At the moment, all types of gambling were taking place in the noisy barracks, and all of Prince Yamoyan's subordinates were gambling up a storm, with cries of elation, yells of shock, sighs of despair, and vigorous cursing ringing out incessantly.

Despite how intense everything sounded, these were only minor gambling dens with only several dozen Loonies exchanging hands per session at the very most.

The game where the stakes were truly significant was the one that all of King Yamoyan's guests had been invited to, known as the King's Game.

This was a game that Prince Yamoyan had invented.

In total, there were 30 cards, 20 of which were soldiers, nine of which were prime ministers, and a single king card.

The king card was superior to the prime ministers, while the prime ministers were superior to the soldiers.

The game usually involved around five players with a referee distributing the cards, and each player received three cards.

The ante for the game was 1,000 Loonies, and once all of the players had their chips ready, the game could begin.

There was a spinning arrow on the table that was spun by the referee, and whichever player the arrow ended up pointing at would be the first king for that game.

The king could select any other player to attack, and each player would push forward a card, face-down, to compete with one another, and the verdict would be announced by the referee. Whoever was the king of the game had a special privilege, which was that even if both sides had sent out the same card, then the king would still be deemed the winner.

After the showdown between the two cards, the winner would be able to recover their card, which remained face-down the entire time, and also receive the ante of 1,000 Loonies from the losing party. As for the loser, their card would be confiscated by the referee. The important thing to note here was that none of the other players were aware of what cards the two had put forward.

If the king won the showdown, then that player would be able to retain their title as king. However, if they were to be defeated, then the winner would ascend to the throne and receive all of the privileges the king was entitled to, while the original king would become just a normal player.

The players who lost in their showdowns against the king could choose to make no further bets and give up on that round, or they could choose to bet another 1,000 Loonies and continue to participate in the round. After making an additional bet, the player would have the right to issue a challenge to the king.

During the challenge segment, both the king and the player who had issued the challenge each had to put forward one of their cards, face-up on this occasion, and a showdown would ensue. In this segment, the king no longer enjoyed their kingly privilege, so if both of the cards were the same, then both cards would be confiscated by the referee, and there would be no money exchanging hands. The side that emerged victorious from this showdown was entitled to the loser's ante, and they could also recover the card that they put forward. However, they could no longer return that card to their hard, and it had to remain revealed for all to see throughout the duration of the rest of the round. The revealed card could be used to attack others or respond to attacks, but it couldn't be used during further challenge segments.

If the king could emerge victorious or secure a draw during the challenge segment, then they would continue to retain their title as king, and after that, they would be able to attack the next player.

However, if the king were to be defeated during the challenge segment, then they would have to relinquish the throne and become an ordinary player.

One thing that had to be noted here was that a single king couldn't attack the same player twice. Furthermore, a player who had just been knocked down from the throne was immune to being attacked in the next round of play.

Thus, the climax of this game occurred when the king only had a single concealed card left, and they were challenged by a certain player.

Once that happened, the game would enter the public challenge segment.

During this segment, all players who weren't the king could choose to participate in the challenge, and all players who participated in the challenge had to put forward a card that was faced down.

After that, the tense and exciting wager segment would ensue. The normal players at the table who only had a single concealed card left could make a quadruple wager at most, while the normal players at the table with two concealed cards left could make a double wager at most. As for the normal players who still had three concealed cards remaining, then they would only be able to wager their ante.

Once the wager segment concluded, the king would reveal their final concealed card, and if that card weren't the king card, then the king would have to pay all of the players who participated in the public challenge segment the wager that they made.

If the king's final card turned out to be the king card, then all of the normal players would have to pay the king the same amount of money that they bet as their wager during the public challenge segment.

However, there was also an exception to this, which was the possibility to start a revolution.

If each of the normal players who participated in the public challenge had put forward a soldier card as their concealed card, then even if the king had put forward the king card as their final card, they would still be dealt a loss.

Of course, there was also a possibility that the king card would've already appeared prior to the public challenge segment.

If the king had already used the king card prior to the public challenge segment, then the player that had issued the challenge to the king would have to pay them twice the ante, and that would mark a conclusion to that round of play.

If it were a normal player who put forward the king card during the challenge segment, then the challenged king would have to pay the player four times the ante, and that would also mark the conclusion to that round of play.

If a normal player didn't have any concealed cards left, then they would be eliminated.

If the king won five antes worth of Loonies, not including the ante that they won when they claimed the title of king, then they would have the right to announce a conclusion to the round of play, given that there were only five players in total.

These rules sounded quite complex, but in reality, one only had to play a few times to understand how the game worked. Winning or losing in the King's Game didn't just depend on luck, there was also an element of psychological warfare involved.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Christine's group arrived at the spacious plaza between the two camps, an imposing figure emerged from beneath the waterfall of sand.

To call this figure imposing was a severe understatement. Their shoulders were twice as wide as those of a bear, and their thick and sturdy back looked more like a brick wall than a human body part. Attached to those incredibly wide shoulders was a pair of arms so astoundingly large that they were significantly thicker than even the average adult male's leg.

The yellow sand that was falling from above cascaded down his coarse, bronze-colored skin, as if it were giving him a shower.

For many of the guests present, including Christine, this wasn't the first time that they had seen Prince Yamoyan, but they still couldn't help but be struck by a sense of fear and awe at the time of him.

Prince Yamoyan's upper body was completely nude and exposed, and it was riddled with all types of scars, some of which were dealt upon him by bladed weapons like swords and knives, while others were inflicted by blunt weapons like maces and staves. There was even a crescent-shaped wound that was five to six inches wide and spanned all the way from the side of his waist to the center of his back. Every single one of those terrifying scars was giving off a faint red light, striking the beholder with a spine-tingling sensation.

