Poker.
It was a very simple game where players tried to assemble certain combinations using the random cards the dealer gave you, then revealed them after betting chips for the winner to get the pot.
Since there weren't any rules to learn as long as you remember the hands, poker was one of the most popular games in casinos.
Because of its popularity, there were also over twenty poker tables in the black market's casino, and all the spectators were mysteriously gathered around the table at the end.
"H-how many times did he win in a row? Four? Five?"
"From what I've counted, he won six times in a row."
"Idiots, the winning streak isn't the important part. He is playing as if he knows everything about the opponent's cards!"
"I know, right? How can he play so well?"
The spectators were amazed by the man in black robe sitting at the center of the table.
"It's not just about the winning streak, but his winning rate is also crazy. I think he's been winning more than seven out of ten games."
"He is so lucky. I used to be like that once."
"Bullshit, you've always been broke!"
"Wow, look at all those chips. They're piled up like a mountain, I'm jealous."
Just like he said, chips were piled up like a hill in front of the black-robed man.
"Haa!"
"Hmm…"
"Damn it."
The gamblers at that table broke out in a cold sweat or frowned upon seeing that.
"Isn't he a dishonest gambler? It's also called a swindler."
"You idiot! There's magic cast inside the black market's casino, mana can't be used here. And that dealer would've caught him already if he was actually a swindler, since he has over twenty years of experience."
"Ah, now that you mention it, they changed the dealer as well."
Because the robed man kept winning over and over, the other clients complained and the dealer was changed. However, that didn't make him start losing money.
"That means he really is lucky."
"Wow, I wish I was that lucky…"
"Well, obviously he's lucky, but his judgment is great too. His gaze is no joke."
"Keuh…"
Dorian, who had been listening to the spectators while biting his fingernails, came up to the black robed man—which was Raon.
"Y-young master, let's stop now. Now is the time that your the beginner's luck has been extended like a rubber band! Everyone's saying you were just lucky!"
"How long do you think beginner's luck can last?"
Raon smirked, looking at Dorian's anxious eyes.
'Well, it's about time I stop.'
He gathered his mountain of chips and nodded. The black butterfly was usually auctioned at ten to twenty gold. Since he had earned thirty-five gold so far, it was about time he stopped.
'And there might be trouble if I continue.'
He won consecutively because he was running out of time, but it was actually better to slowly win over a few days. It could cause a problem if he kept winning even more.
"I'll stop for now. Please exchange them for gold."
Raon stood up while pushing the chips towards the dealer.
"Wait! Did you just say you are going to leave now?"
The fox masked woman, who had followed him from the game of dice to the poker table, stood up after him.
"Well, I've won enough."
"You can't just leave after winning!"
"But don't people come here to win?"
"Let's play one more game. I haven't won a single game!"
"I don't have much time, though."
"Argh!"
The fox masked woman glared at him furiously, biting her lip. It seemed like she was exploding in anger after losing twenty games in a row between the dice and poker games.
That's why she shouldn't have followed him.
Even though no one told her to follow him, she challenged him on her own and lost. Raon couldn't understand why she was being like that, even though it was her own fault.
"Hmm…"
"Ahem."
"I-I'll go somewhere else."
Curiously, the spectators avoided their gazes as soon as the woman stood up in anger. It looked like they were afraid of her.
As expected, she must've been from a famous family.
"You still have lots of money. Please don't mind me, have fun."
"Are you out of your mind just because you are slightly good at gambling? Stop messing with me and stay right there!"
"Ah, okay."
Raon ignored her and turned around. He was going to leave anyway, so it didn't really matter what important position she had. He went to the exit, ignoring the grinding sound of her teeth.
"Let's go."
"Ah, yes!"
Dorian breathed out a sigh of relief and followed him, thinking his advice had worked.
Raon Zieghart, you'd better remember your deal with the King of Essence.
'Of course.'
It's a relief, since I was going to kill you if you forgot about it. Let's go to finish the deal.
It was a heavy and cold voice. However, the fact that the deal's contents were ice cream and food was making him laugh.
'Alright, let's go.'
Raon snickered and left the casino.
* * *
The fox masked woman glared fiercely at Raon's back with golden yellow eyes as he left the casino.
