The plaza was huge and there were many different shops that sold clothes for kids. If he was alone, then Noah was sure that he would have some difficulties — for example, the shopkeeper could scam him or he may inform authorities about him in suspicion of a child having "so much" money — but thankfully such difficulties were solved by the presence of Cleria Belial beside him, who acted as his guardian of a sort.
She talked with the clerk, despite the glances of disdain he was giving Noah, with a calm and gentle temperament. She selected clothes for him and even paid for them, which again, he was quite thankful for.
He may have been an unlawful person in his past, but he would never do stealing or scamming — he would first completely destroy and annihilate the organization before taking everything as loot or droops that he received after completing a "quest".
But, anyway, he was still thankful for Cleria for helping him.
"As I've said, you don't have to follow him all the way back to my… home." — a half-sleeves shirt and shorts on his legs with a pair of joggers, the black-haired kid that, as if straight out of the bath, looked towards the gray-haired woman with a slight annoyance.
Apparently, he had to take a bath before changing into his new set of clothes since his body stank way too much. So Cleria took him to a public bath and had him take one before buying a bandage and tending to his wounded arm before letting him change into his new clothes.
If the current Noah was matched with the previous Noah, then anyone would deny making any connection of him with him of his past — where he looked like an abandoned child in the past, currently, his body released a natural elegance of a noble despite his immature appearance, and Cleria was fast enough to catch it right away.
No way she believed that an abandoned child in the streets would have such a natural aura of noble around him, and Noah also catch such change in her behavior as to how it changed from "mildly curious" to "curious as fuck" — and this annoyed him since she started to ask way too many questions for his comfort that he had no answer for.
The concept of lying so many times that it would become true only applied if there was, at least, one fact backing up that lie and not in the case where the lie was particularly backed up by the void.
In short, questions such as "Where do you live?", "What do you do for a living?" or "What does your big sister do?" to "It is late at night, so let me help you in escorting you back to your home." — what should he say? That he has no home? That could work, yes, but then what about the talk of his big sister?
He had said that in the spur of the moment since he had no idea what to call Atalanta — he surely can't call her his Servant — and it would have looked suspicious if, in if-case, Cleria had followed him and saw him buying clothes for an adult woman.
And now with her following after him, Noah was seriously thinking of having Atalanta snipe her out of existence. He was glad that she helped him, but if she became too annoying…
'Hmm… since I am back to zero, I can always use Devils as a material to build some weapons for myself.'
Cleria shuddered before she focused on Noah, who was looking at her with his same dull eyes — the only thing that didn't change was his dull appearance it seems.
What was that? — she internally thought but soon shook her head. How can she feel any danger from a kid? That is the most absurd thought she had today.
"As I've said before, it is already too late at night for a kid to walk alone, so let me help you. Since you've already accepted my help before, what is the problem if you accept some more?"
It can't be helped then…
'Atalanta… blow up some random empty building with a magical arrow. Make sure to mask yourself after as to leave no clues behind your involvement.'
'Understood.'
"I appreciate your help, but that still doesn't give you the right to interfere with someone else's private life. And as for your money, give me some time and I'll return it back to you. I don't like owning someone else."
"It is not about the money." Cleria pouted like a kid, clearly dissatisfied with Noah's statement. She looked towards him before seriously saying. "It is about helping others. I don't need the money back, you can think of it as a gift from me — let it be the start of our new friendship—"
"Stop talking like some pedophile or I'll have to report you to authorities."
"Wha—Boom!" — she didn't get to finish her exclamation of being called a pedophile before a loud explosion happened not so far from them, raising a giant cloud of mushroom in the sky, cutting her voice within it.
Cleria's body froze as she felt magical signatures coming from the explosion, making her abruptly stop in her action.
'That is some nice fireworks.' Noah thought internally while gazing at the huge mushroom cloud.
"—sorry. Can you wait here for a second? I remember something. Wait here, okay? I'll be back in a second!" — and in a flash, she vanished from his vision.
"She seriously needs to work on her concealment and lying skills…" Looking at the place where she stood a second ago, Noah said before feeling a gentle gust of wind from his behind, "Atalanta…"
She looked at him with the same facial expression of a warm onee-san who would always pat him whenever he met her and take him to the candy shop.
"Yes Master."
Are you a dog? — "Here. Wear these clothes. We are sleeping outside tonight. I'll think about the money problem tomorrow."
"Thank you, Master."
With bags in her hands, Atalanta vanished from his vision before appearing back after some time with new clothes on — she looked stunningly beautiful, Noah had to give her that.
A simple white full-sleeved shirt and blue jeans with a pair of sneakers. Her long green-golden hair is tied in a ponytail, further enhancing her beauty.
