Drin had been running his scam in this town for just about 3 weeks now. It was almost time for him to pack up and make his way to the next population center.

He sat in front of his game table, a simple wooden table with 6 wooden cups, lips down. His game was simple, a clay ball would be placed under one of the cups and Drin would then move around the cups on the table, while the victi- player would try to follow the cup holding the ball with their eyes.

It was a common game in Edrya, often being played at festivals or busy market streets. Of course, Drin thought himself a genius and would never waste his time on a simple game.

Behind his stand were several crates with various supplies and spare game pieces. That was where the scam came in. See, on the table was a well concealed trap door, and when he moved the cups, he would let the ball fall through the trap door, then he would discreetly place the ball behind him in one of the spare “unused cups” and the dumb fools would never be able to keep track of the ball, no matter how hard they tried!

Since the ball was still technically in a cup when they guessed, no one would be able to call him out, and he could easily pass any lie detecting magic since he technically never lies. His reward was 30 ote, which was quite high considering the price to play was 1 ote, but he never had to worry about actually paying it out.

He thought he was quite clever for coming up with this little trick, and sure enough nobody has yet been able to see through it!

He had also hired a pair of goons to get rid of anybody who thought themselves smart enough to call him out. The pair weren’t the brightest of the bunch, but they were adequate muscle. Nobody was able to defeat his little scheme yet, but as he’d been operating in Banrook for a while now, most were wary of his game and stayed away. He’d made a nice profit and he would soon move on to the next town full of losers.

Just as he was getting bored of waiting for his next mark, a young blonde haired boy strolled up to his stand. He was the one who was screaming and crying to nothing in the middle of the street earlier.

Drin had had quite alot of fun watching him as the boy had walked back and forth, doing seemingly nonsensical motions in some unknowable attempt to achieve something. The kid was surely afflicted with madness, which only made Drin smile since he would make a very easy mark. Drin certainly wasn’t above taking advantage of the mentally ill.

“Hi Mister, I-I’d like to play your game” The boy spoke as he arrived at the stand. He was so young that he was barely tall enough to see over the table, most would probably find him cute, not Drin though.

He put on his best patronizing smile as he looked down at the boy.

“Why, of course little buddy. Do you know how to play”

The boy hesitated for a moment, before turning and looking off to space for almost a minute. After he turned back, he nodded his head.

“Good, good” Frankly, Drin didn’t care if the boy actually knew how to play or not, he just wanted the kids' money. He even decided to raise the playing price a little, since he assumed the kid wouldn’t notice. “It’s 3 ote to play buddy.”

The kid looked a little nervous and for a second Drin dreaded that the boy didn’t have a ote to his name. But after a second the kid gasped in realization, nodded his head then bent down and started searching his shoe. Coming back up, he had a couple ote in his hand. It looked so comical that Drin had to put effort in not to laugh.

“When did you put that there?... Really?... oh, ok.” The kid was having a full on conversation with himself as Drin and his goons were cracking up.

“Here you go, mister” The boy handed drin 3 ote, and Drin started setting up the game.

“Ok, kid, keep yer eye on the ball” He said as he placed the ball under a cup and started shuffling them around. The boy seemed intensely focused, tracking the cup with determined precision, but that would just make it more satisfying when Drin lifted the cup to show an empty space.

Midway through the shuffling, Drin slid the cup with the ball over the trapdoor and with practiced skill, slipped the ball quietly into a cup behind him. Then, as the cups came to a stop, Drin smiled in anticipation. This was the best part of the whole game for him, he loved watching the various reactions of his victims, from sadness, to disappointment or even anger, and there was no way this boy woul-

“That one” the boy pointed plainly.

“Huh- what?” Drin was taken aback. At first he thought the boy was pointing at one of the cups on the table, but on closer inspection he was clearly pointing behind Drin.

“Haha, boy, I know you’re not all there mentally, but those cups-” Drin was hoping to play it off as the boy being clearly affected by Madness, but one of his stupid goons lifted the cup he was pointing at, revealing the ball. The boy jumped up in happy celebration.

“Yay! We did it!” he looked very pleased with himself. Drin was seething in anger, he wanted to punch his stupid assistant in the face. He surely could’ve talked his way out of it if the goon just hadn’t lifted the cup.

The thought of just not handing out the prize crossed his mind for a moment, but there were too many people watching. Sighing frustratedly, Drin handed over the bag with the 30 ote, and the kid clung to it reverently, which only irritated Drin more.

As soon as the boy left, Drin cussed out his assistant and they packed up, leaving the very next day.

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Colby skipped down the street with the bag of money in his hands. Richard looked fairly satisfied with himself too.

“Wow! I’ve never seen this much money in my life! I can’t believe it, we got all this in only a day!?” Colby was ecstatic

“Yeah, but first make sure to hide some in your shoe.” Richard advised.

“Huh? O-oh yeah…” Colby obediently put a few coins into a small pocket in his shoe. He didn’t like hiding money, but he had to admit that the coins Richard hid there before came in really handy. Colby hadn’t noticed them until Richard told him, and so he was a little worried and curious about what else Richard might have done without him noticing. Still though, with 26 ote in his hands, he felt good.

“W-was that really ok though…?” Colby nervously asked.

“Was what ok?” Richard gave him a sidelong glance.

“I-I mean, we cheated didn’t we? You looked inside the cups…” Colby did feel pretty guilty about it.

“How many people do you think that guy scammed in the past? He was already cheating, we just cheated a cheater.” Richard let out a little laugh.

“B-but mom said that two wrongs don’t make a right…” Colby softly said.

“Your mom seems like a nice lady, but trust me, she clearly doesn’t know shit about the world. Anyways, don’t feel guilty. Guilt is a worthless emotion.” Richard stated arrogantly.

Colby felt conflicted about Richard saying those things. He didn’t like anyone talking bad about his family, but at the same time Richard seemed to know alot, after all he had single handedly gotten Colby more money than he’d ever seen in his life.

“Anyways, d’ya think that’ll be enough to cure your sister?” Richard asked. The question put a halt to Colby enthusiasm. It was alot of money, but they had already put all the money they got from Mr. Krikrek into helping Dana and it still wasn’t enough.

“I-I’m not sure…” Colby said dejectedly.

“Aww, cheer up kid. We’re just getting started.” Richard said with a laugh. They duo had come in front of the bar that Colby had been to before. Well, he hadn’t really been there himself, but his body had. Speaking of which, he still had to ask Richard if that was his doing, but before he could, Richard was already walking up the stairs to the entrance, Colby hurriedly followed.