The Notorious Misadventures of an Alchemist and a Phoenix, Chapter 26

Bella was sick and tired of watching Noah's pile of Casino chips increase. She knew he was cheating but didn't understand how, no one was that lucky.

Every time Noah was on the losing side he would pull back and win, most of the time it wasn't even due to his skill or cards but the other players being forced to play cards that would ruin the dealer.

Bella knew who Noah was, the apprentice to Margo of the Alchemy Bank, and yet something wasn't right, apart from losing tons of cash. The way Noah wasn't fazed by almost losing, not even a single drop of sweat was on his brow. It was unprecedented, never had Bella seen a gambler let it ride so often without any physical changes to the mental well-being. It was like he didn't care or couldn't lose.

Noah was playing hands without looking and yet every setback was rewarded with a massive gain. It was only a matter of time before Noah would lose and the Casino would get their money back.

"Cash me out," said Noah

"Typical," thought Bella. She had to act now.

Noah was trying to cash out his substantial chips. He would like to play some more but his Lucky Dog Potion was running out. Noah could drink some more but there was a side effect. Good luck and Bad luck started to mix when overdosing on Lucky Dog's potion. It wasn't a good idea to push luck so far that it became confused and just slapped all kinds of luck on your plate, good or bad.

The cash Noah had won would be enough to pay off the phoenix debt of stolen goods, but that wasn't why he had done it. Noah knew the Casino would do something and he hoped they would try. His hopes were immediately founded.

"Excuse me, sir. Could you come this way" spoke the pit boss.

"No" answered Noah as he lent on a table. He wasn't going to make it easy.

The pit boss clicked his fingers and two goons appeared at either side of Noah and lifted him off his feet and carried Noah to the back room.

Bella was waiting for Noah as he was forcibly sat down. At this point anyone who was captured by the Casino would be shitting bricks and looking for any way to escape but not Noah, it seemed like he wanted to be here.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"How did you do it," asked Bella

Noah played stupid "Do what?"

Bella slapped the metal table causing it to ring "cheating is against Casino policy, how did you do it?"

Noah took a page out of the phoenix book and just shrugged.

This infuriated Noah when the phoenix did it to him. When Bella saw this innocent shrug performed by Noah she snapped

Bella ordered the goons with just a look. Noah's hand was pinned to the table. Noah knew what they were going to do. The city's law didn't exist here, only the rule of might.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Noah said calmly.

"I will get my answers, even if it hurts you" smiled Bella. An old finger screw torture item manifested in front of Noah. Now it had gone too far, the anger that was always steaming just under the surface clawed its way up.

"You are a very stupid bitch" sneered Noah "This is a very nice Casino with very expensive furniture"

The old finger screw was placed on Noah "I wonder what will happen to it when word gets back to the Bank and a bunch of golems literally walk through the casino and tear it down on top of your head"

This got the pit boss's attention. Being paid to be an asshole doesn't outweigh potential death by a golem. Noah turned his head and looked directly into the pit boss's eyes. "Am I lying"

It wasn't every day someone could rattle the pit boss

Bella pushed the pit boss away and finished what he started

The screw tightened and Noah felt uncomfortable, it wouldn't be long before the pain took over

"God damn psychopath," thought Noah. Bella had seen the golems, everyone knew what they could do, and they were famous. The king had many of them, and if they were good enough to protect the king from the badasses of the multiverse then they should be enough to pursue a casino enforcer, but life is full of stupid.

A soft tinkling bell let Noah know that he need to take his medicine but with his body being detained he was unable. Noah decided to take a second page out of the phoenix playbook. Don't deal with your problems, make others deal with them.

Bella watched as the calm man sitting in front of her turned into a frothing-at-mouth jittering rage machine. He snarled at her as spit flew from his mouth and gnashed his teeth.

Bella knew Noah was weak but she also knew that no amount of pain was going to get her answers. The "Rage" skill made you into a none feeling, dead-brained brute.

She tossed Noah out into the back ally. There was no reason to keep him, she wasn't going to get any answers and keeping him there might bring anger of Margo on her. She just wanted answers. Still, it wasn't a complete loss. Bella had kept Noah's winnings and his wallet.

She flicked through the wallet to get a little information, you can never have too much information, even if it was just an apprentice Alchemist. What she found made her cry in frustration.

A beautifully embossed and Illustrated thieves guild membership card that had so many precious metal stars on it that it glittered in the dark room. Noah was a member of the thieves guild and a very high-ranking one. Bella looked at her own card that let her know that she wasn't even close in the same ranking. What made her cry was that it was a lifetime membership. She was in a lot of trouble, she might get away with taking the winnings but she had stolen Noah's wallet.

The thieves guild wouldn't care how or why she had taken Noah's wallet. They would come for her like how they came for Margo. The thieves guild didn't play around when it came to their subscription money