Ending Maker

Chapter 52

Some translation mistakes:

I used to refer to Count Bayer as one of the Sälen Kingdoms ‘teenage swordmasters,’ but that is incorrect. He is actually one of the ‘ten great swordmasters.’ The Korean word they used here is Geumho (검호), which can literally be translated to sword (geum) + great (ho).

An interesting trivia:

Outboxer009 is a reference to real-life pro gamer ‘BoxeR,’ Lim Yo-hwan. After he retired from eSports, he became a professional poker player.

Terms used in this chapter:

Side card – also known as ‘kicker,’ it is a card in a poker hand that does not itself take part in determining the rank of the hand but may be used to break ties between hands of the same rank.

Discard from the family register – South Korea used to have a family register system called ‘Hoju.’ It has since been abolished since 2008 because it was highly patriarchal and opposed by many groups. Nowadays, it is used by adults as an expression to scold and threaten their children, with an implied meaning that they’ll be ‘kicked out’ of the family, or ‘disowned’ if they continue to behave badly.

Gaël Bayer.

27 years old.

He is the eldest son of Count Bayer, and the next Count of Bayer.

As the successor of Count Bayer, one of the ten great swordmasters, he was a master of the sword who had gained fame since his childhood.

Even though the eldest sons of other counts already had two to three children, there were many reasons why he was still a bachelor. But the truth is, most of those reasons were just a pretext, and there was only one reason why Gaël was still unmarried and lived alone.

Adelia Chase.

24 years old.

She is the eldest daughter and the middle child of Count Chase, who had one son and two daughters.

She was a genius wizard who joined the Royal Guard Magic Corps of the Sälen Kingdom at the age of 19. And after 5 years, she became one of the heads at the young age of 24.

“It’s been a long time, Lady Adelia.”

“It’s been a long time too, Lord Bayer.”

Gaël didn’t wear his armor as he wasn’t going on a battlefield, but he was wearing a knight’s usual attire under his coat.

And as for Adelia.

As the sister of Cordelia, she was also an incomparably beautiful woman who resembled their mother and had dark blonde hair.

She was dressed in a wizard’s combat attire with the emblem of the Royal Guard Magic Corps on it. It was a luxurious and gorgeous outfit with gold thread embroidered on her black clothes that fit her perfectly.

“Although the reason we’ve met like this is not very good…still, it’s good to see you in good health.”

“Me too.”

Gaël was smiling nicely as always, while Adelia answered him a little brusquely as she made a ‘hmph’ sound before speaking again.

“You may have already heard it roughly, but I’ll say it again. The plan is simple. First of all, regardless of night and day, we’ll race towards Count Hræsvelgr’s territory until we reach somewhere near the northern border.”

“Will you use <Tracking> magic after that?”

Adelia nodded when Gaël asked as he climbed up on the horse.

“I have the ring my father gave me, so we can track them down.”

“How far is the scope of the <Tracking> magic?”

“It’s quite wide, as it’s about the size of a small manor. If it’s as large as Count Hræsvelgr’s territory, we’ll only be able to search it in parts.”

“Still, it’s reassuring. After all, it’s Lady Adelia.”

“Hmph, it’s not something to be praised about though?”

Adelia snorted as she gathered her hair and tied it up, before holding and fixing the horse’s reins.

“Anyway, let’s go. I will take the lead.”

“I am more familiar with the nearby geography, so I will take the lead. Everyone! I’ll be back!”

Despite Adelia’s sharp attitude, Gaël smiled and answered, before greeting those who came to see them off. Afterwards, he made the horse start moving by nudging it with his foot.

“Giddyap!”

As Gaël had great horseback riding skills, he looked impressively cool as he run ahead, but it wasn’t for Adelia.

She looked at Gaël, who had run ahead, with a displeased face as she made a ‘hmph’ sound and then looked back at the people sending them off.

“I’ll be back.”

She coldly spoke as she spurred her horse and followed after Gaël. Though, if one looked at her momentum, it seemed like she was in a race, rather than being his companion.

As for those left behind, among them was Maja and Dahlia. The two looked at each other naturally and smiled awkwardly.

“It will…be fine, right?”

“Ah…maybe?”

Gaël Bayer and Adelia Chase.

With a somewhat ominous premonition, Maja and Dahlia looked at the two people who had already gone far.

