Goddess Kaleidoscope

After wandering around for a bit, Lude decided to play a game called "Cardfight," which is similar to blackjack in that the dealer deals cards and the players tally up their numbers to compare. However, the difference is that after each round of dealing, the dealer flips a coin to determine whether the round ends in a tie or a tie, and the cards are either black or red. Black cards can be kept face down or turned face up as an attack, using their numbers to reduce your own or your opponent's score, making it more unpredictable than blackjack.

After Lude sat down, he looked around. There were five gamblers at the table, among whom a burly man with a pipe in his mouth looked the most arrogant. When Lude looked at him, the man immediately glared back defiantly.

Since Ludwig's original intention was to "scout out" the place, he planned to pretend to play for a while first, and then wander around the casino.

Whether it was intentional on the part of the casino or simply good luck, Lude had incredible luck today, winning all four hands in a row and doubling his chips in the blink of an eye.

Winning money seems like a good thing at first glance, but winning four consecutive rounds made the other gamblers at the table look rather grim, especially the big man who clearly had a bad temper. He had lost the most in these rounds, and his chips had been visibly decreasing ever since Lu De sat down.

If Lude were to get up and leave at this moment, he was worried that the man would rush up and cause him a lot of trouble.

"Damn it! I really want to lose money!"

However, despite thinking this way, Lude still won big in the fifth hand. The dealer dealt him three red cards with the highest points, which was a decisive victory. Not only did he win without penalty, but the other losers also had to pay double.

Lude's incredibly lucky "perfect hand" caused the big man with the pipe to explode on the spot.

"You little brat, you're something else!"

End of this chapter

Having lost five consecutive games to Lu De, each one more absurd than the last, the burly man was clearly getting impatient and jumped up from his seat. The foreman, who hadn't gone far, saw this and quickly went to calm him down.

"Young Master Jacob, please calm down! Winning and losing are common occurrences at the gambling table, there's no need for you to get angry!"

"If you lose a dozen or so games in a row, can you calm down for a second?"

"Uh, this..."

The foreman forced an awkward smile, while Lud, standing to the side, vaguely recognized the name after hearing him address the burly man as "Young Master Jacob." After a moment's thought, he remembered that the name seemed to belong to the eldest son of Duke Badan Krud, the lord of Flamewood City.

Information about this person mainly appears in Duke Krud's supplementary documents. Jacob, now twenty-nine years old, is a knight who commands one of the fortresses on the southern border of the kingdom. His reputation in Flamewood City is neither good nor bad; he has never done anything particularly shameful, but he is a compulsive gambler, and every time he returns from the border fortress, he plunges headlong into the casino.

Lude never expected to run into this guy here.

With the manager's kind words of reassurance, Jacob finally sat back down. The manager, fearing that this skilled old man might cause trouble in the casino, continued to speak kindly while ordering someone to bring another two hundred chips, treating it as a "reward for loyal customers," and respectfully stuffed it into Jacob's hand.

However, when the sixth hand was revealed, everyone at the table was stunned once again. Lude had three black cards with the highest points. Although the colors were different, the effect was the same as the previous hand... another knockout!

Jacob, who had only calmed down for three minutes, suddenly went berserk.

"Damn you! You're not cheating, are you?"

At this moment, Lu De was equally dumbfounded. He felt as if he had been blessed by the "God of Gamblers". From the moment he sat down, his luck was strangely good. He won two consecutive hands with the ultimate kill, not giving him a chance to lose at all.

But the most uncomfortable person was the manager, who was caught in the middle. On the one hand, he had to try to control Jacob and prevent the hot-tempered man from overturning the table. On the other hand, he was also puzzled. Based on his many years of experience working in casinos, he could not see any trace of cheating by Ludd. It seemed that he was just lucky.

He had seen similar gamblers before. As long as they weren't cheaters, the occasional lucky one was actually a good thing for the casino. It could create a competitive mentality among other gamblers, making them think they could have the same good luck and then lose even more money.

Unfortunately, the lucky guy who came today ended up sitting at the same table as young master Jacob.

Although this person has a bad temper and usually loses more than he wins when he comes to gamble, earning him the nickname "spendthrift young master" among others, he is at least somewhat decent in his gambling manners and never tries to cheat when he loses money.

But Lud's arrival is like a seal landing in Somalia, running around in the sun and jumping around right in front of everyone. When have our African brothers ever suffered such injustice?!

"How about... I change tables?"

Upon hearing Lud say he wanted to change tables, the head waiter immediately shook his head vigorously. He was afraid that if the seal really won and ran away, Jacob, whose face was already turning black with anger, might actually jump up and strike Lud with a spear. If someone were to die, he, as the head waiter, would definitely be in deep trouble.

Fortunately, the rescuer finally appeared. A man wearing an iron mask was surrounded and brought to their table.

Upon seeing the other party's appearance, Lu De immediately understood.

"Faceless" Jed is another elder of the Brotherhood.

