Blackstone was watching.
By sunrise, it was also gambling.
Sun discovered this when he stepped into the warehouse courtyard and found three workers arguing over whether his jaw was "durable enough for round two."
He stopped mid-step.
"Good morning to me."
The workers jumped.
One bowed awkwardly.
"Master Sun, we were supporting you."
"By pricing my injuries?"
"It's city affection."
Brin walked past carrying a crate one-handed.
"It is."
Sun pointed after her.
"You people are diseased."
---
Samira had business in the central market and dragged Sun along "for visibility."
He disliked every word in that sentence.
Nyra came because she refused to be left behind.
Rhea came because locks existed.
Varen came because mystery required maintenance.
The five of them moved through morning streets while Blackstone yawned awake in smoke and coin.
Vendors shouted.
Smiths hammered.
Street cooks fried dough in oil old enough to vote.
Children ran barefoot through alleys.
Every third person recognized Sun.
"That's him!"
"Spoon King!"
"Fountain Boy!"
"No, no, the Auction Breaker!"
Sun rubbed his forehead.
"My titles are degrading."
Rhea walked backward in front of him.
"They're improving."
"They're multiplying."
Nyra asked quietly, "What is spoon king?"
Brin answered before Sun could.
"Legend."
Sun glared.
"You all enjoy this too much."
---
At the market square, a giant wooden board had been erected outside a betting house.
Names painted in black ink.
Odds beside them.
Crowds gathered beneath it shouting wagers.
Sun's eyes found his own name halfway down.
SUN (Unknown / Warehouse Boy / Spoon Incident) – 40 to 1
He stared.
"Forty?"
Rhea laughed so hard she bent double.
"You're valued like damaged livestock!"
Sun pointed upward.
"And yet you bet on me."
"Because idiots are where profit hides."
House Teryn names sat higher with better odds.
Arden Vale was near the top.
Mira Solenne even higher.
Lucan Teryn, absurdly, had better odds than Sun.
Sun's face went blank.
"Lucan?"
Brin checked the board.
"His family bribed confidence."
Sun marched toward the bookmaker's stall.
Samira caught his sleeve.
"No."
"He is ranked above me."
"Yes."
"This is an insult."
"Yes."
"I need to fix it."
"With fighting, not screaming."
He paused.
"…both remain options."
---
Inside the betting stall, the bookmaker was fat, calm, and professionally impossible to impress.
Sun slammed silver on the counter.
"All on me."
The bookmaker barely looked up.
"Many men make that mistake."
"I'm not many men."
"Usually they say that too."
Rhea slid in beside him and placed more coin down.
"Double mine on him."
The bookmaker finally glanced up.
Then at Sun.
Then back at the coins.
"Ah. You're the problem."
"Growing daily," said Sun.
Tickets were stamped.
As they stepped out, Rhea tucked hers away.
"If you lose, I mock you forever."
"If I win?"
"I disappear for three days to avoid humility."
"Reasonable."
---
They continued through the market gathering supplies.
Herbs.
Bandages.
Training weights.
Food Nyra pretended not to want.
At one stall, an old woman grabbed Sun's wrist.
"You look tired."
"I train."
"You worry."
"That too."
She shoved a charm bracelet at him.
"For victory."
He looked at the price tag.
"For robbery."
She winked.
"For handsome boys, discount."
Rhea cackled.
Nyra's ears twitched.
Samira smoothly purchased it before Sun could answer.
He blinked.
"Why?"
She tossed it to him.
"Crowd management."
"Your kindness is always suspicious."
"Correct."
---
On the walk back, they passed a narrow alley where three boys cornered a smaller child for bread.
Sun stopped.
No hesitation.
He entered the alley.
The older boys turned tough until they saw who it was.
Recognition hit first.
Fear second.
"S-Spoon King…"
Sun sighed.
"It gets worse every hour."
He took the loaf from the bully's hand and returned it to the smaller child.
Then looked at the three older boys.
"Hungry?"
They nodded miserably.
"Work at Samira's warehouse after noon. Carry crates honestly. Steal there and Brin will fold you into shapes."
They nodded harder.
Brin, from the street entrance, smiled.
It was not comforting.
The boys fled toward employment.
Nyra watched Sun quietly as they resumed walking.
"You gave them work."
"I gave them a chance."
"Why?"
He thought for a moment.
"Because nobody gave enough chances where I came from."
She looked down at her hands.
Then said softly:
"You keep doing strange things."
"Good strange?"
She didn't answer.
That answer was loud enough.
---
Night training was worse.
Brin had heard about the betting odds.
So had everyone else.
Which meant mockery became exercise.
"Forty-to-one, move faster!"
Crack.
Her wooden sword hit his calf.
"Forty-to-one, block higher!"
Crack.
His shoulder.
"Forty-to-one, stop thinking and hit!"
Sun lunged, slipped in mud, and tackled a barrel instead.
Workers watching from the walls roared with laughter.
Rhea wiped tears.
"This is free money."
Nyra jumped down beside him and offered a hand.
He took it.
She pulled him up harder than expected.
He nearly collided into her.
Both froze for one awkward second.
Brin ruined it instantly.
"Romance later! Footwork now!"
Sun shouted, "I hate all witnesses!"
Nyra actually laughed.
Clear and bright.
The courtyard fell silent for half a breath.
Even she looked surprised.
Then she turned away quickly.
Sun smiled despite bruises.
Worth it.
---
Later, exhausted, he sat alone with the lion token in one hand and betting slip in the other.
Forty-to-one.
He remembered another life where rooms had decided his worth before hearing him.
Where labels stuck easier than truth.
Where he had swallowed insult after insult because survival needed salary.
Not here.
Here, they wrote odds on wood.
He could answer in blood and victory.
Varen appeared beside him like inconvenient wisdom.
"You're angry."
"Yes."
"Good."
"That's all you ever say."
"It remains useful."
Sun looked at the betting slip, then crushed it in his fist.
"Forty-to-one."
Varen's silver eyes gleamed faintly.
"Then let many people become poorer."
From the rooftop above, Rhea's voice drifted down:
"I heard that. Kindly lose in the semifinals."
Sun threw a boot at the roof.
It missed.
Again.
To be continued...