Jackpot!
Jackpot!
Casino Hudson.
The Golden City of Arcana went by another name as well — the City of Pleasure. And this place was one of the three great casinos run by Hudson, the landlord of Arcana itself. Its grandeur and splendor never slept, seducing people day and night without distinction.
Casino Hudson's greatest advantage was that even outsiders from other cities could walk right in without any special procedures. No one checked your identity. The only thing you needed to enter was money.
And because it sat at the absolute pinnacle of Arcana's entertainment scene, plenty of people arrived with their true faces carefully hidden.
"This house deed is only worth eight thousand gold? What the hell are you talking about? It's trading for fifteen thousand right now!"
At the front desk that screened every guest, a man bellowed at the top of his lungs. Behind the glass, a small man in spectacles simply shook his head.
"The actual market price around District Five is seven thousand eight hundred gold. Eight thousand is already generous. Without the remaining two thousand, I'm afraid you cannot enter."
"Even so, how can you—!"
"Security."
In an instant, the burly guards around them seized the man and pinned him down.
"W-what the hell! I'm a customer!"
"Without the ten-thousand-gold entrance deposit, you are not a customer."
"Guh—!"
A guard hoisted the man up and hurled him skyward. He sailed several meters through the air before slamming into the ground and crumpling in a heap. The onlookers covered their mouths and snickered at the sight.
"Tsk tsk. A beggar trying to get above his station."
"Ugh, how unsightly."
"District Five? Isn't that a rat hole? I swear I can smell the rot from here!"
Beautiful dresses, sharp tuxedos and tailored suits, golden turbans that marked the truly wealthy — the rich of the city. The moment a shabby-looking man tried to enter, their faces twisted with open contempt. They mocked him. They sneered. This was Arcana, after all. A place where money alone reigned supreme.
But my eyes weren't on them. They were on the guards.
These were no ordinary security.
Powerhouses on the level of great warriors or knights. According to the setting, every last one of them was a regular knight of the City of Arcana.
It might seem strange for honorable knights to stand around as casino security, but in this game, every major city was its own separate monarchy. Rules and customs differed from city to city. Arcana had its own laws, its own way of doing things.
"Welcome."
And the important part was this: the next person in line after the man who'd just gone flying was me. Isabella and I could just as easily end up launched by those same guards.
"To enter the casino, a deposit of ten thousand gold is required. Collateral is, of course, accepted."
The administrator behind the glass wall offered a pleasant smile.
Ten thousand gold in deposit. But the cash I had on hand didn't even reach three hundred gold.
Washing up and buying clothes cost fifty gold.
Exactly two hundred fifty gold left. You couldn't walk into a casino covered in blood, after all. Cash was hopelessly short. That left collateral.
Even the deposit you put down at the door sorts people by level.
I had plenty I could put up as collateral. As Isabella had said, handing over the amber dagger alone would fetch at least thirty thousand gold. The administrator possessed a high-grade skill that assessed the true value of every item by default.
Ten thousand gold — or collateral of equivalent worth — was the bare minimum for entry, and even then the amount of collateral further divided guests into tiers. Collateral was never treated as game currency. It was nothing more than a measuring stick for a guest's "level" — a way to separate those who could casually entrust enormous physical assets from those who could not.
"Sir? Do you have nothing?"
The guards took a step closer.
"If you don't, get out of the way already!"
"Can't you see the line? Let us through!"
"Ugh, a bunch of beggars. Wasting everyone's time."
The people waiting in line erupted in anger. Two people in a row dragging things out had the crowd howling — every one of them itching to get inside and spin a slot machine as soon as possible.
The administrator's eyes raked me up and down.
Lower-grade everyday clothes bought at the market for thirteen gold. Nothing else that looks remotely valuable. The woman with him is fairly pretty, but that's about it.
The administrator sighed inwardly. Today seemed unusually full of unqualified guests — the kind of people who ought to be spreading a mat at the marketplace and gambling there instead of here. Too many of them, and the casino's reputation suffered. Hudson might have the freest atmosphere among the three great casinos, but even so, this was getting out of hand.
Time to make an example of them.
Anyone who still stood there after watching the previous man go flying was a hard case. They needed a harsher lesson. Beat them half to death somewhere out of sight, and they'd never set foot near the place again.
"Security—"
"This should cover it."
Just as the guards lunged, the man — me — casually produced something from his coat. The administrator tilted his head as he examined the object.
This is…?
He couldn't place it. The moment he activated his Appraisal skill, his eyes bulged as if they might pop from his skull.
"…I will escort you to the VIP suite. Casino Hudson sincerely welcomes you."
The administrator and the guards who had been about to pounce both folded their hands respectfully.
"Please allow us to guide you through the exclusive entrance for distinguished guests."
"This way. Make way, make way!"
The guards' attitude flipped completely, their movements crisp and coordinated. They shoved aside the people blocking the path and carved out an entirely new route — a spectacle that looked for all the world like Moses parting the sea.
"VIP?"
"W-what…?"
The people still waiting in line could only gape, staring blankly as we ascended not through the ordinary entrance but through the exclusive one reserved for honored guests.