Jade's appearance instantly silenced the noisy casino hall. Many gamblers who had been watching the commotion immediately turned away, because everyone knew that as long as Jade was there, unless Jacob had really gone mad, a fight was unlikely to break out.

As soon as Jade arrived, he first nodded slightly to Jacob, then looked Lude and Alvit behind him up and down. At that moment, Lude vaguely sensed a familiar power fluctuation emanating from the masked man as he looked at him—clearly divine power.

It's not hard to conclude from this that Jade, this elder of the Brotherhood, should be a "clergyman" recognized by the false god of thieves, and should also be able to use divine magic, but this is rather intriguing.

Previously, whether it was killing Vernon or meeting Sherry, although both were elders, Rudd hadn't sensed any divine power from them. This led Rudd to believe that the false god of thieves was a stingy fellow, unwilling to share his divine power with his subordinates who worked for him.

Now it seems that this is not the case, and there are other reasons that led the fake thief to make this differential treatment.

Sensing Jade's probing, Lude pretended not to notice. He was no longer the novice he once was and knew how to hide himself. Unless a high-ranking god came in person, no one would notice anything unusual about him.

Jade, who arrived in person, asked the foreman about the situation. The foreman told Jade everything that had happened. After listening, Jade nodded and said in a very hoarse voice.

"In that case, I'll play a couple of rounds myself, since it's been a while. What do you two think, Mr. Jacob and Mr. Hugo?"

Seemingly casually mentioning the alias Lude used in Yanmu City, Lude gave Jade a meaningful look. As soon as the other man sat down, the other gamblers at the table immediately and tactfully got up and left.

After Jade joined, the dealer started dealing cards again. This time, Lude simply stopped moving and signaled the dealer to turn over his cards. As a result, he continued to win. His luck was so strong that it was unbelievable, even Jade was a little surprised.

"That's incredible!"

“I swear, I really didn’t cheat.”

“I know, that’s why I said it’s incredible. Mr. Hugo, your luck in gambling is as superb as your artistic achievements.”

"It sounds like Mr. Jade also enjoys watching the show."

"Of course, appreciating opera is one of my greatest hobbies in life, and the new opera I'm most looking forward to right now is your 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' and I will definitely be there to support you on the opening day."

Seemingly casual conversation, Jade revealed a lot of information related to Lude, and Lude cooperated by subtly showing a hint of surprise on his face, but he was not flustered at all, because this information belonged to Hugo's "alias". If the other party did not know, then he would not need to be a mafia boss in Yanmu City.

However, just as Lude thought that Jade's knowledge was limited to this moment, the other party suddenly coughed twice, and a subordinate immediately took out a small medicine bottle and handed it to him. Jade took the medicine bottle, took a sip, and then casually placed the bottle towards Lude.

Lude glanced at the bottle of medicine; the symbol of the Medicine God Cult on it was pointing directly at him.

End of this chapter

Lude glanced at the medicine bottle Jade had placed on the gambling table, maintaining a calm and composed expression, feigning indifference. But inwardly, he was wondering whether Jade's action was unintentional or deliberate.

Lude's medicine business has been booming for the past two years, with thousands of bottles sold to date. Besides his two most popular flagship products, "Evelina's Tears" and "Mysterious Oil," he has also developed other types of medicines. The bottle Jade just drank is a new cough syrup launched in the first half of this year.

When Dragon Airlines first opened, some of its first orders were for shipments to Flamewood City. It's not unusual for a wealthy person like Jade, who runs a casino, to have a few bottles of his own potions, so Rude wouldn't scare himself into thinking that Jade had already seen through his identity based on this alone.

Because of Jade's appearance, many gamblers' attention was drawn to their table, and quite a few people had already gathered around to watch the excitement.

Jacob and Jed knew most of them; one was the foolish son of a city lord, and the other was a casino tycoon. Only Lud was a stranger. He was followed by a masked guard, who also seemed to be no ordinary person. This caused a lot of discussion, with everyone speculating about his background.

Jade and Lude remained calm in the face of the crowd that had gathered around them, while Jacob appeared slightly nervous, nervously rubbing his face with one hand, as if he wanted to shield himself but was too embarrassed to do so.

Jacob was the son of a duke, but his father disliked his gambling addiction, so he always tried to keep a low profile when he came to gamble. Unfortunately, most of the time he would lose his temper due to heavy losses and forget all his concerns.

That's just how gamblers are!

Jade's appearance did not affect Lude's good luck at all. Although no more outrageous hands like "Supreme Kill" appeared in the following rounds, Lude continued to win. His chips had snowballed from the initial five hundred to five thousand, stacked up like a small mountain.

"Incredible! Could it be that a gambling god is really protecting me?"

Seeing himself win so many hands in a row, and even the dealer's hands visibly trembling as he dealt the cards, Lude started to panic. Jade, on the other hand, didn't seem to care. He kept calling his men to bring over chips, not only replenishing his own but also giving some to Jacob, showing a stubborn determination to give Lude money.

As a result, Lud, who had been winning so much, was the first to break down.