Sherry immediately realized that this was a body that had been completely modified by magic. The burly man who he had fought in front of the Old River Restaurant had only had a single arm magically modified, yet this man had undergone magical modifications on his entire body, as evidenced by the red glow that he was giving off.

"Looks like everyone's here," Yamoyan said with a wide smile as he swept his gaze over everyone, and the coarse beard on his face was dancing joyfully with his smile.

It was very rare for a person's eyes to be filled with a sense of coercion and savagery even when they were smiling, but Yamoyan was one of those rare cases. There was no way that a smile could mask the cruel and ruthless gleam in his eyes, and in addition to that, his eyes were also filled with undisguised and unadulterated greed. His mouth was so large that an entire head could fit inside it. For someone like Christine, whose head was slightly on the smaller side, her head would only be able to fill half of his mouth.

As soon as Yamoyan began to approach his guests, all of them involuntarily gulped nervously, and their legs were trembling slightly from fear and apprehension.

Sherry, Lanyon, and Georgina had all been through battles of life and death before, but even they couldn't help but be struck by a sense of fear at the sight of this monstrous human.

The other guests were also accompanied by guards who were skilled martial artists, but those guards were also staring at Yamoyan with pale faces, and some of them had even already placed their hands onto the hilts of their swords. However, given how much their hands were trembling, it was yet to be seen whether they would even be capable of drawing their swords from their scabbards.

Yamoyan had naturally also noticed the wary looks on everyone's faces, but his smile remained unchanged, and the only reaction that he displayed came in the form of a hint of derision that flashed through his eyes.

After hearing Yamoyan's boisterous and authoritative voice, the rowdy and noisy barracks had fallen completely silent in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, Tolk and the other subordinates of Yamoyan were already busy at work, carrying things like gambling tables, chairs, wine, and food to the plaza. A short while later, a banquet had already been set up right at the center of the spacious plaza.

The circular gambling table positioned at the very center was reserved for the games that were about to take place.

As for Sherry's trio, they were assigned seats on the edge of the plaza alongside the members of all of the other guests' entourages.

Sherry and the others turned to Christine with concerned expressions, but she merely shook her head at them with a reassuring smile, telling them that there was no need to worry.

Aside from Christine, there were also three other guests, which were Elder Oqueer Marlo from the Fleming Trade Guild, Elder Teeky Fayan from the Strani Trade Guild, and Deputy Chairman Manjay Zani from the Tala Trade Guild.

The Fleming Trade Guild was the largest trade guild in the Fantiwenross Dukedom in the north, and they primarily traded things like fur, winter hats, and fur boots. The trade guild had a history of several decades, and it was quite an established trade guild.

The headquarters of the Strani Trade Guild was situated in the Oro Dukedom, and it was quite renowned on the eastern side of the continent.

As for the Tala Trade Guild, the organization was active around the Keetos Dukedom, and it was a trade guild that had only arisen several years ago on the east coast. It was said that all of the important members of this trade guild had rather "interesting" histories. There were rumors suggesting that all of them had risen to prominence through unscrupulous means such as robbery or fraud.

Of course, Yamoyan didn't care about the status and background of his guests. As long as they were in the city of Madeira, they would have to listen to him. Regardless of how noble or wealthy one was, here in the city of Madeira, Yamoyan's word was absolute.

"Did you all bring enough Loonies with you today, everyone?" Yamoyan asked in a joking voice. However, given how intimidating he was, no one could muster up the urge to laugh at his joke.

All of the guests that had just taken a seat nodded with slightly forced smiles in response to Yamoyan's question, and Christine's expression seemed to be more relaxed than those of the other guests.

"Christine, I didn't think that you would come on your first day here," Yamoyan said as a smile appeared on his face again, and he was clearly very pleased to see her. During the past few days, he had been playing exclusively with other men, so he was naturally very happy to see a woman join their game, particularly one that was as beautiful as Christine. However, there seemed to be some ulterior motives concealed beneath his smile.

"There's money to be won, so of course I have to come as early as possible," Christine replied with a smile.

"Oh? You sound very confident in yourself, little girl," Manjay said as he turned to examine Christine with a raised eyebrow.

"This must be your first time playing with Christine, right, my friend?" Marlo asked as he turned to Manjay with a smile.

"It is. Is there a problem?" Manjay asked.

"This little girl is not someone to be underestimated," Marlo replied as he stroked his own beard with a mysterious smile. "I suggest that you take care when betting against her."

A skeptical look appeared on Manjay's face upon hearing this.

Yamoyan could see that everyone was ready to play, so he snapped his fingers and began the proceedings.

Several scantily dressed female servants who were carrying silver platters immediately emerged, and the woman leading the way was holding a platter that was carrying the dominos that were going to be used for the game. Meanwhile, the rest of the women were carrying platters with drinks and snacks for the guests who were playing. It was clear just from looking at the set of dominos that they had to be extremely valuable.

If one wanted an indication of just how scantily dressed the women were, they need not look any further than the three guests at the table excluding Prince Yamoyan and Christine. The three men were all staring with blank looks in their eyes, while the members of their entourage were virtually drooling from the visual feast. If Prince Yamoyan weren't present, those people would've most likely already begun wolf whistling and calling out to the women with provocative phrases.

"Oh my goodness, look at these women! Where do you keep finding them from? You have a new group of women every single day!" Manjay exclaimed. "Look at the legs on them! Tsk tsk tsk..."

Marlo and Teeky were slightly older than Manjay, and both of them were around 50 years of age, but that certainly didn't mean that they had lost their interest in women. After hearing what Manjay had to say, both of them were nodding in agreement.