And so, Lily’s intrepid crew departed the National Cathedral just before dusk, heading for the Underground Gambling Den.
It was getting late, and normally, it would be time for Lily to go home and get ready for bed…
But the Underground Gambling Den was only open at night-time!
It was a secret place…
Kind of…
Semi-secret.
Obviously, people had to know about it so they could draw in customers!
It was in a bit of a grey-area…
They really stacked the odds against their customers, more than anywhere else!
They had a terrible reputation…
But, for the most desperate gamblers…
It was their last hope.
Because you could win bigger there than anywhere else…
And they would let gamblers borrow money to keep gambling…
They put the gamblers in debt!
And once they were in debt, they’d go to debtor’s prison!
It was a really nasty scam!
Johnny Boatman warned Lily about the dangers.
“And on top of that, I’ve heard the dealers there cheat.”
Lily bit her lip.
“I’m still gonna do my best!” she declared.
If she played seven full games of three versus one mahjong, she’d earn enough points to reach VIP rank, and be invited to the Prince’s Palace Casino!
She’d probably lose money on each game, but she had fifteen thousand dollars with her…
It hurt to lose that much money, but now that her franchises were taking off, she’d make the money back, eventually…
So she just had to play the games, and try not to lose as much as possible!
She’d probably lose some of her money…
But…
For Lily…
It was just money!
Her Papa mattered way more!
They arrived at a shack on a little island rising above the murky swamp.
And, waiting outside…
There was a spirit!
“Huh?” Lily said, looking at the shore.
Lily’s ghosts flew over to look at the spirit.
It was an indistinct haze, roughly in the shape of a man, but without any distinguishing features…
“Hmm…” Mac said.
“It looks like…” Rich said.
“I guess this is as far as the God of Literature’s blessing could go…” Ray said.
Ghostly Duke looked the spirit up and down. “Yeah, it’s not public domain, after all…”
Even in a work of fiction, there are limits!
“So it’s not a new ghost, huh…” Lily said, a little disappointed.
There was no dock at the island, so Johnny Boatman and George were helping Lily step out of the boat, when…
Mr. Cat jumped ahead!
He landed on the ground first.
And…
“Mrow!”
The spirit flew inside Mr. Cat!
Mr. Cat was inhabited by this super-spirit of gambling!
His lovely blue-grey fur turned silver!
He had an aura of danger and genius about him!
“Mrow!” he said.
He sat down and looked at his paw.
“Meow…”
His voice was soft and a little raspy, now!
“I want energy drinks…” he said!
Lily and everyone else gasped.
“Mr. Cat!” she cried, and everyone jumped off the boat. “Are you alright?!”
“Meow…” he meowed. “I think so…”
Up in heaven, the Gods facepalmed!
“Ugh, we messed up…”
“The spirit we summoned had more affinity for Felix than for Lily!”
“And Felix got there first!”
Tricksy merely giggled in a foxy way.
Homer, Hades, and the God of Gambling turned to Tricksy.
“Did you know this would happen?!” they cried.
“Nyeheheh, no, but isn’t this more interesting?” he asked.
“You rascal!”
“Nyeheheh…”
It was too late now!
What was done, was done!
Back down in the mortal realm, after confirming that Mr. Cat was alright other than a sudden craving for energy drinks, they proceeded into the shack, wherein waited a guard.
“What’s the password?” he asked.
“Password?” Lily asked.
What was he talking about?
The man reeled back in shock!
“Th-that’s right! Step right in, little lady.”
He moved aside some boxes, and revealed a trap door!
The secret entrance to the Underground Gambling Den!
“Good job guessing the password, Lily,” Ghostly Mac said.
Lily cradled her head in her hands.
“Why does this keep happening?!” she cried.
Lily’s Mama bent down and gave her a hug and rubbed her back.
“It’s okay, Lily… Let’s just blame Tricksy, and try not to think about it…”
They could hear the faint giggling of a rascal!
And so, down they went!
Down the stairs into the gambling hall!
