Fifteen minutes later…

The game continues and the gamblers leave one after another, cursing under their breaths as Straf and the woman win some, lose some. Straf is mostly winning, despite the extremely random and luck-based rounds. When Straf collects his lion's shares of winnings, the armed guard lazily walks up behind his back, staring down at him with his arms crossed. The bulky man steps around Straf, taking a peek at his left and right with a wary look of skepticism on his face, before turning his grimace to the other guard and shrugging.

「…Since we are running out of players, I will place bets as a player as well.」

The man with a ring on his finger says as he drops a loop of coins into his hand from his sleeve and unties it. He throws five silver coins in front of himself with a sly smirk directed at Straf, the woman, and the last random gambler whose amount of coins is rapidly dwindling. Some time ago, Straf's group decided to sit down a little out of the way, quietly discussing the game amongst themselves. Stripe has calmed down after a streak of Straf's victories, but still stares at him with her brows furrowed in worry.

「Fortune hasn't been favoring me lately…」

The stranger woman remarks to the dealer and the remaining players, placing her hand on her cheek. She turns her troubled eyes to the man holding the cup.

「More than the masters who have left. Five silvers on odds. Place your bets.」

The dealer replies, showing Straf, the woman, and the other man the interior of the cup while holding the dice between his fingers in an almost rote fashion now.

Clunkk.

The dice noisily bang against the wooden cup as he flicks them in. The dealer windmills his arm at the shoulder with his ring-adorned hand massaging it. He switches the cup to his ring hand, and covers the opening with his bare hand's palm. He then lifts the cup up horizontally while Straf watches with a bored, unimpressed grimace.

Clakclukclakclakclunkclakclakclak!…

The dice rattle as the dealer showily shakes the cup, smirking at the guards and the remaining gamblers. The woman furrows her brows as he continues.

…Clakclakclakclukclunkclak!…

「…Get on with it. It's either odd or even either way.」

After watching the dealer ferociously shake the cup, Straf rolls his eyes with an annoyed grimace.

…Clunk! Fwump.

「…Just making the game interesting, master. It's as you say, it's either odds or evens, but you'll never know which one it will be until I lift the cup…」

Thunkthunkclunkthunk… Thunkthunkclunkthunk… Thunkthunkclunkthunk…

The dealer replies with a nod of his head, grinning at Straf while noisily drumming his fingers on the bottom of the cup. The ring adorning his hand acts like a drumstick.

「…Makes winning and losing more fun. Odds or evens?」

He adds, then asks, still grinning.

「…Odds.」

Thumpthump.

The other male gambler declares with a nervous grimace as he throws his remaining silver coins out in front of himself.

With his arms crossed, Straf looks at the dealer's grin with wary eyes full of suspicion. The look on the man's face gives him an odd, perhaps an unfounded feeling that something isn't quite right, but the feeling is too unshakable to be easily dismissed. Straf's eyes look at the rather sizable amount of coins in front of the dealer, much larger than the average of two, or the grand bet of three that most of the players were placing. Straf meets the man's expectant gaze.

「…Odds.」

Straf declares, throwing one of his gold coins in. One of the many from his pile, although the woman sitting across managed to steal some in previous unlucky rounds.

「Ah. Looks like we're again in opposition this time, master… I'll bet on evens.」

The woman announces to Straf with a soft smile, and gently sets down his gold coin to match him. He lets out a snide, almost pitying scoff, and the two turn their eyes to the dealer.

《…I don't know what your trick is yet, but places like this are obviously fucking crooked. It's a cliche. The house always wins, then those baldies will try to act tough when I prove it.》

Straf thinks with a smug, amused smirk while watching the cup with his arms crossed. He briefly glances at the two burly swordsmen warily watching the gamblers.

「…Looks like master is feeling good about odds. I know I am too!… He he…」

「Yeah, I can tell.」

The dealer remarks while looking at Straf's smug face. He replies with a nonchalant nod.

「…Let's see what the cup holds!」

The man raises the cup, revealing even dice of two and two.

「What the fuck?…」

「Ahhhh! Loss on my first bet of the day, too!… This doesn't bode well for me!」

Slap.

Straf furrows his brows in surprised disbelief at the pair of dice on the woven mat. The dealer showily slaps his face, covering his eyes with his palm as he overdoes his grimacing.

「Tsk… Things were going well until this guy showed up…」

With a click of his tongue, the other man stands up and stomps away while glaring at Straf, grumbling under his breath as he heads for the door.

「…You seem a little too assured of winning, master. That's not good. It's a game of uncertainty, after all.」

Looking into his eyes, the stranger woman sitting across Straf remarks as she takes another one of his gold coins. The dealer quickly scoops his and throws them her way into her growing pile.

