Demon's Virtue-Chapter 735: Gambling

Orion guided Eiro and Lugo along the roads of the capital, until finally, they reached a part of the city that was a lot more quiet. They no longer had to worry about the other people on the road as they were speaking.

"What kind of person is Kassandra?" Eiro inquired. He had heard some rumours here and there, and of course, after meeting her in person, he managed to get some sort of grasp on her personality. Though of course, since she clearly despised Eiro, she probably acted a bit different to how she usually would around others.

After a bit of contemplation while rubbing his chin, Orion seemed to find the right words, "She is... honest. She does what she wants, when she wants."

"...That sounds like a fairly normal trait amongst masters. I mean, ones beside Armodeus, at least," Eiro pointed out, and Orion chuckled slightly as he nodded.

"Armodeus is certainly very different to other awakened. He puts too much weight onto the fact that he is the owner of a card that boosts his dexterity; as his dexterity is directly related to his craftsmanship, he has always assumed that he didn't deserve the title of master, though that is obviously not the case," Orion explained, and Eiro inwardly agreed.

That wasn't even anything that Armodeus seemed to try and hide all that much. He actually almost joked about it every once in a while in a self-depricating manner, especially when the possibility of other masters coming by for a while was brought up.

Orion breathed a quiet sigh as he continued to explain, "Frankly, Kassandra is probably on the whole other side of the spectrum. She is very headstrong and stubborn and doesn't like to change her opinions. Even if she's fighting something or someone and figures out that her initial tactic doesn't work all too well, she will often refuse to change her approach and simply try to push through."

Eiro raised his brow, "Well, I guess that does show in her combat technique. It's pretty honest and straightforward. Simple, but refined. Though, it seems a lot calmer compared to how she acted when we met."

"That is a quite good description," Orion nodded in agreement, She is a rather extreme person, and there is another specific area that her personality... 'shines' in."

As Orion said this with some apprehension in his voice, Eiro started to realise where they were going. He was able to sense Kassandra in a nearby building, surrounded by a crowd. For a short instant, he was almost worried that there was a fight going on, but as Eiro realised what that place actually was, he looked at Orion with a slightly raised brow, "...Really?"

The dagger master slowly nodded his head, and Eiro carefully ran his hand over Lugo's head, "Mind letting me down?"

The stag did as asked, laying down onto the ground so that the demon could easily climb down onto the ground without injuring himself accidentally. Eiro carefully pushed his legs off Lugo, "Thanks. We'll be back soon, alright? Just wait out here. And let me know if something's wrong."

Lugo replied with a quick nod, moving over lay down and nap next to the entrance for a while, as Eiro and Orion stepped into the building. The first thing that they could both see was the crowd that had formed, and the sound of a number of dice rolling.

Eiro could hear a click of the tongue, "Oh come on! Not again!" Kassandra exclaimed loudly, slamming her fist on the table in front of her. The man sitting across from her just smiled awkwardly.

"If you want, we can put an end to this," he suggested, almost nervously from what Eiro could tell.

"Oh hell no, we're not going to stop until I make my money back!"

The man's heart skipped a beat, and Eiro slowly turned to Orion, "She's a gambler?"

"...And an incredibly unlucky one at that," Orion responded, and Eiro couldn't help himself but sigh loudly. He stepped up behind the crowd. Usually, he would have made his way through without needing to do this, but right now, he didn't want to take any risks.

"Step aside," the demon said almost commandingly. Though nobles weren't able to exert any direct influence within private businesses, a law that was established to protect the shop owners that had often been exploited and even sometimes bankrupted by the selfishness of the nobility, that didn't mean that people didn't appreciate the authority that the noble title held.

And of course, there was no way that they wouldn't recognize who Eiro was in this current form, he was far too conspicuous for that.

The people of the smsall crowd turned around, immediately creating a small path for Eiro when they saw his rainbow hair. The Demon stepped up to the table that was now revealed to him. Kassandra was seated on one side, while a clearly stressed young man sat on the other, practically trying to do everything he coud not to upset the woman across from him.

Though he didn't seem like a combatist, he seemed to have decent instincts.

Kassandra turned toward Eiro and raised her brow, "Who are you?" she asked, and Eiro looked back at her as he listened to the surprised mutters of the people around him.

