## Chapter 136 – (12)
Lasha loosened up her body lightly and walked to the center of the ring.
She looked light on her feet.
“…Wanna make a bet?”
“On what?”
“A bet.”
I subtly suggested a bet to the two people.
The old man and the woman answered warily.
“On who will win.”
“…Hmm.”
At my suggestion, the old man stroked his chin.
The sound of his beard brushing against his palm was scratchy.
He seemed to be deep in thought.
“What’s there to think about? Even though he’s a bit annoying, that thug will obviously win.”
The middle-aged woman pointed at the gangster with her finger.
Generally speaking, everyone would think the gangster, the man, would win.
It was obvious.
Even women who had professionally trained in sports couldn’t win against adult men in a serious fight most of the time.
Men had the advantage in innate strength, physique, and even the sense of handling their bodies.
The middle-aged woman knew that, so she chose the gangster without hesitation.
But the old man couldn’t easily make a choice.
“I also think that thug will win. But…”
The old man’s gaze turned to me.
“That confidence of yours is bothering me.”
The old man pointed at my face with his finger.
I was wearing a faint smile.
“If you’re scared, you can bet on the same side as me. Just to be safe.”
I suggested in a slightly teasing tone.
The old man’s eyebrows twitched.
“…No, I can’t do that.”
They were really weak against provocation, those three.
Well, how much provocation would people with this much money usually experience?
They must have lived lives where they were constantly being praised and flattered.
So, they fell for such a light provocation.
…Of course, that thought contained a bit of my prejudice.
While the two were preparing in the ring, the old man gestured for another dealer to come over.
“What is it?”
“I’ll bet on the gangster’s victory. …20 million chips.”
“I’ll put 15 million chips on the gangster too.”
“Then I’ll bet 35 million chips on the opposite side.”
The dealer took our cards.
The two people in the ring seemed to be ready.
The gangster was running his hands over his face, taking deep breaths.
“If you’re going to resent someone, resent your crazy boyfriend.”
“I told you, he’s not my boyfriend…”
At the gangster’s words, Lasha glanced at me and muttered.
From an outsider’s perspective, I must really look like a crazy boyfriend.
Making her come to a casino and then telling her to go up to the arena.
Well, I guess it was kind of crazy.
But what could I do when that was what my girlfriend desperately wanted?
“Are both sides ready?”
At the words of the referee and dealer, the two people nodded to signal that they were ready.
“If you give up, or if it’s judged that you can’t continue the match, it’s an immediate loss.”
The two nodded once again.
“Then, fight!”
The bell rang, and the two glared at each other, keeping their distance.
The gangster stretched out one arm to control the distance.
Looking at his long arms, I was reminded of the difference in their physiques.
The gangster was more than two spans taller than the average adult male.
In comparison, Lasha was petite for someone who did martial arts.
The two of them facing each other looked like a child fighting an adult.
“Shouldn’t you consider giving up instead?”
The old man smiled for the first time as he watched the scene.
Hearing those words, I felt a sense of pity.
“I know, right? That gangster doesn’t even have anyone to call out a surrender for him.”
Shouldn’t someone stop them at the right time?
Leaving my worries behind, Lasha leaped forward.
Lightly, with a little bounce from her spot.
“What?!”
Perhaps he didn’t expect her to jump at him, the gangster panicked and raised his guard.
Thwack!
Lasha’s knee struck the back of his hand, which was guarding his face.
“Ugh!”
It was a meeting of knee and hand.
Even with the difference in strength, the hardness was different.
The gangster seemed to have taken quite a hit, as he clutched his hand and took a couple of steps back.
Lasha wasn’t about to miss this opportunity.
She took a large step, closing the distance as if sliding, and then kicked the inside of the gangster’s knee with a low kick.
Crack!
The low kick landed perfectly, making a sound like a watermelon splitting open.
“Ouch…”
The dealers and the middle-aged woman even made sounds of pain on his behalf at the realistic sound.
“Ugh!”
The gangster gritted his teeth and suppressed a groan.
His knees seemed to wobble from the pain—
Thud.
The gangster collapsed to the ground as if he had crumbled.
Those knees were supporting that huge body.
If something went wrong with even one of them, he had no choice but to collapse.
Lasha tried to attack the fallen gangster while she had the chance, but—
“Argh!”
The gangster flailed his long arms wildly, making it difficult to approach him.
It was an attack that didn’t even feel like it belonged in martial arts.
But with that size, just flailing his arms around was a threatening attack.
“What are you doing!”
“Are you going to keep getting hit by a woman who doesn’t even reach your shoulder?!”
The old man and the middle-aged woman shouted anxiously.
An uneasy feeling was evident in their voices.
“That person…”
“Why?”
“No, I think I saw her on the second basement floor…”
The dealers were secretly talking amongst themselves.
