The Gambler's Den
"I'm going to show you the world of adults now, you hear?" Hahaha— Mitchell laughed, baring her teeth. It was a crude laugh, one that never suited an elf, no matter how many times I heard it. We wandered the streets of Garden for a while before ducking into a dark, secluded alleyway.
"You probably never dreamed a place like this existed in a frontier town."
"Wow— it's like a secret hideout."
It was a hidden underground market, a place whose existence an outsider wouldn't even be able to guess. The goods for sale were suspicious, and the eyes of the passersby were gloomy. Unlike the main streets, there was no soliciting here. Just silent gazes and the simple exchange of money for goods.
'I knew she'd bring me here.'
The Garden Black Market. It was a place I had occasionally visited in the game. Though, Flora’s purpose here was likely something other than black-market trading.
"Welcome to the banquet of the night, my beautiful ladies," Mitchell said, pointing to the entrance of a shop with an exaggerated gesture. It was a shop draped in black curtains, making it impossible to peek inside—it looked suspicious at a glance. Of course, as I had expected, it was a gambling den.
"Banquet of the night, my foot. The sun is shining bright outside right now."
When I chided her, Mitchell narrowed her brows. "Don't be so tacky, picking at every little thing, okay? Just forget it and let's go in."
Pushed by Mitchell, we entered the gambling den.
"You said you'd pay for everything, right?" I made sure to get that confirmation first. I had planned to visit a gambling den at least once anyway. There was no reason to refuse when I could play to my heart's content with someone else's money.
"Don't you worry. Since I'm the one who brought you, I'm obviously responsible for the war chest. Now, now, what shall we do first—" Mitchell rubbed her hands together and scanned the room. Her eyes were already flooded with dopamine, even though she hadn't placed a single bet yet. Those were the eyes of a complete gambling addict. It wasn't hard to predict the ending she would soon face. Mitchell would only be able to leave this place after she was completely penniless. Well, Mitchell's circumstances weren't my concern. I had to look out for my own interests.
I had no intention of willingly handing my money over to a gambling den. Cards, dice, roulette—what should I use to make a killing?
"You must be first-timers. As a sign of welcome, I'll offer you a drink, ladies."
A crow serving in the den approached and offered us glasses.
"How much is it?"
"Oh, it's all free. Please, enjoy yourselves to the fullest. We provide unlimited drinks and snacks for as long as you stay in our establishment."
Flora’s eyes went wide. Compared to the grand casinos of the big cities, this was a pathetic, low-rent gambling den, but it seemed they still followed the basic principles. The first of those grand principles: Hook the sucker. If you do that, they are bound to cough up every cent they have. The free drinks and snacks were just bait for that.
"Wow— this drink is sweet, Estelle-ssi. You should try a glass."
"I'm fine."
"It's delicious, though—" Flora sipped the fruit wine and giggled.
'She needs to experience the world at least once, anyway.'
Flora would learn a valuable lesson here. That there is no such thing as a free favor in this world. That gambling is the shortcut to ruin. Of course, it was Mitchell's money being lost, not mine. If that hadn't been the case, I would never have brought her to a gambling den.
"Then let's meet back here in two hours. You two better not lose everything before then, okay?" Mitchell, whose spending habits had grown reckless upon entering the den, handed out the money. "If you have any questions, call me. I'll be over there playing."
Perhaps impatient, Mitchell hurried off, and as soon as she finished speaking, she ran straight to the card tables.
Flora and I wandered the den as we pleased. Flora seemed hooked on the snail races; she couldn't take her eyes off the track.
"Seonbae, is it fun?"
"I'm not sure if it's 'fun,' but— I just find myself mindlessly cheering when I watch them."
Flora squatted in front of the snail race track, watching the slow-crawling snails endlessly. 'It's a slow-paced game, so she won't lose it all that quickly.' A quick glance showed that Flora wasn't betting much per round. Five hundred gold, maybe a thousand at most. It was a stingy bet. It was gambling just for the sake of fun, literally. Since she was enjoying it in a relatively healthy way, there was no need for me to interfere.
'Then, shall I play my own game?'
I headed to the dice table first.
"Come on, come on, everyone bet to your heart's content. If you don't know the rules, I'll explain them simply. Even an idiot can understand it after listening for one minute."
Clack, clack— the crow shook the dice in the cup rhythmically, building the excitement. As the crow said, this game was simple. It was a game of competing with the combinations made by rolling three dice. I didn't need to worry about the other gamblers; I only had to beat the crow's hand. And I had a way to manipulate the dice without anyone noticing.
'I guess there isn't a crow here who's well-versed in magic.'
I quietly shook the cup and infiltrated it with my mana. Telekinesis. The secret technique of a mage, manipulating the dice inside the cup without touching it. It was a scam that worked even in the big gambling dens of the capital. There was no one in this backwater village of Garden who could stop me.
