I'm Bid. Beastkin — rabbitfolk, specifically.
Age 16. Prime of my youth, I'll have you know. I'm a Rank IV delver.
I mostly work solo, occasionally jumping in to help out with a party here and there.
For now, I'm not really thinking about joining a party or anything like that.
Well, I'll probably keep things this way for a while.
So right now, I'm in the trade city of Heizen with some friends.
Pretty much in vacation mode, honestly. You could even call it a straight-up trip.
And I've been following along behind Gymnema and Dagaa purely out of curiosity.
I mean — how could I not be curious about what this fish-head and Wof's pet are getting up to?
Of course I'm interested. Absolutely, one hundred percent interested.
So here I am, killing some time while tagging along.
"For the time being, let's say Bid here is serving as the Queen's bodyguard."
"If you need a bodyguard, Gymnema's right here, you know."
"No, no — I am the Queen's servant."
Huh. What now? Servant?
"Wait — Queen?"
"Nah!"
"Then why 'Queen'?"
I know Dagaa's female, but what's this "Queen" business all about?
Then Gimunema flashed a grin. The kind of face that makes you want to punch him.
No wait — the kind of face that makes you want to carve him up.
And on we marched.
The background is screaming "high-crime district" by the way.
That wall over there is half-collapsed and covered in graffiti... I can feel eyes on us.
A bunch of thoroughly thuggish faces are staring our way.
"Hey. That's the Queen."
"That's her?"
"Shh — don't make eye contact."
"Apparently she took out Jinryu's personal guard, Zenwera's crew, and Goro's specialists all at once."
"Th-that's terrifying!"
Wait, what? She took down all three great families? Dagaa did?
Also, I'm pretty sure we're headed straight for the sketchiest part of town.
That building over there is completely collapsed, there's a body in the shadows — oh, she's alive.
I can see what used to be a church, now just ruins, and — yeah,
slums.
That's what this reminds me of.
Well, slums are the same everywhere. Every city has them, no exceptions.
Even Hydrangea, which is relatively pleasant to live in, has its own.
Gimunema stopped walking.
That was... ah, a ruined theater, yeah. Quite the flashy-looking place on the outside.
We, um, headed inside the theater.
He just casually unlocked the door with no issue, but why does that fish-head even have a key?
The theater was — despite being ruined — oddly clean. Like someone had been tidying it up.
But why bother?
Past the entrance hall, down the corridor to the right, there was a staircase leading underground.
Not unusual for a theater, but we went down those stairs and he unlocked another door with a key.
Beyond the door was a room, and — wait, that thing emitting green light was a teleportation circle?!
A teleportation circle in a place like this? Clearly something was off.
Well, in terms of sheer strangeness, it still couldn't beat Wof's house or hideout.
The teleportation circle led to a private room with the same layout. Classic teleportation circle stuff.
When I opened the door, a pair of massive red double doors and a burly man greeted us.
He glared right at us. That guy was strong. Where on earth were we?
"Hey there, thanks for your trouble."
Gimunema handed something to the man. A token... a coin, maybe?
After checking the token, the man said quietly:
"Pass."
The red double doors swung open, and beyond them was — a casino.
A dimly lit space bathed in eerie lights.
But somehow, it still gave off an air of class.
It was the furnishings, the atmosphere... and the unmistakably upper-class clientele.
They were sipping drinks while enjoying roulette, dice, and cards.
This was the city's officially sanctioned secret casino. And only the chosen few were allowed inside.
"What are we even doing in a place like this?"
I asked, growing anxious.
Gymnema answered without batting an eye.
"You'll understand once you watch. Ah — they're here."
Someone was heading our way.
"Well, well, Comrade Fish."
The one who greeted us so casually, looking quite sharp in a black designer suit, was... wait... a crab?
A crab? How should I put this. A crab. A full-on crab.
That person had an entire crab sitting on their head...
Not a crab-shaped head — a whole crab attached at the neck of a human body, forming the face and head.
I'm sure that doesn't make any sense to you.
Honestly, even I'm not sure I understand what I'm saying.
"Ah, Comrade Crab."
The guy with an entire fish for a head was calling out to the guy with an entire crab for a head.
What is this nightmare? And for the record, I haven't taken any drugs.
"Welcome, Queen."
"Na!"
While talking, the crab head's mouth wasn't the only thing moving — its legs were scuttling around too.
More to the point, this crab... judging by the coloring.
"Stream crabs, huh?"
The words blurted out of me before I could stop them.
The crab head turned to look at me.