'A modern huntress, though what she would be hunting is still in debate.' — while he said random things within his mind, nothing was shown outside of his expression.
"Good. You look beautiful." — but that didn't really stop him from saying his original thoughts.
"Am I?" She raised her hands, looking down at her body before nodding to herself, "You also look…cuter, Master."
"..." — 'cuter huh… I don't even remember the last time someone called me that…'
"Let's go before Cleria really comes back. It would be awkward if that really happened."
"Alright."
Again crouching down, she let Noah get on her back before vanishing again from her place. It seems that they are sleeping outside today, she will make sure her Master has a good sleep. She can't have him sleep on the cold floor after all.
The shouts of people were drowned by the sound of debris falling down on the ground, which, magically, doesn't seem to reach out a certain radius — saving passersby from getting hurt.
The two-story abandoned building, that no one had ever thought would have such an ending, was still engulfed within the flames of the explosion created by… something.
The grey-haired woman looked at the falling structure in front of her eyes as her Demonic Power engulfed everything around it, stopping any form of debris and fire from reaching too far from it and hurting innocent people.
There was a frown on her face as she stared at the destroyed building.
"Weird…Why would someone just randomly destroy an abandoned building?" — she couldn't think of any reason whatsoever. Was there some secret in there? Was there a fight? But there was no sign of a fight happening there. So it must be a stray devil then?
Many questions aroused within her mind as she focused on the left-over of the once stood building.
"Was there any casualty?" She softly asked.
"None." Answered the person — that appeared behind her — with a slight shake of his head. "Not even a single injured person was found. Neither was there any sign of fighting as we should have picked magical signatures if someone was indeed fighting in our territory. It feels as if…"
"—Someone deliberately exploded the building to get our attention towards it." Cleria looked behind her, towards the blue-haired man and finished his sentence, "Right?"
"Yes." He nodded in return. "We have already secured normal people around the area and have also erected barriers to stop anyone from approaching, though fire trucks will soon arrive here."
"What about…" She stopped as if hesitating to ask the question. But the person behind her was fully well aware of what she was going to ask. They have spent their life, almost, together. It wasn't hard for him to find out what his King was thinking.
"They will arrive soon. The magical signature that was released from the explosion, though weak, was highly dense as if purposely inviting every being who could detect it. I highly doubt that the church would remain silent. They might even try to blame it all on us and our incompetence of keeping the people of Kuoh safe."
"I see…" Cleria nodded, clearly not willing to talk further on the given topic.
Seeing her face, the man sighed. The bitterness within his sigh should have been evident by any person around but Cleria, who was lost in her thoughts, doesn't seem to be one of them.
Looking at her lost face, the man clenched his fist tightly in indignation — "Do you really love him that much?"
"Isn't that a stupid question?" Cleria asked with a slightly sad smile, looking behind, towards her "Queen". "You, out of all people, should be aware of this fact more than anyone else."
"Yes." The man admitted, but the bitterness on his face didn't vanish—no, it was mixed with pain, jealousy, and slight… anger? "But can I really admit it?"
He asked, and hoped she would answer his question. But, in return, Cleria showed clear annoyance to his question. How many times has it been, them having the same conversation? She was tired of it.
"We already had this conversation before, do you really have to hurt yourself every time?" She finally turned around from the now already subsiding flames that had engulfed the building already and looked towards the man. "Same conversation and same answer — no matter how many times you ask me about this, my answer will never change, Uryuu."
Why? — he wanted to ask — why love a human and not him? Why be with someone with whom she has not even spent more than a month than to be with him when they have spent their childhood together? Did he lack something? He was more powerful than the human. He will live longer than humans. And, most of all, he was a Devil! But that human…
"He is from the church, Cleria! Do you have the slightest idea what would happen if outsiders were to know of this? They will kill you, both of you! Have you forgotten that Devils are prejudiced by those of the church? Cleria you—"
"Enough!" A loud shout that soon was drowned by the sound of people around and the small debris still rolling on the ground, Cleria glared towards the man with barely hidden anger — her voice barely hid her seething anger that has risen when her beloved was brought — "Have you forgotten who brought you to what you are today, Ryuunosuke Uryuu? We might have known each other since we were kids, but even you are not allowed to cross certain lines and believe me, I can be scary when I need to be."
"I—" The words were stuck in his throat as his gaze fell upon the painfilled expression of his "King", making him swallow whatever he was about to say. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, trying to calm his beating down before he sighed.
"I'll report today's explosion to the higher-ups and will say the cause is unknown. Further deliberation would be required and we will try our best to do a full-fledged investigation on the cause and the person who caused it. In case nothing is found even after a week, the case will be closed."
Cleria didn't reply nor did she look behind her, towards her "Queen" that left the exploded grounds silently, his face covered by his own shadow.
