Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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“Hmm….”
All-in when they only have 12 chips left?
‘Doesn’t matter to me.’
I tilted my head slightly and said,
“You can take it slow.”
“Nah, we’ve been at it forever.”
“Yeah, come on! You know that, so why check? We’ve gone all-in now—let’s end it!”
The Administrative Department guys pounded on the table.
The Magic Department student laughed as he explained.
“No, the max first bet is 2 chips! They’re gonna call anyway, so what’s the difference between me checking and adding 4 more to the pot? And you guys checked first anyway~?”
That’s why he went all-in now.
All-ins are allowed outright, but otherwise, the initial bet is capped at 2 chips. That was in the rules I read at the start.
If it had been his second turn, he could’ve raised 10 chips on top of my bet, but it’s his first turn. The structure forces him to only bet 2.
Since I won’t raise without chips, the pot for the round ends up at just 4.
Like in round 3.
So he went all-in right away.
‘They must really want this to end quick.’
Unless I fold, he’ll end up with a total of 122 chips.
“So, what’ll it be? Fold?”
“No.”
I pushed the chips in front of me forward.
“Let’s keep going just like this.”
For a split second, I saw the opponent’s eyes waver.
He soon smirked with one corner of his mouth and turned his head away.
* * *
“Let’s keep going just like this.”
Lucas Ascanien shoved all his remaining chips toward the center of the table.
‘That’s weird.’
It’s obvious he’s gonna lose, but he’s this calm?
Well, he’s been like that the whole time. Nothing strange about it now.
I looked at his face and asked,
“You look pretty worn out too. It has been going on a while.”
“Who knows.”
“…….”
Not very sociable.
I shrugged and smiled.
“Showing cards.”
At the dealer’s words, I laid out my cards.
J, K, J, 8, J, 3, 6.
The suits didn’t match up meaningfully, but three Js made a triple.
The dealer looked at my cards and announced,
“Triple Js.”
Ascanien had one J, so no four of a kind possible.
I’d actually been aiming higher with a 3-2 combo—a full house of triple plus a pair….
‘Too bad that didn’t pan out. Still, a triple’s not bad.’
I rested my chin on my hand and watched Ascanien flip his cards.
‘Q, 2, J… and another Q.’
He had another Q in the hole.
So he ended up with a Q pair after all.
I get why he was so confident.
A Q pair beats the J pair on my board.
‘Simpleton.’
Doesn’t even think about what might be in my hole cards.
Of course, he’s shown the same pattern over the dozens of rounds we’ve played, so it’s no surprise.
Q pair or whatever, it’s still just a pair against my triple.
“Huh?”
While I was lost in thought, one of my friends shot up from his seat.
“Q and 2 for two pair? No! Wait, oh crap…!”
Even two pair wouldn’t beat my triple, what’s the….
As I dropped my hand from my chin to check his hand, the dealer spoke up.
“Q-2 full house.”
“…!”
He had the full house?
Stunned, I gripped the table and stood. The chips I’d pushed forward toppled from the shock.
Clatter—
‘If that’s the case, my chips…!’
The 35 in the pot and my remaining 75 chips—110 total—would all go to Ascanien.
One of my friends smacked my back.
“Hey, you…! Why’d you go all-in?!”
“Why not just check and fleece him in round 4…!”
Ascanien, still with that blank expression, crossed his arms and looked down at his cards. Then he smiled and lifted his head.
“So that makes 122 chips for me.”
“…….”
“Correct.”
As we sat there dumbfounded without a word, the dealer student nodded. He wrapped up the hand with his final line.
“The final winner is Lucas Ascanien. First winner of the morning poker session!”
Pop—!
He bellowed down to the first floor below the stairs and pulled paper poppers from his pocket, setting them off. Ascanien, apparently not expecting this, finally looked at the student with a bewildered expression.
“Don’t worry. We’ll clean up.”
“…Ah, yeah…. Go ahead.”
“How’s it feel? Time to put your name up.”
“Feels like… you all had more stamina than I expected, so that surprised me a bit….”
Stamina?
I narrowed my eyes slightly at this absurd situation.
Then something flashed through my mind.
No way….
‘He’s been waiting for us to get tired this whole time.’
Maybe we were overthinking it, but if his raises with weak hands, the raises right after strings of folds, and calling my aggressive raises were all to break down our guard….
It made sense why he kept making those reckless plays.
A strategy to survive thin and long until the end.
‘That way, when luck hits, he’s unpredictable.’
Wait long enough, and luck comes eventually. And it had, right now.
All I could do was laugh.
I’d wondered why he kept doing this nonsense. No, I thought his brain just wasn’t turning right….
Ascanien rested his chin, thought for a moment, then smiled—not at the dealer, but at us.
“Thanks to you all, it was fun.”
“…Hah.”
Down on the first floor visible from the stairs, his name sparkled in magic.
Ascanien gave a little wave with his eyes and stood from his seat, passing right by us.
* * *
“Hey~ I knew you’d win!”
“What do you mean you knew? You were biting your nails the whole time next to me.”
Behind me, Elias and Leo bantered lightly.
I brushed the pollen off my clothes and headed straight out of the building.
My name had gone up on the leaderboard for a bit, but I told them to take it down. It ended up staying, but anonymized.
I checked the alteration possibility one more time outside, but no change.
