Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 41

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 41 — You Know Everything, Don’t You?
“Unlike that goblin customer, you certainly have admirable resolve.”
The rabbit-eared Dealer leaned her upper body toward me at ease.
As she drew closer, a sinister aura pressed against me, catching my breath.
“Dealer. Are you perhaps a devotee of Leria?”
At my question, Dealer bared her front teeth in a grin.
“How intriguing. Unfortunately, those who come from outside rarely know much about the Silent One. They even call us ‘Cultists,’ which has been rather hurtful all this time.”
“It’s ignorance, that’s all. What good are two ears if you cannot hear the stillness that fills the world?”
“My, shall we abandon the game and discuss those great ones instead?”
Given the chance, I would have loved to have a sincere conversation about faith myself.
Among all the Cultists I’d met so far, the only one I could hold a proper conversation with was Ermentaz, the phantom of the Maze.
But the world of gambling is merciless.
Now, with tears in my eyes, I had to bring down this rare kindred spirit among the Cultists.
“Well then, if you’re ready, place your bet now.”
“I’ll start light for now.”
I shoved all fifty hexagonal coins to the center.
“All In.”
“What the—!”
Mec, who’d been watching but more anxious than I was, jumped to his feet.
“Friend, are you a complete rookie? How can you throw everything in from the start! You’re supposed to play it safe first, then go all-in when you feel the moment coming!”
“Mec.”
“What?”
“Forgive the impertinence, but how many times have you won coins against this Dealer in this game?”
……
The meddlesome goblin fell quiet.
The rabbit-eared Dealer glared at Mec, then cradled her chin in her hand.
“Are you sure? That goblin customer talks too much, but his advice wasn’t wrong. Are you really comfortable betting so much from the very start?”
“If I lose everything, I’ll wager my clothes and equipment. If I can’t win even then, I’ll stake my body. With a face like mine, surely many masters would find me desirable, regardless of gender?”
……
The Dealer blinked, then smiled faintly.
“Well, wouldn’t it be better to hold back a little?”
“Then what’s the point? If I’m going to hold back, there’s no reason to gamble at all.”
“My, really….”
Here she was, extracting customers’ money as her profession, yet speaking like this.
A truly excellent Dealer would strip everything down to the last piece of underwear without hesitation.
“Please proceed with the game.”
“Very well, as you wish. Please choose a card. There’s no time limit, so take your time and think it over….”
Before the Dealer could even finish speaking, I flipped a card over boldly.
Level 5 Warrior.
I won.
“…What?”
The Dealer’s long ears stiffened.
I gestured to the hesitant rabbit-eared Dealer.
“Why aren’t you continuing the game?”
“C-Congratulations. I’ll give you double the bet—100 coins….”
The Dealer pushed a generous pile of coins toward me, her red eyes blinking rapidly as she spoke.
“Let’s move on to the next round immediately.”
The second hand began.
The card the Dealer flipped was Level 8 Mage.
“Please place your bet.”
“Of course.”
Once again, I pushed all my coins forward.
“The bet is All In, naturally.”
“…It’s your turn to choose a card.”
Without hesitation this time either, I flipped a card over sharply.
Level 4 Mage.
I won again.
“Same class…! Another success!”
“Insane!”
“Wooow…!!”
With two consecutive All In victories under my belt, I’d raked in two hundred coins in an instant, and the crowd of onlookers began swelling toward the table.
“How in the world did you manage that, friend…?”
Mec muttered in a daze, and the moment he posed the question, the attention of the spectators who’d been whispering all around shifted squarely onto me.
I favored them all with a fresh wink and a disarming smile, then replied.
“There’s a saying we use back in my homeland for moments like this.”
“What’s that?”
“Fortune smiles kindly.”
……
The goblin and the onlookers’ faces all scrunched up in unison.
The Dealer, who’d been listening intently with her ears perked, slapped her forehead with her palm.
“…Guest, will you play another round?”
“Of course.”
This time the card was a Level 6 Rogue.
“Please wait just a moment.”
The Dealer, having bought herself time before I could immediately place my bet, opened her eyes even wider.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted even more violently than before, engulfing the card once more as though coating it with fire.
“Thank you for waiting. This time, you truly won’t be able to guess!”
“Is that so?”
I tapped one card lightly with my finger.
“Shall we verify whether that’s really the case?”
……
I savored the gaze of the red-eyed Dealer fixed steadily upon me, then turned the card over slowly.
