It was roughly three weeks since our occupation in this land and it was going great! 

Definitely smoother than what I expected, roads are built nicely, the crops is starting to grow at a faster rate than usual... Let's pin that to a paper somewhere so I don't forget it. 

Explorer has found the mines containing iron and building material, they also found a concerning amount of bones, monster and humans alike. 

If I remember, though this town was close to the edge of the outskirts where the war is happening, it was still deep enough where any confrontation should be small enough not to warrant the amount of bones we found dug out. 

Nevertheless, I quickly started an assembly of guards to train, they won't be useful against any invasion but in the meantime, we're training people who wanted to train. 

This should bolster the security as well as making us not to depend too much on adventurer or mercenary group. 

Our instructor, one of the best in the kingdom, is named Mr. Hagrid. A master of all trades, with his strategic mind and the ability to discipline anyone in a short period of time is a blessing. 

He's a commoner that rose through the rank like butter, he's especially amazing at fighting against smart monster like goblin, kobolds to a certain extent and more. 

With his training regime fully on track, I pretty much have a private military group... That sounds nice... Let's put a pin on that. 

The next thing that was on my list is... The nobles. 

It was exhausting to deal with them but, since they helped me by quite a lot, I didn't care what they want as long as it is within my reach. 

They are a nice supporting element, the more noble I had, the more connection and stuff I could request, they're useful, nothing more, nothing less. 

So, if they made a problem, I will swiftly and decisively took action, it was in the rules of this town after all. 

The farmer is good, the regular people is good, the builder's league is good... Everything checks out at the moment. 

Now, I finally have the free time for today to read and write to some of my family member. It might seem odd that I prioritized my wife's letter over my family but... I'm afraid she is extremely dangerous if left unchecked. 

She's not a normal human, I already knew that since the beginning of our relationship. Non-human being are treated with extreme prejudice due to the war our kingdom sustained, there's not helping it that some of the race often has variant that makes them livable among human or a complete threat if you let them loose. 

Though, peace talk are beginning to sound more and more appealing to both side as the war began to tax more and more of their resource without any benefit. 

Reading the letter from my wife, there seems to be nothing amiss, she's just bored. 

That's great, moving on to the other letter, I read some more letter, primarily from the kingdom. 

I write down updates in my journal and write the real important stuff onto the letter. 

Placing the letter in my 'send' pile, I wrote another letter for everyone. 

It's just updates and stuff, there's nothing important to be said, everything is going smoothly. 

"Mane! Please send these letter to the runner, I have something to do. " Mane appeared out of thin air as he took the letter in the send pile. 

"My Lord, please take the time to rest, your lack of sleeping schedule is very taxing for your body. " Mane said as I glanced at him.

Mane was generally a quiet person, he never spoke out of turn and would rather sleep upside down in his favourite tree rather than go to anywhere not important, so him saying I've overworked my body is... Probably okay? 

"Eh, it'll be fine... I already slept three hours ago. " Mane squinted his eyes as he appeared right in front of me. 

"My Lord, forgive me for saying this but you slept for FOUR HOUR PER DAY, please take a real eight hour sleep. " Huh? But I'm fine though... 

"Four hours of sleep? Oh! What you mean is The Ubersleep! It's a technique that saves four hours of sleep and still wake up satisfied! It uses a very specific part of a sleep called Rem sleep and divided it between four hours of the day, the way it work is actually very sop-"

"Ehem." The sharp cough, immediately brought my mind back on track, Mane stood on the side looking at me like a disappointed parent. 

"Right... I relent... " Mane smiled as his mouth curved in one side as if trying to hold a laugh. 

"Say it. " Rolling my eyes, I held my hand to my chest and said the line with a monotone voice along with Mane. 

"I promise to take a break whenever possible. "

"I promise to take a break whenever possible. "

"Perfect, now go get em! " Mane said as he pushes me outside. 

"Hey! That's my line! " Now out of the gate, I looked at the small city I and several other built weeks ago. 

