Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Narakje's Guest #2
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It seemed this gambling den used "casino chips" as currency.
They shone yellow like gold coins, which really appealed to me.
'I want to take one as a souvenir.'
I headed to the exchange counter and asked.
"How much for one chip?"
"Buddy, first time at a casino? We don't trade chips for money here."
"Then?"
"You trade your lifespan or skills for chips. See that Kalasa statue over there?"
It was a skull statue with a vicious look.
Holding a scythe, it was the spitting image of the Grim Reaper.
The exchange clerk giggled.
"Put your hand on its head, and you'll find out."
I cautiously placed my hand on the skull statue, full of wariness.
Then the skull statue spoke to me.
Heh heh heh, what a remarkable guest we've got here?
Contractor of that serpent dragon-.
─Whoa, that startled me.
So this was an idol of a god!
The skull introduced itself in a flirtatious voice.
I am Kalasa of Transactions.
I've been called one of the Three Evils alongside the serpent and the lion.
Three Evils-.
Friends with Sabrannik?
Colleagues?
As I thought that, Kalasa chuckled in my head. Heh heh heh.
Colleagues... I miss the days when they called us that.
Enough chit-chat. I'll convert your skills into chips.
10 from your lifespan.
10 from your skills.
Total of 20 chips.
My lifespan and skills into chips.
Deals with idols have this bizarre side to them.
"If I lose all the chips, what happens?"
I asked the skull.
The skull idol's eyes flashed brightly.
My other name is Necrolord Kalasa.
If you lose all my chips, you serve me.
Eternal slave of mine.
Whatever it was, I didn't want to be a slave.
Especially not eternally?
"What does being Kalasa's slave entail?"
Earn Ether.
Ding-!
Why did that suddenly sound doable?
Of course, there had to be more I didn't know.
Still, I didn't want to be a slave.
─Kalasa─.
─Give my blessed one 10 more chips─.
─For the sake of our bond─.
At that moment, Sabrannik joined the conversation.
I was thrilled.
Sabrannik negotiating on my behalf!
─You haven't forgotten our adventures, have you─?
─The days we challenged the impossible, relying on each other─.
Long live Sabrannik!
Kalasa giggled in an unexpectedly lively way for a skull.
Pay back the Ether you borrowed from me.
─...crackle...─.
The connection with Sabrannik cut off.
Fuck. I got my hopes up for nothing.
But Kalasa giggled brightly, as if amused.
Fine. 10 more it is.
I heard a voice I hadn't in ages.
Be careful not to lose them all.
Clink clink clink-.
Gold coins poured from the skull's mouth.
The exchange clerk's eyes went wide at the sight.
"Whoa, how many is that?"
"Looked like twenty."
"That's on par with the seven-fingered guys, right?"
"...A total stranger matching Narakje's executives?"
My thirty chips seemed extraordinarily rare.
Getting this much attention wasn't good.
I stashed the chips in my Black Satchel and looked around.
Was there any gambling worth trying?
That's when I spotted a man holding dice and a cup, shouting.
"Place your bets and win money with dice! So easy, even a three-year-old who can talk could make a fortune!"
Six cubic dice.
A game to guess their sum?
As I showed interest, the kid tugged at my side.
"Idiot, do you have any idea how many combinations there are? And that crap's obviously rigged. Better to check out the card game over there!"
Cards?
I didn't know the rules for that.
Better to stick with what I knew than challenge the unknown.
I headed to the dice gambler.
"Dice gambling? Deal me in."
"...Another weird combo of customers...."
The dice gambler was a man with his face painted white like a clown.
If anything, he looked weirder than me.
'No openings.'
I scanned him with Black Eye to pickpocket.
But I saw no openings on this guy.
"Nice skills as a thief, huh?"
I asked.
The clown grinned.
"Why do you ask?"
"No guarantee a sneaky thief won't cheat in this game."
"Fair point. But in this casino, the kind of 'cheating' you're talking about doesn't happen."
"Why not?"
"That's Narakje's policy for this gambling den. It's pure luck here. Even a three-year-old could win. But─."
Slightly─.
The clown narrowed his slender eyes, glaring at me.
"If you try cheating, it's different. You die."
Thud-.
The clown drew a dagger from his waist and stabbed it into the wooden gambling table.
The wooden board was displayed with a bunch of severed wrists.
Whoa, brutal.
I pulled one chip from my pocket and placed it on the table.
"Fine. Betting one chip."
"You got a ton from Kalasa earlier? Pretty stingy for that."
The clown snickered.
"Well, starting light isn't bad!"
He put the six dice in the cup and shook it.
Rattle, clack-.
I closed my eyes, listening to the sound.
The kid muttered beside me.
"Minimum 6, maximum 36─."
"Shh."
Counting money was one thing; number games were my absolute least favorite.
The number in my head right now was exactly 10.
Because the kid was 10 years old.
"10."
"Not even done shaking yet?"
Clack clack-.
The dealer shook the cup like a bartender, then slammed it on the wooden floor.
He lifted the cup, and the kid's eyes darted around.
"One, one, one, one, three, three... it's really 10!"
"Heh heh, congrats. Got some luck? Too bad just one."
Bet one, won one.
Now I had 31 chips.
The clown slightly opened his eyes and asked.
"How about going big this time? Nibbling away won't cut it."
True enough.
I bet 10 and said.
"10 again."
"What?"
