How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 60

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (60)

“Hmm….”

All-in with only 12 chips?

‘Not that I mind.’

I tilted my head slightly and said.

“You could take your time, you know.”

“Come on, we’ve been at this for a while.”

“That’s right, man! Why check when you know what’s up? Now that everything’s bet, let’s finish this!”

The Department of Public Administration guys pounded the table.

The Department of Magic student smiled and explained.

“Hey, the maximum first bet is 2 chips! This guy’s going to call anyway, so whether I check or make the pot 4 more doesn’t make much difference, right? And remember you guys checked at the very beginning too~?”

So that’s why he went all-in now.

Going all-in from the start is allowed, but otherwise, you can only bet 2 chips on the first bet. That was the rule I read earlier.

If this guy were on the second turn, he would have raised 10 chips to my bet, but he’s on the first turn. The structure forces him to only bet 2.

Since I won’t raise when I have no chips, one round’s pot would only be 4 chips.

That’s what happened in round 3.

So he went all-in instead.

‘He must really want to finish this quickly.’

This way, unless I fold, he’ll end up with a total of 122 chips.

“So, what will you do? Fold?”

“No.”

I pushed the chips in front of me forward.

“Let’s go with it.”

I could see his eyes waver for a moment.

Soon he lifted one corner of his mouth in a smile and turned his head.

* * *

“Let’s go with it.”

Lucas Ascanien pushed all his remaining chips toward the center of the table.

‘That’s strange.’

He’s coming out so calmly even when it’s obvious he’ll lose?

Well, he’s been doing that all along. It’s not strange now.

I looked at his face and asked.

“You must be pretty tired too. We have been at this for a while, haven’t we?”

“I suppose.”

“….”

Not very sociable.

I shrugged and smiled.

“I’ll reveal the cards.”

At the dealer’s words, I spread my cards.

J, K, J, 8, J, 3, 6.

The suits didn’t overlap meaningfully, but with three Js, it’s a triple.

The dealer looked at my cards and said.

“Triple Js.”

Since Ascanien has one J, four of a kind was impossible.

Actually, I wanted to go higher, so I was aiming for a 3-2 combination, a full house with a triple plus one pair….

‘Unfortunately that didn’t work out. But I’m lucky to get a triple.’

I rested my chin on my hand and watched Ascanien flip his cards.

‘Q, 2, J… and Q.’

There was another Q hidden.

So he had a pair of Qs after all.

I can see why he came out so confidently.

A pair of Qs is valued higher than the pair of Js showing on my face cards.

‘Simple-minded.’

The type who doesn’t think about what might be in the opponent’s hidden cards.

Of course, he showed the same behavior in the dozens of rounds we experienced earlier, so it’s not surprising.

Pair of Qs or whatever, it’s still just that compared to my triple.

“Oh!”

While I was thinking about other things, one friend jumped up from his seat.

“Q and 2 two pair? No! Wait, ah, damn…!”

Even if it’s two pair, I have a triple right now, so what’s the….

Just as I released my hand from my chin to look at his hand, the dealer spoke.

“Q-2 full house.”

“…!”

He got the full house?

In my confusion, I stood up, gripping the table. The chips I had pushed forward fell over from the impact.

Clatter―

‘Then my chips are…!’

The 35 chips in the pot on the table plus the 75 chips I had left, a total of 110 chips, all go to Ascanien.

One friend smacked my back.

“Hey, you…! Why did you go all-in?!”

“Instead of checking, you should have cleaned him out in round 4…!”

Ascanien still sat with his arms crossed and an indifferent expression, looking down at his cards, then lifted his head with a smile.

“Then I have 122 chips.”

“….”

“That’s correct.”

When no one could respond due to the absurdity, the dealer student nodded. Then he made his final comment to wrap up the game.

“The final winner is Lucas Ascanien. We have our first morning poker champion!”

Pop―!

He shouted loudly toward the first floor below the stairs and pulled a paper firecracker from his pocket to set it off. Ascanien seemed not to have expected this, as he now looked at the student with a bewildered expression.

“Don’t worry. We’ll clean up.”

“…Ah, yes…. Please do.”

“How do you feel? I’m going to put your name up now.”

“How do I feel, well, I was a bit surprised that everyone had more persistence than I expected….”

Persistence?

I frowned slightly at this ridiculous situation.

Then something flashed through my mind.

Could it be….

‘Was he waiting for us to get tired all this time?’

We might be overestimating, but if his raising with weak hands, his immediate raise after consecutive folds, and his calling my unreasonable raises were all to shatter our vigilance….

Now I understand why he kept making such risky moves.

It was a strategy to survive thin and long until the end.

‘That way, when luck comes, you can make your moves unpredictable.’

If you wait, luck will come eventually. And that was now.

I could only laugh.

I wondered why he kept doing this, no, actually I thought it was because his head wasn’t working….

Ascanien rested his chin in thought, then smiled at us instead of the dealer.

“Thanks to you, I had fun playing, Senior.”

“…Hah.”

His name sparkled with magic on the first floor visible below the stairs.

Ascanien nodded in greeting, stood up from his seat, and walked past us.

* * *

“Hey~ I knew you’d win!”

“What do you mean you knew I’d win? You were biting your nails the whole time.”

Behind us, Elias and Leo were having a light argument.

I brushed off the pollen stuck to my body and walked straight out of the building.

My name had briefly appeared on the Hall board, but I asked them to remove it. As a result, it didn’t disappear completely but was processed anonymously.

I checked once more outside to see if changes were possible, but there was still no change.

“But did you see that 3rd year guy smirking annoyingly when showing the triple? Ugh, I wanted to punch him, but Luca did it for us.”

“…Guy? That person is the vice class representative of 3rd Year Class 2. We might run into him later, so don’t say things like that.”

