Chapter 4: A New Game

“Do you do that every night?” Magus asked.

“What do you mean by that?” Wyn huffed, fluffing the blanket of her bed.

“You know… bullying the weak.”

“I’m not — I’m not bullying them! They’re the ones who challenged me! Don’t tell me you’re taking their side!”

“No— never mind.”

“Whatever.” Wyn stripped off her armor, and left her sword leaning against the closet. “I’m going to wash. That arena is way too dusty and sandy. What a pain.” She slammed the door to the wash room closed, a tiny room in the corner of the already tiny room. She then poked her head out of the door. “No peeking.”

“What?”

The washroom consisted of a single wooden tub with a small drainage hole at the bottom and a knob on the wall. A small magic tool, which drew water from the hall’s own personal reservoir. Unlike at a noble’s mansion, there was no way to modulate temperature. Ever since starting her life as an adventurer, though, Wyn found that she preferred cold showers anyway.

She rubbed the bar of soap in her hands, coating her finger in suds and running it through her hair. Afterwards, she plugged the drain and just let the water fill, until the tub was nearly overflowing. There, she just sat, hugging her knees and blowing bubbles.

“It’s not fair…” She repeated, in a slightly mocking tone. She took a deep breath through her nose before dunking her head underwater, blowing a stream of bubbles. Running her finger through the water, she poured a small amount of mana into it. Tiny streams of water began to leap from the tub, forming a small circus of water creatures.

“It’s not like I wanted to be a princess…” Once upon a time, Wyn was the princess of the Emijililan Empire, the largest nation on the western continent. The heir to the throne, she would’ve had the whole world at her fingertips. But it wasn’t really her throne. It was a throne she stole from her older sister. Her older sister, the strongest, greatest person she knew. Her finger brushed against her chest, running a finger across the scar that lay there, hidden. Well, there was no point in worrying about it now! After disappearing for a whole year, her father would have no choice but to appoint her sister to the throne now! Once that happened, things would surely return back to normal. Once that happened, maybe she could even go back.

She drained the water from the tub, floating down the towel from the shelf. Drying her hair, she wrapped the towel around herself before stepping out of the washroom.

She opened the door to find Magus leaning against the opposite wall, arms crossed and staring right at her. She quickly retreated back to the washroom.

“Wyn? Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing!” Shoot. She had completely forgotten he was there. “Hey, Magus, close your eyes!”

“What?”

“Just do it!”

“... Fine.”

Creaking the door open, Wyn glanced out. Magus had indeed closed his eyes, though that was all. She stepped out.

“Those better stay closed until I say!”

“What are you even doing?” Magus asked, indignant. From her tone, Wyn was clearly accusing him of something, but what had he done to warrant such suspicion?

“I’m changing clothes, dumbass!”

“?” Magus tilted his head. “Those need to be changed?”

“...”

With a sigh, Wyn hopped onto her bed, running her hands through her drying hair. “We should go rent you a room soon. Obviously you can’t stay here.”

“Is that really necessary?”

Wyn shot him a scathing look. “Obviously you can’t stay here.” She repeated.

“Right, but to, uh, rent, one room, that’d cost coins, right? A waste of resources.”

“So then, what?”

“Perhaps I shall patrol around the Guild, get to know the environment.”

“Right…” Rummaging through her closet, she tossed him a small pouch of coins. Opening it, Magus counted 10 gold coins.

“What is this for?”

“If you’re gonna wander the Guild at night, you should probably have some spending money. Have fun!”

“What could I possibly need spending money for?”

Wyn had called it the party hall. A room sealed off with oaken doors as tall as two men, yet incapable of fully sealing the chaos that was surely unfolding, hidden on the other side. Feeling the vibrations through the wood as he held his hand to the door, he pushed open.

The first thing he noticed was the noise. Constant, all surrounding noise. Noises that blended together and clashed against each other, with the entire range the human ear could hear. Constant shouting and cheering, reminding him of the arena from earlier in the night. Adventurers were a rambunctious bunch, Magus concluded.

“Yo, who might you be?” An adventurer, sloshed out of their mind, stumbled to Magus, wrapping an arm around his shoulder like they were old compatriots.

“I am Magus.” With a delicate touch, Magus peeled the arm off his shoulder.

“Oh? Weird name.”

“It’s just —”

“Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?”

“We’ve—”

“Oh right, you were that new guy! Yeah, you were with Miss Elite! Yeah, yeah, I remember now. So, what, you finally got bored of her attitude, and came to have some real fun?”

