When they arrived, they found themselves in a villa development deep in the mountains.
Probably affected by Japan's economic collapse in the nineties, the place had lost the prosperity it should have enjoyed.
Tan Man followed Toji to the entrance of the largest villa. Not a single light shone anywhere in the building, making it look no different from the other abandoned villas, but two figures could be seen standing outside from a distance.
All kinds of vehicles were parked haphazardly nearby.
One of the guards at the entrance was a hulking brute. His short sleeves did nothing to hide the tattoos stretching from his arms to his chest. There was no question he belonged to the underworld.
The shorter man beside him wore sunglasses and had a shifty look about him, but Tan Man could sense that he was clearly a sorcerer.
Since these underground sorcerer fights were intended to rake in money from ordinary monkeys, the organizers were especially wary of any sorcerer who showed up, even if that sorcerer was only a child.
After all, their operation could never see the light of day. Setting aside whether this kind of gambling was legal in ordinary society, merely exposing the existence of sorcerers violated Article 8 of the Jujutsu Sorcerer Treaty concerning secrecy.
At the same time that Tan Man recognized the man as a sorcerer, the man realized that Tan Man was one too.
The short man nudged his companion and warned him quietly.
"Quit spacing out. Watch that brat. He's a sorcerer."
"Yeah." At that, his companion's gaze turned fierce, and he thrust out an arm to block Toji from entering.
Toji could not be bothered to explain. He simply unzipped his carry bag and showed them the banknotes packed inside.
Seeing that much money, the two guards exchanged a glance. The short man stepped aside and took out a radio, apparently reporting the situation outside to his superiors.
After all, a big fish like Toji was a rare sight. The potential profit far outweighed the risk posed by one child sorcerer.
Barely half a minute later, the short man returned with a fawning expression. He slapped his companion's outstretched arm and snapped at him.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and let our honored guest inside!"
The burly man knew how to read the situation. He immediately bowed at a ninety-degree angle and spoke respectfully.
"My sincerest apologies, sir!"
Watching this, Tan Man suddenly gained a tangible sense of what money meant. He knew that bag held tens of millions, and that amount alone was enough to make the two men's attitudes do a complete reversal.
Then what terrifying figure would the damage he had caused in Kabukicho amount to, and how much weight would it carry?
Tan Man felt a lingering chill of fear. If he had not demonstrated enough value for Naobito Zenin to cover for him, he could hardly imagine how someone with nothing to his name could pay compensation, short of being killed.
Perhaps even killing Tan Man outright would have been a waste. They probably would not squander a single bit of his value. His corneas, blood, and internal organs were all still worth money...
They entered the dilapidated villa and followed the signs on the walls, slowly descending a spiral staircase toward the basement.
Flashing neon, deafening music, and the pungent smell of alcohol mixed with nicotine made Tan Man feel as though he had stepped into a bar, if not for the enormous octagonal iron cage in the middle of the crowd.
With only a cursory glance, Tan Man could tell that more than ninety-nine percent of those present were ordinary monkeys. The crowd indulging in their wild revelry made no attempt to conceal their identities, openly showing their faces.
Tan Man later learned from Toji that confidentiality was part of the selling point of places like this.
Despite these precautions and their vigilance toward sorcerers, they still had no way to keep out members of Window who possessed no Cursed Energy. Ultimately, the Jujutsu Higher-Ups still lurked behind gambling operations like this.
They generally did not get directly involved, merely collecting protection money behind the scenes. As long as things did not go too far, they turned a blind eye and tacitly allowed it.
The era also played a part. Although mobile phones existed in 1997, they were nothing like today's smartphones and essentially served only as communication devices.
Recording equipment at the time was mostly bulky as well. With enough security staff, secretly gathering evidence was practically impossible.
Apart from the reveling crowd, only one area was particularly packed: the place where bets were being taken on tonight's match.
Quite a few people were also reading the specially printed leaflets for that day's bout, detailing the two fighters' records and other information.
Ordinarily, normal people could not perceive Cursed Energy. But venues like this selected contestants whose Cursed Techniques produced effects that even ordinary people could readily see, allowing them to attract attention in these underground matches.
From the printed information, Tan Man learned that the defending sorcerer went by Immovable. His Cursed Technique reinforced the surface of his skin with Cursed Energy, briefly making it as hard as metal.
The challenger went by Razor. His Cursed Technique used Cursed Energy to harden the fingernails on both hands, making them as lethal as blades.
Both techniques certainly had distinctive traits. Even without being able to perceive Cursed Energy, spectators could appreciate them through the action in the fight.
The Cursed Techniques might not have been particularly powerful, but for an ordinary audience, their entertainment value was certainly maxed out.
"Thirty million on Razor!"
When Toji dumped all thirty million yen in banknotes onto the table, a trace of pity flickered in the organizer's eyes as he looked at him. It vanished almost immediately, replaced by uncontrollable elation.
At the time, Japan's average annual salary was only a little over two million yen. A bet of several hundred thousand or a million was already a substantial sum.
After all, suckers like Toji, who wagered tens of millions specifically on the underdog in the deluded hope of an upset, were few and far between.
Amid the crowd's revelry, the defending champion, Immovable, and the challenger, Razor, made their entrances one after the other.
Toji stared excitedly at the octagon too, lightly patting Tan Man's shoulder as he said, "Now it's up to you!"
Before you continue