Godfather's System

130. Interlude - Mahruss

Mahruss was exhausted.

Watching people gamble and have fun below him hardly helped him ignore that sensation. The contrast only made him feel wrose. He felt old, and he wasn't even thirty. He wondered just how Euon and Zolast managed it. Yes, their levels were higher — much higher than he initially assumed, as he realized during the dungeon runs — but that clearly didn't help as much.

He had already reached level fifty, yet he was still tired.

His exhaustion was not exactly an unexpected phenomenon. For the last month, he barely managed to sleep a full night's sleep without interruption as he ran around, addressing the crises. It only got more intense several days ago, when his boss dragged him to the dungeon. The dungeon that was still under construction at that point in time.

Through a secret dungeon entrance…

He wasn't even aware that dungeons could have secret entrances until recently, one of the many things he learned. Not that his lack of knowledge was shocking. He was just a child when his family had been … encouraged to migrate to a new land and colonize it.

Living in a village that bordered the wilderness, working as a guard… Hardly a lifestyle that allowed him to accumulate knowledge. He was supposed to live and die like that — a guard, naive and inconsequential. Whether he managed to survive the second forced migration and lived to an old age, or died under the claws of a beast wasn't supposed to matter.

Growing up in a border village, with a common and unimportant class, his destiny was supposed to be set…

Then, one day, he saw an old man at the camp, hiring people to protect a gambling pit… It wasn't exactly the most glamorous job, but at least it paid well.

Mahruss decided to apply as well, deciding that some extra silver would come in handy. Not to mention, he had noticed that old man at the camp before. He didn't look particularly strong — and wasn't that a ridiculously wrong assessment — but he was brave enough to stand against the growing gangs.

And, most importantly, the old man wouldn't let his men get bullied. A good way to spend a few days, until they arrived at the port and got forcibly split up based on the needs and desires of the nobles, with no power to control their own fates.

It turned out to be the opportunity of a lifetime.

He had earned more than twenty levels in less than a month, which was an incredible progress already. He had cleared his second promotion cleared and pushed toward the third one in the process.

That was enough to shock his past self already. Then, there were a selection of rare skills, multiple abilities that would drive a noble crazy, limitless dungeon access. And now, he was the manager of another casino right at the middle of the inner town, a business with the potential to earn more silver than his body weight every single night.

He had received so much from Euon and Zolast. And, all they wanted in return was his loyalty and diligence.

In his opinion, they were seriously overpaying for his worthless skin… But if this was their asking price, Mahruss would pay that gladly.

Even if it cost him everything.

"Yeah, a bit of exhaustion is nothing," he murmured as he shook his head. "Now, focus."

He watched as the employees moved down with surprising precision, as if they had been working in a casino all their lives rather than just a month. Of course, they had been transferred from the other casino at the outer town, which was closed for tonight.

This meant that the casino was currently operating double the necessary workers, but Mahruss had took that decision easily. The first night had to be perfect.

Euon trusted him enough to handle the opening night alone, and he didn't want to screw it up.

He couldn't screw it up.

Then, he turned to table one, which harbored more employees than players and that was not a coincidence. Out of all the tables, it was the most valuable one.

It was the only one that allowed people to play using mana stones. Not actual mana stones, of course, but special blue chips that represented mana stones, exchanged at a counter at the entrance based on the value of the actual stone.

Mahruss had thought about opening more tables, but Euon had vetoed that hard, followed by a long explanation about accumulated wealth, disposable income, and building hype.

Merchant work.

Mahruss knew that, as someone who should be about to reach his third promotion, he was supposed to disdain such work as under his notice no matter how much money it generated. He even might have.

Had he not seen just how strong Euon was during their training.

He was still able to beat all of them without receiving a single blow in return. If a fighter of his caliber didn't have a problem doing merchant work, who was he to turn his nose up to it.

Mahruss stayed on the balcony, the cheers and jeers of the players downstairs sprinkling over him like a drizzle as he watched.

Until he saw a cheater.

He didn't have Perception, which was supposed to make it difficult to catch most of the card tricks that relied on sleight of hand, if not impossible … but after several lessons from Euon, he had stopped following the cards.

Instead, he would follow the money.

Not the occasional big wins landing as a splash. Most of the time, those winners were just lucky. And even if they were actually cheaters, their showy winnings ensured at least one security guard disguised as a waiter watched them carefully for a mistake.

