Luck Is Enough When Gambling(6)

Swish swish swish───

The cards being shuffled brilliantly in the dealer’s hands.

It was a card shuffling that showed fairness, aiming to make it so no one knew where any card was, but only three people sitting at the table were taking in all the movements of those cards with their eyes.

And among them, especially I was perfectly grasping the positions of all the cards the dealer was shuffling while also keeping an eye on the surroundings.

The white-haired girl quickly chasing the cards with her eyes, and Morgan tapping the five iron swords hanging at her waist as if preparing for a fight that might break out.

Among them, what caught my eye the most was Libby looking at me with shining eyes.

Receiving such a gaze, how could I lose? The thought that I had to win somehow swirled in my chest.

“I’ll change four cards.”

Therefore, I focused on the movements of the white-haired girl, who was the first to take cards from the dealer’s hand and draw them this time as well.

The white-haired girl putting down four cards she was holding and taking four new cards from the deck.

As expected, this time too, she wasn’t just drawing from the top but was slipping cards from the middle into her hand.

Judging by the positions, the cards she took were diamond 3, 7, 8, A.

No matter how you look at it, it could only be thought of as a flush. Since she took the last round with a full house, is she aiming to win this round with a slightly lower hand?

If so, the hand I need to aim for and draw is one higher than a flush.

‘Alright, then…’

And as I finished thinking and was thinking about the card positions in the deck once more, I swallowed a dejected sigh at the actions of the black-haired girl who received the deck next.

Click, click click───

The black-haired girl who had been trembling her legs and calling fold until just now, as if that was a lie, now raised her face shamelessly and was pulling cards from the middle and bottom of the deck just like the white-haired girl.

‘They’re the same type, huh?’

I should have known from when they said she was alternately taking victories with the white-haired girl who was cheating, but it seems the black-haired girl was also a player who was cheating.

Moreover, with this level of skill, she was no less than the white-haired girl, so another person to investigate after leaving the table had increased.

Therefore, I secretly signaled to Morgan with my eyes to watch not only the white-haired girl but also the black-haired girl, and at the same time, I observed the hand the black-haired girl was pulling.

“This is enough for me.”

The black-haired girl who returned three cards and took three cards.

Considering that the cards she took were a triple 3, she was probably aiming for a full house.

‘A full house, is it?’

Personally, I was reluctant because if a flush, full house, and an even higher hand came out in one round, it might raise suspicion, albeit slightly, but I couldn’t back down.

Rather, thinking this was the hand the two were aiming for and drawing, I decided to go even more shamelessly than the two.

“Here…”

“Give it here.”

I snatched the deck the black-haired girl was handing over.

At the same time, I silently conveyed that I knew they were using tricks by touching hands, but even with this expression of mine, the black-haired girl seemed to have decided to put on a brazen face and turned her head indifferently.

No, seeing the cold sweat flowing down that thin nape, it didn’t seem she was indifferent. The girl swallowed her saliva, moving her Adam’s apple, at least seeming tense.

However, perhaps thinking I had no way to prove it, that was the end of it.

And since the girl’s expectation that I couldn’t prove their tricks was correct without an inch of error, I muttered softly while soothing my heated insides.

“This is fun.”

“……”

The silent girl.

Looking at the side profile of such a girl, I drew the cards I wanted from the deck at a speed far surpassing what the two had shown just now.

It didn’t matter if I couldn’t prove it anyway.

Just like this, I just needed to bring a stronger hand than these two girls and keep taking victories.

‘So the first hand I’m bringing is… Right.’

A royal flush is too much, so a straight flush should be enough.

---

Something was strange.

Ar realized this around when the 5th round had passed after the green-haired woman joined the game.

‘Surely we’re the ones using tricks.’

Ar had been changing cards favorably by pulling from the middle of the deck from the beginning, as always.

From as low as two pairs to as high as four of a kind.

In this way, Ar had won over 300 gold, and even after the woman joined, Ar changed his hand in the same way.

But for some reason, he lost.

At first, when she immediately called fold after joining, Ar thought she was nothing special, but he could painfully realize from the second round that this thought was wrong.

‘Why?’

From Ar’s perspective, it didn’t seem like the woman was using tricks. She just seemed to be drawing cards normally from the top.

But when Ar revealed a full house, the woman revealed four of a kind, and because of that, when he showed a straight flush, the woman showed a royal flush.

He mixed in lower hands occasionally because using only good hands would raise suspicion, but somehow the woman accurately produced hands just one or two levels higher than the range of hands Ar had drawn, not deviating greatly.

‘It doesn’t look like she’s using tricks, but she’s not not using them.’

No matter who you bring, they wouldn’t be able to say that wasn’t using tricks.

Who could say she wasn’t using tricks when she had a perfect victory from the second round?

Then, although hard to admit, it must mean that woman used tricks so fast that he couldn’t even properly perceive it.

This meant she was a skilled person with speed beyond his own, so Ar doubted his own thoughts.

‘That can’t be… It’s nonsense.’

He was the strongest among the demon executives. Any strong individuals of any race were no better than training dummies to Ar, and the only one Ar had felt a wall against was just Aria, whom he had seen in the underwater kingdom.

But Aria was the greatest enemy of demons directly acknowledged by the Demon King. Although it was bitter to be defeated by her, Ar could understand it.

But to say that a human as strong as Aria appeared at a game table in such a casino?

No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.

However.

‘But if that’s not it, there’s no explanation for losing 200 gold in an instant.’

