Lich for Hire

Chapter 219: Harvey's Miscalculation

The next day, Harvey and Sawtooth Blade appeared in the tavern again.

Harvey's bandages from the day before had already been removed. Only a few faint bruises remained, and he looked much healthier on the whole.

The dealer had changed as well. Instead of a drow, that day's dealer was a lizardman.

The lizardman clearly didn't recognize Harvey. When he saw him sit down, he simply greeted him politely.

But only a few minutes later, the lizardman dealer found himself staring at Harvey.

The young mage had won seven rounds in a row, turning a single gold coin into more than a hundred.

Each time, he bet everything he had on "high," and the lizardman had rolled "high" seven times in succession.

Losing a hundred gold wasn't the real problem. The problem was that the other gamblers had noticed Harvey's streak of luck and started betting alongside him.

After seven straight losses, the house had already lost over a thousand gold.

Even the cold-blooded lizardman couldn't help wiping sweat from his brow. He was panicking. Had he run into the God of Gambling?Harvey remained expressionless. Once again, he pushed all his coins onto "high." The other gamblers immediately followed suit. Altogether, the pile approached two thousand gold. If he won again, today's losses would be catastrophic.

Just thinking about a loss of several thousand gold made the lizardman's throat go dry. If the boss wasn't pleased, he might lose more than his job. He might even lose his life.

With that in mind, the lizardman didn't shake the dice cup. Instead, he looked at Harvey and said, "Friend, you should know when to stop. If you use all your luck up, things may backfire."

Harvey replied arrogantly, "What, aren't people allowed to win gold here?"

The lizardman's pupils narrowed into thin slits. Those words were practically a challenge. Did this brat really think someone who could run a casino in Sweetdew City would be worth provoking?

"Very well. Let's see just how much you can win."

The lizardman shook the dice cup again. As expected, it came up "high."

The gamblers around the table burst into cheers, practically ready to worship Harvey. Everyone had made a fortune on him.

Harvey looked at the gold without the slightest change in expression. Then he pushed all the winnings back onto the table.

"High," once again.

No one hesitated. Everyone else joined the bet.

The mountain of gold dazzled the lizardman's eyes. If this continued for a few more rounds, his boss might actually go bankrupt.

He shook the dice cup for a prolonged duration, as if he were trying to grind the dice into powder.

The gamblers quickly grew impatient. "Show us the dice!"

"What, can't handle losing?!"

"Hurry up! I'm waiting to win enough to retire and buy a house!"

……

As the crowd grew more and more frenzied, the lizardman had no choice but to slam the dice onto the table once again. Even though he had checked several times that he was correctly rolling "low," the outcome didn't change. It was another win for "high."

"We won!"

"Kid, you must be the God of Gambling!"

"Incredible!"

……

Harvey calmly watched as the lizardman dealer brought out a large chest of gold coins and slowly began paying out the winnings. He moved painfully slowly, counting each coin one by one. In truth, he was trying to stall for time.

He couldn't afford to lose again. If he did, there wouldn't be enough gold left in the casino to pay everyone.

Harvey counted his own winnings. The gold was already enough to equip every member of the Sawtooth Blade tribe with new gear.

But Harvey didn't leave. Instead, he pushed every coin he had back onto the table.

The crowd went wild. There were enough gold coins in the pile to form a small hill. The regulars understood that the casino had likely reached its limit. If they had to keep paying out more gold, the staff would have to contact the casino boss and bring in more gold from elsewhere.

And doing that would mean seriously offending someone powerful.

Harvey glanced at them and said, "What, giving up already? Afraid someone might come after you? You've all lost plenty of money here before, haven't you? Did the house ever worry about you causing trouble? Win or lose, you should always go big. Don't you agree? Come on. Let's bankrupt the casino. That'd be a pretty legendary tale, wouldn't it? Maybe a bard will even sing about it."

His words stirred the crowd. He was right.

No one ever complained about having more gold. And it was hardly as if the casino could refuse to pay up with so many witnesses around.

"I'm in!"

"Damn it, let's go all in!"

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"Yeah! Let's bust the house!"

The crowd slammed their coins onto the table, shouting in unison, "High!"

"High!"

"High!"

"High!"

……

As expected, the dice rolled "high" once again. The lizardman dealer collapsed on the spot. He was done for.

Sawtooth Blade began to feel something was wrong. Yesterday, Harvey had played cautiously. Why was he making such a huge scene today? Although something felt off, she couldn't pull him away in this situation. She walked up beside him and whispered, "This has gotten out of hand. How do we get out of here?"

Harvey reassured her. "The bigger the scene, the better. There are so many people here that the house won't dare refuse to pay. We'll make enough in one go and never come back."

Sawtooth Blade didn't quite believe him, but she had no better option in mind.

Soon, the unconscious dealer was carried away. News spread throughout the tavern, and spectators crowded in until the place was packed. Everyone was waiting for the casino owner to appear.

