nThe Game Room

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nNow then, with the smithy’s construction started, we also pushed forward our preparations, finishing the game room.

nThough I call it that, it had slots, dice, and other things I put in the dungeon chests a few days ago. Furthermore, the inn even started buying the playing cards for five coppers.

n… The tables were prepared with cloth coverings for the dice and playing cards, just a bare minimum to be acceptable rentals. We also let people bring in their own dice and cards.

nIf someone asked why it took so long even though that’s all there was, I also soundproofed the walls so that it wouldn’t obstruct the guests’ (and my) sleep, adjusted the slots, and developed dice golems for some trickery business. Well, let’s take a look at them one by one.

nSoundproof walls are obvious. For now I just put some sponge that I bought with DP inside the walls and that seems to have done it one way or another. Although it feels like the walls’ thickness increased a bit, they’re still within acceptable levels.

nAdjusting the slots in various ways, I made them rarely be big wins and lose sufficiently. Naturally, it’s at the point that the owner wins when looking at the whole.

nFor the dice golems, they’re insurance for when I use them. When you fill them with magical power, you can make their center of gravity be biased for just ten seconds. After ten seconds, they’re ordinary dice.

nTheir material is transparent crystal. Since they’re filled with oil that has the same refractive index, you can’t see their internal structure at all. Getting that right gave me a really hard time.

nIf people could see it and found out, they’d say something like, “Isn’t this fraud?” Well, it really is though. There’s a famous saying that it isn’t fraud if the fraud isn’t exposed.

nMoreover, they use individual identification through magical power so that other people can’t use them. Golems can distinguish between magical powers. That mechanism can’t be used for dungeon keys or anything though.

nWith all that, I added on the game room. Stealthily, in the dead of night. Since I wasn’t able to sleep through the night and added on to the inn it can’t be helped that I’m lacking sleep. I’ve only slept nine hours today.

n“I’ve been wondering for a while now, but how much sleep per day would satisfy Kehma?”

n“I wonder… I guess twenty-five hours would be best.”

nStill, the world also only had twenty-four hours in a day.

n“… Can you use space-time-type magic?”

nWoah, space-time-type magic reigns supreme. Should I look into it? I’d never have enough DP for it though.

nThen, setting aside that farce, I unveiled the game room.

nOur inn’s frequent guest, Gozoh, arrived immediately. He’s the first guest to commemorate its opening.

n“… Was this here yesterday?”

n“Ah, an A-Rank adventurer’s mage acquaintance made it overnight.”

n“Hooh… It would’ve been great if he took the chance to make Kantra’s smithy too while he was at it.”

n“The commission fee is pretty high. It’s better to make it normally.”

nMoreover, the construction had already started, it’s better to not deprive Carpenter-san of his job.

nMoreover, I don’t want to do any extra work. I don’t want to work. I don’t wanna work!

n“Oi Kehma, what’s this? A room to chat in?”

n“No, it’s a game room. You play dice and cards at those tables. Well, this box is—”

n“And sloooooots!”

nIchika ran past me in the middle of my explanation.

nIncidentally, I raised Ichika and Meat’s wages. It’s something more like pocket money though.

nI give them money that’s simple to understand, and if they want something I’d buy it with DP. Ichika’s basis of food is disappearing. No, it disappeared.

nAs for why that’s past tense, recently Ichika has been waiting for the game room to open, saving up for her slots campaign fund.

n“Hyahha—! Put three copper in! Next, lower the lever! Spin, spin spin—! Ahahahaha! Button, button, push the button! Stop! Tch, one more tiiime~!”

nHer eyes are scary. Fanatical.

nYep, ban the slots… is it already too late?”

n“H-hey, Kehma? That, is it safe? It’s not a dangerous box?”

n“… It’s a slot machine, for gambling.”

nIchika was pulling the slot machine’s lever with all she had, totally addicted. Aren’t guests supposed to be doing that?

n… Well, I’ll let it be.

n“… Changing topics, do you play cards? There aren’t any cards, I’ll play with you.”

n“Hmm? These have been appearing in the dungeon recently. I heard you’d been buying them, but they were for this huh? Please teach me the rules.

nI taught Gozoh how to play poker and blackjack.

nBecause the rules were easy to get, it seemed he liked blackjack.

n“If there were enough people we could play old maid or sevens too.” 1

n“There’s a lot of ways to play with them huh, these card things. You thought up so many ways to play even though it’s only been a few days since they started appearing.”

n“Well, I just obtained a book that showed ways to play. I got it in the dungeon.”

n“I see, so that’s why you started buying them then.”

nFurthermore, they’re one silver if someone wants to buy them. The overcharging is because there still aren’t many of them.

nIt’s a pretty good harvest considering that it only costs 5 DP for adventurers to get them. I’ll be buying them for twenty-five copper eventually, so maybe the final sale price will be around fifty copper?

n“Well then, next is dice bu—”

n“It’s here! YES YES yeeesss! Grand prize! Grand priiize!”

nWhen Ichika shouted out, the jingling sound of copper coins overflowing from the slot machine could be heart… Yeah, I should prepare a box.

n“Ooh!? That’s amazing!”

n“Fufufu… With this I can keep playin’…!”

nThe slot machine’s already spinning though.

n“Hey, let’s give this a bit of a shot. Kehma, how do you use it?”

n“It’s explained on the label here. Well, it’s not that hard. It gives a return depending on the pattern.”

n“Indeed, I see it here. But with an adventurer’s eyes, something at this level is very very simple, mu—gu? T-this is surprisingly difficult…” 2

nSorry. It’s all luck.

n

n*

n

nAfter a while, other hotel guests came arrived as well. Though I say that, there’re only five parties staying here including the merchants, but all of them gathered.

n“Even though that table there is for dice, it has cloth on it eh? Oooi, Doran, got any dice? I’ll be the dealer first, let’s go with hi-lo! 3

n“Do it! Going in turns of being dealer twice should be fine. Anyone else want to join?”

n“Heeeh, those cards were things to play with huh… Maybe I should get some cards of my own too? Next time I’ll not sell them if I find any.”

n“Hohoh, I’d also like to buy a house here…”

n“Gikkon-san, let’s play this Sevens game!”

n“Sure, why not? Does Roppu-san want to join in with us?”

n“Nn, let’s mix up a bit. My partner’s been playing with that box for a while now.”

n“Oh, Gozoh-san? What’s that?”

n“It’s a slot machine! … Oooh, I won!”

nA noisy crowd of people. It was exactly that kind of a feeling. The room is considerably roomy since I made it large thinking about the future, but it’s crowded. Feels great. 4

n“Ugugugu, my slot machine…”

nAnd so, Ichika, who’d tried to monopolize the slot machine despite being an employee, was now taking a break.

nEven though she hit the grand prize, she finished at a plus-minus of zero when all was said and done. People are surrounding it now too. At any rate, it doesn’t look like it’ll open up any time soon. It wouldn’t be good for an employee to occupy it when it’s crowded like that.

n“… The slot machine looks popular huh. Maybe I should make another?”

n“Goshujin-sama! Then definitely, a slot machine for my personal use…!”

nYup, Ichika’s recovered a bit of her true character hasn’t she?

n

nFootnotes:

nOld maid. Sevens.

nHe’s talking about stopping them at the right time with the button.

nHi-lo.

nThe word he uses for crowded also means to prosper

/thrive. It’s Crowded with a positive connotation.

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