Although hesitant, Rue finally nodded. He was also not interested in money and enjoyed the game, so he thought that Ylre was probably a strange young man on the same page.
"Second try," one of the guys smiled and shuffled the cards, laid them out on the table and allowed Rue to continue.
But nothing has changed. Rue turned over the three black cards and laughed softly at how funny it was. Ylre handed the men a pouch, from which the men enthusiastically accepted the money and examined Ylre carefully.
"How are you feeling?" They asked.
"I'm having fun," Ylre smiled although he knew they weren't asking about his mood.
"Having fun is the most important thing," the guy nodded and allowed Rue to play the third move.
He didn't expect a different conclusion, but he still slightly hoped that he might get at least one red, so he slowly drew his hand to one of the cards. Meanwhile, Ylre moved closer to him, their bodies only gently touched, and Rue looked at him carefully, as he didn´t like the closeness of other people.
"Try the one next to it," Ylre smiled.
Rue, who forgot about the game for a moment as he wanted to pull away somehow, blinked and looked at the cards again. Since he didn´t believe in his own abilities, he turned the card which Ylre chose and looked in surprise at the red colour.
"Very nice." Ylre clapped.
Rue smiled softly as the first good card really pleased him and moved his fingers to the next one right next to it.
"You see? One more and you win," Ylre smiled looking at the second red card.
Not expecting to actually win, Rue only blinked in surprise, but looked at Ylre excitedly, "I have two."
"You have two," Ylre smiled back at him, after which Rue returned to the game again.
He slowly turned over the third card, and when everyone caught sight of another red, Rue was almost in disbelief.
"Three...I have three...I won," He cheered enthusiastically.
"Yeah," one of the guys laughed in disbelief, as he didn't think all three red cards would really be shuffled next to each other, "congratulations, you get ten back." He laughed and handed the gold to Ylre.
"You can take my turn if you want," Ylre suggested.
"That wouldn't be fair," Rue clarified, relaxing as Ylre pulled back to his side, "I'll enjoy watching you."
"Sure," Ylre nodded and looked at the guys, who in the meantime took out one red card from the deck, since they didn't want to risk it, and replaced it with a black one.
"Luck with you," He said.
Ylre just looked at the cards and flipped over two at random.
"Two reds," Rue enthused, "on the first try."
"You're very lucky," one of the guys laughed, confused as he couldn't believe he'd actually drawn the only two red cards in the deck.
"I know," Ylre said dispassionately, turning the third, "See?" He looked at the guy.
The man looked confusedly at his colleague, who just stared at the only one golden card, which was almost never drawn.
"Hah..." He laughed.
"Sixty that is," Ylre brought the pouch to them.
Disgruntled, the guy threw money into the bag and declared: "I said it was a good game."
"How did you do that?" Rue asked excitedly.
"Just luck," Ylre remarked and kept looking at the man.
Although he wanted to throw away the gold card, he didn't have the opportunity to do so. So he laid out the cards on the table, assuming that it´s impossible to draw a yellow card twice in a row.
But he was wrong.
"Another...another," Rue cheered over the cards like last round, "you're really good at this." He complimented Ylre, who only laughed softly.
"Wait for the next round," Ylre looked at him contentedly. He took the money from the reluctant guys' bag, threw it into his own and looked at the cards on the table.
"Last round," the guy informed them.
Ylre brought his palm to the cards and flipped over two at random. He smiled softly and looked at Rue's eyes beaming with enthusiasm.
"Two golden?" He laughed, "Did you win? With two cards..."
"What?" The guy blinked in confusion and looked at his colleague. However, even he had no idea how there could be two gold cards in a package, where they always put just one.
"Is something wrong?" Ylre smiled and held out the bag to them.
The guys looked at him in irritation, trying to figure out what had happened and meanwhile considering how not to end the game with a loss, since the money wasn't theirs. Neither of them had any idea what to do, but they didn't get a chance to react as Rue stood up:
"Thanks for the game, Luck with you," he smiled.
The guys looked behind them in confusion before returning their gazes to each other: "Show those cards!"
"I shuffled them normally," the guy hummed and flipped the cards over.
Their shocked looks ended up at a perfectly normal set of cards except of one red one that they had swapped. Three red, five black and two gold cards...as if they had the original deck with only one change.
"What the fuck did you take?!" The one raised his voice.
"Normal as always!" another argued.
"Didn't you check them?"
"What for? I never check them! They are always packed by the bar!" He nodded back at the decks of cards.
