The Goddess of Luck
“Today doesn’t seem to be my day, James.”
“I’m sure you’ll have your chance too, Mr. Tony. Thank you for lending me the Goddess of Luck.”
“……”
Clack. Clack.
In front of James, a towering stack of chips kept growing.
“You can rebuy.”
At the dealer’s words, the two of them each topped up another million dollars, and Tony also raised his short stack by another million.
“Wow. This is getting fun again.”
After that, a few players lost everything, got up from the table, and were replaced by new ones. Even so, the stack in front of James did not shrink. It did not grow either.
“Looks like luck’s come my way this time, just like James said.”
That was because Tony had taken the chips others lost. In front of him, just as many chips were piled up as in front of James. During the game, Tony had rebought for four million dollars, but he was still sitting on even more chips than that.
“……”
James checked the hole cards dealt to him, then turned to Tony beside him.
“Tony. When is it time to stop?”
He was asking back the very words Tony had once given him as advice.
“Oh. That’s a very good question.”
Tony also slipped a glance at his own hidden card and answered.
“I’m sure this isn’t the hand.”
“Haha.”
But that hand was Tony’s last chance.
No, Tony. This was the last chance I was giving you.
Because James was reading every card in the deck the dealer dealt, he knew exactly what kind of hand Tony would end up with once the last hidden card was revealed.
Tony will complete a ten full house.
The other players would end up with worse hands, while James knew he himself would hold a queen full house.
Tony. You’d be better off folding now.
James’s chips went onto the table.
“Raise, one million.”
Clack.
“Ho. If James is coming for a fight, I can’t back down. Raise, two million.”
Clack.
Everyone except one player folded to the two of them.
“Fold.”
“Fold.”
“Two million… call.”
Clack.
It was James’s turn again to fold, call, or raise further. He frowned, thought it over for a moment, then pushed his chips in.
“All in.”
Seeing James go all in, Tony knew he was a little short and said, “I’m a bit short. Dealer, can you count my chips?”
“Just a moment.”
The dealer then announced that Tony’s chips totaled six million dollars, and James adjusted his stack accordingly. With a two-million-dollar raise followed by the all-in, the two of them had pushed a staggering sixteen million dollars into the pot.
“Thank you, James. I’m in too.”
“...I’ll risk everything I have as well.”
The last player was a little short of Tony, but still forced himself into the hand. Thanks to that, the pot had now swelled to twenty million dollars in total through the raises so far.
“I’m taking the last bit of luck, Tony.”
James turned over his hand.
“Queen full house.”
“...Ha.”
Tony could see that his own full house was beaten.
“Was it time to stand up and walk away?”
“Probably.”
“I guess I lost the chance just like James did.”
“Maybe it’s proof that Tony is still young.”
It meant he had missed his chance to stop because he was still young, and that was something only Tony and James would have understood.
“Hahaha.”
With that game over, no further poker could be played. There were no players left.
“I’ll leave the cash-out to you.”
James tipped the dealer chips worth two thousand dollars.
“I’ll make sure it can be collected at the cage.”
“Thank you.”
Then he left the VIP poker room with Tony, who was already getting up from his seat.
“Hmph. So I’m getting my own advice thrown back at me.”
“I only won today because of Tony. Everyone saw your chips and came running.”
Tony’s presence had affected more than just the casino. Because Tony, one of the big players in Las Vegas, had joined the game, the others had rushed in with hungry eyes. Thanks to that, James had been able to win the poker game with ease.
Of course, even if it hadn’t been you, my victory wouldn’t have changed...
Still, Tony had been someone who did not spare advice for his sake, and someone James would need to build a relationship with in the future.
“That doesn’t make today’s loss go away. I got a little too carried away.”
Tony had started with a million dollars in chips and rebought for an additional four million. He had built his stack up to eight million at one point, but after losing everything to James, he had dropped five million dollars in a single night.
“I don’t think that’ll leave much of a dent in your enormous assets.”
“No. It’s a pretty deep dent. I just lost a month’s pocket money.”
“Hahaha.”
James laughed loudly in front of the defeated Tony, deliberately getting under his skin.
“Oh. James. You really came here determined to make me angry today, didn’t you?”
“If I’ve upset Tony, then I can’t very well fail to apologize. Would you spare me a moment?”
“……”
Tony folded his arms and glared, wondering what James was plotting.
“The Goddess of Luck is with me today, Tony. Give me the chance to return her to you.”
“Hah!”
It was a hollow laugh, but there was permission in it too.
“Let me settle the chips at the cage first. Then I’ll go to the restaurant you own in front of the hotel.”
Tony owned a hotel in Las Vegas, along with famous local restaurants and a California winery.
“...I’ll wait.”
“See you again.”
* * *
“……”
The new general manager was frowning hard beside James as he cashed out his chips.
CEO Philip had been hoping James would lose a lot of chips...
But instead of losing, James had walked out of the casino with more than twenty million dollars’ worth of chips, having started with only one and a half million.
