Chapter 122 – Nesos (8)

Hans provided me with information about Animus for free.

His intention was likely to see if I would really attack the place.

Friend! Can you see that fellow Hans’s inner thoughts?

I thought I could.

Though he seemed to be maintaining a poker face on the outside, he was showing great interest in me.

Hans had been observing me carefully for a while now.

His eyes followed my trivial habits, and he didn’t take his eyes off my every small movement.

It was almost at the level of a stalker.

“By the way, Hans. Do you happen to know about me as well?”

It was a sudden question that came to mind.

It had only been a day since I came to Nesos.

But as soon as I arrived, I made my debut in the gladiator arena and immediately caused a major incident.

Two of them, at that.

Although only a day had passed, I thought that perhaps the rumor might have reached this place.

If Hans was a truly capable information broker, he might know about an issue of this magnitude.

“Think carefully, Johan. A little while ago, I told you a story about Nepaya.”

“And?”

“And after that, I even told you information about Animus, Nepaya’s sponsoring force. I told you all these stories for free, but do you think there was no reason for such a favor?”

He was talking in an unnecessarily long-winded way, but the meaning was clear.

“You’re saying you knew who I was.”

“Rumors travel faster than carriages.”

“Then, how much do you know about me?”

I decided to probe him one more time.

Within Nesos, no matter how much one investigated me, nothing would come up.

Because I was not a person of this world.

If Hans knew something more, it would mean he had obtained false information, or he was lying to me.

“Unfortunately, I know nothing other than what happened yesterday.”

It was a model answer.

“That’s unexpected. I heard you were a skilled information broker. I thought you would have grasped much more.”

“Then, shall I tell you a more unexpected story?”

“Well, as you wish.”

I crossed my arms and looked into Hans’s eyes.

I wondered what words would come out of his mouth.

“Johan. I’ll have to investigate more about you to know, but I have a strong feeling that for some reason, nothing will come out no matter how much I dig.”

“Why is that?”

“I think you would know that better than anyone.”

For a moment, my poker face almost cracked.

The people of Nesos were not aware of the existence of Earthlings, but Hans’s remark right now felt somewhat meaningful.

“I said that to startle you, but you’re not shaken at all.”

Then, he smiled at me.

Honestly, I was startled. I was just trying not to show it.

In response to my question trying to probe Hans, Hans had instead counterattacked.

It would be troublesome to get caught up in this.

“Nothing will come out even if you investigate? You’re mystifying me too much.”

For now, I played dumb.

No matter how good an information broker he was, he could never find out about the existence of someone from another world.

“Mystifying……”

Hans chewed on the word ‘mystery’ several times, then grinned.

“That’s a good word. From now on, I can name them mysterious people.”

“Name what?”

“The name for people who appear in Nesos like the wind and disappear like the wind. Johan, I think there’s a high probability that you are also one of those mysterious people. It’s just an intuition for now, though.”

“……There are people like that in Nesos?”

What Hans was talking about now was the term for Earthlings who came to conquer the Nesos quest.

To have figured this much out, his skill was truly amazing.

At this point, I felt that I absolutely had to find out the information Hans had about Nepaya.

I had a premonition that there would be some useful information among it.

‘It might be better to let him find out that I’m a mysterious person.’

What Hans was most concerned about right now was the possibility that I was on Nepaya’s side.

Of course, he didn’t see that possibility as high, but because of the one-in-a-million risk, he couldn’t sell me information about Nepaya.

Even though he could receive an incredibly high price.

So, the easiest way to allay Hans’s concerns might be to prove that I was a mysterious person.

“I’m curious, Johan. Whether you can really eliminate Animus.”

“You seem to be secretly hoping that I eliminate it for you?”

“You’re saying something dangerous! I never said such a thing. As an information broker, I’m just looking at all situations objectively.”

The meticulousness of creating an escape route for himself.

I liked it.

Perhaps even meeting Hans today was the work of the coin’s luck.

***

The destination of the carriage we were riding was Animus.

A gambling house operating very secretly, and one of Nepaya’s sources of funds.

And I planned to clean this place up neatly today.

It wasn’t just to prove something to Hans.

As I heard stories about this place, I realized it was trash that deserved to be incinerated.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to barge in and smash everything up without a plan.

First, I planned to enter as a customer and feel the atmosphere.

I divided the gambling funds appropriately among Min Ha-rin and Lloyd.

It was money that didn’t matter even if it was lost.

Even if they lost and lost again, I could refill it as much as they wanted.

“……Se, senior!”

“What. Are you curious about how much I won on the roulette?”

Min Ha-rin nodded her head vigorously.

“Yes!”

“The amount you’re thinking ‘No way?’ about right now is probably correct.”

For a moment, her eyes widened.

“Is that really true?”

“What are you so surprised about. It’s practically cyber money anyway.”

It would be different if I could take it back to Earth, but all the money and goods here would disappear the moment I left Nesos.

“That’s true, but that’s a total jackpot!”

Lloyd seemed to have received a big shock from the 3,000 Lina I handed him so casually.

“Johan!”

“I know what you’re curious about, but don’t ask and just bear with it for now. I’ll tell you when I get the chance later.”

