Chapter 2
#002
1.
The world had ended.
Black Dust and the monsters born from it, which twisted the origins and foundations of life, had been ravenously devouring the world.
Even the faith written in God’s holy scripture.
The brilliance of civilization that once commanded the great continent.
The magical banner proclaiming that mages must achieve transcendence.
All of it lost its light in the thick, black fog.
But humanity had prepared.
For the continuation of the species, for survival, for God, for transcendence.
After the great prophet foresaw this “Great Erosion,” a cross-border, cross-species group project began.
Humanity built walls taller than any tower.
They stretched those walls longer than any mountain range in the world.
They created a cradle for humanity to stand against destruction.
This was Aden, the ark city.
This is the full story of the otherworld setting I fell into.
“Boring and pretentious.”
That’s my impression.
Wouldn’t it have been better if it were just a world I knew, or one packed with clichés?
‘Finally, does life pay off?’
After I possessed Cedric’s body.
Even after I realized this was an isekai, my heart was still pounding.
Getting special perks in an isekai trip is common sense, even if the terms of service never mention it.
The orthodox plotlines of every isekai-transmigration story I’d ever read flashed by like a panorama, and I trembled with excitement.
‘There really isn’t a single ability…?’
There was nothing like that.
Cedric was a dullard.
Aside from being a bit handsome, he was a hollow shell with no talent in either martial arts or magic.
That fact didn’t change just because I’d possessed him.
‘A status window, stats, info window, choices, selection screen?’
Not even the status window that guarantees isekai chaos with a few clicks could be found.
Even the choice screen I saw right before taking the plunge was nowhere to be found.
Still, that was fine.
These days, the protagonist doesn’t have to have exceptional abilities.
The trend is harem fan-service; heroine quality is what really matters.
If you were born a man, did you really need to accomplish something grand?
Isn’t it enough just to live buried in a bed of flowers?
Personally, my tastes ran to a big-breasted saint heroine (virgin), a tsundere archmage heroine, and a maid heroine who couldn’t resist her master’s lewd demands, but….
There was none of that.
‘Cedric, can I ask you one favor? Please die without a sound in some dark corner. Stop disgracing the family.’
‘Kill yourself. Just kill yourself. I don’t even want to look at you.’
‘It’s disgusting that the same blood as yours flows in my veins.’
Instead, all I had was my nasty older sister, ‘Arbel,’ who seemed to know exactly where my weak spots were.
That was fine.
There was the next orthodox isekai route too: land management.
‘Ha….’
But the Count Montreben family wasn’t such a great house to begin with.
In the past, they had been imperial nobles who ruled the ark city, but after the line of magic was severed 100 years ago, they were slowly stripped of their interests until only the crumbs of a rich family remained. That was all.
I never forgot the disappointment when all my hopes went up in smoke.
But that was only because my expectations had been too high. If I looked at it normally?
Not bad.
At the very least, we had succeeded at the one thing you should never do at a funeral: resurrection.
Besides….
Even if a rich family goes bankrupt, they can still eat for three generations.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Young Master Cedric.”
“I’m a little hungry.”
“Yes! I’ll set it up with your usual!”
The casino host, who had been standing beside the betting table rubbing his hands, brought out something splendid on a silver tray.
In a transparent tequila glass: tequila as the base, with tomato juice and lemon juice, and a fresh whole oyster submerged inside.
A cocktail known as an “Oyster Shooter.”
“Hah, that’s the stuff. It sticks to the mouth nicely.”
The instant I tipped back the glass and poured it into my mouth, the flavor of the sea spread with the tequila.
The oyster’s briny, clean flavor melded with the tartness of the tomato and lemon, making it worthy of praise.
Finally, if you topped it off with the harshness of cigarette smoke in your lungs….
“Haa….”
Paradise.
A Las Vegas oyster bar floated before my eyes.
“Um, young master. Is it really that delicious?”
“Want to try some?”
“Oh, how could a country bumpkin like me ever eat something that precious?”
The ark city, sealed off by walls on all sides, officially had no sea.
Naturally, there was no coastal water where fresh water and seawater mixed either.
In such an environment, fresh oysters that could be eaten raw were worth whatever price you asked.
The price of this Oyster Shooter was 100,000 Biosa per glass.
I had just swallowed a month’s worth of an ordinary worker’s labor, blood, and sweat in one gulp.
