Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: The High-Stakes Card Game
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“Hah, what did I think it was? With conditions like these, I’ll sign anytime. Heh heh.”
I smiled slowly as I took the divine contract back.
“Of course. I just have a bit of anxiety, so I wanted a formal oath.”
Valbus ran his hand a few times over the skewer that had gone cold—whether by magic or not, steam suddenly rose faintly from it.
While Valbus tore into it, I read the contract again.
The contents weren’t anything special. To sum it up simply:
1. The stakes from any wager or gamble aren’t paid until the end, and they carry over to the next round. However, they double each time, and once it’s completely over, the final loser pays the final winner.
2. Here, “payment of stakes” means Valbus pays in artifacts, while Adelrian pays in gold coins.
3. The wager or gamble continues until Adelrian gives up.
4. If the stakes rise to a point where one of us can’t pay, the wager or gamble ends right there.
5. The type of wager or gamble is decided by Valbus, and it doesn’t change.
“This is too delicious. Especially this sauce…! Anyway, there’s nothing unfavorable to me, so I signed, but I don’t get why you need a condition like that.”
With sauce smeared around his mouth, Valbus belatedly voiced his question. I smiled kindly and opened my mouth.
“My nickname’s Rabes’s wastrel. I’ve done plenty of gambling, of course, but the thrill really comes from the size of the stakes, doesn’t it? You know that.”
Valbus nodded at my words.
“If we just go back and forth winning once each, all it does is swap the pot around. True gambling has to have that weight on your back to taste right.”
On the surface, it might look like bad conditions for Valbus. Especially number 1. Because if he wins every time, he only needs to lose once in a hundred to pocket ninety-nine pots. But with my method, if he loses that final one out of a hundred, he has to pay for all ninety-nine accumulated.
But the reason he accepted is ostensibly for the fun of gambling—though really, it’s because he’s a debtor.
That video posted in the concept thread. The one where someone pulled off five miracles in a row. It came from there. Valbus isn’t a gambler; he’s a debtor.
The reason he lives in this cramped cave despite having all those artifacts.
He lost a gamble to some nameless god. He scrapes by in this narrow, dark burrow, gambling with the occasional visitor to pay the interest or chip away at the debt.
He’s probably been at it for centuries, so he’s confident in his skills. I look pretty loaded, so he figures he can fleece me good.
Of course, it’s also true that Valbus is the king of letting his guard down.
“And if I lose a couple times and then you say it’s no fun and quit, I’d feel so wronged. That’s why I added the clause. We keep going until I give up or go bankrupt.”
“Well, young human. As long as you give up before you go bankrupt, my conscience is clear. Heh heh heh. So, the last part—doing the game I pick, with no changes?”
“I finally get a bit familiar with it, and if you switch to some other game you’ve played a ton and gotten bored of, that’s no good, haha. Cut me some slack. I’m a total newbie compared to you.”
In the end, aside from number 1—which Valbus has no intention of losing to me anyway—there’s no loss for him.
He might even consider throwing a game if things get dicey, but he’s pretty prideful.
[Valbus Ariveik—Ancient Fairy Addicted to Gambling]
Key Traits: [Gambling (SS)] [Hand Speed (S+)] [Luck (A)] [Keen Eyes (A-)]
Hidden Traits: [Arrogance (S)] [Swimming (F)]
With luck at A, which is hard to raise even past base, he won’t lose early on even if he tries.
In Innocent Saga, there are three games that pop up when you meet Valbus.
One’s a dice game. One’s a battle game where you hunt monsters Valbus summons. And the last…
“Then let’s start. The gamble.”
“Fine. The game’s cards.”
Is cards.
There are a few minor rules, but simply put, the card game Valbus explained was Innocent Saga’s version of blackjack.
Instead of a dealer, you use an artifact to draw cards one by one, check them, keep or pass to make 22…
There’s no way I can properly beat Valbus, who’s been lost in gambling for centuries.
My breathing, my glances. Hell, he can probably read my hand from my heartbeat.
“Then we start. Activating the card game artifact. And I swear on my mana—no messing with the cards.”
Valbus wasn’t a cheater, just a gambler, so he claimed it’d be as fair as possible.
‘But your skills are the cheat to begin with.’
Hiding my inner thoughts, I put on an excited face.
“Then, deal the cards.”
* * *
Up until I said I’d gamble with Valbus when we first got here, Luna and Zero had openly worried looks, while Kane didn’t show it but stuck close by my side, so he was worried too, I guess.
‘Bad kids.’
The moment I pulled out the divine contract, they huddled in the small space next to the cave room, chatting among themselves.
“If I thrust low from the lower guard?”
“Instead of dodging, press down on the shin and break it.”
“Senior, how’s the aroma on this spice blend?”
From what I could overhear, Luna and Kane seemed locked in a verbal spar instead of a physical one.
Zero was hugging the spice jar I gave him like a treasure, mixing spices and occasionally piping up with questions.
‘A lonely fight. For real.’
I took the card, bent the top corner slightly to check the number where only I could see.
‘8.’
With my current hand at 11, 7, 8, it’s too far from 22.
