"What are you all waiting for? Hurry up and change the tea for our guests!" Gild broke into a cold sweat as he saw that Gilgamesh didn't fall for the trap he had set, so he decided to change his tactics.
"Forget it! That's too much trouble! Eris and I are here to gamble, not to enjoy tea and cake." Gilgamesh waved his hand dismissively, then as a small gesture, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a silver box of chocolates.
"That's right, we're here to play and bet all our money!" Eris's eyes sparkled as she waved her purse in front of everyone.
In Gilgamesh's eyes, she didn't have more than a hundred Asura Gold Coins. If millions of coins are being wagered in this place, it would be embarrassing for her to bring her week's savings.
Gilgamesh gave Eris a little nudge and whispered, "Don't worry, I'll bet my money, and when we lose, we'll move on to yours. Remember, it's the two of us against these rich kids who seem like they've never lost before."
Eris looked at Gilgamesh and was about to tell him that she didn't need his money to win, but she stopped when she saw the calm expression on the boy in front of her. Truth be told, she instinctively nodded her head and, knowing that she had been convinced by a complete stranger, she ate the chocolates that the same stranger had given her.
Gild frowned when he saw the approach of that red-eyed idiot and asked after everyone had sat down, "Shall we start with a thousand coins? Or... Should we increase it a bit?"
"A thousand coins?" Eris exclaimed in surprise, her fair face immediately turning red with embarrassment as she asked, "Do you normally bet this much?"
She was the only daughter of the Greyrat family. Basic necessities like food, clothing, and others were usually prepared in advance for her. Except for sharing some jewelry or her favorite sweets that she bought every time she went down to the city, her expenses were minimal almost always. She originally thought that the hundred gold coins she had in her frog purse were a huge sum. How could she have imagined that the minimum amount to participate was actually a thousand gold coins?! The amount in her purse could only be calculated as no more than a hundred.
This was a very normal thing. One Asura Gold Coin was equivalent to ten Asura Silver Coins, so when talking about playing a minimum of a thousand gold coins, that was over ten thousand Asura Silver Coins. Not even a terribly rich family could come up with such sums of money to waste on a board game. After all, unless they were dealing with useful items, a noble wouldn't be willing to deplete their wealth.
"A thousand coins, Miss Eris? I don't have much time for playing with such small amounts. As I mentioned earlier, I'll cover your part, so let's start with ten thousand Asura Gold Coins, with no limit on increments." Gilgamesh stroked Eris's head and said, "Don't worry, I have plenty of money."
Gild, who had been all smiles, had a momentary heart attack and, after coming back to life, muttered in an unnatural tone, "A thousand Asura Gold Coins is already a huge amount... We were talking about a different, lower denomination of coin, not directly in gold..."
Gilgamesh proceeded to ignore him and explained to Eris how many coins were twenty thousand coins. He reached into his jacket again and pulled out a woolen bag with ten thousand coins, then another bag with another ten thousand coins.
Eris's eyes sparkled, but she didn't exactly know how to add and count correctly. So, she nodded her head a bit more confidently, and under Gilgamesh's persuasion, she knew they would win the first game, so she wasn't scared by this large amount of money she had never seen before.
Gild frowned upon hearing this; he knew very well that Gilgamesh wouldn't have more than thirty thousand Asura Gold Coins if he were a prestigious son of a noble family. If the game was really starting with ten thousand coins as a starting point, and he was also covering Miss Eris's bill, he could be losing his entire fortune in a matter of minutes if luck wasn't on his side.
Initially, they were supposed to use Asura Silver Coins for the game, but since Gilgamesh had raised the stakes significantly, he didn't want to back down from this game to avoid ending up in a sorry state.
"Gil, you're really a man of your word and very honest about your feelings. The dice game happens to be one of my favorites, a game of luck! Both sides can see the outcome of the game by rolling their dice, making this game one of the fairest!" Gild laughed loudly at this.
"Enough with the nonsense, I don't like men trying to kiss up to me! How are we going to play this game? Does the smaller value win, or does the larger value win? Or are we going to guess the values, and the one closest to their figure wins?" Gilgamesh looked as if he couldn't wait any longer. If an observant person were to look at him, they would immediately think he was completely clueless.
"As for the coins..." One of Gild's friends spoke in a low tone, but Gilgamesh immediately interrupted him.
"Do you want to count them? Then go ahead, I never steal!" Gilgamesh grabbed a bag with ten thousand Asura Gold Coins and forcefully threw them at Gild's friend's face.
Boom!
Gild's friend shot off like a comet towards the tables in the back, and his body tumbled several times in the air before hitting the ground. Gild's eyes widened in shock as he saw his friend go flying, and after an awkward silence, he said, "I think you used more force than necessary..."
"Is that so? Sorry, I usually use that kind of force to kill the mosquitoes in my room at night. I never thought your friend would be a magician; magicians tend to have fragile bodies, so I hope he's okay." Gilgamesh acted as if he weren't aware of the strength he had used, so he apologized curtly.
"That was amazing! How are you so strong?" Eris's eyes sparkled with excitement as she watched that clownish idiot go flying and apparently lose consciousness.
"Well, Miss Eris, believe it or not, I am much stronger than I appear. I would show you a bit more of my strength, but we're not in an appropriate place." Gilgamesh looked at Eris with a smile that she didn't pay much attention to.
"I'm a swordswoman, my teacher is Ghislaine, a Sword Queen, and she uses a very strong combat style." Eris took pride in her teacher and said, "Although I'm not as strong as her yet, I'm sure no child my age can beat me."
Gilgamesh made sure to give Eris his full attention, completely ignoring Gild, who stood like a lifeless statue with a rigid smile on his face. Was he being ignored by these two kids? Wait, was he even legally betting with two children?
While Gild was having an existential crisis, Ghislaine examined Gilgamesh and found him as transparent as crystal. His expressions were sincere; he seemed to be enjoying an interaction with someone his age as if he were... Gilgamesh, the Red Prince of Asura, was seeking to experience that childhood feeling by talking to Eris, something quite remarkable considering all the things he had done in the capital of the kingdom, Ars.
Ghislaine sensed that in Gilgamesh, that look and the words he used. Somehow, he was just trying to be normal as if nothing else mattered to him; there was nothing hidden behind his intentions.
Seeing this, Ghislaine smiled gently, feeling more at ease.