Chapter 61
I revealed my hand.
I had one pair.
The woman across from me had two pair.
"Heh heh. Even a hero is nothing special when it comes to cards."
The woman swept up the pot.
The other gamblers joined in, soothing me over my bad luck and claiming they were unlucky too, all while wearing the same smiles as the woman.
I had never intended to win.
But,
'Losing over and over is starting to piss me off.'
Knowing full well she was cheating, I let her get away with it anyway, and my patience was beginning to wear thin.
"Cards really aren't my forte."
"Should we change games?"
"No."
I stood up.
Regret flickered in the thieves' eyes. Those who knew my purse had grown fat from this dungeon incident looked unwilling to let me go just like that.
I grabbed Kyle by the scruff of his neck.
"Uh, uhh?"
Kyle was forcibly pushed down into my seat.
"He'll participate in my place from now on."
Kyle's shoulders trembled faintly.
He was subjected to the gambling den's hostile atmosphere and the rough-looking thieves' stares.
"W-wait a minute. I've never gambled before..."
"It doesn't matter. This is the kind of thing you learn by doing."
I set a money pouch down on the table.
The pouch landed with a heavy thud.
Its mouth fell open from the weight, spilling out a heap of gold coins.
"Don't hold back on the money. Spend as much as you like."
"Is that really okay?"
"Just do what you normally do."
Kyle's eyes trembled.
He was moved, taking the confidence I showed him as a sign of trust.
Unlike Kyle's radiant smile, the other side went quiet, as though all noise had ceased.
The thieves seated around the table fixed their eyes on the pile of gold coins.
Someone audibly gulped.
The sound rang out especially loudly.
The female thief's eyes gleamed. Her bloodshot eyes reflected the gold's radiance, wavering with murky greed.
The thieves' gazes shifted to Kyle, now the owner of those gold coins,
and Kyle's shoulders flinched and shot up.
"Now this is getting interesting. Hero, are you really okay entrusting all that to a greenhorn like him? He'll get cleaned out."
"Try cleaning him out if you can."
The woman's eyes widened as she smacked her lips.
"Hero, you sure are generous. I suppose we'll just have to trust him."
The female thief took hold of her cards again.
People from nearby tables began sidling over to watch the stakes, now measured in gold coins.
I left Kyle to it and moved back.
I went and sat at a table in a secluded corner of the gambling den.
I didn't care what result Kyle produced.
"Uncle."
Daril approached, her voice trembling.
"Is it really okay to leave him like that?"
"It's fine. For all his looks, he's quite skilled."
"He doesn't look it."
Daril watched Kyle beyond the spectators, looking envious.
Daril sat down close beside me.
"Uncle! Then could you lend me a little money too? Please. Hm? You used to dote on me when you and Dad were close."
"...."
I couldn't remember Eck ever doting on her.
All I'd done was play along when Darko bragged about how cute she was.
"I'm still your cute niece, Uncle."
"Ever since Darko was taken away, there's been nothing left between you and me."
"B-but still."
Daril grew anxious.
Her legs trembled.
"T-this is all because of that girl you're raising, Uncle. Elena demanded a hundred gold coins from me."
"Elena?"
"Yes! That bitch isn't even human!"
Sniffling, Daril told me what had happened with Elena.
It had happened just before the Monster Wave.
It was something I'd heard from Elena before.
I'd heard it was a hundred gold coins in total, including the shares for the party members she'd saved.
"Those bastards abandoned me."
But Daril's party members had quit adventuring and gone into hiding, leaving her alone to pay me the hundred gold coins.
If she'd told Elena honestly, Elena would have reduced the amount.
She probably couldn't bring herself to consult either Elena or her parents because of her pride.
"Sniff. I borrowed money because I owed a hundred gold coins, sniff. They said the interest was one percent, so I borrowed it, but..."
Tears ran down her cheeks.
"It was one percent a day."
"So how much did you borrow?"
"Ten gold coins."
"You borrowed quite a lot."
"I tried to borrow a hundred, but they said they could only lend me ten. Sniff."
They simply refused to lend her more because they knew she couldn't repay it.
How much was ten gold coins?
It was nearly several months' wages for an ordinary laborer.
"I borrowed it from people I knew. I never expected them to stab me in the back like this."
"Well, well. How could you trust thieves, anyway?"
Still, since it was a place she knew, maybe they had only sold her into being a bunny girl.
Considering the amount involved, it wouldn't have been strange if she'd been sold somewhere far worse.
They had lent her money she couldn't repay, yet hadn't even sent her to a workplace where she could properly pay it back.
Daril was the daughter of a fairly successful clan leader.
The lender's intentions were easy to see.
"Hmm..."
Could I put this to use if I played it right?
Daril grabbed the hem of my clothes.
"Uncle, please help me. I'll definitely pay it all back, okay? You're all I have now. I'll do anything you tell me. You'd like having a cute, young woman like me wait on you, right? Hm? Hm? Want to touch my breasts? Should I suck you off? I-I had to do it, but I've gotten lots of practice."
She pressed her breasts against my arm and pleaded with trembling eyes.
I looked toward Kyle.
Ooooooh!!
Kyle must have done something, because cheers erupted from the direction of the table.
It was already noisy, as though someone had been knocked over.
"Daril."
"Yes!"
"Go help Kyle."
"Uncleee."
Why should I be responsible for the debt you got yourself into by fooling around? Help Kyle and pick up a reasonable tip. If I told him to let you help, he wouldn't turn you away.
