Return of the Fallen Volume 4 Chapter 34
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch34
The room rotated and opened up to the sight of a large underground building.
Mei, Tsura, and Nunully, every single one of their eyes lit up with wonder. Large crystals the size of boulders were embedded in the front entrance of this building that stretched upwards for nearly 200 feet. Golden light showered down upon them from said crystals lighting up the entire area. Six pillars made from a bluestone stretched into the ceiling. On each pillar, there were decorations carved into them. The picture resembled beautiful women dancing, with coins pilling up at their feet.
A set of marble stairs led into the entrance. Two big doors carved from some type of wood led into this gambler’s paradise. The doors gave off a soft glow as though the wood had been polished to perfection. Two large open chests were carved into the doors and inside the chest, coins and jewels overflowed from them. There was a crystal orb placed in the doors that made the images of the chest and coins seemingly come to life, causing the rain of gold and jewels to appear as though they were really cascading down like a waterfall of riches.
To enter such a place and have wealth rain upon you, that alone would make for a grand entrance.
Mei saw this magic and couldn’t help but rush forward. Kazuki, of course, grabbed her by the back of her collar and held her up like a kitten.
“Mei, no need to rush.”
Mei looked as if she had been wronged but to Kazuki and the others, she just seemed too cute. Kazuki placed her down on the ground and held out a hand.
Mei grabbed his hand and smiled widely.
“Let go big bro lets go.”
Nunully was about to grab his other empty hand but before she could, Mei had already started to drag Kazuki along. Nunully lowered her head a little bit sad before Tsura grabbed her hand and walked ahead with her. Nunully felt a bit embarrassed but went along anyway.
Standing at the top of the steps, one man and one woman both standing over 6 feet tall and wearing leather armor and swords on their hips, blocked Kazuki and Mei.
The woman called out.
“Stop.”
She eyed Kazuki and the others filthy appearance and saw how young Mei was.
“This is a place to gamble. Do any of you even have money?”
Kazuki understood and pulled out all the money he had after selling the junk he got from the thugs.
7 silver coins and 25 copper remained after the small meal they had at the rundown bar from earlier.
The man guarding the door saw the amount he had and laughed.
“Hahaha.”
Pointing at the meager amount in Kazuki’s hands he scoffed.
“You think your gonna do anything with that, huh? Old man, I’ll tell ya right now, your better off turning around right now and go earn your living the right way. If you walk in here with that chump change, I guarantee you’ll be walking out in under a minute with your pockets turned out.”
The woman next to him agreed.
“My friend here is right. This isn’t a place for you. You even dragged a kid here. Shouldn’t you think about filling her stomach with food then blowing it all here.”
The women looked at Kazuki with disgust. She had seen many unfortunates walk past her with what little they had and walked out with nothing but a mountain of debt. Looking at little Mei’s cute and innocent expression she felt pity for her. So many times she witnessed children being sold to cover their reckless parent’s loans.
It was neither her nor her friend’s job to deter guests from gambling in the casino behind them but their boss did give them permission to turn away people who looked like they had nothing. This place, after all, had a lot of fat cats who would roll through here, and for them to see undesirables come in and gamble at the same tables as they, really put them off.
The man guarding blocking Kazuki’s path spoke with no kindness.
“You are way too poor for this place and your luck is obviously bad. Go on back to the dirty streets, you can’t come in here.”
The woman next to him agreed.
“My friend here is right. Life hasn’t been good to you, your better off working until your bones break. Better that then your bones get broken in here when you can’t pay your debt. Go on, leave.”
Kazuki looked down at little Mei and asked.
“Dees peple think I’m unlucky. What joo think little one?”
Mei put a finger to her chin in thought. The two guards expected her to favor the old hunched over man in front of them but she actually said honestly.
“I don’t know.”
Kazuki pinched her little nose teasingly.
“Fool, Dis old man here is the lucki-eeest in the tire world. Shall I’s prove it to ya?”
Mei didn’t quite get what was going on and simply nodded along.