I’ve passed once already, so pass again…
“Looks like a bad hand, eh? Heh heh heh.”
“Ha, luck’s not with me today.”
I tried my best to keep a poker face, but who can hide from Valbus’s keen eyes?
Starting from 1 gold, after seven rounds, the pot was at 64 gold.
Thanks to the divine contract, the exact gold amount floated above our heads.
Big money for a commoner, but pocket change for me or Valbus.
“Ah, lost again. 24 to 22. Close this time.”
“Heh heh heh. That’s experience for you. Keep going? Still good?”
Valbus’s face beamed as he scraped the cards from the table and fed them back into the dealer artifact.
Since I hadn’t quit, the 64 gold wasn’t his gain or my loss yet—it rolled into the next round at 128 gold.
“Keep, pass, keep.”
“Damn, lost.”
“Heh heh heh heh!”
Valbus the gambler, through and through. Seems more hooked on the thrill than paying off that debt to the nameless god.
Making 22 with cards looks easy but isn’t.
Not standard playing cards—these are continent cards with five suits, each scoring differently.
Depending on which suits and numbers get you closest to 22, the hands rank high or low.
‘Happy beating the newbie, you overpowered vet?’
I started intending to lose early, but it was starting to piss me off.
Every time I lost a round, watching Valbus grin ear to ear, I trembled with rage.
“Lost again.”
“The pot’s getting too big now. Heh heh, why not quit?”
It wasn’t acting anymore—a bit of real feeling crept in. I really wanted to screw Valbus over once.
“What’re you saying? On to the next.”
I took the card and peeked. One of the highest-ranked suits out of the five.
Plus the one-of-a-kind joker that counts as 1 or 10, and a 10, 11 card.
The absolute best hand possible in this game.
‘Of all the times, now. Damn.’
I furrowed my brow slightly and spoke.
“Pass.”
With Valbus’s luck at A-rank, if a good hand came my way now, statistically, it wouldn’t happen again for a while.
This pot was 8,192 gold.
Even burdensome for a minor noble to drop all at once.
But I didn’t come here just to snag that.
‘Does he know geometric series?’
One of those trivia bits I knew from my Kang Suho days: the rice grains on a chessboard story.
A king who loved chess lost to a boy and granted a wish. The boy said:
One grain on the first square, two on the second, four, eight.
Fill all 64 chessboard squares like that.
The king agreed readily, not realizing why his ministers panicked that the kingdom couldn’t afford it.
‘Supposedly 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains by the end—about 4,000 tons.’
“Lost.”
“Ah, again…”
“Young master… have this first.”
Luna had taken my artifact ring midway, then set a glass of freshly squeezed fruit juice and a simple sandwich in front of me.
I downed the juice in one go and spoke with grim resolve.
“Next round. Let’s go.”
“Urgh…”
Valbus’s expression turned subtly uneasy now. I smiled slowly at him.
“Just quit already. You know it, human kid. You can’t beat me. Right?”
He tried coaxing me, like it was for my sake. I widened my eyes innocently and shot back as if to say what nonsense.
“You signed the contract with me.”
“Yeah, but… isn’t it getting burdensome? Human, you keep this up, you’ll get fleeced.”
Smiling, I waved the divine contract so he could see well, pointing to one spot.
3. The wager or gamble continues until Adelrian gives up.
“Urgh!”
Current pot: 32,768 gold.
Not much in a way, but two more rounds changes everything.
131,072 gold.
Roughly 13 billion won if 1 gold = 100,000 won.
‘Now it begins.’
From now on, I didn’t even check the cards—just laid down the three the dealer artifact gave me in order, then crossed my arms.
“Wh-what?”
“Ah, I’ve lost so much. No way to win if I play normally. Feels like you read my every move.”
Grinning, I continued.
“I’ll just go blind.”
“Are you insane? You’ll go bankrupt! The amount’s already insane!”
Valbus paled.
“You’re not losing anything, Valbus.”
To that, I leaned back recklessly in my chair like a total wastrel.
‘He’s spooked.’
If I left it to luck like this, he’d win 99 out of 100.
But playing normally? He wins 100 out of 100.
His luck’s high but not triple S, so my one win will come eventually.
Or I keep losing until he goes bankrupt.
Former’s victory. Latter’s jackpot.
Whose gold—or artifacts—holds out longer.
Odds favor Valbus, but gamblers calculate probabilities best.
That one time I endure to the end and win once.
Or I endure until the pot exceeds his artifacts.
‘Valbus gets stripped bare.’
At my bold attitude, Valbus—having run the numbers—twitched at the mouth.
Since stakes are artifacts for him and gold for me, he figures I can’t have endless gold coins, ignoring buildings or gems or mana stones.
“If you insist on bankruptcy! Fine, I’ll make you regret it, human brat!”
Valbus’s hands sped up with the cards. Rush round after round, balloon the pot, sink me quick—his intent was plain on his face.
‘But that’s a trap too.’
Valbus isn’t a reckless gambler. Even this is him coldly probing, calculated.
‘I’m just trusting my funds.’
I still didn’t look, just dropped the cards on the table.