Level 7 Rogue.
“This is utterly insane!”
The Dealer let out a thick shriek of despair, covering the corner of her mouth with one hand.
“Dealer, please continue.”
“…Yes.”
The Dealer, her face drooping with gloom, extended a thousand coins to me, which I accepted with both arms spread wide.
“Wow, this game is fun. I’ll keep going.”
“…Guest? Over there the slot machines and roulette are much more thrilling.”
“No, no. I want to play this one.”
……
The game continued.
The Dealer’s card was a Level 10 Warrior.
Mine was a Level 10 Wizard.
Another victory.
“No, no, no!”
Her long ears fluttered wildly.
Her red eyes trembled ceaselessly as she stared at me.
“How could you possibly know! Even I don’t know where which image will be placed!”
“What? You don’t know either?”
At Mec’s startled question, I answered in place of the Dealer, who was in a fragile state of mind.
“The Magic you used twice earlier means these cards continue to shuffle their drawn images randomly at intervals of less than a single second.”
“…So it wasn’t merely hiding which card was which. That’s why!”
The goblin, his curiosity finally satisfied, relaxed visibly and tilted his head.
“But how did you pick exactly the right cards, one after another?”
The Dealer, sensing my intent, slowly flipped over one more card.
Level 1 Hunter.
“Mec, remember this.”
The second row, third card will become a Level 2 Hunter in five seconds.
Now.
Rustle.
“Hey! You! Crazy guest—!”
“Lidni, the visionary of distorted truth, knows all things.”
Before the Eye That Pierces Truth, no one can conceal what is real.
***
The Casino always ensures the house takes everything in the end.
So the method of profiting is simple.
Don’t stay until the final hand—simply walk away clean once you’ve won substantially.
“Well, I’ve had a wonderful time. Thank you for everything.”
“…Goodbye to you as well.”
She’d earned all the coins needed to exchange for prizes.
If she pushed her luck any further, the Casino would surely step in with stronger countermeasures—now was the time to cash out.
“You’re pretty impressive, you know that?”
The goblin Mec, chuckling as he watched the dejected rabbit-eared Dealer slumped over her table, stuck a cigar between his teeth.
“Thanks for the good time, friend.”
Their form of address had upgraded from “friend” to “friend”—a subtle shift.
It was goblin respect.
“If fate brings us together again, let’s play another round sometime!”
Mec waved his arms in loose circles, wandering toward the slot machines.
The Maze conquest had clearly taken a back seat.
A faint electrical hum.
“Goblins are so uncouth that we shouldn’t associate with them, they say. How awful. But if you look carefully, they’re actually rather endearing.”
With Kar’s will flowing through her, overcoming her shallow prejudices about appearance and race, Su found herself searching for the scattered members of the Exploration Party.
Fendrick was standing in front of the exchange counter, and when their eyes met, he smiled sheepishly.
“Captain. I don’t think I have a talent for gambling.”
“Did you lose everything, perhaps?”
“Well, the rules alone were so confusing. And I’d lost all my coins within six rounds—can you believe it?”
His genius, after all, was limited to swordsmanship.
His Wisdom stat was merely average.
As the distance closed and Astrimia drew near, she began to air her grievances to him.
– Kar, I nearly went mad from the frustration, truly. A fantastic hand came my way, and yet I lost my nerve at the opponent’s obvious bluff and folded. Then with the worst possible hand, I went All In!
“…Astrimia, do you really have to tell him all of that?”
– I couldn’t even say a word because there were so many people around—I nearly developed high blood pressure out of nowhere!
“We came here to enjoy ourselves anyway. There’s no need to be so heated about it.”
– But you were so bad at it!
Spouses’ quarrels are like trying to cut water with a blade, but these two were only at the dating stage—they couldn’t benefit from reconciliation buffs.
Before a small spat could blossom into serious discord, he handed a staff member twenty coins and exchanged them for a prize.
It was a delicate, diminutive brooch.
“Fendrick, please accept this.”
Fendrick, who had been fidgeting with placating his moody Ego Sword lover, suddenly widened his eyes at him.
“This is…?”
“A brooch you can attach to equipment. They say it shimmers with a gentle, moonlit glow—and doesn’t it suit Astrimia’s elegant blade spirit perfectly?”
– Oh my….
Astrimia’s voice, which had been shrill with reproach moments before, suddenly brightened.
– Kar, how did you know this brooch would match my taste so exactly…!
The genius swordmaster laughed and quickly accepted the brooch.