Kazuki put away all of his coins except a single silver.
“u twoo says I’m unlucky, hows bout we make a small bet. If I’s win, u let me n my family enter and ifs we lose I give you two Dis silver coin and we leave with no arguments. Hows at sound?”
The guards looked at each other. They worked at a casino but they were only the guards who stood at the entrance. Those who worked at the casino like them were not allowed to gamble, it was the boss’s orders. Not only did they not get to gamble but they had to stand outside all day and listen to the crowd inside hoot and holler in excitement. Knowing that there’s a party inside that you are never allowed to be a part of was terribly frustrating. The two guards looked at Kazuki and shrugged their shoulders. The woman asked Kazuki.
“What’s the game?”
Kazuki smiled inside before flicking the coin into the air and catching it. Pressing it forward he showed it off to the two.
“Simple really. Wit Dis ordinary no tricks at tall coin I’s gonna make it…”
Before he could finish what he was saying the woman snatched the coin out of his hand and examined it closely. She looked it over carefully and even bit down on it. She felt its weight and flicked it a few times and caught it. After she was satisfied that it was indeed a real coin with no tricks to it she passed it to the guard next to her so he could examine it as well.
The guards here were no fools and had dealt with a myriad of scam artists and tricksters. They had found many fools who wanted to rip off the casino many times and they caught every one of them. When the man couldn’t find anything wrong with the coin either he stuffed it into his chest pocket just in case and pulled out one of his own silver coins from a small pouch. Tossing it over he barked.
“You’ll use this one and you’ll do it with no fuss got it? Any complaints and you can turn your ass around right now and leave.”
The guard came off harsh but he and the female guard next to him were both in agreement on this one. They had done this so many times now it had just become routine.
Kazuki held the silver coin in his hand and looked it over curiously. He wondered if the two were trying to pull one over on him to try and get him to leave but the coin like his own was actually real.
(I guess they’ve both tired of dealing with cheaters. Too bad they’ve met me.)
Kazuki copied the two from earlier and examined the coin in the exact same way they had just a few seconds ago. He even went so far as to bite down on it as they did. Though when he did it, he jumped up and down in pain.
*Yowch*
The guards chuckled a little seeing this.
Kazuki held the coin up.
“Yep, this ere coin is reel. u aints triyin ta trick me.”
The guards almost fell over and the man yelled.
“Oy old man why would we try and trick you. It’s you whos trying to get in here. Not the other way around.”
Kazuki shrugged his shoulders.
“As my pappi always said, bedder safe den sorry.”
While little Mei was chuckling beside him and the two ladies behind him were in a good mood watching Kazuki’s weird performance. He could tell that he was only a few seconds away from losing the guards and front of him and got straight to the point.
“Dis coins ordinury n dere’s no way to cheat it. Ill put a mark on one side and Wit it, I’ll flick in da air and catch it. I guarantee it land wit da mark side up 5 outta 5 times. If it happens, you’ll lets me and mine n.”
The two were no fools and found a problem with his proposal right away.
“Youll put a mark on it. With what a special magic ink that changes sides with a flick of your wrist, I don’t think so. Toss the coin back. We’ll put our own marks upon it. One’s that you can’t recreate right away with some special method.”
Kazuki found this agreeable and tossed the coin back. Before the coin reached the man, a tattoo lit up upon his forearm and he drew his sword at lightning speed and slashed at the coin.
*Tink tink tink*
The coin was not knocked away at all by this attack and with Kazuki’s keen vision he could see a brand new mark carved into the coin. A faint glow lit up from the side of the woman’s neck and she stepped forward. The coin had now fallen to waist height and the woman drew her blade as well.
*Tink tink clink*
The man thrust out his sword again and caught the coin on the flat side of his blade. This was done to not only prevent Kazuki from tricking the two of them but also a warning, that if he did try to pull anything, they would deal with him.
Kazuki played his part well and gulped loudly and trembled slightly before he carefully picked up the coin from the man’s blade. His voice shook a bit.
“Sh…shalls w…we begin?”
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