It was…
Surprisingly well lit, once they got down there!
Bright fluorescent lights illuminated a large, yet cramped-feeling room with over a dozen gambling tables!
Roulette!
Blackjack!
Baccarat!
And, in a corner…
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An old looking mahjong table!
And right in front of them as they finished descending the stairs, there was a host standing at a lectern!
“Welcome to the Underground Gambling Den,” he said.
He was wearing a bright purple suit, and he had perfectly coiffed blonde hair, and the shiniest white teeth anyone had ever seen!
“You can call me Host,” he continued. “What kind of game would you like to play tonight?”
Lily stepped forward.
Now wasn’t the time to worry about her guessing powers!
“I want to rank up!” she declared.
The Host looked down at the little eight-year-old girl.
“Er, children aren’t permitted to gamble in this kingdom…” he said.
Everyone was shocked!
They had found common sense in the most unexpected place!
“It’s okay, I’m emancipated!” Lily informed him.
And…
The Host smiled!
“Ah, very well then. Do you already have your Lucky Gambler card?”
Lily didn’t, and since that was how they tracked points for ranking up to VIP, the Host set her up with one.
Sally rubbed her temples around the edge of her fox-face mask.
Getting Lily emancipated was having more and more unforeseen consequences…
“...and there you go, Lily, your very own Lucky Gambler card.”
In the corner, it had the ever-present Dave Dealerman logo…
“And, what game would you like to play?”
“I wanna do the three versus one mahjong!”
A hush fell over the gambling hall as everyone stopped their games to look at the bold newcomers!
And the silence continued as they were all stunned speechless!
A young girl wearing a sera-fuku!
A silver-furred cat with an intimidating aura!
A priestess of Tricksy, the God of Tricks and Trials, and…
Her fox tail popped out!
She was really high level!
And the man next to them, wearing a slightly out-of-fashion suit, and a top hat…
He looked completely normal!
(Johnny was waiting up above, with his boat.)
What an eclectic crew!
“Hmm… I see you’re dressed for mahjong,” the Host said, “but the minimum bet for a game of three versus one mahjong is ten thousand dollars.”
Whoa!
That was a lot of money!
Lily paused.
“That’s the one with the ten ex multiplier for rank points, right?” she asked to confirm.
“Yes, that’s right. Each hand earns one thousand rank points.”
“Then yes, that’s the one I want to play.”
And…
Lily’s Mama pulled out her purse!
She pulled out a full band!
Ten thousand dollars!
The Host…
Narrowed his eyes!
“And how did such a young girl come to have so much money?”
The common sense was strong with this one!
And…
Lily’s Mama also pulled out Lily’s Countess ring!
Lily took the ring and put it on.
“I’m a Countess in France!” she said.
All the other gamblers and dealers ooh’d when they heard that.
French nobility!
How fancy!
The Host nodded, satisfied.
“Very well, milady. Please, come this way.”
The Host led them all to the mahjong table, and slowly the noise of gambling once again filled the hall.
Three tough looking guys came over to play against Lily.
Mahjong sharks!
Not only were they skilled at mahjong…
They practiced team play!
They were cheaters, through and through!
They had all kinds of secret signals to deal into each others’ hands!
And, on top of that…
The table was rigged!
Though, they didn’t intend to use the rigging function.
Their opponent was an eight-year-old girl!
She probably didn’t even know how to play!
The Host, also thinking this, called over a kimono-wearing young lady with gorgeous, long, straight black hair.
“I’ll be the Judge today,” she said. “You can just call me Judge.”
“Your name isn’t actually ‘Judge,’ is it?” Lily asked.
“No, it’s Kanako, but I’m working now…” the kimono-wearing girl answered.
Lily breathed a sigh of relief!
Kanako giggled to see Lily’s reaction, and hid her face behind a folding fan.
“So, do you know how to play mahjong already?”
“Er…” Lily hesitated.
And Mr. Cat leapt up into her lap!
