Klein stared at the gambling table, but what his eyes saw was not the present scene.
He saw the near future, saw the cards Cicero would deal him:
a 10 and a Q, totaling 20 points.
If he chose to take another card…
Klein’s gaze flickered slightly, and the scene before him changed.
It was a 2…
busted immediately…
Then his gaze shifted again, and he saw the future where he did not take a card.
Cicero’s hole card was a 10, and he took cards:
9, 10, 2, exactly 21 points.
So that was how it was.
Klein naturally did not think this was coincidence.
Without batting an eye, he began to exert his psychic power.
First…
Telepathy…
Mind Trick: Induced Action.
Klein confidently pushed his chips onto the gambling table and smiled at Cicero with self-assurance.
“All in!
That is wisdom!”
Then he gently wagged his finger, silently using psychic power to disturb Cicero’s mind, stuffing tension into Cicero’s consciousness.
Cicero’s fingers visibly began to tremble, but he himself seemed not to notice as he started shuffling.
His originally practiced shuffling motions developed errors, and the card order he had controlled was disrupted.
The veil of Macragge did limit Klein’s performance.
To thoroughly control Cicero’s actions without leaving a trace still needed a little more time.
This round he could only leave it to luck.
But…
luck could also be manipulated.
Klein activated a Minor Psychic Technique: Lucky.
This was a very common and practical psychic skill.
Many psykers, before even realizing their talent, could already instinctively use this psychic technique to make their luck strangely good.
Klein had now crossed the Warp, layering the psychic power of two lifetimes, and was himself skilled in Divination, adept at playing with probability and fate.
The effect of this psychic technique would be exceptionally good.
If it were a pure game of luck, Klein believed he was nearly unbeatable.
Of course, Klein still had one more card to play.
His psychic power was still interfering with Cicero’s thinking.
On the one hand to thoroughly control Cicero’s actions, on the other to weave hallucinations into his mind at will…
Klein flipped over his two cards.
The first was a Q…
A faint smile touched the corner of Klein’s lips.
He noticed Cicero was nervously staring at the other card in his hand.
Seeing Cicero’s expression, Klein was in no hurry.
He gently lowered the hand that was flipping the card, then formed both hands into the shape of an Aquila and placed them over his chest.
“The Emperor above, Slaanesh below, blessed the day and blessed the soul, peach blossoms bloom in mirrored glow, may Big E and Slaanesh pursue the fourth kind of love…”
Cicero and Tule stared blankly at Klein, having no idea what he was muttering.
“Oh, recently took up a new faith, just saying a prayer for the God-Emperor’s blessing.” Klein chuckled, then reached out and flipped over that card.
The second card was…
an A.
An A?!
This Ace of diamonds seemed to magnify before Cicero’s eyes like a sharp blade, stabbing straight into his pupils.
His body jolted violently.
The heart pounding in his chest seemed desperate to break free from the cage of his ribs.
Blood surged upward, and dizziness assaulted his brain.
Klein had directly achieved blackjack.
And the hand type of A + J/Q/K was blackjack.
Not only was it the highest possible hand, but the payout rate was also higher than usual, reaching 1:1.5…
Klein had wagered thirty chips…
In other words, Cicero, as the banker, had to pay Klein forty-five chips, four thousand five hundred denarii.
On top of the three thousand denarii he had just borrowed, he still had to borrow another fifteen hundred denarii.
Cicero’s face turned ashen.
He couldn’t understand!
How could this happen?
Had he dealt the cards wrong?
How could he make such a low-level mistake?
Why was he so nervous today?
Cicero stared at Klein, inexplicably feeling a sense of oppressive force emanating from him.
Klein’s figure seemed to grow exceptionally tall, a mocking, ridiculing smile curving the corners of his mouth in a way that felt extremely unsettling.
“Your turn.” Klein gestured to Cicero with his hand.
He was using the very methods Cicero and the others had employed to toy with his predecessor, wantonly manipulating Cicero’s emotions.
At the same time, Klein’s psychic energy began to seep through Cicero’s emotions without leaving a trace, entering the deeper layers of his consciousness.
He began to see Cicero’s recent memories.
He saw Cicero giving a speech to the followers of Simonetta in the Temple of Simonetta, his voice high-pitched and seductively persuasive.
He saw in a corner of the temple an old man watching Cicero with an expression of disgust.
That old man was…
Tatius, the Archpriest of the Temple of Simonetta…
Probing a little deeper into his memories…
Klein saw roasted meat.
Cicero panted heavily.
For some reason, being stared at by Klein in this moment felt like being pierced by an invisible light that laid bare the mind, as if everything within him was being casually flipped through by Klein.