That was all I could do for her.
Someone would eventually step in if she steadily paid it off.
Daril's eyes flashed.
"U-Uncle!"
Her tearful face turned pink.
"I-I love you! You're the best, Uncle!"
"Are you satisfied with that?"
"Yes! I was about to sell my body for only five silver coins, but thanks to you, I have hope!"
She clung to my waist.
"There, there. Now let go and go help him."
"Okay!"
Daril, thrilled by the hope of escaping her mountain of debt, plunged her upper body into the crowd, wiggling her bunny-girl bottom as she squeezed her way in.
Ooooooh!
Exclamations kept erupting from the gambling table.
"He really is amazing."
Hypnotist Kyle.
Possessing a hypnotic art called 'Duel,' he specialized in gambling.
If he asked his opponent to give him the hand he wanted, that hand would appear in Kyle's own hand.
The more deceptive the game, the stronger he became.
That was why he was called the King of Casinos.
If left in a gambling den, he was the sort of man who would find his own way forward.
How much time had passed?
The spectators dispersed.
I also stood up and inspected the game Kyle had set up.
A royal straight flush was laid out grandly before Kyle.
The thieves across from him had all collapsed with vacant expressions.
"I never knew a royal straight flush could come out more than twenty times."
"That card witch couldn't possibly have dealt herself a losing hand."
The spectators each recalled Kyle's games and were left basking in the lingering excitement.
I picked up the pouch of gold coins.
It felt no different in weight from when I'd first given it to him.
A winning streak of royal straight flushes.
It was a record that looked suspicious to anyone, but no one doubted Kyle's victory.
'No wonder they call him the King of Casinos.'
Kyle looked dazed.
"W-was I always this lucky?"
"Don't get cocky. You're the one who got careless and fell into the abyss in an instant. Got it?"
"Y-yes."
Seemingly reminded of what had happened to us, Kyle shrank back.
"I'm taking my money back now. Kyle, stay here and use the money you won to completely clean out every opponent you face from now on."
"Everyone?"
"Yes, everyone. Strip them bare so thoroughly that not even a speck of dust remains."
He asked again.
"You absolutely must do that."
"Yes...!"
Kyle answered in a voice full of fighting spirit, as if he had gained confidence in his own power.
And so I left Kyle at the gambling den and went out.
***
The next morning.
Today was the day the dungeon survey team received its first official mission.
At the assembly hall, Lizette received the mission directly from the lord, then left the lord's castle leading the party she had formed.
The square in front of the castle was packed with people from early morning, leaving no room to set foot.
Adventurers, guild officials, merchants, and even residents who had come to watch all showed up for a once-in-a-lifetime event.
'They sure are making a grand production of it.'
Wearing a tabard bearing House Reator's crest over her equipment, she set out amid a parade where the nobles flaunted their pomp.
At the head of the procession, House Reator's banner fluttered in Barie's hands, with red hair blazing beneath it in the morning sunlight.
Lizette van Reator.
Clad in red armor and dressed to stand out more than anyone else, she led the vanguard of the dungeon survey team as the lord's daughter and the party's leader.
She was intoxicated with delight as she received everyone's praise and cheers.
"Mister, everyone's cheering for us."
"We're heroes who saved the city, after all. You're a hero too."
"It doesn't really feel real."
I had Elena sit in front of me on my horse and held the reins so she wouldn't stray from the procession.
As we awkwardly rode on, the great castle gate that had been tightly shut since dawn swung wide open, signaling the start of the dungeon expedition.
***
The city's cheers died away as if they had never existed the moment we left the walls behind.
After half a day's march, I reached a familiar place.
A hole in an artificial hill rising from the plain.
The dungeon entrance came into view.
Though the dungeon gate was closed, the artificial structure was several times larger than the city gate.
Before the imposing entrance, Barie received Lizette's orders and shouted.
"We will establish camp from this point onward!"
The troops accompanying the dungeon survey team were each assigned roles to build the camp.
They unfolded tents, procured materials, and drew plans for erecting palisades.
Supplies of consumables, including potions for the dungeon expedition, were piled up in the storage tent.
I watched the camp take shape, then went to find Elena's party.
Elena was rechecking the party members' equipment.
Hans, who kept checking the supplies over and over, saying it was his first dungeon; Duke, who repeatedly retied the strap on his shield despite his impassive expression; and Mira, who pretended to be fine while studying her notebook to memorize her role.
These adventurers had been selected as the first vanguard for the first dungeon in Reator's history. They were so tense that they looked ready to be crushed beneath the burden on their shoulders.
"Mister."
Elena spotted me.
"Are you all ready?"
"Yes. I've properly familiarized myself with both the equipment and what I need to do. All that's left is to depart."
They don't look all that ready.
"If you're ready, stop dawdling and go. Dragging this out any longer is a waste of time."
"Yes!"
Elena led the party members.
Elena's party lined up at the dungeon entrance, reported to Lizette, and headed into the dungeon.
Elena's party descended the deep staircase. Their backs melted into the darkness, leaving only their light behind, and soon even that disappeared.
Lizette, who had been watching alongside me, suddenly asked.
"I'm only asking this now, but is it really okay to send those children in alone?"
"Yes. They're not the sort to be defeated in the upper levels."
There was no need for me to follow them.
Even if something unexpected happened, Elena could handle it.
They'd written down almost everything in their notebooks.
'Come back after taking down the hidden boss, Elena.'