Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

"Ha, hahaha... Very good, let's reveal the cards then."

The old orc gentleman's upturned lips revealed a hint of anger as he placed another bet of the same amount.

Ryu stood by and watched silently, and the two then revealed their decks to each other.

The old gentleman naturally chose the gourd.

In contrast, Seele—

Four.

Just as she declared, four "Queen" cards were spread out on the table.

「!?」

Terry and the others were all stunned.

Seeing this deck of cards that was stronger than the old gentleman's, they were speechless for a moment.

"This...this is really a setup..."

All the chips, including the initial bet and the raises, were collected by Seele.

Although the old gentleman managed an awkward smile to ease the tension, his face still burned with anger at the humiliation.

But that anger was immediately replaced by another emotion.

"Wow, darling, look! This time they're all the same color!"

"...!!"

Here we go again.

When Seele smiled and announced her deck, the guests' expressions changed drastically.

Everyone seemed skeptical, their faces a mixture of anger at "how could she be so lucky again?" and confusion at "did she get another good hand?" After falling silent and deciding to fold, Terry gave a wink and signaled the guest with the strongest hand to go and have a match.

"Ah~ I won again."

"...!!"

Seele's hand was exactly as she had declared, so she once again collected all the bets.

At this point, the attitudes of all the guests changed completely.

In other words, people began to doubt whether the girl was truly lucky—and whether she possessed genuine gambling skills.

"Shunzi" (a type of Chinese character)

Seele stopped putting on airs and stopped hiding her true nature.

A cute yet fearless smile bloomed on her face as she once again announced the cards she held in her hand.

"...I...I fold."

"Me too!"

Seele was confident in the hand she announced, and as a result, all the guests chose to avoid a direct confrontation, allowing her to win alone.

But this did not stop Seele's offensive.

"Sanjo."

Seele placed her cards face down on the table, revealing her deck once again.

"Flush"

Her demeanor was calm, dignified, and bold.

"gourd."

Seele won one battle after another. The highest value of chips in the young girl's possession accumulated more and more.

Upon hearing this, Terry's first thought was that Seele and Liu, who was standing behind her, were cheating. He gave a wink to the front and back, and the croupier, who gasped, quickly shook his head, while the human bodyguard silently gave the same response.

For some inexplicable reason, her luck was frighteningly good—while Terry and the others tacitly reached the same conclusion, Seele seemed to read their minds—

"Oh no, this is terrible."

"!"

After all the guests folded and stopped betting, Seele accidentally dropped her hand on the table while returning it to the dealer. The hand laid out before everyone was the worst possible hand.

The guests were stunned by what they saw, and then their faces turned red with anger.

(Idiot! She's provoking me!)

Terry cursed under his breath in frustration, but his companions remained completely oblivious.

The enraged guests ignored Seele's warning and insisted on fighting her, only to suffer a crushing defeat in the blink of an eye.

The guests, speechless and dumbfounded, looked completely bewildered, their minds in utter confusion.

Soon after, the first person to be eliminated was eliminated.

“No, that’s not the case…”

At this moment, the one with an extremely pale face was the old orc gentleman from before.

All the chips that had been there had vanished, and he slumped dejectedly in his chair.

Before Terry and the guests could recover from the shock, Seele, who was calmly continuing to gamble, slowly spoke:

"Have you ever heard of a goddess among the gods who can see through the colors of 'souls'?"

"Seele and Ryu are still in the casino, meow? Are they alright, meow~?"

At the same time that Seele and her friends were gambling, in the bar "The Fertile Mistress"—

Anya said this in a leisurely tone as she washed the pile of dishes in the corner of the kitchen.

"There's nothing to worry about, meow."

"Yes, yes, although it would be bad to be targeted by a large faction (Ganesha), I believe Ryu knows what he's doing."

Both the cat people Chloe and the human girl Lunova firmly believed that Anya was worrying unnecessarily.

As the three diligently washed the dishes, Chloe listlessly continued:

"The cat thinks Seele is definitely slaughtering her opponent, and with that innocent face, she's wearing an incredibly wicked smile, meow..."

Knowing the strength of the young poker player, Chloe said this, and the other two nodded in agreement.

"The cat has forgotten how many times it's lost, and often does the dishes for her, meow...!!"

"Even though your gambling skills are so bad they're almost hopeless... we don't think we have a chance of beating Seele either~"

"You absolutely can't beat her with just a poker face or bragging skills."

Chloe rubbed her face with her hands, foaming her cheeks as she looked up at the ceiling.

Kroy and her friends have always been like this, inevitably suffering defeat in front of smiling girls.

That's right, it's almost as if "everything I have in my possession has already been seen through."

"It feels like I'm gambling with a god who's seen through all the cats' lies, meow..."

In casinos, playing cards with gods at stake always inspires awe.

The reason is that they can see through children's lies.

Therefore, everyone felt that bluffing in front of them was a losing battle from the very beginning.

