Chapter 89: Casino Royal
I'm currently in the Don Jon Tower, waiting for my next assignment. I decided to get a tour of (scouting) the place in the meantime, trying to smell where the money is. Navigating through the floors is easy thanks to elevators installed on the building. How modern. After walking through many floors I finally found a floor filled with money and greed, the Don Jon Casino.
The casino is lavishly decorated and filled with colourful lights. It's almost like the casinos I saw in movies. I almost thought I was back on Earth for a second there. I feel like I'm in Las Vegas.
"Ah! Welcome! You must be Mr. John Smith! Fancy a game?" Said one of the well dressed men when he saw me enter the casino. I dislike chance based games and have no interest in gambling but… It'll be uncool to back down now.
"Indeed. Show me the table." I said, and he led me to the table where I sat down together with several rich guys playing Black Jack. Honestly, due to my dislike of gambling, I've never bothered to learn how to play the game… but at this point I can't ask them about it so I should just roll with it and hope for the best.
"Welcome, sir! Welcome!" The dealer welcomed me warmly while grinning maliciously, thinking he can rob me out of my money. Hmph. If it comes down to it, I can just cheat… even though I don't know the rules and thus don't know how to cheat.
Piles of casino tokens representing the money we bet are placed on the table and we draw our cards. I used my wires to secretly draw 2 cards from the middle of the deck rather than the top. The cards I got are queen of spades and 10 of clubs. I don't know whether the cards I got were good enough but let's keep observing.
I saw one of them drawing one more card, followed by another one. I decided to draw too and got 1 of hearts. After a while the dealer calls for all of us to show our hands and we did it.
"Wh-What!? A Blackjack!?" The dealer was in disbelief when he saw the cards in my hand. I seemed to have won the round without knowing what's going on.
"Whaaaat!? Again!?" Shouted the dealer as I beat him in his own game again despite not exactly knowing the rules. The other players eyed me with awe and envy. I suppose drawing cards from the middle of the deck has something to do with it. I've won several rounds so far and have taken all of his tokens. Heh heh heh. This rocks!
"Mr. John Smith! You must've cheated!" Accused the dealer whose tokens are in my hands.
"How are you so sure?" I asked him without losing confidence, not showing how bewildered I actually am at the situation, which is ridiculous even for me.
"Of course I'm sure! I've rigged—Ahem! I mean, it's strange how you got blackjacks after blackjacks in almost every round!" He said angrily. Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"Prove it then." I simply said. He responded by calling the guards with a snap of his fingers. I simply grinned as the guards surrounded me.
"Guards! Throw this man away!" The dealer ordered. But the guards didn't move.
"Well!? What are you doing!?" Shouted the dealer angrily.
"This man is one of Lord Don Jon's most valuable agents. His head is worth more than yours. Deal with it." One of the guards said as they left the scene, making the dealer growl in frustration as I gathered the tokens to my side of the table. Hooray for the laws of Lawless City where might makes right!
I then played several other games such as Roulette, Poker, Baccarat, and even tried the slot machine, occasionally using my wires to hopefully cheat my way to victory... and I won several times despite not knowing what's going on. Huh. I'm almost astonished at my own luck. It seems that gambling is a more profitable venture than I thought. And thanks to the law of the Lawless City, no one can call me out on my cheating, nor can they stop me!
The people around me can only watch in envy as I cash out all my earnings. I left the casino richer than before whilst many people left it poorer than ever before. They began to call me the Casino Royal or the Casino King due to my undefeatable winning streaks at every game in the casino even though this is my first time gambling. Heh heh heh. This is great. I left people in awe while getting so much money!
I left the casino carrying 2 briefcases filled with gold coins, with few more briefcases carried by a servant using a cart. The servant thought he could steal a coin from my briefcases but one glare is enough to stop him. Then I went back to the waiting room assigned to me and sat down the comfortable sofa when a brown haired secretary entered the room.
"Greetings, Mr. John Smith. My name is Marie. I'm here to relay Lord Don Jon's words to you." She said while bowing her head. Her name sounds similar to that vampire hunter chick. Coincidence? Perhaps.
