Chapter 52: Crossing Point (2) (1/2)
Next chapter will be released on Monday (UTC+8). I’ve also decided that from now on, this series’ release schedule will be 6 chapters per week, with Sundays as my rest/break days.
I could also say that in this chapter, it’s partly the author’s fault for the confusing point-of-views in the narration. The author kept using interrogative sentences in their narration, and the point-of-view can suddenly jump from third person (narrator) to a specific character. The best that I could do was italicize the sentences to imply that they’re the characters’ thoughts.
Some translation mistakes:
I used to refer to Count Bayer as one of the Sälen Kingdoms ‘teenage swordmasters,’ but that is incorrect. He is actually one of the ‘ten great swordmasters.’ The Korean word they used here is Geumho (검호), which can literally be translated to sword (geum) + great (ho).
An interesting trivia:
Outboxer009 is a reference to real-life pro gamer ‘BoxeR,’ Lim Yo-hwan. After he retired from eSports, he became a professional poker player.
Terms used in this chapter:
Side card – also known as ‘kicker,’ it is a card in a poker hand that does not itself take part in determining the rank of the hand but may be used to break ties between hands of the same rank.
Discard from the family register – South Korea used to have a family register system called ‘Hoju.’ It has since been abolished since 2008 because it was highly patriarchal and opposed by many groups. Nowadays, it is used by adults as an expression to scold and threaten their children, with an implied meaning that they’ll be ‘kicked out’ of the family, or ‘disowned’ if they continue to behave badly.
Gaël Bayer.
27 years old.
He is the eldest son of Count Bayer, and the next Count of Bayer.
As the successor of Count Bayer, one of the ten great swordmasters, he was a master of the sword who had gained fame since his childhood.
Even though the eldest sons of other counts already had two to three children, there were many reasons why he was still a bachelor. But the truth is, most of those reasons were just a pretext, and there was only one reason why Gaël was still unmarried and lived alone.
Adelia Chase.
24 years old.
She is the eldest daughter and the middle child of Count Chase, who had one son and two daughters.
She was a genius wizard who joined the Royal Guard Magic Corps of the Sälen Kingdom at the age of 19. And after 5 years, she became one of the heads at the young age of 24.
“It’s been a long time, Lady Adelia.”
“It’s been a long time too, Lord Bayer.”
Gaël didn’t wear his armor as he wasn’t going on a battlefield, but he was wearing a knight’s usual attire under his coat.
And as for Adelia.
As the sister of Cordelia, she was also an incomparably beautiful woman who resembled their mother and had dark blonde hair.
She was dressed in a wizard’s combat attire with the emblem of the Royal Guard Magic Corps on it. It was a luxurious and gorgeous outfit with gold thread embroidered on her black clothes that fit her perfectly.
“Although the reason we’ve met like this is not very good…still, it’s good to see you in good health.”
“Me too.”
Gaël was smiling nicely as always, while Adelia answered him a little brusquely as she made a ‘hmph’ sound before speaking again.
“You may have already heard it roughly, but I’ll say it again. The plan is simple. First of all, regardless of night and day, we’ll race towards Count Hræsvelgr’s territory until we reach somewhere near the northern border.”
“Will you use magic after that?”
Adelia nodded when Gaël asked as he climbed up on the horse.
“I have the ring my father gave me, so we can track them down.”
“How far is the scope of the magic?”
“It’s quite wide, as it’s about the size of a small manor. If it’s as large as Count Hræsvelgr’s territory, we’ll only be able to search it in parts.”
“Still, it’s reassuring. After all, it’s Lady Adelia.”
“Hmph, it’s not something to be praised about though?”
Adelia snorted as she gathered her hair and tied it up, before holding and fixing the horse’s reins.
“Anyway, let’s go. I will take the lead.”
“I am more familiar with the nearby geography, so I will take the lead. Everyone! I’ll be back!”
Despite Adelia’s sharp attitude, Gaël smiled and answered, before greeting those who came to see them off. Afterwards, he made the horse start moving by nudging it with his foot.
“Giddyap!”
As Gaël had great horseback riding skills, he looked impressively cool as he run ahead, but it wasn’t for Adelia.
She looked at Gaël, who had run ahead, with a displeased face as she made a ‘hmph’ sound and then looked back at the people sending them off.
“I’ll be back.”
She coldly spoke as she spurred her horse and followed after Gaël. Though, if one looked at her momentum, it seemed like she was in a race, rather than being his companion.
As for those left behind, among them was Maja and Dahlia. The two looked at each other naturally and smiled awkwardly.
“It will…be fine, right?”
“Ah…maybe?”
Gaël Bayer and Adelia Chase.
With a somewhat ominous premonition, Maja and Dahlia looked at the two people who had already gone far.
