Henry took a gulp and looked between his friends and the man, Phantom. He didn't know what to say, but as the man looked deeply at him with his ruby-like eyes, he knew he had to reply.
Stuttering, Henry gave his answer.
"P-Phantom, it's umm you see w-we were not following you but going to that arena. It seems we were just moving in the same direction....", he decided to lie fearing the man would be angered at their actions.
Felix nodded his head while narrowing his eyes and asked back.
"Oh! So, you're saying it was all a coincidence?", his tone was laced with amusement.
"Yes Sir, it must have been a coincidence.", Henry quickly agreed and silently sighed as he felt he had done well at lying there.
Felix again nodded with a slight grin on his face and looked around at the many men, who were standing with their heads bobbing up and down as they all agreed with it.
With a sigh, Felix shook his head at their naivety and asked.
"Well, don't you think a group of men all separately walking in the crowd, eyeing each other, and moving in the same direction as me is a bit suspicious?"
Henry's face paled as his lie was easily seen through. 'Shit!', His eyes moved around in a frenzy looking for a solution and so did the other men.
Felix glanced at them speechless and thought to himself. 'Hmm...Now what should I do with them...', He didn't know what to do about the situation as it was the first time something like this was happening to him.
But he had to stop them from following him behind like this everywhere in the arena, as that would put him in danger and would look suspicious to anyone with sharp eyes.
Suddenly, while the men remained silent, Dufus stepped forward and muttered to Phantom.
"This...We apologize to you Phantom, for what we've been doing.....but betting on you is the only way we'll be able to earn any money in the underworld.", he spoke with sadness as what he said was true.
The group of men who had come together had no skills at any job, and wherever they went, people would look down on them for their incompetence.
Their similar situations and abilities were what brought them together, and they had been going around in the underworld arena to see if they could win some money by betting to provide for their living expenses.
After a long time of being around in this place, they had met a few fighters worth betting on, but in the end, even those fighters would lose resulting in a heavy loss for them as they wouldn't strategies their method of betting and simply use all their money.
It could be said that they were a bit stupid and dumb, but that was what made them who they are today.
Henry and the men looked at Dufus speaking with sadness and they shared the same feeling. They lowered their heads slightly as Dufus continued speaking to Felix.
"I know we're troubling you a lot by doing this, but please don't stop us from betting on you. Because if we lose this way of earning money, then there wouldn't be any other way for us to survive anymore.....", he pleaded with his eyes turning slightly red.
Felix looked at the man in the eyes and sighed in pity.
'Sigh....I'll just be stealing them of their livelihood if I do this....'
He knew as an orphan what it felt to have no necessities and nothing to rely on in life. There would be no one to consult to if you had any problems, and you would have to earn for yourself in the cruel world for anything.
Life wouldn't always be easy sailing like a fish going through the river, but there would be a lot of problems and difficulties in it like a shark with its cruel jaws ready to eat you at any time.
He turned to look at the men and decided to refuse Henry this, but when he glanced at them he saw a group of men smiling stupidly with stars in their eyes, now that there was a way for them to earn money.
'Ah, well I don't think they're that smart to connect all the dots anyway.....', he shook his head with a chuckle and decided to agree with Henry's plan.
But he didn't want to be looked down on by anyone and seem easygoing as many would take advantage if you were being too nice, so he added a condition to it.
"Alright, I'll give you my battling schedule before starting the fights.", Felix said to them, and they quickly nodded happily with Henry and Dufus moving forward to shake his hands in joy.
"But", he stopped before they could hold his hands and continued.
"In exchange for that, you'll have to give me thirty percent of the money you guys will be winning. That is my only condition."
Henry and Dufus stopped in their tracks and turned to look at each other in puzzlement, they then turned back to the other men who just shrugged at it having no options.
Both of them then smiled and held Felix's hands before agreeing at it easily.
"Sure, we're alright with giving you thirty percent of the money.", Henry agreed without any bad feeling.
"Yeah, it's you who is going to do all the fight anyway.", Dufus chuckled while rubbing his bald head.
Felix, with both hands in the hold of the two men, thought of the deal.
'So easily? Maybe I could have asked for more....'
He then shook his head as a smile formed on his masked face.
'Well, taking too much would just make me look greedy. Also....they don't seem so bad.... .'
With the deal sealed, Felix remembered that he had a battle to fight in a few minutes.
He told them they had to part now and gave them the number of the arena he was going to, then swiftly left the place with his robe fluttering in the air.
The men looked at him going away and smiled happily for giving them this chance and not stopping them from earning for their survival.
Suddenly, Dufus exclaimed out loud as he started to run in a different direction.
"Oh shit! Guys, hurry up! We won't be able to place bets on him if we arrive late!"
Like pieces of bricks falling down, the men awakened from their stupors and quickly started to run in different directions before they got late.
"Fuck! We gotta hurry!"
"My money, here I come!"
"Ahhh! I wish I had more legs!"
Everyone dispersed but the chubby Henry was of course last in the race, as he cursed at them.
"W-Wait you fuckers! Wait for me, I'm FAT!"