The Survey Meeting ran a lot of other forms of entertainment—including the Garden Party, an impressive event packed with citizens eating, drinking, and laughing. Alice got to sample the best food in the country while listening unhurriedly to a live orchestra. By the time she returned to the stadium, the flows of sand were just cutting out.
The vessel with green sand seemed fuller than the others, so did that mean the Station’s territory had the greatest land mass? The other three territories were locked with each other pretty closely.
It was time for the main event. Alice’s heart started to pick up speed as she jogged to her seat. She wanted to see how the territory leaders “used their strengths.”
The twins were already squirming by the time she got there. Blood, still sitting in the leader’s seat, grinned up at her.
“Right on time. I was about to send someone after you.”
“These are the numbers for each territory?”
“Yes. But it’s just a part of each territory’s score. The leaders can choose their own strengths and change the numbers from here on out.” Blood pointed a gloved finger at Nightmare; the boyish Stationmaster had his hand on a small stand on his desk. Controls on the stand reacted to his hand movements.
The announcer leapt back on stage, riling up the crowd. “It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” he cried. “Will the Station keep its dominant place, or will the other leaders show their hidden hands?!”
Nightmare laughed, then coughed, then laughed again. He brimmed with youthful confidence.
“Ha! There’s no doubt that I’ll stay in the lead the entire time! What else…koff hack!” He curled over in a coughing fit, which made him seem less…threatening.
Jericho and then Crysta laid their hands on their stands, revealing some of their strength. Blood didn’t move.
As the crowd roared around them, Blood raised an eyebrow at Alice. He beckoned her closer.
“How’d you like to give it a try, young lady?”
Alice had no idea what he was thinking; she quickly shook her head. “Thank you for the offer, but I must politely decline.”
Blood laughed. He finally slid his hand onto the stand.
The stoppered blue sand started flowing into the vessel once more. And in front of the sculpture, the floating numbers revolved and changed.
“……”
The majority of the people in the stadium held their breaths. Alice felt crushed by the pressure as she silently watched the progress. Beside her, the twins folded their hands together in desperate prayer.
The sand didn’t fall at a constant speed—at times it would reduce to a tiny trickle, only to burst into a heavier flow. Alice guessed the flow rate was calculated to keep the spectators on the edges of their seats. I bet it’s driving the gamblers bananas.
The flow of sand into the vessels slowed and finally stopped.
Cheers and miserable wails erupted simultaneously as the announcer, who had been silent up until this point, raised his voice to the crowd.
“And there you have it! The first-round victory goes to our hosts, Diamond Castle!”
The audience roared in response.
“And with that, the first Survey Meeting comes to a close! Don’t miss the second round!”
As the announcer wrapped up the proceedings, Crysta gave her hands a sharp clap. The Coliseum vanished around them, leaving everyone back in the waiting room they’d started in. The teleportation had been so smooth…almost as if the hands of a clock had been wound backwards.
Crysta puffed out her chest proudly at Sidney, who now stood beside her. “I hope you saw that,” she chirped. “I’m the winner! Ha ha!”
His eyebrow twitched. “We have a veritable mountain of things to discuss, but this will suffice for now. I never thought you’d bring that out…”
“Rabbit, you’re a rotten winner! You should be taking this opportunity to bury me in heaps of praise!”
Sidney heaved a great sigh as Crysta smiled innocently at him. Alice was starting to see that young, enthusiastic girl from earlier in this older, beautiful queen. It was a little unnerving.
On Alice’s side of the room, Elliot was livid. His body trembled as his white fists clenched at his sides.
“I can’t believe it… How could Blood lose?!”
Blood waved a hand. “Down, Elliot. The first round is always like this.”
The final rankings for the round were Castle, Station, Grave/Museum, and Hatter Mansion in dead last. But Blood didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. With Elliot practically shooting steam from his ears, Alice was confused as to who exactly had lost. Even the twins—who had been so caught up in their bets—just shrugged.
