A journey to another world starting from a sword

No matter what, 30 million chips is still a bit too much.

Then Argo added very reliably, "I'll check with my client about that; I think 'she' would also be very interested in making the other side lose face."

Chapter 145: He never intended for you to win.

"she......"

Everyone knew that the other party was a woman, but Argo still maintained a smiling expression, probably because she knew that no one else could guess what the client really looked like.

There is still a big gap between imagination and reality.

“But you two should at least disguise yourselves a little,” Argo pointed out. “Speaking of which, it’s summer already, why are you two still dressed so thickly?”

She was referring to Dante and Mitt, who were still fully equipped with their armor and protective gear, having removed their cloaks and capes. As for the others, they had already changed into more casual clothes because the seventh floor was just too hot.

"No, it's still the cold month of January," Dante mused, "it's just that this floor is a perpetually summery floor, defying the laws of nature."

“Yes, why don’t you two change into summer clothes together?” Asuna, wearing a white dress, immediately said to Dante and Mito.

"Oh." Dante then brought up the equipment doll, pressed the button next to it to activate the full armor, and was left wearing only a white long-sleeved shirt and black trousers.

Although Mitt didn't say it, he removed his equipment just like Dante.

"anything else?"

Upon hearing Asuna's words, Dante and Mito exchanged bewildered glances. Then, after looking down at his own body, Dante said to Asuna incredulously.

“If I take off any more clothes, I’ll have nothing left.”

The next instant, Asuna's eyebrows shot up.

"Nobody told you to take your clothes off! They just wanted you to change your clothes!"

“Ha... After all, Dante is a boy too.” Silica sighed softly, nodding repeatedly, instantly understanding.

"Yeah, right." "Indeed, you can't expect boys to have any extra clothes." "As expected of a boy."

“But... well, wow, it’s amazing how it fills out the clothes.” Jeliska said slowly, carefully choosing her words, her eyes fixed in amazement on the white linen top with its defined lines and contours, her gaze... much like Dante’s when he occasionally caught a glimpse of her chest.

"That's right! This guy is pretty amazing when he's not wearing it!" Lisbeth exclaimed, practically giving him a thumbs up.

"Liz!" "Miss Liz!"

Lisbeth shrank back and muttered, "Anyway, we might see him again in the future. Among us, only Miss Jeliska and Koharu have never seen him naked."

"Naked body?!" Xiaochun covered her mouth, her mind reeling, and she was having all sorts of erotic fantasies.

"No, no, no, at least we're wearing shorts," Lingyin hurriedly explained. It wouldn't be good if the newcomers misunderstood their guild as some strange group, though that's what she thought...

"Please say swimming trunks, please," Dante corrected, speechless. This was definitely intentional.

“…” Lingyin blinked and gently stuck out her tongue.

"Mite, don't you have any clothes either?" Asuna asked Mito, ignoring her family members' playful antics.

“We don’t need that kind of unnecessary stuff.” Mito shook her head and answered seriously. She had told Asuna before that pretty clothes and the like were unnecessary in SAO.

Aside from upgrading and strengthening her equipment, she didn't have much desire for other things. As for Asuna... well, she just mentioned that last time.

Then Mito started complaining to Asuna, which made Asuna give a wry smile of fear.

"Haha, Xiaoya asked me to help her collect rare materials and items suitable for making clothes," Argo added from the side.

As for who to give it to after collecting it, there's no doubt it will be Ashurai. Ashurai has a good relationship with the girls in the guild, and there are very few female players in SAO to begin with, plus everyone there is kind and good-hearted.

As part of a normal commission, Ashurai wouldn't mind taking their orders, even if they were for ordinary materials.

It's important to know that other players who ask Dante to act as an intermediary and have this master tailor make their equipment must first prepare the highest-level materials available to them; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to offer them to him.

After some commotion, Argo brought up the original topic: "Anyway, if you want to pretend you'll keep gambling, you'd better put some effort into your attire."

Everyone fell silent, while Dante raised an eyebrow and said, "For example?"

For example—dressing up formally!

-----------------

“This kind of clothing is completely unsuitable for combat.” Mi twisted his body, which was dressed in a black suit, in a particularly awkward way.

"Honestly, you're saying things like that again." Asuna's tone was somewhat indulgent. "It suits you very well."

She smiled with relief, "I didn't expect that asking Miss Ashura at the last minute would result in such beautiful clothes being made."

The silk fabric has a unique ebony-colored, warm luster, and the open-back design makes the snow-white skin appear even whiter. The dark lace pattern extends from the waist to the train, blooming with ethereal folds as you walk.

Of course, Asuna was also wearing a lovely white dress that was just as stunning as Mito's, with silk sleeves that slid down half an inch from her forearm to reveal a platinum chain on her wrist.

