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Chapter 90: Punishment Game

 

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After three days of travelling and being unable to do any real training in such a small cabin, I filled my time by helping Lydia and Claude with practicing magic. I could at least practice martial art forms, but as expected I was quite bored.

Well I was also still recovering my bones and injuries, but for Milly she was especially bored.

「Hey, what do you think of playing some poker to relax?」

Milly takes out a bunch of cards she had in her luggage, and passed it on to everyone.

The cards had four different types of suits, with a number from 1 to 13.

In this game, there was one joker card that was used in order to liven up the game and make things more interesting.

When playing poker first thing is to deal five cards to everyone, and then each person can choose to chuck out as many cards as they don’t need.

The next step is to replenish the chucked cards from the deck, then the cards are revealed and the person with the strongest hand wins the game.

From children playing this game to underground casino’s, this is a simple and enjoyable game that has spread around.

「Poker? Then, how about we make a rule that the loser of the game must listen to one thing from the winner?」

「Claude, I think that you need to mend that bad habit of always trying to bet」

「I think it’s a great idea! Besides it sounds fun♪」

For Lydia, rather than caring about winning or losing, she seemed to be more interested in developing a deeper relationship with everyone.

「Then it’s decided! The last place will have to listen to one thing from the winner♪」

In the end it was decided just like that.

I definitely cannot afford to lose here.

Five cards are distributed amongst us, and I was comparing the expressions on the three girls.

Milly had a happy face. She seems to have gotten strong cards.

Claude hasn’t displayed any change in her expression. She’s unexpectedly quite the schemer, I cannot take her lightly.

Lydia has a face of purely enjoying the game. Whether she wins or loses, as long as she enjoys herself it’s fine, that’s the kind of vibe she’s giving.

If someone plays with that kind of intent, there is not much point trying to ascertain the strength of their hand.

As for my hand, I have two pairs, it is neither strong or weak. I can only assume that the three of them have pretty good hands. Leaving my highest numbered pair, I changed three cards in the hopes of obtaining a better hand, but not a single card hit the mark and I was left with only one pair.

I had an average hand and now it’s become one of the weakest hands.

Umu, well that did not go as planned. I placed my cards face down on the bed and waited for the other three people to finish making their hands.

「Nihihi♪ Looks like you’ve got a bad hand, Zeph」

「I will leave it up to your imagination」

「Zeph-chi the poker face that you try to put on is actually really cute~」

「He’s the type that isn’t really able to hide his emotions that well ne」

Just when I was thinking that I was the one observing them………… They were actually the ones who were observing my every move…..?

The three of them finished replacing their cards from the deck, and they would either hide the cards by placing them on top of their thighs, or hide them by placing them close to their breasts.

「Just to confirm, the loser will have to listen to the winner right~♪」

Milly was looking at me with a joyful smirk. It seems that she is very confident with her hand.

「Milly-san, I just want to put this out there but, my hand is actually pretty good you know?」

Claude looks at Milly and then right after she looks at me and smiles.

「I don’t really care whether I win or lose……. but Zeph-chi your troubled face is making me really interested~」

Even Lydia was looking towards me.

What on earth is this? Have they already decided that my cards will be the lowest ranked?

Did everyone really have that strong a hand?

Having cold sweat dribble down my forehead I was analysing the three girls, that’s when the three of them showed the wicked smiles on their faces.

Dammit…… Don’t tell me they are going to make me do something weird……

If it’s Claude that wins I know she won’t make me do something too crazy, but if it’s Lydia or worst of all Milly, things might get dangerous….

If it comes down to it, I think I may be forced to use magic and perform some trickery……

「Alright! Then allow me, this incompetent Ain-chan to judge the results! I won’t allow anyone who cheats kay!」

Ain appears without my permission and says this.

Looking at my direction, she gives me a wink.

Don’t tell me, did she read my thoughts or something?

「Ah, I’m sorry Ain-chan.  Should we have invited you to play?」

「Don’t mind, don’t mind, thanks to this, it looks like I will be able to see gramp’s flustered expression!」

Ain goes behind me and keeps a watchful eye.

If even Ain is acting like this, then isn’t it going to be impossible for me to cheat?

Why is she cornering me even more in this predicament….

「Everyone, are you readyy?」

「I’m good」

「Ready anytimee」

「Granpa, are you prepared?」

Everyone was looking towards me.

Eeii, whatever happens, happens.

「Alright then, One, two…..Flip!」

Together with Milly’s cheer, everyone opened their cards.

Claude had five cards with the same suit. That’s quite the strong hand.

Lydia had two pairs, moreover she had lower rank cards than the one I started with before I replaced my hand. Kuu, if only I didn’t change my hand I would have won…..

Milly had the same suit on four cards, and their numbers were consecutively: 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Moreover, her 5th card is a joker. She is able to change the joker into any card she desires and with this line-up she had one of the strongest hands.

「Yayy! It’s my victory♪」

「Congratulations, Milly-san」

「Nn~ I thought that I was going to be the one with the lowest rank, but that doesn’t seem to be the case」

Milly was raising both her hands up in a declaration of victory, and both Claude and Lydia gave her a big round of applause.

「Lydia, if you envy the person with the lowest rank, I totally don’t mind it if you want to switch with me?」

「I really want to see what kind of unreasonable demand Milly-chan will make Zeph-chi do, because I think that will be entertaining in its own way, so never mind♪ 」

As expected Lydia is just in this purely for the fun of it.

「Okayy~ Gramps is determined to be the loser so we shall begin out punishment gamee~!」

So that I am unable to run away, Ain was firmly holding my back.

She looked like she was having so much fun.

Is she really my familiar? this punk.

「Well then Milly-san. Please tell us what you want Zeph-kun to do for you」

「Eh? Umm~ lets seee…….Nn ~ what should I make him do~♪」

Milly seemed to be having fun as she pondered.

This is bad. Her face looks like a kid who is about to play a prank on somebody.

As if she suddenly thought of something, she turned to face me.

And approaching me closely she grinned.

「Alright I’ve decided~ Zeph, I want you to…..」

Zuzunn, just as Milly was about to say her next words a big roaring sound shook the ship, and I managed to firmly hold on to Milly who had lost her footing.

Falling down on to me towards the bed, the other two girls seemed to have fallen flat on their bums.

「Wha!?」

「Did we hit into something?」

「Can you stand up, Milly?」

「Y….yeah…..」

While still holding on to Milly, I helped her stand, releasing my hand from her waist, she seemed to be a little wobbly as she staggered to regain her footing.

Even now the ship was continuously shaking.

This isn’t just as simple as the ship being stranded…..

「It may be possible that monsters are attacking the ship」

「No way!?」

「Let’s go outside!」

When we went up to the deck, the crew members of the ship were already fighting with monsters. It had a white and fat body with many tentacles as its limbs, the head looked like a triangular hood. This is a creature that lived in the sea and occasionally attacks passing ships in a group.

They are also known as Squids.

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