“I’m just—”

“Yeah, yeah, I totally get it! Here — on the house! Loosen up a little, man!” The man shoved a glass of amber liquid into Magus’ hand, half of which already spilt over and onto the ground, before he wandered around to bother some other poor bloke. Magus looked at the liquid, gave it a cautionary sniff, before taking a small sip. It had a strange taste, one Magus couldn’t pinpoint as pleasant or not. Figuring that if that adventurer was able to drink it with no problem, there was probably nothing harmful in the drink, he decided to drink the rest in one go.

“Another go…!” Magus slammed a gul onto the table, watching as a person, someone they called ‘Dealer’, swept up the pile of cards into a new deck. He stared silently, watching as Dealer slid two cards in front of him, then another two in front of themselves. Dealer then flipped up one of their own cards, revealing an eight of… Magus had a hard time remembering what the types of cards were. Eight red rhombuses.

Magus then peaked at his own cards. The cards held no numbers, instead depicting the heads of strangers. If he remembered correctly… This was good. Yes, the cards with heads on them were good.

“I’ll stay.” He announced. He took another big gulp from a glass, the amber liquid disappearing down his throat. He didn’t even care about what it tasted like. It joined the quickly growing pile of empty glasses to his side.

Dealer then flipped over their last card. Three black flower things. Actually, in this game, did the symbols even matter? Dealer then flipped the card on the stacked pile. A four. Then another. A six.

Magus leaned back in his chair, his hands covering his nose as Dealer swept up his cards and coin for the third time that night. Silently, he stepped away from the table and back to the place they called Bar. Placing a gul on the table, he grabbed another glass from Bartender. He downed the drink, passing it back to Bartender before going back to wandering the floor.

He shuffled to the side as Waiter passed by him, a tray full of drinks in her hand. There were so many Waiters, Magus had to wonder how they could know which Waiter was being called when an adventurer called for them. There must be a better system than having every worker share the same name.

Dealer was another common name. Sitting down at another table, Dealer dealt Magus another two cards. This time, though, Magus was not alone. Two adventurers were to his left and right. As Dealer handed them their cards, they gave Dealer a silver coin each, 10 guls apiece. Magus did the same, fishing out a gold coin from his pouch to give to Dealer.

“Sorry, but that’s too large. Let me break that for you.” Magus couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as Dealer took the gold coin. He put the coin in a drawer, out of Magus’ view, before returning to Magus 100 silver coins. Magus didn’t sense any magic being used, which made sense as magic was forbidden in this section of the hall. Yet how then does one break apart a solid mass of gold into more silver than there was gold initially, if not without magic? He’d have to ask Wyn later.

He gave Dealer one of the silver coins, before adding the remaining coins to the growing pouch in his hands. Not due to winning any of these games, though, but solely through the destruction of the gold coins.

“Now, poker ain’t common amongst you nobles. You familiar with the rules?”

Magus glanced to his sides, but neither adventurer seemed to react to Dealer’s words.

“Are you talking about me?”

“Who else? You see anyone else in here that’d dress like that?”

Magus glanced down at his robes. “Again with the clothes… Apologies, but I’m not a noble. But — I do not know the rules.”

Dealer rolled his eyes, but explained the rules anyway. His explanation was quick, concise, and much more effective than Dealer from the other table.

After the third match, Magus felt he finally got a handle of the game and could actually start to strategize, evident by coins piling in front of him.

“Yo, Magus, you said your name was? This really your first time playin?” The adventurer to his right asked.

“Yes, Magus is my name. And this is my first time.” Magus flagged down a wandering Waiter, taking a glass from her tray.

“You can really handle your drink, cain’t you?” The adventurer to the left of him grinned, before flagging down Waiter for another drink as well.

“That’s yer, what, 5th drink now? Fraid it’ll impact your playing?”

“It’s a bit more than that. And why would that be?”

The adventurer raised an eyebrow, before giving Magus a smile. The next hand was dealt, and Magus glanced down at his cards. He glanced at the two adventurers next to him. They had introduced themselves after seeing his success, with Shion to his left and Finn to his right. The two were eyeing their opponents just like Magus was, reading the expressions of their opponents.

Magus’ eyes narrowed. Finn’s lips were pursed, tense, with sweat beading on his forehead. He clutched his cards slightly tighter than usual, and his breath was a half a second faster than resting. Shion, meanwhile, had an active leg. He was clearly trying to maintain a calm facade, taking deeper breaths. His hand would be strong. Magus glanced down at his hand. A seven of clubs, and a two of hearts. Good. A terrible hand, but gems in his. Winning with this hand would be sure to shatter the morale of the two adventurers and leave them wide open for frustration in later rounds.

