“One gold coin.”

“Five gold coins.”

“Damn it, five coins—I’ll match it!”

“Ten gold coins.”

“Damn it, where do you get that kind of confidence?!”

……

In the tavern, a crowd of men had gathered around a small table in the corner. Two middle-aged men sat opposite each other, each holding a dice cup.

One looked radiant. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth beneath his mustache, and his half-lidded eyes made him seem relaxed and pleased with himself.

The other was a bald hulk. The heat had made him strip off his shirt, revealing solid slabs of muscle and a chiseled eight-pack. He looked powerfully built.

But his expression was worlds apart from that of the mustached man across from him.

The bald man’s forehead was slick with sweat. His brow was furrowed, and he looked tense as he stared at the dice cup on the table. Even when sweat ran from his forehead down to his chin, he didn’t reach up to wipe it away.

The two men were gambling.

The low shouts had drawn the curious patrons from the tavern hall over to watch.

Erika was among them. Having only just arrived in this world, she was naturally drawn in by the excited shouting.

She’d been sitting in her chair with her little feet dangling as she ate roast meat. When she heard the noise and saw that Gladys was still at the counter talking with the owner, she picked up the last piece of meat and trotted over to the gambling table, eating as she went.

Erika chewed noisily, her big red eyes blinking as she stared at the dice cups on the table.

The two men seemed to be playing a simple game: roll a few dice and see who got the higher score. It was a pretty crude form of gambling. In the modern world, any practiced cheat could rig a game like this with ease.

At the gambling table, the mustached man saw that his tense, bald opponent still hadn’t said a word. With a chuckle, he said, “Ten gold coins. Are you in or not? If you’re not, I’ll take the pot.”

The bald man hesitated for a moment, his expression grave.

“Fine… I’ll call your ten gold coins! I don’t believe you can beat me ten rounds in a row.”

As he spoke, the bald man narrowed his eyes. After tossing the coins onto the table, he flipped open his dice cup.

The dice beneath it showed five, five, and six.

In a game where the highest roll won, that was already an impressive score.

The moment he saw his roll, the tension left the bald man’s face. He broke into a delighted grin. “Hahaha! This time I’ve got you, right? I knew there was no way I couldn’t beat you even once!”

“Oh, dear. That does look like a high roll.”

“Heh.”

The bald man let out a cold laugh. Before the mustached man had even opened his dice cup, he was already reaching for the coins on the table.

But just as he stretched out his hand, the mustached man grabbed it.

“Wait. You haven’t won yet.”

“Cut the crap and open your cup, then.”

The bald man snapped impatiently. As far as he was concerned, only two rolls could beat his, and the odds of either one were tiny. Surely this round had to be his.

But the delighted smile froze on his face. His eyes widened as he stared at his opponent’s dice in disbelief.

They were sixes. All three of them.

How was that possible?!

His own roll was already so high, yet somehow this guy had managed to roll an even better one!

“Heh-heh.”

The mustached man chuckled and swept all the coins on the table into his pouch right in front of the bald man. “Sorry. Looks like luck has sided with me again.”

“You’re cheating!” the bald man shouted, his face full of disbelief.

The mustached man didn’t seem bothered. “Don’t start with that, my friend. Look at all these people watching us. If I were cheating, wouldn’t someone have noticed by now?”

“But how could that…”

“There’s only one reason. I’m just incredibly lucky.”

With that, the mustached man stood up to leave.

“Wait!”

But as soon as he got to his feet, the bald man shouted again. “It’s not over! We’re playing another round! I refuse to believe I can’t win even once. This time, we’re betting big!”

Erika had just read about the exchange rates for gold, silver, and copper coins in this world. They were 1:100:1000.

Clearly, the two men had started out betting copper coins and worked their way up to gold. The mustached man had been winning the whole time.

As Erika watched him pocket a pile of gold coins, her eyes began to glimmer.

Gold… All that gold, right there in front of her.

Back in her previous life, that would’ve been a small fortune.

“I don’t think I can keep playing.”

But the mustached man flatly refused. “Just look at yourself. I bet you don’t even have a single copper coin left.”

“You’re running off after winning?!”

“Not at all. I just don’t like dealing with broke people.”

With that, the mustached man started to leave again.

“I said, stop!”

“Smack!”

The bald man roared and slammed his rough, heavy hand down on the table, flinging a copper key onto it.

“This is my house in the Imperial Capital. It’s worth at least 300 gold coins as collateral. Come on—let’s play for real!”

“Whoa!”

The crowd broke into an uproar. Everyone could see that the bald man had lost his head.

Erika had finished every last bite of her roast meat. She stared at the bald man, sucking on her fingers as she gave a wry smile to herself.

That was a gambler’s mindset. After losing, they’d try to win it all back in one bigger bet, only to end up losing everything. The reason was simple: whether or not the mustached man had cheated, the bald man had already lost so much, and with luck like his, he probably wasn’t going to win.

“No, no. What are you doing, my friend?”

The mustached man smiled as he refused. “We agreed from the start, didn’t we? Just a little friendly gambling. If we keep going, things could get out of hand.”

“Are you afraid?”

“No. I just don’t want to. I think you’ll lose again, and I don’t want to see you sleeping pitifully in the street.”

“You bastard! Listen here! You’re playing another round with me today, or you’re not leaving!”

The bald man was worked up. Afraid the mustached man would get away, he stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, and threatened him.

But the mustached man didn’t care in the slightest. He smiled, spread his hands, then lightly pointed toward the tavern entrance.

Just then, several soldiers on patrol happened to be passing by. Hearing the commotion inside the tavern, they pushed open the little gate and peered in, squinting.

The bald man, who’d been so aggressive a moment ago, immediately backed down a little.

“Let go, my friend.”

The mustached man pushed the bald man’s hand away, then straightened his collar with an amused grin. “Don’t take it so seriously. A man has to know how to lose.

“I lost ten thousand times worse than you did back in the day. No one can keep losing forever. Sooner or later, good luck comes around.”

After saying that, the mustached man patted the bald man on the shoulder and left.

It was hard to tell whether he’d been mocking the man or trying to comfort him. Either way, the bald man still wore a trace of anger on his face.

Before leaving, the mustached man made a point of stopping beside Erika.

He seemed to have noticed long ago that there was a beautiful little girl among the onlookers.

“Beautiful young lady, do you like gambling too?”

“Ah… no.”

Erika quickly waved her hand. “I’m waiting for someone. I was just curious, that’s all.”

“Is that so? But I saw greed in your eyes.”

The mustached man smiled faintly. He seemed every inch a gentleman as he pointed to his eyes. “I like watching people’s eyes. It’s a habit of mine.

“Little miss, your eyes were full of greed when you looked at those gold coins.”

Erika was at a loss for words.

Who wasn’t greedy for gold coins? Wasn’t he? If he weren’t, he wouldn’t be gambling.

“Tap.”

Suddenly, the mustached man flicked a gold coin from his hand and tossed it to Erika.

“Here, it’s yours, beautiful girl. I hope you grow up to be a great gambler.”

Erika caught the coin, looking a little bewildered. She didn’t understand why the man was giving her money, but she explained, “I’ve never thought about gambling.”

“Oh? You still don’t understand what gambling is.”

The mustached man waved as he walked toward the tavern door. “Everyone in the world is a gambler. Whether you’re doing business, fighting a war, or scrambling for power, as long as you’re chasing what you desire, you’ll face a gamble of some kind. We’re all betting on something.

“It’s just that some bets matter more than others.

“After all, some gambles can cost you your life.”