After ten minutes, Xu Jun and the small sand leopard child, Ti Na ,were each holding onto a large pancake stuffed with roasted meat. The two sat at a gambling table while gnawing on their treat. Since it was a place of gambling, there seemed to be no reason for anyone to come in and eat without gambling. Furthermore, the entire house heard the chef shout out just now, "Someone brought a child here to gamble!" Thus, people who had been gambling eagerly started to gather. They wanted to see what the parent, who brought their child to this kind of place, was planning to do.
"Hahaha! Little friend, you can"t do this! How could you bring your son here! When you return home, you"ll be beaten by your wife!" The older man who said this laughed heartily.
"Oh? Lao San1, you could also say such a thing? Hey, about the tigress in your house, hahahaha!"
“—F*ck off!"
"—you"re telling this grandfather to f*ck off? Would you dare to speak to your wife that way?"
Thus, the person called Lao San and the man who exposed him went outside to arrange a time for their duel.
From the beginning, everyone had been of the same mind, guessing that Xu Jun was bringing his son out to fool around (only G.o.d knows why a twenty-year-old would have a seven to eight-year-old child). In the end, they were certain this was the situation. Xu Jun and Ti Na were, inexplicably, seen as a having a father-son relationship.
Xu Jun didn"t explain anything. First off, it seemed a bit silly to discuss the issue of this brat with NPCs, especially since most of these NPCs were high from gambling, had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, and their minds weren"t very clear. Anyways, no matter what other people say, he had fished up this son, and the situation wasn"t that a new father had suddenly popped into the world. Anyways, this misunderstanding wasn"t exactly bad either!
As for Ti Na, this brat? The brat inexplicably, from the start, had a "recognizing a thief as his father" moment pulled onto him, and obviously felt uncomfortable in his heart. In his eyes, his father, the chief of the sand leopard tribe, was a great hero! How could his father be this villain who liked to spank little children?
While biting into the roasted meat, he fiercely thought: My dad would not beat me! My dad would also not scare me, saying he will sell me! My dad—
Thinking this, juices flowed down along his chin. Xu Jun quickly grabbed a cloth towel and wiped his face: "Hah, my son, can you not be so messy. Here, take the towel yourself and clean yourself." Saying this he shoved the towel into Ti Na"s hands with antipathy.
Ti Na wanted to holler, I"m not your son! However, his head was held down, and he heard a soft sigh near his ear: "Behave, don"t be noisy. Everything will be over if your ident.i.ty is exposed."
This, "everything will be over," was of course mainly directed at Ti Na, and not Xu Jun.
Traffickers targeted young and cute beastmen. If someone in the city found out Ti Na"s ident.i.ty, they would have to tide over an endless wave of traffickers and hooligans.
Although Xu Jun was a max-level master, who had killed the Demon King, this didn"t mean that he was suitable for fending off human wave tactics.
In fact, he actually hated fighting large numbers of intelligent humanoids—especially those of the human race. He knew it was a game, and that killing a person isn"t actually killing anyone, but he still preferred to not kill when he didn"t have to. The game was too realistic in its design. Perhaps some people were under great pressure in real life, and headed into the game to find pleasure. However, Xu Jun felt that certain types of pleasures, which don"t need to be found, are best left unfound.
If it were a robber out in the wild, killing them wouldn"t be too big of a deal…but within the city, just forget about it. Xu Jun had never intended to cause trouble anyways.
There might be some people who felt that, as a gamer, playing this way was too frustrating. However, for Xu Jun, this was the true joy of the game.
He was taking the game to be something similar to real life.
After Xu Jun finished talking, he handed another gla.s.s of water to Ti Na: "Don"t choke on your food. Drink some water before eating more."
Ti Na mumbled something, then took the cup and drank. Although he was a brat, he felt the protectiveness of the man named Xu Jun towards him… for some reason this made him think of his family again. Suddenly, in that moment, Tu Na felt that recognizing this guy as a G.o.dfather would be alright.
He then gulped down a large mouthful of water and had almost swallowed it, before he sprayed it out: "Pu–!!!!"
Xu Jun looked again: "Which rascal put wine here?!"
He had clearly called for plain water! The gamblers burst out in hearty laughter once more: "If one doesn"t drink wine, how could they be considered a man!"
Xu Jun pointed at Ti Na: "That doesn"t mean you should give wine to my son!" - alright, it seems this fellow has also entered the show.
A red flush covered Ti Na"s entire face, and his head was nodding. He couldn"t hold onto his food anymore and could only throw it onto his plate while looking anxiously at Xu Jun, looking as if he hadn"t eaten enough yet. He seemed very pitiable. This Nima wine wasn"t any ordinary wine either, and was actually a spirit! Although Ti Na only drank a little, he was still very young, and so he turned from a sand leopard cub into a drunken kitten.
The numerous onlookers then expressed: "It"s just drinking a little wine, what"s there to be afraid of? You"ve already brought your son to a gambling house, yet you"re not going to let him drink wine?"
Xu Jun thought that… this seemed to make sense_(:зゝ∠)_
His Highness Demon King Rozenke: "He was never your son to begin with!!!"
