Chapter 74 – Gambling

(Ikarus) "Read them and weep them!"

"Fuck!"

"Lucky feathery bastard"

"I swear this lass is cheating"

Immediately as I turn over my two cards on the poker table, a flurry of insults head my way from some of the other players from my winning hand. I can't help but smile when my winnings get pushed over to my side of the table, there always is something pleasant about winning against others in a game of chance. The feathery comment was clearly about my other human form, changed before I came in and no one seems to give a shit about it. That comment was just him being pissed off at losing, not racism clearly.

The thing is, I was always a really good poker player, no idea why but it's just always been a thing I've been good at. This and blackjack are really the only two gambling games I don't mind, I'm not actually all that big a fan of gambling despite my system encouraging me to do it, you can blame a childhood of companies promoting shitty loot boxes for my opinion on that. It's basically just legalized gambling for kids after all.

The reason why I like poker and blackjack is that it's not completely based on luck. Sure, there's still a lot of luck involved but you can still win with a good bluff with poker, can always card count with blackjack as well. Games like this are less chance compared to others like roulette for example.

As for that current hand, four of a kind always beats a flush after all, best hand I've had here all night so I don't know why those three strangers are complaining. Did ask to see if the other party members wanted to play, Ariza was a definite no, Zeki and the dryad are probably off doing something disgusting and I'm unsure on Petra, she said she'd join after she needed to do something but yet to see here in this casino, all alone but who cares when I'm clearing the house?

Just before I'm about to get up and move onto something else, Petra finally arrives and takes a seat across the poker table from me. She gives me a slight smile and I do the same back.

"Small blind is a hundred and large is two, minimum buy in fee is a thousand"

"Sure, I'm in"

The dealer speaks to Petra since she's a new player, the rest of us around this table already know the rules. I would say hello to my smiling blind woman but alas, gambling is no place for friendship, it might also appear we're cheating if we're at the same table but I'm unaware of the rules in this place. It is funny no one is questioning why a blind woman is able to play poker but maybe they just see her as an easy opponent.

This is one of the more expensive poker tables around here after all, parents' money coming in clutch once again. That matters little anyway, I've only been making money since I sat down here, it probably won't be long before I get asked to leave since I've already won a few thousand in profit but it doesn't hurt to play a few more games, Petra is here as well now but knowing her, we're going to clear this casino for everything it has!

The dealer takes Petra fee and starts to draw out the cards around the table, I can't help but have a little thought though.

'Let's see if my girlfriend is any good at this, I guess it's fine to use that term now…'

__________

'Petra's cheating'

No seriously, I think Petra is cheating, she's yet to make a single mistake or fuck up so far, she always seems to know when to fold, when to bluff or when to raise. She's either cheating or is a master at this game, I know she's great at everything but there has to be limits, right? Yeah, she's got to be cheating.

It's only been a good ten minutes or so and she's already taken a good third of my winnings and is basically the high roller at this table now, I'm not all that bothered losing to her but it must be looking a little suspicious to other players at this table.

As soon as I give that thought, of course another player has to come out and say something, his reaction is a little unexpected though.

"How the hell can you even tell what cards you have!?"

It's taken until now for one of the other players to finally speak up about Petra's winning antics, he's even stood up and basically shouted that. I'm honestly surprised it's taken this long for someone to say something, it clearly must not be obvious she's cheating but still, maybe he's just a sore loser after all. Well it should look suspicions at least, she's clearly 'blind'.

"If you feel your fingers against the cards, you can feel what's being played. If you make another comment like that, I'll be forced to ask you to leave"

The dealer answers the shouting man with an answer even I didn't expect, I honestly can't believe this casino accommodates for the blind. I swear that type of thing is called braille, basically it's a language for the blind that can used by touch. Thinking about it, the texture on these cards does feel a little odd, that must be why but obviously with Petra, that's unneeded.

The guy sits back down in a sulk and still continues to play on, we shouldn't spend too much time here if this is the reaction we're getting from other players.

In the end, we spend a good ten more minutes or so at the table and by now, we've clearly pissed off everyone else at the table so it makes sense to leave. We purposely leave separately as not to draw attention, then meet back up outside. That might've been pushing it there.

Our winnings together might've come close to being around ten thousand, it would've been more if Petra didn't keep beating me and taking my gold. While we're heading to an inn, I need to ask her about what I saw from her in there, she's too good at this.

"Petra… what was that?"

"What was what?"

