-Medicine Crafting skill activated. Please select materials.
The monotonous voice, whose pitch did not greatly rise or fall, was the same as ever today.
Rustle.
I pulled open the cord of the small pouch.
Four-Tail Grass powder that Neras had gathered for me from the fairy village.
I took a small amount of the powder from the pouch.
“The materials are 20 g of Four-Tail Grass powder and two sheets of oiled paper.”
At last, I would be able to see a proper Elixir of Luck.
As though answering my expectations, bright light burst from the materials.
It was a familiar light.
But to Yoanes, it could only have been sudden.
“Wh-what is this!”
She raised both arms in a defensive posture, then sprang backward and moved far away.
“No need to be that surprised. I only made some medicine.”
Where the light faded, there was finished medicine as usual.
Two packets that could easily be seen at a pharmacy.
Their form was similar to the Low-Grade Elixir of Luck.
But the color was different.
The true Elixir of Luck clearly boasted a vivid blue hue.
Yoanes blinked several times.
“To think you can make medicine this quickly.”
She was almost about to stick her nose into the Elixir of Luck.
After staring at it for quite a while, she nodded.
“......No wonder that bastard lost his mind.”
“That bastard?”
“Jekus.”
The guy who had shown me a model example of a sudden change in attitude.
Thanks to him telling them I was an incredible compounder and whatnot, I had been able to receive the guild’s help.
He had at least paid for how annoyingly he had followed me in the village.
‘Will this one get annoying too?’
I glanced sidelong at Yoanes.
As if she had never been surprised, she had already returned to her usual gloomy expression.
“......Anyway, don’t go to the gambling den.”
“Why?”
“I-it’s ridiculous for me to say this, but nothing good comes from getting involved with that place.”
“I just have to win, don’t I?”
“Not one or two people have lost everything they owned and come out of there.”
Yoanes roughly mussed her own hair with one hand.
“If you even fall into debt, you can’t stay in this city......”
Her own nose was three feet underwater, yet she was worrying about someone else.
But that was why it sounded that much more honest.
“Is that why that thug came looking for you? Because your younger sibling left the city.”
“......Jacqueline disappeared without even contacting me.”
Yoanes’s face grew even duller.
“She went to the lord, saying she would receive her salary in advance, and then just......”
“The lord?”
“Y-yes. She worked at the lord’s castle.”
She lowered her head deeply.
At this rate, the shadows under Yoanes’s eyes would pierce through the ground.
Just sitting around and talking would not change anything.
‘Should I appraise this first?’
Ding!
Appraisal did not even have a visible skill effect.
Only the voice could be heard by me.
-Elixir of Luck Lv2. Increases luck stat by 20 for 10 minutes when consumed.
The effect was a full ten times greater.
The luck stat influenced the probability of good things happening.
The probability of striking a monster’s weakness, the probability of making a stronger attack......
If the Low-Grade Elixir of Luck only gave a minor correction to that degree, the real Elixir of Luck was on an entirely different level.
Even at a gambling den, I should be able to obtain meaningful results.
Clink, clink.
I rummaged through my pouch.
Wer, who had been hiding behind my back the whole time, stretched his head out.
“Ritak, why are you suddenly taking out a coin?”
“Let’s do a simple bet to warm up.”
I lightly flicked the coin with my thumb.
The coin spun round and round with a cheerful sound.
Wer merely blinked.
I quickly snatched the coin from the air and covered it.
“Want to guess? Front or back?”
“......I shall choose front.”
I removed the hand covering the back of my hand.
The front side of the coin, engraved with an insect shape, was visible.
“Lord Wer, you’re lucky, aren’t you? Let’s do it just once more.”
Ting!
I flicked the coin again.
Just because he had guessed correctly once did not mean he would necessarily be wrong next time.
However, the probability of being wrong was half.
“Hrmm...... Back! It is back.”
“Too bad. It was front again this time.”
“Let us continue!”
Wer clung to me.
My sleeve stretched out.
“What? I said just once more.”
“The match has not been decided yet!”
“Since when were we competing......?”
When I shook my arm, Wer dangled from it.
He was not a child, so why get worked up over something like this?
“I said let us do it again!”
“Yes, yes. Next time.”
Ignoring Wer, I threw the coin.
It was in Yoanes’s direction.
Tap!
She snatched the coin.
Her reflexes seemed quite good.
Though the way she fidgeted while clenching her fist was rather unreliable.
“Now I’ll guess, so will you throw the coin?”
“M-me?”
“Yes. It would be difficult for Lord Wer to throw it.”
Rustle.
I tore open one Elixir of Luck.
The powder melted instantly the moment I poured it into my mouth.
“It isn’t difficult, but......”
Yoanes looked back and forth between me and Wer.
A low sigh flowed from her mouth, and soon the coin flew into the air.
And in the blink of an eye...
Swoop!
Yoanes thrust out her hand.
‘......Her hand is way too fast, isn’t it?’
When on earth had she snatched the coin?
If she twisted my neck at that speed, I wondered whether I would even be able to respond.
“Guess.”
I swallowed without meaning to.
It was not as though I was going to fight Yoanes, so there was no need to feel intimidated.
After all, it was either front or back.
“Back.”
Yoanes checked the back of her hand.
“......Correct.”
She did not seem especially surprised.
Guessing correctly once was not difficult.
“Keep going.”
I jerked my chin.
Yoanes threw the coin again.
Whoosh, tap!
“Front.”
“You got it.”
Whirl!
“Front again.”
“......Right.”
Tap.
“Back.”
“Th-that’s correct.”
Yoanes’s eyes grew wider and wider.
“We’re wasting time. Want to keep going?”
