Part 3

The first time Mark started to ‘remember’ again was when he turned 6 in this new world. He was simply playing with the small wool ball his parents had given him when a sharp headache hit him. Memories he thought he never had starts to flow back into him. At first it was just a feeling, then it starts to become familiar kind of feel. Strangely enough, ‘Mark’ doesn’t feel weirded out or surprised. It was as if those memories had always been there, simply dormant deep inside his mind.

Mark had always felt quite ‘off’ in this world, or rather, with the nobles. The nobles, or the elite group, always regarded themselves a step or two higher than a normal person. Mark had never quite regarded himself as more special than anybody else, rather more reserved to himself.

Once he recalled his past memories, Mark started to spend most of his time thinking. He was surprised to find that without his phone and Tablet always by his side, he had much more time to himself. He was taken aback at the reality of his situation at first, but calmed down eventually and started to work out his environment.

For starters, his name was now officially Markus Lightkeeper, shortened to simply Mark as a nickname. Born with maids who does all his bidding and private tutors answering his every question, Mark understood the privilege he had received simply by luck. His doting parents were spoiling him rotten, but Mark always reminded himself to not get ahead of himself and ever think he deserves any of it.

When Mark reaches 14 years old, he had fully figured out how things worked most of the time. He doesn’t credit himself to have more knowledge or experience than other kids his age, since by the time he died in his last life he was just 16. The knowledges about science and coding became useless most of the time, but math remains a useful skill he could utilize. By the time he was 15, he offered to help out the financial manager his help for some extra pocket money that he uses to buy animal encyclopedias and spell textbooks.

When Mark had started to regained his memories, the childlike wonder within him exploded as he tried to observe every single little creature along the way. Creatures he had never seen or heard of before. There were the Hammer beetles, large beetles with large horns similar to that of a hammer; Translucent Hounds, Silver furred dog like creatures that could turn almost invisible during the night; and even Red Hydras, snake that could regrow their whole body out of their lone head. Mark had always been a fanatic when it came to different animals and creatures, and these were no exception.

Shortly after turning 15 and his parents and siblings celebrating with a huge banquet(Mark had 2 older brothers), Mark was invited to the Mideam Empire’s national coming of age festival, where the emperor’s daughter was to celebrate her 15th year of life. She was born exactly on the 3rd day of the year, driving the festival organizers to the brink of a heart attack having to do 2 consecutive festival in a span of a quarter.

Nevertheless, Mark had quite an interesting encounter at the festival.

“Aw cmon!” The Elite with a red mask smashed the table in anger, as he once again lost another round of ‘Lies’ to Mark. He bitterly gave Mark, who had covered half of his face and all of his body while wearing a mask, 4 small decorative coins.

Mark chuckled lightly as he raked in more profit, this little nightclub was becoming quite a nice way to pass time.It was a club exclusive to the rich and the elite, where the only rule was to respect each other’s privacy and never force another’s identity out into the public.

With this amount of money, maybe I could kickstart a small project to build a school. Thought Mark as he put all the four coins into his shirt pocket. Although he was young compared to most people in the room, his tall build had convinced many that he was far older. One goal Mark had set on accomplishing when arriving on this world was creating a public education institution. He disliked the Elite’s arrogant way of thinking, and he thinks that elevating commoner’s knowledge would forge ahead some sort of change

Mark prepared to bail out from the club when a ruckus starts to stir in the room.

“Oh she’s here!”

The room started to fill up with whispers as Mark noticed a petite, slender girl walking through the room along with a tall man by her side. She herself wore a purple mask, while the man besides her wore black. It didn’t take long for him to figure out she was walking right up to him.

“I heard a newcomer is stirring up this place.” The girl, who sounded much younger than Mark had anticipated, said in an intrigued manner. Mark finally realized what the purple mask meant.

“I didn’t expect a purple player would grace me with her presence. It’s an honor.” Mark said, as per courtesy in the Mideam Empire. In truth, he didn’t particularly care about the woman in front of him. He had gotten what he came here for, and that was all he really wanted. “But Alas, I’m still a greenhorn. I would not provide you with the pleasure of a duel.”

“You just beat 3 reds in a row. You’re more than qualified.” The girl sat on the opposite side of Mark’s table, which forced out a small groan from Mark. He hated it when someone forces him to do deviate from his plan of the day. It was getting late and Mark wanted to return to his room in the castle in preparation of the banquet that night as soon as possible.

