Emperor of Steel

In the dark, Philip and Luke stepped out of the busy streets to a relatively quiet distance.

He wasn’t sure where the gambling house was, but Luke didn’t seem to be too concerned with it.

Even if he wasn’t able to go there, there were people that could guide them there.

“Hello, sir. could you be in need of a guide?”

One person approached from the back of the alley and spoke in a low voice.

Luke passed to him a gold coin that looked like it was from over 500 years ago with a smile.

“I feel like betting. Is there any good place here?”

“Of course. Please follow me.”

Philip bit his tongue as he saw Luke follow the guide.

He also knew well because he had been with his Young Lord for some time.

The appearance of his Young Lord was good enough to be an example of a ‘fallen noble’.

‘When did he learn these? Did he learn all these when he stayed away from us for a year?’

The Young Lord that Philip knew was a gentle and sincere boy.

He listened well to the words of his elders and never spoke anything bad.

Which was why when Luke talked about the statue of his ancestor, Philip was very frightened.

‘The gentle cat always climbs up the hut first.’

With his tongue still out, Philip followed Luke.

Along the wall, a two-story brick house emerged into the winding alley.

It was a gambling house operated by the Thieves Guild.

Unlike its shabby exterior, its interior was spacious and gorgeous.

The floor was covered in marble tiles; the ceiling was decorated with jeweled magical lights.

At the table that was made of imported timber, the nobles and the dealers were present. They were seated with hordes of half-busted clothes.

They weren’t interested in who the new ones were or who was standing next to them that had to throw the dice or exchange cards with.

Luke shook his hand at the cigarette’s smoke that filled the gambling house.

“This is ‘the cave of sin’.”

“Also the hole of destruction.”

Philip had been constantly nagging him to leave, but Luke didn’t seem to care.

He sat in an empty spot at a table and smirked.

“Can I play?”

“As long as you have enough chips.”

Luke immediately placed the remaining 2,000 pesos, which he earned after selling the statue, onto the table. All the other gamblers in the table smiled after seeing the bag of money.

“Lord, they all seem like professional gamblers, right?”

“I know.”

Luke was bitten by a warning which came in the form of a whisper, and the card game had started.

In the beginning, he thought about taking it easy and started lightly.

It was to grasp the difference in the rules from 500 years ago, but there weren’t any big changes.

Gamblers weren’t exactly using ‘techniques’, but that was how they were at the beginning.

It was to put the winds into the cards, but that was it.

After some time, the capital in Luke’s hand grew to 5,000 pesos, and then the gamblers began to act.

“Flush, your side?”

“Four cards.”

The gambler, who opened his mouth with a triumphant look, opened his mouth wide after seeing Luke’s cards.

They were sure that Luke had to have some lower cards, which was why the result was surprising.

‘Dammit, this kid isn’t just some beginner!’

‘It looks like he has played a bit, but even then, there is still a huge difference between us.’

The gamblers who glanced over at each other immediately began to use their techniques.

As they shuffled and shuffled the cards with their hands, Luke saw one of them pulling one out.

Even then, he chose to say nothing.

He just opened the cards.

“Straight.”

“Ihkkk!”

Once again the gamblers watched Luke’s hand sweep away all the money.

From then on, Luke kept on winning.

He was losing a little in the middle, but they weren’t huge loses with big stakes, the damage that was done to him was small.

Instead, it was almost as huge as the plate.

‘What? This is full!’

Philip, who was behind his Young Lord, was surprised to see him be that good in gambling.

Rather than a straight game, he thought that he would lose it all in just a few games.

But it was the gamblers who began to get restless as their expressions began to turn dark.

“Young Lord, have you done this before?”

“Yeah, a little.”

Honestly, it wasn’t just ‘a little’.

500 years ago.

Luke or Saymon ran a gambling house.

It was before he went to war with his enemies earnestly, and he used the gambling house as a means to drain money from his enemies. Apart from that, he used the gambling house to extract information in exchange for not paying back his debt.

In that process, he learned of a card trick which was different from that of the Thieves Guild and studied the combination probability of the cards that he was going to get, which meant that Luke was more than a professional gambler. In addition, gamblers often try to use a technique to get a good idea of how the opponent would react.

“Uh, get us some alcohol here!”

One of the gamblers who was smoking, squeezed a cigarette while shouting at the employee.

A male employee brought some bottles and snacks on a tray.

But it wasn’t just alcohol.

“Ho ho ho are you having fun?”

“Oh my, aren’t you too serious?”

A bunch of face-painted clowns approached Luke and the other gamblers.

Among them, a black-haired lady revealed her cleavage while sticking next to Luke. She clung to him very tightly.