「No, you don't get it.」

With his arms crossed, Straf scoffs at the woman's advice then turns his eyes to the dealer while rubbing his chin.

《What am I missing? Is he doing a fakeout first?-》

Straf narrows his eyes while the man slips some coins off the string on the floor, warily watching him.

「What is there to get, master? Am I misunderstanding something? Or perhaps you have some knowledge to share?…」

Clink. Clink. Clink…

The woman tilts her head while playing with her coins, repeatedly lifting one only to drop it back to the pile with a distinct clink. Straf looks at her with his mouth aslant.

《Yeah, you are misunderstanding that this place is fucking crooked…》

He thinks while looking into the woman's eyes. His gaze drifts up above her, to the guard standing by a wall and staring at him with a rather rough, unwelcoming grimace.

《…But if I tell that to their faces, that guy's going to go「Eeeh!? You got a problem, punk!?」and a fight is gonna break out… Too early.》

「…Nah. Are we playing more?」

With his arms crossed, Straf lets out a frustrated sigh as he replies, and asks the dealer.

「I still have some money with me, master. I'm ready if you two are.」

The dealer says with a grin.

「Of course. I'm having quite a lot of fun.」

The woman replies to the dealer, turning her smiling face to Straf. He rubs the back of his neck, grimacing heavily in frustration. The dealer throws six silver coins out ahead.

「I see, I see… Place your bets, then!」

Clunk!

With a grin, the dealer nods his head, showing the inside of the cup in his ring-adorned hand, and the two dice between his bare fingers. He throws them in with a loud clatter.

Clakclunkclakclakclunkclunkclakclak…

《…Bet he's expecting me to do the opposite now. I'm not that gullible, you son of a bitch.》

Straf glares at the dealer while he rattles the wooden cup, covering its opening with his palm.

Tfwump.

「…Maybe evens this time?」

The dealer slams the cup's opening down on the woven mat. Sitting with the group, Stripe furrows her brows as her eyes suddenly snap to the man. She stares at the cup with a narrow-eyed gaze, then glances at the two guards with a troubled face. With a tight-lipped grimace, she lets out a quiet groan and turns her attention back to the group's hushed conversation in lowland common.

「Evens.」

Straf declares with a snide smirk on his face as he confidently drops ten silver coins in front of himself in lieu of a gold one.

「Ahhh!… There might be something to it then, master! Could two people really be wrong?」

The dealer points his index and ring-adorned middle finger at Straf with a grin.

《Yeah, go ahead, explain it away ahead of time.》

Straf scoffs and turns his eyes to the woman.

「…I'll make a contrarian bet, then. Odds.」

The woman says with a soft smile as she places the same golden coin as before in front of herself. Straf and the woman look back at the dealer.

「Let's see, let's see!…」

He says in a loud voice and with a large grin, then raises the cup to reveal three and two on the dice.

「…Huh?」

Straf blinks at the dice with his mouth agape in confused surprise.

「Gaahhh!… I feel like I've led you of a cliff, master!… I need a lucky break soon!…」

The dealer rolls his eyes, cringing, then begins throwing the coins to the woman's pile. She plucks the silver coins away from in front of Straf with a soft smile.

「…I'll be out of spending money otherwise! Maybe this round will be finally lucky!… Are you still playing, master?」

The man remarks while looking at his thinning stock of coins on the untied string lying beside him. He turns his gaze to Straf, and nods up at him as he asks.

《…Wait, how the fuck does this work, then? I won some and lost some, but I won a lot more than I had lost… Huh? I know for a fact he just started cheating, but how?》

Straf rubs his chin with his brows furrowed, thinking intensely. The woman doesn't remove her golden coin from where it is.

「…Master? I bet on odds. Are you going to play?」

The dealer calls out, having already had placed most of his silver coins ahead of himself, waiting for Straf's decision. Stripe looks at her evaporating savings with large, worried eyes.

Straf looks at him and the woman, both of which are looking at him with an expectant gaze.

「…I'm quite enjoying this game with you, master. I understand if you'd leave now, but I'd be happy if you took the risk to continue.」

The stranger remarks with a soft smile on her face. Straf looks at his money. Most of his winnings have gone to the woman, and he's left with roughly what he already had.

「I'll play…」

《…To rob you fuckers blind. I'm not walking away with a measly profit like this. I'm going to figure out your trick.》

Straf replies, crossing his arms with a weary sigh. He drops a small wager of two coins, causing the woman to tilt her head.

「Ah, I'm glad to hear that… Smaller bet this time?」

She asks with a smile then turns her eyes to the dealer, who is once again showing them both the cup and the dice as usual.