"Setar."
"Yes."
The large man that was standing behind her knelt down.
"Find out everything about him, what he does and what his goal is."
"Prin…no, Lady Jayna. We were ordered to not create any unnecessary problems…"
"I've already listened to your request by not going to the underground gambling house. Do I still have to put up with it?"
It wasn't the only casino around there. The one on the lower floor was the real deal, as it had no limitation in the betting amount and caused people to put their lives on the line.
"But young lady, your probation is still…"
"Shut up and go. I'm sure that bastard cheated. The probabilities are telling me it's impossible for him to win so much! I'm going to personally cut his hand off!"
"Haa, alright."
Setar reluctantly sighed and disappeared from the spot.
"Hmph."
Jayna snorted and turned around. As she was about to leave the gambling house, the dealer came up to her.
"Y-you left the chips behind."
"I don't need them. You can take them."
She didn't even look at the chips, which were worth more than ten gold, as she gave them to the dealer.
"Sorry? Ah…"
The dealer was at a loss, but Jayna was already walking towards the exit.
'Money isn't the problem.'
Jayna smiled coldly. She had enough money to burn. The important part wasn't the money but the victory. Since she was born with noble blood, she couldn't just move on after losing to an average man like him.
'I'll stand in your way, whatever it might be.'
* * *
Hmph.
Wrath gave off a smile, his voice one tone higher than usual.
The King of Essence likes that one.
He created a finger with blue coldness and pointed at an ice cream.
'That one?'
Raon frowned upon seeing the ice cream. It had a strange shape with chocolate chips jammed in some strange base that looked both green and blue.
'I think Runaan showed me something like this before.'
Correct. It's that ice cream that you didn't eat before. It even appeared in the King of Essence's dreams.
Wrath panted, not taking his eyes off the ice cream.
"Please give one of these for now."
Raon sighed softly and ordered the ice cream Wrath picked.
"Oh, dear customer. You are pretty knowledgeable about ice creams to have picked mint chocolate."
The large man that seemed to be the shop owner smiled brightly and took out the ice cream.
"Mint chocolate?"
"Ugh!"
Dorian, who was eating a strawberry ice cream, jolted and came running to him.
"Y-young master, did you order the mint chocolate just now?"
"Apparently, yes."
"Oh no…"
"Why?"
"Young master, do you know about peppermint? The thing with a fizzy taste."
"I know."
"This ice cream is made from peppermint. The cool sensation will spread inside your mouth! It's not delicious at all!"
Dorian shook his head. Raon had seen his scared expression many times, but it was his first time seeing him feel so bad about something.
"That customer has a pretty bad taste. He doesn't even know about mint chocolate's greatness, starting with chocolate's sweetness and ending with a refreshing flavor that leaves no unpleasant feeling behind."
On the other hand, the shop owner narrowed his eyes as he looked at Dorian.
"Here you go, mint chocolate."
He personally came around the counter to give him the ice cream. The ice cream was contained in a cone-shaped pastry.
Quickly, go ahead and eat it quickly. The King of Essence can't endure it any longer!
Wrath spread his coldness to cover the entire ice cream shop.
'I got it, so calm down a bit.'
Raon sighed and looked at the green ice cream. He could feel gazes from next to him. The shop owner and Dorian were looking at him with shiny eyes, waiting for his reaction.
'What is going on?'
Thinking that it's such an insignificant matter to fight over, he put the ice cream in his mouth.
"Hmm."
Cool and sweet flavor surrounded his tongue at first. However, what came afterward was the problem. The peppermint's fizzy taste spread out throughout his mouth.
It wasn't exactly distasteful, but more awkward.
Ohh! Delicious! This combination of clean and sweet doesn't even exist in devildom. This is a revolution!
It looked like Wrath liked it, as he started dancing in the air, screaming out some weird sounds. He couldn't tell what kind of dance that was, but at least he looked really happy.
"How is it?"
"Young master, are you okay?"
Dorian and the shop owner came up to him at once and asked about the taste.
"I don't really like it."
"Ugh!"
"I knew the young master had a good taste! People who like mint chocolate have a problem with their tongues."