The tempo at which I answered was fast, but five minutes had already passed.
In that time, the coin had been thrown 15 times.
Of course, every answer had been correct.
It seemed a 50 percent probability was corrected with certainty.
“Let’s go back to the table.”
I had spent quite some time verifying it.
But five minutes was enough time to win one round.
There was no reason to drag my feet.
Creak.
I pushed open the shabby door.
The interior was still dark.
Yoanes’s opponent was still guarding his seat.
The man, who had been yawning wide, raised his hand.
“Hey, Yoanes! If you’ve rested enough, why don’t you hurry up and sit down?”
He sure was pretending to be friendly.
His smirking face was overflowing with confidence.
His attitude, acting as though he held the upper hand, was unpleasant, but it did not matter.
Soon he would lose everything.
When he lost all he had and the situation reversed, what kind of face would he make then?
“And what are you, brother? Why have you been trailing after her this whole time?”
The man picked a fight with me, wrinkling his nose.
His curled mustache made him look exactly like a field mouse.
“Me? A proxy.”
“What?”
“Yoanes says she’s too tired. But it’d be a waste to end the round, wouldn’t it?”
“You mean you’re taking her place? I don’t care who does the guessing.”
The man looked me up and down, then snickered.
Even that made him look exactly like a rat.
“Aha, I suppose you feel comfortable betting with someone else’s money!”
“Not really.”
I shrugged lightly.
“How could I sleep comfortably after throwing someone else’s life into the gutter?”
“Haha! What a laughable thing to say.”
“......You don’t feel uncomfortable at all?”
“Only fools care about other people’s business.”
True.
It seemed fine to throw this man’s life wherever it landed.
If anything, I might sleep soundly.
Clatter, clatter.
The dealer shook the cup.
“Now, this round is 2,000 vanus! Odd or even!”
BANG!
The cup settled into place.
“Odd.”
“Wait, you answered the moment I put the cup down......”
“Would thinking about it change anything? Odd.”
Sweat gathered on the dealer’s forehead.
I did not know why that side was more nervous.
“......Then I’ll open it.”
Click!
The dealer opened the cup.
Everyone sitting there stretched their necks out.
The number on the die was 3.
‘I won.’
It was the result I had expected.
As long as I had the Elixir of Luck’s effect, I could handle this round well enough.
“Damn it!”
The man resembling a field mouse shot up from his seat and glared at the dealer with his narrow eyes.
At that, the dealer merely cleared his throat several times for no reason.
“......We’ll get some air for a moment too.”
“Do as you like.”
If they gave me time, I was grateful.
It would be better to regroup before the elixir’s effect wore off.
When I readily nodded, they busily left their seats.
Yoanes immediately jumped to her feet.
“Th-thank you, Ritak!”
She lowered her head deeply.
Her clenched fists were trembling.
“It’s too early to thank me, isn’t it?”
“We paid back the money I lost and even w-won 1,500.”
I shook my head.
“Isn’t that still far from enough?”
“That’s money I would have to save for three full years......”
There was a limit to the income she could earn through steady work.
Even saving by not eating and not dressing properly had clear limits.
It was money one could only obtain in a short time by selling a rare item.
“You said your younger sibling lost 5,000 vanus.”
Only a third of it had been cleared. The debt remained.
I could clearly see the future where Yoanes would be harassed to no end.
In the end, cooperating with me was also to her benefit.
‘I didn’t come all the way here just to break even.’
I pointed at the exit with my thumb.
“Those guys won’t let us go easily anyway.”
***
Scratch, scratch-scratch!
The man resembling a mouse struck a match several times.
The flame did not catch.
In the end, he threw the matchstick to the ground.
“What the hell are you doing, giving away the 2,000-vanus round!”
“Hey, Dan. Don’t get so worked up.”
Fssht.
The dealer in uniform neatly struck a match.
Dan, the man resembling a mouse, furrowed his brow deeply and sucked hard on his cigarette.
“I’m saying this because now is when we need to corner them!”
The dealer lazily put a cigarette in his mouth.
“I know. I said I know.”
“Then why did you make a mistake when you know!”
“A mistake?”
The dealer’s lips twisted.
Dan, who glanced at him, quickly lowered his shoulders.
The dealer slowly exhaled.
“That guy sitting there as a proxy was too fast.”
“So you had no opening to play tricks with your hands?”
“......He wasn’t the sort one sees often.”
The breath that left him like a sigh was acrid.
An ominous voice sank over the back alley.
“If we prepare in advance, there’ll be no problem.”
“Can I trust you?”
“If you’re scared, why don’t you quit here?”
Dan crushed the half-finished cigarette against the wall.
“Don’t make me laugh! Are you talking like this is someone else’s business?”
“Then is it my business?”
Tap.
The dealer stepped on his cigarette with the heel of his shoe and put it out.
“I can just bear 10 percent of the loss and fold the table.”
“Kh......!”
“I already had a bad feeling about this anyway.”
The dealer, who was adjusting his uniform tie, turned his head.
At the end of his gaze, the entrance to the dark gambling den gaped like a maw.
The corners of Dan’s mouth trembled.
“Wh-why wouldn’t I trust you?”
“There must be a reason you’re afraid.”
“Why would I be afraid when you have the skill to change the die’s face like a ghost?”
Dan spread his elbows wide and stepped forward forcefully.
The dealer walked slowly after his small back.
“Making one brat drink bitter water is nothing, of course......”
His sharply narrowed eyes moved in search of prey.
The pale back floating over the darkness was etched clearly into his sight.
“I’ll make him crawl and beg.”
Dan returned to his seat with his teeth bared wide.
His face made no attempt to hide his vile smile.