According to Argo, the NPCs created by the wealthy can recognize the material of the player's clothes at a glance, so the fabric used for the clothes worn by the two players was elven silk obtained by completing a rare quest from the elf "Char" on the sixth floor.

“…” Mito shyly turned her head away and muttered softly, “That’s because Asuna is already used to it.”

After all, Asuna is the young lady of "RECT," so she must have experienced many occasions where she needed to wear this kind of clothing.

For Mitt herself, this was the first time she had ever worn such a long dress that made her back feel cool.

"Don't worry, Miss Ashley said Dante's clothes will be ready this afternoon, and he'll wear them later." Asuna suddenly smiled, whether she heard her or not.

The material of the last celebration dress wasn't particularly good, so Asuna also made one for someone else. The three of them discussed and chose the style and design together.

Then Asuna took a step forward and took Mito's hand. "Let's go, it'll just be the two of us today. Ah, it feels like it's been so long since we've had this."

Dante, Asuna, and Mito decided to take turns leading the others to the training area to gain experience each day. This was because they were the three strongest members, or rather, the three who truly excelled in both PvE and PvP, and they needed someone to accompany them to ensure their safety.

Currently, there is a large-scale quest involving spirits. In the past few days, the guild's main task has been to help everyone else catch up with Dante and Asuna's quest progress. As for Mito, he can complete it on his own, so there is no need to worry about him.

Today it was Dante's turn to lead the others to the lower levels, so only Asuna and Mito were responsible for gambling at the casino.

After entering the monster arena on the first basement level, Asuna glanced at the cage below, then looked around at the NPCs, most of whom were dressed in formal attire. After noticing that there were few people around them—because they had deliberately chosen a secluded spot, and this kind of outcome-based gambling didn't require a good location.

"Mite."

"What?" Mitt subtly adjusted his posture because of the unfamiliar clothes, then responded calmly.

"How will this scam end?" Asuna asked in a low voice. "If the final prediction is wrong, wouldn't betting on the opposite side guarantee a win?"

“Actually, that’s what I was thinking too.” Mitt pulled out the odds table and pointed it out to Asuna, just like someone had shown it to her yesterday.

Below the odds table, the rules of the arena are listed in tiny print, as if they were meant to be ignored.

One of the rules is that "if both monsters are simultaneously rendered unable to fight after three minutes, or if both monsters die simultaneously, it will be considered that no one has won, and the tickets cannot be exchanged for chips."

So, if a player loses their first gamble and then thinks they've figured out the casino's trick and prepares to bet on the opposite side next time, they're making a big mistake.

Because no matter which side you bet on, you'll lose in the end.

Chapter 146: Planning and Implementation

Even the strategy of having two groups bet on both sides at the same time is not feasible, and only a few can truly control their greed and stop in time, because at this stage, most players have to participate in the final round if they want to exchange for the sword worth 100,000 chips.

Currently, only two guilds have the capacity to organize large-scale investment. Even so, there is still a certain risk. At least the Aincrad Alliance does not have the courage to invest all its funds.

"Only one minute left before the ticket sales close!"

As soon as the NPC in charge of the event finished speaking, Asuna and Mito noticed that the old gentleman, guarded by four men in black, was entering through the open door.

The three-piece suit fit his tall, thin body perfectly, and his mustache was neatly trimmed, but his stern face looked stingy and mean no matter how you looked at it.

"Mite?"

"Hmm, he might be one of the casino's owners."

Although Mito didn't know why the other person was there, the other person walked straight past the NPC guests and into the VIP private room located at a high place, so that she and Asuna couldn't see the other person without turning around, so they gave up the idea of ​​finding out.

Speaking of which, she actually saw the gray-haired player she had met yesterday again on the other side. Mito wasn't sure if Asuna had seen her, but she was able to see her even from a considerable distance because of her "targeting" skill.

The bell, signaling the start of the match, rang three times. Mitt stopped looking around and focused on the announcement of the match results.

As expected.

When the result of the third match was finalized, Asuna let out a long sigh, "I'm starting to understand a little why gambling is so appealing."

The initial 50,000 chips increased 2.78 times, and after deducting transaction fees, they became more than 120,000 chips, or 12 million Ke'er chips.

Unfortunately, these chips don't amount to much of value at the casino's prize redemption counter, partly because the casino sets the redemption price of prizes higher than their actual value.

On the other hand, it's also because players' purchasing power is not high at present. Even if the "Wolbda Sword" is discounted by 90% for a long time, players who have completed SAO will still not be able to afford it.

“Let’s go out too.” Mito smiled at Asuna, as if he had been relieved of a heavy burden. “I feel so uncomfortable wearing this outfit. I can’t feel any weight. It’s like I’m not wearing any clothes at all. There’s also a vague feeling of being restricted. I definitely prefer to wear looser clothes.”

