The city was almost deserted at this hour, but the more he walked towards his destination, the more he could see signs of nighttime activity, faces at the windows watching his every move, lights flickering here and there, and more and more people crossing each other in the street lit by the light of torches.

Once in the center of the district he saw the north district in all its beauty, alcoholics and tramps, garbage-strewn streets and brothels overflowing with activity.

However Ran wasn't there for this kind of thing, he looked left and right while getting deeper and deeper into the sin filled place. If this world was anything like his own, then there should be one around...

At the corner of an alley, he finally found what he was looking for, as he approached the establishment, a hostess in a provocative outfit came to greet him:

"Good evening, good evening dear customer, would you like to try your luck in our casino lucky star? Fortune awaits you inside!"

Here we go.

She wore a smile even faker than the one he had seen at the guild, knowing full well that most of those who came here left with empty pockets or not at all.

Ran nodded to her and entered the grand establishment, smiling inwardly at the irony of the situation, he was being invited in to lose and soon he would be taken out for winning too much.

The interior of the Lucky Star was in stark contrast to the exterior, the place was brightly lit and richly decorated, you could hear all sorts of shouts above the ambient chatter, be it irritation at losing or happiness at winning, mostly irritation though.

If he wanted to go gambling so much it was not to test his luck or that he had suddenly developed a secret vice, he simply knew full well that he needed money as soon as possible to improve the village, hunting and selling prey would take time, the crops would take even more. He needed money as soon as possible.

What better way to get it than to legally rob a gambling establishment ?

Ran started by studying the games offered, they included dice, cards and he even saw a roulette wheel, the room was filled to the brim and everyone was trying their luck against dealers in impeccable uniform.

After thinking for a bit Ran went straight to the roulette wheel and watched the game unfold. The principle was similar to the roulette wheel in his world, although simplified. There were only 18 numbers, no colors, and you won 17 times the amount of money you put on the right number.

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The concept of chips didn't seem to exist here, people played directly with their possessions and Ran saw bets amounting to several dozen gold coins, he on the other hand had only 8 silver coins in his possession, a pittance in this place.

He saw the roulette wheel spin once, twice, then on the third game he placed his meager fortune on four consecutive numbers, two coins on each. Five other people had placed bets at the same time, but Ran knew they were lost.

Everyone was watching the marble roll anxiously except him, he had spent the first 2 games analyzing the wheel patterns and knew he would not lose.

His exo computing power was nothing to laugh at, the system was originally designed to predict incoming shelling trajectories and provide firing solutions, who would have thought that someone would use it to predict the trajectory of a marble ?

He would have been booted out of any casino on earth.

Speed, friction, rotation speed, he could predict approximately where the ball would land. Sure enough, one of his numbers came up and he pocketed more than 4 times the amount he had when he entered.

This was gonna be a fun night.

He continued like this for half an hour, winning and losing small amounts to avoid attracting too much attention.

After a while, however, an employee whispered something to the slightly sweating dealer and he withdrew with an apology.

A new dealer quickly took his place, this one seemed different, she had long dark hair, a long ponytail that reached her waist and her eyes seemed barely open, she wore the same smile as the others but hers was devoid of pretense, it was mischievous and malicious... provocative.

Ran decided to continue playing in spite of this sudden change, but strangely enough he didn't win despite his predictions, the players who had followed his "luck" up to that point were dismayed when their winnings vanished.

An expression of surprise appeared on his face and the dealer noticed it without any problem.

"Is something troubling you, dear customer?"

She smiled at him with a smile that wasn't one.

"No, everything is fine, please continue."

Ran thought at first that his analysis had been distorted by the change of dealer, but when he lost for the second time in a row, he realized that the casino had realized that he was cheating.

This dealer was good and seemed to be able to somehow control the ball to her liking, Ran decided not to push it any further and withdrew.

"Dear customer, are you leaving already?"

She had said this as a final provocation for Ran to give back what he had earned but he would not be fooled.

"Yes, I'll take my leave, have a nice evening Miss."

Out of respect for her talent he left her two gold coins for the two times she had managed to beat him. She nodded her head in thanks and threw the ball again.

Ran could have continued playing at another table, since dice and cards were also subject to probability algorithms, but he decided to go home with his winnings to avoid alienating the people who ran the place. More enemies were the last thing he needed right now.

As Ran was about to leave the casino, cries of protest arose behind him. The commotion was coming from the table he had just left.

One of the players who didn’t have the best of luck by histone was in a dispute with the young dealer:

"You dogs! I know you're cheating! Give me my money back now!"

Ran could smell the alcohol stuck to this guy and even though technically he was probably right, this outburst did not bode well.

"Come on dear customer, calm down, you can always try your luck again you know?"

She said this while keeping her provocative smile, even intensifying it. The man with the rotten teeth, the red face and the yellowed eyes exploded:

"You bitch! You dare to make fun of me! Die !"