“What, then you must see him often at the student council?”

“I used to see him occasionally until last year.”

“Really? Ah, anyway, I should have taken photos of those people’s expressions earlier!”

Elias shook his head and giggled.

Leo chuckled lightly at that distinctive laugh.

“Right.”

“Huh?”

“…What exactly do you and Lucas think of me? I have the same thoughts you guys do.”

Leo let out a hollow laugh and shrugged his shoulders.

“Why, did Luca say something about you too?”

“Earlier at the Art Club, they said they’d give me an extra stamp if I drew a picture, so I drew one, and they seemed surprised.”

“Well, they probably didn’t expect you to take advantage of such loopholes.”

I answered simply.

There was no need to explain at length. Elias’s attention was already elsewhere.

“Oh, they give two stamps? I should go try that too.”

Like that, we left the exhibition hall again in 5 minutes.

Elias, who had received his stamp, glanced through the visitors’ drawings and asked.

“So~ which ones are yours? Ah, this is Leo’s drawing.”

Elias pointed directly at Fai’s picture.

Fai, who hadn’t seen Leo’s drawing earlier because we went to find Elias, suddenly perked up on my shoulder.

“Me?! Is that me?”

Before I could answer, Fai jumped to Leo’s shoulder.

“…Can this guy recognize drawings?”

Leo carefully removed Fai, who was clinging to his neck, and placed him on his shoulder. It looked like clinging, but with short arms it just appeared that way – it seemed more like a hug.

‘He expresses himself like a human…’

Maybe he learned this from living with humans instead of his own kind.

“Did he recognize it? The rabbit seems happy. So where’s Luca’s drawing?”

I pointed to a drawing posted in the middle of the wall in response to Elias’s question.

“Here.”

“Oh.”

Elias narrowed his eyes, lost for words, tilted his head and gestured.

“Right, I see. Very original.”

“…”

Nice words, but judging by his gestures, it didn’t seem like praise.

“This level is pretty normal. Look around.”

“But what’s this? The kid drew spikes.”

“It’s obviously a lion just by looking.”

“Hmm?”

Leo showed a strange reaction to my answer.

“…”

What am I even saying here.

I just walked outside, leaving behind Elias who was laughing breathlessly at Leo’s reaction. Leo shouted after me.

“Wait, Lucas! I wasn’t trying to say anything! You’re not the only one who drew like that, so don’t worry. And we don’t even have art class.”

Is he mocking me…

This guy’s habit of saying random things is showing again.

Elias’s laughter grew louder.

Anyway, since I was never particularly strong in music and art subjects, it was fortunate that arts weren’t evaluated.

I gestured to Elias, who had now just sat down at the entrance, and Leo, who followed behind.

“Whatever, let’s do something else.”

* * *

It’s about time to find Narke.

After having a simple meal and buying snacks for Fai, it was already past noon, approaching 1 o’clock.

The play is at 10 PM tonight, so there’s still plenty of time, but since Narke has a leading role, it’s safer to find her early considering practice time.

Just as I was wondering whether to send Fai out once more, Elias pointed to a booth that had just opened. Something resembling a shooting range had been set up in the spacious Public Training Ground.

“Want to try that?”

“What about your crutches?”

“Aha~”

At Leo’s words, Elias gritted his teeth as if he was sick of leg problems. Then he shook his head, approached, and examined the fake guns lying around in front of the booth.

“This is a knockoff Gewehr. I vividly remember getting in huge trouble about 5 years ago for lifting it with magic because it was too heavy.”

“…”

Leo shook his head at Elias’s word choice.

The poor quality made it seem like it was really made just for play, only resembling the shape.

When I picked up the gun, Leo’s eyes widened.

“What, you’re going to do it too?”

“Yeah. It’s just for a moment anyway.”

“We have plenty of time so it doesn’t matter, but do you know how to handle it?”

Just as I wondered whether this was mocking or not, I remembered that Luca was 17 years old.

‘No, that’s not it.’

Anyway, kids from ruling families enlist early and receive training during every vacation, so about half the students in the 2nd Education Institute’s Department of Magic would know how to use old-fashioned weapons.

The problem is that Luca never went to the military.

This was unusual for a ruling family mage.

Even if it’s a toy, it’s better not to do it than create unnecessary suspicion.

Having finished thinking, I handed the gun to Leo and stepped out.

“Right, I don’t know. You do it.”

“What.”

I gestured to Leo and stepped back.

Leo made a reluctant face, received safety equipment from the student at the booth, and started shooting.

His accuracy was quite high, showing he had properly participated in the occasional old-style training.

‘Should I look for Narke in the meantime.’

When I asked Fai again, Fai stretched out his arm and pointed far away.

At the same time, someone turned their head to look in our direction.

“Lucas! Nice seeing you here~”

Narke handed the gun to the student at the booth and smiled brightly.

Fai shouted.

“Narke~!”

“Hi Fai~ Ah, I promised to buy you snacks. Let’s go eat later.”

“I already bought him some earlier.”

“Ah, really? Thanks.”

But…

I glanced at where Narke had been and asked.

“…Are you allowed to do this kind of thing?”

“Huh? It’s fine~ Nobody knows.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

He’s really enjoying himself after coming here on exchange.

“So, how many did you hit?”

“I missed them all. Ah, I feel like I could adapt if I practiced just a little more, what a shame. The Knight’s Department kids really do use up all the good equipment.”

“Really? I guess it’s because they’ve been doing nothing but that since they were young.”

“Exactly! Haha, I’ve lived my whole life holding only a wand, so this is really different.”

Narke looked at the crowd that had gathered at some point and laughed.

Then he turned toward me and asked.

“More importantly, you have something to tell me today, don’t you?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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