#Because the hero disregards norms, the Demon King was reduced to being the tsukkomi2#
"The Demon King felt bitterness in his heart, but the Demon King doesn"t mention it#
This really is a story that would move people to tears.
Afterwards… things became much more relaxed. Xu Jun had not originally entered to eat food; he had come with the intention to play around. Furthermore, right now, he indeed wanted to exchange the gold coins he had obtained from the unlucky bandits and merchant on the road here. This was because those people had been in close proximity to the City of Wilderness, and the gold coins they carried were made with unique casts by the City of Wilderness. Although the gold"s purity was quite high, they were hard to use outside of the Wilderness City.
Therefore, Xu Jun acted cool in his heart: "Ryan, the time to witness a miracle is here! Look closely!"
His hands rapidly shuffled the deck as smoothly and naturally as drifting clouds and flowing rivers. However, no one noticed that he would always avoid a few important cards, making sure that he would be the one to grab them from the deck later. At this moment, Xu Jun revealed a grandmaster level of attainment in gambling! Even the Hands of G.o.d3 and Qilin Arm of the City of Darkness" gambling king, which had once conceded before Xu Jun, were being used even more skillfully by Xu Jun than the gambling king himself! His fingers occasionally demonstrated a few flowery displays.The cards were clearly just ordinary poker cards, but in the hands of Xu Jun they performed like acrobats.
The gamblers looking on cheered. Even the large man who was Xu Jun"s opponent could not resist staring. After a while, the chef from before also ran over. A few moments later, the gambling house"s owner came down from upstairs to spectate.
They let out small noises of shock at Xu Jun"s fingers that were flying up and down. Their expressions could have been turned into a meme.
Xu Jun finally stopped his show of shuffling the deck, and at the same time he made sure that he would be able to get the best cards. "Yo, Ryan, yo! Did you see the power of this great master!"
However he only heard the voice in his heart reply coldly: "You don"t even say Your Highness the Prince anymore."
At the start, you clearly would still say honorifics! You"ve changed!
Xu Jun: _(:зゝ∠)_ You don"t need to mind these tiny details…
Xu Jun sat Ti Na steadily upon his knee. He was afraid that while he was playing around, this small child would be hugged away by someone4. Then he played all the gambling games available. To Xu Jun, playing cards was just too easy, and after winning too much, there were indeed many people who began to suspect him of cheating. In the end, there was no other way but to gamble with dice. Everyone said this was the fairest game that was hard to cheat. After a few wins and losses, Xu Jun thought, the gold coins he had wanted to exchange were almost all replaced. Why should this father hang out with you any longer? He pushed aside the table: "I"m done, not playing anymore. I need to go find a hotel to sleep…"
The gambling house owner and the onlooking gamblers also accompanied him in drinking wine, all responded: "Ay! Why be so impatient! You don"t need to go find a hotel, just sleep upstairs!"
Alright, so this gambling house actually has guestrooms… it obviously isn"t a standard gambling house.
However, Xu Jun really did feel tired: “I"m done, I"m done, I"m already out of luck. If I continue playing, I would just lose…"
Then, at this moment, a familiar voice in his inner heart sounded out.
"Continue playing," Demon King Rozenke ordered: "Keep playing with them for another five rounds, I"ve almost touched upon the rules."
Xu Jun: "…"
Prince Ryan, a pure and honest person, had never been exposed to any shady or filthy adult games.
Demon King Rozenke, arrogant and aloof, but he did not hatch many cunning plots and had no consciousness of "playing and happiness."
Yet, at this moment, under the guidance of the hero, he…started to learn how to play.
"Gamble on it being big! Xu Jun, gamble on big, it is definitely big! -Great, victory!"5
"Small, small, small, this round is small!—This isn"t right, what is this?! The other party cheated! Xu Jun, kill him! Despicable villain!"
Xu Jun"s heart was shattered: He wanted to f*cking go to sleep!
The author has something to say:
Demon King Rozenke: This emperor, is only taking an interest in the unknown and nothing more.
Xu Jun: This is why you made me f*cking play with you for the entire night?!
Translator"s Niche:
[1] Literally translates to “Old Three” and most likely not an actual name. Used between brothers (or long-time acquaintances/friends, which is more likely the case here), and is a nickname based off age. Lao San(Old Three) would the be third eldest in the “group” (which probably consists of most of the people gambling there) he and this other guy is a part of Return
[2] j.a.panese term for the “straight man” in a comedic duo (usually a duo). The person who basically reacts to the actions of the “idiot” in the pair. Return
[3] This is literally in j.a.panese. Return
[4] Not sure if this is the reference, but people in China(at least in some places) really like taking other people"s children and hugging them and pa.s.sing them around to others…so watch the babies. Closely. Very closely. Return
[5] For anyone who might be confused(I was at first), I believe this is Rozenke betting on the number of the die, and betting if it is a large or small number. Also, he got waaayyy into gambling. Return
final note: Pffffft, I was dying when Rozenke was like “go kill that guy, they definitely cheated!” when he lost. Reminded me of my younger sibling who always refuses to admit he lost at tag or some other game and keeps changing the rules on me. Haha, Demon King is acting like a young child.