***
Someone had said.
“Do you know what a gambling house and a luxury buffet have in common? It is the fact that the store wins in the end.”
It was exactly what he said.
No matter how much one eats in a luxury buffet to get their money’s worth, all they’ll have in the end was an upset stomach. And no matter how hard one tries at a gambling house, in the end, the visitors were bound to lose their money.
“Of course, that’s an average story, and overall, it’s just the casinos that make money, but there are certainly a minority who make money, whether it’s small or huge.”
Otherwise, no one will go to the gambling house if they didn’t make any money.
“So you’re that minority?”
“I was always the winning minority. I even had the status of being in the ban list of three Las Vegas casinos.”
Before going to the casino, they stopped by a nearby accommodation and were currently in the middle of changing clothes.
At Jude’s words, Cordelia blinked as she arranged the skirt of her fabulous red dress.
“Ban list?”
“Yes, it’s kind of a blacklist. If you go there, you will not be allowed to enter.”
As Jude talked a little proudly, Cordelia stopped arranging her skirt. She then touched her chin and soon said as she clenched her fist.
“As expected! You were a scammer as expected! Humbug! Am I not right? Right?”
“No, it’s not? I never cheated, okay? I was just so good at gambling that I was denied entry, okay?”
“F*ck, who the hell are you then? How can you continuously win if you didn’t cheat then?”
“It’s nice to hear you saying ‘f*ck’ after a long time.”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“Well, turn around for now.”
“Have you finished dressing up?”
“Oh, you’re all dressed up.”
“This person…fu-…didn’t I tell you not to turn around?”
“I just turned around. Come closer. I’ll tighten the straps on your back.”
“Dahlia used to do it.”
“Dahlia isn’t here right now.”
It was as Jude had said, so Cordelia came near Jude and showed her back, and Jude tightened the dress straps one by one as he continued talking.
“Do you know about card counting?”
“I don’t know.”
“…it’s literally counting cards. You remember all the revealed cards and infer which cards haven’t been revealed yet. And based on that, you calculate the probability for each situation and make the best choice.”
“It’s hard to listen to just that, but if you do that, can you unconditionally win?”
“No, the win rate is just a little over 50%. In modern casinos, a lot of various techniques have been developed to invalidate card counting so that it isn’t effective. I’m done tightening it.”
When Jude had tightened all the dress straps, Cordelia turned around and looked back and forth on her own body before picking up the necktie.
“So, why were you blacklisted? As expected, didn’t you cheat by counting? Don’t move and stay still.”
“Card counting is basic, and there are a few other techniques. And basically, the game is played with a dealer, right? Unlike machines, humans display a lot of information even if they are just quietly standing.”
And in fact, Jude’s specialty was in poker games like Texas hold ‘em.
“Do you mean, you were a professional poker player then?”
“I wonder.”
In response to Jude’s shameless answer, Cordelia pouted her lips and deliberately tied up Jude’s tie tightly.
“Gak-! Hey!”
“Hmph, I’ll tie it up again.”
The dexterous Cordelia soon nicely tied up his tie again.
“I don’t know about anything else, but I think you’re the best at this.”
“There are a lot of things that I’m good at too, okay?”
Despite the fact that she snorted, the corners of Cordelia’s mouth were raised, and her mood became better at his compliment.
“In any case, are you confident about this?”
“I am confident. It’s not even a modern casino that has prepared several preventive measures.”
“You have a wicked smile.”
“You will soon love this smile, my lady.”
“I bet I won’t.”
Nevertheless, Cordelia was somewhat relieved at his confident appearance.
“Well then, shall we go and win some money?”
“Yes, Daddy. I only trust in Daddy.”
“Daddy will make our princess rich today.”
“I’m so excited.”
“Let’s do this.”
“Okay.”
The two stopped their conversation, looked at each other, and took a deep breath before they left the accommodation together.
And two hours later.
“Blackjack.”
The dealer facing Jude turned pale, and Jude had a gentle smile as he looked back at the coins piled up in front of him.
‘It’s about time.’
After an hour of observation and an hour of winning and winning again, the time has come for the store to put on the brakes on him.
‘As expected, it’s coming.’
A giant man dressed in a high-quality suit was approaching him in big strides.
He’ll moderately tell Jude to ‘get out of here’ in a refined language while exaggerating his words and speaking at length.
‘Well, should I slowly withdraw now?’
Even if he exchanged the coins now, it would already have exceeded Red Wind’s price by 1.5 times.
‘Okay, this is enough.’
Having made up his mind, Jude turned his head towards the giant and brightly smiled.
But without even looking at Jude’s smile, the giant continued to walk away and stopped at an unexpected place.
‘What?’