"Very well. Let's hear it." I simply said while sipping wine elegantly.
"Lord Don Jon wants you to rob several Mitsugoshi banks in Midgar Kingdom. It doesn't matter how as long as you get the job done and no information leaks that links your activities to both Snow Fox and Lord Don Jon. We will also assign several people to aid you." She said. Well… I suppose I shouldn't tell them that I leaked the information about me working for Snow Fox to Shadow Garden. Meh, I'm sure it'll be fine.
"Consider it done." I said confidently. She then takes notice of the briefcases filled with gold.
"I see you've acquainted yourself well with the casino, Mr. Casino Royal." She remarked while glancing at my money with a mischievous smile. I won't share my money with you, you know?
"Yes indeed. It was a very profitable venture."
"Will you consider putting your money in the Snow Fox Bank?"
"No. I shall keep my money to myself."
"I see. I shall say no more… safe for a word of warning." The girl said with a stern face. I listened intently without showing interest.
"Never ever betray Lord Don Jon. Last time a fool betrayed him, Lord Don Jon single-handedly slaughtered said traitor's entire forces and the Don Jon Tower staff along with them. Lord Don Jon never forgives traitors. Keep that in mind as you work for him." She warned after telling me a crazy story about Don Jon.
"Hmph. I shall take your warning to consideration." I replied, not losing my confidence even for a second, which made her sigh in frustration. Did I do something?
"Well… I already gave you my warning. If you take it too lightly and got yourself killed, that's your own fault." She said before leaving the room. What a rude girl.
But anyway, my next mission is a bank heist, eh? And I'm assigned to rob the girls too. This is troubling. I have a rule to only rob from bad people who deserved it but… well… I suppose I'll just compensate the girls with interest later. I'm going to play the role of a villain for now.
In front of a MCA owned warehouse in Midgar Capital's harbor, which secretly housed a factory underneath the building, stood a group of knights and a few nobles.
"Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Lady Charlotte. Please let us handle this. Your brother has entrusted this job to us and we'll see it through." Said a gray haired old man as he stood in front of one of MCA's secret factories that produced counterfeit bills. Charlotte faced him with an angry face.
"No! I shall join the investigation, Mr. Gray!"
"Lady Charlotte. Please. Leave it to us professionals." The man named Gray, who is the head of the Knight Order's investigation department, said condescendingly, which rubbed Charlotte the wrong way.
"Know your place, Gray! I'm joining the investigation effort and you cannot stop me!" Said Charlotte as she and her entourage of nobles loyal to her entered the building.
Hmm… She is getting more and more meddlesome as time goes on. First she interferes with the Thirteen Night Blades' efforts to undermine her brother's influence amongst the nobility, and now she's meddling with the MCA too… Should I eliminate her here and now? Or should I just kidnap her and use her as leverage to go after her brother? No. At this stage it is too risky to do that. Trust in the Knight Order never fully recovered after Princess Alexia's kidnapping and if she is harmed while under the care of the Knight Order, we will be held responsible for it and would be purged. I must delay her as much as I can for now. Gray thought to himself as he too entered the building along with his knights.
As they enter the building, Gray tried to slow down the investigation by attempting to distract her in order to conceal the entrance to the underground factory but that was thwarted by Charlotte finding the entrance in no time.
"Here it is! The entrance to the underground passage! Let's go!" Exclaimed Charlotte.
"As expected of Lady Charlotte!" The nobles following her showered her with praises before they entered the underground passage with her.
"Ughh… Now you've done it, Lady Charlotte. I suppose I cannot let this slide just like that. You! Close the door to the entrance and trap them inside!" Gray ordered and the knight obeyed, closing the entrance to the underground passageways.
"And you! Go with a few others and close the smoke exhaust pipes! Let them choke to death inside the factory!" Gray ordered another knight to close the exhaust pipes which is connected to another nearby factory in order to conceal the fact that there is a secret factory underneath the warehouse that they're currently in, with the intent to slowly choke Charlotte and her cronies to death inside the underground factory.
