Law of Space and Time

Chapter 90: Triple Roulette

Immediately thereafter, an instant-release ice spear spell immediately passed through the array of black wyrms before nailing the long-faced lackey to the wooden column behind him.

Blood immediately began to gush out of his stomach, but thankfully for him, Lana wasn't trying to kill him and had held back in her attack.

She didn't even bother to take a glance at the target that she had just impaled as the juicy and fragrant roast venison steak had already been brought to her table.

In the wake of everything that had just happened, Lana had become the center of attention for everyone in the pub. All of the people in the pub had their eyes focused on her, watching her every move. The rowdy and lively pub had become so quiet that even the lightest of prin drops would be audibly heard. Lana was thoroughly enjoying the silent environment as she sliced into her venison steak in an elegant and graceful manner before taking her first bite.

In doing so, she gave off the illusion that she was just a harmless young woman, sitting in silence to enjoy her meal. It was as if she had nothing to do with everything that had just happened, and that she wasn't the powerful magician who had just scorched Yuran and impaled his lackey through the stomach.

At this point, Aike had already fetched himself a new chair, but he was still completely astonished. Everything felt like a dream to him, and he was reeling from the revelations that he had just been struck by. These revelations included the fact that Lana was an extremely powerful magician, and that Quinton was a very capable martial artist.

In particular, he was feeling very ashamed in Lana's presence. In his eyes, men were supposed to protect women, but not only did Lana not require his protection, she was the one stepping in to protect him. Just the mere thought of that was making him feel very humiliated.

His confidence was already quite brittle, and it had been completely shattered here, but he only had himself to blame for that.

Lana didn't even need to look at Aike to have a rough idea of what he was thinking.

However, she had no intention of consoling him. In her mind, the weak didn't deserve sympathy. She had just had most of her memories stolen from her, but who was going to sympathize with her? Besides, a man had to fall down a few times before they learned how to get up in the face of adversity, particularly spoiled young nobles like Aike. If he didn't learn these valuable life lessons soon, then he was destined to forever remain an ignorant and unconfident manchild.

...

After enjoying her lunch, Lana finally made her way slowly over to the group of gamblers.

With a wave of her hand, the black wyrms faded, following which she pointed a finger at Yuran, instantly casting a layer of ice crystals over the wounds on his body.

Yuran was sweating profusely from pain, and he was finally receiving some relief.

Of course, Lana wasn't doing this out of the kindness of her heart. Instead, she had another motive.

"Didn't you say that you want to play with me?" Lana asked as she looked at the group of gamblers with a faint smile.

All of Yuran's lackeys were rather hesitant about how to proceed, and they were all waiting for their leader to make a decision.

At this moment, Yuran was like a defanged tiger. He was no longer able to pose a threat to Lana, but he was still glowering at her with a hateful expression.

"Come on then." Lana didn't give the group of gamblers a chance to reply before pointing at the gambling table near the window. It was clear that she wasn't going to give them a choice.

"How do you w-want to p-play?" Yuran was clearly suffering from all of the negative status conditions that had been inflicted upon his body, as evidenced by the fact that he was unable to speak clearly.

Lana cast her gaze toward the table, then asked, "This is a roulette wheel, right? How is the game played?"

Aike was worried that the gamblers would take advantage of the fact that Lana didn't know the rules to fool her into believing a false set of rules, so he hurriedly stepped in and offered her a detailed explanation of the rules of the game. "Ms. Lana, this is a triple roulette. Once the roulette wheel is spun, the outer, middle, and inner wheels will spin individually from one another. The roulette ball will first land on the outermost wheel, which contains a total of 36 numbers from 1 to 36. After the roulette ball lands on a number, it'll fall onto the middle wheel, which contains a total of 24 numbers from 1 to 24. Once it comes to a stop once again, the ball will drop down to the innermost wheel, which contains a total of 12 numbers from 1 to 12. If the sum of the numbers from the three wheels equates to somewhere between 3 to 37, that's considered a low roll. If it's between 38-72, then that's considered a high roll."