“This is my first time seeing you here. What’s your name?”

“Saymon.”

“Hohoho, liar! The same name as the Devil King?”

After a drink, he started playing cards again.

After that, Luke had lost four rounds.

He continued to lose continuously—but not that much—as if the opponent knew what was in his hand.

“Young lord, you might be out of luck. Let’s end this and go, okay?”

Philip whispered, feeling bad.

But why was Luke still smiling?

Right then, he placed all of his money onto the table.

‘Oh! You, Young Lord, don’t tell me…!’

Nervous at what he saw, Philip was trying so hard not to speak.

But that wasn’t the end.

Luke just spoke out what Philip was thinking.

“I’m going to play this one last round. My body is tired, and I can’t go on anymore.”

At the words of Luke, the gamblers had a rather unpleasant expression.

Was he trying to win the whole game with just one shot!

At their displeasure, Luke spoke with a grin.

“You have been walking with a kid all this while. What do you plan on doing?”

“All in.”

“I’ll bet too.”

Just like Luke had planned.

The moment the gamblers heard those words from Luke, they couldn’t help but go all-in.

The gamblers were convinced that they would win.

In fact, they had a strategy that was more certain and more reliable than any other.

It was the black-haired b*tch attached to Luke.

She looked down to take a peek at the cards that were in Luke’s hands. And the information was being delivered to them in their own secret signs.

“To know the enemy is to know me.”

A famous saying in the southern continent; a game that couldn’t be lost.

But the game started to turn strange right from the very start.

“What’s this? Won’t you look at the cards?”

“This is enough.”

Luke had just turned his cards down.

The gamblers just frowned because he had to look at his cards, so the black-haired girl could let them know what his cards were.

But he had broken their technique.

Luke didn’t even take a peek at the cards in his hand.

“Okay, I’ll go on.”

The cards got piled up one after the other, and the tension began to rise.

Finally, the distribution of the cards was complete.

One of the gamblers gulped down as he was nervous.

“Do you at least want to open your cards and check?”

“Hmm, you’ll die otherwise.”

“Eik, nice! Then we all open together.”

‘I don’t know what kind of trick you are trying to do kid, but you can’t win. Because one of us will have the winning hand.’

Five people, including Luke, played cards at the same time, which relaxed the heart of the gambler.

“Huhuhu, full house. This time I… ackk!”

The gambler, who was supposed to receive the highest hand as planned, screamed as he was about to sweep off the stakes on the table.

It was because Luke’s hand was higher than his.

It was a straight flush.

“Huhu, thank you.”

Luke swept his winnings into his pocket.

“Screw this, you cheater!”

“You look young and yet you dare do something like this here!”

The gamblers jumped out of their seats since they were upset.

But Luke’s eyes shined at that moment.

“Cheat? On the other hand, weren’t you guys trying to pull out cards off your hands? And you guys also have someone that will help you see my cards.”

“That… that’s…!”

The gamblers couldn’t hide their embarrassment.

To put up a b*tch as a tool for gambling was just uncalled for!

“Do you know what would happen if I say your secrets here out loud?”

Among the gamblers were tazas. They were people who were employed in the gambling house.

If the truth about the gambling house using tricks to cheat went out, the reputation of the gambling house would crumble.

Which meant that guests wouldn’t be willing to come.

“Ah, this!”

“Kay, all of you. If I get the chance, I’ll come and see you again later.”

Luke swept all the money of the gambling house and teased the grumbling gamblers.

As they entered the alley, Philip who couldn’t stand the suspense anymore asked.

“Young lord, what happened in the last round?”

It was amazing that Luke was able to predict his opponent’s hand, but in the last round, the Young Lord hadn’t even looked at his own cards, and he did that to a gambler, who was supposed to be a step higher than him.

Unlike Philip, who was still ecstatic, Luke replied with a grim look.

“Ah, that? It was just an output of maths.”

Luke, who knew the game well, memorized all the sequences and card combinations in it.

What was more, their nails left a faint trace on the edge or the back of the card, so they could easily recognize it.

That way, they could figure out what kind of cards they held onto, and what tricks they could do.

Which was why Luke was able to make the best out of the situation without even looking at his cards.

“Those who like to cheat rarely go for a royal straight flush. If the opponent has a low chance of losing, then the opponent will begin to suspect.”

“I see. But, if we add up the money from gambling, we only have 10,000 pesos. What about the remaining 20,000 pesos?”

“What do you mean? I’m going to another gambling house.”

He couldn’t go to the place where he had already visited.

Obviously, the Thieves Guild would have reported about it, so he would have been banned.

And that was why the two men left the alley and began wandering the streets in search for another gambling house.