“Michael! Thank god you’re here.” Nicholas welcomed after seeing Michael in the lobby.

“Nicholas.” Michael greeted with a smile. “So whose party is this anyways? And why were you so desperate to get me to come?” Although Michael really needed a break recently, he still wouldn’t have come to a random party if Nicholas wasn’t so insistent. “And this is a buddy of mine, Nathan.” He said, gesturing to Nathan, who was hoping to be ignored.

“A pleasure.” Nathan said, holding out his hand to Nicholas.

“Hello! Nicholas. Glad to meet you.” Nicholas said, returning the greetings. “Anyways, I was forced to come here by my father, and needed some people to help me blend into the crowd.”

Michael chuckled. “What are you afraid of? They’re just a bunch of rich kids.”

Nicholas gave a bitter smile. “For a normal rich kid it wouldn’t be a problem. But my family and I are considered parvenus to these people. Most of them don’t care, but the few that do can be annoying. It’s troublesome to handle if I don’t at least have this amount of moral support.” Nicholas explained.

“You don’t want us to fight them for you, do you?” Nathan asked. He’d step out now if that’s the case, as he couldn’t afford the trouble. Although Nathan didn’t have much book smarts, he knew enough to understand how much he could lose if things went down that way.

“What? No! I just want you guys to keep me company. Although most people here don’t care how my family got their money, there are also not many that would choose to interact with me because of the few assholes that do care. If something does happen, don’t say anything. You guys are purely here for the aesthetics.” Nicholas warned. He didn’t want to be responsible if anything troublesome happened to Michael and Nathan.

“Got it. Now what are we celebrating today?” Michael asked, not too concerned with the politics between these kids.

“Oh. The princess of the Walt family is celebrating her 18th birthday.” Nicholas responded.

“That’s a low blow, Nicholas. Inviting us to a birthday party, and forgetting to tell us to bring gifts. This is why people think you’re a parvenu.” Michael said with sarcastic disappointment.

Nicholas punched Michael in the shoulder. “Asshole! You’re the parvenu! That actually reminds me, both you and my father got their wealth in the same way. So you could say we’re parvenu brothers! Hahaha!” Nicholas said with a laugh. “Now come on, let’s get some drinks and I’ll tell you about it.”

Nicholas’s father earned money through gambling when he first started out, but he didn’t stay in that business for long. He then used the money he earned to buy and flip houses, which was a business that eventually led him to become a real estate developer. The more he earned, the more he invested, as he was a gambler at heart, but like every good gambler, he didn’t just rely on luck. His ability to read people and judge the situation were key in making him a successful man.

So Nicholas viewed his father as a hero, and instead of studying at a prestigious school, Nicholas chose to study under his father, as he believed that he could learn much more that way. He even tried to mimic his father, by learning to gamble and read people, which is how he met Michael.

“Unfortunately, Nicholas, I fear that you’re probably not as good at gambling as your father. You should probably go into a more technical profession.” Michael teased after hearing the story.

“Fuck you. I’m improving at a rapid rate, asshole. Other than you, I believe I can rob anyone in this room.” Nicholas bragged with pride.

“Ah, really? Then let's play a game. I'll put up the stakes, but Nathan will play for me.” Michael suggested. He was getting a little bored at this party as most people were ignoring their group of three.

“Alright, don’t regret it.” Nicholas said before finding a waiter and asking for a deck of cards, which didn’t take long to receive. “Unfortunately we have no chips or cash. So we have to record the bets and transfer the money in the end. But we should set a buy-in max limit, or this could get out of hand.” Nicholas suggested.

“Let's keep it at $5000. We don't want to hurt any feelings tonight.” Michael responded, before his eyes became wary.

A figure had silently approached their table. Michael could smell the scent of an experienced hunter, and also… a girl’s light perfume.

“Are you guys playing poker? Can I join?” A young lady with a pretty face, and wearing a beautiful dress, asked. There was a slight interest in her eyes, and it seemed that she too was becoming bored by this party.

Nicholas turned to look, and said with slight disbelief, “Miss Walt?”

“Oho, the birthday girl? Well, this is a little interesting. Ignore my earlier words, I’m also playing. $5000 max buy-in my dear, Miss Walt. We're keeping the night friendly, with the hopes that it will get friendlier.” Michael said in the way he would talk to all pretty girls. Michael was slightly interested in the first knight he's met other than his dad.

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“Oh my, what a gentleman. I’m fine with that, but let's make it winner take all, or it will get boring.” Miss Walt said as she sat down.

By this time, their table had gotten the attention of the people in the surroundings, as Miss Walt was someone people focused on even if it wasn't her birthday.

“I also wish to join this game.” A handsome young man said as he approached the table and sat down directly.

Michael kind of wanted to reject as this guy was a wizard apprentice, and looked like a cheater, but Michael didn’t want to cause a scene.

Michael looked at the guy more closely and remembered he saw this guy at the post office before. Hmm, small world. He thought.

“Alright then. Four players. $5000 each. $25/$50 blinds. Winner takes all. Nathan, would you be so kind as to deal and record everyone's bets and money?” Michael asked.

