Paktos.
A merchant city within the Mercouri Territory.
It is a very diverse town with many people and money gathers.
Iris and I went there.
Iris is wearing adventurer clothes hiding the fact that she is Princess Iris.
I clad myself with a cloak with the two Demon Swords dangling on my sides.
「This is where the fake notes came from huh」
「It is, according to Delfina」
「However, that woman has only found out that it is coming from Paktos, but how will we search for it?」
「I have something in mind」
「Really?」
Iris took attention.
I have a favorite pattern in these kinds of situations.
Money laundering of the fake notes, or a place where people who do not have money suddenly comes out with tons of money.
That isーー.
I shook the hand of the lookout with a few coins as bribe and entered the building.
We entered underground once, passed through a winding underpass, and went up.
And then, we arrived at a different room.
It is fairly wide, but there were so many people making the room’s atmosphere worse instead.
It had smoke several times of that of a mahjong parlor and several times darker. It was that kind of room.
「This is the gambling den huh」
Iris asked while covering her nose and mouth.
As a princess, she probably had never experienced such a bad environment.
「Looks like it」
There were several crowds inside the room and each of them are doing their own gambling.
They were doing the same thing in all groups, they are dice-gambling.
「This kinds of things surpasses worlds and are common huh」
「Did you say something?」
「No, it’s nothing」
I just feel a little impressed.
「Rather than that, is there a clue here?」
「Yeah. Gambles are the best way to circulate money without going through the form of goods. In this kind of place, tons of money moves and even so, it would be difficult to track. Gambling itself is being regulated by Mercouri right?」
「Yeah, we have issued twelve bans in the past three years」
「And the result?」
「……there was nothing much」
Iris said frustratingly.
Well, of course. A situation where they need to release bans so frequently, it just shows that there was no effect.
It is probably frustrating as the Princess Iris of the Twin Flowers who is engaged domestic affairs.
「Don’t be discouraged. I’ll also take care of this sometime in the future. Let’s focus in our current case first. A place where the Kingdom’s influence is hard to reach. Isn’t it a place that is the best for moving money from unknown sources?」
「I see, that’s true」
Iris nodded in understanding.
「Well then, let’s wait for the clue to come while gambling」
「Is it not faster to just ask them?」
「They’ll get cautious if we do that」
I said that and joined one of the groups.
I forced my way into the front line.
There is the dicer man in the middle and have two bodyguard-seeming guys on his sides.
The dicer took a glance towards me.
「Are you doing?」
「Yeah, what’s the rule?」
「You can tell just by looking」
After the dicer said that, he skillfully scooped up the two dices with a pot woven with wood bark, and shook it in the air.
And “Don!”, he slams it overturned onto the ground, and the dices sounded “GaraGara” again and finally stopped.
After that, the gamblers started to bet odd and even one next to the other.
What they’re using are the newly issued Mercouri notes.
The pot was opened.
「One・Three, Even」
Half of the customers won, and half of them were frustrated.
「It’s like that」
「I got it pretty much」
「Are you doing it?」
Iris asked me with a whisper.
「Yeah」
I took out Mercouri notes and started to gamble, mixing in with the gamblers.
I could hear Hikari’s cute, excited voice inside my head.
Hikari is enjoying inside of my head.
『Even! Next is even』
『Next is……odd!』
『Next is odd! No, it’s even after all』
I placed my bet in the dice game following Hikari’s voice.
I won decently, but I’ve lost in the total.
『U〜n, this, it’s difficult』
『It is not like there is no sure-win method』
『Is that true, Okasan?!』
『Umu, I mean, if this guy wanted to, he would win for sure』
『Is that true, Otou-san?』
I could feel Hikari’s thrilled emotion and her excited voice.
Well, yeah, if I’m asked whether I could win or not, I could win.
『Oh〜, as expected of Otou-san. But how will you do it?』
Let me see, just look.
The pot was shaken, the dices stopped.
Odd.
I predicted in my head.
I bet in even.
The pot was removed, it’s odd.
『Oh〜』
The pot was shaken, the dices stopped.
This time it’s even.
I also bet on even this time.
The pot was removed, it’s even.
『Waa〜! Amazing. Otou-san, how did you do it?』
I just concentrated and listened to the dices’ sound.
All of the dices have a different number of holes in each side. One of them would hit the floor for sureーーit means, you can tell pretty much what’s coming by listening.
It is nothing much if you have hearing that is multiplied 777 times.
Although I predicted it correctly 100%, I repeated winning and losing in the actual bet.
I try to lose consecutively from time to time and then take back a little.
I did not forget to fake it that I’m losing in total.
Anyways, I continued the objective of not standing out.
A man sat on my side. The dicer made an amazed face.
「You came again?」
「Shut up, this time I’m gonna win for sure」
「That’s fine, but do you really have the money? We only accept cash bro」
「Look」
The man threw out folded paper notes as if to show it off.
「Do you have any problem?」
「Not at all」
The dicer skillfully scooped the dice and slammed it onto the floor upturned while it continued to shake.
『Oi』
I know.
I already saw it even if Eleanor doesn’t tell me.
The Mercouri notes that the man took out.
They were fake notes that did not have one of the『Kakeru Yuuki』.
The clue, I finally found you.