The mansion's massive door creaked open, and Jordan was greeted by a pair of humans wearing the gang's uniform, each carrying long swords at their sides. One of the guards was much larger than the other, with a beard that was significantly patchier than Jordan assumed was intended. The other was about a foot shorter, with a bushy black beard and a rail thin physique that made him seem strangely crow-like. What was immediately apparent to Jordan as he entered was the…unique smell. He could only describe it as a mix of body odor and the scent of wet cardboard, and he made a point to only breathe through his mouth from then on.
"Oh, I know you," the bearded man said, and Jordan recognized him as one of the onlookers at the tournament. "Let's take him up to see Forest, this is the guy who beat Denji," he said to the other guard.
The surprised expression on his face was cartoonishly obvious, and he continued to fail at hiding it while he stared at Jordan. The skinny guard glared at his hulking coworker, who eventually took the hint and began averting his gaze.
"Sorry about him, he can never keep track of how long he's been staring for. We've had a lot of complaints, but we're working on it. Aren't we?" he asked his coworker sternly, receiving an embarrassed nod in response. "Anyways, we'll take you up to Forest, follow me," he said with a shake of his head before he began walking toward the massive staircase behind him. Jordan took the hint, following the bird-like man up the upholstered stairs.
As he walked through the opulent house, Jordan had to stop himself from laughing aloud as the guards reached the top of the staircase and started down the left hallway. Display cases filled with sparkling gems and ornate weapons lined the walls, and the purple shag rug that covered the floor was a bold style choice to be sure. Whether from the overpriced paintings that covered the wall, or the gaudy diamond chandelier that hung above him, the building that Jordan was in was a monument to lavish waste. He closed his eyes and shook his head, causing him to bump into the guard with the peach fuzz.
"Watch where you're going," he said in an attempt to sound intimidating, though the voice cracks made it difficult to do so. "This is his office. You'll talk to Forest alone, but we'll be standing outside the whole time, so don't try anything," the patchy bearded guard said, and the smaller one shot him a judgmental look before rolling his eyes.
"Knock it off. Forest hired you to be quiet and huge," the smaller one said, smacking the larger one's shoulder before turning to face Jordan. "Look, just be cool. If you pick a fight with him, about 100 other Red Knuckles are only a viewing stone call away," he said, and Jordan nodded in acknowledgment as he turned the bejeweled door handle to enter Forest's room. The gnome's private quarters were just as lavish as the rest of his home, with the red and gold paint job adding to the atmosphere. The space was filled with intricately carved wooden furniture, and the purple rug violently clashed with everything it touched.
Sitting at a massive wooden desk underneath a 10 foot tall self portrait was Forest, the yellowed teeth of his wide smile making Jordan cringe involuntarily. Even the desk was extravagant, with the finely carved bamboo and brass plating clearly being an imported work, though he recognized the bottle of booze sitting atop it as the same one that was on the top shelf at Jeremiah's tavern. The silver 3 piece suit that he had been wearing to host the matches was clearly too large for him, and he shifted uncomfortably in his leather chair as he attempted to adjust the jacket's shoulder pads.
"I didn't think you'd be coming by so soon, Jordan," he said, his raspy voice echoing in the massive room.
"Well, there isn't exactly much else going on in town these days, is there?" Jordan asked, approaching the desk with his hands in his pockets as he casually looked around the room.
"Hah! Ain't that the truth," he said with a guffaw as he slapped his knee. "Though to be fair, I wouldn't want to go out and party if I had to work as much as the people in this town do. But then again, they have a tremendous debt to pay off, so I can't really blame them," he said with a smug smile.
"Yeah, I think I heard a rumor about that," Jordan said as he took a seat in the chair across the desk from Forest. "It's because of the tournament, right?" He asked.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Forest shouted with glee as he laughed once more. "You've even got sources?! How old are you, kid? You look like you could be my grandson," he said as he looked up at the young half elf.
"25, but I'll forever be a child at heart," Jordan said sarcastically as his eyes wandered between the various shiny but useless objects that filled the room. "Has your tournament worked in the way that you wanted it to?" He asked.
"Oh, it certainly has!" He shouted with pride. "I have to admit, when we first got to Mori Town, I was impressed! They had over a dozen men and a few women who even my strongest guys couldn't beat. But after a couple of months of weekly beatdowns, raiding the village was child's play," he said as he grabbed the booze and poured a glass for each of them, sliding Jordan's glass to him across the smooth surface. "The injured fighters are in the basement as we speak. You have to have some bargaining chips or their families might not keep working, after all. But once their bodies give out, it'll take less than a couple of hours to kill whoever's still got any fighting spirit left, then we can use this entire town for our gang's base of operations after we've sucked all the money from selling their lumber. The Red Knuckles will be known from here all the way to Kinzutake by this time next year, I guarantee it!" He shouted, laughing with glee as he clapped his small hands together.
"Oh yeah, it seems like you've made quite the setup for yourself, Forest," Jordan said, as he made a poor attempt to sound impressed. "You guys managed to bleed this town dry without even trying. You really have the entrepreneurial spirit, huh?" he asked as he felt his hang gripping his knee unnecessarily tightly.
"And you could be a part of it!" Forest obliviously exclaimed. "I could tell from the moment that you knocked out Denji that you would be a great fit in my crew," he said as he hopped down from his comparatively massive seat and began walking toward Jordan. "You'd be a ringer in the tournaments, no one would expect a half elf with your build to be freakishly strong. Of course, it would probably be best if you kept the fact that you can use Iruyori a secret, a lot of folks might consider that an unfair advantage," Forest said with a sickening wink.