They have grown up together, played together, slept together, and have even taken baths together when they were kids, but all of this seems to be crumbling down these days.
Cleria had been fully aware of the feelings of her "Queen" since a decade ago, but how can she reciprocate those feelings when she never held the same for him? Since the day she has met him and till today, Cleria had never seen Uryuu as a man but more like that of a brother, a partner in crime.
And even after knowing his feelings, she didn't change her attitude by much towards him. But she indeed gave him enough signals to tell him to remove those ever budding feelings — Uryuu never noticed them or he did but denied them.
And now here they were; their friendship — if it could be called one at this point — was united by a thin thread and could be broken down at any movement.
"I need to stop thinking about such things…" She sighed while massaging her nose bridge. Too much thinking will cause her a headache and she wasn't much a fan of having one.
To distract herself from the jumbled thoughts within her mind, Cleria put her attention back at the burning building, deep in thought.
Who destroyed it? For what purpose? Was it to attract every supernatural entity? But then for what reason? Or was it to distract them… or her?
"Huh?" Cleria's eyes widened for a second as if she had hit a jackpot, an absurd idea coming to her mind and was glued there.
She thought everything that has happened today; if she has met any kind or form of abnormality. Anything that can, somehow, one way or the other, be connected with the current explosion — the only thing she could come up with was — Noah.
The child she had met some hours ago. The prospect of that child somehow being connected with the current situation seemed absurd and ludicrous to her and yet the idea was glued to her mind.
Is it really possible? — She questioned herself — no… it can't be… right? How can Noah be connected to the explosion when he was with me? In the first place, why would he want to distract me?
"He didn't want me to see his "home"?"
"No." Cleria shook her head before she held her chin within her fingers, "He didn't want me to meet his sister?"
The sound of fire-brigade sirens, people shouting, and debris falling, none of this was registered in the head of the grey-haired woman as she deeply thought about this.
Part of her brain was denying everything she thought as a whim of her mind trying to distract her from her initial thoughts while the other was trying to come up with a possible solution to her theories.
In the end, Cleria released the air out of her lungs before shaking her head out of her thoughts and ideas that kept on increasing with each passing second, each more absurd than the previous one.
"... That is why I don't like to think over things too much… it messes me up too much."
Cleria liked to gossip. She would try her hardest to find if a random rumor is true or not. And now Noah has made her highly curious about him. Even if he was not related to any of this — it didn't diminish her interest in him and his origin.
"I'll definitely dig up everything about him, just you wait." — if only she had taken a look at her shadow, she would have found a pair of very familiar black dull eyes watching her with slight amusement barely hidden within them.
'Well, now I know why her name sounded so familiar.' — thought the black-haired kid with his eyes closed.
In reality, it has been a long time since he had read or watched DxD. After all, time waited for no one and, even if his memories were good, it was impossible to remember something from thousands of years ago.
But if he came in contact with something that he had read or seen in the past, Noah had quite a bit of confidence in his ability to recall everything — maybe not in explicit details but enough to get something out of the recalled memories.
When he had heard Cleria's name, he knew he had heard it somewhere but wasn't sure where — she wasn't the main character or someone who was heavily involved in the plot of DxD, so it might have slipped out of his mind. But he still knew that she had some role in the plot as to how he could remember her name.
And now hearing her conversation with Uryuu — her "Queen" that he had no idea who as he was never mentioned once in the DxD, at least that is what the black-haired boy thought seeing as he had no memories of an individual with such a name whatsoever — Noah could finally perfectly recall the memories buried deep within his mind.
'So I am in the past, or, to be more precise, way before the plot, during Cleria Belial's "rule" over Kuoh. And since she isn't dead yet, her "plot" hasn't started yet it seems. Or maybe she has not found out about the King Piece — I am pretty sure her plot had something to do with King's Piece.'
He was in deep thought when Atalanta's voice brought him out of it, "Is everything alright, Master?"
Her voice clearly sounded worried, and Noah nodded in kind to her question.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about the future."
He seriously had no idea what to accept from this world… or from himself. If he is being serious with himself, then his life before coming to this world was not the most… interesting and entertaining thing to hear during a night.
It was boring and repetitive, just another day in the life of a bored immortal.
And now that he was in this world, in the world of anime and boobs, Noah had no idea what to expect from it and from himself.
'No amount of experience can save you from "mid-life crises" it seems.' He sagely nodded to himself.
"We need a source of income… especially since I would need a lot of money if I want to build some… self-defense equipment for myself. I don't think gems will be cheap in this era and time."
"Does Master have a way? Forgive me, but I have no idea of how to tackle the situation of money. There was no need for money in the jungle where I grew up."
"Of course there was not…" Noah wondered if it was her attempt at joking. If so, she had failed splendidly.
