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< Gambling >

The humid smell of sewers wafts through the air.

As soon as we entered the back alley, solicitation poured out from all directions.

“Hey, come here.”

“How old are you?”

Even though it was still broad daylight, the brothels were already open for business.

“Is that your uncle next to you? Or your older brother?”

“Both look like bookworms.”

The madams giggled among themselves.

“I’ve got some good stuff, want to try a hit?”

A boy who looked like a middle schooler at most by modern standards approached and offered me cigarettes. Not the tobacco that wizards often use for awakening, but hallucinogenic drugs. Like marijuana.

“I’m fine.”

I had been to the back alley once before.

It was when I came to buy scrolls from the black market before my second labyrinth expedition.

There were plenty of people soliciting like this back then too.

But there was also a significantly different aspect from then to now.

‘It’s like a beehive that’s gone into defensive mode.’

Sharp gazes pierced from all directions.

Obviously unsavory-looking guys were standing here and there in the alleyways, carefully watching us.

I could see message transmissions being sent from various places too.

This reaction was probably because of Enver.

If I had come alone, it wouldn’t have felt like this.

Although I made quite a name for myself on the 3rd floor this time, in a neighborhood without internet, how could they recognize me by face alone and react like that when I’m not even a celebrity?

I’ve only been living in Soren for barely a month.

So the vigilance of the Black Dog lackey sentries was because of Enver.

What does that mean?

‘Black Dog also knows Enver’s identity.’

This guy’s identity is practically public knowledge.

Even the low-level thugs standing guard in the back alleys know about Enver, not just the Black Dog executives?

Of course, the low-level guys probably don’t know that Enver is a possessor, but they at least seem to know that he’s a member of the Blue Team that the higher-ups dislike.

That’s why they’re being so vigilant and sending message transmissions.

‘Figurehead. Puppet president.’

That’s probably Enver’s position.

They said Enver was the one who recruited Izel too, right? And Enver is directly stepping forward for my recruitment now too?

To recruit new possessors or possessors’ subordinates in that secretive Enver Club, they would need to be extremely cautious.

Naturally, they would be extremely reluctant to reveal their own identities, yet they still need to gain the other party’s trust…

‘They gave Enver a professor position and put him out front.’

That’s about as much as I can deduce.

Being a university professor guarantees a certain level of credibility.

That’s why Izel knows Enver, the Black Dog lackeys know Enver, and it was Enver who approached me.

Now this raises one question.

‘Why did Enver follow me?’

Enver naturally knows that Black Dog knows his identity.

Then coming here would be quite burdensome, yet he followed me all the way here despite that risk, which feels unsettling.

Is he doing this because he made some slip of the tongue to me? If that gets exposed to Black Dog, his position would be jeopardized, so he wants to monitor my statements right beside me?

Hmm.

Maybe that’s it.

But still, Enver’s actions feel excessive.

When persuading members at the Abyss of the Labyrinth gathering, when he made that slip of the tongue, and now following me here.

What exactly is making him so anxious and impatient?

To solve this problem, I need to return to the fundamental question that has been suspicious from the Berten mansion until now.

‘Why must the Enver Club prevent me from going to Black Dog?’

The Enver Club and Black Dog are hostile to each other but have reached some kind of agreement. They’re not shooting at each other in the streets like South American gangs.

But is there a reason to go to such lengths to stop me from going to Black Dog?

Let’s say I became a member of Black Dog.

What serious damage would the Enver Club suffer then?

None at all.

They would just lose one potential benefit.

They would simply lose one superior possessor knowledge source and player to Black Dog.

Is Enver going this far just because he finds that regrettable?

Maybe I need to revise the premise from the start.

‘If I go to Black Dog, the Enver Club could suffer serious damage.’

At least that’s what Enver thinks.

Why would that be?

For example, let’s assume the Enver Club and Black Dog are competing for a specific resource.

Like…

‘Maybe the number of people who can return to reality after killing the Labyrinth Master is limited?’

That’s a plausible story.

The exit gate can only let four people escape, and even in the game, players can only form 4-person parties.

Then it would make sense for Enver, the gathering’s poster boy in charge of personnel, to be desperate to recruit me.

My resume of teaching new spellbook binding methods, killing an eight-tailed Yoho tribe deep-layer member, and crushing the professors’ team at the Berten mansion looked attractive.

If I have more hidden possessor knowledge, if I can continue making such plays in the future.

‘Maybe Caleb will defeat the Labyrinth Master and share one of the only four escape tickets with poor Enver.’