"What are the odds?"

"The odds are 1:1 regardless of whether you bet on a low roll or a high roll."

Lana pursed her lips with disdain upon hearing this. "What's the point in playing a game with such low odds? I don't have all day to waste here. What are the odds offered for individual numbers?"

There was an array of numbers laid out on the bottom half of the betting table, and Aike explained, "The first row of numbers from 1 to 36 refers to the number that the roulette ball lands on in the outermost wheel. If you guess correctly, the odds are 1:36. The second row of numbers from 2-60 refers to the sum of the two numbers from the first and second wheels, and if you guess correctly, the odds are 1:60. The third row of numbers from 3-72 refers to the sum of the numbers from all three wheels, and the odds are 1:72."

"I bet you must've won a lot of money offering these odds," Lana said as she cast her gaze toward Yuran and his group with a meaningful smile.

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?" Yuran asked in a slightly flustered voice, as if a secret of his had just been uncovered.

"On the surface, it looks like the odds are quite favorable. There are a total of 59 numbers between 2 and 60, yet the odds are 1:60, and there are a total of 70 numbers between 3 and 72, yet the odds are 1:72. What kind-hearted people you are," Lana said with a faint smile. "But is that really the case?"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Yuran asked with tightly furrowed brows.

"Do you really want me to expose you?" Lana asked with a cold smile. "For this second row, the 14 numbers, 2, and 48 to 60, the odds should be 1:864. For the numbers 3, 47 of the second row, the odds should be 1:432. For the numbers 3, 72 for the third row, the odds should be 1: 10,368. You get the idea, I'm not going to list out all of the appropriate odds one by one. In short, you're offering criminally low odds and are scamming people out of their Loonies."

After that, Lana gave all of the bystanders an explanation of the calculations involved to get the odds that she had just stated, and only then did everyone understand the intricacies of the game. All of the gamblers who had lost money to Yuran and the others in the past immediately began to protest and demand that their money be returned to them.

"Why should I return your money? You were the ones who agreed to play the game! Did we force any of you into playing?" Yuran countered in an unyielding voice.

Everyone was intimidated into silence again by Yuran's menacing display.

"You've been running your mouth this entire time, are you going to play or not?" Yuran asked in an impatient voice as he cast his gaze toward Lana. Now that he was back on the gambling table, his courage had suddenly returned to him. Of course, he was also eager to change the subject.

"Oh? Looks who's acting tough all of a sudden! You weren't anywhere near this cocky when you were rolling around in pain," Lana sneered in a derisive manner.

"I'll admit that I'm no match for you in a fight, but there's no guarantee that you'll beat me on the gambling table!" Yuran said as he glared at Lana with a fierce expression.

Lana nodded in response with a serious expression, seemingly very much in agreement with Yuran.

It was clear that she was making fun of him, and that drew a lot of amusement from the crowd. It seemed that everyone was beginning to forget what Lana had just done to Yuran and his group earlier.

As for Aike, he was completely entranced by Lana's radiant beauty and confidence.

"You better take care that you don't lose everything," Lana said as she watched Yuran with a smile on her face. "As for the odds, we have to use the ones that I just laid out. I've already informed everyone of the calculations involved, and you heard me as well, so I'm assuming you have no objections, right?"

With so many people watching, Yuran naturally couldn't object to this. Thus, he gritted his teeth as he nodded in response.

To lend support to Lana, Perry dipped a finger into the sauce left on Lana's plate, then used its fingertip as a pen to write down the odds under their corresponding numbers. Thankfully, the rags wrapped around its hand were quite tight. Otherwise, if the bystanders were to notice that its hand was one that was completely devoid of flesh and blood, then they would most trip over one another trying to flee from the pub.

Lana couldn't help but be impressed by Perry as it quickly scribbled down all of the odds under the corresponding numbers.

She had only just mentioned the method of calculation for the new odds, yet after only hearing Lana's description once, it had clearly developed a good grasp on the calculation method, as evidenced by the fact that it was able to fill in all the blanks and calculate the odds for the numbers that Lana hadn't specifically mentioned.

