81 – Iren Goes to the Casino on the 21st Floor

Of course, I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen, and I thought I should take this opportunity to show her the bitter taste of society.

‘She needs to experience some nasty sexual harassment to come to her senses.’

Could she, who had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse, endure black-hearted men spewing vulgarities in her face?

Perhaps that was why I accepted her proposal a week ago, I thought, as I changed into the clothes Irene had brought.

 

Wearing leather clothes and a deep, baggy hood that covered my face, I walked the dark night streets of Hwangdo.

Irene, me, and a guide, three people in total.

As we went to the outskirts of Hwangdo, the red light grew brighter, and the floating population increased. Normally, it would be the opposite, but where there is light, there is darkness.

Not everyone in Hwangdo, where the continent’s greatest wealth and power are concentrated, lives by the law. Especially those with power.

Of course, the place we’re going today isn’t one of those fancy places frequented by the powerful.

“Is this it?”

“Yes, this way.”

We followed the guide into a darker back alley, even among the red-light district. We ignored the drunken people and the cheap prostitutes soliciting customers on the street.

The guide’s name was Sancho. Just an ordinary adventurer who enjoys gambling. He said he came after seeing the request Irene posted at the gambling house.

“Ooh…! I’m so excited!!”

Irene, still living in a flower garden, was excited about the gambling house.

‘It won’t be anything special…’

Yeah, it might be safer to be disappointed and return to the Imperial Palace quickly.

Between the large pleasure taverns on both sides. We headed to a shabby abandoned house in a dark alley where no light shone.

“This place…?”

“Hehehe… that’s right. Then follow me closely so you don’t get lost!”

Creak!! Thump.

Listening to the sound of the old wood creaking, the guide opened the shabby door that looked like no one lived in.

There was no one in the house, but when we went to the basement, there was a staircase leading further down.

He skillfully lit a torch and went down.

After going down about 30 steps, the downhill ended, and a straight passage continued. The arched passage was narrow enough for only two people to pass through.

‘Definitely… a proper place.’

I wondered if Irene was scared… but she was looking around with sparkling eyes, as if she were on an interesting dungeon exploration.

I thought it was just a place to drink and gamble a little, but it seems to be a place where real professional gamblers gather, just as Irene wanted.

“Hey, you’re not taking us to a weird place, are you?”

“Oh, no way. In a moment, you’ll consider meeting me lucky. There’s no place where more experts gather than here.”

And soon, we arrived at the gambling house.

The air was thick with cigarette smoke, and several men with fierce expressions were sitting at tables in groups of three or five, smoking.

“Sancho~! You said you wouldn’t come again? Wasn’t that yesterday?”

“Hmph! Just you wait! That time… ah, ahem…”

Sancho, who was acting as a guide, was about to start a banter with the doorman, but then he realized we were there.

“So, are those new colleagues? The ones who will reverse your life?”

“No, colleagues… what are you talking about? I’m just introducing them. They’re people with a lot of money who want to do something exciting.”

He pointed to us and winked at the doorman.

“Is that so? Anyone with money is welcome anytime. Follow me, Sancho’s friends. You brought enough money, right?”

I was about to answer roughly, but Irene suddenly took off her hood and stepped forward.

“Ahem, yes. I brought it!”

“Gasp…!”

The doorman’s eyes widened, unable to hide his surprise.

The eyes of everyone in the gambling house focused, and everyone stopped moving and looked at Irene.

‘Oh, that stupid girl…’

When a woman who looked like a noble appeared among the men, it was impossible not to attract attention.

“Hehe… anyone with money is welcome!!”

He regained his senses, reached inside, and led us in.

The man who was the guide, Sancho, went back to gamble with the commission we gave him, and the doorman led us.

I expected Irene to be embarrassed and tremble from the vulgar jokes, but instead, they were watching us. Everyone was pretending not to care, but they were listening to our words.

‘She’s going to get completely ripped off.’

I could feel it.

• That girl is a rich noble! Let’s scratch her butt a little and suck her money dry!

That feeling was strong.

The gamblers who usually fought among themselves stopped fighting and watched us when a plump prey appeared.

Our Irene didn’t notice any of that and was already sitting at a table with a stranger.

“Okay, miss. This game is simple! You see the card numbers here, right? Draw a card from here and make the number 21. If your number is higher than your opponent’s, you win, but if you go over 21, you lose, so it’s a game where psychological warfare is important.”