Before long, a pot-bellied human entered the tavern.

As soon as he walked in, he addressed everyone, "Thank you all for your patronage. Unfortunately, one of our employees had a small accident and isn't feeling well today. We'll end the games here. All your winnings will be paid in full. How about that?"

There were tens of thousands of gold coins at stake. For the adventurers present, that was an unimaginable fortune.

The commission for slaying a legendary sand lizard was only worth a few thousand gold. Who wouldn't be happy to walk away with their winnings?

But just as everyone seemed ready to agree, Harvey spoke up. "Wait. I'm not finished playing yet. Boss, you must have more than one dealer. Swap someone in. Let's keep going."

The casino owner walked over and studied the young mage. "I'm Olevi, head of the Sandthorn Mercenaries of Sweetdew City. You must be new here. If you need anything, just say the word. Let's be friends."

Olevi believed he was being extremely generous. As long as his reputation remained intact, the casino would earn the gold back eventually. Losing several tens of thousands of gold coins hurt, but the losses were still acceptable.

In fact, he even wanted to recruit Harvey. With a gambling prodigy like him around, the other casinos would soon go bankrupt.

He treated Harvey politely, hoping the young mage would show him some respect in turn.

But Harvey seemed determined to escalate. "Casinos don't close down just because the house is losing. Enough talk. Let's continue. I'm not stopping today until I win a solid million gold."

The moment he said that, the other gamblers started backing away.

They finally realized that Harvey had been using them as shields.

He wasn't here to gamble, but rather to provoke Olevi.

Olevi had already offered to pay out tens of thousands of gold. Most of the gamblers were more than satisfied with that. Considering his influence in Sweetdew City, going further certainly wouldn't end well.

Many people hurriedly accepted their winnings and quickly left the tavern. Olevi looked completely unconcerned. The fierce mercenaries beside him made no move to stop them.

Once the first person left, others followed.

The tavern quickly emptied out. Most of the gamblers left immediately, leaving only a few spectators behind.

Only Sawtooth Blade remained by Harvey's side. The female orc was starting to feel nervous. If a fight broke out, she couldn't possibly defeat so many opponents alone.

Even though a few members of her tribe were waiting outside, they would still badly outnumbered.

At that moment, Harvey suddenly turned to her awkwardly. "Sorry, I miscalculated. I thought those gambling addicts would stick around to win a fortune."

Sawtooth Blade ground her teeth. "You did this on purpose!"

She had come to the conclusion that Harvey was deliberately taking advantage of Olevi to escape from her grasp.

Harvey dipped his head at her. Since she had realized what was going on, there was no need to continue the pretense. He stood up and walked over to Olevi. "Can't be helped. I can't beat you one-on-one, after all. For the sake of last night's fond memories, let me go. You can take the gold and leave."

Then he turned to the bewildered Olevi. "Sorry, Mr. Olevi. I borrowed your authority to get out of trouble. I promise I'll earn you ten times the gold you lost today. As for her, please let her take the winnings and leave. Would that be acceptable?"

Olevi hadn't expected such a twist. So the boy had been forced into gambling. In that case, recruiting him became even more of a priority. Properly trained, a gambling prodigy like him could earn more than a dozen of his casinos combined.

"Fine," Olevi said. "Don't worry. From today on, you're under my protection. But as for that orc…" He sneered. "Does she think she'll be able to get away so easily after making such a mess? She'd ruin my reputation in Sweetdew City."

His friendly gaze turned vicious as he stared at Sawtooth Blade.

Harvey frowned. "Mr. Olevi, please. For my sake, let her go. Take the gold back, if you must."

Even though he had managed to escape, Harvey hadn't expected things to spiral out of control. Olevi had agreed to let them leave with the gold beforehand. Why change his mind now?

But Sawtooth Blade wouldn't accept Harvey's compromise, either. She drew a serrated scimitar from her waist and pointed it at Olevi. "Come on. Stop wasting time. Even if I die today, I'll drag you down with me!"

The ferocious orc charged forward before the mercenaries could react.

Her blade traced a crimson arc through the air, aiming straight for Olevi's massive belly as if to split him open.

But Olevi disappeared with a cold laugh.

The man who had been talking moments earlier was only an illusion. Olevi himself was also a mage, and a powerful one at that.

Sawtooth Blade was quickly surrounded by mercenaries. She was locked in a brutal fight, wounds appearing on her body one after another.

Harvey frowned. He hadn't intended for her to get hurt. Unfortunately, he had been too confident in himself.

Harvey sighed. Compared to his master, he was still far too inexperienced.

Taking advantage of the chaos, he slipped a small round object from his pocket and quietly tossed it onto the floor. A cloud of smoke erupted instantly, filling the entire tavern.

This was Harvey's backup plan. He could only hope she managed to escape.