The boss of the rivaling company stared for a long time. His guards were still armed with their guns, pointing towards a few members. Despite the guards being shocked, the boss was calm and looked as if he had predicted this would happen.
"My friend, come and join us! Why are you with that long face? I don't know whether I have what you are looking for but I can give you a guestly treatment here at my company." Aefia's uncle laughed. Following that, all the other high-ranking members laughed.
The rivaling company's boss signed his guards to disarm their weapons and walked forward, towards the table. He seemed to be the same age as her uncle, except, with european-looking features.
He had blonde hair with brown eyes and a high nose bridge. His limbs were as thin as a stick and the veins on his hands were visible in five dimensions. It seemed as if he was in bad health, which was also rapidly getting worse.
Seeing all the food and drink, the boss sat on the empty chair with his arm swinging over the top and his right leg above the other. He placed his right hand on the white tablecloth and tapped it with his fingers as if he was making a business deal.
Seeing this, Aefia's uncle signaled her to do something, which was intercepted by the boss before her. Why are you constantly depending on me? I thought you knew what to do next!
She internally scolded her uncle before getting up and assigning the butler to get the rivaling company's boss a glass of wine, the average amount. Once the butlers left, Aefia sat back at her seat, covering her scratches with the extra fabric of her trench coat.
"Sir, may we know why you are here? It is an amazing time to chat, right?" Aefia asked politely. "Why not we talk about what you would prefer as a guest?"
"Why should I listen to a kid like you?" The boss answered at a harsh tone. Aefia looked to the direction of her uncle, making an expression while cursing him. See! This is what happens when you leave a kid to do your job!
And why would this stick-like man even want to listen to me? Did you really think I was going to predict this part of the plan? It's either you do the talking or let's just all die in here!
Her uncle seemed to have understood the expression and started speaking. "Answer the kid, Robert. How may we help you? Why are you suddenly interested in coming to our company?"
It took you long enough. But why would you ask that?! You all are slow-thinkers or something? Are you all that dumb? That a kid has to do half the thing for you?
"My purpose of visit seemed to have disrupted your celebration. I prefer not to speak about it." The boss answered.
"Well then, the celebration can wait. You know that they are all high-ranking members of this company, you may discuss any sort of business deals if you want." Her uncle spoke.
"Oh! I appreciate that you decided to stop your celebration in order to listen to what I have to say. I have quite the number to things to tell you. Let's do something, since this is a party, why not play a game?"
"Sure. I believe everyone in this room participates?" Her uncle asked with a smile.
"No. Only the bosses do." Mr. Robert answered. He placed his hand under chin and leaned against the table. Aefia's uncle did the same. The others, including Aefia, stood up and walked across the room to stand against the wall. Old man are cringe.
"Then might I suggest that one of my high-ranking members design the game?"
"Sure. Choose anyone who is good at it."
"I choose the kid. She is more than capable of doing so." Her uncle pointed directly at Aefia.
What the heck old man! Why do you keep pushing me into this problem! You are the boss of a group of Mafias, I am just your employee. Not the other way round!
When her uncle gave her a serious look, Aefia started thinking about a few game ideas that guarantee the rivalling company to lose. After a few moments, she spoke up.
"Why not we play an escape room? The rules will be changed and so will the way the game works. In this game, it is a requirement for other members to join. If there isn't enough members, it won't be fun right?" She said with an innocent smile. "I can change the game too. I have a couple of ideas."
The boss of the rivaling company seemed to be in deep thought. He looked at Aefia's uncle and sat up properly. "Alright, what are the rules?"
"Firstly, may I know your reason of visit? It will be necassary for the way the game flows." Aefia asked.
"I see. This was supposed to be a trap. Alright then, my reason is simple..I want to kill the boss of this company and take over as boss." He flashed a grin at her uncle.
All the high-ranking members, excluding Aefia, was taken aback. They rushed to take out their guns but were stopped by her uncle's gesture. Aefia stood still with her smile plastered to her face.
"Sure. So the goal of this game is to hunt and kill the person in your rank. If you are a high-ranking assassin, your goal should be to kill a high-ranking assassin of the other company. You can already see where this is going. Would you like me to elaborate?"
"No. Go on with the rules. This seems to be going in a good direction." Mr. Robert laughed. Sir you haven't said why exactly you want to kill though. Whatever it is, I won't design the rules so that you can make it through to kill my uncle like that.
Also, I would want you to shut up and quit laughing. You sound worst than a monkey. If you keep going with your drama, all our ears are expected to blow out, I mean all, including birds and fishs.
Aefia stepped out of the line of members. "Now let me start throwing in the rules. Listen carefully because I won't repeat in sake of precious time. I would want everyone to be silent. Firstly, can the butlers please arrange the ten glasses of wine in a straight line at the middle of the table? I prefer closer to the edge of the right side. Guards from our company, equip yourselves with the fire extinguishers."
