NOVEL NEXT 17 – You can’t beat a loli at poker
The man that clapped and approached us was a weird one. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a red bow tie. His fingernails seemed more like claws. He was tall and had a deep voice. As for his looks… no matter how I look at him he feels just like a knock-off of Dio. He’s probably a space vampire.
“Hou? You’re not surprised about lil’ ol’ me?”
“I can easily distinguish the difference between talent and luck. Small as you may be, it’s clear you have the judgment of an adult, so your appearance doesn’t mean anything to me.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Gyros Kahula. Would you care for a friendly wager in a different type of game, miss…?”
“Kizuna Amun Ra. This here is my servant, Stella. Although you make a tempting offer sir, we’re in a hurry. We’re looking for a specific person that has knowledge about some uncharted planet.”
“Hou? What a splendid coincidence. I believe that means you were looking for me.”
Huh? This sounds a bit too convenient. I started giving him some details, but of course I left out the part about Lisa’s torture methods. He nodded satisfactorily and also to gain his trust he roughly described the location. However, without giving precise details.
“I even have a stellar map with a charted route on how to reach that said planet. But, what business might you have with it?”
“It belongs to me. As simple as that.”
“Haha! You’re quite the figure, miss. Well, it seems we both have something the other wants. Shall we settle this at the table?”
“Ojou-sama?”
“It’s ok, Stella. Sure. Let’s have a match.”
“Perfect. I assume you already know the rules of poker.”
In poker, each player is dealt 5 cards. They may exchange cards to strengthen their hand. But once gambling is involved, it can become a psychological game.
He guided us to what looked like a fancy VIP sector with curtains so that you won’t be distracted by any outsiders. Then this guy brought up his own deck.
“Allow me to show you my skills.”
With one hand he managed to shuffle cards around like it was nothing. This can’t help make one suspicious.
“May I see that deck for a moment?”
“But of course. I would actually feel offended if you didn’t request to see it.”
I flipped the deck over and took a good look at them. There’s absolutely nothing suspicious about them. First checkpoint is clear.
“Alright. Do you mind shuffling them now?”
“Hou? I wonder where this is going.”
As I said he skillfully shuffled the deck of cards.
“There. They’re shuffled.”
“Good. Now just like cutting the deck, pick a few cards up and look at it.”
“Ah? Ok. Now what?”
“That card is the ace of clubs, right?”
“...!!”
“Let me go a step further. I will name the next cards in order: King of spades, 8 of diamonds, 6 of clubs, 3 of clubs, jack of hearts, queen of diamonds and 10 of spades.”
Anxiously, Gyros flipped over the cards and… they were exactly as I named them.
“What is this?” (Gyros)
“But… he’s the one that shuffled. Ojou-sama, how?” (Stella)
Even Stella was shocked about that. It’s not a trick or anything. And I’m not using my own mental powers. I’m not a mentalist. It’s all Kizuna’s power. Kizuna’s unique ability is adaptation. She can decipher the laws of Photon Arts. Grasping the full scale of an attack, adapting to it, copying it or canceling it. This was the main trick that I wanted to program for Kizuna.
Then again, you can’t call card shuffling an attack. Yet with Thought Acceleration and Preserve Memory I managed to see each and every card as they were being shuffled and stored the data in my head.
“I memorized the position of every card.”
“I see. Very impressive. However, that just means we need a new deck so you don’t know the order of the cards.”
“You don’t get it, do you? This means you can’t cheat.”
“I see. In this case let’s call a robot dealer.”
“Agreed.”
Although it really doesn’t suit me, if I flex too much this guy might accuse me of cheating. Soon, something that resembled Robbie the Robot popped and gathered all the cards. He placed them inside his mouth and made lots of beep-ing sounds before spitting them out again, shuffled.
“Come to think of it, what are we betting on?”
“How about all those fancy chips of yours, miss? It would be a shame to go to the main course on the first hand.”
“Fine.”
“Splendid. Then I will start with 200 chips as the opening bid.”
The robot naturally dealt 5 cards to each of us afterwards.
“Ok. I’ll put in 200 chips too.”
“Then let’s begin. I’ll change 2 cards.”
“And 3 for me.”
"What a serious face you have, miss. I'll play it safe and bet only 800 Sol."
"Call.
2 pairs. Jacks over 8's."
"Hou? That's quite a good hand. Unfortunately… Full house! It's my win."
The guy had a smug expression as he drew closer and collected all the chips that were bet. I'm pretty sure he is cheating in some way, but I can't exactly put my finger on how he's doing it. I don't see any cameras around for someone to whisper in his ear. And the robot dealer dealt the cards correctly.
"Shall we move on to the main event? The data that I am interested in."
"Ah yes. Everything you need to know is on this flash drive. Coordinates as well as a route mapped out. However… this is something extremely valuable for me. What do you have to offer?"
"How about all my winnings so far? 17 thousand Sol."
"Oh, my. I'm afraid that won't cut it. You see, if I were to sell this data to the Mercenary Guild, I would get at least 100 thousand Sol for it. But, if you wish to make an actual bet, I could talk to the casino staff and arrange a small loan for you."
“Sure. Do that please.”
“Ojou-sama!?” (Stella)
“I know what I am doing, Stella.”
The vampire dude felt happy. He clapped a few times and a bunny girl soon appeared. And after some whispering he threw the flash drive next to the chips on the table and once again turned towards me.
“It’s settled. Your bet is now covered, miss. Shall we settle this then?”
A new hand of cards was dealt.
“I’ll be changing one card.”
“As for me, these are good as is.”
“Excuse me? You didn’t even look at your cards.”
“Yeah. I’m telling you I will play them as is.”
“How can you bet on cards you haven’t seen? Are you perhaps unaware of what will happen if you lose this hand?”
“You seem to be more panicked than me. I’m telling you, these are good.”
What sort of trick is this? Is this little girl trying to bluff me? Although cheating is impossible with a robot dealer, there are still tricks one can employ. Because we are using my deck, I left various scent marks that only a vampire can detect. Right now I have 4 kings. There are very few hands that can beat it. The scent coming from her cards and the ones that would come from the dealer if she changed anything… she has nothing. All her cards are useless against my hand. Just what makes her so confident? No, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just crush her as is!!
“In that case get ready to cry, little miss. 4 Kings!!”
“Ara? Why are you so proud?”
I started flipping the cards one by one.
“NANI!!”
3 of diamonds, 4 of diamonds, 5 of diamonds, 6 of diamonds and 7 of diamonds.
“Well what do you know? Straight Flush. Guess I win.”
“Impossible!!”