The kid jumped in shock.
He clung to my arm.
"Master, 10 in a row? Do you know the odds? You're just throwing chips away!"
"Heh heh heh, the slave's smarter than the master?"
Did the commotion draw attention?
Eyes from around us started gathering stealthily.
"Did he win?"
"Yeah. Same number again."
"What's the probability of that?"
Probability this, probability that-.
But they were overlooking something.
10 or not 10.
The odds were always fifty-fifty.
The world is hit or miss.
Live or die.
Eat or starve.
"Going 10."
"Heh heh, sometimes losing is a big lesson."
The clown shook the cup.
Then slammed it on the wooden floor.
As everyone tensed and stared at the board-.
The clown lifted the cup with exaggerated flair, yelling "Ta-da!"
"Let's count. One. One. One. One... one... one...."
"Ten─!"
The kid yelped in surprise.
Everyone was amazed.
"Two in a row?"
"That guy's luck is insane."
"Whoa, must've used up a lifetime's worth!"
"Would've won big if he'd bet big!"
Now I had 41 chips.
How many more games to hit my goal?
Needed at least 200.
"Betting 40 this time."
I piled almost all my chips on the table.
The clown's face hardened.
A bead of cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
"...10 again?"
"No, 21."
"What's special about that?"
"My age next year."
"Symbolic. But will you even see next year?"
The clown put the dice in the cup and rolled.
Unlike his earlier seriousness, his voice was now full of clownish flair.
"It happens sometimes. Guys who gather all their luck for three straight wins. With enough challengers, someone breaks through. Probability─."
Slam-.
The clown smashed the cup down.
"You think you're the protagonist of your life story right now? You'll get burned. There are people in this world chosen for real."
"Man, your tongue's sharp. Just show the cards already."
Thump thump-.
Even I was a bit tense this time.
Got me nervous.
'Fuck, 40 chips on the line!'
Lose this, and I'd have one left.
But betting small would drag out the games too long.
More people would crowd in.
Someone might recognize the kid, or pick my pocket, or start trouble.
This gamble was basically a race against time for me.
'If I lose this one, everything's fucked.'
Truth was, I had a backup plan.
If I lost most chips, the kid's life would be collateral to Kalasa too.
Betting a royal's life?
That'd never fly.
"Look at this punk. I can hear his eyes rolling."
The clown snickered.
He slowly lifted the cup.
The six wooden dice felt like their numbers were glaring at me.
"Six, five, four, three, two, one─."
The kid muttered.
Counting on his fingers, he suddenly shouted brightly.
"Twenty-one! It's twenty-one! Really twenty-one─!!!"
That was the moment.
The clown's eyes flashed red as he drew his dagger and aimed at my throat.
"─You little shit, I said I'd kill you for cheating?"
It was smooth and fast.
The clown was a skilled thief, as expected.
"Guessing right over and over? Does that make any fucking sense?"
From my side, it was ridiculous.
"The cup, dice, everything's yours, you rolled them, so why the fuck are you bitching at me?"
"Fuck off, you cheat! Used some skill? Huh─!?"
My throat was moments from being pierced.
The clown's bloodshot eyes turned to the kid.
"Or the brat? Did he peek and tell you? Huh?"
I was beyond wronged─I was pissed.
Fuck, not my first or second time with this shit.
That's why I hated gambling.
Every time I gambled, I got whipped.
Last time, I even faced the gallows.
"Even if I did cheat, wouldn't Narakje be embarrassed for not catching it in their own casino?"
"Hah, what? This little shit─."
Grip-.
The blade dug into my neck.
But the hand stopped dead─because another man had appeared and grabbed the clown's wrist.
"Claude. That's enough."
"Gasp, B─Bein!"
The clown dropped the dagger and bowed his head.
Others fell back in shock.
"N─Narakje himself─!?"
"Fuck, we're lucky today."
"They say seeing Narakje boosts your win rate!"
"Isn't that a myth?"
He wore a black mask over his face and a hood pulled low.
About my height.
Couldn't sense or detect when or where he came from.
'Narakje Bein.'
'Second time meeting this man.'
First was at the Thieves' Guild.
Didn't know what Narakje was back then.
But now was different.
'One pillar of the old Imperial Four Sages.'
An adventurer rivaling Lieutenant Colonel Leiden.
A vile hero, thief who reached level 20.
Chills ran down my spine.
Every cell in my body screamed to run.
If this man killed me, I'd die without knowing it.
"Oh, those are my weapons. Even the Black Satchel? Whoa, you're the rookie who took down One-Eye?"
Narakje asked me.
Everyone gasped at "One-Eye."
"That One-Eye?"
"Heard he was dead."
"That bastard lost to a twenty-year-old punk?"
Even the clown who'd tried to kill me was stunned.
"One-Eye... by this guy...."
At this point, even I was shocked.
What the hell was One-Eye?
Wasn't that guy just a loser?
Also, Narakje seemed unaware this was our second meeting.
Makes sense; to him, I'm less than a pebble.
"So, no cheating?"
Narakje asked me.
I brushed off my collar where he'd grabbed it and said.
"Y─Yeah."
Fuck, wanted to sound cool, but I was scared.
Then Narakje pulled a pile of chips from his pocket and stacked them on the board.
"Then let's play a round. FYI, I've never lost a gamble since birth. Never even enjoyed one."
Narakje's black eyes gleamed.
Eyes black as night.