Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 65: Scheming Old Man (party 7)

The crowd went wild, literally. Considering most of the crowd was jacked up on various mild altering chemicals, watching the end of the match was like a big rush to the brain. The first match was exactly the big start that everyone was looking forward to watching and it helped pump them up in a big way.

Kennedy was rather impressed with Laz. She had seen him fight before, but the last time he did, all she got to watch was him bash up a few street punks. She never knew about the training he did so how would she know that he could do more than just scare some witless idiots. As such, she also joined in the crowd to cheer widely also keeping in mind that she had bet a few thousand on his match.

Laz didn't do much other than stand on the wooden stage and glance at where his opponent had fallen before turning around and walking off, back towards Kennedy.

"THE WINNER, BLOOD SKULL!" The ref made sure to announce after he recovered from his surprise.

The most important thing about matches such as these was to put a name with the face (or mask) and the action. When people saw a match they liked, they would remember the person who did it and pay more attention to the next match. It was something that humanity had learned as far back as the roman Colosseum when gladiators made lasting impressions on fans. Even now, people would always want to see their favorite fighters fight so making sure the name was announced was paramount.

Of course, how much the crowd would actually remember was up in the air at this point.

If there was anyone who was not happy with how things played out, it would have been Tommy. Although he didn't put any stock into this member of his house's security team, to see him beaten in one hit was not something he could stomach. His face was definitely turning red with anger behind his expensive mask.

Annie, on the other hand, couldn't have been more thrilled. She was almost screeching like an immature school girl at the way Laz won and then walked off the stage as though it was nothing. This kind of cold, detached attitude along with the chiseled body was more than enough to get her hot and bothered. Although Alex still kept quiet, the more Annie got excited, the tighter he was squeezing his glass.

The only one who remained calm about the whole thing was Jesse who was still getting his massage as though nothing in the world was more important than that. At least, that was how it looked on the outside. In truth, he was sneaking glances at Tommy the whole time as though trying to pay attention to his reactions.

Even if Tommy wasn't happy, he wasn't going to stop the event just because of that. There would always be another chance. As such, he did nothing but sit down while dragging his two pets up to accompany him.

The fights would continue as planned.

Laz walked back to Kennedy and started to put back on his shoes, shirt and jacket in a slow but steady manner. At the same time, he noticed Kennedy's burning gaze on him as though she wanted to drill right through his skin and find out all his secrets.

"Is there something wrong?" he said once he was dressed again. Although he would be going back into compete again, he didn't feel like walking around shirtless. Besides, he wanted to maintain the image that he was a professional, not just a fighter.

"Where did you learn to fight?" Kennedy asked with stars in her eyes.

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"Places. Isn't this the reason why your cousin wanted me to protect you? Because I could fight?" Laz responded back while looking at her.

"He never said you could fight, just that you were tough. He never really explained why though."

"Ah," was Laz's only response. As he thought about it, it would make sense that Tony didn't reveal what had happened that night. After all, there are some things you don't tell a girl when she is family.

"Well, there will be more of that soon. As long as I don't lose, we can make some money here." Laz commented. Although the funds were important, what Laz was really looking forward to was a good fight where he could learn. He felt that with his sense and his ability to circulate his energy, the best thing he could do to get stronger was to learn some technique. Although Grandpa Chu was going to set him up at a dojo for a bit, he didn't want to wait that long. It wasn't like it was going to be a long term thing anyway.

"AH, good point. Be right back." Kennedy started walking towards the betting table as though she had forgotten. She didn't get far before she looked back though and asked Laz a question.

"Do you want to bet on other matches?"

Laz thought about this for a minute before shaking his head no. Although they had won when they bet on him, he didn't know the other fighters and didn't think that wasting his money in this way was a good idea. After all, unlike the others here, he didn't have a ton of money to waste..

Laz sat down as though he was resting while an extremely attractive and rather scantily clad hostess walked up with a tray of drinks and offered it to him. Turning to look at her, he didn't say anything.

"Hello sir, that was an amazing match. Would you like something to drink?" She said while holding the tray out for him and bending over, revealing the massive cleavage he couldn't notice at first while sitting down.