"Oh, you noticed that?" Jordan asked with genuine surprise. Being raised by Jifu Riders made the existence of Iruyori a given for him since he was a child, but many people who lived relatively normal lives couldn't use Iruyori, and a fair amount did not even know what it was.
"Ohhhh yeah," he said, dragging out his words dramatically as he turned to look out the window. "I have a lot of connections all over Genzai, and many of them are Iruyori users. If you want to try to make a name for yourself in this country, it's pretty much impossible to avoid using it or figuring out a way around it. At my age, I've decided to go for the latter."
"Oh, any hot tips?" Jordan asked, eliciting a small chuckle from Forest as he continued to look outside.
"I have a couple tricks up my sleeve, but you have to remember Iruyori is not the only power in this world, son," Forest said quietly, his tone increasing in intensity as he made intense eye contact with Jordan. "Getting money, gaining territory, and recruiting loyal, competent allies is just as effective if you want to gain power in this world. I also personally find this more entertaining than all the training it would take to master Iruyori. I'm assuming that you didn't go to too many parties," he said with a chuckle as he looked down on a group of villagers that were struggling to cut down a tree.
"Sure didn't. Would we be able to get back to talking about the tournament now?" Jordan asked, barely able to hide the irritation in his voice.
"Oh of course! Sorry, I just get so passionate when it comes to stuff like this," Forest said, scooting slightly back in his chair as he seemed to recognize Jordan's tone. "Anyways, we've already started flying folks in from the surrounding cities, and we're predicting that the bets will double within the next month. If you stick around and do a good job, I could put in a good word with the bosses in Tenkumachi. You're young, it's important to make connections like these early in life, you know?" He said as Jordan stood up from his seat.
"Oh yeah, you certainly need connections. That's part of the reason that I'm hesitant to accept your offer," the half elf said, receiving his first frown from Forest. "If I have to stay in Mori Town for a while, I won't be able to travel and meet new people like I was initially planning to when I left home."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Forest said, waving his hand repeatedly as if swatting a fly. "You'll meet plenty of people working for me! An opportunity doesn't come up like this everyday, you know? A lot of folks would be jumping at the chance to join up with one of Genzai's top gangs," the stubby gnome said, his tone becoming increasingly irritated the longer that the conversation went.
"Oh, I bet," Jordan said, feigning enthusiasm as he gestured around the room. As much as he enjoyed infuriating the gnome, he acknowledged that he needed to at least try to hide it a little bit. "The gold must be pouring in if you can afford such…stylish luxuries," Jordan said, attempting to inject as much enthusiasm as possible despite his disdain for the decor.
"Ah, I see that you're a man of refined taste," Forest said, instantly lighting up once his wealth was mentioned. "You can thank Mori Town for most of this. The tournaments have always brought in enough money to keep the gang fed, but keeping the profits from the timber sales is money that none of us have ever seen before. After years of scrapping and clawing, it's going to finally be my time!"
"Yeah, your group never exactly struck me as a bunch of trust fund babies," Jordan said, receiving a hearty chuckle in response.
"I would say we're the farthest thing from it. Let me ask you something, Jordan. Has your life been enjoyable so far?" Forest asked, his tone suddenly calming significantly. Jordan paused, looking over at the gnome in confusion before pondering his answer.
"Umm…I suppose so. I had a fun childhood with good friends and family, it would be hard to complain in the grand scheme of things." Forest nodded as he began to gaze out the massive window that overlooked the town, and Jordan noticed his fist tighten into a ball as the sweaty man continued to speak.
"I'm glad that you had that," he said as he stood and began walking toward Jordan. "I'm glad because not everyone gets that. Some people, like me when I was a kid and the villagers that live in this town now, get a bad hand. Some people get a bad hand and other people take advantage of it, that's been the way of the world since I've been on it. In a world of give and take, the one that gives is the one that ends up with nothing, so why don't you join up with us and we can take it all?" He asked as he extended his small arm toward Jordan, clearly satisfied with what he thought was an impressive speech.
The sound of a pin dropping in Forest's room could be heard a mile away as Jordan stared at the gnome's extended hand. He could hear the shuffling of feet from outside the door, and was confident that the guards that escorted him here would stay true to their word of calling for backup. He began to move his arm, and Forest practically began to giggle as Jordan's hand approached his. Though this joy quickly turned to fear when Jordan shot his hand out and grabbed the gnome by the collar of his shirt.
"What are you doing?!" Forest shouted as Jordan lifted him off of the floor, the light of the paper lanterns above them reflecting brightly off of the gnome's rapidly kicking legs.
"What does it look like?" Jordan asked sarcastically as he pulled the gnome so close to his face that their noses were practically touching. "I'm taking," he said in a menacing tone.
Before Forest had a chance to react, Jordan dropped the squirming gnome, and in the same fluid motion swung his hammer into the little man's rib cage . The forces of the blow rocketed him through wooden door, and the two guards that had escorted him stood in stunned silence as they looked between Jordan and Forest.
"K…kill him…you idiots," Forest croaked in between painful sounding coughs. The smaller guard looked up from his twitching boss to Jordan, and gave him a look of pure hatred.
"I was supposed to be off duty in 20 minutes, you asshole," he said as he hit the call button on the viewing stone in his hand.