The door burst open violently. Inside, a group of people was huddled together. At the center of the room, on the table, sat a Kyle Galli set and a pile of gold coins.
It was a situation that left no room for excuses.
“Frederick, what exactly is going on here?”
“…How did you even know to come here?”
“I’ve made some really great friends.”
“What? Don’t tell me…!”
Since I’d caught him red-handed, I decided to throw in a light lie for good measure.
Naturally, knowing Frederick’s personality, I expected him to glare suspiciously at the so-called “friends” he had supposedly made while studying abroad.
“…Is that so?”
“……?”
What? He’s not reacting much.
Though I was caught off guard by his unexpected response, I kept a smile on my face and approached him.
Unlike earlier in the day, this time I lightly tapped Frederick’s shoulder as I stood in front of him.
What a shame I couldn’t leave a bruise on him like he did to me.
“Tell me, am I seeing this correctly? You placed money on Kyle Galli….? What do you call this again… gambling?”
“…Are you alone?”
“Hmm?”
“I asked if you came here alone.”
The way Frederick asked, with a look in his eyes that suggested he was ready to do something drastic, made me laugh as I responded.
“Do I look like I’d come here alone?”
“……”
“And don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t come here to report you or anything.”
“What…?”
“I came here to join in. In this gambling ring of yours.”
I had prepared thoroughly for this.
Jingle.
I threw a pouch tied to my waist onto the floor.
When it hit the ground, the knot loosened naturally, spilling out beautifully crafted gold coins that gleamed brightly.
“Th-Those gold coins…?”
“And in that amount, no less…”
“Wh-What… What the hell are you thinking?”
“What else? I told you, I came here to gamble. That’s my contribution to the pot.”
To be precise, it was all the prize money I had scraped together from winning a board game tournament that resembled chess.
This amount of gold coins was a significant sum for an individual, but it was far too insufficient to mass-produce a board game.
However, Frederick and the so-called “friends” of his couldn’t take their eyes off the pouch of gold coins.
“You’ll let me join, won’t you? In this Kyle Galli.”
“……”
Frederick, who had been silently glaring back and forth between me and the Kyle Galli set, finally curled his lips into a sly smile.
“Fine. If you’re so eager… I suppose I should let you.”
“Good.”
“Take a seat. We’ll start right away.”
I knew exactly what he was thinking. He probably thought a fool had just wandered in out of nowhere.
Of course, that would be a natural assumption if he’d ever played Kyle Galli before.
After all, there was an insurmountable gap between someone with Aura and someone without Aura.
As I sat down and placed my hands on the table, the silent “friends” started creeping closer.
Not yet. It’s not your turn yet.
“Frederick, how about we keep it simple? A one-on-one match.”
“…What? Are you out of your mind?”
“Just regular Kyle Galli rules. The betting limit is whatever you have on hand. It’s a strict one-on-one match, and Aura is prohibited. If anyone uses Aura, they automatically forfeit. Agreed?”
“Aura… prohibited?”
“What, you don’t like that?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Against a powerless wretch like you, I can manage with that kind of handicap.”
There was no reason for Frederick to refuse. Even without using Aura, the body of an Aura user was far superior to that of a powerless person.
Although it wasn’t as overwhelming as when Aura was actively in use, I’d heard that their enhanced physical abilities left residual effects, even in a dormant state.
That’s why he scoffed at the penalty of banning Aura; it wasn’t a real disadvantage to him.
And more than that…
There’s no way someone like him would completely refrain from using Aura.
If things got tricky, he’d probably just use it subtly, carefully enough not to get caught. Even a trace amount of Aura would be more than enough to overpower me.
Strictly speaking, there was nothing in this situation that worked in my favor.
But that was fine.
“Then shall we begin? This way, we’re completely on equal footing.”
“Of course.”
The preparations for Kyle Galli were underway. Frederick’s “friends” who had been watching his reactions, moved to shuffle the cards, deal them, and set up the bell.
Frederick had started gambling two days ago, so he must have played Kyle Galli several times by now.
At this point, Frederick would be in a state where he knew the game just “well enough”.