“Hm. So the Castle came in first this round… Kinda expected, but my winnings were crappy. How ’bout you, Brother?”
“Kinda like you. An’ we were aimin’ for the jackpot…”
Whatever payday Dee and Dum had been hoping for, this hadn’t been it. The actual ranking of their own territory seemed irrelevant, though.
How very like them.
As Alice scanned the reactions of the other members in attendance, someone tapped on her shoulder.
“Yo. Good job today.”
She craned her head to look behind her. “Jericho…?”
The Gravekeeper lifted a finger to his lips, indicating for her to keep quiet. His eyes gleamed behind his glasses.
Fortunately, Elliot was still raging at the Survey Meeting results, so the Hatters were too distracted to look at Alice. She licked her lips and nodded.
“I wanted to apologize for my men,” Jericho explained. “Earlier—in the street. I didn’t have time for a proper apology in all the chaos.”
“Don’t worry about it. Actually, you saved me. Thank you for that.”
She smiled and gave him a slight bow. A hint of pleasure played at the corners of his mouth.
“Still, my men started the whole thing. Maybe I can make it up to you at my place?”
“Your place? But your territory is…”
Her face broke into a grimace at the thought of the name Gravekeeper, but Jericho quickly waved away the idea with a flick of his hand.
“Now, wait—that’s not what I mean. I wouldn’t invite a lady to a graveyard. You may not know this, but I’m also the director of the art museum.”
“Oh, right,” she replied in relief. “I guess I did know that.”
She’d heard about all the violent unrest in the Country of Diamonds, but she’d also been shut up in Hatter Mansion ever since arriving. She thought it might be nice to take a chance and get out a bit.
The territory leader runs the art museum. She was interested in what kind of art was on display there.
When she nodded, he handed her a slip of paper. It was a priority ticket with a fashionable design on it.
“Here. Come and enjoy yourself anytime you like.”
“Thank you. I think I’ll take you up on that.”
Unfortunately, the Gravekeeper was a territory rival and ran an opposing Mafia organization. Alice didn’t know if the Hatters would let her go, but she didn’t receive many favors. She figured she’d take the ticket and be grateful.
A curious illustration of an animal printed on the ticket caught her eye. But when she squinted at it, Blood’s voice drifted suddenly from much too close.
“Did you win a bet and you’re checking your winnings, young lady?”
“B-Blood!”
Alice hurriedly stuffed the slip of paper into her pocket. “N-no,” she stuttered. “It’s nothing.” When she furtively glanced back at Jericho, she was relieved to see that he was already gone. She saw him in another area of the room, speaking to members of his territory.
Blood pursed his lips. “What is it? Did you have some business with someone?”
Blood seemed suspicious, but his eyes didn’t move to Jericho. Maybe he didn’t put that much together, Alice hoped.
“It’s nothing,” Alice repeated, then tried to change the subject. “What do we…do after this? Now that round one of the Survey Meeting is done?”
“We go home. The entertainment is over. The only question now is,” Blood murmured, his eyes moving past her, “what do we do about that?”
Alice followed his gaze to see Elliot and the twins still making a fuss over the results. Well, to be more accurate—Elliot was furious and the twins added fuel to his fire.
“I just don’t get it!” Elliot growled. “Blood was supposed to come in first, no matter what!”
“You’re such an idiot!” Dee snapped back. “If the boss wins every single time, what’s the point of havin’ a Survey Meeting at all?”
“Yeah, if everyone knew he was gonna win, we’d win even smaller pots! There’s no money in the kitty if nobody’s willin’ to bet!”
“So? They can just bet on Blood!”
“……”
Their shouts carried through the waiting room, and Alice found herself grimacing. Elliot didn’t seem to notice the other delegations making their exits nearby.
Blood sighed. “Shall we leave them behind?”
“It wouldn’t be right, Blood.”
He irritably waved a hand. “They’re nothing but trouble.”
As Alice hummed a noncommittal response, she slid her hand to the outside of her skirt pocket. Her fingers ran over the slight bump of the priority ticket inside.