Author note: If you saw any mistake, make sure you tell me, alright~?!

other than that, enjoy~!!!

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“Dammit! how could this have happened.......? Alex, didn’t i tell you not to wager that....?!”

Right now, at this moment, Alex lost his Big Golden White Karma Coin.

as for what happened....we have to look back at the night of the first day.

***

“Well then Kid, what are your plans for the coin? will you go rank up already?”

“Of course! but what exactly do i get for ranking up....?”

“Well, you do realize that right now we’re somewhere that is compared to the slums right?”

while the old man was saying that, i began remembering my way coming to the bar with drake.

the streets were in a horrible shape while the people who were walking on it were even worse.

with every turn you take, you’ll find a homeless man here and there, while those lucky few have a shelter thats similar to tents.

if any religious extremist were to see this, they would, without a doubt, gouge their eyes out.

“Hey, are you listening?”

“Hmm......? Sorry~! I was deep in thought and i kinda...missed that. So would you please repeat what you said......?”

“Sigh just how did you win the game....? as i was saying, if you achieve rank C, which is the rank of an average residence of Heaven, you’ll gain access to the city. and every time you go higher, you’ll have access to even more areas.....but they’ll only work after achieving rank A, so for now, you’ll have to aim for C. but with that coin you have, you’ll be able to get to rank C immediately. So why not head to the office and check it out?”

“Yes! I’ll make sure to do that right now~!”

“Woah! you idiotic kid! the office is closed for the day!!”

“What!? its only 6PM y’know!”

“Exactly! its already past 6PM!! they close at 5PM!!!”

“Hey hey hey, isn’t that the normal time for governmental offices to close down?! this heaven y’know!!”

“whether its heaven or not, the office closes at that time!”

after dropping my shoulders in disappointment over that i have to wait another day, a little girl came and started running while shouting “Daddy~!”

i, of course, didn’t know what she wanted.

as she got closer toward me, i got confused....but since she was running while spreading her hands wide open, i figured she wanted a hug.

thus, i did the same and spread my hands.

for your information, i am in no way a lolicon!

while having such silly thoughts, the young girl soon approached me.

with my hands wide open, i closed my eyes in anticipation.

but it never came.

i heard “Woah~Daddy~

i opened my eyes in surprise and looked behind me.

the bar’s old man was hugging the blue haired young girl.

i.....must be an idiot.

the old man and the young girl began giving me weird looks while my tears began falling because of my own stupidity.

i tried to quickly change the atmosphere and asked about the young girl.

“Ohh, Angeline? She’s my daughter~! she’s cute right?”

“Y-yes! of course she is cute~”

when i said that, the old man’s eyes sharpened.

he drew closer to me, and stood up right infront of me.

he looked like......a bear.

“Hey Kid. if you even think about approaching Angeline.....i’ll kill you.”

And as it turns out, he’s a protective father.

“D-don’t worry Old man.....i won’t approach your daughter in any way!”

“WHAT?! ARE YOU SAYING THAT MY DAUGHTER ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH??!?!?!”

ehhhhhhhhhh!?

“N-no! i never said that!! its just that your daughter is way over my league!!!”

ugh.....i can’t believe i just said that about a 12 years old.....

“I THOUGHT SO!”

after saying that, the old man turned back and returned to his seat.

Ahh~ i need something to reduce this stress.....

as i thought that, i took out a jar of hard candies from my pocket that i got from Sophia.

she really does know how to treat a man...she knew exactly what i like.

she mentioned something about being apologetic for not being able to reincarnate and stuff but i couldn’t care less after seeing that jar.

while i was deep in thought of what flavor i should try, the young girl~Angeline, began coming closer.

i guessed shew wants some candy so i opened the jar and gave her one.

i inserted my hand into the jar again to get one for myself, and as soon as i pulled my favorite flavor, apple, she grabbed my sleeve and demanded more.

i, as any other gentlemen would, have given her the candy.

of course, with tears in my eyes.

i inserted my hand into the jar for the third time and brought out a banana flavored candy. but yet again, she tugged my sleeve.

and i gave her the candy.

with this, i made an oath to myself that i will not hand any other candy to her again.

for the last time, i inserted my hand into the jar.

and took out an apple flavor candy. and this time as well, she tugged my sleeve.

A gentleman no more......!

i opened the candy’s wrap and proceeded into inserting the candy in my mouth.

and with that....the young girl began a crying fit.

the old man, who disappeared from his seat was serving a costumer from god knows when.

and i bet he’s misunderstood.

because.....he’s glaring at me.

i sensed that if i do not stop Angeline’s crying before the customer leaves, i’ll be tonight’s main dish.

i quickly grabbed the jar and handed it to the crying Angeline.

Angeline stopped crying after grabbing a hold of the jar filled with candy and the old man’s gaze returned to a fatherly one.

i turned back to face Angeline and was shocked to see her expression.

she wore a sadistic smile unlike her previous behavior.

“Damn...so this is her true personality?! "

is what i muttered.

after having dinner, i head to bed while looking forward to tomorrow’s rank up.

***

~((Author note: at this point, you can read chapter 1.5 for the morning of the second day))~

***

“Oi Drake, are you fine with abandoning your post at the gate?”

“Sure! no one’s comes through there anyway.....and even if someone does come, i’ll be forced teleported there in order to welcome them!”

“I see.....in that case, should we head to the office right away?”

