Casino Wizard

“A Country Life That Became Familiar Before I Knew It”

At the moment, I was playing poker with a retired bureaucrat and a bakery waitress.

We were betting money, but only in bronze units.

“I’ll go with 2 bronzes.”

“This money was earned humbly by growing 200 grapevines with my wife… Sigh.”

“You’re not going to call?”

“I’ll call.”

It wasn’t like I was trying to open a gambling house in the village.

Though, judging by the size of the place, it would be a perfect fit. The town had many retired bureaucrats—pensioners were rare in the kingdom, but there were quite a few here.

Of course, my goal had nothing to do with opening a gambling house.

“Check.”

“Ugh, gathering dust only makes more dust.”

I was simply building connections in advance, just in case. Though I did enjoy the game for fun, too.

But then, someone disrupted the peace.

“Boss Hyden—!”

A man jumped down from a horse on the verge of exhaustion and ran toward me in a frenzy.

It was the butler of the Marquis of Tripolia.

“Hilde is finally leaving! Two days… No, considering I rode nonstop, one day has already passed. She’s probably leaving tomorrow.”

I could respect his loyalty, trying to reclaim his lord’s playground. I could also appreciate the passion of making his horse drink potions to run like a madman.

But I couldn’t believe it.

“Lucy, can you take a look around?”

If the marquis’s butler had come with a tail, it meant he had orders to find me. Lucy understood and moved immediately.

‘Hilde is leaving…?’

Thinking about it, it was a reasonable conclusion.

If she had any sense, she would realize that the situation was turning against her. Giving up and leaving would be the wise choice.

But she wasn’t a rational lizard.

She was a woman who had abandoned her armless brother and remained in the capital with no ties. A woman who incited the First Prince to attempt murder by proxy.

And now she was leaving? Who would believe that?

It seemed like an effort to create a smokescreen.

Through the marquis, Hilde had left a ridiculous warning: “I’m leaving someone trustworthy in the capital. Let it be known that I now have eyes and ears here.”

She was deliberately making an ugly exit, hoping I would believe it.

I almost appreciated the fact that she didn’t take me for a complete fool.

“I understand. That’s good news.”

“And the casino?”

“I can’t promise anything, but reopening will certainly be easier.”

I sent the marquis’s butler away and stopped our casual poker game.

Then, I went to find Lucy.

“Lucy?”

Fortunately, she hadn’t gone far. She was outside the annex of the inn.

She had adapted to country life, wearing a plain white maxi dress.

She looked like a pretty country girl, but in her hands was a bow—her bow from her days as the archer of the Hero’s Party, still in perfect condition.

Even now, Lucy was watching something intently.

“Someone was tailing us.”

“Really?”

“Just a moment ago, a bird was circling above the village. It looked like an owl species… But flying above the village before sunset? That’s too unnatural. I don’t have the same sensory skills as you, but it was probably a familiar.”

Her instincts hadn’t dulled.

Lucy had always been a skilled scout.

She was only underrated because her competition had been elves—some of the greatest warriors. But in her teens, she had already reached gold-tier as an archer and scout.

Thanks to her, I saved some time.

“It was sent by Hilde.”

“Most likely.”

“If she wanted to find out where we were, she could have asked the Dragon Kingdom’s embassy or just hired an adventurer. Instead, she chose to do this. She wants to track us down without anyone knowing.”

“Too bad. I should’ve shot it down.”

Lucy clicked her tongue regretfully.

There was no point in killing an innocent animal.

No matter what we did, Hilde would eventually come for us.

Would she try to kill me herself, or was there a slim chance she’d attempt negotiation? That was unknown…

But I was sure of one thing.

She would come soon.

“We’ll meet her here.”

“I’ll leave immediately.”

There was no need for further discussion.

After all, poker and sandwiches weren’t the only things we had been doing here.

…

I soon arranged a meeting with the village chief.

Technically, he wasn’t a chief but an administrator governing the royal village of Riate, but everyone called him that.

It was a peaceful town where nothing ever happened. Though wealthier than most due to its suburban location, it was still just a countryside village.

“Hilde Rakae is coming.”

“What?”

“She’s a mage who once fought alongside Leandro, the hero of the Dragon Kingdom.”

“Ah. I know of her, but…”

The chief’s expression said, And so?

His main concern was showing me a vacant house with a vineyard outside the village—he wanted a wealthy mage to settle here and boost the local economy.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t fulfill his wishes.

“She’ll be here soon.”

The chief just stared at me blankly as if I were spouting nonsense.

Instead of explaining, I gave him more information, layering in the awkwardness of forcing someone to accept an irrational situation.

“I’ve earned her resentment.”

“The casino…?”

“Yes. The reason I shut down my successful business in the capital and moved here was because I feared her retaliation. I thought she would leave me alone if I lived quietly, but it seems I was mistaken. My location has been exposed.”

A dragonkin archmage’s wrath may fall upon this village.

I am truly sorry for dragging you into this.

Maybe my expression was too serious.

Instead of treating me like a madman, the chief’s face hardened.

“So, what do you plan to do? What do we need to do?”

“You don’t need to do anything. I’ll persuade Hilde myself. If I swear to live quietly, she will show me mercy.”

