"If I win, you will tell me everything." Ryuu put her condition forward.
"Ah, no problem, no problem. That is, if you win, though, Missy." Before long, the table was hemmed in by spectators, excited to watch the game but also surrounding us in a way that would make our escape difficult.
"How are we going to play?"
"How does poker sound?"
Ryuu didn't object as the man started to shuffle. Poker was one of the many possible games one could play with cards. After the cards were dealt from the deck, it was a contest between players to see who could assemble the best hand.
"What's in the bag, Pretty Boy?"
"Fifty thousand valis," I replied, my gaze fixated on his hands as he shuffled. The man whistled at my response. He furrowed his brows deeply as he cut and shuffled the cards in an easy, practiced manner.
"You should have said so sooner!" He turned to face Ryuu as he spoke. "If you happen to lose that money and still want to continue gambling… well then, like I said before, just wager yourself."
"…"
"I've lost count of how many elves I have sold to the pleasure quarter, like you. But please don't misunderstand. I didn't do anything to them until they couldn't pay back what they owed, you know?"
The man licked his lips as his gaze shifted to Ryuu's slender neck, crawling across her pale skin.
Vulgar jeers and laughter echoed from everyone. It was intimidation—an attempt to agitate Ryuu. The psychological battle had already started. The leader of the toughs laughed as he dealt out the cards.
"One thing I should tell you."
"Oh-ho-ho, and what's that, Pretty Boy?"
"—I won't tolerate cheating." As I said that, I drew out my sword faster than anyone could react and stabbed it down into the table.
The entire bar fell silent after the loud crash. The man's eyes went wide, and he started to sweat as the sharp blade stood right between his fingers, a hairbreadth away from piercing his skin. His arm trembled as the card he had hidden in the palm of his hand fluttered to the table.
"Next will be your fingers."
The man went pale as I retracted my blade after my calm declaration. The people around the table gulped nervously. The man and his henchmen, who had lost their insurance, broke into a cold sweat. I had thrown them off balance. After all, in a gamble, someone who had been shaken once would keep jumping at shadows.
And so the game continued.
After a short while—
"Full house."
"...?!"
As Ryuu laid her hand on the table, her wide-eyed opponent crushed his cards in his fist. She had won nine straight hands. The bar was shrouded in silence by this point. The dozens of chips the man had gambled were now gone, and Ryuu had built a mountain of gold coins—her winnings.
"You have to be cheating!" he exclaimed as he leaped from his seat.
"How rude. I do not have to stoop to your level to win a game," Ryuu responded dispassionately.
Ryuu was too straightforward and not very good at bluffing. Some would even say that, the warnings I gave and her silent intimidation aside, she was incapable of bluffing. Without any other trick, she simply played the game straightforwardly. She took the cards dealt to her, diligently built the best hand she could, then hid behind an unreadable gaze.
Ryuu's expression was absolutely static. She never wavered in the slightest at her opponent's bluffs. By the end, when she spoke the lone word "raise," the thug's face looked as if a knife were at his throat.
It was a simple matter once she had outwitted him. Not to mention, he had never regained his composure after I had caught him trying to cheat. I would even say he should be glad it was Ryuu he faced—if it were Lyra instead, he would have ended up selling himself.
"You bastards, who are you?!"
"No one of consequence. We are here on a friend's behalf," Ryuu replied. "It's our win. Now talk."
Ryuu looked up, remaining in her seat as the leader turned bright red and gritted his teeth. He looked around, flustered, before angrily shouting—
"Get them, you assholes!"
I sighed, even though Ryuu and I had planned to finish this peacefully—or so that was the plan in the beginning. But in truth, I was glad the situation had come back to violence. Something I had been hoping for after hearing him speak to Ryuu like that.
I guess Lady Luck is smiling upon me, I thought as I spoke.
"Ryuu, take care of everyone else. I will handle him."
Hearing that, the leader swung his fist toward my face. I calmly deflected it with the palm of my hand and threw a jab at his face. The impact broke his nose, his balance crumbling. I grabbed his flailing arm and threw him over my shoulder onto the table. The impact broke it, splinters embedding in his back. At the end of the short exchange, he lay on the ground, groaning, while Ryuu defeated one opponent after another.
"Where is Anna?" I asked, but before he could open his mouth, I punched his face again and again and again. My fist rained down on him. I held back enough so he wouldn't lose consciousness, but hard enough to knock several of his teeth out.
Less than a minute had passed, and Ryuu had already knocked everyone out cold. Several chairs and tables were turned upside down. The bodies of the henchmen were sticking out from the mounds of chairs.
Ryuu asked as she approached us, "I know you people were targeting her—Anna—from the beginning. Where is she now? Tell me."
His bruised face twitched as he flapped his mouth like a floundering fish.
"Th-The Marketplace! That's where we took her!"
"The Marketplace…?" Ryuu questioned.
"Those were the guys who gave us the job! 'We will pay you well, so snatch the girl without roughing her up and bring her here,' they said!"
I frowned. "You are telling me the client was a company?"
The man kept nodding as Ryuu raised an eyebrow dubiously. We pressed him for more information about who hired him, but all he did was stick to, "I don't know." Even my magic punches didn't get any new information out of him.
Ryuu sighed, dissatisfied with the little information we had gotten. "We should go. There is not much we can do here now."
"Sure. You go ahead. I am right behind you," I replied.
Ryuu nodded and left the pub. The moment she was out of my sight, I glared back at the man, choking him hard enough to suffocate him.
"Next time you look at her, I will bury you alive, punk."
He nodded with difficulty. I released him and punched him again, this time with more force than before. The impact broke his jaw, his eyes rolling back in his head as he lost consciousness.
I stood up and left the pub as well. Outside, I joined Ryuu as we headed back home.
"We need more information," Ryuu said.
"Yes, and fortunately, we have the perfect person for that."
Ryuu tilted her head for a moment before her eyes widened slightly, along with a small smile.
"You are correct, Arin. She is well-suited for this."
Ryuu quickly pulled the communication device from her pocket and informed her of all the details. After the call was cut, she looked back at me.
"She said she will have all the information soon."
I smirked slightly. "As expected of her."
____________________________________________________________________________
The next day, Ryuu, Asfi, and I sat down in our workshop in Traveller's Inn. Each of us was holding tea prepared by Asfi herself.
"I didn't think you would contact us so quickly," Ryuu started. "Did you already…?"
"Yes, I investigated the location of this Anna Kriez you spoke of," Asfi responded, elegantly sipping her tea.
"That's my Asfi for you!" I said with a proud look, gently patting her hair.
"Yes, thank you, Andromeda." Ryuu smiled softly.
Asfi softly swatted my hand away as she grumbled in embarrassment.
"Stop it, and let's move on."
Right, now let's see what we are up against.
I straightened up, ready to listen to the information Asfi had brought.