"Oh. How can you tell?"
"W-well, I used to catch and eat them all the time."
When I was little, just a bit past the slum district there was a forest with a stream running through it.
That's where I'd catch fish and crabs and such. Frying them in natural oil made them taste pretty darn good, actually.
The cooking wasn't done by me, though. There was a kid who was good at that sort of thing.
Come to think of it, she got married and was living happily in some village now, wasn't she.
Sigh. Marriage.
I honestly don't understand marriage at all.
Between the whole romance thing and the party disbanding, I'm still kind of traumatized. Just can't even think about it.
"What a plucky young lady. Allow me to introduce myself. The name's from the Poor Man Club. I'm the owner here."
"Bido. Grade IV delver. Over on this side, that'd be... subjugator, right? That's what I do."
"Oh."
"She's my bodyguard. She's got skills."
"A Grade I seal of approval, then?"
Getting praised like that from a Grade I... somehow, it doesn't really make me happy.
"Oh yeah, I'm going in while still carrying my weapons — is that gonna be alright?"
Poor Man Club said to Gymnema.
"Then, fish comrade. Take Queen to the arena."
"Na!"
"A fight!?"
What the hell was he talking about all of a sudden.
Poor Man Club laughed, "Ahh." His crab claws clicked-clacked.
Kind of annoying.
"When I say fight, nobody gets hurt. It's cards."
"Cards?"
"That's right. Queen conquered Riese's casino, then defeated the qualifiers at Heisen's casino,
earning the right to enter here. Now begins the battle for a right to challenge."
"A right to challenge?"
"The right to challenge the champion."
"...Champion?"
"The Heisen champion of the card game House of Cards."
Seriously, what is this guy on about.
House of Cards.
You build a hand — a "combination" — from three cards, and that determines the winner.
The ways to build a combination are: (1) draw a card from the deck. (2) take a card your opponent discarded.
(3) Use card effects.
There are various types of "hands," huh.
You can reveal even when it's not your turn, as long as you've completed the hand.
If someone reveals, everyone has to reveal.
One game is basically four rolls.
The winner is generally decided by victory count over about four rolls.
When a roll ends, or when the deck runs out, there's a forced reveal.
Cards come in two types: ones you use for "hands," and ones you can't use for "hands."
The ones you can't use are Legacies. They're cards with various effects.
Like skipping a turn, or drawing two cards from the deck.
Or forcing your opponent to discard a card you pick from their hand, or taking one yourself.
When you use a Legacy, it goes to the discard pile — you can't add it to your hand.
However, there are also Legacies that let you pick up and use a Legacy from the discard pile.
Also, you can use Legacies even when it's not your turn.
Worth noting, you can hold up to five cards in your hand at most.
Well, it's one of those card games that's pretty widely known in gambling circles.
The rules are simple enough for delvers to pick up, and people play it a lot in taverns and the like.
Sometimes it even leads to blade wounds, apparently.
Led by the Poor Man Club, we were escorted to a floor one rank above ours.
There was a conspicuously tall counter with a fancy-looking card table up on it.
Three people were already seated, and every last one of them had the kind of face that suggested at least a quirk or two.
Two of Fawn's men. One universal human woman.
Though there was always the possibility Eda was wearing colored contacts, but well, so what.
A cushion was set on the empty seat and Daga sat down.
Every pair of eyes focused on her, and the atmosphere shifted.
The tension was like crossing blades.
They each rolled the dice, and from the highest number down, the dealer distributed the cards.
Daga was second.
She drew a card from the central deck, discarded it, and used a Legacy.
Right away!?
"!"
"!"
"…?"
Everyone reacted.
What Daga used was: draw one more from the deck.
Then discard. The very next moment.
"Na!"
Daga suddenly revealed three cards.
Lined up on them were the illustrations of Pegasus, Chimera, and Griffin.
"The Three Mythical Beasts!?"
And just like that, the "Three Mythical Beasts" hand was confirmed.
A pretty strong hand, all things considered.
"No way!"
"Not bad."
Once one player reveals their cards, everyone has to reveal theirs too.
The other three were all over the place. Nobody had a matching hand.
In other words, this game was a victory for Daga.
"As expected of the Queen."
For some reason, Gimunema was puffing his chest out with pride.
The Poor Man Crab was flailing the crab legs on top of its head while crossing its arms.
"Well now. Fellow fish. So this is the Queen."
"Indeed. Fellow crab. This is the Queen."
"..."
I was completely dumbfounded. Seriously?