“Astrimia, let me put this on for you. You’re already beautiful, but this will make you even lovelier, don’t you think?”
– Don’t say obvious things.
“But because it’s obvious, I should say it even more, shouldn’t I? Astrimia. You’re truly so beautiful.”
– Hmph!
《Ugh. They’re absolutely nauseating to watch! :< 》
Love had a way of making people childish.
Which was precisely why he remained dignified in all things.
He watched Fendrick gushing about how the starlit blade gleamed brilliantly, then exchanged his own prize.
It was an ornamental pin, smaller even than the brooch.
– A pin? What will you use that for?
Astrimia's tone had grown lighter, her earlier irritation soothed by endless praise.
– Are you planning to give it to Rosalia as a gift?
"No. She would simply throw away something like that."
It held a function he himself needed.
《Artifact – Restoring Authority》
《When worn, all clothing and equipment on the wearer's body are restored to their original form whenever they are torn, soaked, pierced, or burned.》
"A clothing restoration function?"
Fendrick scratched his head after hearing the description.
"It's certainly useful, but I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary."
"For ordinary adventurers, it isn't. But I always engage in battles where my clothes end up destroyed."
Throwing his body into the fray, holes pierced through flesh, blood flowing freely.
That was the style of combat he pursued.
Every time I cleared the Maze, my clothes ended up in such terrible condition that I had to buy new ones each time.
Now that I'd obtained the Artifact – Restoring Authority, I could push myself even harder in combat without worry.
– Wouldn't it be better to find a fighting style that uses your body less…?
"Captain, this function really suits you! If we factor in how much money we'd normally spend on new clothes, in the long run this is actually a bargain."
The Ego Sword, ignorant of human sensibilities, muttered in exasperation, but our human capybara understood my heart perfectly.
I gave him a thumbs-up, and Fendrick returned the gesture with equal enthusiasm.
This is what camaraderie and friendship among Exploration Party members look like.
– There's no helping you people, really….
While Astrimia let out a mental sigh, I exchanged the remaining coins for other prizes.
The first was a handsome-looking short blade, along with a matching throwing knife and a belt set for storage.
《Masterpiece – First Breath & Last Breath》
《A short blade and throwing knife crafted by a blacksmith of considerable talent. When you carry the short blade on your person, the thrown knife returns to the belt of its own accord. A masterpiece most befitting your ward Marlin.》
And there was also a kitchen knife for Abel.
《Masterpiece – Gluttonous Fang》
《A kitchen knife crafted by a blacksmith of superior talent. Information about any ingredients you cut or slice naturally seeps into your mind. Your ward Abel would be delighted to receive it.》
Gifts for children who are working hard at their training even now.
I'm quite the excellent patron.
As I was stowing the items away in my Subspace, Rosalia appeared quietly and tapped my back.
I turned around without thinking, then hesitated for a moment.
The taciturn assassin was visibly slumped over.
"Did you lose everything?"
A nod.
I'd never seen her nod with such a forlorn expression before.
"I brought plenty of coins knowing this might happen, so please pick out whichever prize you'd like."
"……."
She stared at me for a moment, then began tapping her shoulder repeatedly before pointing directly at one of the prizes.
It was a solution contained in a purple vial.
《Poison: Desolate Future》
《Consumption causes organs to gradually dissolve over the course of a year. Shouldn't we be stopping someone from drinking this…?》
That should be fine.
It wouldn't kill you instantly just from drinking it, so as long as you take antidotes regularly in between, wouldn't that work out?
I gave Rosalia a thumbs-up and turned my attention back to the part of the prize list that had been nagging at me.
– [Sold Out] Disease: Hardening Body (5 Coins)
A disease where the body gradually turns to stone.
It's used when infecting monsters for hunting, but the cost-benefit is so poor that ordinary adventurers don't prefer it.
Someone had already claimed this prize—one useful only to an extremely select few.
If my suspicion is correct….
"Forgive me, but I have one question. Has a dark mage of the demon race with bandages wrapped around their upper body not visited the exchange counter? They're an ally, but we were supposed to meet at the Casino and they disappeared somewhere."
"Ah, that person?"
The attendant answered readily, unsuspicious of my carefully casual question.
"Yes, they came by several days ago."
"…I see."
I bowed to the attendant and wrung my hands together nervously for effect.
The certainty settled over me.
'So it was you after all.'
A pleasant and cheerful reunion would be coming soon.

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