Clack, clatter.
The die rolled noisily inside the cup.
The number on the die was 1.
Twitch.
The dealer’s fingertip moved minutely.
It was a motion that ordinary eyes would never catch.
Inside the cup, the die tilted without a sound.
The changed number was 2.
Next was 3.
The number rose one by one in order until it reached 6.
“Heh.”
The corner of the dealer’s mouth rose.
A skill that let him change the die’s face inside the cup.
He had lived off that one skill for ten years.
Cooking one brat?
For the dealer, it was nothing.
“Whew.”
After exhaling deeply once, the dealer raised his voice.
“Let’s resume! The 4,000-vanus round begins!”
“Waaaaah!”
The onlookers gathered again.
They were people who had even thrown aside their own gambling after biting into fresh bait.
“Bet on who wins! Everyone, place your bets!”
“It’s about time Dan bursts.”
“The newcomer’s no ordinary fellow either! He’s betting 4,000 and looks that calm?”
“He looks so sickly he might drop dead any moment.”
Dan raised a palm beside his ear and pretended to listen more closely.
His jeering manner was so natural it was as though he had practiced it somewhere.
“Oh my, he’s even stuffing down medicine. What if he really dies?”
“Wahaha!”
Laughter burst out from around them.
“That’s why I’d like to finish this quickly and rest.”
The opponent’s voice itself was calm enough to drain the excitement.
A vein rose on Dan’s forehead.
“You bastard, I’ve been letting it slide, but......”
“Are you going to keep moving only your mouth in such a boring way?”
The people around them began nodding.
“Right! Hurry up and roll the dice!”
“Is the dealer asleep with his eyes open?”
An atmosphere different from usual.
Unlike before, the crowd of onlookers was pressuring the organizers.
The dealer took hold of the cup as if pushed along by the heat.
“......Odd or even! Odd or even!”
“Even.”
The dealer’s hand stopped.
His thumb lifted carefully, and beneath it was a position no one else could see.
The outline of the die illuminated by candlelight was visible only to the dealer.
“Even! Once you say it, you can’t change it.”
Twitch.
The dealer’s hand moved without anyone noticing.
The die flipped soundlessly.
“Yeah, I’m not changing it.”
“......It’s no use regretting it!”
Twitch, twitch.
The dealer could even change the die’s face to whatever number he wanted.
Something like reversing the result of odd or even was extremely easy.
Even so, the dealer’s fingertips trembled several times.
Jeers poured out from the surroundings.
“Open it already!”
“Why are you dragging it out?”
Twitch!
‘Th-this is strange.’
It was different from usual.
No matter how much he changed the number, he could not get away from even.
It was the same no matter how many times he changed it.
The dealer squeezed his eyes shut.
Sweat running down his forehead crossed even his eyelids.
Click.
The number revealed on the die was 4.
The crowd of onlookers shouted as though they had gone mad.
“Dan lost!”
“Then that bastard’s loss is 5,500 vanus?”
“He won big last time, and now he’s lost it all!”
Dan’s eyes rolled back.
The whites glistened in the candlelight.
“Shut your mouths!”
The surroundings instantly settled as though splashed with cold water.
Only Dan’s hollow chuckle spread through the darkness.
“......Heh, hehe. Next is an 8,000-vanus round.”
“Dan!”
The dealer hurriedly shook his head.
He was not the only one trying to stop him.
“Ri-Ritak. Don’t get dragged into this.”
“Your credit only allows you up to 4,000 vanus, right?”
“This is enough, so......”
BANG!
Dan stomped hard.
“Stop prattling and play one more round......”
“I’m a proxy, aren’t I? If Yoanes doesn’t want to do it, then it ends here.”
“You think I’ll let you run away like this?!”
“Well, I just don’t have a reason to keep sitting at the table.”
Dan’s voice abruptly changed.
It became a coaxing, creeping tone.
“If you play just one more round, I’ll do anything, anything you want.”
“Hmm......”
“Good liquor? A more thrilling gamble? Just say the word.”
It was persuasion no sane person would fall for.
The hand holding onto his opponent was like an evil spirit.
