The inevitable gambling that accompanied any private battlefield: Winner Betting.

For the citizens of the Empire, who lacked everyday entertainment, gambling was a part of life. Predicting the winner of a battlefield and placing a bet was one of the most popular forms of gambling.

Just as I had invested my entire fortune into buying that stylish linen shirt.

As a trendsetter among the imperial citizens, I couldn’t miss this opportunity, so I made my way to the betting booth.

“Please be careful! If you lose your ticket, we cannot settle your winnings!”

23.7x.

After I received my ticket and the odds updated, the figure dropped to 17.8x.

Still, it wasn’t a small payout.

It boasted the highest odds among the eight players.

‘It’ll probably climb up to 20x.’

Since betting hadn’t closed yet, I had to wait for the final odds.

But I was confident there wouldn’t be many people willing to bet on a man named ‘Hans,’ a mere employee of the shieldbearer Guild.

After all.

<Chasey Einthoven x 1.36>

With such overwhelming favorite odds, it was only natural.

Of course, the odds didn’t lie; the probability of Hans taking first place wasn’t very high.

Hans was simply out of his league trying to take down Chasey Einthoven, the Young Lady of the Einthoven family.

Nevertheless, I bet every penny I had painstakingly saved over the past three years on Hans.

‘He should be used to it by now.’

I had some grounds for confidence.

Hans had experienced two battlefields prior to this.

Through these experiences, he would have slowly grown accustomed to managing his deck.

The ‘Hardcore Assassin’ deck I recommended was famous for being easy enough for beginners to play.

It was a deck often chosen by those just starting out in Xtoches.

However, after finishing their games, they would post things like this on the community forums:

└└Assassin deck is total trash, don’t play it.

└└Is the assassin deck actually good?

└└How do you manage HP with assassins?

In truth, while the deck was easy to build, managing it was relatively difficult.

The assassin synergy was the one most heavily influenced by the opponent’s composition and formation.

└└Still, assassins are a placement machine. Played 5 games and got 4th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd.

└└Good for climbing ranks. But if you want 1st, you need to get a bit lucky.

A deck with a high floor but a low ceiling.

But did that mean an assassin deck couldn’t take first place?

‘That’s not true.’

I could confidently answer no.

‘There’s a reason assassin decks are used even in the Celestial Realm.’

Skilled players could solve the assassin deck’s inherent problems through proper management.

What I had taught Hans were the little details.

Users who played hundreds, thousands of games for their tier.

And among them, the highest tier: Challenger.

Since it was a dying game, the player base wasn’t that large…

But there was a reason I was able to reach the top ranks among Challenger tier players.

Hans’s performance in this tournament would prove it.

***

How much time had passed?

Timing my arrival to when the finals should be ending, I headed to the settlement location.

The empty lot in front of the settlement Office, usually desolate, was already packed with people bustling about.

“As expected, Lady Chasey will take first, right?”

“I bet on Sir Randolph. He placed first in Group A of the second preliminaries.”

“Come on, don’t you know he lost to Lady Chasey in the first preliminaries and got second? The winner’s gotta be Lady Chasey.”

“I’m still going to believe! He could just be lucky!”

People were chattering away, each deluding themselves with happy thoughts.

Their only common denominator was that they were all tightly gripping their betting tickets.

Anxiety, hope, impatience.

A whirlpool of various emotions swirled, and as the time for the results approached, the small commotion gradually subsided.

Finally, silence descended upon the lot.

Creak-

Just then, two employees emerged from the settlement Office building carrying a large screen.

“Looks like the results are out. Please, Randolph!”

“It’s Chasey anyway. It’s Chasey anyway…”

Thud-

After moving the screen to a spot where everyone could see it, the employees immediately set it up.

The moment everyone’s eyes were glued to the screen.

Without dragging it out, they announced the results right away.

If this were Korea, they would have dragged out the announcement with all sorts of advertisements.

A countdown appeared on the screen.

As if possessed, the crowd watched the numbers change.

The numbers gradually decreased.

“We are now announcing the results!”

As the numbers converged to zero, new text filled the screen.

The rankings, bearing everyone’s respective wishes, appeared on the screen. The results were…

<Einthoven Ship Bronze-Tier Private Battlefield Finals Results>

8th: Anasha

7th: Randolph

6th: Brown Arving

5th: Chamberlain

4th: Gray William

3rd: Yuki Beta

.

..

