＜ 10. There are no bad dogs (4) ＞
“Now, the two gentlemen over there, please sit here in front and on the right! Ladies, would you like to sit here on the left?”
Trisha and Marco continued to hesitate, but Andrea sat down with a natural gait. In the end, the party had no choice but to follow Andrea to their seats as always.
The gambler’s offer. As you can tell by just hearing the name, it is an event in which you gamble according to the gambler’s suggestion.
If it weren’t for the trials, it wouldn’t be a bad event. Players can choose one of about 10 gambling or mini-games, so you can choose the one you are most confident in and play. If you don’t like it, it doesn’t matter if you just go.
[Trial stage 17: Certain events turn negative.]
. . However, players who passed level 17 of the ordeal had to spin the wheel and ‘must’ play one of the randomly selected games.
There are games where skill is important, and there are games where psychological warfare is important, but most of them are purely luck games. So, Andrea hoped to face this event when her ‘lucky’ stat was quite high.
‘Although I’ve already eaten since I’ve already come.’
A gambler who falsely raises the corners of his mouth and exposes his white teeth. He immediately took the large wheel behind him and put it on the table.
“It’s fate that we met like this, but it would be very sad if you didn’t play a game of gambling, right?”
“No, I don’t even know what you’re doing, and I’m not too sad about it…”
Trisha sighed with a sullen face. Despite the cold reaction, the gambler did not change his complexion.
“Come to think of it, it’s too late to formally introduce you. My name is Walter! I am the manager who runs the inn above and the gambling hall below! By the time you get tired from playing here, I’ll guide you to the inn!”
“…so we don’t have any particular intention to gamble…”
“Okay, then let’s quickly turn the wheel to see which game to play.”
Tricia glanced back at Andrea as if she was talking about something. Andrea blinked one eye. Still disapproving, Tricia kept her mouth shut and said no more.
If you refuse the gambler’s offer, you will suffer compulsory damage. The waiter boy in the back might throw a dagger, the stone wall could suddenly open and arrows could fly, or the gambler could use bizarre torture magic.
In any case, it was impossible to avoid it in the game, so it was Andrea’s idea to be extra careful in real life.
“Would you like to return it yourself? Or should I turn it?”
“Let me try to turn it myself.”
The gambler gladly gave Andrea a chance. Andrea grabbed the handle, paused for a moment, and then turned the wheel.
‘Please, don’t get caught on slot machines or draws…’
The games that Andrea wanted to avoid the most were games in which the player’s skill was determined purely by ‘luck’ without any room for intervention. On the other hand, I was confident about psychological warfare or games that require skill.
‘That gambler is probably the first time I’ve seen him, but I’ve seen him get sick of it.’
Everyone’s attention was focused on the spinning wheel. A wheel that gradually slows down. Narrowly past the slot machine, blackjack, and finally the place where the arrow landed…
As soon as Andrea confirmed what kind of gamble it was, a brilliant idea came to her mind.
‘Come to think of it, the gambler guy… had one thing in common with me, right?’
When he was Jung-hyeon, Andrea liked a certain gambling movie very much. Suddenly, I wondered if I could use one of the tricks from the movie.
There was no guarantee that gamblers would notice. But isn’t gambling always about walking a tightrope above the odds?
Andrea’s hand moved quickly to the deck. Without even looking, he carefully took out a card. After a while, Andrea frowned very slightly.
At that moment, the gambler’s gaze was sharply focused on Andrea. The mischievous and pleasant atmosphere is gone, but the fierce gaze that seems to see through all the opponents.
However, the gambler soon withdrew his gaze and calmly touched the wheel as if nothing had happened.
“It’s a rock! One of my favorite gambles! Honey, would you like to bring some cups and balls?”
While the waiter boy went to get things for the slump, Andrea looked at the gambler nervously.
‘Did I get caught?’
It was hard to see the expression the gambler had just shown because he hadn’t noticed anything.
Even so, the die has already been cast. Andrea raised her left hand from under the table and carefully covered the back of her right hand.
‘Please… don’t start a fight right now.’
Fortunately, the gambler didn’t bet on anything else. When the preparations were ready, the gambler put them all on the table and began to explain.
“Some of you may already know, but let me briefly explain the rules! I’m going to hide the ball in one of these three upside down cups. And a lot of these cups! I’ll mix it up. Originally, it is a gamble with only one person, but since you have a party, you can match the cup that looks like a ball through discussion!”
“No, that’s too unfair. I will do it alone.”
The gambler made a surprised expression. However, Andrea clearly noticed that it was smoke. The gambler opened his mouth in an exaggerated voice.
“Can you really do that?”
“of course. That’s why it’s fair.”
“Fair… yes, fair… that’s right. To be fair, that, crab, right, must, joe. Well sir. Let’s do it.”
Although they pretended to be calm, the atmosphere had already changed precariously, as if they were walking on thin ice.
Marco looked like he wanted to intervene, but Tricia, who noticed earlier, stopped him. It means to keep silent and watch what Andrea does.
The gambler wiggled his fingers proudly.
“If there is no stake, gambling is not fun, right? If you win your bet, we will give you special gifts depending on the stake you bet. How much would you like?”
“I don’t have much money with me. For now, 2,000 gold.”
“Oh, well, not too much, not too little, just right. So, do you have any special gifts you would like to have?”
“About 5 ordinary reinforcement tickets. I wonder if that would be enough.”
Card enhancement is not something that can only be done at the Holy Water Fountain. Cards can be strengthened by obtaining card enhancement vouchers through special events or shops. However, level 3 reinforcement was impossible with ordinary reinforcement rights.
