The space inside "The Full Pouch" wasn't large, perhaps comparable to the White Tit Tavern.
By contrast, however, the latter felt significantly more spacious in actual experience.
The reason, naturally, was the variety of gaming tables that filled almost every available space in the main hall of The Full Pouch.
Excited cheers and desperate wails mingled within the air, which was thick with the heavy scent of alcohol.
Xia Nan carefully guarded his pouch, navigating with difficulty through the gamblers in the hall.
The halfling beside him had long since vanished from his sight—
With a height that barely reached Xia Nan's waist, the other man had been swallowed by the crowd almost instantly in such a setting.
Xia Nan wasn't worried about the halfling's safety.
The tavern was only this big; anyone coming or going, or any commotion occurring, could be seen clearly.
Furthermore, the other was an adventurer just like himself, with guaranteed strength.
To some extent, the racial traits of a halfling might even make him more at home here than Xia Nan.
*Slap!*
At a nearby table, a card with a unique pattern depicting two winter wolves was slammed onto the surface.
Almost simultaneously, the gamblers crowded to the side, eyes bloodshot and fixed on the table, erupted in a clamor of either excitement or regret.
Xia Nan glanced over with a frown but quickly withdrew his gaze.
In this world, things like playing cards existed.
However, the patterns and values on the cards were entirely different from those of his previous life.
Moreover, the various rules and ways to play changed significantly depending on the region.
He didn't understand the specifics; if he were to recklessly sit down at a table, he feared he might lose even his underwear.
He had only followed the halfling to take a look; the vast majority of his wealth was stored in the River Valley Town bank, and most of the coins he carried were left at the inn.
What he had brought into the tavern was only 7 silver and 3 copper.
The sound of dice spinning and colliding at high speed inside a cup reached his ears, and he looked toward the source.
He saw a dealer in a bartender's uniform shaking the dice cup violently in his hand.
Xia Nan stepped forward.
Compared to the many rules and complexities of card games, dice games were much simpler.
Though there were still many derived rules and the physical laws of the two worlds certainly differed, the most fundamental mathematical theorems remained the same.
Even/Odd—a fast and simple way to play—was undoubtedly the most popular in a tavern of The Full Pouch's caliber.
But just as he approached a table, before he even had a chance to squeeze through the crowd in front of him, his vision revealed something unexpected.
Alton, who had been missing since they entered the tavern, was already sitting at a gaming table.
A massive pile of coins sat beside his hand.
Just as Xia Nan was feeling surprised by the man's speed and was about to greet him, he saw the halfling, under the watchful eyes of the surrounding gamblers, violently push all the coins forward.
"All in!"
*Huh!?*
...
...
*Drip, drip.*
Clear, cold rain fell like threads, and puddles of varying sizes had already gathered on the uneven road surface.
Xia Nan stood before the tavern door, looking up at the heavy, colliding clouds in the sky that showed no sign of thinning or fading.
"It's going to pour," the halfling, Alton, said with a beaming smile as he flipped a lucky coin in his hand.
Xia Nan didn't reply, merely looking at him with a strange expression.
His mind replayed the scene he had witnessed two hours ago.
Strange. It was too strange.
The halfling at the table was still the same optimistic, cheerful, grinning figure from his memory.
But his actions were more ferocious than those of the most crazed gambler.
Every single hand, he went all in.
And the results lived up to his status as a follower of the Goddess of Luck.
He either won or tied; he hadn't lost a single hand.
By the end, it wasn't just Xia Nan, but even the surrounding gamblers who had never known the halfling before were left staring in stunned silence.
Xia Nan had originally intended to join in, but something felt fundamentally wrong.
He had leaned in to ask a few questions.
After receiving a shake of the head from Alton, he decisively abandoned the idea and simply watched from the sidelines.
During those two hours in the tavern, Xia Nan had practically watched with his own eyes as the pile of coins by the halfling's hand grew higher and higher.
Even the expression of the dealer at the table gradually shifted.
He had even faintly heard some disputes and commotion coming from the rooms at the back of the tavern.
If it weren't for the two sharp swords on Xia Nan's back, someone would likely have come over to intervene long ago.
Xia Nan had already prepared a contingency plan in his mind.
Until thirty seconds ago.
Alton once again pushed the mountain-like pile of coins toward the table.
Xia Nan had thought the man would, as before, guess the result with clairvoyance and win everything.
But for the first time, the halfling lost.
And because it was an "all in," everything he had won previously, including his own principal, went up in flames in that single round.
He was left with nothing but the lucky coin he was currently flipping in his hand.
Yet, there was not a trace of disappointment on Alton's face.
He was all smiles and laughter, as if what he had just lost was merely a pile of common stones by the roadside.
Xia Nan remembered that when they were leaving just now, a middle-aged man who appeared to be a tavern manager had proactively approached them, inviting the halfling inside for a private talk, only to be lightly declined.
Xia Nan looked at Alton, who was currently squatting by the roadside, looking delighted and curiously studying a puddle on the ground.
Xia Nan's right hand lightly pressed against the pouch at his waist, feeling the hard texture of the 7 silver and 3 copper within.
He suddenly felt a dryness in his mouth.
Licking his lips, he spoke
"Just now... you did that on purpose?"
"Where?"
"That last round."
"Yes, and no." The halfling poked the water surface with his fingertip, sending ripples through the puddle that was already being pelted by the fine rain.
"What do you mean?"
"Luck is a conserved quantity."
Alton suddenly stood up and reached his left hand out from under the eaves.
The fine rain fell, splashing against his hand.
A single, crystal-clear droplet landed on the halfling's fingertip, then split into two under the influence of gravity, sliding down to the left and right.
"Just as the world knows, the Smiling Lady who symbolizes 'good luck' has a sister whose domain is the exact opposite."
"Luck and misfortune are, in essence, the same thing."
His water-stained hand lightly pinched the brass coin.
He tossed it up once more.
"You cannot win forever, nor will you lose every single hand."
The rain was fine, dotting the surface of the spinning copper coin.
The tiny droplets that splashed off it refracted the dim, gloomy light in the air.
Vaguely, Xia Nan seemed to see it.
Under the reflection of the faint light, the face of the long-haired woman engraved on the obverse of the coin became momentarily clear.
A sudden realization struck him.
To Alton, his behavior in the tavern might have been a mere whim driven by interest.
But on the other hand, this halfling's series of actions also invisibly aligned with the tenets of the Goddess of Luck, "Thamora."
It wasn't a gamble.
It was a ritual.
(End of Chapter)