“Okay, okay! This looks fun. I want to try!”

‘Oh my…’

I pulled down my hood behind Irene and watched quietly.

 

A little later,

“Peachina!! I won! I made money!!!”

‘Sigh…’

She’s an idiot.

Anyone could see that the other person was deliberately losing.

‘And why are you saying my real name?’

I don’t think anyone has noticed our identity yet… but anyway, Irene is an idiot.

Just a stupid woman with a flower garden in her head.

“Ugh… you’re better than I thought? How about another round?”

“Hehe, I wonder~ Should I do it one more time~?”

She was caught up in the gambler’s plan and was twisting her body as if she was happy, even though she was pretending not to be.

‘Sigh…’

Yeah, I could intervene here, but the money we brought today isn’t that much for Irene.

Let her get some life lessons.

And that was the beginning.

The gamblers realized that Irene had already fallen into the trap, so they only lost three times, and then they started to skin Irene’s wallet like they were filleting a plump fish.

We had about 1000 gold with us.

1 gold is about a month’s living expenses for a household, so we brought about 2 to 3 billion won in local prices. So, wouldn’t the gamblers go crazy now?

The situation was already out of control.

“Eek…! I, I can’t believe it!!”

The gamblers were completely manipulating Irene, maintaining a precarious match so that she wouldn’t give up completely, and sometimes losing when the stakes weren’t high.

‘Cruel.’

Irene was already caught on the hook.

She was struggling to win even one game, but it was impossible with her terrible skills.

Of course, I could see it.

The nail marks on the back of the cards.

The glances exchanged secretly with the spectators behind Irene.

And the swapping of the card on the wrist while throwing the cards.

Literally, the real gamblers that Irene wanted were doing their best to deal with Irene. It was her own fault, so I didn’t even think about stopping her.

And finally…

“All in!!!”

Stupid Irene chose to go all in after seeing the cards in her hand.

The game she was playing now was poker.

She had a full house in her hand, a fairly strong hand in poker that made it easy to decide to go all in.

“Ahem, all in? Oh dear…”

“Hmph!! If you’re scared, die!”

Irene, who had already learned the gambler’s way of speaking and was using it diligently. Knowing the ending, I felt sorry for her.

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“Ugh! I have no choice. I’ll go all in too!”

“Hehe, are you confident with that hand?”

Irene was finally excited at the thought of recovering her principal.

But…

“Tada~”

There was no twist.

What appeared in front of her was four of a kind, a hand one level higher than Irene’s full house.

“N, no way!!! This is, a scam!!”

“Oh my, I was lucky this time~~ Hehehe… how much is this!!”

Stupid Irene screamed, but it was already too late.

‘Hoo… I wonder if she’s learned her lesson now?’

But the problem didn’t end there.

“Hey, miss. Are you short on money? You can borrow some if you are.”

“C, can I do that?”

“Of course, you’re a member now that you’ve come in here. Members use it when they’re in a hurry.”

‘What is that…’

“T, then just a little…”

“Irene. You shouldn’t borrow money to gamble. Let’s go back now.”

I intervened and tried to stop her for the first time, but she didn’t listen to me.

“J, just once. I think I can win if I do it just once!”

And Irene became a debtor.

It would have been one thing if she had borrowed money and won, but the gamblers didn’t even think about being lenient anymore and completely cleaned her out.

“……”

The problem didn’t end there. Irene is the second princess of the strongest empire on the continent, so she wouldn’t be short of money, would she? The problem was the gamblers who had already cleaned Irene out.

“Hey, miss. Do you have no money?”

“No… I’ll pay you back later.”

Irene, who had finally been taught a lesson by the gamblers, was about to realize the reality and get out of there…

“How can we believe that? How can we catch you if you run away to your house? Huh?”

“Pay me back right now!”

“You bitch!”

“Later??? Do you think we’ll fall for that? Do we look easy to you?”

“Yes…?”

Innocent Irene was flustered when the gamblers, who had been having fun playing games until just now, changed.

Yeah, this act might just be a ‘game’ for Irene, but it’s not for them. It’s everything for them.

The people who were watching the noble lady’s every move started to treat Irene carelessly as soon as they got into a favorable position.

“Send your bodyguard home to bring the money, and you have to stay here!”

“Alone…?”