Straf activates [Contextual Time Perception] and stands up. He cautiously walks up to the dealer, eyeing him from up close with an extremely wary and mistrustful look on his face. He looks at the man's grinning face, then looks at his dice hand from all around. Straf then takes a narrow-eyed peek into the cup itself, but finds nothing raising suspicion. He straightens out, rubbing his chin for a few seconds, before sitting back down exactly as he was.

「…Yeah. I need to feel my luck out. Evens.」

He nods in reply as he deactivates his ability, and with his mouth aslant, likewise looks towards the dealer.

「That is a good choice. I enjoy your company. I'd like you to keep playing for longer.」

The woman nods while looking at the man as he throws the dice into the cup.

Clukclukclunkclukclakclakclukcluk…

《…Let's see what he does when the bet is smaller.》

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Straf waits while the dealer rattles the cup.

Fwumpf.

The dealer slams the cup's opening down onto the mat, clutching its bottom tight with his ringed hand.

「Let's hope it's odds!…」

The dealer declares with an amused grin and lifts the cup up.

「…Gyaah! My luck is just not with me today!」

The dealer winces as he sees snake eyes before him. He throws Straf a coin, and throws the rest to the woman.

「…You don't seem too happy, master. You should take your wins no matter how small they are.」

The woman remarks as Straf stares at his singular coin winnings with his arms crossed, and his mouth aslant in frustration.

「…I'm just thinking what to do next.」

Straf replies, and adds another silver coin without taking any away.

「I see.」

The woman nods with a light smile, taking the silver coins away to her growing pile.

「Ahhh… I really need a win, or I'm done for…」

The dealer remarks as he throws the last of his coins forth. He repeats showing Straf and the woman the dice, the cup, and rattles it again.

Fwumpf.

「…Despite everything, I'm feeling good about odds. What about you, master?」

The man asks Straf, staring at him. He briefly glances at the woman, who is waiting for Straf's reply with her head tilted. Stripe glances at the dealer again, grimacing heavily.

「…Same.」

《…You really think you can reverse-psychology me out of this one? Dumbass. You said it yourself. Either you win, or you're out.》

After a moment of thought Straf replies with a smug smirk and crossed arms, then turns his eyes to the woman.

「To be perfectly honest, I'm feeling good about odds too, but I'll bet against master just for the fun of it.」

The woman says to them both, turning her softly smiling face to Straf.

「…If you're feeling good about it, you should just bet on it.」

Straf replies with his mouth aslant directed at her.

「No… I'd like to keep you in the game for longer, and I don't mind paying a little for that.」

She replies with a gentle shake of her head, then turns her eyes to the dealer.

「I see, I see… Well, let's hope we're all right, or I'm out of drinking money!…」

The man replies and showily throws the cup up.

《Wait, what if she's in on it too!?-》

Straf's eyes widen as he glances at the woman's face while she remains focused on the roll's result.

「…Yyyus! Our luck is turning around, master!」

The dealer pumps his fist with a widening grin when he takes a look at the five and two underneath the cup.

「…What?」

Straf blurts out while looking at the dice while the woman places the golden coin closer to the dealer.

「What are you confused about, master? As I expected, odds were the winning dice this time. That's no problem at all. I hope you keep me company for a little longer.」

The woman asks, tilting her head.

「…Wait, how do we split this?」

Straf asks while looking at the wagers.

「Ahh, master, let me have the gold coin and you can have my silver. That's our in-house splitting rule… Unless you'd want to work something else out?」

The dealer holds the gold coin up in sight of Straf, and points his bare hand at the scattering of silver coins he wagered.

「…Nah. I'm fine with silver.」

Straf replies with a wary face and a nonchalant shrug. The dealer nods, and throws him his silver coins while keeping the woman's gold coin.

《This isn't right. It'd make sense if she's in on it, but then why would she hand a gold coin back?… Is she seriously just lucky?…》

He thinks, rubbing his chin in deep thought. Straf focuses his gaze on the woman's face. She tilts her head in response, blinking at him with mildly confused eyes.

Oleander

[|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||] Lv. 48

Strength: 9 [-724] Perception: 9 [-140]

Agility: 13 [-525] Endurance: 11 [-480]

Dexterity: 13 [-489] Willpower: 7 [-1278]

Luck: 11 [-382] Intelligence: 13 [-466]

Charisma: 12 [-339] Wisdom: 13 [-391]

《…Only 11 luck? Her level is kind of high, but… Her stats are pretty normal across the board. Is she just sharp and a little lucky? Is that seriously it?》

He continues staring at the woman's statistics screen, partially translucent and hovering still in front of her face. She returns a soft smile with an amused huff from her nose.

