CH 10

【Approximate monetary value in the series, which can be easily understood with just one line】

1 wen = 1 yen

[Alright. I’m at full strength and got sufficient war funds. I don’t see any factors that could make me lose.]

I grinned in front of an establishment with a glittering neon sign that looks out of place in this fantasy-esque town.

The signboard, decorated with multicolored lights, reads “Casino Grand Lilim”.

————–That was the day my life ended.

The day that had been too long was over, and a new day opened up for me.

It had been a crazy day for me, got caught in a car accident, my death, got reincarnated, my death after being reincarnated, then got resurrected again. But after a good night’s sleep, I was able to recover physically and mentally.

(To be honest, I’ve learned my lesson from my behavior back then, feeling like I’m walking on a tightrope. Let’s just avoid the risk and go steady!)

At that moment, I was just thinking I had to make plans for the future.

However, when I stumbled upon an establishment on the outskirts of Frelia town, which I came to by chance, all of my plans were blown away.

————–Casino <Grand Lilim>.

A “wandering casino” that randomly spawns on the outskirts of a random town.

It’s impossible to predict which place it will appear in, and if you miss the right time, it will be a year before it appears again.

It was such an excellent spot that a <Brave & Blade> thread on a certain Forum says that “If you find it early game, just go all out!”.

There’s no way I can miss this chance!

(I could start with what little I have now. But if I want to make a big profit, the more initial expense I prepare, the better.)

The casino doesn’t open until the evening.

So, I decided to make the most of the time I had until then.

I went back to the <Winged Dragon’s Pathway>, harvested and sold some <Mysterious Liquid>, ran around town and sold everything I could sell from the small out “Rex” had with him, raising 2.1 million wen in cash.

I have a little bit of fear that if I lose this, I will seriously become broke.

……However.

(Well, there shouldn’t be any problem.)

After all, this is a recommended spot in the early game, which was even called “The Casino where Beginners Never Lose” on the B&B forums.

If you know the inner tricks of that place, it’s a place where you can definitely make money!!!

※　※　※

Determined, I stepped into the establishment with a modern interior design, decorated with neon lights that don’t fit a fantasy world.

[Heehhh……]

It was nice and quite dim inside, creating an exquisite atmosphere that was both glittering and bewitching at the same time.

I had seen this place through the game screen, but when I actually went inside, the atmosphere was even better than I had imagined.

[Ara. Welcome.]

As I entered, a woman standing in the back of the room approached me.

She was a bunny girl with luxurious blonde hair and a great style.

If things were going just as it was in the game, she should be the only employee in this casino.

Even though I knew she would be here, I still felt overwhelmed when I saw her in person.

I had seen them through the game screen, but seeing them live in person, her breasts were swaying even more than I had imagined.

Ah, no, I don’t mean that in a disgusting way, okay?

[Fufu…… Welcome to the world of dreams and desires, <Grand Lilim>. I am your dream guide, Circular.]

The woman who came up to me didn’t even try to find fault in my impolite gaze, and smiled at me instead.

I could smell the sweetness of her scent as she drew closer to me.

[Is this your first time here? If you like, I can show you how to play in this casino.]

[Sure.]

After I curtly nodded, she walked with her hips wiggling seductively toward the two machines in the middle of the room.

These, again, are completely out of place in this RPG world, but to put it simply, they are like vending machines.

[First, here is the Token Vending Machine. Our customers are unable to use outside money here, so you buy tokens here and use them to play the games. The rate is 1000 wen for 1 token, but I wonder, do you have the money?]

[There’s no problem with that.]

I answered, to which Circular smiled with satisfaction.

[And here is the Price Vending Machine. Our customers may be able to buy tokens with money, but you can’t convert tokens back to money. And so, you can use this machine to exchange your accumulated tokens for prizes. They are all premium prizes, you know?]

This part was no different from a typical gaming casino.

I nodded at her words again.

[Ahh, but be aware that each and every one of our prizes “can’t be sold at a store”. This is but a dream world. Please enjoy yourself and don’t think about making money. After that……]

Circular looked around us.

Caught by her gaze, I checked out the four areas scattered around the room.

[There are four different areas to play: “Poker”, “Roulette”, “Slots”, and “Blackjack”. All of the games here are designed to be played by one person, but would you like an explanation?]

[No, I don’t need one.]

It was a smile that seemed to draw me in.

However, with my will tougher than steel, I took my gaze away from her swaying breasts.

[Ara, is that so? In that case, that’s all for the explanation. ……Ahh, no. There’s one more thing I need to say.]

There, as if she had just remembered something, the woman continued.

[In order to prevent cheating, please be aware that “the use of magic, skills, and items is prohibited”. Well then, may you have a pleasant dream.]

Giving me one final wink, she walked back to the counter at the back of the store.

Watching her back as she departed with mixed feelings in mind, I then turned my gaze forward.

(First, let’s check out the prizes.)

Just like the casino’s spawn point changes, its prizes also vary.

In addition to the casino’s own prizes, items that randomly drop in regular dungeons are sometimes on the list.

Well, as Circular said, all the items on the list are Limited Items that can’t be sold in stores, which means that 90% of them are cursed items. As for what prizes they have this time……

[Oh……]

I couldn’t help but let out a gasp when I saw the lineup.

The most expensive item in the casino costs 1 million tokens, while the next most expensive is 500,000 tokens.

(Metallic King’s Sword in the 1 million token slot. A Shooting Star Ring, a Tricorn Hat, and a Barrier Ring in the 500,000 token slot! Aren’t these all incredible items!?)

It seems like luck is really turning in my favor this time.

All the items I wanted were lined up there.