But it seemed his opponent was not sane either.
Because he asked in a fairly interested tone,“What if I want to have a meal with the owner here?”
“Whether it’s the gambling den owner or the city lord, I’ll bring them all here, so let’s just play one more round!”
The dealer’s face turned black.
“I-I’m pulling out here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Just roll the dice!”
Dan stretched out his arm.
The hand that tried to grab the dealer by the collar missed emptily.
There was a hand lightly resting on the uniformed shoulder first.
“What an interesting conversation you’re having.”
CRASH!
The dealer was shoved backward and fell over disgracefully.
But far from complaining, he quickly fled.
“I will be the dealer.”
The mouth beneath the white mask smiled gently.
The eye holes, too, were shaped in arcs as though smiling.
“What is this woman, cutting in all of a sudden......”
“It doesn’t matter who throws the dice, does it? This was the gamble you were so desperate to play.”
The masked woman pressed Dan’s shoulder firmly with one index finger.
Then he collapsed into his seat with his mouth gaping open.
Only a thin finger had touched him, yet he could not even scream.
It was too much of a reaction to be mere exaggeration.
“Now, I’ll guarantee it, so let us enjoy ourselves!”
“W-wait......!”
Dan cried out, cold sweat streaming down his face.
But as though she had no intention of listening, the masked woman picked up the cup and shook it carelessly.
The sound of the die rang cheerfully, unable to read the mood.
BANG!
“Odd or even?”
The inside of the mask’s eye holes was covered by black cloth and could not be seen.
Yet her gaze clearly licked across the surroundings.
Everyone forgot even to swallow.
Except for one person.
“......Odd.”
The emotionless voice cut off shortly.
It was an answer that threw one person’s life into purgatory.
“Congratulations! You won!”
“I-I can’t accept......!”
BANG!
A roar spread through the gambling den.
The crowd of onlookers, who had squeezed their eyes shut, hesitantly raised their heads.
“Ugh......”
Dan lay facedown, trampled beneath the masked woman’s foot.
The woman beckoned several times with her fingers.
“You called, ma’am?”
“Take him to the administrative office.”
“We will confiscate his property and scrape out his credit limit as well.”
The uniformed employee bowed deeply, then hoisted Dan up.
The woman did not keep her gaze on his back for long.
“Follow me.”
Her interest was fixed solely on the winner.
***
When we climbed the gambling den’s stairs, a dim passage continued on.
We kept walking after the masked woman.
“The person guarding the stairs didn’t stop us.”
Yoanes whispered while sticking close to me.
But it was not a distance where whispering softly would make her unheard.
“That is because I am the more incredible person!”
“Eep.”
The masked woman giggled.
Click.
A white hand pressed the wall.
Only the part touched by her fingertip sank inward.
Rrrrrrrr......
THUD!
A low vibration rang out as the wall began to open, and with a loud sound, a hidden space was revealed.
‘There’s a room like this in such a shabby building.’
It was a space so luxurious that stepping into it felt awkward.
The bookshelf, wardrobe, and dressing table were neat, as though made from wood of the same material.
I drew back glossy black curtains and stepped onto a soft fur carpet.
“The customers will file a complaint over the noise between floors.”
“What does it matter? I own this place.”
The mouth beneath the mask smiled brightly.
The woman sat on the innermost sofa and crossed her legs.
“Sit comfortably.”
Yoanes pointed at the mask.
“Y-you really are the owner......!”
“Yes. I would like to hear why you called for me when I was playing quietly.”
The masked woman gently folded Yoanes’s finger with her palm.
With her other hand, she offered the empty seats.
“Would you feel like talking if I had food brought in?”
“It’s fine. We already had a light meal.”
“Is that so? You said you wanted to dine with me.”
I felt a glance from behind the mask flick toward me.
“......You were listening, I take it?”
“That is why I became interested.”
It seemed she had been watching since Dan forced us into one more round.
Perhaps even long before then.
“Shall we have some tea?”
The masked woman moved the teapot with slow hands.
Before long, a gentle fragrance lingered throughout the room.
Thump.
I sank into the sofa.
Yoanes also hesitantly took a seat.
