“Who else would I have been talking to?” The voice came from a young man. He carried human features for the most part, but his skin was a deep blue, almost purple. On the top of his forehead, two still growing white horns extruded backwards. He was obviously a planetouched human.

  The Planetouched could refer to people of any race that had their soul activated by a different plane of existence. Planetouched was just the umbrella term for it, though. Within it, there were more specific terms. Ifrit’s were those with firesouls, Undyne’s—watersouls, Sylph’s—airsouls, and Oread’s—earthsouls. These four made up the most common of the planetouched. Not that planetouched was a common appearance in the first place. Other planes could also activate souls, and then would create their own planetouched beings, such as the man in front of him. Based on the features present, he appeared to be a Kaliban, or a hellsoul.

  Aleister cast his gaze upon the rest of the inn. “Silly me, you’re right. There was no one else here that you could have been talking too.”

  “How many of those people managed to tie with Brilnia and also mentioned that they needed money?” he asked, brushing his dark cerulean hair back.

  “Well, I haven’t been here for that long, nor was I paying enough attention to the previous attempts, so, I’ll go with two?” Aleister said. “Also, that doesn’t include me since I actually lost.”

  “Oy, Luo Yun, trying to swindle another one, are you?” The human man who sat next to him lifted his head up.

  “And there you are, Jehkad,” the planetouched one groaned with crossed arms. “I was just wondering when you were going to appear.”

  The human man looked at Aleister. “Whatever he says, say no at the end and then listen to me instead.”

  “Why would he out right reject me without listening to both of us first?”

  “Because my offer is just that much better.”

  “And how would he know that if he said no to me first?” Luo Yun questioned in a dismissive voice. “Besides, you always just copy me and then add a bunch of shit you can’t even deliver upon.”

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  “It is not that I won’t deliver upon my promises,” the man said, taking a swig from his cup. “But I simply cannot because most people disappoint and do not manage to complete what I require of them.”

  “Of course you don’t. You set the bar so high that no one can even clear it.”

  “Not true. A few people including Brilnia have succeeded in what I asked,” the man said. “Besides, you can only waste the money of people that no one in Osetia has heard of. The common man might even believe that you simply made up their existence to cover up the fact that you’re nothing more than a thief.”

  “Something I intend to fix, of course,” Luo Yun said. “And are you trying to insinuate something?”

  Aleister rolled his hands. “You know, you two are doing all of this bickering over what offer I’m going to take sure is cool and what not, but I don’t even know what you two are even referring too.”

  “Ha! You don’t play dumb in front of me,” Jehkad said. “You know exactly why we’re here. Besides, while you were sitting here, you were clearly talking to someone else.”

  “I heard that too.”

  “First of all, I’m not playing dumb, but I sure feel like it right now because you two aren’t telling me anything,” Aleister said, shaking his head. “Also, I can understand you hearing me since you were right next to me, but would you have been able to hear me?”

  “My ears are well tuned and excellent at picking up minuscule details in the environment,” Luo Yun said with a smug attitude.

  “Sure,” Aleister said, drawing out the last syllable. “Anyway, there is a simple explanation for that as I was indeed talking to the voice that lives inside in my head.”

  “I don’t actually live inside your head,” Syn said. Aleister ignored her.

  The man nodded. “So you’re either one of those loonies who thinks that one of the gods is speaking directly to them or you sold you soul to some devil.”

  Luo Yun interjected, “And to be quite honest, I don’t care about either of those things, I just want to know if you’re interested in making some money.”

  “Making money sounds pretty good to me right now, but I seriously do not know what you two want me to do.”

  “It’s quite simple. So simple, that I came up with a slogan for it,” Luo Yun said, spreading his arms wide open. “Punch—or be punched.”

  Jehkad snickered and snorted up some of his drink. After a few light coughs, he said, “Is that really how you’re going to explain it? Do you think anyone will accept any of your offers with that?”

  “I don’t know.” Aleister wagged his finger around. “Illegal and underground fighting rings sounds pretty good to me.”

  “Frankly, this act you’re putting on, is even giving me second-hand embarrassment,” Syn commented, hovering right behind him.

  “It doesn’t matter if it sounds good to you or not,” Jehkad said.

  Aleister his eyes squinted eyes. “I’m pretty sure I matter the most in this decision.”

  “Obviously,” Luo Yun said. “And the fighting rings you have an opportunity to participate in are actually all heavily regulated.”

  “And who regulates them?”