"We have many different options, from gambling to working, from using the Government to opening up some restaurants. We can take the biggest cliche of making manga and creating a name as an author. Or we can write novels — all in all, there are many ways with which money can be made, but most take too much time to do so."
"If Master wants money urgently, we can always rob a bank or two."
'It does seem like her moral compass works in a different direction than any normal human being. Well, she is called a Servant for a reason.'
"Not that I am opposed to it, but as I've said before, it would have been possible if I had my previous powers. In my current situation, I would rather not want to invite any uninvited guests."
To be honest, he wasn't afraid of anyone in the whole world. Even though he was aware that he would die by tens if not dozens of people in this world, he wasn't afraid.
After all, in the end, death is just that… death. He has experienced it as many times as the amount of time a virgin faps — uncountable. It was a daily occurrence in his past.
'But I want to do something different in this life… just to make it more… hmm… spicy I guess…'
Atalanta casually shrugged, definitely thinking that she was enough to deal with whatever came in their way — well… at least no God decided to punish them for stealing mortals, but she highly doubted such a thing to happen.
Mortals were just that… a source of Gods' powers — it was like that in her previous world and is the same in this one.
"Anyway, the best way does seem like gambling. It is easy, efficient, and fast — we can get the money right away, which you won't be getting through other methods — leaving robbery aside that is. We can invest it in other things later."
"But I have no knowledge of gambling."
"And neither do I, but it isn't that hard… I think…" He rubbed his chin for a while before nodding to himself. "Yes, it is not. Well, as long as no supernatural side is involved in the gambling that is."
There were patterns to everything in gambling, but the best method is still cheating your way through. With Atalanta's enhanced eyesight, her skill that provides her with a 360-degree view, her hearing that can catch a person walking half a mile away — Noah could think of dozens of methods with which they can cheat their way to the "top".
"By the way, Atalanta… Can you tell me the reason why we are in the current position?"
"Is there something wrong, Master?" Atalanta looked at him and asked. "The floor is quite cold, so it would be normal for a Servant, me, to provide you with something to sit on — that is not cold."
"No… I understand that, but… sigh… whatever. Yes, you are right." — He said before adjusting his position on her lap and relaxing his back on her bosom. It was about 11 in the night and he felt his child body getting quite tired, a little nap will never hurt.
Atalanta relaxed her back on the cold wall while staring at her Master, who was already in deep sleep on her lap. From his expression, she could tell that he was quite tired and she couldn't blame him for that — after all, he was just a child.
A sigh escaped from her mouth as she lazily looked up, towards the sky. It was filled with stars, brightly shining in a beautiful glimmer, surrounding the moon.
Atalanta had no goal — no, calling that she had no goal would be wrong. Since she indeed had a goal of saving the children like her, but in an overall scenario, she had none.
Being summoned as Servant, fighting in a battle royal of Heroic Spirit, dying without getting your wish completed, and then repeating the same process — in a sense, it could be called repetitive.
No purpose, no joy, no fun, no goal; as if a hollow husk of human with no purpose to live for — maybe that is why she always wished for the salvation of children, trying to prove to herself and to the world that she also had a purpose, a reason, a wish, a dream.
Starting a family and living a normal life… yeah… it might be the biggest idiotic idea she had in such a long time.
She is a Virgin Huntress. She has vowed her virginity to Artemis, to her goddess that has saved her and raised her. And she had no plan of breaking that promise.
"But… is the vow still valid? I died and was reincarnated, doesn't that make me, in a sense, a new person with no white and black? Like a child, but the only difference is that I was born an adult."
If she was summoned as a Servant, Atalanta was sure that she would never have such a thought. But now…
'But it changes nothing…' — she hated men in general, except for her past acquaintance, Atalanta had no good impression of men.
A duel was a sacred ceremony to her, and cheating in it was something she would never forgive — and a man had done just that. Her impression of men was the same as the impression of a normal human to a dog. She didn't have misandry but her general impression of men was definitely not good.
SIGH
She shook her head before closing her eyes, relaxing her already relaxed body further. She didn't need to think of it right now. For now "saving the children of the world" as her purpose was enough. She didn't need anything else nor did she needs a new purpose… for now at least. But if she does need one in the future, she decided to leave it for her future self to decide.
"I just need to protect the Master and save any children I can. That is enough for now." — and with that thought, the green-haired huntress soon succumbed to her drowsiness, gently hugging her Master and feeling his warmth that told her that she was a living being now.
Kuoh wasn't any major town in Japan — of course for normal humans — just one of many towns available to the residents of Japan, that was Kuoh. So it would make sense for its infrastructure to not be developed as the major cities such as Tokyo or Kyoto, and so was the case in reality too.
