Dantalian no Shoka

This was a casino in a famous health resort.

At the corner of a gambling table in the hall, there was a youth and a girl.

This was a man who was handsome and his age was unknown, and a pet.i.te girl who was wearing a strange outfit.

The girl propped her face on her hand and appeared to be unhappy, there was an empty gambling chips box in front of her.

And the gambling chips box of the man, was already filled to the brim with gambling chips.

“It looks like you’re quite lucky.”

A pa.s.sing stranger spoke to the youth.

It was a gentleman wearing a dress suit. He held a gambling chips box which was completely filled in his right hand, and oddly, in his left he held a book.

“Like what you said, I’m quite lucky today.”

The handsome man smiled at the young gentleman.

“Heh heh, luck… that’s quite hard to say.”

The gentleman said with an intrigued tone, then shook his head as if worried.

“You can’t put too much faith in your luck and abilities. They purposefully let the visitors win a few rounds first, letting them have the wrong impression that they are lucky. When the visitors become more excited and start to place larger bets, then they will win back their money with profits. That is the common tactic used in casinos.”

After the handsome man heard this he had a grateful expression.

“Oh, that’s scary.”

The young gentleman nodded.

“Yes, so you have to be careful. A man who looks as serious as you should be even more careful. Anyone would think that you are unaware of worldly matters and will be easily tricked… I apologise, I’m being rude. I was too nosy.”

The young gentleman said and faked coughing.

The handsome man looked at the young gentleman, seeming to be suspicious as he asked:

“That’s what you say, but you seemed to have earned quite a bit of those gambling chips.”

The young gentleman gently held up the gambling chips box he had and said:

“Ah, you’re referring to this… Heh heh, please don’t worry. If it’s gambling, I definitely won’t lose.”

“Oh, why is that so?”

The handsome man asked curiously. The young gentleman smiled.

“Have you heard of Phantom Books?”

“Phantom Books?”

“Yes. It refers to books that are like illusions, they record the forbidden knowledge in this world. Let me tell you a secret: in one of these Phantom Books, there is one that records all results of the gambles in this world.”

“That means, if you have the book, then you can know all of the results of the gambling beforehand?”

The young gentleman proudly nodded in confirmation to the handsome man’s queries.

“Exactly.”

“Even the poker cards and the roulette in the casinos?”

“Of course. Even the cards in the dealer’s hands, or which slot the roulette ball will fall into is clear.”

“Don’t tell me the book in your hands is…”

The man looked at the book in the gentleman’s hand as he asked.

The young gentleman looked proud.

“Heh heh. Someone like me who knows everything about the society, is able to gain information of every kind. Among them are information that normal people do not know of, too.”

“Like where the Phantom Book is?”

“Exactly, even the location of the Phantom Book. So that I could buy this book from the previous owner, I had waste a large amount of energy on negotiating. As to the result, like what you’re seeing now, my efforts weren’t in vain.”

The young gentleman said in exaggeration, looking at his box of gambling chips.

“Alright, I should be leaving soon. I will be partic.i.p.ating in the gambling next. Talking to you here was predestined, if you don’t mind, would you like to come with me?”

Hearing the young gentleman’s invitation, the man seemed to ponder over something, exchanging looks with the girl.

Then he shook his head with a regretful expression.

“No… it’s really regrettable, but we have an appointment with someone else around this time, so we have to leave first.”

The gentleman shrugged.

“Is that so, that’s a pity.”

The young gentleman carrying the book raised the box of gambling chips, as if showing off his battle records to everyone and walked to a gambling table in the hall. And the handsome man watched him leave with a happy gleam in his eyes.

The girl sitting by the man poked her empty box as she muttered.

“Too stupid, too stupid.”

After that, the girl and the man came to the office of the manager of the casino.

When the large boss saw the two people, he immediately frantically ran to the duo, welcoming them to sit on the luxurious sofa, and ordering his subordinates to bring drinks.

“It’s been a long time since we last met, professor. You’ve finally come.”

The boss smiled as he greeted the man in a low voice.

The handsome man called a professor smiled calmly as he replied:

“How is business?”

“Thanks to you, it’s been much better. It’s all thanks to the plan that professor came up with.”

The boss shook his body exaggeratedly, then thanked the man again.

“But at that time it really wasted a lot of effort. The visitors have been quite clever lately, that old tactic of letting the visitors win several rounds, then winning back the money plus profit when they got excited has been useless.”

“As long as this information is let out once, all the visitors will be careful.”

The man seemed to sympathise with him, the boss nodded.

“So, we followed professor’s plan, we spread a new rumour.”

“The rumour about the Phantom Book, is it.”

The boss nodded again to confirm the man’s words.

“Yes. The rumour about the Phantom Book that can record all the results of the gambling grounds. The people who hear this rumour will go and buy the book. Then we will purposefully lose a few rounds to the people who have the book, when they become excited we will win the money back with profit, we can even earn some money from selling the books.”

“Is that so, that’s great.”

The man quietly laughed.

The boss instructed his subordinates, then they brought out a squared money bag, there was a thick sheaf of paper money in the money bag. The boss handed this money bag to the professor and said:

“This is a small token of appreciation to professor… But, professor, I don’t quite understand something, why would the customers believe the impossible rumour that ‘a Phantom Book will definitely allow you to win in gambling’, and be so easily tricked by it? We’re not doing anything different from before.”

The man received the money bag, using a warm tone as if he were a teacher to explain:

“Everyone is willing to believe that the information they have is special. Especially those who say that they are different from everyone every day, those who say that they know about the other side of the society even more so.”

“I see.”

The boss replied gratefully, watching the girl and the man walk out of his office.

And in the hall of the casino, there was a dazed young gentleman holding a book.

An empty box dropped at the young gentleman’s feet, the other customers approached him with expressions as if they wanted to beat him up. They were the customers who had listened to the young gentleman’s encouragement and put down bets with him.

“No… this can’t be happening. The result of this gambling ground is true…Yes, it was a cheater! There’s a cheater in the casino!”

The young gentleman who had started to cause a scene was detained by the security, and then dragged out. And the girl and the handsome man watched this without a change in their expressions as they walked out.

The pet.i.te girl looked at the purse that the handsome man was holding and said:

“You’ve earned quite a bit.”

The man smiled calmly.

“Yes. This is why I like gambling so much.”