How to Multiply Money
Four million livres.
Having lived as a mercenary in my past life, I had a sharp sense of money. Since roughly one hundred thousand livres was a typical peasant's annual income, four million livres was an amount a commoner would have to save for a lifetime without spending a single copper to amass.
But Viktor Otto had already proven his talent without reservation as my adversary in my past life. I could easily part with four million livres as an investment in him with a smile.
If I thought of it as the price to shave away the Archduke of Demonic Magic's future military strength, it wasn't even that much of a waste.
There was just one problem, though...
I don't have any money either.
I was the son-in-law of the Benheim family.
No matter how prestigious the Benheim family was, and despite the immense wealth they had accumulated, it was difficult for a mere son-in-law like me to secure that kind of cash on short notice.
So, for now, I returned to our lodgings. Stern and Arno had gone to the Imperial Magic Tower and hadn't returned yet. The only one left was a golden-haired woman yawning sleepily in a half-dazed state.
My fiancée, Lunia Erahan von Benheim.
"Lunia."
"Hmm?"
"Do you have any money?"
"Money? Why? Did you want to buy some snacks? If that was the case, you should've taken me with you. There are so many things I wanted to eat too."
Lunia asked, tilting her head. She then opened her purse, saying she had plenty of money for something like snacks, and handed me a ten-thousand-livre check.
Even this was a substantial sum of money. But this wouldn't be nearly enough.
"Well... to be honest, the amount I need is a bit larger than that."
"Well, how much are you planning to spend?"
"About four million."
"..."
Lunia's eyes narrowed.
"Raygan, were you in debt by any chance? Did you marry into the Benheim family just to pay off your debts? My, my! You've finally revealed your true colors!"
Lunia's words were entirely in jest, but since it was a fact that I had owed her a debt as a mercenary in my past life, I couldn't bring myself to laugh.
Seeing my serious expression, Lunia's face gradually stiffened.
"R-really? Raygan, were you actually in debt?"
"Don't worry. It's nothing like what you're thinking. I just have somewhere to invest."
"An investment? Why a sudden investment? Real estate? If it's that, talk to my father. And what kind of investing are you doing at your age?"
Lunia's point was reasonable.
In truth, it might have been better to explain the situation to Stern. If I told him the mage who gave me the pendant had foretold it, he would probably accept it. However, if the head of the Benheim family personally stepped in, it would draw unnecessary attention.
Who knew? The Archduke of Demonic Magic might try to contact Viktor separately.
That was certainly not something I wanted.
"I have my reasons. I'd like to keep this a secret from Lord Stern."
"Even if you have your reasons... Hmmm..."
Lunia groaned softly. She pulled a stack of checks from her wallet.
"Even with what I have on me right now, five hundred thousand is the absolute limit."
Five hundred thousand livres.
As expected of a direct descendant of a prestigious magic family, her scale of spending was on another level. I pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"Good. That should be enough."
"You said four million earlier."
"I just need to multiply it. I'll borrow it for a bit. I'll return the principal."
"No, Raygan. I'm coming with you," Lunia interjected.
She wore her signature mischievous smile.
"I'm curious to see where my husband-to-be is going to squander all that money."
"..."
Being nosy was both Lunia's strength and weakness. After a brief hesitation, I nodded.
"Weren't you tired?"
"I just slept, so I'm wide awake now. You're the one who covered me with the blanket, right?"
"Something like that."
"You do know it's rude to look at a sleeping lady's face, right?"
"I don't see any lady here."
"..."
Lunia glared at me, so I chuckled and clasped my hands in a mock apology.
"Come on out. Let's go."
"Where are we going at this hour?"
"Well..."
It was probably better to tell the truth here.
"The casino."
I am a regressor.
Having returned from nine years in the future, I knew the major events of the continent like the back of my hand.
In other words, I could think of more ways to multiply money than I could count on both hands.
But every single one of those methods required a significant amount of time.
Even if I discover a mana stone mine, I'd still need the capital to excavate it.
In the end, there was only one way to multiply money rapidly right now.
"Gambling."
I had to go to a casino and turn five hundred thousand livres into four million livres overnight.
An 800% return.
It seemed impossible, but for me, it was entirely feasible.
"...Raygan."
Upon hearing my plan, Lunia's amethyst eyes grew deeply conflicted.