***

Someone had said.

“Do you know what a gambling house and a luxury buffet have in common? It is the fact that the store wins in the end.”

It was exactly what he said.

No matter how much one eats in a luxury buffet to get their money’s worth, all they’ll have in the end was an upset stomach. And no matter how hard one tries at a gambling house, in the end, the visitors were bound to lose their money.

“Of course, that’s an average story, and overall, it’s just the casinos that make money, but there are certainly a minority who make money, whether it’s small or huge.”

Otherwise, no one will go to the gambling house if they didn’t make any money.

“So you’re that minority?”

“I was always the winning minority. I even had the status of being in the ban list of three Las Vegas casinos.”

Before going to the casino, they stopped by a nearby accommodation and were currently in the middle of changing clothes.

At Jude’s words, Cordelia blinked as she arranged the skirt of her fabulous red dress.

“Ban list?”

“Yes, it’s kind of a blacklist. If you go there, you will not be allowed to enter.”

As Jude talked a little proudly, Cordelia stopped arranging her skirt. She then touched her chin and soon said as she clenched her fist.

“As expected! You were a scammer as expected! Humbug! Am I not right? Right?”

“No, it’s not? I never cheated, okay? I was just so good at gambling that I was denied entry, okay?”

“F*ck, who the hell are you then? How can you continuously win if you didn’t cheat then?”

“It’s nice to hear you saying ‘f*ck’ after a long time.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“Well, turn around for now.”

“Have you finished dressing up?”

“Oh, you’re all dressed up.”

“This person…fu-…didn’t I tell you not to turn around?”

“I just turned around. Come closer. I’ll tighten the straps on your back.”

“Dahlia used to do it.”

“Dahlia isn’t here right now.”

It was as Jude had said, so Cordelia came near Jude and showed her back, and Jude tightened the dress straps one by one as he continued talking.

“Do you know about card counting?”

“I don’t know.”

“…it’s literally counting cards. You remember all the revealed cards and infer which cards haven’t been revealed yet. And based on that, you calculate the probability for each situation and make the best choice.”

“It’s hard to listen to just that, but if you do that, can you unconditionally win?”

“No, the win rate is just a little over 50%. In modern casinos, a lot of various techniques have been developed to invalidate card counting so that it isn’t effective. I’m done tightening it.”

When Jude had tightened all the dress straps, Cordelia turned around and looked back and forth on her own body before picking up the necktie.

“So, why were you blacklisted? As expected, didn’t you cheat by counting? Don’t move and stay still.”

“Card counting is basic, and there are a few other techniques. And basically, the game is played with a dealer, right? Unlike machines, humans display a lot of information even if they are just quietly standing.”

And in fact, Jude’s specialty was in poker games like Texas hold ‘em.

“Do you mean, you were a professional poker player then?”

“I wonder.”

In response to Jude’s shameless answer, Cordelia pouted her lips and deliberately tied up Jude’s tie tightly.

“Gak-! Hey!”

“Hmph, I’ll tie it up again.”

The dexterous Cordelia soon nicely tied up his tie again.

“I don’t know about anything else, but I think you’re the best at this.”

“There are a lot of things that I’m good at too, okay?”

Despite the fact that she snorted, the corners of Cordelia’s mouth were raised, and her mood became better at his compliment.

“In any case, are you confident about this?”

“I am confident. It’s not even a modern casino that has prepared several preventive measures.”

“You have a wicked smile.”

“You will soon love this smile, my lady.”

“I bet I won’t.”

Nevertheless, Cordelia was somewhat relieved at his confident appearance.

“Well then, shall we go and win some money?”

“Yes, Daddy. I only trust in Daddy.”

“Daddy will make our princess rich today.”

“I’m so excited.”

“Let’s do this.”

“Okay.”

The two stopped their conversation, looked at each other, and took a deep breath before they left the accommodation together.

And two hours later.

“Blackjack.”

The dealer facing Jude turned pale, and Jude had a gentle smile as he looked back at the coins piled up in front of him.

‘It’s about time.’

After an hour of observation and an hour of winning and winning again, the time has come for the store to put on the brakes on him.

‘As expected, it’s coming.’

A giant man dressed in a high-quality suit was approaching him in big strides.

He’ll moderately tell Jude to ‘get out of here’ in a refined language while exaggerating his words and speaking at length.