He should put all his effort into recruiting him from now on and intensively manage their friendship.

…Is that the kind of thinking in Enver’s head?

Or how about this?

Like Professor Dalstream’s hypothesis, suppose the labyrinth is a battlefield between otherworld possessors and the Labyrinth Master, and when that war ends, all the possessors return home.

But…

‘What if Black Dog doesn’t want to return to reality?’

That’s possible.

They’re people who have accumulated this much wealth and power and reign like kings of the underworld.

If they can just handle the two-week rule somehow, living in this place might be much better.

Maybe they’ve lived as possessors for much longer than me and have grown attached to this place.

So what if they actually interfere with other possessors like the Enver Club from defeating the Labyrinth Master?

What if they’re actually on the side of protecting the Labyrinth Master?

Well.

There are plenty of possible scenarios, but none of them are certain yet.

I hope something useful comes out today, whatever it is.

***

There are three main entrances to get into Black Dog’s secret base.

One is the Black Dog bank headquarters.

Another is the Black Dog strip club.

The last one is the gambling den.

Looking at the distance from the Magic University, the gambling den is the farthest, but I headed there with Enver.

Because I have someone I positioned there in advance.

“Yeeeeeees!”

It’s Mister Backstab.

I can hear the cheers from outside.

Going inside, I saw him playing a ‘paint dodging‘ game.

It’s gambling where you win the pot if you succeed in dodging with agility rolls.

‘Backstab… You’ve been hit quite a few times already.’

Mister Backstab’s face was marked with red, blue, and rouge.

I hope he didn’t lose too much.

“…!”

Mister Backstab grinned when our eyes met.

We exchange signals with our gazes.

‘Get ready, Mister Backstab.’

First, I look around. There are magical tools called Watchers in this hall.

They’re sphere-shaped objects about the size of a human head floating in the air, like an upgraded version of a wizard’s eye.

They have a wide field of vision and excellent stealth detection capabilities.

They watch from the management room on the 2nd floor to prevent any incidents on the gambling den’s 1st floor.

‘Eleven total.’

There are more than I thought, but it’s fine.

I raised my head and scanned beyond the 2nd floor railing.

‘As expected, there are none over there.’

There were no Watchers on the 2nd floor, just guards lined up.

If the gambling den’s 1st floor is a business area for general customers, the 2nd floor is an administrative and management space where the gambling den’s business owner and employees conduct their affairs.

Since secretive business meetings take place there, they don’t operate Watchers so customers won’t feel uncomfortable.

Should I try it right here then?

I wink at Mister Backstab.

I blink one eye to send a signal.

“Wow! Brother!”

Suddenly Mister Backstab spread his arms wide like family reuniting after 50 years and rushed at me.

He pushes Enver aside and hugs me tightly.

“You finally came to the gambling den!”

“What, what…”

Startled Enver stepped back, Mister Backstab pushed me against the casino wall, and I took something out of my pocket.

Wizard’s Eye.

I open the lid in the spot covered by Mister Backstab’s torso. While speaking to Enver over Mister Backstab’s shoulder.

“He’s our party member. He kept pestering me to come to the gambling den.”

Mister Backstab lightly touched the Wizard’s Eye emerging from the bottle.

‘Invisibility.’

Originally, it’s completely useless on the 1st floor.

Can you imagine how fatal it would be to the business establishment’s credibility if someone using invisibility skills infiltrated a gambling den like this?

The vision coverage of the Watchers operating 24/7 can be said to be ‘perfect‘.

Not only invisible people, but even small vision-securing tools like the Wizard’s Eye are detected within just 1-2 seconds in here.

Because people can’t enter the small blind spots between the Watchers’ fields of vision.

And because the Wizard’s Eye moves slowly and gets caught by the Watchers’ directional changes and mobility.

Therefore, no one can breach Black Dog casino’s security.

Unless some wizard completely stops time.

Like this.

[It is your turn. Remaining time: 60 seconds]

[Action Points: ■■■■]

“Move.”

***

With turn-based telekinesis, I placed the invisible Wizard’s Eye on the 2nd floor railing.

And ended the turn.

Now it’s invisible to my eyes too. Because…

“Here.”

I handed the ‘bottle’ that serves as the Wizard’s Eye’s screen to Mister Backstab.

The Wizard’s Eye will think Mister Backstab is its owner. Only the owner can see the invisible state.

Mister Backstab immediately put the bottle in his pocket.

“Brother. I’m done playing for today, so I’ll head out first.”