Seele's inexplicably excellent intuition was almost identical to this situation. The cat-people, the most avid gambler among the waiters, shuddered, pondered for a moment, and then sighed:

"Seele really is a 'witch,' meow."

"Legend has it that this goddess could see through the color changes of the 'soul' and thus understand the thoughts of children."

Under the deliberately dim light of the magic stone lamp, the girl gently traced the outline of the playing cards with her slender fingers. She lowered her eyes and continued in a voice that captivated listeners, a voice that seemed to possess a certain magic:

"Of course, someone like me doesn't possess eyes like this goddess..."

Sheryl, who was captivating the guests' attention, paused briefly before smiling gently.

"But I really enjoy observing people. The more people I meet, the more new discoveries I make... It always feels fresh to me."

The girl had said something similar to a boy before.

But there wasn't a trace of guilt in her tone, like "This is a bad habit," as she slightly narrowed her pale silver eyes, which matched her hair color.

"This hobby could probably be described as 'observing others,' right? As I continue to do this... I've become somewhat able to see through other people's thoughts and understand what they're thinking at the moment."

Upon hearing this, not only the guests, but everyone in the VIP room doubted that they had misheard.

"Whether it's the truth or a lie, anger or sorrow, anxiety or pain... and right or wrong."

Is this statement just empty boasting, or is it an absolute truth?

The guests' doubts had transformed into an inescapable hell of quicksand. Their faces grew increasingly grim, and they broke out in a cold sweat as if forced to jump off a cliff. At this moment, the wealthy Lilliputian was deathly pale, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

"Everyone's eyes always reveal a lot of information."

Standing behind Seele, Ryu couldn't help but feel astonished.

If this is true, it means that Seele can read her opponent's mind simply by observing their expression and eyes. When revealing her hand, if her opponent's eyes waver, she will immediately decide the outcome; otherwise, if they do not waver, she will either exchange cards or fold.

In other words, Seele is essentially able to see the opponent's hand.

This is completely different from the "battle of wits" cultivated by Ryu and possessed by adventurers; it is about unilaterally obtaining information and then crushing the opponent.

Even though Ryu found it hard to believe, Seele's gaze, which seemed to see right through her, remained vivid in her memory. Back then, Seele rarely asked many questions, but whenever Ryu was troubled, she would offer a helping hand with a smile.

"You, you...!?"

Terry, whose cheeks began to twitch, could no longer remain calm.

He, who prides himself on being the king of gambling paradises, and the wealthy tycoons, were actually manipulated and even intimidated by the words of a young girl.

Terry and Seele locked eyes, and he stared directly into her gaze, his throat trembling.

What did those pale silver eyes see?

What is the brilliance hidden deep within those eyes?

What kind of being is she nurturing in her eyes?

(Ugh—what countess! What young and beautiful wife! You damned "witch"!!)

Terry thought of a name similar to that of a certain cat people and clenched his right hand tightly.

Now, apart from Terry, the guests' chips were almost gone. The later added rule, "double the ante when folding," effectively shortened their lives. The heavy burden of forced betting often left them in situations where they didn't have a hand to revive their fortunes, yet they had to compete with others using weak hands. Add to that Seele's perfectly timed moves—as if she had already seen through the strengths and weaknesses of both sides—gently stroking the necks of her fellow players before ruthlessly severing them.

In the first two gambles, Terry and his team suffered heavy losses. That victory and defeat successfully planted an unshakeable mark on everyone's minds. Everyone harbored doubts and fears about her strange predictive card play, causing no one to dare to attack aggressively from the first half of the game, giving up their initial and final chance of victory.

First one, then another distraught guest gave up.

As the gambling game neared its end, the bodyguards and beautiful women could only watch anxiously from the sidelines as the situation took a dramatic turn for the worse.

It's all strategy.

Everything was manipulated by the girl.

(If this continues, I'm doomed to defeat...!)

Terry managed a few wins, but they were nothing more than a desperate struggle. His chips had been reduced by nearly half. This angered him so much that he wanted to crush the cards with his innate (dwarf) grip, but he managed to restrain himself and began the next round of the game, taking the dealt cards from the dealer.

"!"

At this moment, Terry couldn't help but widen his eyes. The first symbol that caught his eye was the Holy Grail, which symbolized blessing, followed by four consecutive "Kings," which meant four of a kind.

——The goddess of victory finally smiled upon me!

Terry was ecstatic. Ironically, this was tantamount to revenge for the outcome of the initial battle.

It seems that God wants Terry to win.

(Whether she can see through my deck or not is no longer important!)

With all his chips up, Terry decided to seize the moment and turn the tide of the battle.

Terry glared at Seele with bloodshot eyes, then handed the game over to his opponent, waiting for her to take the plunge and stand on the guillotine.

"...Change cards."

Faced with the man's sharp gaze, Seele's smile vanished for the first time.

She asked for a change of cards in a calmer tone.