The gambler put his chin on his face with a troubled face.
“…If you want to get 5 ordinary reinforcement tickets with 2,000 gold, you have to guess where you put the ball 3 times in a row? Of course, if you make a mistake even once in the middle, you won’t get anything.”
“No problem.”
“Well then, that’s good. Shall we begin?”
The gambler began to mix the cups with his flamboyant hand movements. Eyes rolling around along the hand. However, it wasn’t that fast, so it wasn’t difficult to guess where the ball might be.
“here.”
Andrea pointed to the right. The gambler raised his cup and made a fuss in a rather theatrical tone.
“That is correct! You have very good observation skills. Then go second!”
This time, it was so fast that it was difficult to compare it with the previous one. It was hard for even Trisha, who had far better moving eye than normal people, to keep up.
After mixing everything up, the gambler said triumphantly.
“Now, pick a place…”
“here.”
Andrea chose the middle without hesitation. The gambler’s eyebrows twitched slightly. This time, Andrea’s choice was the correct answer.
“This is the end. I hope you get the prize by answering correctly this time as well.”
It was an empty statement that no one could see was sincere. The gambler began to mix the cups with determined eyes.
It was like a blizzard. No wonder, that hand movement was actually causing quite a stir.
It was completely impossible to follow the movement with the naked eye. Numerous afterimages remained, to the point where I was mistaken as if my hands had multiplied. Andrea thought anyone who was hit at that speed would turn to blood in an instant.
“Hoo-wook, come on. Whoops, it’s done. Ha ha… Let’s choose.”
This must have been pretty daunting as well, and the gambler was sweating profusely. As if ridiculing his efforts, Andrea fired at him with her chin resting in a crooked posture.
“You took the ball out in the middle. How do you guess when there is no ball in the cup? To put it bluntly, would your pocket be the answer?”
The gambler opened his eyes so that they bulged out. His clenched fist was trembling slightly. However, he quickly covered his face with a fake smile.
“ha ha ha! Really… you really have a good eye! Since you got all the answers right, we should give you the prize as promised!”
The gambler rummaged through the inside of his purple jacket and took out five reinforcement tickets. Andrea nodded and held out her hand to take it.
But just before Andrea was handed over, the gambler withdrew his hand and furrowed his brow.
“Did you know how to say…? Like this cowardly swindler.”
Tricia and Marco glanced at each other with uneasy eyes, not knowing what the hell was going on. Andrea’s expression did not change at all.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I am also a servant of the Shadow God. As soon as I saw you, I realized that you were of the same kind as me. A follower of the Shadow God who is clever, clever, and cheats like he eats rice.”
“…”
“Let’s see, let’s see. As soon as you confirmed that the game you were set for was sloppy, your eyes changed dramatically. Then I secretly put my right hand into the deck. And a card that I secretly took out. What was that card?”
“…”
“clairvoyance? No, it’s all visible because the eyes are shining. Stealing thoughts? It’s hard to read my thoughts with the level of your magical power. If that’s the case, there’s a high probability that he’s using a card that raises his senses to the limit…”
The gambler leaned forward and grabbed Andrea by the shoulder.
“I heard that some of the servants’ senses become extremely sharp when they receive the power of the Shadow God by carving a seal on them. A ball in a cup is easily detectable.”
“…that’s a very interesting story.”
“I think you have that imprint somewhere on your body? Needless to say, that is cheating.”
“Do you have solid evidence besides a trivial delusion?”
“It will appear when you remove your left hand and expose the back of your hand.”
“…then how about doing this?”
Andrea lowered her head, glared at the gambler, and smiled wryly.
“There is no imprint on the back of my hand, so I risk all my possessions and life. Instead, cast a ‘brilliant reinforcement ticket’ in addition to the existing reinforcement tickets.”
Brilliant reinforcement. An item that instantly transforms a card that has not been enhanced into a final enhanced state.
Except for special events, it is an item that can only be seen in stores, but even that appeared very rarely. Befitting its rarity, its price was also jaw-dropping, so unless you managed the gold well, you couldn’t even think about buying it or not.
The gambler was momentarily taken aback when Andrea bet with such a confident attitude. However, he was not one to back down from the wear and tear of the gambling table, this level of bluffing.
‘This bastard, obviously frowned after touching the deck. It was an expression that could not bear the pain of being engraved. Besides, there’s no way I could guess where the ball is if I didn’t cheat.’
“good! I accept the bet.”
The gambler courageously took out a golden-shining ‘Splendid Reinforcement Ticket’ from his bosom and placed it on the table. Andrea placed the subspace bag and deck next to it.
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Now that I had the bait, I didn’t have to manage my expression. Andrea smiled with satisfaction after looking at the reinforcement sphere. As soon as the gambler saw that smile, he began to suspect that he had made some big mistake.
‘No, you have to be calm. It could be a trick calculated up to this point.’
Even though he tried to calm himself down, his anxious mind did not go away easily.
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Now that the betting was over, it was time to check. Andrea slowly, very slowly, lifted the hand that covered the back of her hand.
“By the way, you’re a gambler by the way, haven’t you heard of this?”
“…?”
Andrea snorted briefly at the gambler. Then he spit out the famous line from his favorite movie, which he wanted to say someday.
“If you’re not sure, don’t bet on a match.”
The back of Andrea’s hand was clean without any marks.
The gambler opened his eyes and shivered as he witnessed the evidence of defeat.
＜ 10. There are no bad dogs (4) ＞ End