I won didn't I?" asked Kyleas.
"Keep telling yourself that boy, but we know you have been up to no good for quite some time now", replied the bookmaker.
"Just today, my boys saw you made slight hand signs just as the race was over. You've been using magic, aren't you?", he added.
"Whoa that is a baseless accusations! I have a condition, you see-", answered Kyleas before being cut off by the bookie.
The bookmaker made a gesture as if he called someone over, and when Kyleas turned around, there was this two big guy standing right behind him.
"Just pay up and things won't go ugly", said one of the henchmen.
"Oh.. Looks like you got me then", replied Kyleas as he reached one of his pocket.
"Well? Come on, quickly give all of us our money back!" shouted the bookmaker.
"Oops, looks like this is all I have", said Kyleas as he pulls his hand out of his pocket to give the middle finger to the bookmaker.
After that, he snaps his finger and all of a sudden he blinked behind the two henchmen that was directly behind him before and starts running. As he was running, he can clearly hear the bookmaker was telling the henchmen to go after him. He used a spell that increased his speed so that he can easily outrun them and outrun them he did, but somehow he was running into an alley that was dead-end.
Not long after, the two henchmen catches up with him and one of them grabbed him against the wall.
"Alright pay up, boy. Our bosses don't take cheaters kindly", said the henchmen grabbing him.
"Just beat up this guy, only then he will learn his lesson!" exclaimed the other henchmen.
As they winded up to punch him, Kyleas sighed and said, "Will you guys ever learn?" and blinked behind them once again. Causing both henchmen to punch the wall instead. Kyleas again tried to runaway from them, this time he tried to lose them in the Market District. He tried to slow them down by creating obstacles for them on the road. When he looked behind while running, he only saw one henchman behind him so he thought that he had lost one of them. To his surprise, the other one tried to box him in and already waiting on the road ahead. He tried to dodge him by jumping over one of the fruit stands to his side. The henchman managed to grab and pull his robe though, causing him to fell on his back.
"Enough games boy, just give up!" said one of the henchmen while walking towards him.
"L-Listen, I'm sure we can talk this out...", replied Kyleas.
"It's too late to talk, give us the money if you don't want to get hurt!"
"No, I'm serious. We need to talk this out for your own good! I really don't want to do this!" said Kyleas.
Both henchmen just laughed at him, "Look at you trying to act tough, when you're the one on the ground!"
Then all of a sudden, the two henchmen disappeared into thin air with some flashes of lights only to reappear again at their exact same position a few seconds later and both of them fell on their backs. Kyleas get back on his feet and walked to both of them.
"Listen, tell your bosses that I won't be paying a single coin back to them and do not send anymore guys after me", said Kyleas while smiling.
They were sweating profusely, simply nodded, and runaway as quickly as possible away from him. The people around the Market just looked at them in confusion, while Kyleas wipes the dust and dirt off his robe and said he was sorry for the commotion.
"I really shouldn't use that spell so often. I felt horrible for those two guys who were just doing what they were told", Kyleas thought to himself.
"But then again, maybe I shouldn't cheat so often that they found out about it. Well no worries, I'll just move again to another city and 'gamble' there. Man, I'm tired after all those running, a drink or two at the tavern might be nice", he added as he left the area.
After arriving at the tavern, he ordered a pint of beer and sit down at the table near the window. Not long after, his drink arrived and he began to drink while opening a map he had carried on his pocket. He was eyeing up and down the map as he was looking for a suitable place he can move to.
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(Credit: character illustrations done by: ren_naminaa (on IG and Twitter)