The top floor of the casino. As we stepped into the space reserved exclusively for distinguished guests, Isabella turned to me with a dubious look.
"…What exactly did you put up as collateral?"
"The Fairy Queen's Tear. It's a talisman."
I answered as if it were nothing. Isabella's confusion only deepened.
"A talisman is an artifact used to refine weapons, is it not? But no matter how fine a talisman it is, receiving this kind of treatment for a single one…"
"Is impossible. Yes."
Even the finest talisman struggled to command a value above a million gold. Purely in terms of market price, a Teleport Book would fetch more — the demand was simply higher. But this was Casino Hudson.
Hudson. He's definitely a Player.
Gamers had flowed into the game and become NPCs. I'd never imagined they were real people, mistaking their interference for the game's freedom of choice. But if they weren't NPCs — if they were real — then the owner of this place, Hudson, was almost certainly someone synchronized with reality. Ninety-nine percent odds.
Hudson collects talismans. Of course a rare one would catch his eye.
Hudson was a Great Merchant. With pitiful combat power and no real talent to speak of, he was scheming to grow stronger through talismans. Some of them removed equipment restrictions on weapons, or granted talent where none existed. Naturally, the Fairy Queen's Tear fit those conditions perfectly.
It was the kind of item that might drop once if you slaughtered roughly ten thousand of the Fairy Queen's Knights — a quasi-Raid Boss monster. And more than that… it was almost certainly one of the talismans Hudson wanted most.
The most approachable of the ones I'm sure about. For cutting off variables, nobody beats Hudson.
I was curious about their stories — the ones who'd become NPCs. About the information Hudson held. And among those I was certain of, Hudson was the easiest to reach.
But before making contact with him, first things first.
"I should spin the roulette."
Whirrrrr!
A ball spun across the great circular wheel. Roulette — bet high, low, odd, or even, and win if the ball lands on a matching number from one to fifty.
"Go in! Go in!"
"Stop!"
The crowd roared, eyes locked on the ball. Ting, tiding! It bounced this way and that, utterly impossible to predict. Then it dropped cleanly into the pocket marked 48.
"He—he hit it again?"
"What the hell is that guy?"
Every gaze in the room swung toward a single point: the mountain of gold piled in front of one man.
"He started with two hundred fifty gold — how much is that already?"
"One million three hundred twenty thousand already?"
"No. He just put down ten gold bars, so that's one million four hundred twenty thousand now!"
"Insane. Is he the god of gambling?"
Three hundred coins stamped with the central bank's seal, each worth a hundred gold. Twenty gold balls worth a thousand gold apiece. One hundred twenty-seven gold bars worth ten thousand gold each. All told, one million three hundred twenty thousand gold sat stacked before the man.
In the VIP suite, that kind of sum wasn't unheard of. The problem was that he'd started with a mere two hundred fifty gold.
As expected of Golden Grace.
I allowed myself a small smile. One million three hundred twenty thousand was the amount before the bet. The hundred-thousand-gold wager had paid off, bringing the total to one million four hundred twenty thousand. A true jackpot.
All thanks to betting on the highest-probability outcome, courtesy of Golden Grace.
Golden Grace
Displays probability whenever money is at stake. Accuracy increases with sample size — and few places offer a larger sample than a gambling hall.
Dismay settled over the dealer's face. It wasn't just me who'd won — everyone who'd bet alongside me had cleaned up too. And they hadn't merely won a little. They'd swept up thousands of times their stakes. By tomorrow, I'd probably be on every casino's blacklist.
"S-sir. Any further…"
The dealer, staring down catastrophic losses, looked ready to cry. Guards clamped their hands on my shoulders a moment later. The message was clear: you've won enough — stop. Even in a VIP suite that required a million gold or more in collateral, losses on this scale were devastating. They'd tried to catch me cheating somewhere along the way, but they couldn't find a thing.
"You may keep everything you've won. However, you are no longer permitted to enter Casino Hudson."
In the end, they had no choice but to send me out. The guards closed in around me. Push any further, and I risked not only losing my winnings but my life. Isabella's eyes sharpened as she scanned the room, ready for a fight.
"Enough. He is my guest."
At that moment, a man descending from an even higher floor spoke to the guards. They snapped to attention and bowed their heads. The people nearby began murmuring, clearly recognizing him. Paying none of it any mind, he walked straight toward me, extended a hand, and opened his mouth.
"A pleasure to meet you. I am Hudson, the owner of this casino. If it wouldn't be too forward — would you care to join me for a cup of tea?"
…Hudson.
The master of this casino, and almost certainly a real human being from the other side.
The first thing that caught my eye was the level floating above Hudson's head. But as always, nothing beyond the level was visible. Which raised the question — could Hudson see my level the same way I saw his?
Other NPCs couldn't see my level. Whether that was a Player privilege or an ability unique to me, I still couldn't say for certain. If it was a Player privilege, would Hudson recognize me as one of his own?
More than that — I'd just caused this much of a scene. How would he react?
I had to find out by colliding with him head-on. And for that reason alone, even I couldn't help but tense up in that moment.