“I understand! There must be some circumstances I can’t know about.”

He was a truly simple fellow.

To be convinced by a single word like this.

“And I will definitely do my best.”

“To do what?”

“To multiply this money. I’ve played a bit of card games back in the day!”

I didn’t have much faith in him, but it didn’t matter.

It would be more helpful for me to proceed with my work if he lost it instead.

“Just play with the thought of losing it all. You can get more money from me again.”

“I can’t do that! How could I lose the precious money you gave me! I will definitely multiply it and pay you back!”

Seeing him declare this, the part about playing card games back in the day must have been a lie.

It was better this way.

Min Ha-rin would also be clumsy when it came to gambling, so the combination of the three of us wouldn’t be bad.

***

There was no particular difficulty in entering Animus.

The password received from Hans. And the deposit required for entry.

We had met all the conditions.

The interior of Animus was a place with a cleaner atmosphere than I had expected.

The overall interior had a subtle tone, unlike a typical gambling house, and the luxurious marble floor was enough to remind me of the Haewon Sword Family’s banquet hall.

At least, it was far from the feeling of the houses I had experienced in Kalia.

We were led to a waiting room by a guide.

“You are first-time guests. We will first guide you through the basic rules of Animus, and then exchange your chips for you.”

The employees, who wore neat clothes and spoke in a restrained manner, were also very impressive.

An extremely luxurious atmosphere for an illegal business.

For now, I listened carefully to the explanation given by the guide.

First, the rules of the game were not particularly difficult.

Most card games are similar in essence.

“And if you happen to run out of all your money, please note that you can use our Animus’s loan service.”

In fact, the key was this part.

What the guide was emphasizing now was the low interest rate of the Animus loan service.

But this was just bait.

A trap that was hard to escape from was set along with this bait.

It was also the reason I decided to clean up Animus today.

“I’ve listened to the explanation well. This procedure will be omitted from the next visit, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. The three of you will be registered on the Animus member list after today. Once again, we welcome you to our Animus.”

Then a light bow.

The guide did not lose his restrained manners until the very last moment.

A little while later, the three of us were assigned to different rooms and moved.

At the table in the room I was assigned to, four players were already playing a game.

Even though I was a new face, no one gave me a single glance and was absorbed in their play.

I sat down and scanned them one by one.

‘Among these, there is one mark.’

Mana Eyes were very useful at times like this.

Three of the four had similar dispositions in their mana management.

This meant that the Mana Breathing Techniques they had learned were similar, and unless it was an exquisite coincidence, the three were a single group.

‘They’ve learned a breathing technique, but it’s ambiguous to call them warriors.’

Then it was highly likely that they were trained here at Animus for minimal self-defense.

Well, it was just my speculation, but when I was this certain, I was rarely wrong.

“Come on! If you’re gonna fold, fold quickly!”

Looking at the way this round was progressing, it was a picture of raising the stakes properly to completely screw over one mark.

The chips in the center of the table were piling up more and more.

“What the! Everyone’s calling like this?”

“It’s too late to get cold feet and fold now. Isn’t it?”

“That’s right. After calling all this way, you’d be an idiot to fold here.”

In this kind of hype, there were no players who folded until all the cards were dealt.

The mark’s lips twitched.

He was excited at the thought of sweeping this huge pot.

“Then, I’ll gratefully take this round!”

As he said that, the mark revealed his face-down cards, a whopping four 7s.

It was worth getting excited about.

The moment he spread his arms wide to take the chips piled up on the table.

“Wait!”

A cliché and predictable repertoire followed.

“Who takes the chips after revealing only their own hand! Huh? Look here!”

When the guy revealed his face-down cards, what appeared was four 8s.

A hand that would be hard to get even if you played all day had appeared twice in this one round.

And with just a one-point difference.

For a moment, the mark’s pupils wavered.

“What the hell did you do, you bastard! Why does that appear here!”

“What do you mean, why. When you play a game, there has to be a day when a hand like this comes up. Isn’t that right?”

When the guy glared at him, the mark was slightly overwhelmed by his spirit.

“If you’re upset, go to the desk and borrow some more chips.”

The other two also started to fan the flames.

“That’s right. We were having a fun game, why are you suddenly acting so pathetic?”

“Right! Come to think of it. It seems like Animus is letting in any Tom, Dick, and Harry these days.”

In the end, the mark’s suspicion could not gain any traction.

It was a result that had been decided from the very beginning.

Because the other three guys were all in it together.

“By the way, are you a new player over there? I haven’t seen your face before.”

Finally, one of the guys started to show interest in me.

Then, as if on cue, they started talking to me.

A new mark had entered. They must have been interested since the moment we came in, but they had probably pretended not to notice until now.

They were very skilled in such things.

As all the attention at the table was focused on me, the mark was at a loss, not knowing what to do.

So I decided where the mark should be.

“Come over here, next to me.”

“Pardon?”

The mark had a dumbfounded expression.

I casually broke off about a quarter of the chips I had brought.

“Here, take this ammo I’m giving you.”

For a moment, the eyes of the other three simultaneously widened.

Then, the corners of their mouths soon went up.

Those reactions were the kind of expressions one would make upon discovering a rich, prime mark.

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