But it didn't mean that Kuoh didn't have a "basic" entertainment industry built within her — it had gaming zones, red-light districts — which was quite surprising as one wouldn't find such places in towns — casinos, etc.
Despite the fact that it was a small town in Japan, it still had most entertainment industries prevalent throughout it — for a normal human, it may look normal, but those who are gifted with excellent observation skills might catch something missing like why would government invest in a small town or why this town has more money invested than others?
The answer to this question was obvious — Devils. As the overseer of this town "given" to them by the Shinto Faction, Devils who was the very incarnation of sins would obviously want something to indulge themselves in.
And so was the huge building in front of the black-haired kid and green-golden-haired woman containing a board that clearly said Kuoh Casino in bold letters with neon lights within to make it more prominent in the night, attracting the attention of locals and non-locals, welcoming them with its wide-open gates that had two guards with guns within their grips, intimidating looking at any passerby or even those who entered the casino.
"I wonder if they will let a child me enter inside." Wondered the black-haired kid whose frame looked fairly small in front of the huge casino building, like an ant in front of a giant.
"I highly doubt that Master." The green-haired woman shook her head and added with a serious face. "Though if we must do it, should I use a slight force?"
"... I think we need to interact with normal people more. It seems that even the Grail can't put the basic common sense thoroughly within the summoned Servant's mind."
"..." Even though she wanted to retort, she chose to remain silent. Anyway, her Master was right since they both indeed lacked the common sense of this era and time, or the world itself.
"Anyway… I wonder if they will let the child me enter if I go with you…" — and so the child and the woman stood at the doorstep of the Casino silently until the child's vision fell upon a kid.
She was a kid, just like him, and around the same age — from the looks at least. She had long straight purple hair that was tied in a ponytail. A small oval face and a small nose increased her cuteness to a whole new level. She was wearing a shirt tucked within her long skirt that reached till her ankles and a pair of black leather shoes.
There was a small wooden sword hung beside her waist as she talked with the guards of the casino who respectfully answered her.
All of this was of the least surprising to the black-haired kid. The girl could be someone who is related to the owner of the casino or maybe even a direct relative, it was all possible — that would explain the respect that the guards were giving her — but Noah was seeing something else; the guards were way too submissive to her as if afraid to make her angry or something, and Atalanta could see it too.
It was weird, no matter from which angle they saw it. Adding the fact that…
'Have I seen her somewhere before?' — the subtle familiarity that was bugging the back of his head as his eyes laid on the girl was annoying to say the least.
He had definitely seen this girl before — Noah affirmed within his mind — but where? It was something he couldn't remember. It was vague and foggy, like hiding behind a mist with only its silhouette visible to the viewer.
"That kid is strong." Said the virgin huntress seriously while staring at the child, making the black-haired kid raise his brow a little.
"Is she?" — To be honest, his sense of detecting whether his enemy was strong or not was completely fucked up. In his eyes, even Atalanta was somewhat decent, and that was if he were to compare her to some youngsters in his world. So, for him, the girl in front of him looked… normal. It was the same as how a giant perceived his surroundings — no matter how strong an ant will become, he will still look down at it.
In a sense, Noah's sense was the same. As someone who has lived (almost) his whole life at the "peak", everything or one looked like an ant to him.
"Hmm… not too strong… but definitely stronger than any human I've met or seen so far. Her body posture and the way she walks are like that of someone who is ready to slash anyone around her at the movement notice. Like a sheathed sword, reading to strike at any movement."
"I see…" Noah became quiet while staring at the purple-haired girl, seeing her instructing the guards of something.
Maybe she felt their stares over her, the girl turned around and her eyes landed on the duo. She stared at them for a second or two before she walked towards them in a measured step, soon reaching in front of them.
"I'm sorry, but you've been standing in this place for quite some while, is there something I can help you with?"
"You are?" Atalanta looked at the girl, who looked quite cute as to how she carried herself.
The purple-haired girl looked towards Noah before switching her gaze to Atalanta and smiled softly. "I am Saeko Busujima, the caretaker of this casino. If it is not rude of me, can you state your business here?"
"Hm?" Noah's brain froze as he stared at the girl with a slight frown but soon his expression changed back to his neutral dull face.
"Nothing of much attention, but we were wondering if… kids are allowed in this place."
"As long as you can bring an adult with you, they are." Saeko nodded as she looked at Noah. "But I would be quite surprised if someone brought their kids with them to a place where gambling happens. Such a thing has never happened… at least till now…"
"We are just here to make some quick cash." Noah dismissively said.
"Of course you are." Saeko smiled. "It is not that I meet someone of my age who can hold a "normal" conversation with me. What is your name?"
Noah raised a brow. "So am I worthy enough to hold a conversation with you now?"
