Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?-Chapter 187 – Some Gamble

Chapter 187 – Some Gamble

[What did we get ourselves into?] (Luna)

[It’s going to be fine.] (Syrus)

[Easy for you to say; this is all your fault.] (Luna)

[The city sure had a lot of places I hadn’t visited before, huh...] (Eva)

The trio’s current predicament could solidly be blamed on one curious Syrus, who ignored all words of caution, which led them to be lost in a gambling den. They had transformed back into their Syrus form along the way as they had planned to go back to their residence.

[What are we supposed to do...] Luna felt somehow she had goaded Syrus into doing this.

[Why are you so upset? It’s not like someone is going to die simply by being in a gambling den.] (Syrus)

[Gambling is a shameful act.] (Luna)

[Oh, not a sinful one?] (Syrus)

[It would never have been labelled as such; the priests used it to soothe their boredom. If I had my way, then it would’ve surely been banned.] (Luna)

[Have we perhaps found the actual reason you were excommunicated?] Syrus joked, but Eva thought that was a little too mean. Luna didn’t mind too much; it honestly felt like a kinder reason than being murdered for propaganda reasons.

“Go go go!” Men and women cheered in the underground bunker as balls fell into a large bowl with different numbers on the sides, all racing for one of the three small spots at the bottom.

[...I never knew this place existed...] Eva tried to switch topics.

[Well, it ain’t new.] Syrus stared at the sign, which stated: Proud Gamblers for Forty Years.

[yeah... I was pretty clueless about the city it appears in...] (Eva)

[Not like you had the money to gamble. If anyone who gambled knew you, they probably saw no point in inviting you; it wasn’t as if you had something they could win.] (Syrus)

[Yay... too poor to be a gamble.] (Eva)

[No one is too poor to gamble; you were just lucky to avoid the temptations. People are willing to risk anything for a chance to win.] (Luna)

[Eh, I think you are being too negative. Eva is a good girl; she gets enough joy watching her experiments explode that even if she was tempted to gamble, she would refuse simply due to the fact it would impact her experiments.] (Syrus)

[I don’t know if that was a compliment or an insult.] Eva only felt warm emotions in Syrus's comment, but something about it felt like a stab at her character. Did she really have to add that last part?

[Compliment all the way.] (Syrus)

Eva decided to be convinced, for her own well-being.

[Following up on all our previous questions, why are we still here, Syrus?] Luna wanted to be out of here as soon as possible. [You can’t be expecting us to be gambling our funds?]

[Nah, I would rather gamble other people’s money.] (Syrus)

[...] (Luna)

[...] (Eva)

Luna took control and began walking towards the exit.

[Come on, we haven’t got the chance to do anything yet.] (Syrus)

[We? You haven't got the chance to do anything.] (Luna)

[Same difference.] Syrus argued, [What’s the harm? Come on, Eva, don’t you want to have some fun?]

[Not particularly.] (Eva)

[See, what did I say? Eva is a good girl.] Syrus nodded to herself.

[I don’t know what game you're planning today, but we are not going along with it.] (Luna)

“Where do you think you are going?” A bouncer walked up to Anlesa as she was leaving the building.

[You were saying?] (Syrus)

[You...] (Luna)

Syrus’s games were already set up before Luna had the chance to stop them. She recognised the type of people and place and knew exactly what needed to be done to gain some enjoyment from this situation. Everything had been so stressful with their recent escapades, so some stress relief was in order, and Eva and Luna had both been completely left in the dark.

Syrus took control and grabbed the arm that was reaching her, too. “Going wherever I please, what is it to you?”

“That is--” He paused as he could release his arm from the fiery woman’s grip---“Let go...” He began to growl.

“A mutt?” Syrus laughed, which made some eyes turn their way. Syrus let go, “Well, if you are up for it, want to arm wrestle for five coins?”

Eyes were staring from all over the establishment.

Luna and Eva had realised they had been hoodwinked by Syrus into participating in these activities. The following events went as expected, and now a crowd formed around a table with the bouncer and Syrus sitting.

[This is my fault...] Luna completely blamed herself for allowing this to happen.

[It’s going to be fine... Syrus won’t do anything she can’t do...] Eva was confused by this whole debacle. She trusted Syrus not to get them into serious trouble, but she was also all too willing to get them into some trouble.

Ignoring the fact that Syrus placed all the coins they had on their person on the bet. The rest of their travelling money had been kept with Ethan, who hadn’t left their residence today. The rest of their money they had left with their friends at the Arisea Station. Safer and easier to store their limited funds with people back there than trying to carry it all constantly, but Luna was holding some conflicted regrets about not holding onto more money. Though it conflicted, because there was the worry that if they had more, Syrus would’ve just bet that amount instead.

Their hands firmly gripping each other, Syrus and the mutt locked eyes. The countdown began, and with their muscles tightened to zero, they pushed as hard as they could.

Cheers rang out as the two figures' arms shook with intensity. Neither backing down, nor making any progress, nor allowing any advantage to be lost.

After the stalemate lasted for ten seconds, the cheers grew louder as the bouncer breathed in to push harder.

[Sigh...] Luna knew exactly what was going on.

Syrus was making this a spectacle.

She was perfectly matching her opponent's strength to make this match as enjoyable to watch as possible, but it had to end eventually.

“Arghh!” Slamming her opponent's fist into the table with a loud bang, there was a cheer and cry from members of the gambling den. Syrus swiped the coins off the table, but before she stood up, another person was ready to challenge.

Syrus laughed. “Sure, but it’s going to be another five coins.”

Victory after victory, Syrus was making sure they were leaving today with a pile of cash.

There were people watching, theorising that Syrus was masking her strength, but as Luna complained in their minds about Syrus being a nasty deceiver. Her complaints held true in the real world. Syrus was perfectly mimicking exhaustion, getting a little worse with each fight that was a challenge but still doing well in the easy victories. She had perfectly judged each of her opponent's strengths and created a picture of her strength being around the level of the bouncer, but with more stamina.

After a few more rounds. “My arm is dead, and I want to have some fun playing a few games myself.”

She stood up and was unfazed by the next person’s efforts to have a match with her. Some people gave coins to each other, betting on whether she was going to lose or how long she would win. Many people lost, and fewer people won, but the odds were a little more favourable in this game when it was people betting against each other; usually, someone was going to win, and the other would lose.

However, after her victory, Syrus didn’t leave the place immediately. No, she had other plans and began having casual chatter with people. Internally, she began calling the gamblers 'Eva-style gamblers', as people were so much more focused on probability than they were in any of the places she had visited in her last life.

Syrus ended up spending half of her initial winnings on more gambling, making only a small fraction of it back as a return.

Luna was disappointed that she didn’t just leave when she was winning, but Syrus countered by saying that she did leave while she was winning.

[It wasn’t my money in the first place, plus, you got to please people sometimes.] Syrus chuckled and left the establishment quietly. She had her fun and made a profit; what could be better? Without trouble, they soon made it back to their residence.