How can you become stronger if you don't build up bonds?

From a distance, Haug Kroh has inherited his father's good looks, with a rather handsome face.

However, upon closer inspection, one can see that his core has long been hollowed out by wine and women.

Despite being in the prime of her thirties, she already showed signs of hair loss, had sunken eyes, a sallow, oily sheen on her face, and an unnatural flush on her cheeks.

He was quite excited at the moment because the green-haired woman opposite him was very much to his liking. Although her features and figure were not particularly stunning, she exuded an alluring sense of purity.

Most importantly, there was a faint magical fluctuation beneath her simple robe.

A pure and innocent spellcaster, untouched by the ways of the world—this is the type of woman that Haug could dream of.

"Want to continue, Miss Shulia? You've already lost five games in a row. I don't know how you got your wages from the farmers, but I suggest you take out all the remaining chips at once. Playing small games all the time is getting a bit boring, isn't it?"

Despite having two female dealers by his side, Baron Haug insisted on running the game himself.

He seemed completely unconcerned about the stares of others. Whenever there was a break between games, he would put his arms around the slender waists of the two female dealers and then flirt with them in front of everyone.

Whenever Shulia across from him showed an expression that aroused him, his hands would explore downwards again until they exceeded the two female dealers' limits of patience and disrupted the order of the game.

"I can't stand it!"

Doss covered her eyes with her hands, furious at the sight. The direct reason she had left the casino was Haug's harassment of her.

Tina couldn't stand the scene either; compared to Hauge, Lin Wei seemed like a good guy.

However, Lin Wei's attention was not on Hauge's actions, but rather on observing the onlookers around him.

Most of these people were natives of Lyca, and their expressions and reactions seemed somewhat contradictory.

On the one hand, they were disgusted by Hauge's outrageous behavior, but on the other hand, their instincts compelled them to continue watching.

Haug likely made this a distinctive feature of his casino, which is why it doesn't need additional decorations or fancy facilities to continuously attract people to play.

"Doss, what do the wages tokens in the farmers' hands mean?"

"I think I've heard someone mention this before. Give me five minutes, I'll go ask them." Doss ran off to ask someone.

The attendant named Shulia did not answer Hauge's question. She looked down at the dice cup in front of her, as if she had doubts about the gambling equipment here.

"Miss Shulia, are you doubting my credibility as a baron? Would I really tamper with the gambling equipment just for the few chips you have?"

Haug seemed to be amused by Shuliya.

"If you really don't believe me, I can let you exchange them for other dice and dice cups. This baron is always reasonable."

Shuliya was not affected by Haug's words and calmly and earnestly proposed to replace the equipment.

"Oh? So, Miss Shuliya wants what I have here? Hehe, that's not impossible."

Haug withdrew his hand from the female dealer, rubbed his fingers together with a hint of relish, and then picked up his dice cup and handed it to Shulia.

Upon seeing the dice cup handed to her by Hauge, Shulia frowned noticeably for the first time.

She wasn't blind; she knew what Haug's hands were doing. In the end, she gave up on Haug's dice cup and chose to get a new one.

Seeing that Shulia refused to take anything he had touched, Haug revealed a lewd smile, his perverse sense of pleasure satisfied.

"How about this, Miss Shulia? I can double the value of your wages chips. Would that be enough to get you to use all your remaining funds to play a couple of rounds with me?"

Shulia pondered in silence until she heard Lillian yawn in a childish voice behind her. Only then did she finally nod and take out the remaining 12 chips, each worth 1 gold coin, from her pocket.

"Tsk tsk, not bad at all. I'll multiply it by 1.5 for you. Someone, give my beautiful guest another 6 chips."

Just then, Doss returned and brought Lin Wei detailed information about the wage chips.

"Here's what happened: four months ago, Baron Hauge hired more than twenty farmers to help him renovate his manor at a rate of 4 gold coins per person."

The farmers worked hard for him from dawn till dusk for three months, but after the project was completed, he delayed paying them their wages for a long time, citing insufficient working capital.

To appease the farmers, Baron Haug offered to use his casino chips as payment. The 4 gold coins of wages could be exchanged for 6 gold coins of chips, and the farmers could also enjoy free drinks at the casino.

