Back in the guild...

A table garnered attention as eight players played dice poker. It usually wouldn't stand out in the rowdy guild, but things changed since a particular player was at the table.

"Re-Rolling." A rough voice sounded as a tentacle shook a cup of dice and tossed it to the table.

The result was that there were four fives and a six, causing the other seven players to shake their heads.

"You win this round." They admitted.

"Okay." The rough voice said, dragging eight Copper Coins on the table to itself, replenishing its funds.

Of course, that was Tenta, sitting on one of the bar's high chairs.

At the bar, Cornelia glanced at the crowded table with a twitching mouth.

"Is this fine?" Mika asked.

"... It should be," Cornelia shook her head. "Let's continue teaching you the alphabet."

"Thank you!" Mika smiled.

To explain what was happening, let's rewind time an hour...

 

{Cornelia, I want to gamble.} Tenta said after looking at several adventurers rolling dice.

{Okay. But can you even speak? And you need to know the rules of playing.} Cornelia said.

{I got Civilized Monster to lvl 15, so I can communicate.} Tenta replied.

{... That skill of yours is ridiculous.} Cornelia bitterly said.

She knew Tenta was doing nothing but was close to maximizing a novice class after a single dungeon run. And she didn't forget that this was after the experience was halved and it had another equipped.

{Wait... What is your racial level now?} She asked, remembering something.

{Overlevel 26.} Tenta replied.

{... Don't tell anyone.} Cornelia held back her astonishment and said.

{Okay.} Tenta agreed.

With that, she turned to Winslow, who was cleaning a cup.

"Winslow, Tenta wants to learn how to gamble. Can you arrange something?" Cornelia asked.

After she said that, Winslow paused and gave her a strange look. "You want to let your familiar gamble? It needs basic communication skills and an understanding of speech and rules. Can it do that?"

"Yes," Cornelia replied.

"Summon him," Winslow said.

"Familiar Summon." Cornelia chanted, summoning Tenta.

"Well? Can you speak?" Winslow asked.

"Can," Tenta said in a rough-sounding voice.

"Hah... You have Civilized Monster at lvl 5 at least, hah?" Winslow guessed and nodded. "Do you know how to count to ten and understand complex game rules?"

"Yes," Tenta replied. He knows several dozen gambling games from his previous life, so it shouldn't be hard.

Winslow nodded and looked at Cornelia. "The chips we use are single Copper Coins. We only symbolically bet one coin for every round and limit ourselves to twenty copper coins a session. When the session ends, everyone pools the money and buys food and drinks together, so expect to lose two SC regardless."

"Acceptable." Cornelia nodded.

In any case, Tenta kept them safe in the patrols, so he earned it.

"Alright." Winlow nodded and looked toward the table with seven gamblers.

"Hey, Ellis! Get your hairy ass over here!" Winslow hollered.

"Hah?" Eliis, a burly and hairy man with thick arms, looked over. "What is it?!" He yelled back.

"Just get over here!" Winslow yelled again.

Without much choice, the man got up and walked to the bar. "What do you need, bossman?"

"Arrange for Tenta a seat and dice. He is joining your table." Winslow pointed at Tenta.

"... Is this a joke?" Ellis had a weird look. He wanted to laugh at the idea, but it was too ridiculous to laugh at.

"It isn't. Now grab one of the chairs and let Tenta join you. It wants to learn how to gamble." Winslow said, pointing at Tenta.

Eliis looked down and stared at Tenta on the ground.

"So... You want to gamble?" Ellis asked with a weird expression.

"Yes," Tenta replied in his rough voice.

"Ah... So you have the Civilized Monster class, hah?" Ellis nodded and looked toward Cornelia. "So I assume you are paying for it?"

"Yes." Cornelia nodded.

"Alright. I'll let you join and teach you how to play, but if you can't keep up, we will kick you out of the table."

"Okay." Tenta agreed.

Nodding, Ellis picked up a tall stool from the bar and brought it to the table while Cornelia exchanged for 20 Copper Coins and brought it to the table.

"Ellis! What is going on?" Another adventurer asked.

"Tenta will join us," Ellis said, placing the stool by the table.

"Oh, wow," The others at the table had weird looks. "Well, it is interesting enough, so why not?"

The others at the table agreed. In any case, they were playing for fun, not high-rolling.

"Here." One of the adventurers placed a cup with five dice. "Know dice poker?"

"Yes," Tenta replied.

"Ah... It has the Civilized Monster class. No wonder." The others thought.

Tenta was not the first or last monster to have the Civilized Monster class. It wasn't abnormal to level it up to lvl 5 or 10, especially since it is helpful to intelligent monsters incapable of speech. Of course, they needed to know how to talk in the first place, so it wasn't some miracle skill.

That Tenta could keep up with them already proved how high its intelligence was. At the very least, it was as intelligent as a child.

"Okay, since you know the rules, let's play a test round." The others nodded and started playing a round.

Meanwhile, Mika returned from the bathroom and noticed the happenings.