"...Were you a gambler?"
If I had to summarize Lunia's expression in one sentence, it would be: I didn't think you were that kind of person.
Disappointment was written all over her face.
After all, what woman would be happy to hear her husband was going to gamble? I quickly made an excuse.
"It's not like that. Back in my mercenary days, I was dragged along and tried it a few times."
"...And what happened?"
"I got kicked out."
"Kicked out? Why?"
"I won too much."
Since then, most gambling dens on the continent had banned the wandering mercenary, Raygan.
Well, it was just the folly of youth.
As I smiled bitterly at the memory, Lunia pulled her robe low over her head and muttered grumpily.
"Hmph. You're definitely a gambler."
"..."
It was hard to deny, so I just scratched the back of my head. Lunia let out a soft chuckle.
"Well, it sounds fun, so I'm in. Since we're in the capital anyway, I might as well spend some of the allowance I saved up."
Fortunately, Lunia wasn't someone with an overly rigid moral compass.
If anything, her purple eyes sparkled with interest at the word 'casino.'
With that, we slipped out of our lodgings and headed to the meeting place.
In the dark back alley, an anxious-looking Viktor was pacing around. The moment he saw me, his face brightened and he rushed over, only to freeze when he spotted Lunia standing beside me.
"Who is this?"
Lunia also tilted her head and asked me.
Explaining Viktor would take too long, so I brushed it off vaguely.
"Uh... he's basically like a servant. A porter."
"A porter? He looks like a mage."
"Mages who carry luggage exist too."
I gave Viktor a look. His face contorted with a sense of injustice, but it was clear who held the upper hand. Viktor reluctantly nodded.
We headed straight for the entertainment district of the Imperial Capital Orellion.
The streets were illuminated as bright as day by brilliant magical lights.
In the center of the street stood the largest and most luxurious building, adorned with a sign featuring a spinning golden roulette. That casino was our destination.
"We will conduct a brief inspection."
A burly man standing at the entrance blocked our path. He waved a long, rod-like object over our bodies. The gem at the tip of the rod glowed faintly.
"Raygan, what's that?"
"It's a magic detector. It checks if we're carrying any artifacts or illegal magic tools."
"Ah."
Lunia examined the detector from various angles, fascinated.
"You may enter."
Now it was time to sign the guest registry. I wrote Viktor's name as our representative and used aliases for Lunia and myself.
There was absolutely no benefit to leaving the name Benheim in a place like this.
As we stepped inside the casino, a whole new world unfolded before us.
"Whoaaaa—!"
Deafening cheers and the crisp clinking of chips filled the air.
Some cheered as they swept up piles of chips, while others clutched their heads in despair.
Much like a battlefield, a casino was a place where all human emotions swirled together at once.
Perhaps that was why, as someone who had once spent his life on battlefields, casinos weren't particularly appealing to me.
"Wow..."
On the other hand, it was entirely foreign to Lunia, who stared around with wide eyes. For Lunia, who had grown up like a greenhouse flower within the Benheim estate, this chaotic energy seemed to be quite a fresh shock.
"This is amazing. There are so many people."
"Lunia, no time to sightsee. We need to hit hard and get out fast."
"Why?"
"Because we're about to win a massive fortune."
Four million livres. We had to multiply our money nearly tenfold.
Our best bet was to reach our target amount and vanish as quickly as possible before the casino caught on.
"You're not... going to use magic or anything, right?" Lunia whispered anxiously.
"Of course not. See those crystals embedded in the ceiling? Those are all detection mana stones."
"Really?"
"Yeah. So if you use magic here, you'll get caught instantly."
In my past life, I had seen countless foolish mages get their wrists severed for trying to pull tricks to make a quick fortune at casinos. Because of the massive sums of money involved, the security here was tighter than in most magic towers.
I quickly scanned the casino floor. Card games, dice, slot machines... There were various options, but my steps were headed toward a specific destination.
"Argh! Odd again?!"
"Dammit! Just one slot! It was off by just one slot!"
"Change the dealer! I swear that bastard is using sleight of hand! Ah, fuck!"
The place where the crowd was thickest.
A machine where a large wheel spun and a white ball rolled along its rim.
"Roulette."
For now, this was the fastest way to multiply our money.
Viktor Otto was more than a little bewildered.
Because the place Raygan had brought him to invest was none other than a casino.