“Believe me, I would love to. But my schedule’s pretty tight. I don’t think I could waste more time-” Mark stood up from his seat, picking up his luggage,

“Are you denying a game?” At first it was merely words, but the moment she said those, Mark felt a huge pressure applied on his body, pushing him back down onto the couch he was sitting on. Mark looked around, confused, then realized what had happened.

“A trained mage… But you’re so young.”Mark, having finally realized what type of person he was dueling with, sighed exasperatedly. She didn’t look like the type to give up easily, and would somehow persuade Mark either way.

He decided to negotiate a deal.

“Ok, but before we play, what do you bet? I warn you, I have very little coin number on-”

“25.” The man besides the purple mask dropped a pouch onto the table, much to Mark’s surprise. A decorative coin is worth 10000 Ralds, enough to buy an cheap aircraft. 25 was enough to buy a substantial residence. For a second, Mark thought of all the good places the money could’ve gone to help humanity, but stopped it before he would blurt it out.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Ms, You do know I only have 8 coins on me right?”

“If you bet them all, I’m willing to bet it in exchange for 25.”

The whole room went silent, leaving only the faint, nervous gulps of the other masked Elites in the room. 250000 Ralds was a fortune, one almost nobody could turn down.

“...”

“So, what do you say?”

Mark took the time to ponder. Right now, he had enough Ralds to start up a public school, but what if he could go even further? He wasn’t so optimistic to assume that the construction process wouldn’t go without problems, and a bit of money won’t hurt.

On the other hand, he felt frustration at the money being thrown at him simply for fun and games. The fact that a person uses such a vast sum of money for entertainment and gambling angered Mark to a certain extent. It also made him feel guilty that he too was part of the problem.

Better in my hand then hers, though.

“Fine. A game of Lies won’t hurt. Any others joining?”

Slave Lies was a simple game with simple rules. The deck had 52 cards, neatly divided among all the players. The deck contains numbers ranging from one to 10, then up to Jack, Queen, and King. With each number and royals having 4 of a kind per deck with differnet symbols on each. (More elaborate games are also played with this deck. But are far more complex)

The minimum player count should be at least 4, with max of 7. It didn’t really matter who got one less card or one more card than the others, as having more cards in your hand may as well be an advantage.

A person can start his turn first by laying down cards and announce what the number of the card they laid. The next player should then put down a card with the same number or same royalty on it face down. This is continued until no one has the card that was announced; the cards will then be shuffled away, and provide the person who finished last to take the initiative.

Of course, one could put down a card and lie about its numbers, but if that person is caught cheating, he would need to take back all the card that is laid on top of each other, and the player who caught him or her cheating would get a chance to play a new card and take the initiative. Otherwise, if the person who laid down the latest set of cards was honest, the accuser would need to take all the cards back to himself, and give the accused the chance to continue playing their next card.

First person who run out of cards win.

“2 8s.” Mark took the initiative, laying 2 cards facedown in the center. There were now a total of 4 people playing, including 2 red masks, the girl, and Mark himself.

“1 8.” The person to Mark’s left laid down a card face down also.

“Pass.” The girl said. Not a shred of emotion displayed on her face.

“1 8. I guess no one else has 8s?” The last player, another red mask sitting to Mark’s right, asked if any other players had the right cards. The girl yawned, Lies just isn’t quite as fun in the beginning where most doesn’t dare to cheat. However, out of the corner of her vision field, she was surprised to see Mark’s hand picking up 2 more cards.

“I do. 2 8s.” Mark announced, placing two more cards face down into the pile.

“There he goes again.” One of the bystanders who had lost to Mark Earlier muttered audibly.

“...”

I got played. The girl felt stupid to not catch the green-mask’s attempt at lying. The fact that he does it so nonchalantly astounded her. Going in on 2 cards right at the start and lying was a risky move. Most experienced players knew better than to outright lie at the start.

“So, nobody else?” Mark smirked lightly, pushing the pile of cards away from the center. He then proceeded to pick out 2 more cards. “2 8s.”

The girl was floored. Along with the audible gasps around the table, Mark quietly whistles away.

No, wait. The girl calmed down her erratic thoughts. There was always the possibility that this was another lie.

“No one? I’m going to-”

“I challenge.” The girl announced. She then flipped the cards up. A 4 and a king.

