28th King, James day 9987
Rumor is that the neighboring port city, Halcyon, has had an unnatural black smog descend upon it that hasn’t left for over a week. High profile police and soldiers have been seen exiting the city via train to head to Halcyon to resolve the situation. The way people describe the smog reminds me of the smoke from my awakening dream as well as the smoke manipulating criminal I read about in that book. In my mind it must be the work of someone with a blood aspect, most likely a high ascension one since they can cover the entire city for a week, which would explain the reaction from the panicked officials here.
The hazy smoke filled air of the casino assaults my nose. The casino goers crowd around tables, smoking while wearing their best outfits, drinking as they please. Those who aren’t gambling are crowding around the most courageous players watching them bet away outrageous amounts of money. The loud laughter of the drunk players, and the sounds of chips, dice and cards gliding across the tables fill the air. The servers wear lascivious clothing, their faces all hidden behind a white mask covering the top half of their face. They walk between the tables, tempting the players to purchase a drink.
The reason I am here is to join in the debauchery. I don’t have any specific goals since I don’t really have any clues on how to continue my path. My plan is simply to gamble and drink and then return to the barony. Being in a more sinful environment should be good for my advancement. Similar to how everyone who wants to become a priest would want to live in a church, it would be best for me on whatever blood path I end up to be somewhere evil. A cult gathering or something is probably more fitting but for now the casino will have to do. I can’t exactly show up to a cult gathering without an invitation, much less finding one would be near impossible.
Walking aimlessly through the tables, I look for a game that I know how to play. In my past life I didn’t do much gambling, at best I played some games online without real money or would play a little with some coworkers. A few games are exactly like ones from my past life, while some loosely resemble them. For the most part however, I don’t know most of the gambling games in this world. It’s strange that there are games I know at all for that matter. Fortunately, the game I know best is in this world as well. Riichi mahjong, a four player game using tiles.
The reason I know how to play a Japanese gambling game is because I played a lot of it online because of the hot anime girls in the gooner mahjong game I played. After watching a table for a minute to make sure that it's the game I am familiar with, I sat down at a table with three other people.
To my left is an older baling man in a suit smoking a large cigar with a flashy golden watch adorning his wrist. Across is a woman who looks Asian, something I don't see often in this country. She is wearing a black and gold qipao that accentuates her lovely figure. She is smoking a cigarette using a long cigarette holder that looks quite fashionable in such a pretty woman's hands. She is quite attractive, to the point that I can feel my face become flush when looking at her making it hard to keep a poker face. To the right is a man who looks to be in his 20s, wearing a tan suit with a white collared shirt underneath and a Panama hat. Judging from his expression, he seems a bit nervous as if he might be unfamiliar with the game or maybe gambling in general.
Getting my starting tiles, the game comes back to me as I slowly remember how to play. I'm starting in the west seat. I have nine man tiles so I decide to go for a flush and discard my East wind tile.
“Pon.”
The lady across from me calls out decisively, hardly giving me the chance to even set it down as if she knew what I was discarding. Since she's across from me, she is the dealer in the east seat making her three east winds she set down worth two han and giving her a valid yaku. Since she's already opened her hand, she has no reason to not call anymore.
The old man to my left discards a 9 man tile that I need for my flush. I open my mouth to call chi in order to play my 7 8 9 set but before I can even speak the lady interrupts me.
“Pon.”
She sets down three 9 man tiles dashing my hopes of using a 9 for my set. I almost assuredly have to wait for a 6 man now.
It comes back to my turn, and I discard the North wind tile that I drew, which should be very safe. The man in the tan suit starts his first turn of the game now, and discards a green dragon, which is the dora this round.
“Ron.”
The lady across calls out quickly before his hand has even retracted from discarding the tile. She has green dragons, prevailing wind, seated wind, and 3 dora for a haneman taking 18,000 points from the man to my right. Glancing over I can see him wipe sweat off of his brow. He already looked nervous just sitting down making me wonder why he's here. He must be desperate for money or something but it's none of my concern. It's just his misfortune to deal in on his first turn.
Since the lady won, she keeps the dealer seat and east 1 repeats leaving me in the west seat again. My tiles this hand aren't very good, so I'll probably just try for all simples.
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“Double riichi.”
The lady across from me instantly calls while discarding a 1 pin tile, her hand ready from the very first turn. The odds of it happening are unbelievably low, but thankfully I have a pin in my hand so I can have a safe discard.
The older man takes his turn and discards a 1 pin from his hand, and I follow suit on mine. The man in the tan suit most likely doesn't have a 1 pin since there is only one left. He seems nervous, which is understandable since he has no information on what's safe to discard. He discards a west wind safely. The lady draws her tile from the wall to start her turn.
“Tsumo.”
She reveals her tiles, she has two han from the double riichi, one han for the fully concealed hand, a red five, and the red dragons which she just drew for 5 han. The mangan is worth 12,000 points since she is in the dealer seat, taking 4,000 points from each of us because of the tsumo. She has 55,000 points, me and the older man to my left both have 21,000 points and the younger man on my right only has 3,000 points left.
