"You know I can practically hear your heart beating out of your chest, right?"
Evelyn's voice was tame and surprisingly soothing.
It almost made me forget just what kind of person she was.
"First time gambling," I replied honestly. "Not sure what my backup plan is if I were to lose, you know?"
"I see..."
Evelyn fell quiet, then tossed a card over to his side. A second later, another card came. Both were turned upside down, which was clearly not the standard.
"Let's play a single game," Evelyn said.
Confused, I glanced up, meeting her warm smile.
"It's on the house. Pinkie promise."
I spotted five golden chips beside me, which equaled five gold.
She was giving me a freebie.
"Can I just walk out with this?" I asked bluntly.
Evelyn's expression remained unchanging. She merely brushed her black hair behind her ear and fixed her gold-tipped monocle. Her crimson eyes seemed calm at a glance, but I felt like I was staring at a tiger.
"Of course you can. I just wouldn't really recommend it, you see."
"Haha..."
Well, it was still just theatrics.
The reason I had come here was because I wanted to sell information.
Very high value information that even the queen of the underworld herself wouldn't dare to pass up.
So for starters, if I wanted to get her on my side, I needed to make a memorable first impression.
"How about we ditch the money?" I said, tossing the five gold chips into my pocket.
Her expression darkened.
"When I said I wouldn't recommend it, I meant it. This is just plain disrespect, Amon Everness."
I shook my head. "You didn't let me finish."
I placed my hand on the table and met her gaze.
This time, there was no nervousness or worry in my gaze, only confidence and determination.
"Let's bet with information."
"Information?" Evelyn raised a brow, her expression softening as a faint chuckle escaped her lips.
"Well, you should've started with that then. I know what you're trying to propose, but what if you can't match the information I'm providing?"
"The punishment is up to you to decide," I replied with my hands in the air.
"Hah... You're quite unique, aren't you?"
She pointed at her pair of cards and at my pair as well.
"Do you want to start a new game?"
Normally, I would.
It would be stupid to not take it...
Except Evelyn always gave her opponents a free turn.
In battle, and in gambling.
So I didn't hesitate to turn my cards over, and lo and behold, I got a blackjack.
A faint smile tugged at her lips as she turned over her card, revealing a measly 18.
"Seems like you win," she said with a sigh. "So what now? We didn't really set the rules on what kind of information we'd be betting. So what will it be, Amon?"
I thought about it for a moment, then answered.
"What's the name and address of that innovator who offered to build you an automatic roulette wheel?"
"Hmm...?"
For the first time since I sat down, I managed to slightly surprise Evelyn.
But she was the underground queen for a reason.
"Robert Jeromes. Downtown Aldraazan, right by the slums."
Perfect.
This guy here would go on to invent the first car prototype, and of course, I wanted to be a part of that.
Money was a big thing in this world, and it was also something I didn't have at the moment.
So, as small as this information might have seemed to her, it was actually very valuable to me.
After a few brief moments, Evelyn dealt the cards again.
However, this time around, I was passed a shitty hand.
An 18.
On the other hand, she had a 10 showing, so I had no choice but to hit.
To my relief, I got a two, putting me at a total of 20.
But as she flipped her card, she also revealed a 20, meaning we had drawn.
A look of mutual understanding sparked between us, and so she dealt again.
But I was sadly not as lucky as before.
She drew 20, and I got a 25.
Evelyn won this one, not even trying to hide her smug look.
"Let's see... What am I even supposed to ask you? You don't seem like the knowledgeable type."
I was pretty bad at remembering random people...
"How about this then? Winter is right around the corner, so what kind of fur is going to be the most valuable?"
"Wolf fur," I replied, narrowing my eyes. "Also, I'm being serious here. Don't treat me like a joke."
"Well, your answer really doesn't line up that well with what I've been told, you know?"
Evelyn tilted her head.
"We're miles away from any wolf habitats. I don't think I've even seen wolf fur in any store yet."
Of course, that's because there were no wolves here... yet.
The city of Aldraazan was incredibly large. It would probably take me 12 hours of straight running to get from one side to another.
But before all of this cool technology, this city had a large sewer system... which was connected to the wilderness.
Specifically, it was connected to 5 wolf nests, and one day, while these people are happily sleeping, the wolves might or might not simply jump out of the sewers and attack with numbers upwards of a thousand.
I couldn't tell her any of this, but I could give her a hint.
"Here's a little bonus." I lowered my voice. "If you walk outside at night in the slums, you might hear howling. I'm sure the locals would be more than happy to tell you the same thing."
She pondered over my words for a moment.
Obviously, she thought I was full of shit.
But I chose her for this exact reason.
Evelyn was the type of person to hear out any request, no matter how stupid it sounded.
So after a few moments, she snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, a black figure appeared beside her, then leaned down.
She leaned into the figure's ear and whispered a few words I couldn't quite make out.
Just as quickly as the figure appeared, it vanished without a sound.
"I'm going to verify your information. It should only take a few minutes at most."
She played around with her hair as she tapped the table, humming from time to time.
But just then, she stopped, turning toward me with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, but if you're lying to me, I don't give a shit if you're a noble or the son of the emperor. I will shove a stick up your ass and use your mouth as a shovel for horse shit. Do you understand?"
Oh...
Did I get myself involved with the right person?