This was quite an impressive feat, and in Lana's eyes, the vast majority of people present wouldn't have been capable of replicating it.

Meanwhile, the burly skeleton was looking on with a cold expression as Perry was busy at work, and it was thinking to itself that it should snap Perry's other leg as well.

"Before we start, let's make this clear: no cheating," Lana said with a smile as she wagged her index finger at Yuran and his group.

As soon as her voice trailed off, a black dagger abruptly appeared in her hand, and a cold look surfaced in her eyes.

With a dull thud, half of the dagger's blade had already been plunged into the gambling table.

"If I find anyone trying to use any shady tricks, I'll chop off their hands and feet!" Lana said with a cold smile as she cast her gaze toward Yuran's group.

Yuran couldn't help but gulp nervously, while all of his lackeys were so frightened that they had turned as pale as a sheet.

It seemed that they had been using "shady tricks" quite frequently in the past.

"How much money do you need, Ms. Lana," Aike asked in a careful voice as he approached Lana. He knew that Lana didn't have any money that she could bet with.

"Just one Loony will be enough," Lana said with a mysterious smile.

Aike was stunned to hear this, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had misheard.

"Are you playing me for a fool?!" A surge of fury immediately welled up in Yuran's heart as he watched Aike pull out a single Loony from his pocket. He was feeling severely insulted.

"Even with just one Loony as my starting bet, I'm worried that you won't have enough money to pay me in the end," Lana said with a mocking smile. "Cut the chit-chat! Let's begin!"

Under these circumstances, Yuran and the others had no choice but to allow Lana to dictate terms. Having said that, an initial bet of one Loony certainly wasn't going to concern Yuran, and he began to spin the wheel, anticipating an easy victory.

However, he was interrupted right as he was about to drop the roulette ball onto the wheel.

"Hold on a second! It would only be fair for me to toss in the roulette ball, wouldn't it?" Lana asked as she snatched the roulette ball out of Yuran's hand.

Yuran's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he was feeling slightly uneasy as he didn't know what Lana was planning to do.

"Could it be that even the roulette ball has been tampered with?" Lana asked as she cast a lazy glance toward the roulette ball in her hand, then turned her gaze toward Yuran.

This was an extremely pointed question from Lana, and the thoughts of all of the spectators were led adrift upon hearing this. After all, Lana had just stated that if anyone were to attempt any foul play during this game, then they were going to have their hands and feet chopped off.

"Are you too afraid to let her drop the ball in because you were going to cheat?"

"I was wondering why I was always losing to these people. Turns out the problem doesn't just lie in the odds, this roulette ball has also been tampered with!"

"Tsk tsk, so that's why I've never seen Yuran lose before. What a sinister scheme he's been running right under our noses!"

Public opinion was turning decidedly against Yuran, and cold sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead.

"Fine, you can toss the ball," Yuran said. "But just as we agreed on earlier, anyone who attempts to cheat will be punished. If you use magic to give yourself an unfair advantage, then don't blame me for holding you accountable."

"That's right! We're all watching you! Don't try to bully us just because you're a strong magician!" Yuran's lackeys immediately chimed in in support.

Lana was quite amused that her own rules were being turned on her. "Of course. I certainly wouldn't place myself above the rules."

"Alright, we'll be watching," Yuran said with a disgruntled expression, and it was clear that he was very displeased that Lana had first made her own odds and was now demanding to toss the roulette ball herself. Unfortunately, he was no match for Lana in a fight, so he could only conform to her antics. Otherwise, he would've already thrown her out of the pub.

"Can we finally begin now?"

"Sure. If you're that eager to give me your Loonies, then why wouldn't I take them?" Lana said with a smile.

Yuran gave a cold harrumph before setting the three roulette wheels into motion.

Only after the wheels had begun spinning did Lana realize that these were no ordinary wheels. The outermost wheel was spinning clockwise, the middle wheel was spinning anti-clockwise, and the innermost wheel was spinning clockwise again.