"But sir! There will be consequences in killing her!" One of the knights warned.
"I know that! But the consequences of letting her do as she pleased is much greater! We must kill her now!" Exclaimed Gray while frowning.
"Is that so? Is the consequences of killing her not that great?" Said the knight whilst his voice changed into a… unfamiliar but terrifying one… one whose owner is unmistakable to him despite never meeting in person before.
"Wh-What…?" Gray started to become nervous as he eyed the knight whose form shifted from an ordinary knight into one of the Knights of Rounds, Necromancer.
"L-Lord Necromancer! What are you doing here!?" Gray exclaimed whilst panicking.
"You will cease your attempts to kill her and only delay her. And you will forget meeting me here." Said Necromancer whilst glaring into his eyes, projecting his will into the old man.
"Y-Yes… Lord Necromancer." Gray muttered, his terrified mind unable to resist the Necromancer's will.
"The same goes for the rest of you!" Said the Necromancer as he hypnotized the other knights who are present before teleporting away.
"Huh? What was I… Yes… I must delay Lady Charlotte but not kill her. Why not kill her? Hmm… There will be consequences I think… No matter. I shall do what I must." Muttered Gray as he opened the door to the underground passageways and entered the factory with his knights.
"Oh ho ho ho! Took you long enough, Mr. Gray. I almost thought you're scared of the dark." Remarked Charlotte the moment she saw Gray enter the factory.
"In any case, you professionals are a bit late. I've collected all the necessary evidence and we're ready to move to the next location!" Charlotte continued and Gray can only grot his teeth in frustration at how fast Charlotte works… as if she knows what to look for and where to look.
"Pardon me for asking but… how did you obtain all these information, Lady Charlotte?" Gray asked in an attempt to get some insight on her source of information.
"It's a secret." Charlotte said teasingly.
"You wouldn't tell us even though we are the Knight Order?"
"The Knight Order is not clean, Mr. Gray. The world knows that since the Zenon incident. Don't think you can simply use the Knight Order's influence on me." Charlotte said.
"Pardon me. It's just that I can't help but be curious as to how you know all this."
"It's a secret. That's all you need to know." Charlotte replied, not willing to relent.
"V-Very well, Lady Charlotte." Gray said with frustration in his mind.
This is going to be a hard task, isn't it?
Author's Note:
This chapter's title is a reference to Casino Royale, the James Bond movie. But I never watched that movie though. Cid's luck is in full force here, winning games after games despite not knowing the rules. After this he might like gambling more. And Gray from Volume 6 appeared. And Charlotte did the ojou-sama laugh. Always wanted her to do that but I keep forgetting about it.
HundredMasks: Good chapter, a bit short but understandable as you seemed busy, the big brain plays here are understandable, and with how distant Charlotte has become, you can essentially make up how Necromancer is gonna switch bodies with Claude or something and have it so that everyone is seeing Claude slowly deteriorate or something but since Charlotte is too distant she doesn't have the ability to act and make her guilty for it, also, John Smith is being introduced to Shadow garden higher ups amd I'm excited to how it'll go from this point onwards
Answer: My chapters are usually short but yes, I've been quite busy last week. Also glad you think Gamma's strategies are big brain and are understandable. I had to think about what kind of strategy Gamma would implement before I remembered about Supermarket Membership Systems.
A-Are you psychic? Cuz I may have a plan for something similar for later arcs.
DerTrap: Oh boy I'm already interested in Don Jon's Heists.
Also an Idea for when Necromancer could exposed is that he would have a secret plan of making everyone believe that Claude/Necromacer is a tragic character becuase he suffers from a split personality with Claude actually not being aware that he is also Necromancer. A bit like Green Goblin/Norman Osborn.
You could also maybe implement the Idea from Fanatic1543's review of Chapter 85: The Ponzer Plan about Alpha but maybe it would be more fitting for Claude.
Answer: Once again. Are you psychic?
I will have Alpha have another encounter with the Necromancer later.