Saeko shook her head. "Nothing of such sort. It is just that most kids of my age act way too… childish…"
"Indeed… even if they don't talk childishly, I highly doubt that they would be able to hold a conversation with someone who is a caretaker of the biggest casino in Kuoh."
"As you've said." Saeko agreed before smiling. "That is why I am quite intrigued to know your name. It is my first time meeting someone with whom I can talk "normally"."
"Noah… feel free to call me as such."
"Then you can call me Saeko."
Atalanta had a weird look on her face as she stared at the two kids who are supposed to act like one but were holding a conversation that completely contradicts their looks and age.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with kids talking in such a way, but it indeed shattered the innocent image of kids within the virgin huntress's mind — despite the fact that she was aware that Noah wasn't a kid, it still looked weird to her.
"Well, if you don't mind, then I can lead you within the casino."
"Please do so."
The inside of the casino was packed with people of different gender and age group — there were office workers, who were here to release all their pent up stress (though they might end up getting more), school students, who were there to try out their luck on different slot machines, rich people, who thought all of this as a form of entertainment and a place to make more connections.
The amalgamation of all these people made the inside of the casino fairly noisy and populated — shouts of people winning the bet, cries of people losing theirs, and desperate angry shouts of people; all of this made it look quite lively.
Atalanta looked around her with great interest while Saeko led them to the counter for the money exchange — which was provided by Noah who had created some prior to coming there with his magic.
He was quite skeptical of whether the money created by the magic would work or not since it held a slight sign of magical energy over it. It was so minuscule that only those who were highly sensitive to magical energies might be able to find it, but that didn't give one a leeway from magical detection devices.
In this casino, though they have hidden it quite well, it was impossible to hide their magical signatures from Noah and Atalanta if no skill made specifically for it was used.
He had thought that they would be found out right away if they used magically created money — even though they only had that — but it seems like they never had considered such a case where a supernatural entity would create money with magic to use since every supernatural being didn't lack mortal currency.
Anyway, it seems that there would be no problem in using the money created by the magic… at least for a while — Noah internally thought.
"Which game do you want to gamble on?" After they had exchanged the money for usable chips, Saeko asked Noah and Atalanta. In this case, Atalanta remained quiet since she had no idea how to gamble or how to play which game. She let Noah take the lead.
"Hmm… let's see…" He looked around him before he pointed at the table. "Let's play Roulette. It is easy and simple."
Saeko nodded. "It indeed is easy and takes less time to play. Alright, let's go. I'll lead you there."
With another small walk, the trio appeared in front of the roulette table not before getting all forms of looks from their surroundings — most of them were concentrated on either Saeko or Atalanta; formal for her authority and popularity in the casino and later for obviously her looks, as for Noah, he was forgotten and ignored by the majority as a thin air walking beside beauty and an influential person.
Can't they see my handsomeness? — Noah wondered while rubbing his chin whether the people around him lacked eyes to feel his handsomeness and noble aura.
Though what he thought was not wrong, after all, his body indeed released a natural aura of a noble… not talking about his looks… he is a child, what can you expect from a child's look anyway?
"Oh. Miss Saeko, how can I help you?" As they reached the roulette, the dealer (?) turned to Saeko and smiled like an amiable man.
"Uncle **, these are my guests here to play. I hope you can entertain them."
"Of course Miss. That is what the casino is all about." He looked towards Noah and Atalanta and smiled. "My name is **. As long as I am here, at this table, feel free to play. I'll make sure everything is fair. Miss rarely brings guests with her, so I hope you enjoy yourself."
Roulette was a fairly easy game. The dealer will spin the roulette and throw the ball within it while the people will bet either on the exact number or a certain range of numbers — depending on the probability of the pocket in which the ball might land. Players wishing to bet "outside" of the pocket will select bets on larger positional groupings of pockets, the pocket color, and whether the winning number is odd or even.
The roulette table usually imposes minimum and maximum bets, and these rules usually apply separately for all of a player's inside and outside bets for each spin. Players can continue to place bets as the ball spins around the wheel until the dealer announces "no more bets" or "rien ne va plus".
When a winning number and color is determined by the roulette wheel, the dealer will place a marker, also known as a dolly, on that winning number on the roulette table layout. When the dolly is on the table, no players may place bets, collect bets, or remove any bets from the table. The dealer will then sweep away all other losing bets either by hand or by rake, and determine all of the payouts to the remaining inside and outside winning bets. When the dealer is finished making payouts, the marker is removed from the board where players collect their winnings and make new bets. The winning chips remain on the board.
"—And that is pretty much how you play the game." The dealer uncle finished his explanation about how the game is played to Noah and Atalanta, who nodded in return.
"Good. Since it is clear how to play this game, we will start with a dummy game first."