"Hehehe..." Asuna chuckled, sniffling, "That's so Mito's style, isn't it...?"

As they exchanged their tickets for chips, the pretty woman in the bow tie deftly retrieved 50,000 VC chips from under the counter, while she and her colleague bowed deeply.

"Dear guest, you have won 40,000 chips from the casino. For every 30,000 you win, the casino will give you a pass to our private beach. Would you like to redeem it?"

"?" Asuna silently wondered, "What did you just say? A private beach?"

"Yes," the older sister replied with a beaming smile, displaying remarkable professionalism.

"...?" Mito also had doubts. He quietly tugged at Asuna and whispered in her ear, "I remember that before you only needed to win 3,000. It seems that this is different from the closed beta."

She had originally thought that if even the Monster Arena had changed from one match per day during the closed beta to two matches, one during the day and one at night, then other places would definitely change as well.

After giving a soft "Hmm" to indicate that she understood, Asuna suddenly remembered something else. "Um, may I ask you something?"

Then she took out the reward booklet, pointed to the second reward, the seaside villa, and asked the NPC lady, "This one! The villa is over by the beach, right?"

"Yes."

"Does having this villa mean I can freely go in and out of the beach?" Asuna looked up at the staff.

"Yes."

"Hmm!" Asuna nodded in satisfaction. She was about to shout "That's great!" when she stopped herself and gracefully accepted the chips, maintaining her ladylike demeanor.

And he instructed the NPC lady to bring over the VIP pass, so that even if they didn't need it, they could sell it, and they wouldn't lose money either way.

The NPC handed over a pitch-black card with both hands. The material was certainly not plastic, but the smooth texture it had to the touch didn't feel like wood, metal, or paper.

The black surface is painted with the emblem of the grand casino—a symbol composed of flowers and a dragon.

-----------------

“My client said that the old man who used tricks is a rather greedy and cautious fellow. He won’t care about winning small amounts of money, but if he can make 50,000 chips at once, he will come to the scene to verify it. Who knows what might happen if the amount is larger.”

Argo brought back news that evening, and everyone in the guild sat in the guild leader's room to participate in the meeting.

"So, I need to stop when I've made 50,000 chips in one go..." Dante pondered, resting his head on the back of the sofa.

“It seems we’ll have to split our bets.” Argo nodded. “As long as we don’t attract their attention, we should be able to place our bets one by one without any problems. Just in case, it’s best not to stay together in the casino, especially not in front of them.”

“And that means we’ll have to call more people for the later matches,” Dante said, looking at the others. “Yuna and Ashura should be happy to help, and they won’t gossip about it.”

“Should I call Lizbeth over?” Lizbeth suggested, raising her hand.

“Miss Liting’s words are indeed very reliable,” Asuna said, turning to Dante.

"Yes," Dante nodded in response.

Excluding Argo, who cannot gamble, there are Asuna, Mito, Silica, Lingyin, Lisbeth, Jelisca, Koharu, Yuna, Ashurai, and Liting, making a total of eleven people.

When you win over 700,000 on the fifth time, you should start to pay attention. After that, each person can only bet about 30,000 chips, and each time you can win nearly 500,000 chips.

By the ninth round, the total number of chips reached 2.7 million, which was much less than expected, but enough to clear out the prize display case.

-----------------

Everything went as planned, except that the gambling at the casino suddenly became a public activity of the guild.

During the fourth show that evening, Ashurai, who had come to join in the fun, also joined in. Yuna is a good girl, so she won't let her participate in the night show for the time being. Ashurai came mainly to deliver clothes.

"Hmph, looking at it this way, it's true what they say, clothes make the man and a saddle makes the horse." Humming a little tune, he carefully straightened his tie, trying to straighten the wrinkles, while Asuna forcefully pulled his neck down and fiddled with it. Dante's mind was filled with thoughts of this proverb from Japan.

"Is that a compliment?" Dante muttered to himself, then tried to keep his eyes from looking down.

Ashura's work was so stunning that his gaze was constantly drawn to the white stockings beneath Asuna's white dress.

The sheer fabric at the top of the stockings is layered with three-finger-wide lace trim, subtly revealing the warm color of the skin. The semi-transparent fabric ripples at the knee, flowing down the slender calves and gathering into a lilac pattern of lace above the ankle.

Not to mention, when the night breeze lifts her skirt, the cool moonlight blends into a hazy mist two inches above her knees, absolutely beautiful.

Asuna used lace garters to prevent her stockings from slipping down, while Mito went a little further, wearing black garter stockings!

Six thin gold chains woven into the halter straps extend upwards along the thigh line, faintly revealing sapphire buckles before disappearing into the shadow of the skirt hem, and silver bells hanging from the ends of the halter straps jingle softly as she walks.