"It's not that I don't have the money to pay wages, but the Kingdom's laws stipulate that casinos must have a regulated deposit in their accounts. At the time, I put most of my working capital in there for convenience, which led to the cash flow problems."

If you're willing to pay through the casino, I guarantee you'll get your wages in a month.

At the same time, I warmly welcome you to relax and have fun at my casino. For this, I can offer you many discounts and extra services.

After deducting the initial capital of 6 gold coins, your remaining profits can be settled on the spot on a one-to-one basis.

If you lose part of your wages, I will return the rest proportionally a month later. I will never exploit you.

This Baron declares in conclusion that I have no intention of forcing you to gamble. You can take your chips and wait at home for a month to receive your wages.

Also, these wage chips have special markings I left, so I hope you won't try anything funny.

These were Baron Hauge's exact words at the time.

Doss was an excellent intelligence agent who managed to get a clear picture of the cause of the incident from one of the parties involved.

"Of course, the final result was... no farmer was able to withdraw the extra winnings; only those who gambled more and lost more, and those who didn't have time to gamble because their families strongly opposed it."

But then Baron Haug came up with a new trick. He organized a "refer a new customer and get free chips" event. Almost everyone who had lost all their wages and chips participated in the event. It was around that time that the casino GG on the streets of Scar Town started to appear.

Miss Shuliya seems to have bought up all the remaining wage chips, according to the proportion set by Baron Haug.

This is certainly an act of charity, but... I'm so afraid she'll get caught up in it too...

Doss added with considerable concern.

"How do you think the kingdom's upper echelons will handle this?" Lin Wei suddenly asked Doss.

"Baron Hauge... has gone too far. He will definitely lose his baronial title. As for the rest... there shouldn't be any more problems. After all, everyone in Scar Town remembers the kindness of Lord Fugen and Lord Toronto. His Majesty the King only stripped him of his title last time after the three-year probation period was over."

Doss's attitude was clear: even though she vehemently disliked Haug Koro, she wouldn't imagine any more severe punishment.

Lin Wei remained silent and continued to observe the gambling game ahead.

This time, Shuliya directly took out 10 gold coins as chips and continued to play the simplest game with Hauge: rolling dice to see who was bigger.

Shuliya and Haug stopped playing their dice cups one after the other.

"Come on, open it!"

Haug was the first to open the lid of the dice cup. There were six dice in the cup, with the numbers 2, 3, 4, 3, 1, and 2, for a total of 15 points.

"Miss Shulia will definitely win this time. The probability of the total number of points on the six dice being greater than or equal to 15 is more than 90%!" Doss calculated very quickly.

Those around her also felt that Shuliya had a great chance of winning.

But Haug still had that confident expression, and after opening the cup, his hand immediately went to the female dealer.

Shuliya repeatedly confirmed that no one had disturbed the dice cup in her hand before she opened the lid.

"What?!"

"How could I be so unlucky!"

"Oh my god—"

Shuliya's points were a staggering 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 3, for a total of 11 points.

"Hahaha—" Hauge let out a triumphant laugh.

"I'm sorry, Miss Shulia, although my luck is terrible, yours is even worse. I'll gladly accept these chips."

Shulia watched silently as the dealer took all the chips from the center of the table and placed them on Hauge's side.

"Keep going, Miss Shulia. I think your luck will turn around next round."

If you're interested, we can add some fun things, like you taking off your shoes as a wager, and I'll give you 20 chips.

This baron has always had a slight obsession with beautiful ladies' shoes~

Haug's words successfully brought the atmosphere of the betting game to a climax.

A pair of worn shoes is worth 20 gold coins, which is an absolutely insane conversion rate.

Judging from the reactions of those around him, this wasn't the first time he'd pulled this stunt, and he'd probably win more often than he'd lose.

"Baron Hauge may indeed be protected by the heroic spirits of Lord Toronto and Lord Fugen..."

Lin, aren't you related to Miss Shulia? Why don't you go up and persuade Miss Shulia to stop... Baron Hauge's betting requests will become increasingly strange, and those deeply involved in gambling have very little judgment. If they accidentally agree to his demands, it will be disastrous..."