"Um... Mr. Jade, how about we call it a day? I just wanted to gamble a little for fun, but I didn't expect to win so much."

Seeing that Lude didn't want to play anymore, Jade said nothing and immediately ordered his men to exchange Lude's chips for gold coins, and also instructed that guards be sent directly to the Sky Opera House. Jacob, who was standing to the side, no longer had the sore loser attitude he had shown before, and sat there as quiet as a chicken.

Jacob, his gambling addiction subsiding, came to his senses and realized he had already lost two thousand at the gambling table, instantly panicking. Two hundred of that was his initial capital, and the other eighteen thousand was a gift from Jad. He wasn't sure if the money was a gift or a loan; if Jad came after him with money from his father, he'd be completely ruined!

Two thousand gold coins is no small sum; it's enough to form a ten-man heavy cavalry squad, including men and horses. Normally, if he loses a hundred or two at the casino, his father will at most scold him a couple of times. But if he knew that he had lost two thousand at once, his father would definitely whip him into a spinning top.

Fortunately, Lude showed his "high emotional intelligence" at this moment, pushing 500 chips directly in front of Jacob, thanking him for playing with him, a newcomer from out of town, for so long. He said 500 chips was just a small token, and that they should be friends. He then gave him a performance ticket, inviting him to come to the Sky Theatre to see the premiere of "The Cave King" on the weekend.

Then he set aside another 2,500 and asked Jade's men to distribute it to the gamblers present today, so that everyone could share in the joy. As a result, the casino hall erupted in cheers. No one knows which clever little devil started it, but everyone shouted "Gambling Saint" and saw Lude off as he left.

Accompanied by Jade and Jacob, the group exited the casino. Although they hadn't achieved their goal of scouting the area, they had successfully made contact with Jade, an elder of the Brotherhood, and also met Duke Crude's son. Because of the small token of their five hundred chips, the man was now arm-in-arm with Crude, addressing him as "brother" and promising to attend the theater performance that weekend.

As the two watched them leave, Ludwig led Aylvit away. After confirming that the money Jacob had lost earlier was paid for by Jadwig and that he would definitely not ask the Duke for a refund, Jacob hurriedly exchanged his chips and then ran home happily.

Jade then returned to his office and summoned the subordinate who had been by his side to ask him questions.

"Tim, what do you think?"

"Both master and servant are extraordinary people."

"Oh! Even that guard isn't simple?"

"Yes, I can't see through her; her strength should be above mine."

"Haha! That's really interesting. Try to get in touch with our brothers up north and have them find out about Hugo, especially his connection to the Medicine God Cult. I remember you said before that the main financial backer of that Rainbow Dance Troupe is the Medicine God Cult, so he must be connected to them too. By the way, is the Medicine God Cult very wealthy these days?"

"Yes, Master. As a newly emerging sect in the north of the kingdom, even by conservative estimates, their profits from selling various potions alone have exceeded 200,000 gold coins in the past few years, not counting other businesses."

"That's incredibly profitable, more so than running a casino. Maybe I should take some time to travel north and meet that saint named Rudd in person."

"It will probably be no earlier than next spring. Every winter, heavy snow closes off the mountains in the northern border region of the kingdom, cutting off roads and communications."

"Tsk! What a hassle. Anyway, let our people do their best and confirm it as soon as possible."

"Yes, I'll take care of it right away."

Waving his subordinates away, Jade indicated that he wanted to be alone for a while. After they left, Jade got up and went to the mirror in the corner of the room. Gazing at the masked man in the mirror, Jade was lost in thought for a moment and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Twenty-five years have passed, and hope has turned into a distant dream, seemingly with no end in sight!"

End of this chapter

Back at the Sky Opera House, Ludwig had barely entered when Servis rushed up to him. She told him that a group of people had just arrived at the opera house, claiming to be from the Gold and Silver Cave Casino, and had brought a box containing two thousand gold coins, saying it was for Mr. Hugo, before turning and leaving.

Servis had never seen a casino offer money to people before, and she was confused about what was going on. So Lude casually said that he had just finished running some errands and passed by the casino on his way back, so he went in and played a couple of rounds. He ended up winning two thousand gold coins and even made a few friends. Servis was dumbfounded.

"Master, Yanmu City is a mixed bag, and those who run casinos are no good. You must be extra careful!"

"It's alright. If I really run into someone who doesn't know what's good for them, I can handle it."

"..."

In the following days, Lude contacted several local small and medium-sized song and dance troupes. He was keen to promote the upgrading of the local performing arts industry, transforming those less-than-stellar small song and dance troupes into mobile projection teams, providing them with projectors to tour and screen shows in surrounding towns and villages.

Meanwhile, slightly higher-end medium-sized song and dance troupes are starting to invest in and collaborate with them, preparing to form a performing arts alliance in the future.

Lud had his own reasons for actively courting these dance troupes, which were not considered high-class by most people. He had long ago given up on the idea of ​​proselytizing through traditional methods, and he had no intention of building a temple outside of Pine Town.