Cards

After dealing with Signus, the Runewalkers that were departing left in two magic carriages with an escort of two personnel carrier vehicles full of Runewalker knights. While the protection was unnecessary with Frey and Alicia, this trip was more than simply to celebrate the first princess's fifteenth birthday, it served as a show of power and prestige for the Runewalker territory. The Runewalkers were a military territory, by not showing up with soldiers it was like showing up with their backs exposed. At some point in the future, there would likely be an exhibition match between some of the other houses in a test of military prowess. The Runewalker house had never lost one of these matches before.

Kye was in the carriage with his sisters while Frey, Alicia and Layla were in the other one. The carriages themselves were being driven by servants so Kye and his sisters were simply killing time in the back end of the carriage playing cards. Kye was acting as the dealer in their game of blackjack and they were betting with smaller denominations of copper coins to keep things casual but interesting. The deck they were playing with was identical to the 52 card decks seen today but instead of having the suits be clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds, the suits were swords, shields, spears and arrows.

Elena sat on a 16 with a queen of swords and a 6 of shields. "Hit me." Kye delt her another card, 6 of arrows.

"22, bust."

Elena threw her cards down and sighed. Kye chuckled as he took the five small copper coins she placed as her bet and deposited them in front of him. The pile was massive after having drained nearly every one of his sisters of their coins throughout the game. Truthfully, this was the one card game Kye had played excessively in his past life due to the mathematical nature of card counting. He wasn't proud of it, but playing this game at casinos was one of the main ways he made money to fund his research previously.

He wasn't dealing them dodgy hands, but due to the friendly nature of the game, Kye placed his own bets and played his own hand even as the dealer. Keeping track of the deck was simple from his position so winning big and losing small was simple. Kye kept the game going and looked to Mary.

She had an ace of shields and a 9 of arrows. "Stay." Kye nodded and moved to Poppy.

Poppy had a 4 of spears and a 9 of shields. "Hit." It was a king of swords. "23, bust."

Kye pulled the coins into his large stack and looked to Iris. She had a king of spears and a six of arrows. She drummed her fingers on her lips for a moment before tapping her fingers on the small travel table they were using. Unfortunately for her, the running count was +4, Kye drew the card to reveal the 10 of arrows, busting her at 26. Kye took her coins and added them to the pile before playing his hand. He sat on a 6 of swords and a 7 of shields and looked at the separate dealer's hand he drew. Face card was a 3 of shields, not much to go on with a +3 running total. Basic theory says he should stand on such a hand but Kye wanted to have a bit of fun, so he tapped the table and delt himself another card. 8 of swords, 21 total. Kye smiled and stayed his hand there.

Kye then played the dealer's hand and flipped over the downfacing card. Jack of shields, total 13 still at the +3 running total. Dealer has to hit on under 16, Kye drew the card. 10 of arrows, meaning dealer busts on 23. Kye paid out Mary and himself and smiled contently at the large pile of coins in front of him. Elena groaned and puffed up her cheeks.

"How are you so good Kye?"

"Yeah, you always win big but lose so little, what's your secret." added Poppy.

"Hahaha, it's a combination of luck and strategy, nothing too impressive."

"Mou, that doesn't answer my question. Good little brothers should listen to their big sisters!"

Elena pinched Kye's cheek and jostled him a little bit. Kye grabbed her hand and gently moved off his cheek.

"Okay, okay, I'll teach you my method. You can't tell anyone after this, alright?"

The four of them nodded and Kye began explaining the Hi-Lo method of card counting. After explaining, he did some practice with the girls until they were getting the running count and true count right 60% of the time.

"Keep practising and you'll get it perfect, it's a pretty essential part of winning lots at blackjack."

"What's the other part?"

Poppy, who had been trained by her biological mother Layla into being a politician in the future, caught Kye's deliberate word choice saying that card counting was only a 'pretty essential part of winning' and not the whole reason. Kye snorted once with amusement and shook his head.

"Can't get anything past my big sisters, can I?"

The four of them giggled and smiled, feeling proud they caught out their genius little brother. Kye pulled out his notebook and wrote up a table with numbers and symbols in the columns and rows.

"Here, this is what I call basic theory. It tells you mathematically what you should do in any given situation in a hand of blackjack."

Elena looked over the table and then shot Kye an inquisitive glance.

"You came up with this method?"

"Partially, I had some help from a friend." Kye tore off the page from his notebook and gave it to Elena. "Here, if you study and memorise it, you can play the mathematically perfect hand of blackjack every time. I don't know if it's a useful skill but it's there if you want it."

Elena smiled brightly and pulled Kye into her chest in a big hug.

"I love you, little brother!"

"Yeah yeah, great, I'm suffocating though, please... let go..."

Kye was released from her massive chest and breathed a sigh of relief. These chest attacks were common among his elder sisters, seems all of them were blessed with good genetics in that regard. If only that could break the habit of smothering Kye with them. With the girls now studying the table and asking Kye to help them, the time passed quietly as the carriage rode smoothly along the paved roads leading to Alioth. Kye smiled at the sight of his sisters enjoying something so simple and closed his eyes, letting sleep quietly take him.