No, stay calm, must stay calm…
Cicero gritted his teeth.
Beating Klein was already out of the question.
The best choice would be to decline taking more cards, so that he could still win against Tule, at least earning back Tule’s one thousand denarii and reducing his losses.
But…
Cicero’s face was filled with bitterness.
According to the rules, when the banker has 16 points or less, he must take a card.
Cicero gritted his teeth.
If the card he drew was a 2 or even an A, he could still have a chance to cut his losses.
Cicero flipped over his hidden card: 10.
Then he drew another card.
“…3.”
The total was 22.
Greater than 21, bust.
Not only had he lost the three thousand denarii he had just borrowed, he had also lost an additional fifteen hundred denarii to Klein, and would even have to pay Tule another one thousand denarii.
No, he and Tule had an arrangement, Tule wouldn’t really…
Klein slightly extended his hand, signaling the attendant to come over.
“Lend Cicero another fifteen hundred denarii!”
“Wait!” Before the attendant could approach, the slave trader Tule suddenly shouted.
Cicero shot Tule a desperate, pleading look, hoping Tule would be generous and help him out…
“Make it two thousand five hundred denarii for Cicero.” As he spoke, Tule turned to Klein and grumbled, “Don’t forget he still owes me a thousand denarii!”
Cicero drew a sharp breath despite himself.
He stared at Tule, his face reddening as he held it in, teeth clenched tight.
But there was nothing he could do.
Then it was Tule’s turn to be banker.
Tule shuffled the remaining forty-five cards, inwardly already quite annoyed with Cicero.
Cicero had clearly scrambled the card sequence, making it impossible to cheat by tracking the order now.
Wasn’t this just screwing over his own teammate?
These scholarly types really are utterly useless.
But Tule had navigated poker tables for years, and he didn’t rely on cheating alone.
Tule steadied himself, relying on his mathematical skills as a merchant.
Cicero’s cards just now had been 9, 10, 3.
Klein’s cards had been an Ace and a Queen.
Tule’s cards had been a Jack and a 9.
In the card-counting techniques of blackjack, 2 through 6 count as +1, 7 through 9 count as 0, and 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace count as -1.
Adding up all the cards that had appeared, the result was -3, indicating that a large number of high-value cards had already been played.
This meant the remaining hands would more easily yield low-value cards, favorable for Tule as banker.
Cicero brooded for a long moment this time, placing only a single chip.
He was truly afraid now.
Klein also seemed somewhat more cautious, placing only twenty chips on the table.
Tule’s expression betrayed nothing as he dealt two cards in front of each player.
Tule’s face-up card was a 5, a relatively safe card, not one likely to bust.
Then Klein revealed his cards.
Klein’s cards were a 4 and a 9, adding up to 13.
Cicero’s cards were a 2 and a 4, adding up to 6.
“Hit me.” Klein signaled with his hand for another card.
A 6, bringing Klein’s hand to 19 points.
“Hit me.” Klein reached out his hand, expression unchanged, still asking for another card.
His Divination ability had already let him see what the next card was.
Klein turned over the card Tule handed him.
“T-twenty-one points.” Tule’s exclamation held a trace of awe as he looked at Klein.
“Hit me,” Cicero said to Tule.
Cicero took two cards in succession, a 3 and then a 6, bringing his current hand total to 15 points.
Cicero hesitated, then asked for one more card…
a King.
Total: twenty-five points.
Bust.
“Macragge expletive,” Cicero swore, taking a sullen swig of his wine.
Tule revealed his cards; his hole card was a 2.
“Hit me.” Tule dealt himself three more cards in a row: 4, 4, and 5.
Tule sat in thought for a moment, then reached out and dealt another card, a Jack.
Bust.
This actually made Cicero somewhat miserable, because when the banker busts, all players are considered to have won.
If he had just bet a little more, he might have been able to win back what he had lost.
Tule didn’t seem to mind at all.
He casually pushed twenty chips toward Klein while silently resuming his card counting in his head.
He had deliberately dealt himself those extra cards just now to create an advantage for the next round…
The cards that had been drawn so far were:
Cicero: 9, 10, 3, 2, 4, 3, 6, King.
Klein: Ace, Queen, 4, 9, 6, 2.
Tule: Jack, 9, 4, 4, 5, Jack.
Running the count, the result came to 5.
This meant that of the thirty-two cards remaining, most would be high-value cards, a very disadvantageous situation for Klein, who would be banker next.
“Your turn to be banker.” Tule smiled as he passed the cards to Klein.
(Translated by yourtl.app)