Before him lay a wager that was anything but fair.
Bell now fully understood Terry's vile scheme. Using wealth to lure gamblers in, then, once they were ruined, demanding their women as payment. Bell had never been fooled; everything he'd said earlier was an act, and there was no world in which he'd accept such a one-sided gamble.
"Do you actually think I'd agree to that?"
Bell looked at him coldly.
Terry grinned wildly and snapped his fingers.
Servers pushed over carts stacked with high-grade tokens, and several burly men stepped forward, blocking the exit completely.
"Since we're the same kind of people, no need for me to explain further, right?"
His voice dripped with scorn and threat.
Bell cast a brief glance at the men behind him. He could sense two strong presences among them. Even so, he simply smiled and spoke in a calm, steady tone.
"Boss, do you believe I really reached Level Lv.2?"
"...With the title already out there, of course I believe it."
Terry couldn't understand why the white-haired youth was suddenly changing the subject.
"Everyone knows I defeated the Minotaur. Aren't you curious how I did it?"
In the still room, Bell's voice was cold enough to freeze the air.
"..."
Terry was at a loss for words.
He had thought Bell Cranel was just a lucky rookie who barely managed to level up. But now, the pressure Bell radiated crushed everyone else in the room.
"H-how… how did you beat it?"
Terry stammered.
Bell smiled lightly and raised his right hand. There was no weapon in his grasp, yet every pair of eyes in the room locked onto it.
"It's hard to explain… but I did this. Pointed my right hand at it, and then the next second—"
"Boom."
Terry jumped so hard he nearly fell from his chair, startled by the sudden sharp sound.
"And just like that, its whole body exploded."
Bell's smile didn't change, but no matter what he did, Terry couldn't laugh anymore.
"Thinking about that scene now, it was pretty horrifying. Flesh and blood all mixed together… Ah, pardon me. This is such a refined gathering. Talking about things like that must be rather rude, isn't it?"
Bell had only mimed the motion, yet Terry looked half-dead with fear.
The real gamble had begun long before.
Bell could easily guess that the wealthy men here were undoubtedly Terry's accomplices. Card-marking, deck-swapping, passing signals—these usual cheap tricks were skills Bell had mastered long ago. His grandfather's friends often played similar games, their reflexes and sleight of hand nearing the supernatural. Young Bell had suffered many losses before learning one crucial lesson.
Before stepping into a gamble, the smartest move was to seize leverage over the opponent.
Cheating or luck didn't matter; the real gambling began with taking control of people's hearts.
From the moment he entered this casino, Bell had been ready for everything. He hadn't even shown his real trump cards yet—Ryuu and Laurier—and still, with presence alone, he had already frightened Terry pale.
"Who… who are you? What are you doing here?!"
Terry's face went pale. This unknown enemy was someone he had personally invited inside. With two Lv4 adventurers at his side, Terry had assumed the newly promoted boy wouldn't dare make a move. But he'd overlooked one fact.
Even some Gods were wary of that unknown existence. A boy who defeated a Minotaur at Level 1 and leveled up in less than half a month. Someone with such terrifying growth was anything but ordinary.
Terry had always rigged his games, manipulating people through gambling. Everyone at this table was his accomplice. With nothing more than a gesture, they could strip a victim of everything.
But this time was different. Even when threatened with force, the boy showed no intention of joining the gamble. Terry couldn't keep the game going. Because what sat on the table now wasn't chips—it was his own life.
Hidden weapons, speed, Quick-Cast Magic… Terry had no idea what the boy's trump card was. But at this distance, whatever it was, he would be the one to die first.
Most importantly, there was that calm smile on the boy's face. As if he had expected everything to unfold this way. Even if it was only a bluff, Terry didn't dare gamble his life to find out.
Bell saw Terry's deathly pale expression and knew he had already given up.
"Looks like we can finally talk normally. Mind having these people step back? They're kind of blocking my view."
"…You two, stand guard at the door."
Terry addressed the men around him. The bodyguards without crests stepped back immediately. The two strongest didn't move, clearly hesitant.
"What are you standing around for? Rollo, Faust, get downstairs!"
When Terry saw the boy raise a finger toward him, fear surged instantly.
"Wait—what did you just call them?"
Bell froze at the unexpected names.
"...You've definitely heard of them, right? They're the famous [Black Fist] and [Black Cat]!"
Seeing Bell's reaction, Terry felt a spark of hope. Could it be that the kid wasn't confident he could fend off a Lv4?
But just as Terry thought that, the boy laughed.
As bounty hunters and assassins known throughout the region, those two names were synonymous with terror. Yet Bell Cranel had laughed without thinking.
It was a smile completely out of place—like someone reacting to a pet. Overwhelming, utterly without fear. It wasn't even that he wasn't afraid of them—the idea of comparing their combat strength hadn't even appeared in his mind.
Watching the two Lv4s walk away, Terry felt his last bit of reason crack and collapse. There was no doubt anymore. The [Black Cat] and [Black Fist], whom he'd always boasted about and paid heavily to hire, had absolutely no confidence they could stop Bell Cranel.
They slunk away, beaten without even fighting. Terry's mind went blank.
To him, the white-haired boy had become an unfathomable, horrifying demon.
Terry took a deep breath, barely managing to push down the boundless fear in his heart.
"You... what do you want to do..."
Under the dim glow of the Magic Stone lamp. Terry would never know that Bell's smile came from a ridiculous stroke of luck.
Rollo. Faust. If those names had appeared on their own, Bell might not have cared. But hearing them together immediately made him think of the two tavern staff members.
Chloe Rollo and Lunoire Faust. Bell knew they were both incredibly skilled and carried pasts few knew about. What he hadn't expected was to hear their names here of all places.
Not only were they using their real names, their titles couldn't have been more accurate. It made one want to complain—shouldn't they at least try to hide it a little?
What was that scheming, adorable Cat Person doing, going around calling herself Black Cat...
Once Bell realized this, he immediately understood. Terry must have been tricked by someone and ended up hiring two fake bodyguards.
Putting everything together was what had made him smile earlier. With luck on his side, the match hadn't even begun before Bell's bluff sealed his victory.
"Now, let's get down to business."