「Master, if you keep staring like that at me, I'll blush…」

Oleander remarks, and covers most of her face with her kimono's sleeve while turning her eyes aside.

「Well, I've got no choice but to hope my luck is back in full force now! I'm betting on lucky odds again!」

Thump.

The dealer declares as he slams the gold coin far out in front of himself onto the mat.

「…I feel like evens will be lucky this time around. What will you do, master?」

The woman asks as she places two of Straf's gold coins in front of herself, and tilts her head. He looks at her, crossing his arms while grimacing in deep thought.

《…She's going to get ripped the fuck off. I feel a little bad for this girl, but she should be able to figure out that this place is fucking rigged if she's a regular.》

「…Odds.」

Clunkkkk…

Straf replies with a pitying smirk as he shoves roughly half of his money forward. Stripe's eyes widen at the bet.

「My…」

Oleander utters out, almost jokingly covering her mouth with her hand as her brows rise a little.

「Ouuughhh… That's brutal, master… Now I risk it all, but I stand to gain only a coin?…」

「Tough.」

The dealer cringes at the size of Straf's bet. Straf scoffs, and replies with a snide smirk full of contempt.

「…Are you not concerned about me taking it all, master? I think it's a little too early to make confident bets like that.」

The woman asks with a soft smile and a tilted head.

「Nah. I'm feeling lucky.」

Following a disdainful huff from his nose, Straf replies with a smug smirk and turns his eyes to the dealer.

「…As long as you're having fun.」

Oleander remarks, and turns her eyes to the dealer.

「…Let us hope your feeling is correct, master… For the both of us…」

The man shrugs, and goes through the rote of showing them the cup and the dice. He throws them in, rattles it, and slams it down onto the mat.

Thumpf.

「…Ah. Exciting, isn't it? This is what I play this game for.」

Looking down at the cup, the dealer lifts his eyes and grins at the two, thumping his chest with his knuckles while his ringed hand remains on the cup. He lifts the cup up with no warning.

「What the… Fuck?…」

「Ahhhhh… These things happen…」

Straf's eyes widen in disbelief at the pair of twos revealed beneath the cup. The dealer throws his arms up with a sigh as his shoulders slump. He reluctantly takes his coin and flicks it to the woman, who gathers Straf's entire bet with an apologetic nod and a light smile. Straf blinks at the dealer's empty coin string, and at the woman's pile of money, most of which is now Stripe's. He turns his eyes to Stripe, who is staring at him with an expression stuck between dismay and pure hatred.

「…Well, I'm outta money. Unless someone else stops by to play, we'll have to call it for the moment. Or perhaps the ladies that came with master want to try their luck?」

The dealer shrugs, then turns his eyes to Stripe and the rest. He points his hand at the group, grinning at Straf.

「…Will you be leaving now, master?」

Oleander asks in a rather sullen tone with a little pout as she tilts her head.

Straf's face twitches as he stares at Stripe's savings, now roughly halved, and amounting to just a handful of silver coins at best.

《…I didn't come here to lose fucking money! What the fuck!? If it's not rigged, then what the fuck is going on!?》

He thinks, intensely rubbing his grimacing face as he scowls at the remainder of his money. The woman tilts her head further.

「It'd be a shame, master. I really enjoyed playing with you.」

She says with a sullen and almost apologetic face, blinking her puppy eyes at Straf. The pile of gold and silver she's leaning over only makes Straf grit his teeth in frustration.

《Right. It's not possible she just lucked out. It's not. I just have to trust my luck and I'll pull through with all her fucking money…》

「…I'd play, but that guy is out of money, and I don't feel like waiting-」

Straf replies as he crosses his arms. The woman leans in further. Her kimono parts a little, revealing small bit of her sizable cleavage.

「Then I have an idea, master… How about a duel?」

She asks, and tilts her head.

「…A duel?」

Straf echoes, narrowing his eye in confusion. He glances at the dealer, but he appears somewhat nonplussed by her offer as well.

「Yes. Just a game of two of us. As a bet, how about I return all of the money I took from you so far? Of course, if you win, you can have all my money for yourself…」

She nods, straightening out as she explains, shrugging her robed shoulders with a light smile.

「…And if I lose? You mean I stand to win my money back even if I lose? That sounds too good to be true.」

Straf asks, furrowing his brow as he rubs his chin with his eyes warily narrowed at the woman sitting across.

「Exactly. You stand nothing to lose… However…」

The woman nods her head, and her smile takes on a sly hint before she covers it with her sleeve.

「…In return, I'd like you to bet yourself, master.」

Oleander says with her eyes smiling from beyond her kimono's sleeve…