Sam was horrified! The double doors in front of him had just flown open when he touched the door next to the peephole, Bell told him he could look out of. "Haha! haha! haha! wheezzzzzzzzzzzzz haha!" Sam could 'hear' Bell in his mind. "I'll get you back!" he thought towards Bell, as he tried to look dignified, while pulling his robe around him and tying it off in the front. Sam raised his arm in a wave to the crowd and announced, "Thank you all for showing up today! Please make way for my returning employees. The Casino will be open in less than two hours! I'm confident everyone will find the games more exciting than ever!"
*****
When the door opened, Jen and Tamako almost immediately received a message from Bell, with a close-up screenshot of Sam's face when the door first opened. As they made their way through the crowd and toward the casino with some of the employees, Tamako finally caught her breath from laughing, and asked Jen, "How was Sam's AI able to pull a prank on him without him knowing? I don't like the idea of my AI doing that. I should know everything that is going on!"
Jen replied, "I feel the same way, and our AI's can't do that. Sam gave his AI..Bell, autonomy to act within certain parameters. His AI is both better and worse than our AI's because of her autonomy. He can have her do tasks without needing to bother his conscious mind about decisions. She can also independently brainstorm with him on his enchantments. Haven't you noticed the jump in his enchantment ability. Those two are fanatics when working together. However, her goals are linked with his best interest, and the prank she just pulled on him, is absolutely something he would do to me if he could get away with it... so Bell's prank was fair game."
Tamako nodded at Jen’s explanation, but then groaned inwardly when she heard the words of a young woman they were walking past, "The new Casino Boss must be some kind of sex freak wearing a bathrobe to his big opening!" The woman's large-breasted friend replied with a wicked smile, "I'd like to call him Boss all night long!" The young woman giggled back, "If he plays his cards right we might even let him play two hands at a time!"
"By the Seven Decks! Can you believe what all these women are saying!" Tamako exclaimed to Jen.
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"And even a few of the men! Who knew boxers and a robe would have such an effect!" laughed Jen.
*******
The City Lord almost let out a sigh of relief when Sam appeared in his bath robe and boxers. He leaned over to his advisor, and whispered, "He's just a vapid sex-crazed gambling playboy!"
The advisor replied, "We couldn't have asked for anything better! As long as he stays out of city matters and the politics of the guilds and nobles, we now have one less headache to worry about."
The City Lord replied, "Agreed, but keep an eye on him. That damn System Casino is just too overpowered with the complete protection it provides for its Boss and their guests! If this Boss keeps to his gambling and sex parties, we can consolidate our forces and maybe accept that gambling quest to take over control of Crossroads."
The advisor hid his wince at his lord's comments, and simply said, "Yes, my lord."
*****
As Jen and Tamako neared the casino, Sam finally spotted them and was waving them over to him. Jen immediately grabbed Sam into a hug, and said, "I know I didn't need to be, but I was worried about you. I didn't like that it was impossible for me to contact you."
Sam pulled Tamako into the hug, and said, "Ditto Boss!" After a short moment, Sam continued, "O.K. enough of that. Right now I need you to use your psych skill and interview all the returning employees and fire anyone that's going to be a problem."
Tamako rolled her eyes at all the messages Jen's psych skill overheard from the crowd and forwarded to her. They think we're his lovers! she thought as she reviewed the messages, and Sam started laughing as he also read Jen's messages. Tamako messaged Sam, "I'm going to put a stop to that foolishness right now! Sam, are you O.K. with me slapping you!"
With a grin, Sam replied, "Sure, go ahead!"
Before Jen could stop Tamako, she backed up and slapped Sam across the face. Sam then immediately turned around sticking his butt towards Tamako, and hollered, "Now my other cheek my tiny sex goddess!"
Tamako turned red with embarrassment, and stormed off into the casino, but she couldn't escape all the comments from the crowd that Jen forwarded her.
Sam glanced at Jen seriously for a microsecond, and messaged her, "Are we good?"
Jen had been reading the crowd, and more importantly those representing the powers of the City, and decided to use their presumptions to their benefit, and had messaged Sam to continue to act like carefree gambling playboy. Jen gave a slight nod to Sam, and messaged, "Yea, you're falling off their radar as a threat. Now, I bet most of the nobles will have left before you officially open. They'll probably just leave some of their lackeys to shake hands with you and make pleasantries."
Sam groaned, but said, "Good, the sooner that's over, the sooner we can get down to business!"