Shining bright in the sky, the sun basked its radiant light over the island of Flarenorice. There was significant progress made during the first night alone. Fin and Maria had managed to fully budget the amount required to build a fast, functioning ship to contain at least both of them.
Since Yuna didn’t have the funds to fully fund a ship on her own, Fin had to resort to cutting some corners on the ship. Despite that, all had ended well for the planning stage. Tan contracted lumberers with a large order.
Yuna, who managed to snag intel from unsuspecting navymen, informed the two pirate captains of the incoming quantity of ships and their approximate time of arrival. It was like a well-oiled machine, everything working as it should. There was no interruption in their flow whatsoever, and at this rate, a ship would be built in a matter of two days.
That was, until Fin made a grave mistake. Since nobody else was staying at the estate, he found no reason to properly lock the doors of the treasury. Even Maria, who was known to be a greedy god, swore to keep her hands to herself, as this problem was bigger than just her life.
But in their false moment of security, they had forgotten about one unpredictable creature.
“—Ngh…” Nanaki dragged a large, brown satchel into the middle of the street. Some passersby tried to help her, but she was told to refuse vehemently by the person who had manipulated her into their tricks.
Following orders, she dragged the luggage to the best of her ability. Despite being athletic, being able to lift such cargo was something only someone trained in bodybuilding or working in hard labor could do.
In the city plaza, there was always a group of adults bunched together to play something in unison. It wasn’t an activity that was that common on the island; in fact, it only made its appearance a few years ago, when a native from Keptas brought a machine to introduce the world to its wonders.
Reaching her destination behind the sea of men and women shouting excitedly, Nanaki finally let go of her hold on the satchel, drawing in long breaths.
“Is this okay?” Nanaki asked, slumped over as her sweat dripped onto the hot stone ground. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a certain orange paper cat float upwards from the satchel.
“Fu. fu. Fu. You’ve done an excellent job, muscle-brains. I truly couldn’t have done it without ya!” E-CAT flew in front of her.
“Master wouldn’t let me use her gold to fulfill my dreams, so I decided to finally, FINALLY… take advantage of the situation to reward myself.”
“After all, why shouldn’t a loyal cat be allowed to indulge in some fun e’ery once in a while?”
Nodding, she asked, “So, what did you need all this gold for?”
“Whattdya mean ya don’t know?! We’re ‘ere for one thing, and ONE THING ONLY!”
“GAMBLIN’!!!”
“Look!” E-CAT turned its body, letting Nanaki peep through the small cracks in between people to take a glimpse of the gorgeous machine he had been dying to try out ever since it first touched foot on the island.
The machine was round and made of wood. Though the edges remained at their normal height, the outer layer and the middle were caved in like a bowl. But the most standout feature was that inside the bowl, there were three different colors alternating with one another.
Green, black, and green. A roulette machine.
E-CAT then took a second to explain to Nanaki the machine’s functionality. How it worked was that people would place a bet, then toss a ball to see where it would land. If one bettor claimed it would land on red, while another bet on black, and it ended up landing on black, then the person who bet on red would lose all the money they put down.
“Wait, so then you’re going to bet all this money? Wouldn’t Miss Yuna get mad at you for that?” Nanaki expressed heartfelt concern.
“KEKEKE! Do ya think I’m so naive to where I wouldn’t come up with a PLAN to beat these NUMBSKULLS at this game? You’re still too young to comprehend my genius, I see.”
“‘Sides, I won’t be gamblin’ all of this gold. Listen ‘ere to the plan, aye?”
Nanaki stared intently.
“I’ll gamble, and yeah, I’ll lose a few. But after a while, I’ll be makin’ back double of what we brought ‘ere. All ya need to do is warm back up to take back all the gold we’re ‘boutta make today!”
“I can hear it already, Master singin’ my praises and finally bein’ appreciative of me.”
“It’s a win-win, I say! I get her double the money, and she lets me go gamblin’ more often in the future. This plan’s FOOL. PROOF.”
“Wait—” but before Nanaki could get even a single word in, E-CAT shouted as loud as it could, enhancing its own volume with magical energy. Being a familiar to a rather powerful mage, it certainly did not lack skills or abilities.
The plaza went completely silent, with everyone turning to face the now terrified Nanaki. The glares of gambling addicts felt like a hundred knives piercing through her soul.
“I’M THE ONE TALKIN’ E’RE!”
Everyone’s gazes then shifted to the floating paper cat.
“Listen up, ya unemployed shmucks. ‘Ere’s what’s gon’ happen.”
“Yer gon’ let me in on yer gamblin’ roulette, and yer gon’ make sure to hand it all o’er when this is all said and done.”
“MUSCLE-HEAD! FOLLOW ME!”
Confused and shocked at the prospect of a talking paper cat, the people made way regardless, as a young girl and this strange familiar made their way towards the center of the crowd, where the roulette machine was placed.
“AIGHT! WHO WANTS TO GO FIRST?!”
The crowd immediately erupted into a roar like a battle cry. The first contestant stepped up confidently. Donning a black suit, black shoes, white gloves, and glasses, the man seemed every bit like a butler. His lips curled into a smirk, scoffing at the paper cat’s desire to gamble.