I need to use the items, I can't let them go to waste. Anyhow, if I can make them think it was all planned from the beginning, and that we were expecting them, we will input a fear inside their brains which will slow them down.
"The first rule is, no one in the game gets to kill any member who isn't their rank. If the rule is broken, the spectator will kill that member. The spectator, in this case, is obviously me.
"The second rule. Ones who have killed their opponent will retreat immediately and come back to this vary room and stand at their boss's current location.
"The third rule is, no player should force any sort of information from the other members. If that is done, I will make sure they are dead the second they come to this room. As a spy, I know when someone knows some sort of information. This is for the sake of both company's privacy.
"The fourth rule is that once the boss of the opposing company dies, the game is called over. The standing company's boss has successfully completed his mission. Whether it is to kill or to defend."
Aefia finished as soon as the ten glasses of overflowing wine were placed on the table and Aefia walked towards the senior member from earlier, who she had entrusted a few works to.
"Do you have a lighter? I am still a kid, so I can't handle one of my own." Aefia said. "And I would need you to act as a indicator to the others."
The senior member understood the assignment and handed Aefia a green gaslight to show that he could be trusted with the work. At the Mafia company, it was a common thing to communicate in code message.
With the gaslighter, she walked towards the ten glasses of wine. "Now, as soon as the smoke screen is created, I want everyone one of you to run out of this room." Aefia reminded before flicking on the fire.
She casually walked through the edge of the table while setting the liquids on fire. One by one, the fire spread through out the entire glass, causing it to crack and spill onto the white fabric. Once all of them werr lit, Aefia kicked the table hard enough to make the glasses stumble and break.
The red liquids fell out, followed by the fire. She pulled the tablecloth, causing an incredible blazing fire show in front of all the members. The fire interacted with the light circuit, causing a shock to occur in the circuits.
"The game starts now!" Aefia let the tablecloth fall to the ground and stepped back. The two members carrying the fire extinguishers aggressively sprayed at the fire. Just then, a blackout occured and the entire building turned dark.
The time was right after sunset, so there were still a small amount of light to help them navigate. The time was to end after the last light had gone away. Which was at six fifteen exact.
A few members and guards stumbled and fell on their way out. The boss was the last to leave. As the spectator, Aefia stayed her ground and stood at her place without moving. She could tell that two more people were present with her amist the smoke screen and she could tell who.
Her uncle was still sitting at his place as predicted and the senior member from earlier was also there. When the smoke was slightly lifted, Aefia relit her gaslighter.
She retrieved a candle stick from the emergency drawer and lit it. Placing it on the table, Aefia started speaking, "Boss, I prefer you don't depend on me like this in the future. In any case, that puts your life as well as mine in danger. Enemies may go as far as stalking."
Also, it is annoying to endure being called a child even though I am smarter than the average employees here.
"I didn't think you would find it irritating. Now what do you think you were doing? Why were you setting the table on fire?!" Her uncle scolded her.
"You might want to speak softly. I doubt they are still near the doorway." Aefia answered. " Tell me, do you have the funds needed for repair?"
"Yes. But how does that have to do anything with this game?"
"I was thinking of some sort of ambush maybe. But I don't want to go for it, I think my current plan will work out just fine."
"So what is your current plan?"
Aefia sat on a nearby chair. "You can have a seat too. I assume your back pain worsened?" Aefia told the senior member.
Once he sat, she began explaining. "I am certain of something. It is that the Mr. Robert will have one or two guards going around with him for his safety. He is a pretty calculated person and I can assume he has other intensions."
***
"Hey you!" Mr. Robert called out to one of his guards. "Did you kill anyone yet? Spot just anyone? I believe it is safe to head back."
The guard shoke her head from right to left. "You all are a disappointment. Let's just head back. I will only take these two with me. The rest of you, continue the game." He said while pointing at the nearest two.
Mr. Robert walked back with his two guards. The door to the meeting room was wide open and it seemed that one of the member was already sitting on the boss's chair. Assuming that it was the Mafia boss, he took out his pistol and walked through the shadow.
A gun was pointed at the head of the person sitting on the chair. "Your game is over. Now I will let you go if you are willing to hand over your company under my custody." Mr. Robert told with a smiling face which was slightly visible in the low light.
Since the candle was blown out, the figures were still blurry with the residing fog. A knife stabbed through from the back of Mr. Robert. Blood spewed out in a Jetstream as the knife was taken out.
"Did you have fun?" Aefia spoke. She stood up from the chair to face the gun. "Calm down, I am not playing."
"If you are here, who is behind me?" Mr. Robert asked with a surprised look. "Guards! This is am ambush! Defend me!"
The guards didn't make a sound. It was clear as day that they had been killed. "Don't worry, they lost the game. Although, they were both high-ranking too, right? Well, the person who killed them was one. I fear I will have to kill the man who killed them otherwise."