There was no need to deliberately accommodate him like I had with Sally, old man Charles, young lady Lacia, or Adela in the past.
Just—
Ding!!!
“…Huh?”
“Hand over your cards.”
I simply crushed him with everything I had.
***
Meanwhile, Frederick was silently celebrating.
He had thought this was a crisis of life and death, yet his idiot, useless little brother had boldly declared that he wanted to participate in the gamble.
What a foolish bastard.
Initially, Frederick had planned to knock him out to keep him from exposing the gambling den to their father or the head butler. However, the kid had narrowly avoided that fate.
Even so, Frederick couldn’t help but wonder how on earth the boy had found out about the gambling place in the first place.
It must’ve been one of these bastards who blabbed.
The so-called “friends” Frederick had met during his time abroad, as well as a few knights and servants lured into gambling by his coaxing. One of them had clearly approached Kyle first.
At first, it annoyed him, but when he thought about it, Frederick figured they were simply following his orders to “rope in as many people as possible.”
Now that it was clear his idiot brother was a clueless sucker, Frederick felt like he should praise them for their efforts.
Who would’ve thought that kid had so much money on him?
Taking all of it was practically a done deal. With that much money, Frederick could make significant progress paying off his debts.
No, more than that, if he used that money as gambling capital, he could join in on the big games. If he hit it big there, forget the debts….he could make an enormous fortune.
He had been eyeing the pouch of gold coins that was as good as already in his hands with a pleased smile.
That had been ten minutes ago.
Ding!!
“Again…?”
“That makes three wins in a row. Don’t you think you’re being too generous?”
“……….”
Kyle Galli, the board game that brat Kyle shamelessly named after himself. It was a game Frederick believed he had completely mastered after playing it extensively over the past few days.
Originally, Frederick had planned to secretly bring dice and play another round of Yacht, but he ultimately decided on Kyle Galli because his mastery of Aura gave him a massive advantage in this game.
Not only his friends but also the family knights and servants seemed familiar with Kyle Galli, so everything went smoothly.
On the surface, they pretended to play fair by banning the use of Aura, but Frederick would covertly use it to ensure victory every time.
Even when gambling with knights who also used Aura, it wasn’t a problem.
After all, Frederick and his “friends” were all on the same side.
Confident in their shared genius scheme with Aura, they had an unspoken agreement to cover for each other if anyone got caught using it, brushing it off with a small fine.
They would rig matches as needed, or, if someone was too skilled, they would pretend it was an accident and fracture their hand to force them out. It all went smoothly.
But this time…
Kyle, this bastard…?
Something about him wasn’t normal.
Even without using Aura, the residual strength left in an Aura user’s body should have easily surpassed someone like Kyle, who was powerless.
Yet Kyle was reacting at the same speed as Frederic, or sometimes even faster. In fact, after losing three consecutive times, it was clear Kyle’s skills were superior.
So, you’re not as clueless as I thought, huh?
Since it was a game he had created, perhaps Kyle had confidence in his abilities. Frederick supposed that deserved some praise.
But.
It’ll be different now.
Aura.
A power only those with talent could use, elevating humans to superhuman levels.
It was the overwhelming gap between someone like Frederick and a talentless weakling like Kyle.
And against a fool like Kyle, even a little Aura would be more than enough.
Frederick smirked as he subtly began to draw on his Aura, before turning to face Kyle.
“You’re pretty good. Shall we move on to the next game?”
“Mm… this is getting a little boring.”
“What?”
“It’s boring. Betting just a few gold coins doesn’t make it interesting. So, since we’re already playing—”
Thud.
“—let’s bet a whole pouch of gold coins.”
“You’re serious…?”
Frederick wasn’t worried.
In fact, he was struggling to suppress the laughter bubbling up inside him.
Still, his foolish little brother confidently nodded his head.
“You need to bet too. You know it has to be the same amount, right?”
“Of course.”
Kyle had brought quite a lot of gold coins, but compared to the money Frederick had earned, it was more than enough to bet with and still had plenty left.
When Frederick signaled to one of his “friends”, they pulled out a similar pouch of gold coins from under the bed and placed it on the table.
“How much do you even have under that bed?”
