indianbanksassociation #428 - Win 37 million with 20 yuan
#428 - Win 37 million with 20 yuan
A week had passed since then.
Kazuma and the others would go to the royal capital every morning to face the prince's trials.
After Alice's constant trampling, which felt more like a warm-up than a serious attack, and Kazuma's coin-flipping trickery exploiting the rules, plus Zun Zun always ending with a dragon-slaying story, finally—
“Excellent! This means the defense budget is fully restored to its original level! Now, all that's left is our original purpose: to request funds to launch an offensive against the Demon King's army…!”
“Wait, wait a minute! That's out of the question!”
After continuously losing the support money, they thought Prince Revi would see an opportunity to turn things around and agree readily, but his attitude was surprisingly cautious.
“Continuing to support defense spending is one thing, but having my country fund an offensive against the Demon King's army poses many problems.”
“Are you sure? If you agree, you might even get the principal back, you know.”
“Who would fall for such an obvious provocation?”
Prince Revi stubbornly refused to budge, scoffing at Kazuma's taunts.
He wasn't a qualified gambler.
People like Prince Revi, with their rationality, didn't really care about the defense budget; whether they gave it or not was irrelevant. Even if they lost, the status quo wouldn't change; it was just an opportunity to have some fun. Not giving it at all would be even better.
But the money for an offensive against the Demon King's army was his absolute bottom line.
“Listen carefully. My country doesn't want to provoke the Demon King's army, so we cannot fund your offensive.”
Giving defense funds could be said to be under duress; not giving them might be seen as defecting to the Demon King's side, leading to attacks from the entire human alliance. But not giving funds for an offensive left plenty of room to maneuver; at most, the status quo would remain unchanged.
Kazuma looked at Zun Zun, who signaled with his eyes, 'Leave it all to you,' and he grinned.
“Are you sure? You might win next time, you know…”
“Stop blathering. How could someone who's been losing all along suddenly win? Who do you think I am… Ah!?”
The usually composed prince suddenly looked bewildered, his mouth agape. His gaze was fixed on Kazuma's open right hand.
By the way, the prince had just guessed Kazuma's left hand.
Which meant—
“You cheated, you bastard!”
Prince Revi blurted out, even using profanity.
Although he was arrogant and sarcastic when they first met, he had never cursed. This showed how much psychological impact Kazuma had on him.
Alice wasn't as dramatic as Prince Revi, but she also looked surprised.
“Brother, could it be that from the very first gamble, the coin wasn't in either hand?”
“That's right. Smart Alice should remember what I said when I demanded a showdown, right?”
“It was… 'You win if you guess where the coin is,' right? …Ah!”
“Ah, ah!”
After Alice, the prince seemed to understand as well.
That's right, this was the trick Zun Zun used to tease the arrogant Priscilla back then, winning the right to fondle her breasts at will. And now, Kazuma used this trick to win 50% of the support funds.
“As expected of Kazuma, no one can surpass you in such treacherous and cunning deeds!”
“…Are you praising me? Besides, isn't this the method you taught me?”
“Hehe, I am praising you.”
Zun Zun and Alice exchanged smiles.
“Damn, damn, damn! How dare you cheat me, you bastard! As royalty, don't you think that's despicable!?”
“Not at all.”
The answer was decisive.
Because Kazuma wasn't a prince.
Faced with his shameless attitude, Prince Revi gasped and said, “…Tch, that's just how country bumpkins are. Forget it, it's my stupidity as the prince of a gambling superpower that I couldn't see through your trickery. I won't ask you to return the money.”
In the end, Kazuma's provocation didn't succeed.
Prince Revi meant that the defense funding would continue as before, but that was it. He wouldn't agree to anything more, no matter what.
“Then we'll say goodbye here. I wish you success in defeating the Demon King.”
Finally, saying insincere words, Prince Revi dismissed them.
Back at the inn.
Alice returned to her room looking dejected, while Kazuma called Darkness and the others to discuss what to do.
“—That's the situation.”
After telling them what happened, Kazuma asked somewhat irritably, “What do we do? Do you guys have any good ideas?”
“I guess we can only use that method after all.”
“…What?”
“Let's sell Zun Zun.”
Darkness said such foolish words.
“Wait a minute, what do you mean!?!” Megumin slammed the table, saying, “You want us to abandon our companion? Darkness, I didn't think you were that kind of person!”
“That's right, that's right, I don't agree with abandoning Zun Zun!” Yunyun shouted in agreement.
“N-No… That… I'm sorry.”
Darkness panicked slightly.