And finally, I took one last look at the bottom, the items redeemable for 10,000 tokens.

(Errr…… a Ring of Lethargy, a Steel Sword and a Goblin Slaughter!?)

I couldn’t help clenching my fist.

(Oi, oi, oi, am I in heaven or what!?)

It’s only lined up with items I really want.

It seems like I’ve become incredibly lucky.

Perhaps, the wind really is blowing my way today.

Now, I just have to see if I can win in the casino’s games.

Though I say that, I really wasn’t that worried about it.

(Alright! Time to earn myself a fortune!)

Feeling excited, I put 100,000 wen into the token vending machine.

※　※　※

Of all the games available, I chose roulette.

[Ara, so you’ve chosen to play the roulette. Place your tokens then touch the crystal. The roulette will then start automatically.]

Nodding my head in understanding upon the distant voice, I looked at the table in front of me.

Simply put, roulette is a game in which a small ball is thrown into a wheel, a disc with many numbers on it, and players would try to guess which number the ball will land on.

The players would predict in advance which number the ball will fall on, and put their tokens in the table marked with where they want to bet.

Normally, there are various complicated betting options such as the option of the ball landing on either red or black, the option of the ball landing on the first dozen, the second dozen or the like, but the roulette game at B&B is quite simplified, with only two options: placing your bet on a specific number or betting on whether it would land on an even or an odd number.

(……For the time being, let’s give it a shot.)

I chose the safest choice, the “Odd/Even” column.

I placed a token in the spot marked “Odd” on the table.

Then, as a sign that I’m ready, I placed my hand on the crystal ball in the corner of the table.

Just as I felt some sort of strange sensation for a moment, the table on which the tokens would place glowed, and at the same time, there was a clunk, and a ball was ejected into the wheel at the center of the table.

[O- Ohhh……]

Next, the bottom of the table came loose and the token was sucked into the table.

I don’t care what happened to the token though, as my attention is focused on the wheel.

The ball spins around and around the edge of the wheel, before finally entering the spot marked “11”.

11…… In other words, an odd number.

Thereupon, two tokens fell out of a hole in the side of the table.

……And so, just like that, if you guess an even or odd number correctly, you get back twice the number of tokens you bet, and if you guess on a specific number correctly, you get back 36 times the number of tokens you bet.

Well, there’s actually the number 0, which isn’t counted as either even or odd, so the player would lose if they bet for odd/even and the ball lands in that, but well, I guess that’s fine.

(I guess I’ll just stick with the odd bets for a while.)

I tossed my tokens into the odd column again and touched the crystal ball.

※　※　※

I continued to bet on Odd seven times in a row.

The results were even, odd, even, odd, odd, odd, odd.

Including my first bet, I won six and lost two, an overwhelming result.

[Ara, amazing! Four wins in a row!]

Before I knew it, Circular was standing nearby.

[As expected of a first-rate Adventurer, your luck is also first-rate.]

She gently brushed my shoulder, as if she was leaning her body on me, giving me a charming smile.

However, I knew it.

————–That the smile on her face was only superficial.

————–That the outcome of this roulette wasn’t based on luck.

————–And that she’s a Demon who steals the magic power of new Adventurers who come to the casino and kills them!!!

(Unfortunately for her, I knew all that.)

No charming smile, no false flattery, no casual breast touching while touching shoulders, none of it would work on me in the slightest.

After all, I had read it.

The truth of this world written in the Devil’s Book……

The forbidden book that allows you to know all the things that you aren’t supposed to know.

In other words……

————–That thick Official Setting Material Book that came with the Pre-Order Bonus of B&B!

If I close my eyes, I feel like I can remember it like it was yesterday.

It was attached as an appendix at the counter, and it was obviously too big, too thick and too much of a nuisance, but I couldn’t say I didn’t want it, so I just accepted it.

I just thought of putting it next to the table, but I remembered it when I spilled tea on it and read it after it had all dried up.

I then found it five times more interesting than I had imagined, but the pages crackled uncomfortably every time I read it!

In it, the setup in this casino was described in detail, including the details of the way she cheats.

The games in this casino sucked a little bit of vitality out of the players every time they played.

So, she prepares a sweet experience for new adventurers who come in clutching a small amount of money.

In roulette, if one bets one token on an odd or even number, as in my current case, the cheaters will make it so that you would have an 80% win rate.

Then, of course, motivated by the winnings, the Adventurer would naturally increase their bets, and they would continue to play again and again, losing track of when to stop.

Since no magic or items are available in the casino, there’s no way to recover either, so by the time they realize something is wrong, it would already be too late.

The Adventurer, exhausted and deprived of their power, are feasted upon by that Demon, Circular.

In fact, the first time I entered this casino for a game, I was easily caught and killed without what happened.

I still remember the confusion and anxiety I felt at that time.

However, that was only when you entered this place while playing blind.

Once you know the story, it’s not just something you won’t be afraid of, as by taking advantage of the way she cheats, there’s a method established to easily obtain valuable items even for the early-game players with just a single-digit level.

And now that I’m “Rex”, I have physical and financial strength unmatched by early-game players.

What I couldn’t do as an early-game Hero, I can do now!

I calmly made my calculations and planned my next move.

(I’m sure now that she’s cheating in the roulette, and that it wouldn’t be a problem for Rex’s vitality even if I played a few games. I’ll take a gamble on the next round, and if it works out, I’ll start betting big.)

Glancing at Circular, who is probably still under the illusion that everything is going well, a dark smile appears on my lips.

(Sorry, Circular. It’s a rule of thumb in the world that those with greed in their hearts are doomed.)

The crafty schemer drowns in her own scheme.

You will soon be ruined by your own trap!