“Hmph.”

“All I ask is that you clear the area around the inn, just in case.”

The persuasion that if I begged earnestly, Hilde wouldn’t harm the village.

Fortunately, the village chief agreed.

Rather than escalating the situation by requesting reinforcements from the central government to guard against an uncertain arrival of the Draconian Archmage, this seemed like the better choice. He probably also believed that a mage from the Hero’s Party wouldn’t threaten civilians.

“I hope nothing happens.”

“Don’t worry. Hilde won’t cause trouble here.”

If that lizard had any sense, she wouldn’t start anything in the village.

Even if she resorted to force, the logical move would be to wait for an opportunity when I returned to the capital. If I ended up dead on the road, Hilde might be suspected, but as long as she didn’t leave definitive evidence, she could brush it off.

But Hilde’s plans didn’t really matter.

No matter what she came for, she was destined to become trash.

****

Hilde finally tracked down Hyden’s location.

The mastermind who had been controlling the gamblers outside the capital. Now, she had to meet him.

“Lead the way.”

“Whoo-whoo—”

Her familiar, having just eaten a frog, fluttered its wings and took off.

Hilde Rakae followed. Also flying.

Flight magic was rarely used in actual combat due to its extreme mana consumption…

For most high-level mages, simply being able to use it at all was an achievement. But not for Hilde. She had an overwhelming amount of mana, far beyond what ordinary mages could even imagine—almost unrivaled among her own kind.

That didn’t mean she planned to resort to brute force immediately.

‘Only Hyden. I need to deal with him quietly, if possible.’

And by “deal with,” she meant elimination.

That would be the cleanest solution.

If he died, he wouldn’t be able to run a casino, manipulate gambling addicts from the shadows, or expose her past crimes.

She had a plan.

Attack him while he was on the move.

And leave no body behind—burn it to ashes.

With an advanced spell like Inferno Flames of Hell, she would erase even the traces of Hyden’s existence.

As a wealthy tycoon and a mage from the Hero’s Party, his disappearance might cause some temporary turmoil…

But a corpse couldn’t talk.

And there wouldn’t even be a corpse, making an autopsy meaningless.

‘They called him a bastard child. He doesn’t even have any heirs.’

A young bastard disappearing without leaving an heir?

The only ones who would desperately search for him were his former comrades. The gamblers under his control would scatter.

One person’s disappearance would solve many problems.

Hilde knew it wasn’t an honorable method.

In fact, she had committed far dirtier murders in the past—killing adventurers who dabbled in rigged gambling.

Back then, her motive had been purely selfish.

She had killed to hide the truth that her brother had been ruined by underhanded schemes.

Compared to that, her current mission had more than enough justification.

Hyden was an unquestionable villain.

And the only person with both the power and the will to eliminate him…

Was Hilde.

Her hatred for him was real, but that wasn’t the only reason.

“I have to do this.”

After flying for several hours, she arrived at a quiet rural area.

Before her stretched an idyllic landscape of olive groves and vineyards surrounding a village.

So this is where you’ve been hiding like a rat.

Hilde first tried to pinpoint Hyden’s location.

“…He’s not here?”

She couldn’t sense his presence anywhere.

So she moved closer.

A few workers in the olive fields noticed her, but she ignored them. Even then, she couldn’t detect any magical presence.

Hyden was a mage, after all.

Weaker than Hilde, sure, but when they met long ago, he was still someone worthy of being considered a real threat. And now, there wasn’t even a trace of his mana.

Two possibilities came to mind.

Either his mana concealment skills were absurdly advanced, or he had already fled.

Hilde considered the second option far more likely. A casino-running scumbag wouldn’t be that skilled.

‘Did he move somewhere else already?’

Expecting him to stay in one place had been too optimistic.

Nothing stopped him from changing locations while staying in touch with his gambling network.

Hilde’s expression darkened as her plan suddenly faced complications.

What now?

As she bit her lip and scanned the quaint village—

She suddenly sensed a surge of explosive magical energy.

A sign of an imminent attack.

It seemed Hyden had sensed her approach and was launching a preemptive strike.

‘He’s more prepared than I thought… No, actually, this is perfect.’

Hilde’s face lit up instead.

Now, she had the justification she needed. She could even change plans and capture him alive.

Yes. Let’s take him alive.

With a smirk, Hilde flew toward the gathering mana.

She soon heard an incantation.

She didn’t care.

It was strong, but not something she couldn’t handle. She’d block it, then immediately counter—

“Huh?”

She didn’t have to.

The storm of light and heat Hyden unleashed wasn’t aimed at her.

Boom!

A deafening explosion erupted, engulfing a random building in flames.

The blast wave caused part of the wall to collapse.

Why the hell was he attacking his own location?

Hilde blinked in confusion.

“What the—”

At that moment, Hyden burst out of the dust cloud, riding a horse at full speed.

He was headed straight for the village center.

From the sound of it, the explosion had already sent the villagers into a panic.

“Everyone, evacuate!”

“A Draconian is attacking the village…!”

“AAAHHH!!”

Desperate voices rang out.

As if a war had broken out.

By the time Hilde realized something was seriously wrong…

It was already too late.