"Cornelia, is Tenta playing dice poker?" Mika asked with a strange look.

"It wanted it." Cornelia shrugged and brought Tenta's gambling fund.

She was surprised to see Tenta skillfully playing with the other seven men. Although it lost the first time, it knew how to play!

"I didn't teach it that..." Cornelia thought. "Did it learn from observing?"

After Cornelia silently placed Tenta's funds next to it, she returned to Mika. "Okay, let's teach you some letters."

"Thank you~ Dinners on me." Mika smiled.

While Cornelia started teaching Mika, Tenta got the class he wanted after that test round. Novice Gambler.

 

 

"Perfect... Good thing I have Manage Jobs now." Tenta thought and changed classes, placing Novice Gambler as his first class and Civilized Monster as his second.

He also wanted to see how much experience he would peacefully earn.

With that, Tenta started playing with the men. Sometimes, he lost, other times, he won. The men didn't care about gambling itself, instead just chatting and drinking. There were no real stakes, just a fun pastime.

The men didn't chat with Tenta since he couldn't talk much with his low-level skill, but he did overhear some things. Most of them were rubbish, but he did hear something interesting...

"Silvio, how did that escort mission go? I heard Muray got killed." An adventurer named Paul asked.

"We got assaulted by succubi. One of them dragged me to the woods and started sucking me dry with Drain Kiss. It was terrible. Luckily, I got saved by an arrow hitting her shoulder, forcing her to flee. Lost four levels, though." Silvio said, taking a swig of his ale.

"Succubi? Here? What do those succ-u-bitches want?" Paul incredulously asked.

"Dunno, but I suspect it had something to do with the merchandise. I heard muffled groans coming from the caravan." Silvio said with a grim look.

"You think they were monster girl slavers?" Paul leaned over and asked, making it harder for Tenta to hear.

"I don't want to know. But if they are, those poor girls are probably in the THAT Arena right now." Silvio replied.

"That, or sold to some pervert," Paul replied.

"What. Arena?" Tenta spoke at this time, very curious.

"Oh, you overheard that, hah?" Silvio turned his head to Tenta, who sat next to him.

"Yes," Tenta admitted.

"It is an open secret. There is an underground arena in the city called Flesh Paradise. I won't get into details, but that place is horrible. If it weren't for those influential fuckers, that place would be shut down by now." Paul said with a disgusted look.

"Succ, Ubi? Fight?" Tenta asked.

"Succubi are... demons with certain adult aspects, and Monster Girls are their cousins. Succubi, Monster Girls, female slaves, criminal slaves with certain crimes... and monsters. Specifically Tentacle Monsters, Wild Goblins, Wild Orcs, certain slime subspecies, or other... unpleasant monsters." Silvio carefully said.

"I. Under. Stand." Tenta replied, not needing any more information.

It wasn't hard to add 1+1 = 2 in his head. That was a nasty place for people with sick fetishes. And those succubi that attacked that caravan were trying to free their comrades.

"This world is darker than I thought."

The rest of the game played out smoothly and ended after an hour.

 

 

"Wow, that was slow as a snail..." Tenta thought. "And this is under the three times the improvement speed. But when I think about it, a man becomes an expert or master after dabbling in a profession for a few decades, so it isn't that exaggerated. I suppose the right way is to fight monsters if you want to get stronger... Or leech." Tenta thought.

At this time, a waitress with a tray with two pouches came over. "Ellis, did you guys finish your game?"

"Rene! Good timing. Boys! Gather the money!" Ellis called.

The others nodded, gathering the money at the center of the table. Rene quickly counted the money, placed the cash inside the pouches and on the tray, and returned to the bar.

"Heh. I never thought I would enjoy a game with someone with your appearance." Ellis said to Tenta and smirked.

"Yeah, just too bad it can't speak properly yet," Paul said.

"It was interesting," Silvio added. "Something to brag about, to be sure."

The others also voiced their agreement. Others who paid attention to the table had an envious look, also wanting to play against Tenta. Playing against him was bragging rights! How many people get to play against a Consentacle? A friendly creature that looks like a Tentacle Monster?

The waitress then brought back seven cups of ale... And a cup of milk.

"... Why? Milk?" Tenta had a pitiful look, pointing at the cup he got.

"You are underage... I think." Ellis smirked. "It would be inappropriate to give you booze yet. And I don't know how you would react to it, so let's stay safe, yeah?"

The others also had amused looks.

"..." The reincarnated 44-year-old was left helpless. He could only stare at the other's cups in envy.

"One of these days..." Tenta swore to himself as he picked up the cup of milk.

"A toast to Tenta, the new guy!" Ellis raised his mug.

"Hahaha! Cheers!" The others also toasted.

After drinking, they also got their meals, and Tenta ate together with his new gambling friends. By the time they finished eating, Cornelia and Mika had completed their language-learning session, and she put Tenta back into his space before returning to their room and sleeping.

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And so, a week flashed by...