chapter_0147

“What did you say? Say it again.”

The leader of Kingdom of Heaven, Andrei, put down the magical tool in his hand and asked again. The subordinate who had come to report was huddled up, sweating profusely.

“There was a new rich guy who came in, so as usual, I pretended to lose some money to him, but then I tried to take it all back…”

“And?” Andrei asked, catching the end of his sentence.

The subordinate’s face became even more flustered and worried. He seemed unsure of what to do, but then he closed his eyes tightly and shouted, “We lost everything! All of our guys who tried to take him on lost!”

Now, all that was left was to wait for the outburst of anger and the inevitable scolding. With his eyes closed tightly, he waited for the next words, but Andrei did not give the reaction that the subordinate had expected.

He simply paused for a moment and then spoke. “So, our guys lost everything? Does that mean they’ve never lost before?”

“No, that’s not the case. With the customers, they win and lose about 50-50. But when our guys try to take them on, it’s a different story. It doesn’t matter if we put our guys as the dealer or as a customer; they still lose. Once, we even had all the dealers and customers, except for him, as our guys, and we still lost.”

“So, even with our guys as the dealers, we lost… What about the mana detectors?”

“Nothing was detected.”

“Hmm, if the detectors had picked up something, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It was a pointless question.” Andrei tapped on the desk as he thought, then gestured for the subordinate to continue.

“It seems like this guy came in with a plan. Don’t try to take him on anymore; just let him play with the customers and leave. Guys like him are like natural disasters. If we leave him alone, he’ll play by himself and eventually leave. If he comes back, just give him any reason and put him on the blacklist to keep him out.”

“Yes! I understand!”

“Wait a minute. At least we should know who he is before we let him go. Do we have any information?”

The subordinate, relieved that he had survived the encounter, bowed more respectfully than usual. “Before I came up here, I found out his name is Mira Crate. He’s the youngest son of the Crate family. No doubt about it.”

“Mira Crate? Then this changes things. I thought he was a natural disaster, but it seems I was wrong. Hey, tell the guys to buy me some time by keeping him busy. It doesn’t matter if it’s gambling or something else, just make sure he can’t leave. Although, I’m sure he has no intention of leaving anyway.”

The subordinate’s eyes widened in confusion. “Why?”

“That Mira Crate, when he was playing against our guys, he didn’t show any mercy, right? Even when the odds were stacked against him, he still won and took our guys’ money.”

“Yes.”

“But with the customers, it’s a 50-50 win-loss ratio. If he can so clearly distinguish between our guys and the customers, why would he only focus on beating our guys? He’s bound to raise suspicions. If he had just lost and won appropriately, about 70-30, for example, our guys would have just thought he was a newbie getting lucky and wouldn’t have paid much attention.”

The reason this report had reached Andrei in the first place was that every single one of the subordinates who had tried to take on Mira Crate had been utterly defeated, not a single one left standing. The subordinate nodded quietly, understanding the situation.

“The fact that he can distinguish between our guys and the customers so accurately, and only wins against our guys, means that he definitely has another motive. That’s why I told you not to take him on anymore and just let him go. But if it’s Mira Crate, then things are different.”

Andrei’s face twisted into an ugly expression. “Those guys who went to that woman, they haven’t come back, have they?”

“No. They’re not responding to any contact.”

“Of course. That Ibrante woman has attached herself to the Crate family. The news must have reached their ears, and since they can’t fault the loan agreement, they sent her younger brother to deal with it in another way. I hear he’s quite skilled.”

If the rumors were true, he would be more than just ‘quite skilled’. But Andrei believed that rumors were often exaggerated, as was the case with this one, which was simply unbelievable.

“Why would Mira Crate come all the way here and do this? It’s obvious he’s trying to force me out into the open, threatening me. Ibrante must have told him everything—who ordered the destruction of the carriage, what the original orders were. He knows that if he comes at me directly, I won’t back down.”

“The guys I sent must be either dead or imprisoned somewhere. Either way, it doesn’t matter to Andrei.”

“If it was just one or two guys, I might have doubted it, but the circumstances all fit together. There’s no other explanation. If it’s just a coincidence that the guys I sent to Io are late to return, and that Mira Crate just happened to show up and beat our guys… I’d rather bet on the world ending right now.”

“As always, you’re right, boss!”

“If you understand, then get things ready. Since he wants to meet me so badly, we’ll give him what he wants.”

Andrei stood up with a pleased smile.

“I’ll also show him just how cruel the world outside can be.”

“May I ask you something?”

“No, not now. Wait.”

“Yes. I’ll ask again when we’re done.”

The man, who seemed like a manager, bowed politely and took two steps back. I looked down at the seven teacups in front of me again.

I never expected that this world would have a shell game, and even less so that I would be playing it in such a sophisticated setting. However, since they had proposed this scam, I had no intention of backing down.

Because I had been so blatant in only targeting Andrei’s subordinates, they had proposed playing a shell game with seven teacups. Of course, the stakes were much higher than with the usual three cups.

If I guessed correctly, I would win seven times the amount I bet, and if I also guessed the number on the dice, I would get an additional six times the amount, for a total of forty-two times my original bet.

Of course, if I was wrong about either the cup or the number, I would lose it all, so the risk was also much higher.

It seemed quite interesting, so I accepted. The dealer’s sleight of hand, combined with the magical properties of the teacups that allowed him to move the dice at will, made it impossible to win by normal means.

