Chapter 162: The biggest bet he’s ever made
Unedited Chapter. It will be edited soon.
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Rebecca turned to look at her father, shocked. "Whenever he says that, the stakes are going to be huge," she thought.
She smiled softly, interested in this, and nodded to him. Although she was an impulsive gambler who liked to play around and bet large amounts of money, the amount she had as "pocket money" was very limited compared to the amounts her father handled.
Besides, she used to bet for fun or for silly things, while her father used to bet more sensibly at more important and bigger moments. So it was exciting to see him place bets, which is why she ran to find him quickly, partly angry and partly excited.
Miss Evergreen had a headache from seeing these guys treat such large amounts of money as a game.
Although she understood how Robert and Rebecca could get so much money to gamble with, where did Louis get it?
He didn’t remember the Habsburg family having that much money, and even if they did, it wasn’t feasible for them to leave it to a young man when there were other descendants out there.
He assumed that this young man, although he looked powerful, could be a spendthrift. An impulsive spender who didn’t belong to a family as wealthy as the Priestleys wasn’t going to end well. At least that’s what he thought.
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After winning his fight, he got ready to go back to where Rebecca was. Although at this point he finally understood why there weren’t many people around him who were good fighters.
The answer was simple: they were all first-years.
He realized this because he could see the whole place from that VIP room, as he was able to get a better view of the different fighters gathered in the different arenas above this huge stadium.
The best fights were happening at the other ends, in the upper grades where Laura was, for example. It was here that he realized that the rest of the departments were divided into classrooms by grade.
It was something he had been wondering about since he entered the academy, and now he understood the answer: given the lack of students in the Armament Department, led by Hardrial, he had to accept every student who arrived in the same classroom, as dividing them would not make sense.
Luckily for Hardrial, Louis had learned very quickly and there was no need to divide the study for each one.
"Well, I guess I should thank those bastards for the good blood they left me," he thought, remembering his family, although then he didn’t care.
After checking his system and verifying that he had completed the mission, as always, he began to walk.
On the way, he ran into Rebecca.
"Why did you lose on purpose?" she asked, looking angry.
Louis shrugged. "I didn’t really lose, you know?" he said.
"You had won a billion, and now you have to give it to me. If that’s not losing, then what is?" she asked, clearly mocking him.
Louis smiled. ’If you knew that the mission gave me much more money than that, you wouldn’t say that,’ he thought and handed her the money cards.
"It’s a measly amount, so you don’t need to think too much about it," he said.
"Tsk, I don’t want that money," she said angrily and turned away. "Come on, my father wants to play with you," she said and started walking.
From behind, Louis raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Gambling with the richest man in the empire? This will be interesting," he thought and followed her closely.
When they arrived, Robert got straight to the point.
"Kid, I’m interested in knowing your true strength. I think you’re stronger than the rumors say," he said and turned to look at him. "So I’d like to bet with you on how far you can go in this tournament," he said.
Louis smiled.
"I don’t know if spending money is what the Priestley Family wants these days," he said, looking toward the VIP rooms where the emperor was. "After all, it seems they have a lot of work to do."
Robert was astonished by his words and soon began to laugh... "Hahaha, not bad, kid. You have a good eye, but there are things you shouldn’t say, no matter how much guts you may have," he said.
"Okay, then I’ll keep quiet," Louis replied and decided to focus on what he had said. "What would you like to bet on, Mr. Robert? I must tell you that I am very confident, so I will tell you that the lowest result I expect for this competition is to reach Number 1."
Robert’s eyes lit up. "That’s a lot of confidence for a 16-year-old," he said and looked back at the Three Stars arena and the rest of the top 10 he could recognize. "Do you think you can compare yourself to those guys? The top three are pretty strong this time," he said.
"I don’t know if I can compare myself to them, but what I do know is that I’m going to get first place."
Robert stared at him. "Statistically speaking, those guys are at a similar level to where Rebecca and Miss Evergreen were at the time. You shouldn’t underestimate those who are awarded star status," he said.
But Louis just shrugged; he wasn’t going to change what he had said. Although he wasn’t fully informed about the strengths of the most powerful, he trusted his own strength and everything he had achieved so far.
Even though he hadn’t been in this world for very long, he had made considerable progress in his strength; he had to trust it.
Seeing that there was nothing to be done in this case, Robert decided to take a gamble.
"I also believe you have a bright future ahead of you, kid. Don’t get me wrong, but when arrogance strikes at a young age, you tend to hit a wall that teaches you the reality of life. So, how about we make a bet this time?"
"You mean I won’t make it to number one, right?"
"You will, but not right now. That’s why I want to bet 50 billion jens that you won’t make it to number one this time. How about it? It’s a small bet because I don’t want to make you lose money. If you don’t have enough, you’ll just owe me a few favors within your means, and that’s it," he said.
Miss Evergreen almost choked on her own saliva and spit out the tea she was drinking when she heard such absurd amounts.
"Damn, bet 50 billion? With that, we could start 50 companies around the Empire that would give us good returns every year. That’s 50 billion!" She was in shock and breathing deeply to calm herself down.
Although they are also rich, they would never do something as stupid as "betting" that kind of money.
"As expected of Lord Priestley," she thought, breathing heavily.
Louis stared at him. "I don’t think someone as distinguished as you, who has a reputation as a big gambler, can’t compare to some of my bets, right? Fifty billion isn’t useful to me right now. I need 100 billion for my investments recently, so how about we start there?" he said.
"Puff!" Finally, Evergreen couldn’t take it anymore and spat out all the tea she was drinking, her mind descending into chaos.
Meanwhile, Robert and Rebecca stared at Louis, both in shock.
Louis spoke again before any of them could. "And don’t worry, if I lose, I’ll give you that money in cash, right then and there."
"100 billion? How can he have that much money?" Robert thought, in shock.
Maybe if it were the older Habsburg brothers, he could understand. Those guys are really rich, but they would have to be all together if they wanted to bet it.
And it would be painful!
But the youngest of them?
He didn’t have much reason to believe that he really had that amount, but he had recently invested a lot of money in that industrial district and surrounding land, so it’s not like he couldn’t reach that amount.
"But it should be impossible for him to have more than that, right? If he were so rich, talented, and young, what the hell is he doing living here? I would have paid for a long-distance trip to the Lands of the Gods, where he could grow extremely fast!" Robert thought.
Still, the look of confidence on Louis’s face made him think he was telling the truth.
So he moved his hand. "Are you sure about that? It’s quite a lot of money."
"Pretty sure that what I said is exactly what I want. Are you in, Mr. Robert?"
"Okay." Robert nodded. "Then make it 100 billion. It will be one of the biggest bets I’ve ever made in my entire life, so I trust you to keep your word."
"Haha, then wait and see. Although you won’t actually be able to see the money I have, which is a shame," he said.
Just then, his sand glowed again. He had a new opponent.
"This is your last opponent of the day. The unnecessary delays caused by people signing up are coming to an end, so I hope to see you tomorrow and the day after tomorrow advancing through the stages. It would be a shame if you fell before even reaching the top 10," said Robert.
"Haha, if I fall before the top 10, I’ll give you 50 billion more for wasting your time, Mr. Robert," he said as he left.