66 A Day at the Casino

Due to Astur's and Ystur's insistence, their group continued to drive through the night and arrived ahead of schedule, entering the confines of the Capital of the Dresuar County, Dresuarstein, just before noon.

Astur jumps out of the car and stretches her limbs, "Finally, took long enough. So what is there to do around here for fun?"

"Aren't we here to negotiate with the bank? Why is the first thing that comes to mind is looking for fun?" Elizabeth asks.

"I'd rather do fun stuff than deal with business talks, that sounds boring," Ystur says, surveying the area.

Elizabeth looks over to Kretea for help, but she shakes her head in response, "Just let the two of them have their fun then we can deal with the bank. I'm a bit tired from driving nonstop anyways."

"Don't worry about it. I'll give Lester a call and see if he can set something up with the bank. This is his home territory, after all, he should have some sway here," Astur says, brushing off Elizabeth's concerns.

Elizabeth isn't really satisfied with Astur's reply, since the less time spent playing around the city, the more work that gets built up. She's gotten used to Astur over time and isn't willing to put in the extreme amount of effort required to change her mind.

Taking out her phone, Astur calls up Lester. "Hey we're in Dresuarstein, what can we do around here for fun."

As Lester is listing out the various activities for people to enjoy in Dresuarstein, Astur can feel Elizabeth's stare burning a hole in her back, "Oh and can you set up a meeting for us with the bank management, that's supposed to be the reason we're here?"

"Alright, but make sure to stop by my place later, the old man overheard us and found out who I was talking to and wanted to speak with you. He said he would make sure that you'll get to see the bank management as early as possible."

"Ok. I guess we can stop by later today," Astur says, ending the call.

"Not even going to say bye?" Elizabeth asks.

"He'll figure out the call ended sooner or later. Anyways, I'm off to the casino."

"And I'll accompany you. I want to play too, I mean, it's my job to be by your side and I need to make sure you're careful with your spending," Kretea says.

"A Casino sounds fun," Ystur says.

"..." Elizabeth simply follows along silently and unlike Kretea, actually intends to make sure the other three don't spend too much money.

Unfortunately, after a few hours, Elizabeth comes to the conclusion that she can't possibly watch over all three of them at the same time. "Just how did we get here…" Elizabeth laments as she reflects on the past couple of hours.

Going back to when they first arrived at the casino, before even getting to play anything, Elizabeth and Ystur were stopped at the door and questioned about their age. In the Kingdom of Virpal, people are considered an adult at the age of 16, but visually, these two don't look the part. While Elizabeth is of age and could get by after showing an ID, despite the suspicious stares from the bouncers, Ystur neither looks over 16 nor does she have an ID to prove her age. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a problem, but after Astur slipped them a few hundred VD they let Ystur through. This was only the first inappropriate action taken today.

At the start, Elizabeth made sure to do the exchange of chips so as to regulate the amount the others are spending, but soon after receiving their share of the chips, Astur and Ystur went off in different directions, while Kretea followed Astur, at first.

Ystur went to play some slots while Astur and Kretea went to a blackjack table. Since Elizabeth couldn't keep track of both sides at once, she followed Ystur and hoped that Kretea could make sure Astur doesn't waste too much money and try to exchange for chips on her own.

As expected, the inexperienced Ystur quickly burned through her allotted budget. But on her last couple rounds on the slots, she got her first taste and on her final round she just missed out on recouping her loss and even doubling the money spent so far. This led her to beg Elizabeth for more money since she doesn't have any of her own. It took a while but Elizabeth gave in on the condition the amount isn't much and that Ystur doesn't ask for any more. But as Elizabeth returns after exchanging for more chips, she finds that Ystur is gone.

Elizabeth's first thought was, ask Astur. But when she arrives at the table that Astur was previously at, the only person she can identify is Kretea.

"Where did they go?" Elizabeth asked.

"Astur said she'd be right back after losing a few games in a row. But that was fifteen minutes ago. Ystur was here a moment ago and it looked like she wanted to ask for some money. She had asked about where Astur was as well and left soon after. I don't know where she went through. But she looked a little annoyed when she left," Kretea said.

When Elizabeth looked past Kretea's shoulder and saw the massive piles of chips, the corner of her mouth twitched as it gradually formed a wry smile. Instantly, she understood why Astur walked away and Ystur looked annoyed when she left. Despite Elizabeth not playing any games herself, even she feels annoyed that Kretea somehow managed to win nearly every round she played.

"You can just keep doing what you're doing, I'm… I'm just going to head over the restroom for a bit," Elizabeth said.

Kretea turns back towards the table after giving Elizabeth a quick nod since the next round is starting. Taking a quick glance at the other gamblers at Kretea's table, Elizabeth easily sees their low spirits as they glance at Kretea.

Sitting by a bench in front of the women's restroom is Ystur who leaned over with her head in her hands.

"How did that clueless airhead manage to win so much…" Ystur mumbled as Elizabeth approached.

Elizabeth placed a hand on Ystur's shoulder and nodded, "I know. I got you some chips, why don't you play a bit more."

Elizabeth didn't really think it was a good idea to let Ystur play more, but having seen Kretea's absurd luck, she couldn't help but give in and let Ystur play more than intended.

A few minutes after Ystur get more chips from Elizabeth, the two of them can't help but feel like they forgot something. But they had put it in the back of their minds as Ystur continued playing the slots. After ten minutes, Ystur used up the remaining chips that Elizabeth got for her and while her gains weren't nearly as exaggerated as Kretea, overall, Ystur made a net positive of a couple hundred VD.

When the two thought to check in on the others, they both shouted at the same time, "I forgot about Astur/Mom!" Elizabeth forgetting to check in on Astur and Ystur forgetting to pester her for more money.

Elizabeth looked over towards the table where Kretea and previously Astur had been, but she didn't see anyone that resembles the two of them. Elizabeth and Ystur walked over to the table and verified that the two of them weren't around and waited for the current hand to finish.

With the hand finished, Elizabeth looked to the Dealer and asked, "What happened to the long-haired woman who was winning and the person who was with her?"

The Dealer had a mildly annoyed expression, "Them? Those two got brought to another room for cheating. We didn't find any concrete evidence from the long-haired one but there's no way someone can win every single game without a single loss as she did. But we did catch the other one in the act."

Elizabeth and Ystur went to the reception to ask about Kretea and Astur. They were then brought to a back room where a vigilant Kretea and a smug Astur were seated.

Kretea is in guard mode and ready to move into action at a moment's notice. But Astur, she only has one thought on her mind, "If I can't win, then neither of us is gonna win."

Taking a seat beside them, Elizabeth returns from her reflection and a few people in fancy suits walk in.