Chapter 419
Chapter 419: Engrossed in the Moment
“Waaaah! This is a lie! Give me my money back!!”
“Hey! You idiot! There’s no way you’d get it back after losing!”
“Then just one more time! Just let me play one more time!!”
“Get off me, you—whoa, what the heck?! This guy’s incredibly strong!?”
Well, it seems that as I was trying to leave the gambling den, I stumbled upon my colleague, Hero Alexander, who was on the verge of a toddler-like meltdown after a crushing defeat.
Hey!
Humanity’s hero!!
What are you doing!!
I almost ran over to give him a light smack on the head, but then I quickly remembered that my face looked a tad different from Alexander’s. That was a close one.
While Arthur distracted everyone, I stepped back into the shadows, put my hood back on, and recast my transformation magic. I let out a burst of powerful magic, making it harder for others to notice me (the only one who might notice, Arthur, is busy throwing a tantrum), and I used the hood to conceal my horns. No one’s looking this way, good.
“Hey! Enough already, big bro! I’ll ban you for life!”
“That guy… I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before…”
“Just one more time, please! I’m begging you! Oh, wait, how about I use this sword as collateral—”
“You fool! I’m really sorry, but I’ll take him away!”
I gave Arthur, who surprisingly tried to wager the Holy Sword, a smack and dragged him away, with him bobbing his head in protest.
“Wait, who are you… huh!? Ale…!?”
Arthur did a double take as he recognized me, almost shouting my name, but covered his mouth to stop himself.
“What on earth are you up to?!”
“N-No, this was for… research…!”
“Liar!”
Once outside the gambling den, I gave Arthur another light smack when he started making some ugly excuses.
“I didn’t think the legendary hero would be a gambling addict!”
“No, that’s not it! This is the first time I’ve ever set foot in a place like this!”
Arthur flailed his arms, trying to explain. Is that really true~??
“Because, well, it’s bad for my image… as a hero… I tried to avoid areas like this! But the atmosphere of the town felt suspicious, and I wasn’t getting much information through normal means, so I thought I’d try hearing things from the underworld…”
“Ohhh…”
“And when I found out there was a broker here, I decided to check it out. But it felt strange to come in and not do anything…”
“Yeah, but your disguise was so suspicious that you stood out like a sore thumb.”
“I just wanted to try out a card game. Everyone was doing it on the ship to pass the time, so I knew the rules and thought I could handle it. And then…”
Arthur suddenly looked down and began trembling.
“G-Gambling… I never knew… gambling could be like this!”
Not so great, huh?
“Gambling is so much fun!”
His eyes sparkled with excitement, and he lifted his face with enthusiasm. I almost slipped on some fruit peel lying on the ground.
Well, that’s a surprise!
“That thrill and excitement! The ecstasy when you win, and the paranoia when you think you might lose! And to bet it all in a desperate moment?! The tension feels amazing! I’ve never been so engrossed before!”
“Yeah, but you’re losing, buddy.”
“Ugh… yeah, I lost. I lost so badly…”
Arthur’s face fell in disappointment.
“I can’t believe there’s someone betting with just ‘two fingers’ without even really swapping cards! You’d think at least ‘three fingers’ or ‘four fingers’ would be standard there… and they even had ‘the clown’! That ‘embrace of lovers’ in that situation is just cheating…”
I had no clue what he was talking about, his rules made no sense to me.
“Sigh… I’m out of money now…”
“Hey, hey, are you going to be okay?”
Are you seriously a broke hero? Just because you don’t have family in the duchy doesn’t mean you need to be this reckless.
“I-I didn’t bring all my money with me, so I’ll be fine!”
“But you were about to put the Holy Sword on the line.”
“Yeah…”
“It’s not just ‘yeah.’ Well, make sure you don’t do something foolish again.”
I sighed as I pointed around at the surrounding gamblers.
“Look at all these gamblers. There are only a few who look like they’re having fun, while the majority are obviously down in the dumps, right? The only ones who profit from gambling are the house!”
“Okay, yeah… I guess…”
Arthur walked with his shoulders slumped.
“Gambling is… never again—”
He glanced back at the gambling den.
“I won’t do it again. For sure!”
Really now??? He looks way too reluctant to let it go…???
I’m more of a prudent type who prefers stable pursuits, so I don’t quite understand the addictive psychology behind it, but Arthur seems to be fairly invested in it.
Now that I think about it, he seemed to enjoy our bet over dinner during our boat trip too. Maybe he really has a “talent” for this.
“Good thing you’re worried about your public image, or you’d probably be in trouble if you came here freely.”
If he could come in casually, it would have definitely ended badly.
“Y-Yeah, maybe that’s true…”
Arthur, smiling wryly, suddenly looked around—his gaze drifting off.
“…What if, if I weren’t a hero? Would I have ended up as a hopeless drunkard and a gambler?”
I wonder about that…
If he still held his current face, would he end up as a bum or a gambler? Nah, even if he had the freedom to, he wouldn’t fall that far…
“…”
No! Watching Arthur gaze longingly at the drunken men, I started to feel a strange sense of unease!
“I can’t even imagine it.”
Arthur murmured those words to himself.
“I never thought about it until now.”
He continued to walk slowly.
“—A life outside of being a hero…”
…
“Since I was old enough to understand, I was always treated like I would become a hero… so I’ve only lived that way.”
Always, huh?
The Holy Vision in Arthur’s left eye. It was probably activated the moment he was born. So, the instant he took his first breath, it was already predetermined that he would be “Arthur”—that he would become a hero.
From the moment he was born, his path was set—
The impression I got from Arthur before, he seemed like he was trying to fit himself into the role of an “upright and honorable hero,” as if he was made to fulfill that role.
…Maybe at that moment, with his mere, shabby disguise, lost in the thrill of gambling, he—
For the first time, forgot that he was a hero.
I recalled Arthur’s face as he longingly looked back at the gambling den.
“…”
I found myself unable to say anything further.
†††
Later, since Arthur apparently rented a room at the Holy Church, we returned together.
There were many things I wanted to share with him, but if we talked while walking, we could be overheard by anyone. So, we invaded his room, setting up a soundproof barrier before we spoke.
“Wow! So that happened…”
I shared about my encounter with Milt’s Old Man, the failed abduction of the merchant’s daughter, the Ark Deacon Trading Company’s misdeeds, and how things looked shady when I investigated.
Regarding the Night Elves—I kept that to myself since it might not yield any results.
“Welcome back!”
“Welcome back!”
“I’m back. I brought some souvenirs.”
We returned to the inn right next to the Holy Church. It seemed Leila had passed the time playing board games with Barbara. I wanted to keep an eye out for any movements from the ghost, so I had stocked up on food and drinks to be able to eat in our room.
“—So when I tried to leave the gambling den, I found a scene full of excitement. When I glanced in, there was this suspicious guy with blonde hair and glasses from some Gralian place, and I felt like I’d seen him before. Turns out—”
As I recounted what happened, Leila’s eyes widened and Barbara was laughing uproariously.
By the way, in the corner of the room, there was a translucent, vaguely humanoid ghost with dark holes where its eyes and mouth should be, standing eerily still.
I was keeping an eye on it while doing other things, but it hadn’t moved.
I thought it might take a while, but half a day passed as we waited.
…The night was deepening.
Suddenly, the ghost twitched and began to sway out of the room.
—A letter has been unsealed.