The street was still dirt but progress could be seen in major road connecting with the middle, houses become more than a flimsy wood hut as the design I worked month of painstakingly discussing with the architect now slowly coming to fruition. 

The street became crowded as businesses flourish due to the law we implemented in this place, adventurer, mercenaries and soldier keep flocking to this place due to the close proximity to the war, which just makes the city richer as 'fun' and legal business start taking off. 

I had more things planned on that side of the board, now's time to relax. 

I hid myself with a cloak as I wore my commoner clothes, much more comfortable than my work clothes. 

Going into a shady looking street, I pressed head on as I arrived in tavern. 

"Pot of gold... Didn't think he would name it that way. " Going inside, I immediately could see some poker table and blackjack table strewn about everywhere. 

Going deeper to the building, more and more high stake table started to appear until I came across a very fancy and familiar table. 

In there, five players are seated with one seat left remaining. 

Approaching the table, I looked at the player, a noble of the saumarian house, a noble of the kastellen house, a Royal noble, an adventurer, and the boss. 

I had known everyone aside from the adventurer and the Royal noble. I have no idea that there was a Royal noble already in the city... Probably a spy or an inspector, I already cleaned up all the mess I made so I'm fine. 

I should probably hold off and observe the roy-

"Hey! Midas! Come on, sit at this table, I'll give you some free chips. " The boss, which is a close acquaintance of mine and the boss of this casino or gambling den if you will, called as I sighed. 

"You know I liked the blackjack table more than this right? " I pulled my hood down as the noble on the table flinched hard. 

Sitting on the table, I could already see that a new game has just started and I missed the initial card. 

"Welp, guess I'm watching. " I said as a waiter came to me as I looked at the menu. 

Yes, they have menu here, a simple suggestion of mine to a friend is nothing worth discussing even though he might've paid a little bit over 1% of the total revenue of this casino to me. 

"A milk coffee and salted potato chip, please. " How milk coffee are created in this place may or may not be because of me, who would've thought that telling a major producer of coffee in this kingdom have consequences? Well, farmer Joe is definitely not a major producer of coffee but that little idea that morning probably made him. 

As for the potato chip? It might've come to me, when me and the boss are discussing certain items for food in our little casino... The chips technically come from me too, but that would be presumptuous, especially because this kingdom has a terrible technological advances unlike even the monster kingdom. 

Saying that I was the one that invented all of these things is arrogance at its finest, if the kingdom was indeed one of the worse off at technological advances, I couldn't imagine what the monster kingdom has to offer especially with how actually advanced this kingdom technology is. 

Looking at the game, I could see the adventurer and the Royal chatting with each other. 

"I have a flush and you still won't give up? " The Royal said as she raises the pot. 

"You're bluffing real hard Royal. " Calling in another raise, the male adventurer looked around in confusion as the showdown happened. 

Since there was only three player remaining and the fifth card has been revealed. 

"Royal Flush. " The boss said to the rage and frustration of the two. 

"I HAD A STRAIGHT FLUSH AGGHHH!!!! " The adventurer said as he's practically foaming in his mouth. 

"I had two pair. "

"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU RAISING!! "

"Because I'm rich. " She said smugly to the dismay of the adventurer. 

"Oh, you're going to pay for that!... Waiter! Give me my usual! " The Royal gulped a bit at the wording as the adventurer drank with a huff... They're in a relationship? 

"King and a queen for your hole card? Lucky. " I said as the boss handed me a bag full of chips.¹ hole card are the two private card that each player pulled in the beginning of a blind. A blind is basically a round.

"Three thousand? You're so stingy. " I looked at him with a fake disgusted face as he rolled his eyes. 

"Shut up, I know you like it that way masochist. " He said as the card as he put up a small blind of 500 chip. 

"Heh, you talk like that as if your wife didn't peg you. " Getting my card, I can see it's a 5 of heart and a 10 of clubs. 

"Pot calling kettle... " He gruntled as the community card² the card in the middle of the board was drawn. 