She is still in the dealer seat, I want to win a round to get the winds to change because it's frustrating to watch her sweep the table so one-sidedly. However I manage to stay calm, I think it might be best to just play safe and wait for the younger man to run out of points so the game can end and I can switch tables. I don’t have any proof, but I have my suspicions that this lady is cheating. It will be best to just take a small loss and go play at a different table. While I'm not too worried about money as the son of a baron, it doesn’t feel good to be cheated out of what’s mine.
This round, it seems she is slowing down on the cheating to not seem suspicious, or maybe her luck has just run out. Either way, we have managed to reach the 12th discard of the round, much longer than the previous two lasted. Everyone still has their hands closed and I am one tile from having a ready hand. The man two my left discards the red 5 man tile that I have been waiting for. Since I am going for all simples anyways, I open my hand to pick up his red 5.
“Chii.”
Discarding my extra 3 sou, my hand is now ready with a double wait on the 2 and 5 sou. The man to my left and the lady across start to fold, carefully discarding safe tiles that I have discarded previously. The man to my right can’t afford to deal in and the lady across has no need to take any risks. Her confident expression as she leans back in her chair a little is getting on my nerves. She already knows that she has won since she is cheating. To gloat in cheating with that arrogant expression is quite unseemly. Luckily the man to my left is still trying to win the round, and he discards a 2 sou dealing into me.
“Ron.”
I show my tiles, my hand has all simples, red five, and one dora tile for 3 han for 3,200 points from the old man. The scores are now 55,000 for the lady, 17,800 for the old man, 24,200 for me, and 3,000 for the man in the tan suit. I’m almost back up to my starting about now, and since I won the man to my left is the dealer now.
My starting tiles this time are terrible, making me curse my luck. I slowly discard the terminal tiles from my hand improving it into something close to being ready. Before I can even feel okay about my tiles, the lady discards her 2 pin tile sideways.
“Riichi.”
Since my tiles aren’t very good, I wisely decide to fold, discarding safe tiles each turn. The older man discards a dangerous 9 pin tile, but the turn passes to me. Knowing its safe now, I also discard my 9 pin surviving another turn. The younger man picks up his tile and hesitates for a while on his discard, making it obvious he must not have a tile that is safe to discard. He discards the 4 pin tile, something that could be inferred to be dangerous from her 2 pin tile she discarded when she declared riichi. It’s not unreasonable to think she had two 2 pins and a 3 pin in her hand, a common strategy to help secure a double wait regardless of which set she completes in her hand. Unfortunately, his lack of experience shows, and he walks right into her hand.
“Ron.”
Her hand has riichi, all simples, and pinfu for 3 han worth 7,700 points. She takes it all from the man in the tan suit who has his hands on his face in despair leaving him with no points ending the game. I quickly got up from the table, not willing to play another round at a table with that lady. I’d be happy to play with the younger man again since he seemed like a sucker, and even the older man didn’t seem that good.
I head over to the bar to kill some time before finding a new table to play at. Greeting the stylish bartender with his curly mustache and newsboy cap, I order this world's equivalent of a white lady, one of my favorite cocktails. Once I receive my drink, I take a small sip while standing near the bar.
Suddenly, a hand gently grasps my left shoulder, and I feel a ladies body press against my back gently.
“I know you have a blood aspect.” a mature feminine voice whispers in my ear.
I step away from them and turn to see who it is. The lady from the mahjong game is standing right there, I have no idea how she knows what my aspect is. Keeping my composure, I deny her claims.
“That’s ridiculous, what's your purpose in spreading such ridiculous slander.”
She walks up closer to me again and says in a low voice near my ear.
“I’m an ascension four witch. I can tell anyone’s aspect just by looking at them. Go to The Peaceful Dragon, the mahjong parlor on 18th street tomorrow night. My subordinate will meet you there and teach you what you want to know. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t do anything stupid.”
With that she walked past me, I turned around to look at her, but she disappeared after passing by me as if she was whisked away. I stand still for a moment at a loss for what to do. After calming down a bit, I finish my drink and leave the casino. I have a thought in my head to give a tip off to the police about the meeting location but something in my mind won’t let me go through with the idea. I’ve finally found my first clue to growing stronger and I can’t just give it up even if it seems suspicious.
That woman was more powerful than anyone I have met in my life, even the head of the knight instructors at my school was only an ascension three paladin. Her ability to effortlessly cheat while gambling, see through my aspect with just a glance, as well as disappear into thin air fill my heart with the desire for the fantasy powers I’ve wanted since coming to this world. At ascension four, she undoubtedly also has impressive combat abilities. I want to be powerful like her. Even if I'm not the protagonist of this world, I still want to be powerful. I head back to the barony, already having made up my mind to go to the location tomorrow despite the risks.