The shop owner frowned and Dorian smiled brightly.
What are you doing?! More, give me more! Quickly!
'Sigh.'
The promise had to be kept. Raon frowned, but ate the rest of the mint chocolate ice cream.
"Gasp! Young master! Why are you eating that again?"
Dorian flailed his arms, his face looking like he had just taken a bite of a lemon.
"Kuhahaha! Even if your mouth lies, your heart doesn't! It might not feel good, but you still want to keep eating it. That's mint chocolate's appeal!"
The shop owner scooped up the mint chocolate one more time and forcefully gave it to him, telling him it was free.
"There's no such appeal! It just has an awkward and weird flavor!"
"I feel pity for the customer that doesn't realize mint chocolate's greatness."
Raon shook his head, looking at Dorian and the shop owner fighting against each other.
Who is the genius that invented this? Ask him right away! I'll make him into the King of Essence's subordinate!
"Who invented this ice cream?"
"Ah, are you even interested in its history now?"
The shop owner murmured that the mint chocolate was truly great, and continued.
"It was invented by a lord of the southern region famous for ice cream. There's even an MC squad over there."
"MC squad? Is that a group of bandits?"
"Of course not! It's a gathering of people that love mint chocolate!"
"They are no different from bandits if they like something like that."
Dorian clicked his tongue, looking at the shop owner.
"Dear customer, take back what you said just now!"
The shop owner's hand was trembling, as if he was going to start protesting any time.
"Haa…"
Raon sighed deeply as he looked at them.
'Strange people exist everywhere.'
Raon Zieghart! Order one more mint chocolate! It fits the King of Essence's taste exactly! A mint chocolate shop shall open in Devildom!
And he was the most strange of them all.
* * *
The next day, Raon went down to the black market an hour before the auction began.
'My mouth still feels minty.'
The King of Essence is satisfied. The ocean of devildom shall be changed into mint chocolate in the future.
Wrath took too much liking to the mint chocolate the day before and chose four mint chocolates for the four rewards he was going to get. He said something about it satisfying his super palate.
Anyway, he looked pretty crazy eating four mint chocolates after saying he didn't like it that much, resulting in Dorian shaking his head and the shop owner giving him a few ice creams for free in satisfaction.
"Are you not going to eat mint chocolate today?"
"I told you I didn't like it that much."
"But you ate four of them in a row yesterday after saying that. I also tried it again, but it just confirmed I didn't like it."
Dorian's face looked like he'd bitten a lemon, just like the day before.
"There were some circumstances to it."
Since he couldn't tell him about the trade, he gave an evasive answer.
You can't even appreciate mint chocolate, what a pathetic guy!
Wrath clicked his tongue, saying Dorian had poor taste on top of being a coward.
"Hmm, we still have some time until the auction starts. What are you going to do?"
"Let's look around a little, since we didn't manage to do that yesterday."
"Okay."
Since he had more than enough money to buy the black butterfly, he decided to look around the black market.
Since lots of special items were traded around there, it was possible to buy a treasure at a cheap price if he got lucky.
He entered the nearest shop. Jewelry like rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings were displayed. It seemed to be an accessory shop.
The merchant looked uninterested as he dozed off, resting his chin on the table. It looked like he wouldn't even notice if he tried stealing something.
'But stealing will create an uproar.'
Security systems using magic stones and mana were installed on the items and the stands. If one tried stealing without knowing about them, they would get caught immediately and brought to the black market's underground.
"Do you notice anything?"
"Nothing special."
Raon shook his head. The items in the shop looked nice, but they were just average. What he was looking for was a treasure hiding its real abilities.
He went to another shop next to it. It also had accessories displayed, but the items looked more worn out and old fashioned.
'Nothing special around here, either.'
He looked around at the items, but nothing looked special or appealing. As he licked his lips and was about to leave, he noticed the rusty ring displayed at the entrance.
'What is that?'
A memory about the ring appeared in his head.
However, it wasn't his own memory.
It was from the knowledge from the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, which was engraved in his head. And the ring was included in it.
"Hah!"
Raon swallowed his saliva and grabbed the rusty ring.
'I didn't expect this ring to be here.'
____
A/N: Hey Readers!!!
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