Don't tell me... he plans to invest using money won here?
It was absurd.
A casino was not a charity. It was a business operated on strictly calculated house edges. Striking it rich overnight was a dream reserved for fantasists. Or perhaps a bait laid out by the casino itself.
Perhaps because of this, Viktor couldn't help but wonder if Raygan was a fraud after all.
Doubts began to bloom that saving him from the back alley, the name Benheim, and the demonstration of Rune Magic were all a lie.
But the moment he saw the golden-haired woman who had followed him out of the building, Viktor had no choice but to cast his doubts aside.
Golden hair and mysterious violet eyes. There was no other family in the Empire with such features.
She was unmistakably of the Benheim bloodline.
Come to think of it...
Viktor recalled a recent rumor that the Benheim family had taken in a son-in-law.
Could that son-in-law be...
Viktor nodded as he looked at Raygan's back. If his guess was correct, it meant the prestigious magic family Benheim was investing in his research.
Even if it was suspicious, he had to follow along for now.
Viktor followed Raygan, and soon they arrived in front of the roulette table.
"Here we are."
Countless people were swallowing hard as they watched the spinning wheel.
Raygan placed a heavy pouch of chips he had received from the exchange counter onto the table, then called out to Viktor.
"Viktor. Pick a number."
"Pardon?"
"Any number from 1 to 36. Just pick one."
"M-me, sir?"
Viktor asked back, flustered.
"Yeah. It's your investment money. You should be the one to choose. Who else would?"
"B-but... I've never even gambled before..."
"It doesn't matter. It's fine if we lose. Don't worry and just pick."
Raygan's attitude was incredibly nonchalant. Was he not afraid when such a massive sum of money was on the line?
Viktor broke into a cold sweat as he stared at the roulette layout. So many numbers. There was no way to know which one would hit.
"Hurry up. Betting is closing soon."
"Ugh."
In the end, Viktor pointed to a number that others were betting on.
"T-then... I'll go with number 7."
"Number 7. Lucky number."
Raygan chuckled, pulled a high-value fifty-thousand-livre chip from the pouch, and tossed it onto the number 7 slot.
"F-fifty thousand...! Isn't that too much?!"
Viktor cried out in horror. Fifty thousand livres was a fortune that Viktor could barely amass even if he starved himself for months while conducting research.
"If fifty thousand is too much, how do you expect to receive four million?"
Raygan spoke mockingly, crossing his arms.
The dealer then rang the bell.
"No more bets."
—Clack-clack-clack.
The wheel spun, and the white ball bounced along.
Viktor chased the ball's movement, unable to breathe. But the ball heartlessly skipped past 7 and was sucked into the number 23 pocket.
"23, Red."
With the dealer's dry announcement, the chip Raygan had bet was swept away.
"Ah."
In an instant, a fortune of fifty thousand livres evaporated. Viktor's legs gave out, and he nearly collapsed to the floor.
"Hmm. Close one."
Far from showing any regret over losing the money, Raygan simply gestured with his chin toward Viktor again.
"Next round. Viktor, pick another number."
"N-no, please. I... I can't do this. Please..."
"Do it."
Raygan demanded again with a chilling expression, and Viktor, with no other choice, picked another number.
"Number 12..."
"Good."
This time, Raygan bet one hundred thousand livres.
The result was the same.
The ball didn't even go near 12.
A whopping one hundred and fifty thousand livres had vanished in just a few minutes.
Viktor's research budget for half a year had disappeared into thin air. His complexion turned pale as ash.
"Please, stop. I don't need the investment anymore... No more of this..."
At this rate, instead of being chased by loan sharks, he was going to end up with an astronomical debt to the Benheim family.
He felt it would be better to give up on golems and research altogether.
"No, it's fine. That's enough."
Leaving the pleading Viktor behind, Raygan chuckled.
"...E-enough?"
What on earth was enough about this? Hadn't he just lost a massive sum of money?
As Viktor frowned, Raygan shrugged and spoke.
"I've read it all now."
"Pardon?"
Before Viktor could even ask what he meant, Raygan lifted the entire remaining pouch of chips.
Roughly three hundred and fifty thousand livres.
Without a moment's hesitation, Raygan placed that massive pile of chips onto a single number.
Which meant...
"A-all in?"
Viktor felt like he was about to faint.