“Yeah, we know how to play!” he declared unilaterally!
But…
Host, Judge, and the three mahjong sharks all frowned!
“This is three versus one mahjong,” Judge said. “It’s not three versus two.”
“We’re just gonna play as a team, come on…” Mr. Cat tried whining.
Whining was one of his high-level techniques!
But Judge stood firm!
She was working right now!
No matter how cute the kitty-cat was…
Or how cool his bright silver fur was…
Rules were rules!
“The only exception,” Judge said, “is if this cat is your pet.”
Lily, her Mama, and George all gasped!
Mr. Cat…
Had never once allowed anyone to say he was a pet!
He fought against that tooth and claw!
Even though Lily fed him, and pet him, and slept with him…
And carried him around when he was tired…
And bought him costumes…
Mr. Cat…
Took a deep breath!
And…
“Mew, of course I’m Lily’s pet,” he said.
He said it!!!
“Really?!” Lily couldn’t help herself but to exclaim.
Mr. Cat was gonna be her pet?!
“Ahem, yes, mew.”
Underneath his silver fur…
Mr. Cat was blushing!
And, Judge…
“That’s so nice…” she muttered.
She wished she had such a cute kitty-cat pet!
Lily’s Mama leaned down and whispered to Mr. Cat through her fox-face mask.
“Are you sure about this, Mr. Cat?”
“Meow, a cat’s gotta do what a cat’s gotta do…”
Plus, Lily and her family had been super nice to him!
Lily fed him french fries, and fish, and took him on adventures…
Lily’s Mama took care of him and fed him too…
And Lily’s Papa would play with him, and let him nap on his lap!
And…
He felt kinda bad!
He had accidentally taken the spirit that the Gods had sent down to help Lily!
He could feel the gambling aura pulsing!
The gambling skill in his paws!
He could feel it!
The flow.
He was on a roll, and he hadn’t even started yet!
It should have been Lily’s blessing…
“I’m gonna take care of you forever, Mr. Cat!” Lily said, and scritched him behind the ear just the way he liked.
And, he couldn’t help himself…
“Purr purr.”
He purred!
Judge snapped herself out of it.
“Ahem, well, that’s fine then. Pets are allowed at the gambling table.”
What a nice rule!
Still…
The mahjong sharks were completely unbothered.
They had done this hundreds of times, now.
And, they had another edge…
They knew what Lily was trying to do!
She wanted to rank up!
That meant she wasn’t playing to win…
She was playing to play as much as possible!
And she had the aura of a total noob…
Even if she was rich, her goal would be to finish the entire game.
In mahjong, there are four winds…
One for each seat!
And the winds would rotate each hand.
So each player got to be each wind at least once per round!
And each round had a wind!
First, east wind, then south wind, then north, and finally, west wind.
Four hands in each round, and four rounds in a full game…
Sixteen hands, at least!
The person in the east wind seat was the dealer, and if they won, they got to go again…
And, on top of that, the rank points were doubled for each hand the dealer won!
So the first dealer hand she won, she’d get one thousand rank points. If she won the bonus hand, she’d get two thousand. And if she won again, four thousand…
It adds up!
But, she was a noob…
What were the odds of her winning on her first hand?
So, the sharks played their first trick!
“Since you’re playing three versus one, we’ll let you be east for the first round!” one of them declared.
Lily understood that she would be the dealer…
And Mr. Cat meowed!
“Meow, good!”
The sharks all grinned, revealing pointy, sharp teeth.
First, they would take away Lily’s chance at a bonus round…
And then…
They’d all aim for big hands, trying to score as many points as possible!
Everyone would start with 25,000 points.
It wouldn’t take too many big hands to knock her out of the game, before all the rounds were played!
Then they’d keep doing that until she was out of money…
A Countess from France was probably loaded!
Judge pushed a button, and the table shuffled the tiles and stacked them automatically. Mr. Cat meowed directions to Lily, and she built her opening hand.
Lily’s first game of mahjong was beginning!
