MV – Chapter 99: Villain and Minor Villain

“There’s commotion in the VIP room?”

“Y-Yes, boss. One guest is winning absurdly big.” 

In a room of the Gold Rush casino, too extravagant to simply be called an office, a round fat man resembling a pig sat on a couch, women on both sides of him, listening to the trembling staff member’s report.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance and sipped the wine offered by one of the women.

“A guest, huh? So, not a regular. Tch, how much has he won…?”

His face twisted in frustration, making the staff member tremble even more. The boss’s mood was like the weather -unpredictable. If you were lucky, he’d yell or hit you; if not, you’d end up dead.

The man’s name was Yarita Masakatsu. Just 20 years old, he was the second son of the Yarita Armed Family.. His face was already marked by unhealthy habits despite his youth, radiating a sense of decay.

“Shit, we can’t just accuse him of cheating…especially after that brat the other day… The regulars will start to suspect something. Let it go. He’s one lucky bastard.” 

He scowled as he recalled the recent incident with a kid named Krishna. The kid had made a huge bet and won, but Yarita couldn’t figure out how he had cheated. And now, Krishna was out of reach.

If Yarita arrested this guest without proof of cheating, the other customers would assume they’d be treated the same if they ever won big, leading them to leave the casino of Masakatsu. In the VIP room, where tens of billions of Ele moved in a single night, that would be disastrous.

—Or at least, it shouldn’t have been possible.

“U-Uhm… They are not normal wins.”

“Huh? How much are we talking? A hundred billion?” (Masakatsu)

Yarita raised an eyebrow at the unusual response from the staff member, who nodded shakily.

“Well, it’s…more than a trillion Ele.”

“Hah? …What did you just say?” (Masakatsu)

“H-He’s been betting a hundred billion Ele on double zero at the roulette…and it’s hit eight times in a row, boss!” 

Yarita couldn’t process the words. Winning a trillion Ele was absurd enough, but hitting double zero eight times in a row?

“W-What about the magic detection?!” (Masakatsu)

“None. We had someone who can see mana to check, and they couldn’t feel any mana.”

Yarita’s face turned beet red as the staff member stammered his report, spitting as he spoke.

“Get me to the surveillance cameras. I need to see this!” (Masakatsu)

“Y-Yes!”

They hurried to the monitoring room, where Yarita rushed to one of the screens showing the roulette table. The report of his subordinate was extremely stupid, but it would be really bad if that really is the case.

On it, a man in sunglasses stood beside a mountain of coins, while a beautiful girl grabbed coins, lost in the other games, and then returned to gather more coins. The girl was irrelevant.

<<Hundred billion Ele being the limit in a no-limit game is a shame. Isn’t this false advertising? I’ll bet on double zero again.>>

The man placed a pile of coins on double zero, while the dealer, pale and trembling, stood frozen, unable to continue the game.

<<Come on, after eight straight hits, it’s bound to land on something else. Throw the ball already.>> 

The man smirked at the trembling dealer, teasing him, while the silent crowd held their breath, watching in awe.

“Dammit! What about the magic detection? You’re sure there’s nothing?!” (Masakatsu)

“Yes, there’s no trace at all. I can only think of this as being pure luck.”

“That’s impossible! The crowd definitely thinks it’s rigged! They’ll think he’s exploiting a cheat on our side, just like that kid!” (Masakatsu)

It couldn’t be real. Even the man in sunglasses knew it was ridiculous. So blatant it was clearly intentional.

Yarita bit his nails and stamped his foot in frustration.

“If this spreads, VIPs will stop coming for sure. Dammit, Father put me in charge of this casino. I’ll lose the heritage competition at this rate!” (Masakatsu)

This is a world where magic exists.

That’s exactly why this casino was built without the use of cheating magic, and yet, there’s no doubt it will fall at this rate. It is a major source of income for the Yarita family. It will all poof into smoke with this. 

“I thought I could outdo my brothers with my financial power…but with the matter of that kid, and then Avege, who I was supporting, disasters are happening left and right. Who is it? Whose house? My siblings… That’s not possible. They wouldn’t sabotage our family’s income… In that case, another house…?” (Masakatsu)

Just as Yarita pondered whose house might be attacking his business……a roar erupted from the screen. The stupid dealer had thrown the ball, and it landed on double zero again.

<<Double zero again! What’s going on?>>

<<This place is rigged!>>

<<Damn, the Yarita family has crossed a line!>>

The crowd began whispering exactly what Masakatsu had feared. If this continued, his casino’s reputation would be ruined.

“This is bad. Really bad. You, gather the men! We’re taking that guy out!” (Masakatsu)

“Y-Yes! What reason should we use for killing him?”