No, he paid attention to the other kind: Careful, with a low presence and even lower bets, but somehow, rather than losing like they were supposed to, steadily winning. Once he noticed such a player, Mahruss would watch them carefully.

He did his best to read their body languages until he could understand their reaction to winning. It was a complicated challenge, but after some lessons from Euon, Mahruss had developed a keen eye for it.

The current cheater, seated at table three, was a particularly bad one, smiling widely whenever he managed to pull a trick that would win him the hand. With that signaling the timing of his trick, even Mahruss was able to see him pulling a card from his sleeve.

He took a note to talk with the dealer. The cheater was good enough to wait until the dealer looked away, but that didn't excuse his mistake.

Some remedial training was in order.

For later.

For the moment, he raised his hand and tapped to the balcony three times with his index finger. A simple yet subtle signal, one that was immediately caught by Dahmut, and he moved to the third table along with two guards, and gently led him to a side room.

Two guards went with him. Dahmut was about to follow, but Mahruss made a gesture, calling him to the balcony. "I'll handle it personally, watch the crowd," Mahruss said.

"You got bored watching the crowd, right?" Dahmut replied, smiling widely.

"Of course not. I just think it's better for you to get used to watching. You'll be responsible for the other location, and some hands-on experience will help."

Dahmut chuckled. "Wow, you sound just like Euon. Did you memorize his words?"

"Just stay and watch," Mahruss responded angrily.

That only made him laugh harder. "Oh, gods. You actually memorized it," Dahmut said. "Oh, come on, no need to pout."

"Just shut up and watch," Mahruss said before he stomped away … not pouting.

Definitely not.

He patrolled the main floor for a long while, rather than immediately going to talk with the cheater. He didn't expect to find another cheater that easily, but a little effort wouldn't hurt.

Not to mention, it would keep the cheater sweating a bit. Another lesson from Euon. Time was on their side when their opponent was uncertain about the situation, their minds working overtime to come up with worse and worse situations as the silence stretched.

Or, put simply…

Let them sweat.

A few minutes later he left the main floor and followed the corridor toward the interrogation room. Two guards were standing outside, the door locked. Mahruss looked through the small one-sided mirror, getting a glimpse of the cheater.

He was calm.

Too calm.

"Did he say anything?" Mahruss asked.

"No, sir. He said nothing even as we cuffed him."

Mahruss nodded, but a frown worked its way to his face. It didn't make sense. "Rakoy, I want you to be clear. Did he say nothing, or did he say nothing important?"

Rakoy paused a moment before answering. "The first one, sir. He said nothing at all."josei

"I want you to call two more guards, and alert Dahmut. Also, just in case, watch the interrogation. If I use my middle finger to scratch my left ear, use one of the non-emergency alert scrolls to call Euon," Mahruss said. Seeing the panic on Rakoy's face, he followed.

"It's probably nothing, but I want to be sure. It's the first night of the casino, and I want it to be perfect."

"As you wish, sir," Rakoy said as he walked away, mollified quickly. Probably because he wasn't trusted enough to receive training from Euon yet, therefore didn't know the significance of alerting him. For him, and most of the others, Euon was the weakest one among the leaders, followed by Karak.

Another big misconception. Even without his arm, Karak could be extremely scary when he got going.

He said nothing, waiting for the two additional guards he requested. They arrived a minute later, accompanied by Dahmut, who looked worried. He had probably noticed the change in Rakoy's demeanor, and wanted to be on the safe side.

Mahruss just nodded to him, silently accepting his presence. Then, he opened the door and walked inside.

The cheater said nothing as Mahruss walked in, not even bothering to change his relaxed pose. Mahruss opened his mouth, about to challenge him as a cheater, but he didn't miss the excited gleam on his face the moment he opened his mouth.

He didn't react like someone afraid of being challenged as a cheater. Rather than saying anything, Mahruss sat across from him. But, as he pulled his chair, he scratched his left ear with his middle finger.

Maybe he was overreacting, but the extreme calm of the cheater unsettled him. At worst, he would be teased by Dahmut about his excessive concern. A far better end than underestimating the situation and ruining the fun.

He sat in front of the cheater, waiting without saying anything … he stayed silent as well. Only when he heard a soft knock on the window, one that followed a certain pattern that both told him that Euon had arrived, and asked him to continue, he opened his mouth to start interrogating.

"I wonder what made you think that cheating in our casino would be a good idea…"