Give Conor a Kowtow

Steam scented with thyme, lavender, and violets washed over Zhou Yun's face. The warmth of the bathhouse immediately drove away the chill clinging to him.

Macragge lay amid mountains, where the nights were bitterly cold. Thus, the people of Macragge chose bathhouses as the setting for their nightlife.

So a bathhouse was not merely a bathhouse—it was also a place for pleasure, socializing, and gambling.

The moment Zhou Yun stepped onto the damp corridors of the bathhouse, he caught sight of one lewd, obscene scene after another.

A beautiful singer stood on a raised platform in the center of the bathhouse, dressed in gauze so sheer it was nearly transparent. Bathed beneath flowing water, she swayed her water-snake supple waist as she sang a captivating tune.

Naked young girls frolicked in the pools, displaying their still somewhat immature bodies like merchandise. If it had only been girls, that would have been one thing... but Zhou Yun could clearly see figures dressed exactly like the girls who were most definitely not women soaking in the pools as well, striking seductive poses.

The men by the pools, obviously from wealthy backgrounds at a glance, could not help letting out cheers. Some impatient patrons jumped straight into the baths fully clothed, scooped up the girls amid their shrieks, and carried them toward the private rooms beside the bathhouse.

"I thought our dear Governor Conor had already banned public prostitution," Zhou Yun said as he watched the scene.

Cicero exaggeratedly widened his eyes at that and said to Zhou Yun, "My dear friend, how could you insult these pure and romantic young ladies like that?"

"What prostitution? It is simply that men and women happened to fall in love at first sight tonight— as for the money paid to the ladies, oh, that is naturally breakup compensation for when the love is gone tomorrow morning."

"I wonder what Governor Conor would think if he heard such a romantic story?"

"Then Lord Conor will just have to suffer for it—after all, his decree is fundamentally unreasonable. Poor girls need work, tired men need tenderness, and that demand will always exist... Even many senators are celebrating here. Lord Conor would not be able to do anything even if he came."

Cicero said with a giggle:

"Could he throw everyone into his dull, tedious prisons? Poor, ridiculous Conor."

Conor Guilliman might indeed have been unable to do it, but Conor Guilliman's son certainly had the ability.

Honestly, these extravagantly decadent wastes of Macragge ought to kneel and kowtow to the Conor they resented.

That Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, had been born with a cold, mechanical mind. In his eyes, there was only right and wrong, strength and weakness—black and white, with no room for gray. He studied warfare the way other children read fairy tales. Even his adoptive mother, Lady Euten, had feared the terrifying destructive potential he revealed.

If Conor had not taught him well and corrected Roboute Guilliman's cold, mechanical way of thinking, then when Guilliman faced these nobles in the future, he would most likely choose the most efficient method—kill them all.

Mocking them in his heart, Zhou Yun followed Cicero upstairs to the gambling area on the second floor.

"Cicero! Brother Zhou Yun!" A sharp whistle rang out. Beside a gambling table, a rather fat man wearing the same red leather shoes as Cicero waved at them.

Zhou Yun remembered him. He was Tull, the slave trader who had often gambled and caroused with Zhou Yun and Cicero at the market.

He beckoned for Zhou Yun and Cicero to sit beside him, then had a waiter bring each of them a drink.

"Brother Zhou Yun, you have not come to our revelries for several days. I thought you had grown tired of your brothers." Tull laughed heartily and raised his cup toward Zhou Yun.

"It is only because my dull niece keeps stopping me. I finally found an opportunity," Zhou Yun replied, raising his own cup to return the toast.

"Then you had better gamble hard today and win back everything you missed over the last few days." The smile on Tull's lips grew broader.

Zhou Yun smiled faintly and looked at the gambling table before him. "Naturally. I was just telling Cicero that I came here today to take money from all of you."

Tull seemed amused by Zhou Yun's words and could not help showing a teasing grin. "I really like the sound of that. So, blackjack today?"

