Chapter 5 - Sorcerer/The former noble girl with the broken engagement/Gambling addict Tianna

The situation became even more tragic.

The clientele in these dragon races wasn’t just men with bloodshot eyes. There was a bright, safe, and fun air around it.

Since they mostly happened during the day, people doing shady business at night couldn’t get in.

It was rowdy, but it didn’t seem like a dangerous place, like a slum, or a mountain pass where bandits attack at night.

Tianna bought her betting ticket and relaxed.

Now that she bought a ticket, Tianna had to see the race with her own eyes.

It was very crowded and the spectators were all screaming, entranced to watch the race.

[This is nothing like the capital… It’s a little too noisy.]

Tianna sighed, feeling overwhelmed., and then focused on the race like all the other spectators.

“Arriving at number one, Infinite blue. Number two, Meteor arrow.

Process your payouts in the ticket window.”

The announcer’s cracking voice came through the voice amplifier magic item, causing a wave of boos to start.

It wasn’t a lucky horse race ticket, it was a lucky dragon race ticket.

The dragon that was favorite to win the race ended up falling down, and threw a wrench into the whole race. It seemed as though most people bet on the wrong dragon.

“Ah… I won…?”

This meant Tianna, who bought a ticket at random and without taking odds or anything into consideration, bet on the winning dragon.

She spent one silver coin and received ten gold coins in return.

“Congratulations!”

“T-Thank you.”

[Don’t congratulate me so loudly], complained Tianna on the inside.

[What if there’s a pickpocket around?], thought Tianna as she cautiously looked around, and carefully put her gold coins in her purse.

She then left without drawing attention to herself.

From that day forward, Tianna became obsessed with dragon races.

In addition to looking for a job, on days when dragon races took place, she was there to watch them, though her objective of looking for work there vanished.

After all, if you became directly involved with the races, you couldn’t buy a ticket.

Eventually, she decided that searching for a job was a waste of time, and during the days without dragon races, she started doing research on them.

She looked for data on the dragons participating in the races, and started carefully investigating what dragons were fastest in what conditions.

Tianna was both blessed and cursed.

First, she was blessed with knowledge.

She had the ability and reasoning power to gather data and come to rational conclusions instead of relying on superstitious things like fortune telling. Because of this, she won a fair amount of times, and didn’t end up being sold to a brothel, the fate of those that are reckless with their betting and end up in debt.

And the curse is that Tianna was only half-way good at gambling.

No matter how right you think your conclusion is, it could still turn out wrong. That’s gambling.

She wasn’t bad enough to get sick of it and stop, but she wasn’t good enough to keep getting it right and become rich. If anything, she was slowly losing her savings.

That was when she finally came to her senses and thought [this is bad].

“…I can’t pay for my inn.”

The inn that Tianna chose was too humble for a noble, but it certainly wasn’t shady enough to be on the lower end.

If you didn’t pay on time, you would be kicked out, and Tianna was paying in advance for one more week, but she didn’t have money to pay for more.

She could get by if she borrowed some money, but she couldn’t trust her senses and didn’t know what would happen if she did get the money.

[I really need to start earning some money] she thought.

“I have no choice… I’m going to be an adventurer…”

Tianna felt gloomy as she entered the adventurer guild.

This way, she could earn money with her own ability. If she explored labyrinths she didn’t have to apply for job openings and get rejected.

But there was a problem. The person in the guild’s reception desk told her she couldn’t explore labyrinths by herself. She needed a party.

“There are more adventurers searching for party members, how about you look for them?

The lady in the reception desk said, as she looked around.

There were several posters placed on the wall by people looking for adventurers.

[I see, I just have to look through these posters], she thought just before someone talked to her.

“Are you a sorcerer? Do you want to join us?”

“Your equipment looks great too. How about it?”

Said the swordsman and the priestess that approached her.

Tianna’s eyes became sharp, and brought about an air of intimidation, as though she was about to kill someone.

“…Nevermind, our party’s actually full. Sorry about that!”

“S-See you! Bye-bye!”

“Eh, hum, I’m looking…”

They left in a hurry before she could say “for party members too”.  

It’s not like Tianna glared at them because they were unpleasant, she was just cautious because the man with the nice, slender face and the beautiful girl reminded her of the people that framed her.

That caution showed on her expression and posture.

Tianna’s magic skills were real.

She studied magic in school, but her master valued practice above all, so she also trained by taking down beasts and low level monsters. She was much better than the average new adventurer, but new adventurers picked up on the scariness that came with that strength.

In the end, no one talked to Tianna, and the guild closed before Tianna could join a party.

Everyone that was in the guild when it closed went to the tavern next door, and Tianna ended up going with them.

Tianna was hungry so she thought she might as well get something to eat, and when she ordered a meal for one, the employee sent her to a table where other people were sitting. Apparently, the counter was full, so she had to sit with others.

Sitting at that table was a thin young man with black hair. Tianna guessed by his leather armor that he was a light warrior or a thief.

Being in this tavern should’ve meant that he was a new adventurer, but there was a threatening aura coming from him.

His worn-out, dust and monster blood stained armor showed he had his fair share of battles.

He looked about the same age as Tianna, but he probably went through a lot of difficult situations.

His stern eyes told the story.

[What a scary face… Not that I’m in any position to talk.]

Suddenly, two more solo adventurers were placed at that table.

One was a rare female dragon people, the other was a tall clergyman.

Tianna thought those two also must’ve had a story to tell, but she was focused on herself now.

Talking to them wouldn’t help, in fact, they would probably ask for her help, so she decided to ignore them.

The new adventurers at the other tables were happy, but there was a heavy silence on Tianna’s table.

The employee finally brought food and drinks to this table, and when he insincerely said “take your time and enjoy your meal”, no one responded.

Tianna chugged her lukewarm ale in one gulp, and unintentionally let out the feelings of irritation that had been building up inside.

““““Humans can’t be trusted!!!!””””