“If I hit, I’ll buy you a drink.”
After signaling to the dealer, who had briefly paused the game, I picked up five bundles of purple chips.
“Ah, n-no... Young Master, is today some kind of special day?”
The host’s eyes went wide as he desperately tried to calculate the amount.
“Shh.”
Silence arrived.
The gentle jazz flowing from the record spinning on the player grew hazy.
As my consciousness converged into a single point, I became aware of the heart beating within me.
Player.
Banker.
Tie.
On the luxurious mat-covered wooden table, only three areas rose clearly into view.
“…This feels good.”
I placed the chips on the Tie area.
On Tie, if the Player and Banker totals are the same, you receive eight times your bet.
It was like the little girly switch that turns baccarat, which is basically just even-or-odd, into true gambling.
“Tie, tie bet. 5 million Biosa.”
The dealer, who always kept his composure, kept glancing at the host with an unsettled look.
Well, it was 5 million Biosa.
An amount on par with the starting salary of a decent corporate employee in the city.
It was by no means a small sum.
It was an absurd amount to place on a slim 9.52% chance.
“A-are you sure, young master? It’s 5 million Biosa. You’re betting on Tie, right?”
It got a bit long-winded, but as you can see, even if I hadn’t been handed a separate isekai perk, I had no complaints.
Even though I had possessed the talentless eldest son of a fallen count family in a world with no roots, a lazy life spent lounging around a casino with 50 million Biosa set aside wasn’t bad.
It had been my long-cherished dream.
Given that I have pretty decent gambling luck, if I played little by little with a set bankroll, maybe I could keep getting VIP treatment for another year.
“…….”
But as always, I came to want more than that.
I want more stimulation, more dopamine that feels like it’s burning my nerves.
And my instincts and intuition are screaming at me.
Right now.
“Hey, how much is in my deposit right now?”
“Let me see.... about 24 million Biosa.”
“It’s gone down a lot already.”
“Ah, this much means you’ll be able to play for a long time. So let’s take it easy again this time too, heh-heh. Should I send you to our rooms and put in two or three kaleidoscope girls? We just got some new girls in, and their looks are just, kiyaa....”
I ignored the host, who was trying to work the mood in order to somehow overturn the table.
“I’ll bet all of it.”
“…Huh?”
“All in. There’s no cap anyway, right?”
A brief silence.
The host’s face turned blue as he pleaded desperately.
“Young Master Cedric, you can’t do this! I’m saying all this for your own sake. Seriously, what if you lose all of it?”
“Why is the owner worrying about that? All in.”
“No, seriously, the new girls this time are really killer, I swear?!”
“I’m gay. All in.”
In Las Vegas, whales can burn 500 million, even a billion, on a single hand.
It’s not for nothing that they send a private jet and host them in the presidential suite.
But this was just a shabby little casino with only one VIP room, so 29 million Biosa looked disgustingly pitiful.
-촤르르륵!
Colorful chips piled up densely across the table.
“No, no more bets.”
The dealer trembled.
The host clasped his hands together and prayed.
The owner of the gambling house is calling on God? He’s done for.
What I believe in is my own luck and judgment.
My gaze was fixed only on the tips of the dealer’s fingers, on the cards.
A hand trembling faintly turned over the card on the table.
“……”
With pressure building in my ears, a brief ringing washed through them and my heart clenched tight.
My head becomes calm.
My mind becomes astonishingly clear, as if I’d pulled out my brain and washed it in hexagonal water.
My heart trembles.
The moment the final card was flipped.
“…Ah.”
With a single cry of anguish, the dealer dropped the card.
A perfect draw, a Tie.
“Aaaagh!!!”
The host let out a despairing scream.
I picked up the card that had slipped from the dealer’s fingertips, flipped it back over, and grinned.
“As promised, I’ll buy you a drink. The dealer’s, too.”
My once-clear head turns cloudy in an instant.
A shivering thrill and pleasure run through me, like popping candy with food coloring dumped into brain fluid.
“Uuuuuuuum!!!! Hoo!!!!”
======
::: Challenge (NEW!) :::
- Attend the casino 30 days in a row. +1pt
- Lose 5 million Biosa or more through gambling. +1pt
- Bet 10 million Biosa or more in a single game. +2pt
- Bet 20 million Biosa or more in a single game. +2pt
.
.