The masked woman set teacups on the table.
“Thanks, but I don’t need a cup.”
Clink.
Her white fingertips stopped.
“It seems you do not enjoy tea.”
“This isn’t a conversation to have while relaxing over tea.”
“Hmm. And a meal would be different?”
Picking at my words, was she?
I lightly clicked my tongue.
“I’ll ask directly.”
“What could you be about to say with such a serious face?”
“Where is Jacqueline?”
Clatter!
Yoanes set down her teacup and coughed.
It was probably because her younger sibling’s name had suddenly come up.
The masked woman’s mouth stiffened.
Only for a very brief moment, but it was certain.
“......I do not know why you are asking me that.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Pardon?”
“If you had pretended not to know who Jacqueline was, I’d have been at a loss for how to continue the conversation.”
“......”
As if offended, the masked woman snatched my teacup away.
It was a cup I had not accepted anyway, so it did not matter.
“You asked why I was asking you.”
“Are you suspicious of me?”
“No. I thought you were looking for Jacqueline too.”
The masked owner of a back-alley gambling den.
Beneath that mask was an information broker who gathered every story in the city.
‘This woman is definitely the city’s information broker, Creed.’
It was a name one encountered quite often if one followed the rumors flowing through the city, but her identity had been thoroughly veiled.
Despite being a named NPC, far from appearing in the story, she did not even have assigned dialogue.
There was only a setting stated in a single line of script.
[Everything that happens in the city reaches Creed’s ears.]
‘So there’s no way you missed information about Jacqueline, is there?’
I looked at Creed with eyes full of certainty.
She kept her lips closed for a moment, then soon sighed deeply.
“If it is Jacqueline’s whereabouts, I certainly know. I never let anyone who swallows my money get away.”
When Creed twisted her lips upward, beast-like sharp teeth were revealed.
But only for a moment.
In the blink of an eye, the fierce presence disappeared without a trace.
Creed tilted her teacup with languid hands.
“However, I cannot tell you.”
“Ah......”
Yoanes let out a sigh, and her shoulders visibly slumped.
Her hope that she might be able to find her younger sibling seemed to have been broken in an instant.
Creed covered her mouth with one hand and giggled.
“Oh dear! Do not be too disappointed.”
“......Right. If I shake you down, the story will come out eventually.”
Yoanes clenched her fist tight.
“Ahaha! Do not get angry either. What a cute older sister.”
“Enough playing around.”
“I’m sorry. It is quite fun when every thought shows on your face.”
Creed, who had been giggling, gathered in her laughter.
Slide.
A white fingertip pushed a token forward.
It was a coin delicately carved with grapevines.
It looked like currency, but it was not money used in WoI.
“I am not free from this information either. I cannot spread it carelessly.”
She flipped the token over.
The other side was densely covered in letters that were difficult to recognize.
“Come to the plaza theater one week from now. If you show the invitation to the gatekeeper, you will be able to enter.”
“If I go in? Can I meet Jacqueline? Then I need an invitation too......!”
“One question at a time.”
Creed raised her index finger right before Yoanes’s nose.
“A social gathering will be held underground at the theater. A major auction is scheduled as well.”
Then her middle finger spread open.
“It is an auction where those with the qualifications to participate may put forth anything. The list of lots is kept secret until the day of the event.”
Creed spread even her thumb and waved three fingers.
“Up to three people can enter with one invitation. Shall I count the cute turtle behind you as a participant too?”
“......A turtle? How insolent!”
Wer, who had been silent the whole time, trembled.
Whether he did or not, Creed lightly clapped her hands.
“I truly told you quite a lot! I will put the information fee on your tab.”
“W-wait. So in the end, Jacqueline is......”
Creed poked Yoanes’s forehead.
“Shall I offer one piece of advice? The people who gather at the underground social club are similar to me.”
“Ugh. Wh-why are you suddenly saying that?”
“So it is better to wear a mask.”
Creed stood with a light snap of her fingers.
Her gaze reached me.
“Thanks. How kind of you.”
I slightly raised the corner of my mouth.
“You are at least better than her.”
The smile she gave back was sly and inscrutable.