"That was surprisingly easy. It only took two punches to make you give in."
"Shu duced dhana! (You used mana!)"
"Yeah, and you use your hands to block. It's a punch bet, Kent. You don't block the punches of the punch bet. That's the rule."
"Snho jish snhot?! (No it's not?!)"
"Well, it is from now."
"Aai jonhly glocked cush zhu duced dhana! (I only blocked because you used mana!)"
"And that must've been hard for you. Now, toward becoming rich we go!"
As we wandered through the streets while navigating using GPS, I handed a bottle of healing potion to Kent.
His face was all swollen and messed up.
Heh. Maybe I enjoyed myself a little too much.
The city of Silveserine truly lived up to its name as the Silver City, with its glorious blend of modern and gothic architecture in the form of high-rise buildings.
Although Silveserine was primarily known as the City of Elves, I noticed other races, such as both humans and dwarves, also bustling up and down the streets.
What particularly caught my attention was the silver coloring of every building, which seemed to shimmer in the sunlight.
Additionally, tall trees were planted along the sidewalks, with green vines growing on the buildings.
I couldn't help but marvel at the sight of tree leaves falling down and covering the streets.
Despite their advanced magic technology, the Elves' love for nature as a race was clearly evident in the city's design, which incorporated natural elements with modern architecture.
The beautiful serene atmosphere of Silveserine left me entranced, and I–
Ahh, wait… Where are we?
I scrolled the holographic map up and down as I halted my steps. It showed that we had arrived in front of a casino.
However, there was no such thing in my sight?!
Oh no, are we lost again?
"Lucas, I want you to tell the truth. Are we lost again?"
After applying the healing potion to make his swollen face return to normal, Kent turned to me and asked.
"No, of course not."
I naturally lied.
"Haaa."
Taking in and letting out a short burst of breaths, Kent grabbed my smart bracelet and took a read at the holographic map.
"Lucas…"
"Y-Yes, Kent?"
"We have arrived at our destiny. The map says to look to your left. We are currently looking on our right."
"...?!"
Frowning, I spun around and… Yeah, there it was—Royal Cards casino.
Huh. So the map was right.
"Now tell me another truth, Lucas," Kent wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "How the fuck can you mix up between left and right when you have the intelligence stat above 180?!"
"I-I don't know, man!" I cried out. "It's hard for some people!"
Kent sighed helplessly and shook his head.
"I suppose so," he said. "Hey, by the way, we're heading to the casino, but be careful not to get addicted to gambling, okay? If I see it becoming a problem, I'll intervene and get you out of there like the true bro I am."
†
Three hours later,
"Kent please, just let it go man!"
"N-N-N-No! I'm so close to victory! I-I can feel it! I can feel the sweet taste of victory, Lucas! Just one more round, and I'll win!"
Three hours had passed since we entered the casino. Kent, who warned me about not succumbing to the addiction, was now acting like a deranged gambling addict.
He was sitting at a Seven-Toed Pete poker table, and I was standing behind him, observing everyone else sitting there.
Hearing his dejected voice, a beautiful Elven woman sitting beside him consoled him.
"Aww, it was a close call. You'll get it next time."
Close call my ass.
It is quite easy to identify pushovers like Kent. To me, it was blatantly obvious that everyone sitting at his table was working together to scam him.
Initially, they allowed him to win on purpose to get him hooked. After a few rounds, they alternated between letting him win and making him lose.
In recent rounds, however, Kent has been losing consistently. He has already lost all of his money in the last pot.
If he continues to play, he will go into debt.
I can't let that happen now, can I?
With an exasperated sigh, I shook my head. "Kent, get up."
"B-B-Bro, I can still play! Just one more round, and I'll get all the money back!"
No, you won't.
"You don't have the money to play on," I tried to reason with him.
But Kent derangedly looked at me and his eyes moved to my left hand. On my left hand, I was wearing one of my watches.
"T-That! Give me that! I'll take back all the money with it."
I quickly hid my hand behind my back before Kent could lunge at me to snatch my watch. "No, you'll lose this too!"
"Come on, man… Please don't do this to me! Give me that! I promise I'll share the money with you too!"
No, you'll definitely lose my watch too.
Shaking my head, I suggested, "Get up, Kent. I'll play the game from here."
Kent looked at me for a moment before hesitantly nodding his head. "Got get 'em, bro."
"Hehe, go easy on us."
The Elven woman sitting right next to him said to me in a playful teasing tone.
"Yeah, come. It'll be fun."
"Hahahaha! Playing with rich kids is always fun."
All the other guys sitting at the table welcomed me to the game as I took Kent's seat.
Heh.
All of them are underestimating me.
Good. I want them to do that.
In gambling, there are only two ways you can win. Either cheat or leave everything on luck.
However, if your opponent is cheating, it would be stupid to wait for your luck to shine.
Although I don't know how these guys are cheating – or more precisely, I don't want to bother knowing, I'll just cheat myself.
With a smile, I summoned all the chips that I had cashed in at the counter of the casino.
I'll go all in and conquer this place.
Seeing the chips suddenly appearing in my hands as the smart bracelet on my right hand shined in an azure glow, a guy sitting across me frowned.
"A smart bracelet with dimensional storage?" he asked, looking at me. "Are you from Ethereal Academy too?"
Giving him a short glance, I found that he was around my age. Admittedly, he was handsome with a chiseled jaw, sharp brown eyes, and silver locks.
Nothing compared to me, of course.
"No," I shook my head. "We are from Global Academy."
"Ahh, I see," the guy nodded back. "I'm from the Ethereal Academy and my name is–"
"Didn't ask, don't care."
"....."
His previously handsome face went stiff, and nerves bulged up on his forehead as I cut off his introduction.
"Ahahaha!"
An old man with a beer belly sitting beside him laughed loudly like Santa as he patted his back.
After he was done laughing, the old man finally suggested, "Okay, let's start the game."
"Oh, one second," I raised my index finger before bringing out the Edit Pen from the dimensional storage of my smart bracelet.
"What's that for?" the elven woman right next to me voiced her curiosity.
"Just a good luck charm," I said.
Everyone shrugged, but in the next moment, we finally began the game.