Doss seemed to be getting quite exhausted from watching.

But Lin Wei was waiting.

Waiting for Lillian to take action.

Although he had no idea what Lillian was up to, coming to this casino must have been Lillian's idea.

Shulia was not affected by Haug's flippant remarks, but she did not respond and just stood silently in front of the gambling table.

Just then, Lillian moved.

She awkwardly jumped off the bar stool, her soft, loose blue hair clinging to her pink cheeks as if stuck together with sweat.

She first shoved the empty juice glass into the hand of the female croupier who had been watching over her, then staggered over to Shulia's side.

She was only half a head taller than the gambling table, and immediately hugged Shuliya's long left leg, rubbing her little head against her skirt:

"Sister, I'm sleepy..."

Her sweet, childlike voice seemed to have a magical power; the moment she opened her mouth, the originally noisy gambling table environment immediately quieted down.

"Well..."

Haug seemed to have a momentary lapse of judgment, staring at Lillian's small figure for several seconds before remembering what he was going to say next:

"I have a special room here for her to rest. I'll have the dealer take her there to rest."

"No, I want to stay with my sister—"

Haug frowned. His plan to seduce women had only just begun; how could he possibly abandon it all because of a child's interference?

But immediately, Lillian's next words filled him with ecstatic joy.

"Sister, hurry up and win all the money from that weird uncle over there, then we'll go back to sleep..."

This kid's got it!

"What can I say, Miss Shulia? Aren't you going to grant your sister's wish?" Haug's smile widened.

"Despicable! They actually used a child!" Doss exclaimed, stamping her feet in frustration.

Shulia silently pushed the eight chips she had left onto the center of the table, indicating that she would continue.

"Don't you count the shoes? Eight chips are too few!" Haug continued to demand.

But Lillian answered his question: "Can I exchange my shoes for money?"

"Fine, my little sister is so cute, the shoes will also be worth 20 gold coins, let's bet both pairs of shoes together!" Haug was already resorting to any means necessary.

"Okay." Shuliya only uttered this one word, as if she was completely intoxicated.

"Good, good, good! A total of 48 chips, push them up!"

The dealer pushed a third of the chips in front of him away.

Both sides began to roll the dice.

Haug, just like before, finished shaking it very quickly.

Shuliya hesitated for more than ten seconds, and even let her younger sister, who was half-asleep and had her eyes half-open, touch the dice cup.

"Shall I go first?"

"Um."

"no problem."

Haug opened the dice cup: 6, 5, 5, 6, 3, 6, total 31!

"Hahaha!" Haug burst into laughter as soon as the number came out.

"It's over..."

Doss slapped herself on the forehead, almost losing her balance.

"Aren't you going to open it yet, Miss Shulia?" Haug urged.

As Shuliya slowly opened the dice cup, the smile on Haug's face gradually disappeared the moment the six numbers appeared under the light.

6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 3, a total of 32 points, exactly 1 point larger than his.

"Oh my god! The delivery is here!" Doss jumped up excitedly immediately.

"Stop! Stop! Lin, tell your family to stop. It's best to end this here!"

Previously, Doss had been advising Lin Wei to stop standing by, and now she went directly behind Lin Wei and started pushing him.

But it was precisely her commotion that drew Lillian's attention to the commotion.

Two pairs of black eyes met directly at that moment.

Lillian was stunned.

The next second, she rubbed her eyes and found that the face she had been longing for had not disappeared, but instead gave her the same doting smile as before.

Lillian released Shulia's leg and charged towards them with all her might.

The surprise and affection in that innocent and adorable voice instantly melted Lin Wei's heart:

"Uncle—~~~"

The moment Lin Wei precisely caught Lillian's soft, fragrant little body, Lillian's control panel automatically popped up in front of his eyes.

[Name: Lillian Creddy] [Level: 5/100]

Wallis, Lucky Star, Admiration Rating: 95%

"Lucky Star": A person blessed by the world with great fortune, who can share good luck with those around them.

'Lucky Star' Blessing (1/2): Complete wish missions with 'Lucky Star' units to obtain [Lucky Fragments]. Use [Lucky Fragments] to exchange for many wonderful loot.