“An amount someone like you could never touch in your lifetime.”
“Really? I’d like to… see that for myself.”
Was this guy getting hooked on gambling? If so, even better.
I can just suck him dry and pin all the blame on him.
Well, I’ve been generous enough to humor him this far.
As his elder brother, I’ll show him some mercy.
Instead of playing around any further, I’ll finish this in one go.
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.
Frederick flipped the cards. With such a large amount of money at stake, the spectators seemed even more tense.
But Frederick wasn’t worried at all. As long as he was channeling Aura, there was no way he could lose.
The only thing on his mind was whether he should let Kyle win a few rounds to string him along or utterly crush him from the start. Tension? That was never a concern for him—
Ding!
“…What?”
“I’ll take the first round.”
Just now…
What was that?
Phew, I must’ve been distracted.
Right, even if he was using Aura, losing was possible if he wasn’t fully focused on the game itself.
Accepting this, Frederick resolved to pay full attention to Kyle’s cards this time.
That brat has three circles right now.
As long as my cards have at least two circles—
Ding!
“…Are you serious? I haven’t even flipped my card yet.”
Was the guy so nervous he’d made a mistake?
Frederick had barely lifted the edge of his card, let alone flipped it, but Kyle had already rung the bell.
Frederick wanted to mock him for his ridiculous blunder.
“Flip it.”
“…….”
Kyle’s calm words and his strange sense of certainty.
For a moment, Frederick felt a pang of unease as he slowly flipped over his card.
The card was…
“Two… circles…?”
“I’ll take this one too.”
“Wh-What is this?!”
How was this possible?
How could a useless weakling, someone incapable of using Aura or magic, pull this off?
How could he predict the next card without even flipping it over?
Frederick’s eyes twitched uncontrollably, but neither the bell nor the cards were something Kyle had prepared beforehand. They were the same tools Frederick had been using for gambling just moments ago.
Even more infuriatingly, Frederick had been using Aura the whole time, and yet—
Damn it all…!
“I rang the bell, Frederick. It’s your turn to flip the card.”
“……….”
“Frederick?”
“I know! I know, so shut up…!”
It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Whatever tricks he was pulling, it didn’t matter.
As long as I have Aura, I’m fine. I just need to draw out more of it.
I’m different from that useless idiot. I’m a genius. So, it’s fine. I’ve just lost a few cards, that’s all.
Shuffle. Shuffle.
With trembling hands, Frederick flipped over his cards again.
Ding!
“Ah…!!”
He lost.
Ding!!
He lost again.
Ding!!!
And yet again.
It wasn’t as though Frederick hadn’t won a single round, but the difference in cards was already overwhelming.
It didn’t take long before all of Frederick’s cards ended up in Kyle’s hands.
“That makes it four wins in a row for me.”
“What kind of trickery are you pulling—”
“Then… all in.”
“………What?”
“Everything I’ve won so far, including the pouch of gold coins I just took. I’m betting it all.”
Thud.
Two heavy pouches were placed on the table between them. Gold coins that had belonged to Frederick, that should still belong to him.
“Well? Don’t want to?”
“…………No way.”
“Then go get more money.”
It was only then that Frederick felt a twinge of unease creeping over him.
Even if he continued secretly using Aura, wouldn’t he just end up caught in the web of that despicable man’s inexplicable tricks?
But stopping now would mean abandoning the money he’d already lost, and that wasn’t an amount he could simply walk away from.
More than anything, Frederick needed money.
And not just a little. He needed a lot of money.
In the end, he gave in.
“…bring more.”
“S-Sir Frederick …?”
“I said bring more!!”
He barked at his “friend”, forcing him to retrieve more gold coins.
Having come this far, he had no choice but to win back his money.
Whatever it took.
No matter what he had to do.
***
I must’ve been too nervous.
Even though I had been confident in my chances of winning, I still put in my all, just in case. After all, even Frederick could use Aura.
But Frederick’s Aura was weaker than I had expected.
Well, it’s understandable. Comparing this guy’s Aura to knights who train every day is just insulting to the knights.
I remembered something old man Charles had once told me,
There’s no power as volatile as Aura.