Laz didn't speak or even react at first while he looked over. He was somewhat mesmerized by the deep valley just inches from his face. Although it was for only a moment before he regain himself, he was still glad he was wearing a mask that could hide his face. Laz didn't say anything but he did point to the various cups on the tray while the woman gave a description of each. Although a few were alcoholic, most were not since most bodyguards weren't about to drink on the job. Compared to the other drinks that the other hostesses were offering, it was obvious she was attending to him personally.

Laz finally just grabbed a cup of water before turning his head back around to the stage where two more contestants were coming up to fight. One of them had several tattoos all over his body while the other was covered in scars. Laz was quite amused by the different types of people who would do this kind of work. Some looked like they had been through hell while others just seemed to want to look tough.

Cough, cough.

Laz turned over due to the noise to look at the woman who had offered him drinks and found she was still standing in the same spot and looking at him while bent over. Luckily, Laz was prepared this time and didn't get trapped into looking below her neck. Although it took a bit of will power, Laz was actually truly interested in getting rid of this woman so he could focus again.

'Is there something wrong?' Laz said in his head, knowing that she couldn't hear him. Interestingly, he had tilted his head slightly when he said this to himself and she got that as a cue to continue.

"Uh, sir, is there something wrong with the drink?" The woman asked, somewhat nervously.

It was then that Laz realized that he hadn't taken a drink. Not thinking much of it, he raised his mask slightly and took a sip before putting the mask back down. Due to the design of the mask, raising it that much wouldn't reveal the face hidden behind it.

He then faced the woman and nodded before turning back to the ring. Laz really had no idea what the right thing to do in this situation was since he was far more interested in the matches on stage. Therefore, he was totally oblivious to what was going on. He also failed to notice the old man staring at him from across the room who started smiling when he took a drink.

The hostess smiled while her eyes lit up as though his acknowledgement was the very thing she was waiting for before bowing slightly.

"If there is anything else you need sir, feel free to call me over... err... just wave me over. I will be standing by for you only." She then walked away in the direction of the old man.

Coming up to him, she stood by his side and her smile immediately dropped from her face.

"Good work," the old man commented.

"Too easy. These guys who are supposed to be trained bodyguards seem to lose all sense of awareness when they are in such a relaxed situation." The woman replied with a cold glare as she looked at Laz.

"They don't see this as a battlefield so of course they would be relaxed. It's normal for this to happen, hence why it's so easy to play them. Of course, this one seems to be amazingly dumb. According to the young master, there is no way that girl got a real merc so he must just be some sort of street fighter."

"Tch." The woman just clicked her tongue and didn't respond back.

"To be nameless and not attached to anyone important yet still to think that he can cause havoc here, he was asking to die from the moment he acted," the old man commented with a thick venom in his voice. He was the old man who was in charge of security but he also was in charge of protecting the families interests. Because of that, even if he acted otherwise in front of Tommy, he wasn't going to let this young punk insult the young master.

"He should be honored to have had that glass of water. The powder mixed in is probably worth more than he will see in his whole life," the woman commented while still staring at Laz.

"Perhaps, but that bitch of his just made off with almost $40,000 just from betting on him once. At least this will also keep us from loosing too much money from these kids." The old man said back, somewhat nonchalantly. In truth, the money wasn't the problem as that was just pocket change. The problem was that half of the guests were from subordinate families who were there as a sort of reward while the other half were from peer families. The goal was to show off to one side while keeping the other side in line. It was really a kind of test the family arranged to evaluate Tommy.

The old man wasn't going to allow any outside factors to affect it.

"I don't see what the young master sees in that blonde bitch. It's not like we don't have contacts for these types of things," the woman commented while taking a drink from a clean glass.

"It's not our place to question him, just to support him. Now, although one sip is enough, make sure to encourage him to have some more and don't let anyone else drink from those cups. It's not like it's going to kill anyone, but it is not a pleasant experience to go through," the old man explained.

"I don't understand why we don't just poison him and be done with it?" The woman asked while looking at the old man.

"Sigh. You're still too young Jade. In this sort of situation, it is far better if that 'Blood Skull' dies in the ring as opposed to dropping dead in his seat. Far less questions and far more entertainment. Understand?"

"Ah. I see," Jade said with a flash of enlightenment.

While they were talking, Laz was focused on the battle taking place on the stage, unaware of the plot against him.