“Shut off the magic detection system! We’ll claim he was using magic to cheat and we couldn’t detect it because the system was down. Then we kill him with magic to prove it!” (Masakatsu)

The magic detection system would normally trigger a loud alarm if it activates. But if it had been turned off, it would make sense that the casino couldn’t detect any cheating. 

It was a plausible enough story, especially given how overtly the man was cheating with his repeated double-zero bets as if he were picking a fight. 

The staff scrambled to call in their elite fighters, who quickly gathered. They all knew what they were there to do, and their faces were tense.

“There’s a fool here trying to start a war! No need to hold back. Clear out the audience and attack immediately. Let’s go!” (Masakatsu)

“Understood! Let’s move, everyone!”

Masakatsu’s men shouted as they prepared to storm the roulette table.

◇◇

“You bastard! How dare you break the magic detection system! Oi, you must have come to start a war! Whose house are you from, huh?!” (Masakatsu)

Masakatsu rushed to the roulette table, only to find the man in sunglasses calmly sipping wine, seemingly unbothered by the thirty men surrounding him.. The man remained relaxed despite the tension, exuding confidence.

“Oh, so that’s the excuse you came up with. Well, I guess you had to do something. If you didn’t, this casino would be finished. Actually, maybe it already is.” 

“Like hell it is! This is a legitimate casino! Making such blatant provocations. What’s your game here?” (Masakatsu)

Masakatsu raised his voice, trying to drown out the man’s taunts. His reaction seemed convincing enough that more than half of the remaining audience started to flee, while a few stayed behind, clearly entertained by the spectacle. These spectators were likely confident in their own strength.

As for Masakatsu himself, this ruckus was just a trigger to war. He was relieved that the flow of events was leading to them not thinking it was rigged.

Masakatsu was nervous despite his act. The reason being, the man in sunglasses had come here with just one woman, a sign that he was confident in his own abilities. He may have a thug-like appearance, but his aura was that of a formidable fighter. 

The woman, on the other hand, was busy angrily hitting a slot machine that wasn’t paying out, seeming more like a clueless tag-along.

“This casino…you’re running illegal operations behind the scenes, aren’t you? Rounding up people who can’t pay their debts, locking them up in the basement, and selling them as slaves along with their families. How’s the human trafficking business treating you? Or are you making more off your deals with bandits?” 

He knew everything. Masakatsu had no skill with weapons, so he had been relying on his wealth to compete. He sold women to perverts, and men to be used as bait in dungeons or as test subjects in magic experiments. The suppliers? Bandits he secretly supported. Masakatsu felt no guilt about it; he only cared about the money.

The battle for succession required a massive amount of funds which he supplied with his business, but it was discovered. A chill ran down his spine, and his face grew grim.

“Kill him!” (Masakatsu)

“Yes, sir!”

The decision was instant. Masakatsu’s well-paid elite moved in a flash, surrounding the man in sunglasses. They each wore inner suits of spirit armor worth billions of Ele, and they closed in with knives drawn in less than two seconds.

The man in sunglasses should have been dead in the blink of an eye.

But just as they struck, the man leaped into the air, effortlessly vaulting over their heads and landing gracefully on the roulette table. The chair he had been sitting in was reduced to ribbons by their knives, and its shredded remains lay scattered across the floor.

“Impatient, aren’t we? I suppose that’s why you still had to resort to crime even as the second son of the Yarita family.” 

The man grinned coldly while adjusting his sunglasses.

The men prepared to attack the sunglasses man that was looking down on them, and—

“Sorry, but I don’t need any small fry.”

Iron plates materialized out of thin air with a snap of his fingers and slammed into the fighters, pinning them to the walls.

They tried to activate their spirit armor barriers, but the plates crushed through them, pressing the men into the walls as if they were being sewn in place.

“Wa?! The spirit barrier…”

“This plate… It’s no ordinary iron!”

“Ugh, the force… I can’t push it back!”

They were completely overpowered even through the strength of their billion-ele suits, which could easily lift a ton. The fighters’ faces twisted in agony as they struggled to free themselves.

Seeing this, Masakatsu’s face paled as he screamed at the remaining men behind him.

“Damn it! You guys, take him down!” (Masakatsu)

“Yes, sir! Guha!”

As soon as the remaining men moved, more iron plates flew past Masakatsu like frisbees, pinning them to the walls just like their comrades.

“Let’s see… Is the first quest done?”

The man in sunglasses muttered something incomprehensible while looking up at the air, but Masakatsu turned on his heel and bolted.

(This guy’s insanely strong! I’m dead if I don’t get out of here! T-The basement… If I can make it to the basement…!) (Masakatsu)

“No pride at all, huh? But that’s exactly what triggers a chain quest, so that works out for me.”

Again, the man mumbled something that made no sense, but Masakatsu had no time to process it as he ran, his face twisted in terror.

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