‘Well, should I slowly withdraw now?’

Even if he exchanged the coins now, it would already have exceeded Red Wind’s price by 1.5 times.

‘Okay, this is enough.’

Having made up his mind, Jude turned his head towards the giant and brightly smiled.

But without even looking at Jude’s smile, the giant continued to walk away and stopped at an unexpected place.

‘What?’

Jude unconsciously blinked his eyes before getting up from his seat and looking at the place where the giant stopped.

It was the roulette place, and now that he saw it, nearly half of the casino guests were gathered in addition to the supervisor.

“I’d like to exchange the coins into money, please. This is a tip.”

After handing a coin to the dealer, Jude got up and walked towards the roulette place.

And it was at that moment.

“Kyaaa!”

“Oooooooh!”

“She got it right again!”

“Awesome!”

Thunderous exclamations of amazement broke out among the audience. They had such enthusiastic reactions that he wondered why he didn’t hear of their sounds before.

And in the center of all that enthusiasm was an incomparably beautiful girl with long brown hair, wearing a red dress.

“Cordelia?”

Jude unintentionally said her real name while she was going ‘kyaa’ and being happy. Cordelia then looked back at Jude with a bright face and hugged him.

“I got it again! It’s incredible!”

What? What the hell did you get?

And what is this flow?

Jude lightly pushed Cordelia away first before seeing the roulette board. He then saw a mountain of coins piled up in front of Cordelia. At first glance, it seemed to be twice or three times as many as what Jude himself had.

“Oh…little sister?”

The two had disguised themselves as brother and sister.

Cordelia came to her senses at Jude’s words, and said after she widely spread out her shoulders.

“Oppa, oppa, I’m totally awesome, it’s awesome.”

Jude could read from the flow that Cordelia had hit the jackpot in roulette.

But how the hell did that happen?

“Wow, she’s such an incredible Miss. It’s not a side card but just one red and black match, yet she’s earned as much as I did.”

The man who was watching right beside him laughably said as if it was his business, but the other nearby spectators also added some words.

“I’ve seen her got it 10 times in a row.”

“Didn’t she get it 12 consecutive times?”

“It’s exactly 17 consecutive times!”

“17 consecutive?!”

The last one was Jude.

Cordelia was perfectly satisfied at Jude’s totally startled and utterly bewildered face.

“That’s right! 17 times in a row!”

To win in roulette, the player determines whether the ball stops in the red or black pockets.

The probability is ½.

The dividend of betting on one is the lowest, but it’s a different story if it’s 17 times in a row.

‘If you bet on only one, the dividend is doubled if you win. But if it’s the 17^th win of 2…’

131,072 times.

T/N: Frankly, I don’t understand much about roulette, but this is the best explanation I can give.

In roulette, you can bet on one or several numbers, and if the ball lands on your bets, your payouts/dividends are determined by the number of your bets. Betting on one only means that you’re betting on either even or odd numbers, or you’re betting on either red or black.

Betting on one only gives you a 50% chance of winning, but the dividend is the lowest, as it only doubles your dividend/payout. Every time you win, your dividend is doubled. So, if you win 17 times in a row, your dividend becomes 131,072 times. It’s not 17 times 2, but 2 raised to the 17^th power, so the formula is 2¹⁷ = 131,072.

Even if she started with the cheapest coin, which is one copper coin, it would increase to a tremendous amount if it was around 130,000 times, so it was natural that a mountain of coins was piled up in front of Cordelia.

On the other hand, the probability of winning 17 times in a row could also be said to be one in 2 raised to the 17^th power.

That is, your chances in winning is 1 in 131,072.

“Uh…how did you do it?”

Since he remembered his past life before he came to Pleiades, or rather, in both his current and past lives, Jude had never been as surprised as he was now.

Cordelia widely smiled at Jude’s face that seemed to have witnessed the mystery of the universe, and then she spoke in a triumphant tone.

“With feeling.”

“With feeling?”

“With feeling.”

=====<Cordelia’s flashback>=====

‘Somehow, I feel that it would stop in red this time.’

‘Black this time.’

‘Black again this time.’

‘Looks like it’s red this time?’

=====<End of flashback>=====

“Are you a real animal…”

“I can hear you.”