“Thanks. I enjoyed myself. Diamond Casino really is something special.”
“...Don’t come back.”
“The casino didn’t take any loss today, did it?”
“……”
Poker was a matter between players, and had nothing to do with the casino. But that did not mean it was entirely unrelated.
“It’s been a while since Tony came by...”
Since Tony, a Las Vegas magnate and a poker specialist, had lost big, it was obvious that other VIPs would be reluctant to come to the casino too.
“Ah. That part’s my fault too, I suppose.”
“Because of you, the other VIPs may never set foot in our casino again.”
“But isn’t the opposite more likely?”
“What?”
“How many casinos in the world can let you win twenty million dollars at poker? Once this gets around, I imagine pro poker players from all over America will come flocking here.”
“...Hm. That could happen.”
The same was true for slot machines. If word spread that a jackpot had hit, the effect tended to linger for a while.
“I’ll come back later. By then, Diamond Casino will have grown even more.”
“...We’ll see.”
As James left the casino, he also handed Clark a tip.
“I got lucky today because of you.”
“Wow. A three-thousand-dollar tip?”
It was more than the two thousand dollars he had given the dealer.
“I won quite a lot.”
After tipping Clark as well, James headed for Tony’s restaurant.
* * *
“Tony. It’s even better seeing you a second time.”
“……”
Tony had looked bold and expansive at the casino, but in his own restaurant he wore a face like he’d swallowed something bitter. The five million dollars he had lost at poker was an enormous sum even for him.
“We literally just parted ways... Sit down.”
“Hahaha.”
James still wore a bright expression.
“It’s pretty late tonight, isn’t it?”
It was late evening, so there were hardly any customers in the restaurant.
“I was just about to close the place. If I hadn’t said to keep it open because I wanted to use it for a little while, it would’ve been shut already.”
“As expected, there’s nothing Tony can’t do when he asks for it.”
“More to the point, why did you want to see me?”
“I told you I’d return your luck.”
“Hmph. That wasn’t a joke?”
“Why would it be?”
James pulled the clear crystal water glass sitting on the table toward him and turned it upside down.
Tap.
Then he placed one finger on top of it.
“Because you said you wanted this.”
“I wanted the glass? Have you forgotten that this is my restaurant?”
“Of course not. I know this glass belongs to Tony’s restaurant. What I meant was...”
James tapped the bottom of the overturned water glass with the tip of his finger, and something sprang up inside it. It was the sort of coin trick a magician often showed.
Cling.
“I wanted to give you this.”
“...A coin?”
A coin had appeared inside the crystal glass where nothing had been before, but since James was a magician, there was nothing impossible about it.
“Not just any coin.”
Rattle.
James slid the overturned glass toward Tony.
“Take a look.”
...He wants me to check this coin?
Tony frowned, picked up the glass, and lifted the coin inside it to his face.
“!”
This... this is...
Tony knew what this coin was.
How is this here...?
It was the very gold coin he had tried so hard to win at auction just yesterday. He had checked the design over and over in Sotheby’s pamphlet, so he remembered it clearly.
“Arthur’s gold coin! Am I right?”
“Correct.”
“D-did you win this at auction?”
“That doesn’t seem very important for the conversation we’re going to have next.”
“Why not!”
“Because I’m going to give this gold coin to Tony as a gift.”
“!!”
“The Goddess of Luck that Tony lost today has definitely been returned with this.”
“……”
Then James stood up as if he had nothing more to say.
If I try to get anything out of this, Tony will only become guarded.
James knew that if he wanted to build a relationship with Tony in the future, he needed unconditional goodwill.
“If you think about the chips Tony lost today, the coin’s value is more than enough, right?”
“……”
The chips Tony lost at the poker table were worth more than eight million dollars, but the actual cash he’d burned through was five million, so it was more than enough. If James had sold the coin to the British Museum and the Vatican for five million dollars, then it was only fair to think of it as having sold it to Tony for the same amount.
“You can have an expert confirm the coin’s authenticity if you like.”
“H-hey. James. Where are you going?”
“I focused too hard on poker today and I’m tired. I’m going back to the hotel to rest.”
“You’re just leaving after giving this to me?”
“Then did you think I was giving it to you because I wanted to sell it to you?”
“……”
You weren’t trying to sell it to me?
Tony was thrown into deep confusion by James’s words.
“By chance, I happened to have Arthur’s gold coin, and I happened to take all of Tony’s chips. Please think of this as my thanks to the Tony who gave me such valuable advice.”
“...So this is payment for a kindness?”
A gold coin that fetched seven million dollars at auction, for a few words of advice?
“You can think of it as repayment for lending me the Goddess of Luck too. Haha. The coin is pretty, isn’t it?”
For a moment Tony examined the coin, then looked up. What met his eyes was James’s back, as he walked out of the restaurant without a shred of regret.
“……”
James Anderson was being carved into Tony’s mind.
“I’d better verify whether it’s real first.”
But until it was confirmed genuine, he couldn’t believe it.