“But did you see that 3rd-year jerk smirking when you showed the triple? Ugh, wanted to deck him, but Luca did it for us.”
“…Jerk? That’s the 3rd-year Class 1-B vice class president. We might run into him later, so don’t go saying stuff like that.”
“What? Then you’ve seen him around the student council a lot?”
“Last year, sometimes.”
“Really? Ah, anyway, should’ve snapped pics of those guys’ faces!”
Elias shook his head and cackled.
Leo chuckled lightly along with his signature laugh.
“Yeah.”
“Huh?”
“…What do you think of me, you and Luca? I can guess what you’re thinking too.”
Leo let out a hollow laugh and shrugged.
“Why, what’d Luca say about me?”
“Art club said they’d give an extra stamp for a drawing, so I did one, and they were kinda shocked.”
“Well, yeah, didn’t expect them to allow that loophole.”
I answered simply.
No need to explain in detail. Elias’s attention was already elsewhere.
“Oh, two stamps? Guess I’ll check it out.”
And just like that, we were out of the exhibition hall in five minutes.
Elias, stamps in hand, scanned the visitors’ drawings and asked,
“So~ which one’s yours? Ah, this is Leo’s.”
Elias pointed out the pie drawing.
Pie, who hadn’t seen Leo’s drawing earlier because we’d gone looking for Elias, popped up on my shoulder.
“Me?! It’s not me?”
Before I could answer, Pie jumped to Leo’s shoulder.
“…Can you really tell whose it is?”
Leo carefully pried Pie off his neck and set him back on his shoulder. It looked like grabbing, but with his short arms, it was more like a hug.
‘He’s got some human ways of expressing himself….’
Maybe he picked it up living with people instead of his own kind.
“Figured it out? Rabbit’s in a good mood. So where’s Luca’s?”
At Elias’s question, I pointed to the one in the middle of the wall.
“Here.”
“Oh.”
Elias squinted, at a loss for words, tilted his head, and beckoned.
“Yeah, got it. Original.”
“…….”
Sounds good, but his body language says otherwise.
“This is pretty average. Look around.”
“But what’s this? The kid’s got thorns.”
“You can tell it’s a lion just by looking.”
“Hmm?”
Leo gave a weird reaction to my response.
“…….”
What am I supposed to say here.
I left Elias cracking up at Leo’s reaction and headed outside. Leo yelled after me.
“Wait, Luca! Wasn’t gonna say anything bad! You’re not the only one who draws like that, so don’t worry. And we don’t even have art class.”
What a troll….
That random comment habit of his is back.
Elias’s laughter grew louder.
Anyway, we’d never been strong in music or art, so skipping fine arts was a relief.
I waved at Elias, now slumped at the entrance, and Leo, who’d followed.
“Whatever, let’s do something else.”
* * *
Time to find Narke.
After a quick meal and getting Pie a snack, it was already past noon, nearing 1.
The play’s at 10 PM, so plenty of time, but since Narke’s got a lead role, better to find him early considering rehearsals.
As I debated sending Pie ahead again, Elias pointed to a booth just opening in the wide training grounds—something like a shooting gallery.
“Wanna do that?”
“What about your crutches.”
“Ahh~”
Elias gritted his teeth like he was sick of his leg, shook his head, and went up to inspect the fake guns rolling around the booth.
“This is a Gewehr knockoff. Vivid memory of getting reamed for levitating it with magic ’cause it was heavy, like five years ago.”
“…….”
Leo shook his head at Elias’s word choice.
The quality was low—purely for fun, just shaped like the real thing.
When I picked up a gun, Leo’s eyes widened.
“What, you too?”
“Yeah. It’s quick anyway.”
“We’ve got time, but you know how to use it?”
Unsure if he was trolling, I remembered Luca was 17.
‘No.’
Ruling family kids enlist young and train every break, so half the Magic Department 2nd Academy students know old weapon basics.
Problem is, Luca never went to the military.
Unusual for a ruling family mage.
Even if it’s a toy, no point drawing suspicion.
Decision made, I handed the gun to Leo and stepped back.
“Yeah, no idea. You do it.”
“What.”
I gestured for Leo to go ahead and backed away.
Leo, looking reluctant, got safety gear from the booth student and started shooting.
His accuracy was solid—must’ve done old-school drills occasionally.
‘Might as well look for Narke meanwhile.’
Asking Pie again, he stretched out an arm, pointing far off.
At the same time, someone turned to look our way.
“Luca! Found you~”
Narke handed his gun to the booth student and grinned brightly.
Pie shouted,
“Narke~!”
“Hey Pie~ Ah, promised you a snack. Let’s grab some later.”
“I got one earlier.”
“Oh, really? Thanks.”
But….
I glanced at where Narke had been standing and asked,
“…You sure you can do this?”
“Yeah? No one knows~”
I let out a hollow laugh.
Having a blast on the exchange.
“So, how’d you do?”
“Missed every one. Ah, just a bit more and I’d have gotten the hang of it—such a shame. Knights Department kids definitely swept the prizes.”
“Yeah? Must be ’cause that’s all they’ve done since kids.”
“Right! Haha, I’ve only ever held a wand, and it’s so different.”
Narke laughed, looking at the growing crowd.
Then he turned to me and asked,
“But anyway, you had something to tell me today, right?”