…

2nd: Chasey Einthoven

1st: Hans

“… …”

A silence that lingered for a while.

Faced with a result no one had anticipated, people doubted their own eyes.

It only took a moment for the silence to shatter.

“Sir Randolph is 7th? That’s impossible!”

“Lady Chasey isn’t first…?”

“Argh! My money!”

The empty lot in front of the betting booth instantly erupted into chaos.

“I-Is this a joke?!”

Some people yelled and argued with the innocent employees, but the staff simply shook their heads as if they were used to it.

Pure pandemonium.

At that moment, a man who had bet 30 silver coins on Chasey opened his mouth.

“…Who is Hans?”

Murmur- murmur-

With those words as a catalyst, people began discussing this man named Hans.

“Don’t tell me it’s that Hans from the shieldbearer Guild?”

“Come on, the name Hans isn’t exactly rare. It’s probably just someone with the same name.”

“…No, I think it is that Hans. I caught a glimpse of him at the preliminary venue.”

“It’s really that Hans…?”

People couldn’t easily accept the results.

The Hans they knew wasn’t outstanding enough to break through the wall that was Chasey.

“We will now begin the settlements! Those who bet on player ‘Hans,’ please submit your tickets and receive your payout!”

“You bastard! Hans, you useless stubby-legged punk!”

Upon the employee’s confirmation, a few with nasty tempers cursed out the innocent Hans and left.

Torn tickets were scattered all over the lot.

“Ah, let’s just go drink. What’s the point of watching? It just makes my stomach ache for nothing!”

“Let’s go!”

Most people headed home with disappointment and annoyance.

“Must be nice. The payout must be insane.”

A few stayed behind out of envy, hoping to find the lucky winner.

They were curious to see if there was actually a gambler who had bet on a hopeless figure like Hans.

“No way, there’s actually someone who bet on Hans…?”

“Huh? What’s with that tacky outfit?”

‘Hehe- I won’t have to worry about money for a while.’

Feeling the stares of those around me, my shoulders involuntarily puffed up with pride.

Look at those eyes, filled with envy.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the attention, I headed straight for the settlement Office.

Surprisingly, there were quite a few people besides me who had bet on Hans, so it took some time to receive my settlement.

Truthfully, even when I placed the bet, I didn’t have high expectations for Hans taking first place.

The probability was maybe 20% at best.

Even that felt like a generous estimate considering Hans’s intellect.

Still, the worst case was just breaking even.

I had his promise that he would give me all the prize money he received this time.

‘At least he’d secure a placement.’

Even if he came in 8th, he was guaranteed 50 silver coins, making it a low-risk investment.

“Final odds: 19.2x. Betting amount: 33 shillings…”

In the end, the bold investment paid off.

“Y-Your payout of 633.6 shillings, please!”

A staggering 6 gold coins, 33 silver coins, and 6 copper coins.

Faced with a massive payout rarely seen, the young employee stuttered.

After all, while 33 shillings—my entire life savings scraped together—wasn’t exactly a fortune.

It was by no means a small amount to throw at a hopeless prospect, and an incredible upset of 19.2x odds was almost unheard of.

“I’ll receive it in my battlefield account.”

An account was a privilege exclusive to champions or players.

Seeing my device, the employee’s attitude became noticeably more polite.

“Excuse me, then.”

I extended one arm, and the employee promptly brought a familiar-looking machine to it.

The process was the same as settling gold after returning from a battlefield.

Ding-

Battlefield accounts had the disadvantage of requiring a settlement machine to use.

“Settlement complete! Thank you for using our service.”

But alongside their convenience, they offered the significant advantage of preventing theft.

Some people sustained their lives as champions solely because of these accounts, so their convenience was beyond words.

[Current Balance: 602 Shillings]

The payout was slightly reduced under the guise of a commission, but it was still a highly satisfactory result.

A shirt made of linen, which was highly prized even at the dry goods store, cost a whole 10 silver coins.

Considering that it was equivalent to 10 shillings in standard currency, it was clear this was quite a large sum.

‘My fortune has truly turned.’

But the good news didn’t end there.

“Shin Lee!”

On my way out after finishing the settlement.

Hans, who had just returned from finishing the battlefield.

Defying everyone’s expectations and claiming first place, Hans immediately ran toward me.

The settlement Office had a sound-blocking magic for security, so there was no worry of my conversation with the employee leaking outside.

The crowd that had gathered in the lot had already dispersed.

“Hahaha- you rascal!”