She responds to my questioning with a smile, she's hiding something here, it's the same type of smile she gave me when those two dwarfs decided to hit on me in the dwarven kingdom and she got extremely jealous, I know that fake smile all too well.

"Your luck is either perfect or you're cheating, which is it?"

It's funny, I actually couldn't care all that much, just a little curious really. I would've been mad if it was someone else but it's mainly down to the fact it's Petra, I really doubt there will ever be a reason I could get mad at her, I don't think we've ever even had an argument thinking about it.

"No idea what you're on about Ikarus"

I thought I'd get this response; she's clearly trying to keep this cheating secret hidden away. I'm on to you woman, I know when you're lying and this is one of those times, smiling and acting dumb won't convince me otherwise!

Anyway, we eventually find an inn after that little convo and wouldn't you know it, Zeki is in the same one sitting at a table inside. No idea where the dryad or Ariza are, we agreed to meet back up together at the market tomorrow so bumping into him was completely unexpected. We'll have some quick words, then rent a room for tonight. Should I share with-, no, too soon right now, someday I'll be ready for that…

"Oi, looks like you two are here and holding hands as well… why are you looking at me like that orangey?"

As much as I like my name, I'd feel a little weird if he stopped calling me orangey now, I guess he's pretty similar to my father in that he doesn't like to use names all that often. Pretty sure I've heard him call the dryad her name once or twice but that's about it.

It's a little surprising why he'd be sitting at a table alone at an inn, he doesn't appear to have ordered food or anything like that, it actually appears he's reading something! That's honestly why I'm looking at him like that, reading books is something I'd never expect from Mr obnoxious!

I do have a question that he might be able to answer though, I'll ignore the holding hands comment since we basically do it without even giving it a think when walking around a town or city now.

"Zeki… you know why Petra's luck is so good?"

"Luck? Oh, did she cheat you in cards as well?"

Zeki knows about Petra's cheating antics? I thought I was right there; he'll definitely know since he's spent a good two hundred years around her. Well, knowing Petra, she spent most of that time on the road helping people out and just came to say hello every now and then.

"How does she do it then?"

"Older sis must have an ability that allows her to scan cards, it's the only thing I've ever been able to come up with, there's no way anyone is that lucky even if you had a maxed-out luck skill"

Oh, so he's only speculating but that I'm in agreement with him, Petra's way too lucky. Judging from her smiling face though, he's definitely right. I guess even the old and wise Petra still even has little things that could be considered childish, cheating is kinda childish, right? I actually like it a bit though, it makes her less perfect and a little rougher around the edges, there's no need to cheat but as long as you get away with it, who cares? I don't think it counts if I've figured it out though.

"If it makes any difference Ikarus, it's not exactly something I can switch off"

So she's even admitting to it now? Maybe her ability that allows her to kinda see has the same effect as someone who can scan through cards? Ah forget it, it just means trying to play cards with her is a little pointless but we can always do other stuff.

"I fucking knew it older sis! All those years playing cards with me and Ariza and you were cheating throughout it all!? I'm actually incredibly disappointed in you"

Zeki looks so incredibly pissed right now, can't say I blame him, I'd feel a little annoyed if you found out you've been cheated for this long.

Petra doesn't even look guilty about such a thing though, truly a woman with no remorse for screwing over the other two phoenixes. Maybe she could feel guilty towards Ariza, Zeki no chance though. At least she's got a sinister side to her, not everyone is perfect after all, Petra is still pretty damn close, if anything this is good.

(Ikarus) "Well… at the very least, looks like playing cards when passing the time is no longer an option"

Me saying this doesn't calm down the angry Zeki at all but I am just stating the obvious, playing games with card cheaters is pointless even if she can't help it.

"Heh, there's always other things we can do"

I'm pretty certain that was a flirt by Petra, it sounded like she said that in a seductive way. I'll just ignore it though; I'm feeling a little tired now thinking about it so I'm not really all that bothered by her teasing. I don't know if that counts as a tease though.

"Let's get... TWO rooms and speak in the morning, I need a good sleep"

"Sure"

"Oi orangey, get me a room as well while you're up there"

Sighhh, this kid was probably waiting for us to rent him out a room or something like that thinking about it, might as well seeing that I'm going up there now…

__________

The next morning…

"Let us in! Where are those cheaters?"

"They robbed us blind!"

"Fucking thieves!"

As I'm waking up from my slumber in this little inn room I've rented out, multiple male voices can be heard coming through the wall, I'm pretty certain they're outside but cannot be completely sure, they sound pissed right now though.