However, Cordelia didn’t hit Jude’s back because of her good mood. She didn’t even try to bite him.

“A-anyway! Let’s finish it at this point.”

“Why? The more money we have, the better.”

“Let’s end it. It’s completely enough now.”

At Jude’s remark, Cordelia pouted her lips, and the onlookers around them began booing him.

But Jude didn’t pay them any attention.

“Let’s go now.”

Jude strongly spoke, and Cordelia thought for a moment before nodding her head.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Aah!”

“Why don’t you play another round, Miss?”

“One more round!”

The spectators around them shouted hardly, and the giant, who seemed to be on the casino’s side, also tried to do something.

It now seemed to Jude that he didn’t want to stop the game, but rather, to somehow keep it going.

‘Because he wants us to eventually lose.’

17 consecutive wins was undeniably a miracle.

“I’m sorry, but my brother is strict. Hehe.”

Cordelia responded with a cute smile to the onlookers , and after exchanging the coins they had, she left the casino with Jude.

Jude was very nervous that they would not be able to exchange their currency or be prevented from leaving, but it ended with a strong request to visit again tomorrow and an invitation to the auction house because the amount of money the two had was not enough for the casino to directly pay.

‘They’re telling us to spend some money in any way.’

The slave auction house, general auction house, and this casino were all owned by Bern, who was called the king of Lankebuste.

‘Well, it’s not bad. Since there is an invitation to the auction house, participating in the auction would look natural.’

Jude sighed in relief and drooped his shoulders, while Cordelia looked up at the sky with a cheerful face and said.

“It’s a beautiful night.”

Of course it was.

Even by the standards of the two as children of the 12 families, they had earned a huge amount in just two hours.

“Wow, we are rich now. The casino was a fun place. It’s a place full of hopes and dreams.”

“Hey, it’s funny that I’m telling you this now, but the casino is a pandemonium, okay? You should just go with the thought of spending money and having fun, because it’s usually a place where people ruin themselves from gambling, okay?”

“Hmph, it was a nice place, so why?”

“No gambling, no gambling. Gambler is out. Okay? Let’s break off our engagement! Break it off!”

The positions of the two had reversed now compared to before they entered the casino.

And Cordelia had a similar reaction to that of Jude two hours ago.

“Heeyy, can’t you trust in noona?”

“Please.”

“Okay, okay. Anyway, it was exciting. Red Wind is mine now.”

Cordelia had grumbled before that it wasn’t good to buy Red Wind with money, but she had completely changed her mind.

Jude suddenly grabbed Cordelia’s wrist tightly as he spoke again.

“I’m saying this out of concern for you, but just think that today was a truly miraculous and lucky day. Do you understand? Okay?”

“It hurts, it hurts, Cordelia won’t do it again…okay, okay. I’ll stop here. I understand. It’s not like days like this come often.”

“Haa…Just don’t make me say that I’ll discard you from the family register.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Cordelia replied like a good child as she took the lead, and Jude followed Cordelia closely while being wary of thieves.

Faintly laughing at Jude’s worried appearance, Cordelia tied her long hair together and then asked him.

“By the way, Jude, when are we going to the auction house?”

“By chance, it will be opened tomorrow, so we don’t have to wait for long.”

“Are there any good items for sale besides Red Wind? We are rich now.”

In the original story, there was no opportunity for Jude and Cordelia to properly participate in the auction house.

Cordelia was busy from being chased by the Devil’s Hand in the beginning of her scenario. On the other hand, when Jude’s scenario began in earnest, the entire north was in a mess because of the barbarian invasion.

‘It goes without saying that Red Wind was locked up at the auction house at that time.’

Moreover, it was presently an auction that will happen a month before Red Wind’s scenario began at the auction house.

In other words, it was an unknown place for both Jude and Cordelia.

“I’m suddenly looking forward to it.”

“You’re right. It’s like I’m looking forward to what would be there? It feels like we’re entering a new town and visiting a weapons store, right?”

‘What items could be there?’

‘Perhaps it would be possible to get a jackpot item?’

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’ll meet Red Wind, and also go to the auction house.”

“Yeah.”

‘Maybe we’ll find items that are really necessary.’

And in the next evening.

“Seriously, it actually happened.”

“We have good luck.”

Cordelia was in front, and Jude was at the back.

An unexpected meeting was waiting for the two.