It seemed like some of them had remembered Lasha’s identity.
“…Come to think of it, I remember her too…”
The dealer who recognized Lasha looked at me and opened his mouth.
I put a finger to my lips.
It was a sign to be quiet.
“Shut up! It’s not over yet!”
The gangster yelled, losing his temper, and stood up.
Unlike his spirited shout, his legs were trembling like a newborn foal.
“If I just… hit her once…”
He was muttering things that he couldn’t even do with healthy legs.
“Try it.”
Then, Lasha slowly approached him.
The gangster gritted his teeth at her relaxed appearance and swung his fist.
Whoosh.
The fist cut through the air.
Lasha simply tilted her head back to dodge it.
The large fist, as big as Lasha’s face, was definitely threatening.
But no matter how threatening a fist was, it was meaningless if it couldn’t hit.
“This…!”
Now, as if telling her to just take one hit, the gangster started swinging his fists wildly.
Lasha didn’t allow a single hit.
She even showed a vicious side, dodging and kicking the knee she had kicked with the low kick once or twice more.
Thwack, thwack.
“Ugh… I, I give up—”
The gangster grabbed his knee and collapsed.
And at the moment he was about to shout his surrender—
“Hey! Who said you could give up! Keep going! Keep going!”
“Yeah! We bet on you, don’t be selfish!”
“Damn it! Then you guys come up and fight!”
The old man and the woman shouted, and the gangster glared at them and yelled.
And naturally, the gazes of the old man and the woman turned to Lasha.
Lasha gestured to the two of them with a much more relieved expression.
“Come up at the same time.”
Lasha’s use of informal speech, after a long time, made her look quite tough.
“Ugh…”
The old man squeezed his eyes shut and muttered.
“…I should hire some bodyguards tomorrow too…”
“…Damn it, I’m going to have to liquidate a few more buildings now…”
The middle-aged woman was biting her nails, looking anxious.
The dealer approached the fallen gangster.
“Are you going to surrender?”
“Yeah! Can’t you see my knee?!”
“Ah, okay.”
His knee was a little swollen.
It didn’t look like a major injury, but either way, continuing would only mean tormenting the injured knee.
The gangster’s surrender at this timing was the right decision.
However, there was a small problem.
“However, there are no more funds on your card.”
“…What?”
The gangster’s expression slowly hardened.
“You need to pay 20 million chips, but you only have 17 million chips.”
“Th, that can’t be. Are you sure you checked properly?”
The gangster staggered to his feet and grabbed the referee’s shoulders.
“Yes, as you know, if you don’t collect 3 million chips by tomorrow—”
“If I don’t…?”
“We have no choice but to give you options.”
The options were obvious.
The options that Lasha’s younger sister, Lana, had experienced.
Work at the casino to pay it off, or become a slave.
The results would be similar in both cases.
To pay off 3 million chips, you would have to work almost your entire life, or live as a slave for half your life.
They said male slaves didn’t sell well, so who knows what would happen.
“Wait! If you wait just one week, I can somehow squeeze it out of the Toto site!”
“The maximum period we can give you is one day.”
“…Ugh… O, okay… If I can somehow borrow it…”
It seemed like one competitor in the auction had been eliminated.
And along with that, the number of chips in my card had become unbelievably high.
Even if we held the auction right now, I could easily win the bidding war.
“So, we’ll see three of you tomorrow.”
“…”
“…”
It was a different gaze than yesterday.
Unlike yesterday, when they were burning with anger and revenge, today they were looking at me with a bit of fear.
Was it because they saw the gangster become a slave in just two days?
They had the expression of someone who had chosen the wrong opponent to fight.
“…I’ll be busy for a while, let’s see each other in 3 days, no… 4 days.”
“…Yes, I think that would be good too.”
“Then let’s see each other then.”
I patted Lasha’s shoulder as she came down from the ring and got on the elevator.
Lasha’s expression in the elevator looked a bit complicated.
“You don’t seem to be in a good mood. What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. Now that I’ve won, I just feel a bit empty…”
“Is that so?”
“Actually, Lana becoming a slave… it’s not really those people’s fault either.”
She was right.
In the end, the cause was their own greed and participation in fraudulent gambling.
“Those three people are bad people too, though. If Lana were to be sold to one of those three.”
I could tell just from the rumors.
How they treated slaves, and if Lana were to be sold to them, she would become a victim of various crimes.
Unable to even resist because she was a slave.
Lasha shuddered at the mere thought.
“Now it’s two people.”
“…That’s right.”
Lasha gave a faint smile at my words.
“First, I need to get Lana back and give her a good scolding. I was too lenient.”
She clenched the fist that had beaten up the gangster.
It seemed like Lana would have to brace herself.