Hans leaped forward to embrace me.

Swish-

As I casually sidestepped, Hans’s body sailed past me and crashed hard into the exterior wall of the building.

Thud-!

“W-What was that?”

Startled by the noise, an employee quickly rushed outside.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I slipped.”

“…Please be careful.”

The employee looked around to find the source of the sound but, seeing Hans acting as if nothing had happened, found nothing amiss.

‘Sturdy as ever.’

Hans, a former shieldbearer.

He seemed to feel no pain despite colliding hard with the wall.

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks! It’s all thanks to you!”

He had an expression as if he owned the world.

Hans had won this battlefield, overtaking the overwhelming favorite, Chasey Einthoven.

“Do you know what happened? It was exactly as you said…”

He recalled his astonishing experience.

***

“It’s gunslingers again? Why are there so many gunslingers?”

Hans found this battlefield incredibly strange.

Seven players besides himself. And out of them, five had chosen decks with similar compositions.

They had all chosen gunslinger-centric decks.

“What’s the occasion today? Well, it’s a good thing for me, though.”

Of course, he didn’t think too deeply about it.

With so many gunslingers, it was a blessing for Hans, who had built an assassin deck.

The battles unfolded in a similar fashion.

“I won again! Hehe, at this rate, am I really going to get first place?”

The average gunslinger decks were no match for the assassins.

Aside from the occasional warrior and brawler decks he encountered, he could smoothly stack up victories.

“There were 5 gunslinger decks?”

“Yeah. Weird, right? Later on, it was nothing but gunslinger decks.”

‘Overlapping decks is a common occurrence. Especially with meta decks, it’s even worse.’

There was a saying for situations like this.

Gunslinger Counter Gunslinger.

It meant that the enemy of a gunslinger was another gunslinger, implying that in mirror matches, the luckier player would win.

Chasey Einthoven was touted as the overwhelming favorite to win.

Since the preliminaries had revealed that her primary deck was gunslingers.

Intentionally overlapping decks to claim first place was a valid strategy.

‘Though five people is definitely too many.’

However, he wasn’t the only one who had thought this way.

The problem was that too many players had chosen the same deck.

The first victims were the players who had chosen the brawler and warrior decks that Hans had encountered.

They were players who had built decks centered around melee champions.

In terms of matchups, tank-type champions were inherently weak against gunslinger decks that possessed armor penetration synergy.

‘He said later on, only gunslingers were left.’

With no one capable of winning except Hans, who had chosen an assassin deck, it was inevitable that they would fail to manage their HP and record low rankings.

This was also the reason Randolph, a favorite to win, had recorded a poor 7th place finish.

‘He probably lacked the skill to pivot his deck mid-game.’

Flexible deck management was not as easy as it sounded.

This situation was a godsend for Hans.

With the tank decks that countered him being eliminated early, only gunslinger decks remained.

However, in this battlefield, even the gunslingers couldn’t perform properly.

“Aside from Lady Chasey, there wasn’t really anyone to be afraid of.”

That was only natural.

The battlefield had a rule known as ‘pieces.’

The number of champions with the same class and cost was fixed.

Which meant that if decks overlapped, the probability of gunslingers appearing in the shop decreased.

But to have not two, but five people overlap.

It was inevitable that their decks would be built weaker than usual.

That was how Hans was able to preserve his HP by preying on those flimsy gunslinger decks.

“I even beat Lady Chasey early on, you know?”

This situation was no exception for Chasey Einthoven either.

Until she could forge her signature core item, she was no different from the other players.

Of course, once it was completed…

“I lost in the next battle, though.”

She gained the power to overwhelm even her counter, the assassin deck.

That was exactly why item combination formulas were so highly valued.

It was one of the core elements that determined a player’s tier.

Hans recalled the round where he had faced her and suffered defeat.

“But did you really change the formation like you said? How did you know?”

‘She actually changed her formation.’

I hadn’t actually been certain that Chasey would change her formation.

There was no guarantee she would come up with a formation that required such a deep understanding of the battlefield.

Chasey Einthoven, huh…

‘She’s quite skilled.’

I didn’t expect her to find a countermeasure so quickly.

I hadn’t faced her directly, but compared to the dense Hans, she seemed like a player overflowing with talent.

“So, did you do as I told you?”

“Yeah! What kind of magic did you pull?”

Hans wore an expression of sheer astonishment.

He couldn’t have imagined that such a small change could create such a massive difference.