Normally, such treatment was impossible for anyone to get. After all, why would casino care if its customers are able to play games or not — in fact, it would be best if they didn't since they could get more money out of them that way.
But since Noah and Atalanta were the guests of Saeko, who was known as the young mistress of the casino, the dealer did try his best to explain everything with as much precision as he could.
"I appreciate it, but no need for the dummy game. I understood the rules clearly, so let's start real bets."
The dealer raised his brow and looked towards Saeko, who was standing beside Noah and Atalanta. Seeing her nodding, he smiled.
"Very well then. We will start."
The table was already packed before Noah and Atalanta had come, but now with the presence of Saeko, it had further gathered more people.
The dealer placed his hand on the roulette before he jerked it to spin, and threw the ball within it as it started to bounce within it.
"Split!"
"Street!"
"Split!"
"Six Line!"
The shouts of people soon filled the table as they started to place their bets on different squares and numbers.
'Are we not betting Master?'
Noah remained quiet about the question asked by his Servant as he looked at the ball. He didn't have his old powers anymore, so he can't really find a way to cheat in this game with his powers alone.
Of course, if he used Servant Contract, he would be able to use 100s of different cheats that are useful in the current situation.
'But that would make it boring.' — yes, borning. Noah had seen everything in his life, so cheating through the game would make it boring. And yet he will still win, in the end, even without powers, he will still win.
"Straight." — He sighed as he placed all of his chips on a single number, making the surroundings hushed in silence.
Even without powers, his mind could easily calculate the probability of the pocket in which the ball would land. So, to him, it was still boring.
Everyone looked towards Noah as if he was an idiot, but they just shook their heads and said nothing.
He was a kid and this was his first game, of course, he would make a mistake — was what they thought, but their eyes threatened to jump out of their sockets as the ball finally landed in the pocket.
"It has to be the beginner's luck, right?" A hushed voice came out of someone's mouth that was easily heard by everyone present, but no one said anything.
"This… it seems that Miss's guests are not normal just like her." The dealer smiled before he distributed the chips with Noah having the most.
It was indeed surprising for everyone since you wouldn't see someone playing roulette for the first time and yet winning the bet on a single number at that. So most credited to the beginner's luck — and those who did, they were indeed in for a surprise.
"Let's play another." Noah said, making the dealer nod before he again spun the roulette.
The people also came out of their daze and started to place bets again, but most still had their attention on Noah, wondering if he would place his bet on a single number again, and they indeed were not disappointed as Noah's childish voice came from his mouth…
"Straight." He again took all the winning chips and placed them on a single number, silencing the people again.
The roulette stopped and the ball again came to a halt, making everyone suck a deep breath.
"Guess I won again." Noah smiled, seeing the ball stopping at the exact number at which he had placed his bet before.
"Is this for real?" — People questioned themselves whether they were seeing an illusion or not, in fact, it indeed looked like one. Seeing a kid, who is in his early ten, playing roulette for the first time and winning it. It indeed looked absurd.
Saeko also raised a brow, seeing the result. She had seen many people playing roulette before and had even seen many people winning bets like how Noah was doing, but the thing was, all those people held some kind of supernatural background. Their vision and hearing were already developed to a supernatural level so they could easily determine the pocket in which the ball will land — but Noah was a normal human with no supernatural aspect to him, at least that's what she deduced, feeling no magical signature on him, so his winning was indeed surprising and astonishing.
Unlike others, she didn't attribute his winning to "beginner's luck". For his expression, which almost looked bored, Saeko could tell that Noah knew exactly where the ball would land every time.
'Maybe he has some kind of special ability or even a Mutated Sacred Gear perhaps?'
It was not new where people would use their Sacred Gear without them knowing that they were using their Sacred Gear, the use of Sacred Gear worked like second nature to them.
So Noah having a Sacred Gear that helped him in winning the roulette indeed sounded possible, but then…
'Why did he choose roulette specifically? Did he know that he would win every bet or is he aware of his Sacred Gear?'
Saeko shook her head. All of this was just her baseless assumptions with no proof to speak of whatsoever. She would rather not base her decision on them.
"Is this really your first time playing, Noah?" Saeko asked with some suspiciousness within her voice.
"Of course. It is just that my luck has always been good." Noah smiled and answered. He looked towards Atalanta before asking. "Do you want to play it too, Atalanta?"
"Yes." She nodded. She indeed was interested in playing it.
"Good." Noah took a step back and let Atalanta take his position.
"Are you sure? You were winning bets quite easily. Atalanta might not have the same luck." Saeko asked, looking towards Atalanta and the roulette as the dealer readied himself for another spin.
"It's alright. We both have really good luck." He nonchalantly answered as both looked towards Atalanta, who seriously looked at the ball in the dealer's hand.