As a man who was employed by various nobles, he was all too familiar with the game of roulette. However, he wasn’t the kind to gamble for the thrill; it was rather quite the opposite. He hoped that one day, in the future, he would accrue enough money through gambling to rise into nobility himself.
E-CAT, on the other hand, depended his entire existence on these games. He wanted nothing more than to make his master proud, but more than that, he just enjoyed the sheer thrill of winning and losing.
Without wasting any more time, the two contestants called out their color.
“Black,” said the butler.
“RED!” said E-CAT.
With that, the game began with a simple bet of ten gold coins. The satchel had 50,000, so he had plenty to spare.
In a matter of seconds, he had lost the gamble. However, his attitude did not waver, as he added one hundred coins, making the man do the same.
A few minutes passed by, and the amount kept going up and up. E-CAT won some, while the butler won others. However, this was when the real game was about to start. E-CAT was no fool and had performed his mathematical calculations to guarantee its victory.
With a snarky tone, E-CAT shouted out, “TEN THOUSAND GOLD! RED!”
The logic was a matter of pure, stubborn arithmetic. His raise in money wasn’t done randomly, but as a way to confirm that eventually, he would reach a safety net and double his money.
If the odds of doubling his money were fifty-fifty, then the probability of losing twice in a row was only 25%, due to the fact that 50% times 50% equaled 25%. By that logic, E-CAT’s odds of losing a third time in a row would now be 12.5%. The numbers would continue to halve with every consecutive failure.
The strategy was simple: double the bet after every loss. Ten coins became twenty, which then became forty, eventually reaching up to the ten thousand that he had shouted earlier. However, the main problem with E-CAT was that he hadn’t built up to that ten thousand naturally. He jumped from a one thousand two hundred and eighty gold bet to ten thousand, expecting the safety net to hit extremely soon.
His dopamine-deprived brain couldn’t handle the wait anymore and wished for a payout as early as possible.
As the ball spun around the roulette, his mind hyperfixated on mathematics. This was currently his ninth bet. Had he simply built it up naturally, then he would mathematically have a 1 in 4,096 chance of losing twelve times in a row, and winning back profit was an astounding 99.97%.
However, since he jumped the gun too early, he was still sitting at the ninth toss, which meant his chances of having lost every round so far were 1 in 512.
The ball landed on black, making E-CAT anxious. Nanaki, who had been watching from the sidelines, couldn’t help but cover her eyes in fear of what Yuna would do if she were to find out about their antics.
But, this was not over for the cat.
“TWENTY THOUSAND GOLD! RED!”
The man matched his energy, and the ball spun once more.
There was one major, glaring problem E-CAT had forgotten to input in his calculations. His emotions. Having never gambled before, E-CAT had a strong sense of energy and excitement flowing through its non-existent veins.
“I’LL TAKE YA DOWN, YA SEBASTIAN LOOKIN’ ASS!!!”
Every passing second was a thrill. If he were to have had more than 50,000 gold, then perhaps his plan would have worked out in the end. But with him betting 20,000 gold, he was now officially at the end of his rope.
This was his last chance to fully make a profit. He had already bled 12,550 gold into the table. By doubling the ten thousand, he was still technically riding the curve, but he was running out of runway. To lose ten times in a row was a 0.098% fluke, a one-in-a-thousand error in the fabric of reality.
But if the ball landed on black now, the arithmetic would collapse. He only had seventeen thousand four hundred and fifty gold left in the bag. He wouldn't have enough to double another time.
He was risking over half of his original fortune to chase a measly ten-coin profit. His chances of losing were now 1 in 1,024, a grand total of 0.098%. However, each spin still yielded a 50% chance to lose. To professionals, this would be a gamble they wouldn’t dare to take. But this was E-CAT.
Letting out a hearty shout, the cat proclaimed to the world, almost as if trying to convince himself, “THERE’S NO WAY I’M THIS UNLUCKY! COME ON! HIT IT!!!”
The world seemingly froze as adrenaline pumped into E-CAT. For the first time in its life, it had never felt so alive. As the ball slowly came to a halt, the butler, who was sweating all of his fortune away as well, watched intensely at the wooden bowl.
The ball landed on black.
Nanaki’s mouth dropped, as E-CAT had just lost 32,550 gold.
“Um…”
“17,000 gold… red…” E-CAT whispered. The butler bet the same amount. Suddenly, he carried none of the adrenaline he once had, now betting desperately to hopefully get some money back to be able to reapply its original strategy as intended.
But the ball landed on black.
It was never truly a 50% chance to win a spin. He had forgotten that the green tile existed.
Swallowing hard, Nanaki started sprinting as quickly as possible to inform Yuna of what E-CAT had done. In a blink of an eye, the only other person who could have covered for him was now gone to save herself.
“I’m dead,” E-CAT mumbled.
That same night, Yuna did, in fact, burn E-CAT 100,000 times, propping the paper cat on top of a seemingly endlessly burning fire. His screams haunted the estate for the rest of the night and could be heard all the way in the city.