The more you train, the stronger it gets, but the moment you stop, even for a little while, it quickly weakens.
That was why old man Charles, despite having retired from his position as knight commander, he continued to train his Aura every day. But how much effort had Frederick ever put into his own training?
The results were plain to see right in front of me.
Ding!
“Damn it! Why… why…!!”
Even so, Frederick wasn’t openly using his Aura to its full extent, meaning he hadn’t gone all-out yet.
Still, even as he seemed to be using Aura at the highest level he could without being caught, I was the one hitting the bell first every time.
Of course, if we fought head-on, I would lose without question.
But I was toying with Frederick using my Halli Galli experience.
When flipping cards, you’ve got to hold the top edge and flip them over. That way, the card naturally ends up facing your opponent first instead of yourself.
Of course, it wasn’t as if I instantly figured out what card it was and pressed the bell. What I focused on was the position of the shapes.
In Halli Galli, the images differ depending on whether there are one, two, three, four, or five shapes on the card.
The moment Frederick slightly lifted his card, if no shapes were visible, that meant it was a card with just one shape.
On the other hand, if an image was visible on only one side, it meant the card had two or three shapes. If images were visible on both sides, it was a card with four or five shapes.
Of course, at first glance, this might seem like a 50-50 chance except for when there’s just one shape.
But, “the number of cards is fixed”.
There were five cards with one shape, four cards with two shapes, three cards with three shapes, two cards with four shapes, and one card with five shapes.
Excluding the cards that had already appeared, and considering that any card played in the previous round would end up at the bottom of the deck no matter who won it, I could narrow things down.
By counting cards that way, I could guess with surprisingly high accuracy.
To Frederick, it probably felt like some kind of sorcery, didn’t it?
Forget Aura or whatever. If I press the bell before even looking at the card, that’s the end of it.
After all, Aura didn’t grant you the ability to see through cards. No matter how fast you were, you still had to look at the card and think about it.
If Frederick had used his Aura to flip the cards at an absurd speed, this kind of strategy wouldn’t have worked.
However, one of the Halli Galli rules stated that there would be penalties if cards were severely crumpled. Because of this, Frederick flipped his cards the regular way, even if it was at a quick pace. It was fast, sure, but it was a speed I was familiar with from the real world.
Still, if I kept doing things like this, Frederick, who wasn’t completely oblivious, would eventually catch on that something was off.
Ding!
“Ha, haha! This time, you’re the one who was too slow! Whatever it is you’re trying to do, I’ll just react as soon as you reach out…!!”
“Is that so? Then give me your cards.”
“What? I pressed the bell! What kind of nonsense is that…?”
“That’s because you pressed it by mistake, right? There weren’t five shapes on it.”
“Wha… what…?”
I mixed in a few fake-outs here and there. That way, Frederick would become overwhelmed with all sorts of thoughts.
Halli Galli seemed like a game that was entirely about physical skill. And, when two players of similar ability faced off, that was mostly true.
But Halli Galli was still a board game.
When experience, strategy, and tricks came into play, even a beginner with a huge physical disadvantage couldn’t beat a seasoned expert.
Sure, a beginner might win once or twice, but in the end, the expert would always end up with more cards.
Of course, there was one flaw in my method, but I had already prepared a way to address it, so there was no problem.
And so—
I won, won, and won again.
“Seven consecutive wins.”
“………….”
“And now, I’m going all-in again.”
“………!!”
And I had no intention of stopping.
Not until I solved this guy’s gambling problem.
I don’t know how to make a gambling addict quit, but…
If he ran out of money, or anything worth betting, then no matter how much he wanted to gamble, he wouldn’t be able to.
As expected, a board game was indeed the perfect cure for treating gambling addiction.
“………I’ll bet.”
“Hmm? Speak up. Say it louder.”
“I said I’ll bet…! Bring everything from under the bed…!!”
At this point, Frederick had already lost an enormous amount of money, so there was no way he could refuse.
…And so, right at that moment—
When all traces of calm had vanished from him—
This moment I had been waiting for—
It became the perfect chance to bring about Frederick’s downfall.
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