They weren't even forced to that point yet, but this pervert was already thinking about selling Zun Zun for money. Honestly, even someone with a good temper would be angry.
Zun Zun pointed at her and said, “Hey, Darkness, if you have such thoughts again, I'll make you wear skimpy clothes and go to shady bars to sell drinks to those slovenly old men! Contribute to the kingdom with your meager salary!”
“I couldn't ask for more!”
“Huh???”
You're invincible, child.
When a pervert is more perverted than you, there's nothing you can do. Darkness's eager expression left everyone speechless.
“Anyway, Zun Zun is our companion, how could we abandon him?” Kazuma slammed the table and said righteously, then shrugged and said, “Besides, that idiot prince might not be willing to pay.”
“No, he will definitely pay.”
“…Zun Zun?”
Realizing that his companions had misunderstood him, Zun Zun quickly waved his hands, indicating that he didn't mean that.
“No, no, no, I'm not saying that I want to stay behind, I'm just saying that if it really comes to that, Prince Revi will definitely pay.”
“Because of what you said about increasing national strength?”
“There's a bit of that reason.”
Zun Zun was a high-level magical tool master. With sufficient materials, he could manufacture skill point potions in a production line, thereby producing a large number of powerful knights and adventurers.
But the most crucial thing was the Prime Minister.
He was actually a spy planted by the Demon King's army, and with Zun Zun being the main force in subjugating the Demon King's army executives, it would be a welcome thing to keep Zun Zun behind, even if it meant spending a lot of money.
“I guess we can only resort to desperate measures.”
Kazuma put on a sinister face, looking every bit the villain.
Darkness quickly held his shoulders, saying, “Hey, don't mess around! Although Princess Alice has been wronged, if you do something outrageous, it will cause an extremely serious diplomatic incident.”
“That's right, that's right, that's very bad.”
“Zun Zun, are you serious?”
Kazuma looked at Zun Zun, who was even advising him along with Darkness, with a rather complicated expression.
You have to know that when they came to this kingdom, Zun Zun was a staunch supporter of force, having already decided to solve things with violence. But now, he was actually advising him against it.
“Could it be because that idiot prince is your fan…”
“How could that be!… No, there's a bit of that reason too.”
“Okay, let's go kill him!”
Kazuma stood up excitedly, but was still pushed down by Darkness.
Megumin said she could blast the royal capital with Explosion magic, Aqua also said she could replace the flag hanging on the royal capital with the Axis Church's flag, only Yunyun looked worried, afraid they would mess around.
“Don't worry, I won't do anything outrageous.”
Kazuma held out one hand, a ball of cold will-o'-the-wisp flickering on his index finger, making people feel uneasy.
Darkness's face changed upon seeing this.
“Hey, Kazuma, that skill, could it be—”
“That's right! Death Sentence I learned from the Dullahan!”
“Where did you learn that!?”
“That's not important!”
Kazuma didn't want to talk about the Dullahan's information. His mind was now only filled with the idea of cursing Prince Revi, to disguise it as the work of a Demon King's army executive, thereby breaking off the other party's relationship with the Demon King's army.
“Forget it, don't do that.”
But he was stopped by Zun Zun.
“Your skill can only give people diarrhea for a few days at most, it's useless.”
“Ugh!”
Kazuma froze all over.
Death Sentence was the curse that the Dullahan cast on Zun Zun back then, and even Zun Zun with his divine body was hit and died, so Kazuma wanted to curse Prince Revi.
The idea was good, but he forgot that he was a beginner.
While already reducing the skill's power, Kazuma couldn't afford to pay the large number of skill points needed to learn Death Sentence, so he could only settle for learning the simplified version.
And the effect would only give people diarrhea for a few days at most, it wouldn't even be considered a prank.
“The Demon King's army casting a diarrhea curse on Prince Revi, I don't know if you want to embarrass Prince Revi or smear the Demon King's army.”
“Both.”
Kazuma crossed his arms.
If he didn't stop this guy, he would really break into the royal palace again tonight to curse Prince Revi.
Darkness naturally wouldn't allow it, so she forcefully held down his hands and feet. The only advantage of the clumsy crusader was her exaggerated physical strength and wrist strength, pinching Kazuma until he screamed.
They made a fuss for a while.
Kazuma said unhappily, “This is no good, that's no good. Then you guys come up with an idea!”
“There's always been a way.”
“What way!?” X5
Hearing Zun Zun say this, everyone's eyes turned to him.
“You guys always ignore the most crucial thing. Have you forgotten that this is a gambling superpower?”
“Zun Zun, what you want to say is—”
“That's right, it's gambling!”
Only then did the others suddenly realize.