Chapter 827 - Placing Bets (1/2)

Chapter 827

Placing Bets

Due to the core seeds, gemstones and crystals were rare. That was why both aristocrats and tribesmen living far from cities loved gemstones. Rare items tend to be considered precious. That was why the people with high living standards and not struggling to feed themselves loved rare beautiful rocks.

A long time ago, King City did not have any betting houses. The term gambling was only for bored people to play a few games to kill time. Sometimes they would place bets during fights but that was it. However, as the population grew, some people saw betting houses as a business opportunity and partnered up to open a gambling house primarily for profit.

The largest betting house in King City was known as House of Fortune. House of Fortune was the most famous betting house on the entire mainland since its headquarters were in King City. Other businesses also expanded to a similar scale but since they were founded later than House of Fortune, they never became as famous.

More and more betting houses wanted to enter King City too since it was the richest place on the mainland. Huge fortunes could be made from the clients there but due to House of Fortune, they still could not penetrate this market.

Since its establishment, House of Fortune would organise all kinds of bets, using various methods to determine the winning and losing sides and rewards. If it was a large game, the news would spread all over the city.

It was the same this time- the beating drums meant that a large game was available for bets now!

Although they were mentally prepared, no one expected this. Most people stared at the crystal as thick as an arm, their eyes glazed over.

This-this-this… this is ridiculous! A crystal this size must be very expensive, how could you place a bet with it? My heart would ache for the rest of my life if I lost it on a gamble!

They only gambled to kill time, making small bets. Everyone had different intentions, some were here to pass time, others to join the conversation, some to gain some information or make connections in the community. Of course, there were also addicts that spent more. The betting house had seen nobles bet using all sorts of expensive items but they had never seen such a large crystal in their lives.

Sunlight refracted through the clear crystal, forming a seven-coloured ray on the table. Thye almost forgot to breathe.

“This…”

Forget about the crowd, even the dealers were stunned. Some wanted to touch the crystal but their hands trembled, terrified of breaking it.

“Abuli, you don’t even know what the bet is about, how could you place a bet like this?” The Drumming and Pu tribesmen crowded around while other tribesmen also came over.

They did not follow Shao Xuan into the palace, for the ones who did were either Flaming Horns or tribes with missing tribesmen. They were arranged to stay outside the palace and since they had nothing to do, they decided to explore King City. Perhaps buy some souvenirs if they saw something they liked, it was a rare opportunity to come here after all.

They had just started to shop when they heard about the betting house. There were sometimes bets within Flaming River Trading Point too so they had seen bets before. There were diagrams drawn on the betting table, one of them being the Flaming Horn’s double horn totem. Before they could enquire, Abuli had rushed forward.

Ever since he arrived, Abuli had turned into a prodigal rich man. The feeling of buying a large number of goods with the wave of an arm was such a rush. Now that he had the Flaming River Alliance and the other tribes behind him, Abuli became increasingly eager to show off his wealth. However, he had just overdone it by slamming his crystal on impulse. When he met the looks of contempt from the entire room, he was suddenly snapped back to his senses.

This was not Flaming River Trading Point, the rules and game were probably different. He did not even know what a Heaven and Earth Agreement was. He started to regret his actions. He had lost his composure and was not behaving like a chief at all.

“What is a Heaven and Earth Agreement?” asked a Longboat tribesman.

The dealer did not mind that these people did not know anything. They profited most from people like that after all.

“A Heaven and Earth Agreement is when a party in agreement with King City leaves a mark in the Heaven and Earth Agreement Book. Different people leave marks of different sizes on the book. See this on the betting table? This is the current ranking of all the six aristocratic clans based on the size of their marks.” It was the same as the earliest ranking of the six clans.

The dealer did not elaborate that this list was made during King City’s early days. It used to be an indicator of their strengths but there had been many changes since- for example in this list, the Yi family ranked second with the second-largest mark in the book. Yet they were a half-crippled clan now.

“Simply put, the more powerful the person, the larger the mark made on the Heaven and Earth Agreement Book.”

This explanation was easy to understand. When Abuli saw the seven sections on the table, he understood the system.

The dealer continued to explain the bet. The table was divided into seven sections, six of them filled with the characters ‘Ji, Yi, Mu, Feng, Chao, An’, also the surnames of the six great aristocratic clans. An empty space was allocated next to these characters. The seventh section was left empty. On the other side, there was a space labelled as ‘Flaming Horn’.

They would be betting on where Flaming Horn would rank, which clans their mark would surpass. That section was where they could put their chips. If they thought Flaming Horn’s mark would be smaller than all six clans, then they could put their bet in the empty section. If they thought Flaming Horn’s mark would surpass all the clans, they could put their bet on ‘Flaming Horn’.

The spot where Abuli placed his crystal meant he believed that Flaming Horn would surpass all six clans. That was something nobody would bet on, hence why everyone looked at Abuli like he was dumb.

How could he think the Flaming Horns could surpass the Ji family? That was the funniest joke in the world!

Although in reality, the mark made on the book was not directly correlated with strength, till this day no one could surpass the Ji family. In fact, no one had ever surpassed the Yi family either!

The dealer spoke very quickly and Abuli did not really understand all of it. However, Abuli had studied the language intensely during his journey here and could figure out the dealer’s general intent.

“Oh, that was just because he did not understand the rules? Would you like to place a new bet?” advised someone else from King City. Their intent was not kind but rather they wanted to see the dealer disappointed. If the crystal remained in this position, it basically meant it would belong to the dealer soon. They would not get it back. It was impossible for Abuli to win this bet!

“Yeah, place a new bet. I suggest placing it behind the Chao clan.”

“I think behind the An family would be good.”

“Don’t you remember the time a Flaming Horn guy slapped the Lu patriarch out of the city? I think it’s best you place your bet behind the Feng clan. Maybe they’re stronger than the Chao and An clans?”

Everyone started to discuss once more.

The dealer’s face turned green, then white, so furious his veins started to bulge. He wished they would all shut their mouths.

“What is going on?!”

A low voice rang across the betting house. It was not loud but clear enough to be heard over the crowd.

The crowd fell silent.