Just as he threw the ball and it bounced about 3-5 times, Atalanta pushed all the chips on a single number and said. "Straight."
"..."
Everyone looked towards Atalanta with stupefied faces, while the same thought came into everyone's mind — Another one? Surely not, right?
And as if the ball was spitting on their faces, it landed directly in the pocket where Atalanta had placed her bet.
"... is the game broken? Or are they cheat—" A person softly wondered but the person beside him hurriedly put his hand on his face to stop whatever he might say while whispering into his ears. "Dude… are you new here or what? But let me tell you, never blame the staff of the casino ever — it is either wins or lose, there is nothing else when you are in this casino. Or getting kicked out would be the last thing happening to you."
The person looked confused before he felt a sharp sight over his body, making him shudder as he looked towards Saeko staring at him with her.
"Is there something wrong?" She asked coldly.
"N-nothing…" He stuttered, taking a scared step back. For a second he thought as if something sharp was piercing his neck, for sure it was an illusion — he thought.
"See? I told you that we have really great luck." Noah smiled and said.
Before long, Noah and Atalanta kept playing roulette and winning that the staff had to stop them. It was not because they couldn't pay them but that they would be at a loss if this kept ongoing.
Even though he wanted to play more, since he started to have some fun seeing the stupefied faces of people, he had to stop as Atalanta pulled him back.
For the first time, Atalanta felt that Noah was acting like a kid as to how he almost pouted when Atalanta stopped him from playing more. It is said that the older you are, the childish you become — and it seems that Noah perfectly described such a situation.
"Well… I guess this much would be enough for the starting funds." Noah softly said while looking at the cheque in his hand. Thankfully the casino gave them a cheque and didn't ask for their bank account or he wouldn't know what to say.
"What do you want all this money for, Master? If it is because you are weak now, then worry not, I'll protect you with my all."
"Hmm…" Noah remained silent before he smiled. "Let's do it, Atalanta. Let's become the richest person in the world."
Atalanta weirdly looked at her Master, not understanding his intentions.
"What? It is not like we have any purpose to live in this world, to begin with… having a goal is not bad for starters." Noah said. "And it sounds fun… Young Master Noah…"
He almost laughed loudly saying it.
They indeed had no goal or purpose to live in this new world, but having a goal for starters wasn't so bad.
'Maybe fighting 666 would be fun.' — remembering a certain monster from the Bible, Noah wondered if 666 is really immortal.
"Then… Can we open an orphanage?"
"Why not? Public welfare is a must if you want to start a business and an orphanage is not a bad choice. We should also "create" our identity in the government database so we can legally become Japan's citizens. It would be very inconvenient otherwise."
Atalanta nodded and kept following her Master, soon leaving the casino back.
Saeko stared in the direction where Noah and Atalanta have left, silently pondering over something. She has never met anyone like Noah before — not that Noah felt unique, but if she took his age into account, then he indeed felt unique.
'I'll report this to the Master just in case.' Saeko thought before turning around and leaving. Her Master should be back from the meeting by now, so she thought of reporting today's finding to her.
'Though…' Saeko stopped for a second with her hand cupping her chin. 'It indeed is fun to hang out with someone of your age who doesn't talk like someone who has 8th-grade syndrome…'
Every kid she has met of her age, would either talk about some idol she didn't care about or would act as if they had a dragon in their arms — it becomes so annoying sometimes that Saeko barely controlled herself from decapitating their heads.
Normal humans, in the end, are bound by the constraints of their ideas and thoughts.
You will never attain freedom. After all, "freedom" is just changing the predetermined chains into another set of chains. Freedom, in the end, is subjective — remembering the words of her Master, Saeko smiled. Her hand softly caressing the wooden katana hung beside her hip — 'Indeed. I would love to see what kind of face Noah would make if I tried to kill him.'
'Stop!' — She placed a hand on her face. The smirk threatens to split it into two. After a deep intake, she released the breath. 'I should find some stray devils to clear my mind…'
She sighed and left the casino. She needed a stray devil to calm down or she wouldn't know what she might end up doing.
[Servant Contract] — (Modified)
A contract that is placed between a Servant and his/her Master. Essentially, it was just a shackle that was used to control the Servant from disobeying the Master's order and to kill them at the end of the Holy Grail War. But it was changed into something else after Noah was reincarnated into DxD.
From a normal contract, it still holds three command seals that are just pure condensation of mana which can be used to either impose a certain command over your Servant or as a mana reserve — in addition, the contract can also be used as a hub to transfer mana from one person to another (Servant and Master).
If a Servant lacks mana, they can ask mana from their Master and the same can be said for the Masters — in simple terms, it is just a tube that connects two mana reservoirs together.