"That's Viscount Eiro Jura Daemonherz," the man explained with a slight bow, standing up to greet the prominent man in front of him. But Eiro just shook his head and held his hand forward to stop him, trying to let him stay seated.

"It's fine, there's no need to be so formal. I'm just here to pick her up," the demon explained, slowly glancing at Kassandra, who now clearly realised who was standing there in front of her. The young man seemed a bit surprised by that, but also obviously didn't mind that the woman would have to stop trying to win against him.

Kassandra clicked her tongue as she looked up at Eiro, "And why exactly would I just go with you?"

"Because there are a few more things to talk about, especially before you all go around making a mess of the city," Eiro explained calmly, but Kassandra quickly took it as a provocation.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you lost..." the demon glanced at the large pile of coins at the young man's side, all of them carrying Kassandra's scent, "...a lot of money. And I don't know how you will react when that amount goes over what you're willing to lose."

After immediately jumping up, Kassandra stared deep into Eiro's eyes, "What, do you think I can't win?"

Eiro looked at the table. He knew the game, and it was a fairly simple one. Five dice were cast. The goal was to gather as many same faces as possible. Two same faces were worth ten points. Three were worth 100 points, four were worth 500, and five were worth 1000.

These values would be multiplied by the actual face value of the dice series, meaning the absolute most amount of points you could get in a single round was 6000 points.

You could re-roll any amount of dice to get a higher score, but if you failed to improve your score by getting another additional dice of the existing series, you would lose all points you got during that round and it was the next player's turn. The first to reach a pre-determined total points would win.

"I don't really have an opinion either way, but you seem to be on a losing streak," Eiro pointed out, and Kassandra stared at him, not hiding her hatred of him at all.

"Losing streak? What, do you want to go against me?"

"...I didn't say that," Eiro replied, shaking his head, "I just want you to come with me."

"Fine. If you beat me at the game, I'll come with you. First to... thirty thousand?"

The demon raised his brow. He wasn't totally sure how good of an idea that was, but he figured he could finish this quickly. Usually, a game to thirty thousand points would stretch out quite a bit. The young man quickly stood up from his seat, scooping the coins into a pouch, to make space for Eiro. The demon sat down in his stead.

"Do you know the rules?" Kassandra asked, and Eiro carefully nodded his head. Without waiting for Eiro, Kassandra scooped the dice into the wooden cup that was used as a rolling-medium. She threw them out, and got a pair of 4's. She took the other three dice, rolled them again, and got another 4. Taking the other two, she once more rolled them, getting lucky with another four.

Kassandra grinned broadly as she leaned back in her seat, deciding to end the round for now.

"2000 points, not bad for the first round," she pointed out, and Eiro silently nodded. He grabbed the dice and put them into the cup. There was actually one more rule, which Eiro would now be making actual use of.

If you, at any point, got 5 dice with the same exact face, you could save those points and go again. But if you 'lost' your points during that attempt, you would lose the one from the attempt before as well. It wasn't anything Eiro had to worry about, though. He hesitated for a moment, before looking over to the side. He pointed at the young man that had just played against Kassandra until now.

"I need you to roll for me," the demon said, and the man raised his brows confused.

"Excuse me?"

"Just do it. Who knows what he's up to?" Kassandra scoffed with a smug grin on her face, but Eiro was really just doing this for a very simple reason. So that Kassandra wouldn't be able to complain. Though, he was about to cheat, so she had every right to.

The man rolled the dice for Eiro. Five sixes. Taken aback, Kassandra looked up at Eiro, who simply said one word.

"Again."

The man rolled the five dice once more, and quickly got five sixes, just like before, though he did everything as he usually did.

"Again," Eiro repeated, not moving his eyes away from Kassandra. The results were the same three more times, and the Demon slowly stood up.

"That's thirty thousand. Now come," Eiro said, walking back toward Orion, who was waiting by the door. Kassandra seemed to be just silently staring at the dice that were laid out on the table, not sure what exactly just happened. She wasn't even able to protest; she knew there was no foulplay at hand. Neither mana nor sleight of hands, she knew that for sure.

Though, of course, Kassandra didn't know that Eiro could manipulate Chaos and Order. And what else was luck than a little chaos?