Chapter 181

"Young Master, Mina and the others have been gone for 4 days. Why haven't they come back yet?" Annie held a lollipop in her mouth, with her brown eyes slightly squinted as she stood by the window in the study room, looking at the crowd gathering in the plaza.

Today was another recruitment day. Most of those people were those Lucas brought back from Sakura City, and they included beastkins and commoners. Some were waiting to see how things would go, while others quickly found jobs. Today was considered the last batch.

If they still didn't want to work, they would have to wait for the next recruitment. The City Lord's Mansion wouldn't raise and support lazy individuals.

"It won't be that quick. The 4 days are calculated based on just Mina and Helen. If they've persuaded the tribe's beastkins to come, then they would require at least an extra day with the large number of people. They should be back by tomorrow." Lucas said without looking up, focused on the documents in his hands, occasionally making notes with a pen.

"Then will they be in danger?" Annie looked worried. Although she kept saying that she trusted Mina, she was actually quite anxious.

"Don't worry. I've sent Aiden and the Long Bow team into the mountains. Andrew also went there. If my guess is right, they should have met up by now."

Lucas put down his fountain pen, looked at the anxious foxgirl, and said softly, "Stop worrying. Let's play a game."

"A game?" Annie turned her head to Lucas, raising an eyebrow curiously, "Young Master? What game?"

Seeing that he had gotten Annie's attention, Lucas pulled out a small wooden box from the bottom drawer of his desk. "It's a poker game played with cards." Lucas got up, took the wooden box to the center of the study table, and waved to Nicole, who was researching recipes, to come over. Annie came over and sat down, curious.

As for Ayesha, after hearing that Lucas wouldn't leave the castle today she followed James to the military camp early in the morning as she was curious about what military camp life was like. She was a beastkin who couldn't sit still.

"Young Master, what's a poker game?" Nicole closed the recipe book, her eyes full of curiosity. This was the first time Lucas was playing a game with them.

"It's a very fun game." Lucas smiled slightly. He had noticed that the foxgirls couldn't be bored. When they had nothing to do, they would space out or eat snacks.

So, when he went back to Earth, he had someone custom make a special deck of poker cards. The designs were anime-style illustrations Lucas found online. The illustrations included knights, beastkins, commoners, nobles, and more.

"Let's start." Annie leaned forward, looking at the box.

"Alright." Lucas opened the box and took out a finely crafted deck of cards. Since it was custom-made and he didn't order much, it was quite expensive.

"Let me explain the rules and how to play." Lucas laid out the cards and began explaining, "This suit is called diamonds, this one is spades… This is the Diamond Jack Knight… This is the Heart Queen Elf, Spades Queen Beastkin… This is the Black King Human King, this is the Red King Beastkin King… This is the Divine Dragon King, and this is the Lizard… cough cough, this is the Evil Dragon Small King. Now for its rule….."

Annie and Nicole took out their notepads and quickly started jotting down notes, their eyes shining with excitement as they looked at the beautifully illustrated cards and listened to the game rules and instructions.

"Young Master, let's start quickly, I want to play." Annie said, shaking the table with her slender hand.

"Yeah, Young Master, let's begin." Nicole glanced at the wooden box, which contained several decks of cards.

"Stop peeking. Take one deck each." Lucas said, rolling his eyes. He started shuffling the cards quickly.

"Yay. Young Master is the best."

Nicole swiftly pulled the box close to her chest, took out a deck of cards, and also gave a deck to Annie.

"Great." Annie took the deck and put it into her backpack, as if afraid someone might snatch it away.

"Alright, let's begin." Lucas dealt the cards, organized them, and looked at the two who were fumbling around, and a smile couldn't help but form on his lips.

"Young Master, wait, I'm not ready yet." Annie said anxiously, holding the cards and occasionally glancing at her notepad.

"This feels so difficult." Nicole said, looking at her cards and the notepad, with cards occasionally falling from her hand.

After 3 minutes, Annie and Nicole finally managed to get ready, looking at Lucas with serious expressions, as Lucas was the landlord and they were playing Fight the Landlord.

"I'm starting." Lucas, suppressing his laughter, placed two cards down, "A pair of threes."

"I'll go with a pair of fives." Annie hurriedly called out, fumbling as she put her cards out and letting several fall to the table.

"A pair of Kings." Nicole immediately laid down her prepared cards.

"Pass."

"A pair of Aces." Annie quickly threw down her cards again.

"Huh?" Nicole was taken aback, and she pinched the foxgirl's ears, and said, "Idiot, we're on the same team."

"Ah?" Annie tilted her head, glanced at the rules in the notepad, and quickly reached for the pair of Aces to try to take her cards back.

"No, once you've played a card, you can't take it back." Lucas gently patted the fox-eared girl's hand.

"Hmph." Annie pouted, glancing awkwardly at Nicole, feeling a bit nervous.

…

Thus, amidst a series of mishaps, Lucas 'struggled' to win the first round, and then went on to win 12 more rounds consecutively.

After playing 13 rounds, Annie and Nicole learned how to play, and Lucas had to rely on luck to get good cards to win.

"Nicole, when will your pizza place be renovated? When will it open?" Lucas asked while putting down a pair of nines.

"It will open once Mina and the others return." Nicole nudged Annie's foot under the table.

"Hehe… Pass." Annie chose to pass.

Lucas was a bit surprised. Annie had always played cards whenever she had them. Now she's getting clever.

"A pair of twos." Nicole smirked slightly, looking at Lucas with anticipation, "Will you come to the opening, Young Master?"

"Pass." Lucas had a bad hand this round. He nodded, "Well! I'll have to try the restaurant's signature pizza then."

"It won't disappoint you, Young Master." Nicole's mouth curved into a smile as she laid down a large stack of cards, "A flush, from three to King."

"Pass." Lucas said helplessly, realizing he was going to lose this round.

"Three carry a pair."

"Yay! We won, Nicole! We finally won."

'Did they lose so much that they started cheating in the game?' Lucas's lips curled slightly. He was aware of the two's little tricks under the table, as his foot had been bumped twice.

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