Beleg tapped the paper but didn’t open it. Kre could scarcely believe his own ears. A hundred gold. They never worked in gold in Mintas, so he had no real actual concept of the value, but that made it all the more overwhelming.
“It doesn’t have the same wow factor if you tell me the number before you hand me the paper,” Beleg advised. He slid the paper back, still folded. “Perhaps you’d like to try again?”
The other man started to reach for the paper when he was stopped by the Master’s glare. “Not enough to entice you?” he asked, turning his glare to Beleg. “It’s quite a generous offer, if I say so myself.”
Beleg folded his arms across his chest and returned the glare. He never was one to let a good staring contest go unanswered. He responded without blinking, “You could make it five hundred, and I don’t think it’d be enough.”
The Master blinked rapidly, ending the contest despite his own competitive nature. “That’s a pretty hefty raise there. And then to reject your own increase…” He whistled sharply and laughed. “You must have some pretty high consideration of your value for all that.”
Beleg nodded. “As you said, it was a very generous offer, however it all comes down to accepting cash for my honor.”
He shook his head, finally breaking his own gaze. “This is something that I simply cannot do. Walking away rich from a fight I lost will be obvious to everyone and I will forever be known as a shill.”
Before the Master could object, Beleg raised a hand, “However, I think I have an answer that will satisfy all of us.”
“Oh, do tell,” the Master said, leaning forward. Any note of irritation was now gone, and he now seemed invested in Beleg’s idea, especially if it wouldn’t cost him five hundred piece of gold.
“When I lose,” Beleg said, wincing a bit at the words, “you feel bad for me and hire me on your staff. In reality though, you and I become business partners. I’ll need a new career after this, and I think working with you might be the change I need.”
The Master nodded twice after a brief pause and rubbed at his nose. “And just what sort of business would you and I partner on?”
“The weapons you deal in would seem like the logical collaboration, but I think there’s another business area of yours that I would prefer more. Something more exciting and certainly more profitable with the much wider clientele.”
“Go on,” the Master said with a low voice, his frown starting to grow across his face. He clearly wasn’t liking where this was going, but he still wanted to hear it said.
“The slaves,” Beleg said finally. “I want in on the slave trade.”