'Urgh, such a good night sleep as well, wanted to lay in'

At the very least, I don't have to get dressed to see what's going on, slept in my clothes again last night since the corset part of this outfit is still is a pain in the arse to get off.

I get up, find my way back outside of this inn while I'm rubbing sleep out of my eyes and find a small crowd has gathered around the front of the inn, all holding either pitchforks or torches, I swear I've seen this scene in movies before.

'Oh great, now we're going to get chased out of town by an angry mob'

Zeki and Petra have also joined me, clearly they've just woken up as well.

"An angry lynch mob dares to wake me at this time!?"

(Petra) "Calm it Zeki, let's try and resolve this a different way than resorting to you know what"

"Err, fine"

Cleary Petra is trying to get Zeki to not kill all the pissed off people who we cheated from the casino yesterday, can't say I blame them for being pissed but something is a little surprising, the town guard are actually holding them off. The few guards wearing the red samurai looking outfits are for some reason coming to our aid, we don't need it but it would be better not to resort to bloodshed like with what usually happens.

If it does though, this is one hundred percent on Petra shoulders this time around, I wasn't cheating back there, she was, even if she can't help it. I'm more than willing to get blood on my hands for her though, it would be ash rather than blood but the point still stands.

"Back… off!"

"You know the risks of gambling! You lost so leave and deal with it!"

I'm honestly shocked at why the guards are defending us strangers so much, a thought has now come to mind though.

"Petra, does this town love you as well or something?"

Well obviously not the gamblers, they want our heads right about now, it sounds like some of them are arguing with the guards as well.

"Heh, this isn't one of those times Ikarus, this is also a little surprising to me as well"

Huh, I guess even Petra doesn't know why this is happening, maybe this is some type of law that protects travellers or they just don't like dealing with idiots. It is a bit strange how a crowd has formed when some of these people weren't even at our poker table, did the casino send them here or something?

Ah, I bet that's it, the casino is pissed at us for taking so much money off them, they've decided to send a mob our way, that's got to be it. It would've been easier to just blacklist us from ever entering again but whatever.

"Are you sure we can't just kill them? It would make this whole thing easier"

"No Zeki, calm it"

Destroying that casino doesn't sound like the worst of ideas if they're involved but I'd rather we just leave this place already now, that will take too much time of our schedule, only one more dungeon to go after all. It better be one more otherwise I'm getting pissed at Aesa.

[<Aesa never gave -user- a guarantee that other dungeon was complete>]

'I'll still get pissed at you regardless. Even if it isn't your fault, we'll have to stop the war with the empire and rebels to get to that final dungeon held in rebel lands, stopping a war will be way too boring and annoying'

I'm being optimistic though, Aesa did already say about that already completed dungeon kinda counting so I'll put my faith in her, if it backfires I'll still be pissed even if I get a load of EXP from killing loads of soldiers. I guess there could be ways around it, it's a prison after all so I probably wouldn't have to end the whole war, would need to attack that place though and hope to not get surrounded, think about another time if I have to.

Unfortunately with this situation we currently find ourselves in, there's only so much the guards can do when there's only three of them against an angry mob.

"Would you three mind if you left the settlement?"

"Yeah, there's only so much we can do to help. If things go sour, then we may not be able to guarantee your safety"

"..."

Let's take the peaceful option this time, we obviously can destroy an angry mob with the blink of an eye but you don't always have to resolve things with violence.

If one of them does actually try to hurt me or Petra, I will kill them all though…

(Petra) "Sure"

(Ikarus) "Okay okay"

"Err, fine then"

As we're being guided out of the settlement by the guards and still being followed by the mob, there's someone that we've forgotten and I give a whisper to Petra about.

"Petra, what about Ariza?"

I couldn't care if we forget the dryad, she's sometimes alright to have around but it'll get even more perverted knowing her. At the very least, we can always kill her off kinda permanently in the desert, it'll take weeks or months for her to get back to us since trees aren't a thing over there. Truly a brilliant plan if she becomes too much.

"I'll change my face and come back in a bit"

Oh yeah, she has her face changing, mimic ability, she might need to change clothes but she probably has something spare to blend in knowing her. At least that settles it.

I guess it'll be time to set off again soon, unfortunately getting to the last dungeon in the mesa is going to be a very long trip, we're gonna have to travel across all three countries in Krieger to get to the east side of that continent, then we still have to find the bloody place as well. At least we'll get to come across some more racists, I might just take the Zeki route and just kill every bigot from now on.

I can already tell bringing those other two phoenixes back to the desert is going to be a terrible experience though…