"Oho— you've got good luck. You're a tough opponent."
"Yahoo!"
When the dice landed with three 1s lined up, the eyes of the other gamblers converged at once. 1, 1, 1. The strongest hand in the dice game. The crow narrowed his eyes slightly, wary of this lucky guy.
"Hmm, I beat this person, and I beat this one too..."
The crow nimbly collected the gold coins and paid out the winnings. "I lost to you, miss."
Twelve hundred gold coins returned to me. My hand was 4, 5, 6. It was a fairly strong hand, but not the strongest. 'This level is just right.' The point to be careful of in a rigged game isn't just making a strong hand. 'You must not invite suspicion.' Win moderately, lose moderately. You shouldn't win too much. The house is always watching the customers with the eyes of a hawk. If you get on the blacklist, in the worst case, you'll be beaten to a pulp and kicked out. So, I funneled the winning hand to another gambler next to me. It was a form of aggro management.
"What kind of day is it? The dice are going crazy!" the lucky guy laughed brightly. But while he was losing his mind over the streak of good luck, a sinister shadow fell over the crow's eyes. The crow was blatantly staring only at the lucky guy's hands.
"You're something else, pal."
The crow, having lost repeatedly to the lucky guy, was so incensed that he didn't even pay attention to me. It was going according to plan. I finished the dice game after about thirty minutes. The final score was +6,200 gold. It was harder to carefully adjust my profits without inviting suspicion than it was to win.
Next was card gambling. This time, I used Clairvoyance to peek at my opponent's hand and run the game. +5,200 gold. Then another card game. This time, I lost a little to avoid suspicion. -2,300 gold. Then the ladder game. I lost another thousand gold there. Finally, at the roulette table, I used Telekinesis to manipulate the ball and won quite a bit. +21,500 gold.
"Whoaaaa!"
"It stopped right there!"
"I told you every time, bet on 7!"
For the final roulette bet, I deliberately manipulated the ball to stop on number 7, the lucky number where many people had placed their money. Since many others besides me had hit the jackpot, they wouldn't find it suspicious.
"Today's my day! Bet, bet!"
"Let's multiply it tenfold."
Excited people re-bet the money they had just earned. Do they believe that the Goddess of Luck is watching over them with a benevolent smile today? In the end, there is no happy ending in gambling. It is an antlion pit itself, where you are sucked dry until the very last drop. 'Then, I should quietly slip away.' I slipped out quietly from among the cheering people.
Two hours had passed in the blink of an eye. I had had my fill of fun, and I had earned a decent amount of money without drawing the attention of the den. Now, after reuniting with my party members, all that remained was to grab the rare item I could find here, and my goals would be fully achieved.
"Ugh, damn it..."
When I met Mitchell again, she was wearing a tearful expression. I didn't have to ask; I could guess the result just by looking at her face.
"If only a spade had come up at the end, I would have taken it all. Driving me crazy— kid, how about you?"
"I just broke even."
"I figured as much." Mitchell grinned. "What about Flora?"
"She was watching the snail races earlier."
"Is that fun? Ugh, they're so slow, it's frustrating just to watch."
We moved to the front of the snail race track. Flora was sitting quietly in a squat, motionless amidst the heat of the gambling den. Her calm eyes were impressive. She had the face of a hermit who had transcended the world of money, desire, and competition.
"How's it going?"
When Mitchell tapped her shoulder, Flora finally came to her senses and turned around.
"Oh— I'm sorry. I was watching the snails and didn't even notice you coming."
"We lost everything. Flora, you're the same, right?"
"I won a little."
Flora smiled brightly. Flora took her wallet out from her bosom. 'What is that size?' The wallet was bulging as if it were about to burst. It looked heavy at a glance.
"Seonbae, how much did you win?"
"Oh— there was so much I haven't counted it yet— roughly fifty thousand?"
"Fi, fifty thousand?" Mitchell's jaw dropped.
"At first I bet two hundred, then a thousand, and when I got a strong feeling— I bet five thousand, ten thousand, and somehow I won this much."
She had won fifty thousand gold in two hours. And she was a beginner who had never gambled in her life. Suddenly, a scenario formed in my head. 'Is it a weight-increasing spell?' An enchantment spell that makes the target's weight heavier. It was the last spell Flora had learned from the basics of magic. Just as I had cheated incessantly with Telekinesis and Clairvoyance, had Flora used magic too? If she had used magic to make the other snails slower than the one she bet on...
"Yes? Magic? No? I just cheered for them. 'Snails, do your best— don't give up— you don't have to be first, just finish the race—' like that."
When I asked, Flora shook her head with an innocent face. Well, she couldn't lie. And the idea of deceiving a gambling den with magic would be beyond her. It meant it was true that she had honestly won that fortune by luck.
'A terrifying child...!'
Mitchell and I exchanged silent glances.