“It’s here. The number on the die is 4.”

“No way. It can’t be he-urk!”

Of course, by normal means.

The man confidently lifted the teacup to reveal a die with the number 4 facing up, causing the onlookers to erupt in cheers.

It was to be expected. The die that had been placed in the cup was now in his sleeve, which he fidgeted with to confirm its presence.

“Are you sure it’s not there?”

“I, I must have misspoken. You’ve guessed correctly. Congratulations.”

The man gritted his teeth and offered a perfunctory congratulations, knowing full well that I had cheated somehow. They knew that I had somehow rigged the game, even though they had handled the dice, mixed them, and revealed them.

However, if they accused me of cheating, they would face a backlash, so they held their tongues. It would be absurd to claim that I had cheated when they had performed every step of the process themselves.

As soon as the teacup covered the die, I released the mana connection and made the die disappear. Despite this, the mana detector, which had been set to exclude me, remained silent.

“Now that we’re done, what’s this about?”

Andrei asked impatiently, and the man’s behavior became even more respectful.

“Andrei-nim would like to meet with you.”

‘So he’s here sooner than I expected.’

I had suspected that something was up when his subordinates started avoiding me and then suddenly attacked me en masse. It seemed that Andrei had instructed them to do so, and now that his purpose had been achieved, he wanted to meet. However, I feigned ignorance and asked, “Why me?”

“As you may know, Andrei-nim is not just the owner of Kingdom of Heaven, but also a gambling enthusiast. He has become curious about your skills and wants to play with you himself, rather than have you waste your time with these small fries. If you meet with Andrei-nim, you may be able to get what you want.”

“So, you figured it out.”

With that last sentence, I was certain. He had realized that I had been beating his subordinates to get to him. If he had figured that out, he probably also had an idea of why I was here, and I was curious to see how he would react.

“Alright, then.”

Of course, I had no reason to refuse. I stood up, and the porter I had hired on the spot scooped up the 42 platinum coin chips that I had won. Each chip represented a platinum coin, so I had essentially turned one platinum coin into 42.

I took one of the chips and tossed it to the man who was still dazed, saying, “Here’s a tip for you.”

“Th, thank you…”

The man accepted the chip with a bewildered look on his face. I instructed the porter, whom I had hired to guard my winnings, to stay alert, and then followed the manager down the hallway to the innermost room. People lined up on either side of the hallway as we passed.

“It’s this way.”

The manager stopped in front of a door that seemed to have perfect soundproofing, and to be doubly sure, a soundproof barrier spell had been cast on it as well. It was clear what their intentions were in bringing me here.

As I entered the room, I saw a man with a similar appearance to the one described to me. He had a bushy beard, but his face was quite handsome, and he was well-dressed in a suit. His first impression wasn’t bad at all; he was perhaps a finger joint or two taller than me.

In a romance novel, he might be described as a ‘wild horse’ type of man, though I wasn’t sure if such expressions were actually used.

“You must be Mira Crate. I’m Andrei.”

Andrei picked up a glass and took a sip, and the scantily-clad woman next to him poured more alcohol.

“There’s no need for introductions when we both know who each other are. I assume you’ve figured out why I’m here, right?”

“Yes. I know that Ibrante is with you, and that you came here because of the carriage incident.”

“It’s good that we don’t have to waste time explaining things. Let me ask you, is this gathering for a good reason?”

The room was filled with his subordinates, some of them openly carrying weapons. One of them even seemed to be preparing to use magic. Andrei took a sip of his drink and smiled casually.

“Of course, there’s a reason. Why else would I have gathered them here?”

I attempted to open the door with magic, but it was locked from the outside. Thankfully, these guys were as bad as I thought they were.

“That’s good. If they had been gathered for a good reason, I would have had to beat them up and then feel awkward about it afterward.”

Unnoticed by the others, I slowly began to gather mana.

“Your boss is going to be taken away, and he probably won’t be coming back. That means the position of leader will be vacant. Anyone here want to take his place?”

“Me! I do!”

Andrei’s companion, the woman, raised her hand enthusiastically. The two of them were clearly joking, and the subordinates’ faces were filled with mocking smiles.

Suddenly, the entire room shook, and blood and flesh splattered everywhere.

The mana blade sliced through Andrei’s arms and legs, and the whirlwind that swept through the room slammed his subordinates into the walls, leaving dents. The dismembered body parts slid down the walls and onto the floor.

“…”

The only survivor, the woman, lost her smile. She seemed unable to process what had just happened and kept wiping the blood that had splattered on her revealing clothes and skin with her palms.

I walked over to Andrei, whose head and torso were still alive and twitching, and cast a healing spell on him. I grabbed him by the back of his neck and lifted him up. It would be troublesome if he tried to resist, so I planned to take him with me and reattach his limbs later.

As I passed by the woman, I paused for a moment and said, “I made you the owner as you wished, so do your best.”

Since she wanted it so badly, I made it happen.

“I didn’t expect you to capture him alive.”

“I brought along a healing magician just in case. I thought I might need to cut off more than just his limbs. You can use him as much as you want and then send him back when you’re done.”

“You truly are the best little brother. I might even give you a free kiss right now.”

“Before you burn all the romance novels and fulfill your promise, shouldn’t you take care of the aftermath of this mess?”