Before he knew it, after losing and losing, 200 gold taken by the woman.

2/3 of the over 300 gold that had been piled up went to the woman. This couldn’t be explained if Ar’s hypothesis wasn’t correct.

And around the time he had to think his hypothesis was correct, despite not wanting to admit it, Ar finally recalled Pensia’s behavior from earlier.

‘He was certainly in an unusual state.’

Pensia had clearly been boldly using tricks together with him, but in the brief moment the woman sat at the table, Pensia couldn’t stay still as if his foot had been stepped on.

At first, he thought it was just some unimportant personal problem that had arisen, but what if that problem wasn’t ordinary?

When his thoughts reached that point, Ar slowly turned his head towards Pensia, whom he hadn’t been looking at until now, and.

“…!”

At the gaze that met exactly as he turned his head, Ar tightly closed his mouth.

“……”

Pensia looking back at him with fear in his eyes.

Although it wasn’t clearly visible due to the mask, resignation was already deeply etched in Pensia’s eyes.

He didn’t ask why.

Because before Ar could ask, Pensia’s mouth moved carefully.

‘We, must, retreat.’

We must retreat. The message Pensia conveyed to Ar himself.

Even that was visible on his face surface as he moved his mouth anxiously, worried about being caught by the woman next to him.

Why must they retreat?

Since Pensia, who mentioned retreat, didn’t explicitly state the reason, Ar asked himself such a question, but Ar wasn’t stupid enough to not deduce the answer on his own.

‘Pensia is a strong person no less than me.’

Of course, he’s not as good as Ar himself, but Pensia is also a well-known strong person among demons. It was natural since he didn’t get the position of demon executive through a dice game.

Therefore, Pensia knew well which opponents he could fight and win against, and which he could lose against.

Until now, most were opponents he could win against, and there were only a few who Pensia… no, more precisely, all the demon executives predicted defeat against.

So if Pensia, who could know the gap between an enemy and himself, was trembling in fear and saying they needed to retreat like that.

There was only one answer.

The woman sitting in the middle of this table right now is one of the greatest enemies of demons.

And the moment he realized this, Ar unconsciously reached for the sword hidden in his dress and tapped the hilt.

His habit from long ago before entering a fight.

However, seeing Ar’s action, Pensia shook his head and once again opened his mouth and moved it.

‘I’ll signal Idea. The moment the gate opens, escape immediately. The completion of the second mission is a failure.’

‘But the Demon King’s orders…’

‘Didn’t the Demon King say? It’s an exception when meeting these people.’

It was as Pensia said. Retreat was inevitable now that they had met one of the greatest enemies of demons.

Although Ar lived and died by the Demon King’s orders, just this once, he had no choice but to follow Pensia’s words.

What needed to be prioritized right now was their lives. If they lost their lives, what meaning would there be in wanting to follow orders?

Therefore, Ar carefully nodded, and immediately after getting Ar’s agreement, Pensia carefully took out a scroll from his bosom without the woman noticing.

A scroll to send a signal to Idea for the deployment of a gate for retreat.

Pensia hid the hand holding the scroll under the table as naturally as possible and carefully tore the scroll while maintaining steady breathing.

Rip…

Fortunately, perhaps due to that carefulness, there was no special movement from the woman.

Just the woman peacefully waiting for the dealer to finish shuffling the cards and checking the gold coins piled next to her.

And as soon as the scroll was torn, its effect immediately appeared in Ar and Pensia’s minds.

[What? Has the mission already ended?]

‘Idea…’

Idea’s voice spreading in their heads like a resonating skull.

At that unpleasant telepathy magic accompanied by throbbing pain, Ar immediately got to the point.

‘We finished spreading the demon crystals, but the mission at the casino failed. We encountered a green-haired woman, probably the one you mentioned before. So open the gate quickly.’

[Kyahahahaha?! What? Did you, Ar, really fail? I’m really disappointed~? Weren’t you the one who completed any order from the Demon King no matter what?]

‘…Shut up. I won’t say it twice, Idea. Hurry and open the gate.’

[Alright, alright, I got it~ I’ll keep teasing you about this later too~ You’ve updated your black history for a few hundred years, Ar?]

Idea’s high-pitched laughter continued.

Pensia’s gaze full of sympathy, having heard all the conversation so far, reached Ar.

And Ar was about to open his mouth, his fist trembling at that laughter that grated on his nerves, wanting to say something more, but somehow, as if knowing, Idea’s voice was heard again in Ar’s mind just as he was about to speak.

[Then I’ll open the gate behind you in 3 seconds, so get up and run right away, okay? I’ll open it right 1m behind, so you just need to fall backwards~]

‘Understood.’

‘Confirmed.’

[Okay~ Then I’ll open it?]

Along with the words that she’ll open the gate, the sound of swinging a staff was heard through the telepathy.

And with that sound, Idea’s countdown began.

[3, 2, 1~!]

At the same time as the cheerfully resounding countdown ended, the sensation of demon energy gathering was felt from behind.

The moment they felt this, Ar and Pensia, without anyone taking the lead, immediately stood up from their seats, abandoning even the money they had won, and jumped into the gate that had appeared behind them.

Although they had to retreat today, next time it wouldn’t be like this.

Embracing regretful feelings, the two pushed their bodies into the pitch-black gate amidst the commotion that was about to become chaotic.

Thud───

“You didn’t think I’d let you go just like that this time too, did you?”

If it weren’t for the green-haired woman’s hand firmly grasping their napes with an ominous sound.