And he cheekily patted my shoulder.

“Win big!”

Now the guards are coming down.

Honestly, I was planning to hang around here for several hours, but things are progressing quickly because of Professor Enver.

One of the guards is the shift manager currently overseeing this hall.

“Professor Enver.”

The manager spoke to Enver and me.

“Please come upstairs with your companion for a moment.”

“…”

“Let’s go.”

I followed the guards along with Enver.

While going up the stairs, Enver suddenly spoke to me.

“Caleb. This is a dangerous place, so it would be better to keep your words to a minimum. I’ll find out what you’re curious about. Even if I can’t say it directly with my own mouth, it’s fine if they say it directly.”

His expression is somewhat solemn.

“So even if I say something strange, I hope you’ll just listen quietly, Caleb. It’s for your sake.”

Right, I could hear you thinking hard while following me here.

You have your own plan, don’t you?

***

When we entered the management room, a giant Orc warrior appeared.

“I’m called Chrome.”

Despite his fierce appearance, his manner of speaking was polite. He extended his arm, as thick as my torso, for a handshake. With Enver and me in that order.

Is this Orc actually a possessor?

Probably not.

If I were him, when a wizard with a record of killing an eight-tailed Yoho tribe deep-layer adventurer came with an executive from a hostile faction, I wouldn’t step out as the first batter at the meeting table.

“I heard a student was coming, and it turned out to be Caleb.”

But indeed, he knew about me.

“It’s nice to meet a university professor and the famous low-layer wizard at the same time. Honestly, this is a completely unexpected situation, so I’m surprised…”

Chrome scratched his chin and asked.

“How far should we be open in our discussion?”

A cold gaze turned toward Enver. Enver was also the target of the question.

That makes sense.

In this Orc’s eyes, it probably looks like I’ve already been recruited into the Enver Club.

And…

“You can be completely open and talk naturally. This friend is.”

Enver patted my shoulder.

“‘Our new member.'”

Ha!

I almost burst out laughing.

“So he knows that Black Dog is the possessor headquarters, so speak comfortably.”

Enver!

You turned out to be quite the gambler, didn’t you?

‘Let’s just pretend Caleb has joined our gathering as a member.’

That’s what Enver decided.

It’s extremely dangerous, but if successful, it could turn misfortune into fortune.

If I were actually a gathering member, it would be natural for Enver to teach me about Black Dog.

His slip of the tongue would just be covered up.

And if I’m perceived as a gathering member, Black Dog will no longer approach me.

Then he can safely pull me into the gathering.

For that, all Enver needs to do is get through this situation safely.

That’s all he needs to accomplish.

If I later realize something strange and confront him about it, he can answer that it was to protect me.

That wouldn’t be a complete lie either. The gathering and Black Dog have reached some agreement and don’t attack each other.

If I had babbled about possessors and such in this situation, Black Dog would perceive me as threatening, and the best way to protect me from that would be to pretend to be a gathering member.

…He’ll probably try to persuade me with that kind of logic.

So Enver just needs to get through this situation safely.

As long as the fact that he’s pulling a major scam on Black Dog doesn’t leak from my mouth. That’s why he told me to stay quiet.

Tap tap tap.

But he’s a timid person. Though he’s pretending to be calm, his fingertips trembled.

Honestly, Enver.

I think this gamble has a very high chance of failing. Unless I help you.

The reason is that this Orc isn’t such an easy opponent.

“…”

Resting his chin in thought, his atmosphere was clearly different from Enver’s.

The silence drags on.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The sound of the wall clock’s second hand flowed over the table.

The tension is so sharp it feels like it would cut if you touched it.

Enver’s Adam’s apple twitches.

It’s quite ironic that this is Soren’s largest gambling den.

It feels like the three players sitting at this table are playing poker with the rest of their lives at stake.

No.

The Orc didn’t stake his life. Since this is his home base, there’s not much risk for him. Only we are putting our lives on the line and shuffling cards.

I’m tense too.

For now, I have many options, so should I watch the Q&A between Enver and the Orc for a bit?

“What a shitty situation you’ve gotten into.”

The Orc’s manner of speaking changed.

“Kid, you.”

He asked me.

“Do you know what White Lion’s identity is?”

A figure who appeared in Izel’s meeting minutes.

The founder and top person of the Enver Club.

But no one in the Enver Club knows White Lion’s identity.

Let alone an Orc from Black Dog knowing that person’s identity…

“That bastard isn’t human.”

What?

“White Lion is a monster.”

Wait, what is this about now?

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