“Yes! i’ll make sure to guide you to the fastest route~!”

i nodded to the transparent figure’s excited remark.

we spent all the time on the way having some silly small talks.

“Alright, Alex. After taking a left here, we’ll reach the building~!”

“Ohh, finally!”

we spend a bit time on the way, but i’ll finally be able to get to rank C

i’ll gain access to the city and hopefully after that, get a nice girlfriend and....ehehehehe~

Alex, you’re such a petty man!

to be virgin for more than 50 years......

you have bypassed the limit for a wizard! you’re a sage!!

if virginess had power levels, mine would be over 9000!!

while having such thoughts, i heard a man’s voice calling me over.

i turned around and saw what it seems to be an elf sitting on a chair while having a table infront of him.

“Hey mister, come over here~”

i did as he said and drew toward him

“Do you want to play a game? its a very simple game y’know~ its called Shinkei-Suijaku~”

“Ohh, you mean concentration?”

“Yup! so what do you say, want to play? as for the wagers.....how about i put my rank C to the table and you put your Big Golden Karma coin?”

“Ehh.....first of all, how did you know i had that?”

“hah~well, you’re the talk of the streets right now! you beat the bar’s old man’s game! of course everyone heard of you!”

“aha.......well, i don’t see any problem with that, so why not?”

“Oi, Alex! don’t do that and lets hurry up and get goin~JUST WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SIGNING THE CONTRACT YOU DUMBASS?!”

“hmm? well.....because it sounded interesting.....?”

“Ahahaha~ you two sound very close! now then....for cheating measures, i’ll be opening a new deck, alright?”

“go ahead~”

“Believe me Alex, you’ll regret playing this game......you should never play against people on the streets.....”

“it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine~”

“Alright! i’m scrambling the cards, so lets start~!”

“Okay!!”

***

“I....i lost.....”

“Yes, you lost an utter defeat of 19 pairs to 7. i told you, you were going to regret it.”

“Uuuu, i’m sorry, Drake....”

“No problem, now lets head back and think of a new plan in order to rank you up...”

“You truly are a good friend! it feels like i’ve known you for more than a single day, Drake~! but i...i’m going to

take my revenge..!”

“Ohh, you’d like another game?”

After i said that toward that dumbass, he responded with “Yes! although this time, lets play it with two decks. and rather than just matching the numbers, we’ll be matching the suits as well! what do you think?”

This guy.....it seems like he thinks i cheated.

well, i did cheat. but something of this level isn’t going to make my cheat useless y’know?

heck, it’ll make your chances even worse, you dimwit.

“Sure! but what are you going to wager?"

"How about a single rank? if i lose, i'll go to G and be your slave until i pay off the debt for leveling back up to F, and if you lose, you'll be demoted a rank while i go to E? simply put, a single rank wager~!"

"Alright! i got no problems with that!!"

i answered him with a businesslike smile.

i opened two new decks and scrambled them all over the table.

i felt really relived because my opponent was a human.

since in the end, my cheat is using magic.

i placed marks all over the back of the cards, with different magic color on every pair of cards, i am able to find the pair i needed.

for example, if you are able to see magic, you’ll be able to see that the cards holding the number 4 are colored blue. while the ones holding number 5 are green.

i turned toward the young man and told him “you can go first~”

i didn’t expect a response but he said “your trick......it won’t work again y’know?”

he said that.

all the alarms in my head began screaming but i quickly dismissed the thought as a bluff.

i mean, a human can see the flow of magic?

don’t screw with me.

“I wonder what you’re talking about~?”

he sharped his gaze and said “I see....i’m going to have to demonstrate?”

after saying that, he picked up two cards.

the 4 of spades.

out of all the cards, he picked two 4 of spades.

i opened my eyes wide in shock while he continued to pick up the cards.

5 of hearts, queen of diamonds, Ace of clubs and 9 of clubs.

after that, my eyes refused to acknowledge anything.

“Phew~ this makes it my win?”

“E-eh?”

“What? ahh, its because i took out more half of them right? you have no chance of winning against me. here,

can’t you see the window?”

i looked down.

Due to waging a rank in this gamble and lost, you have been demoted to rank D

and indeed.....i did lose.

“B-but how did you win?!”

“ohh? didn’t i tell you that your trick wont work? heck, it worked toward me. you’re really stupid actually, to use a cheat that obvious? i really only had to figure which color goes to which card.....”

“so you’re telling me that you knew from the start.....?! and used the first round to check out the cards?!?!”

“of course! but man, if you hadn’t used the cheat on both decks again, it would’ve been my lost~”

the young man threw his hands in the air playfully.

“you actually.....just gave away a big gold karma coin....to test the waters....?!”

“Yes! well, it has been quite interesting so why not? i actually gained a rank too~”

“i see....”

i hung my head between my hands.

i can’t believe i took this man to an idiot.....

“i have one last question. how are you able to see the flow of magic? even though you’re only human??”

“thats quite simple, with Odin’s blessing, i drank from Mímir’s well. and one of the doors it unlocked was the door to see magic. although i didn’t need that in japan, because magic did not exist in that world. but here in heaven, where all the races from all the universes in creation come together....this ability has proven its worth once again.”

i had no idea what this young man was talking about....but a human being able to see the flow of magic is unheard of.

just thinking about this young man’s future.....i couldn’t help but have a shiver run through my spine.

☆☆☆

Alison AlexRankE