They were forcing me to leave. They seemed to feel quite threatened because I didn’t take off my hood.

‘I wonder what will happen without me.’

“Or pay me back right now!!”

“How can I when I don’t have any money now…”

“If you don’t have money, pay with your body, huh?”

“Hehehe… it’ll be fun to take turns.”

“Shall we taste the noble lady’s pussy?”

“Huh…?”

She was standing there stupidly with an expression that she didn’t understand what she had just heard. She looked quite shocked.

She could have just ordered me to get rid of those idiots right away, but she couldn’t even do that.

‘I should intervene soon…’

Should I, or shouldn’t I?

I felt like she should suffer a little more. Seeing her surrounded by fat old men and being sexually harassed made me feel good.

“Choose, will you send your guard away? Or will you pay with your body?”

The gambler grabbed Irene’s wrist and threatened her.

“N, no! I’m already engaged to be married…”

“Wow, she’s a virgin? Woo!!!”

“Is selling your body before marriage grounds for divorce? I guess it doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Haa… I can’t stand it.”

They touched Irene’s body and tried to take off her clothes.

Irene whimpered and resisted, but it only excited the men more.

‘Since she’s going to become a pervert in the future anyway, wouldn’t she like it if she suffered a little here…?’

But then her trust in me would hit rock bottom, and I’d be beheaded as soon as I returned to the Imperial Palace, let alone complete the mission.

‘I have no choice.’

“Everyone, stop.”

I took off my thick hood and stepped in front of Irene. The people who were surprised by my intervention took a step back, but when they checked my face and body, they started to get even more excited.

“What, are you going to offer yourself instead? Hehehe…”

“Damn, the bodyguard was a hotter bitch?”

“Let’s just fuck them both!”

“You bitches think this is a joke? What are you going to do alone? You’re just a woman!”

Why didn’t they attack as soon as we came in?

It was because they instinctively knew that everyone here would die if they attacked a noble lady.

So, if they thought about it a little, they would know that what they were doing now was crazy, but they were already too far gone to make rational decisions.

They had already earned enough money to live on for the rest of their lives, and it seemed like they were thinking of ending it here because the noble lady who left to pay the money might come back with soldiers.

Above all, everyone seemed to be blinded by Irene’s pure appearance and her pretty face and violent body.

‘There’s no one who could be a threat.’

I felt a little sorry for the innocent Irene, but of course, I knew this would happen and what would happen after that.

I pressed the equip button and summoned my spear, Diana.

“Huh?”

“Where did the spear suddenly come from…?”

She’s in debt…?

Why don’t I just get rid of the people she owes?

“The crime of insulting the princess. Everyone is sentenced to death.”

• Swish!

“What…”

I held the spear horizontally and spread a thin layer of energy at the tip of the spear, sending a pink aura in a semicircle shape back and forth around Irene.

A technique that ordinary Awakened people can’t even imitate.

With just two swings, silence fell in the room.

The people standing had their upper bodies split in half, and the necks of the people sitting flew into the sky.

Thud, thud thud thud…

Pshhhhhhhh!!!

The people who were alive and moving instantly became lumps of meat and sat down, and bright red fountains spurted from all directions.

‘There’s still someone alive.’

Leaving Irene, who was shocked by the sea of blood, I killed everyone, including the warehouse, the lodging, the doorman at the back door, and Sancho, who guided us here.

I came back to Irene.

“Did you like the intense gambling that real people do? Is this what you wanted?”

“Peachina…”

Irene was so shocked that her legs gave way and she collapsed.

Thud.

I caught her as she was about to fall and held her in my arms.

‘How did such a mediocre girl become such a transcendent?’

I deliberately showed her a slightly cruel scene in case there was something, but she was just a normal girl.

Silence flowed on the way back with her.

The stupid mouth that used to talk non-stop was finally closed.

Looking at her empty eyes, I felt like she got what she deserved, but I also felt sorry for her.

That night, I slept in the same bed with Irene.

She seemed to have suffered some mental shock, and she trembled when I moved away from her, so I hugged her tightly and slept.

 

The next day, a leisurely morning.

I was looking at the empty schedule and thinking about teaching Irene swordsmanship, but the Emperor came to visit from the morning.

The Emperor of the Arcadia Empire.

A cold-blooded Swordmaster who is said to have no blood or tears.

He came to see Irene.