“What? Why do I have to do it?” Nathan asked. He really didn’t want to be the focus of all this attention.

“Don't be such a poor sport. If I win, I’ll give you half.” Michael coaxed.

“Alright, you promised.” Nathan said before grabbing the cards and beginning to deal.

Michael was first and he put in the small blind. Then the princess put in the big blind, the apprentice started of strong and raised 1000, and Nicholas folded.

The apprentice looked confident, but Michael could see he wasn’t completely confident. So just for this small insight, he just called.

Princess folded, and the apprentice checked. The flop and Michael hit a queen, so he raised 500, just to see the reaction of the apprentice. Michael suspected that the apprentice had a pocket pair of something, and Michael wanted to see his confidence in his pair.

Confidence wasn’t as apparent on the apprentice’s face, but it was still there. The apprentice called.

The next card was a jack, and the apprentice's face lit up for the briefest of moments, but this was undoubtedly caught by Michael. Michael was in trouble, because he could tell this guy probably has a three of kind, or he wouldn’t be so excited inside, but this was also the fourth card in a flush for Michael, so he checked. The apprentice wanted to look low key, so he checked, which Michael thanked god for.

The next card was not another jack, but a nine of spades, which was the suit Michael was looking for. Michael smiled slightly and checked.

The apprentice took a moment to think. Michael had looked slightly confident, and the only thing that could beat the apprentice was a flush. But Michael could also have been happy for hitting the nine, as there were now two nines on the table, but that couldn’t beat the apprentice's hand, and he refused to believe this guy hit a four of a kind. The apprentice hesitated before determination set into his eyes. Element particles began to ripple, but before the apprentice could accomplish what he intended, he was interrupted.

“Ronald. Leave if you’re going to play this way.” The princess said in a stern voice.

The element particles settled down, as shame sunk into Ronald at getting caught. He would never have guessed that Miss Walt would have some sort of spell detector on her.

The only reason Ronald joined this game was to socialize with and impress Miss Walt, but he got caught cheating and shamed himself. Ronald wanted to recover his wounded pride, and he still had a good chance of winning so he went all in, which he wouldn’t have done if he wasn’t so embarrassed. Michael was surprised at his boldness, but still called.

The result was obvious and Michael won. Ronald turned red with regret. He considered blaming the dealer cheating, but it wouldn’t have escaped Miss Walt's eyes and he would only embarrass himself further.

“I demand to raise the max buy in! What kind of coward limits himself to $5000? Unless you guys are too poor.” Ronald said, spewing out a bunch of desperate and provocative words.

Nathan had the urge to punch this guy in the face but forced the feeling down. Fucking asshole. At least I’m not a rich prick. Nathan thought to himself.

“What do you suggest?” Michael asked.

“One million as the buy in.” Ronald said with a sly grin. Except for Miss Walt, Ronald doubted these kids could afford it. He didn’t really want to gamble with this amount, he just wanted to show off his superiority to these kids and force them to give up.

Michael shook his head. Poor Ronald, he thought. All he wants is his face back. So sad…

“I’m out if that's the case.” Nicholas said without any embarrassment. Nicholas couldn’t afford to risk that much money, and he’d rather stay away from this guy who was shamed into becoming crazy.

Michael looked to the princess and she said, “I’ll play if you’re playing.” She saw the playful smile on Michael's face and blushed slightly at her words before explaining. “Otherwise it would be boring with just two people.”

“Oh, Lady Walt is a risk taker, I see. I wonder what other risks you’re willing to make.” Michael said, ignoring the current mood of the place.

Ronald became annoyed at this guy's borderline sex offender attitude and hurried him. “Are you playing or not?”

“I’ll play, and everyone here is a witness. Whoever refuses to transfer the money to the winner, will be remembered and looked down on by everyone here.” Michael announced to the already gathered crowd. Although these words wouldn’t work on a shameless person, he could tell this wasn’t the case for Ronald.

But before the cards could be dealt, the sound of multiple hurried footsteps sounded out.

A group of officers approached their table and out their hands on Ronald.

“What are you guys doing? Do you know who I am? Get your hands off me!” Ronald yelled, freeing himself from their hands.

“We apologize Mister Ronald, but you’ll have to come with us. You aren't under arrest, we just need you to cooperate in an ongoing investigation. It won't take long.” An officer said, trying to keep this as peaceful as possible.

Ronald was annoyed, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Even though he was a wizard apprentice with a higher status than mortals, it still wouldn’t be good to push the World Police Force too far. “Fine. But don’t touch me, I can walk by myself.”

Before they left, an officer noticed Michael at the table. “Sir, you’ll have to come with us also.”

“What? Me?” Michael said in surprise, but he also didn’t want to argue against the World Police Force. “Fine. Nathan, call my parents, and tell them what happened. ” He said, before winking at Miss Walt and leaving with the officers.

“Interesting.” Miss Walt said to herself. She was curious about what the two people were taken in for. These two people shouldn’t be related in anyway, but apparently they were.