Magus was the first in line to make a move. He started off with 5 silver guls. Glancing to his left, Shion couldn’t help but smile, before matching with 5 of his own coins. Finn glanced at the two of them, before swallowing and tossing in 5 of his own coins. Dealer then unveiled the first three cards. King of clubs, three of diamonds, two of clubs.

A pair of twos. Hardly the strongest hand, yet Magus was unshakable.

“Raise.” Ten more coins fell from his pile.

“Call!” Shion matched with no hesitation.

Finn, though, was much more silent. After a minute of deliberation, he threw his cards to the center.

“Ugh, fold.”

Wonderful. Now, it’s down to one. The next card was revealed, a five of hearts. Didn’t matter. No change in reaction from Shion. He was confident. Magus had to change that.

“Raise.” This time, two stacks of silver coins. 20, in total, entered the pot. Yet Magus still had not dropped below the 100 that he had originally traded in.

At last, a reaction. Shion’s eyes went wide, as he glanced between his cards, the cards in the pool, and Magus. Magus could see the panic in his eyes, as he attempted to work out what cards Magus could possibly have. But Magus knew better. It didn’t matter at all what cards Magus actually held, as he started out with more coins. A simple risk to reward. Magus was allowed to risk more than Shion could. Even if he had a strong hand, the risk was simply too great for Shion to —

“C-call!” Shion called. Twenty more silver coins joined the pot. Magus' eyes narrowed as the last card was dealt. A seven of diamonds. Magus didn’t even smile. After all, it didn’t matter. He had already won.

“Call.” Another twenty silver coins entered the pot. Now, sitting at 75 silver coins, this was a massive pot for the guild. This was hardly an amount to sneeze at, but Magus was backed by a princess. Indeed, despite living here for a year, it seemed that dear Wyn still had trouble managing how much was a reasonable amount. Ten golden coins, each 1000 Guls. How could they hope to match a single —

“Call.” Shion added the last of his coins to the pile. Now, sitting at 95 silver coins, totaling to nearly 1 gold coin. 950 guls, the average an adventurer could be expected to make in a year’s worth of labor. For the first time that night, Magus couldn’t help but gulp nervously. His bluff had been called. But his hand was hardly bad. Two pairs, two sevens and two twos. It’s a hand that could —

“Shion wins, three of a kind!” The two players showed their hands, with Shion revealing two kings. With the king in the pool, that made three. More than enough to blow Magus’ measly two pair out of the water. The crowd around them erupted into cheers, and Magus ordered another drink.

“Another round!”

In the end, Magus ended up losing all of his silver coins. Every single one, from the ones that were broken down, and the ones he won. Shion and Finn walked back to their rooms happy men that night, and after losing one gold coin, Magus wasn’t about to lose a second. He still had many bronze coins, which he spent on drinks while wandering the rest of the hall. Stepping away from the tables, he found the stage from which the hall was built around. A group of people were on it, blowing through and crashing together strange objects. It seemed to be the majority source of noise in the hall, matched only by the people screaming around the stage. Some were even performing elaborate, esoteric movements that they called ‘dancing’, and even asked Magus to participate. They soon booed him out though, with claims of him having ‘two left feet’. Magus checked though, and he very clearly had both one left and one right foot.

Thus, having downed one more glass of the amber liquid, his 27th of the night, he headed back up to Wyn’s room, just as the sun made its bright appearance over the horizon. He knocked on the door once. Wyn, holding a hair tie in one hand and her hair in the other, popped her head out.

“Oh, hey Magus. What’s u— ugh why do you reek of booze?”

“Booze? Oh, that must be what that amber drink was called. Here, your money.” He thrust the bag of coins in her face.

“Thanks… did you spend the whole night drinking?”

“Of course not. I also played this game called poker.”

“Right…” After finishing tying her hair, she dragged Magus into her room, shoving him into the washroom. “Wash that disgusting smell off, and I’ll go look for… hangover medicine or something!”

“Medicine? For what? Are you sick?”

“For you, idiot! You spent the whole night drinking, you’ll have a killer headache the entire day if we don’t do something?”

“Why?”

“Cause that’s apparently what happens when you’re drunk!”

“Drunk? Right, the others told me about such a thing. But I’m not inebriated in the slightest.”