"Tch." Everyone immediately looked discretely at the source of the sound. 

"What's the matter Lauren? Having a bad card? " The noble of the saumarian house said to the noble of the kastellen house. 

"Shut up. " The noble of kastellen house, Lauren said to what I assumed is her friend, Alter. 

"Fold." The boss said to the shocked face of everyone on the board including myself. 

"Well, that's unexpected... " The Royal said as she slurped down some coffee. 

Alter, the woman glanced at my direction and said, "Speaking of unexpected things, I was a bit surprised to see uhmm... " 

"Midas." Another round of betting and raising passed while we're having this conversation that everyone is glued to. 

"Hmm, yes! Midas! I forgot at the heat of the moment, mind me asking... Can we speak casually or... " It was obvious from the wording of this woman that I was some sort of a big shot, this obviously picked some interest for the Royal and the adventurer. 

"Oh! It's fine, I'm just a commoner, feel free to speak. " I smiled as the game goes on. 

"Oh... Then I'm going to destroy you! Ten thousand raise! " Damn, I didn't know she was theatric like that. 

At this point in the game, most of the player had already folded with the exception of the Royal, both of the noble and me. 

With my remaining five hundred chip budget and the way the cards are going into my favour of a full house, I'm going... "All in. "

The dealer draws the last card as it was revealed to be... King of clubs. 

The kastellen flipped her card for a club flush, while the other two folded immediately. 

"A five of club, a six of club, an eight of club, a nine of club, and a king of club. " The dealer announced as I flipped my card open. 

"Three tens and two five. A full house. "

"Fuck! I was THIS close to a straight flush! "

"Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. " I said as I grabbed all of the pot. 

"Where'd you get that from? " The adventurer said as he took an interest of my saying... Well, I technically took it from darkest dungeon so it's not really my saying. 

"What? " I feigned ignorance in hope of not explaining the bullshit that came out of my mouth on the spot. 

"The quote. Is it from a book? " I sighed as I engaged the bullshit mode. 

"Well, it's technically not from a book... It's a bit of a long story. " I bought a bit of time with this question as I started to make a story on the spot. 

"We all have the time right? I'm a writer so I was quite curious regarding that quote. " A writer? Even easier to fool! 

"Okay... Did you heard of the... Tabletop play? " I asked in hopes of him getting it because I don't want to explain everything from start to finish. 

"Oh! Oh! I know that! I always tried to get my wife to play it but she won't ever listen. " He said excitedly as he took a glance at the Royal. 

"Don't call me your wife stupid! We're engaged that's all. " Ooh! She's red as a beet! Ahh, a loving relationship, remind me of my youth... Arc's one I mean. 

"Alter, I think we're the only virgin in here... " Lauren whispered as she got a firm slap from the back. 

"Don't say it! You're making us look inexperienced! " Ignoring the antic of the two, I coughed as I have prepared a good story. 

First I explained the premise of the game which earned some eyebrow raise that was followed by shock as I explained the backstory of the game. 

I only realized how fucked up the game setting is to the regular person in a medieval times, the twisted monster to the people inhabiting it. 

Then I explained the stress mechanic which somehow made the writer extremely curious. 

"So... The optimal way to play is to... Sell your half dying adventurer and get a new one immediately? That's... Terrible. " The Royal said as she looked at me with a hint of disgust. 

"Huh... This feels like a commentary or some sort... This is saying something for the irresponsible noble that didn't care about the servant under their care... " The writer said as he took a deep and long breath. 

"Thank you Midas for giving me some inspiration regarding my new book... I... Have a lot to think about. " I raises my eyebrow at that... 

"Sure... Good luck? " With that he folded his card and went to home.

Ignoring the consequences of my action, I shrugged and kept playing. 

I won nothing and lost nothing... Nice. I played for the thrill of it anyway, there's enough platinum in the tax bank for me to enjoy the remainder of my life, I don't have to work a day to get anything I want... If I want... I'm not a corrupt officials, and I like the paperwork.