The crowd of masked Elites that have gathered gasped in surprise. Mark didn’t talk, he simply retrieves the two cards he had just placed down. He then goes silent as the girl breathes out a sign of relief. Mark was a scarly opponent, he had already played his two 8s, but dared enough to push on even further with the trick.

At least I know he doesn’t have any 8 left… She thought quietly, and laid down a card.

….

Mark could’ve sword at least half an hour has passed since the game started. In the very end, he had 6 cards in his hands, the girl had 3, and the other two Red masks had 9 each. Mark had just been caught lying by one of the reds, and now they decided to place down 4 cards at once.

“Quad 3.” The red masked noble says, putting down 4 cards. He had accumulated so much he couldn’t bare to risk lying. But he acted as calm as he could, even pretending to be nervous to lure others to call out.

“Pass.”

“Pass.”

The girl and the other red mask simply didn’t fall for the bait. They knew the desperation the other must be feeling, and saw through his fake acting. The man who placed down the 4 cards sighed, about to shuffle it out. At least he could play next.

“Challenge.” Mark said, and without even looking at the content of the 4 cards, scooped them up into his hands. “Aw, I thought you were lying.”

There were soft murmurs from the crowd after Mark took the cards. Some giggled at the stupid failure he had done, others looked in confusion, not beleiving that Mark wouldn’t know the content of the 4 cards before hand.

Did he give up?” The girl thought quietly.

“Pair of 7-”

“Challenge.” Before the Red mask could even finish saying his next words, Mark flipped the card over, revealing a King and a jack.

“Tch.” The red mask clicked his tounge, cursing himself for getting too greedy. Now it was Mark’s turn to play.

“Quad 3.”

“Pass.”

“Pass”

“Pass”

To no one’s surprise, nobody dared to challenge at this state of the game. There was a high probability that Mark wasn’t lying, and everyone enew that he has the 4 3s. Mark gently shuffles them out, then, to everyone’s surprise, pick out 4 more.

“2 8s”

“What!?” The girl gasped audibly, her poker face cracking. She stared at the 2 cards in the center.

Mark yawned, stretching his arms.

“...I…” The girl noticed how rapidly she was breathing. Her skin was crawling, shaking itself because of stress. Should she challenge? It was her last chance if what the man said next was true. She recalls how she had caught the green lying in the start of the game. But could it be that he never used the 2 8s from the start? The girl gulped, it was do or die.. After a whole lot of thinking, she finally arrived to a conclusion.

“...I challenge.”

“Too bad.” Mark did the card reveal, making visible the 2 8s had laid down earlier. The girl’s face went white.

“2 8s. I’m honest this time.” Mark smirked lightly, then delivered the finishing blow.

“Quad 3, Great Game.” He casually threw down 4 cards face down to the center. The girl’s face went quite pale, she didn’t notice until it was too late that the cards she held so firmly had already fallen from her hands face up on the table.

“Damn it.”

“I thought I had a chance.” The other two nobles threw down their own respective card face up.

“Oh, I guess I won. Well, I’ll be taking my prize then.” Mark said, picking up the bag of decorative coins the girl had placed down on the betting table earlier, along with his 8 original coins. He also got 4 each from the red masked nobles. He then proceeded to walk out of the club, with some elites clapping softly for the victor of the game. When he fully left, it raised a tempo and became a full on applause. They could talk about nothing else other than the victor, leaving the Purple masked Girl alone on the seats.

“Robert.” The girl said softly.

“Yes, your majesty.” The man who had accompanied the girl in crept closer to the girl, trying to make out what she was saying amidst the loud gossips and laughter of the club.

“I want you to follow the man and track what he does with all that money. Give me his family title and look around for information regarding him.”

“Right away.” Robert nodded, before taking off silently through the celebrating crowd.

“What!?” A loud shriek was heard in front of the girl, who reeled back in shock. The room was also startled by the sudden scream, turning their attention to the source. It was the red masked Elite earlier who had just lost. He was tidying up the table and putting the cards back into the deck, until he flipped the last 4 cards Mark had played.

“What is it.” An anonymous voice asked.

“The last 4 cards… They’re… They’re.” THe man flipped over the cards for everyone to see. A king, a Jack, a 4, and an Ace. Some people gasped, others murmuring different gossips in admiration, while the girl could just slump back into her seat, two palms over her face in embarrassment.