"How could you not check it out? Sometimes a normal set gets mixed in!"
However, their argument was useless. Because Ylre would win even if they had their own deck. He would win even if there was only one gold card...he would win even if there was one in a hundred black cards...because that was his luck...without doing anything...almost always.
He slowly walked next to Rue, who forgot his food at the bar, as excited as he was from the game, and they slowly made their way out.
"Shall we go for a drink?" Ylre asked.
"We can...where?" He didn't know.
"When you go around the corner, you'll immediately see the White Swan inn," Ylre show the road, "I forgot to ask them something, I'm going back, but I'll catch up with you soon, okay?" He said.
"Okay," he smiled.
Ylre watched him disappear around the corner for a moment and turned back when he had a chance. He slowly made his way to the alley behind the restaurant and waited. He walked slowly, letting all the people pass and waiting until he was alone on the road. Subsequently, he turned again and got to a part where there really was no one. Just him and two hostile Rinselans who couldn't wait to get their money back and get revenge on Lacrisan.
Ylre heard slow footsteps behind him. He walked for a while before he stopped and turned to the pair of men he was playing cards with, "Do you need anything else?" He laughed at their aggressive expressions.
"Hey...our money and your luck back, Lacrisan," grumbled one.
"How do you feel?" the other asked.
"I think you've asked that before, I'm fine," Ylre clarified and when the two guys stared at him for a while longer, he lifted his corners into a dark smile, "but that can't be said about you." He said, slowly reaching behind him with his hand.
At first glance, it looked like his fingers didn't hit anything...that they ended up in the empty space behind him, and the guys didn't understand what he was up to. However, Ylre knew what he was doing and the moment his palm closed around the solid hilt, he slowly drew out his sword.
A shiny golden blade cut through the air and ended up in front of Ylre, who was calmly staring at the pair of cheeky guys. The men stared confused at the scene before them, at the crude weapon that none of them had ever seen and therefore couldn´t name. It looked like a sword, yet it was wider than normal one… its gold-covered surface looked like it wasn't real, like its consistency wasn´t completely solid, and yet the way something radiated from it made them fear.
"What the hell is that?" The man blinked confused, unable to move.
"Where was he hiding it?" The other one didn't understand and tried at least to back away.
Ylre just chuckled lightly and casually walked towards them with a sword in hand: "How many restaurants do perversions like you?" He wondered.
One of the guys shakily drew his own sword: "W-what are you saying? I don't know what you're talking about." He lied.
"Drugging people...cheating at cards...where do you put the Lacrisans you kidnap? How many did you catch anyway? What did you want to do to him? Not that he was Lacrisan." Ylre wondered in a cold voice.
However, since they didn´t answer, after a while he lightly laughed at how comical the two men looked in front of him: "Without an explanation? It's okay, I just wanted to know which places to avoid," he said, stopping only a step in front of them.
"Bullshits," the guy snorted, but he couldn't draw his own sword, "give us the money you took...and luck and we'll spare you, L-Lacrisan." He was trying.
"I'm not a Lacrisan," Ylre laughed, "and my luck isn't something trash like you can touch. Let alone his." He stated, straightening his sword.
The men glared at him, their breathing in the stillness of the evening was louder than they wanted, and although they both felt that fighting wasn´t a good option, they had no choice. Their legs couldn't take off and their minds weren't working. Ylre drank two drinks of sedatives, by this point he should have been lying dazed on the ground for a long time...but they couldn´t know, he didn´t drink it at all.
When Ylre took another step, they both shuddered in terror, unable to move.
"If I had time, I would have taught you better," Ylre stated, taking a soft breath before stepping forward.
His swift movement wasn´t even registered by the two Riselans once Ylre was behind them. Fear filled their insides the moment he disappeared out of their sight, they wanted to turn, but they couldn't. Their muscles didn't obey, and before they realized what had happened, they only felt a harsh impact on the ground.
Ylre stood beside them for a moment, staring at their lifeless bodies slumped a short distance away before lightly swiping his sword, dislodging the burgundy stains on the golden blade. Blood from the clean cuts flowed down the pavement to his feet, whereupon he slowly backed away and hid the sword back on his back, where no one could see it again.
"But I don't have time...at least not for you," he pointed out dispassionately and turned back the way he had come. He picked up his pace and smiled softly at the thought of the evening ahead. He clearly wasn't going to keep Rue waiting...especially with everything going as he finally wanted.