-
::: Achievement Unlocked :::
You have seized a fortune in the world of cool-headed competition.
The goddess of luck is smiling upon you.
Today, though.
▶ Achievement: 「For Now, Just Lucky」 achieved
- 'Luck' slightly increases.
- The chance of a good item appearing in ■■■■(LV.0) slightly increases.
- 30pt awarded.
======
2.
The thrill of a big score doesn’t fade easily.
My light steps feel as if I don’t weigh anything at all.
Before my eyes, the instant when the last card turned over keeps replaying endlessly like a beautiful mise-en-scène.
After all, after deductions, it was 230 million Biosa.
I had been dabbling with bets of around 50,000, and with a single wager on one night, I won that amount.
And with a Tie bet, no less.
I got out of the car at the hazy boundary between dream and reality.
A vehicle that looked a bit like a classic Ford car from the early 1900s.
I had bought the one that had been pawned at a nearby pawnshop in a single lump payment.
I stashed the rest away as my deposit.
“That paint job turned out nice.”
Just as I was about to stride in with a triumphant fanfare, someone blocked my way.
“Young Master Cedric. You’ve arrived.”
Albert, the old butler of the Montreben count family.
He twitched one eyebrow at the flashy new red car, then twitched the other when he caught the stench of cigarettes and alcohol rolling off me.
“Ah, old man. You’ve had a rough morning. I’m tired, so I’m going to rest a bit.”
Honestly, I was uncomfortable around Albert.
I have memories of the early days after reincarnation, when I acted up wanting to test my talent in swordsmanship, got punched in the gut and rolled around on the floor; and whenever I came back after drinking and playing cards, he always glared at me with a stabbing look.
But today is different.
Because right now I have a very huge trophy.
For the weakening Count Montreben family, 230 million Biosa was not a small amount.
I did feel a little sorry for having stolen my son’s body without permission, but I guess a chance to be filial had come around in its own way.
“Please come this way for a moment.”
“Uh—hey, what’s this about?”
Dragged along to the reception room while I timed when I should pull the casino deposit certificate from my pocket.
Beneath the huge chandelier, which must once have been the grandest among nearby noble houses but now could only be called out of style.
A familiar silhouette stood quietly.
Honey-gold hair that shines with a luscious luster.
Smooth skin as if butter had been spread over it, and mischievously gleaming pale-yellow eyes.
The slender line of her body visible beyond the thin nightgown gave off a beauty so lovely it was almost overwhelming.
Cedric’s older sister.
A real mage who had awakened her mind’s eye and risen to Rank One.
The Montreben count family’s last hope, after the line of magic had been cut off for a long time.
Arbel Montreben.
However you look at her, she’s obscenely beautiful.
“...Mm.”
Truthfully, on the very first day of my reincarnation, I thought Arbel was the best heroine my deceased mother had ever given birth to.
Of course it would be incest, but I’m a mind-over-matter believer.
Since I firmly believed that mind comes before matter, there was no problem.
“Cedric, did you come back from gambling again?”
“Come on, why are you like this, sis.”
“Don’t act close to me. It gives me the creeps.”
But the lovely Arbel’s true nature was a flashy poisonous mushroom.
She was a terrifying big sister who turned vicious the moment she saw Cedric.
I’d heard we weren’t originally this bad with each other, but what on earth happened while ‘Cedric’ was asleep....
I have no way of knowing.
Whenever we ran into each other, Arbel would unilaterally denounce me.
I had been keeping my distance because I didn’t want a conversation to drag on and expose the fact that “your son’s core has actually been replaced.”
“So why did you call me? And send Albert too.”
She came stomping toward me, step after step after step after step after step.
“Because the chance to get you out of my sight finally came up.”
The reason the stomping sounds so long is that Arbel is small compared with her imposing presence.
For Cedric, who’s well over 180 cm tall, she barely comes up to his chest.
Her youthful beauty, looking up at me with her head raised, makes her look much younger than Cedric, who is in his mid-twenties.
Well, what can I say. She’s a mage, after all.
Then.
-Ding!
A notification rang in my ear.
Goosebumps broke out all over me.
Before Arbel could say anything, before I could even pull the ornate certificate from my pocket.
[ 1. Go to the academy obediently ]
[ 2. Refuse admission and kiss Arbel ]
The first thing to fill my vision was a strangely familiar choice.
“……”
What the hell is this, damn it.