As he spoke, Tull signaled for a waiter to bring over a deck of cards, not giving Zhou Yun any chance to refuse.

Only after placing the cards on the table did he ask, "Same as usual? One chip for one Denar?"

"You were just saying I should win back what I missed these past few days." Zhou Yun put on a slightly bored expression. "How about one hundred Denar per chip?"

The air froze for a moment, and then...

Applause broke out.

"Ha! I am starting to like you, boy." Tull exclaimed, clapping his hands.

Cicero, seated beside them, had his eyelid twitch slightly. "I did not bring that much money."

"What a coincidence. Neither did I." Zhou Yun waved a hand. "But can't we borrow it?"

Borrow...

Cicero took a light breath. Zhou Yun's initiative caught him off guard. He involuntarily leaned forward slightly, bracing himself against the table with one hand as he asked, "Are we really playing like this?"

"Don't you want to experience the thrill of it?" Zhou Yun tapped the gambling table and looked at Cicero in return.

Cicero fell silent for a while, then waved at the waiter nearby.

The waiter quickly returned with two loan contracts from the Semuneta Temple.

"These are loan contracts for three thousand Denar," the waiter said after placing them on the table.

Zhou Yun and Cicero signed the contracts at the same time and quickly exchanged them for thirty chips.

Tull, meanwhile, simply exchanged cash for thirty chips.

"The three of us will take turns as dealer, one round each. Cicero goes first." Tull picked up the cards from the table and handed them to Cicero.

As Zhou Yun watched, he began searching through the Scholar's memories for the rules of blackjack.

It was an ancient card game, one that had existed even before Zhou Yun's time of transmigration.

Macragge's version was slightly different, but the basic rules were the same.

A deck of cards had fifty-two cards in total, excluding the jokers.

Cards from 2 through 10 counted according to their face value, while J, Q, and K counted as 10. Finally, an A could be used as either 1 or 11 depending on the situation.

The players' goal was to make the total value of their cards as close to or equal to 21 as possible, without exceeding 21.

Each player began with two cards. Non-dealers could freely choose to hit or stand, while the dealer had to hit with a total below 16 and had to stand with a total above 17.

At the end, whoever had a total closer to 21 won. If the totals were the same, it was a draw.

If both sides had 21, it was normally a draw.

However, there was also a hand called "blackjack"—a 21 made up of an A plus a J, Q, or K. This hand beat all other 21s and had higher odds.

There was also a special rule called splitting, which separated two cards into two hands to be judged independently. However, this rule could only be used when the two drawn cards were identical.

"Place your bets, gentlemen," Cicero said to the two men before him.

Under blackjack rules, the non-dealers bet first, and the dealer paid out or collected according to their wagers.

Tull grinned and placed ten chips worth one thousand Denar before himself.

Zhou Yun, meanwhile... shoved all thirty of his chips onto the table.

"All in!" Zhou Yun lightly extended one finger and wagged it in the air. "It is wisdom," he said to Cicero.

Cicero's throat moved slightly. To his surprise, a feeling of tension rose within him at that moment, and even his fingers trembled faintly.

The emotion had come so suddenly that his heart began pounding, making Cicero feel a little dizzy.

If Zhou Yun won, the three thousand Denar Cicero had just borrowed would all be lost to him...

Was that why he was nervous?

No, there was no need to be nervous over something like this.

Zhou Yun could not possibly win. He should not be intimidated by the confidence Zhou Yun displayed out of sheer stupidity.

Cicero suppressed his anxiety somewhat and sneered as his fingers began shuffling the cards rapidly.

The cards split into two piles between Cicero's fingers, fanning out like a dovetail before falling back into one stack in his palm. He repeated the motion several times.

This gambling match had been a trap prepared specifically for Zhou Yun. The deck had already been arranged in a fixed order when it was brought to the table.

Using the Perfect Shuffle, Cicero could turn the deck into any sequence he wanted... in other words, with him and Tull taking turns as dealer, Zhou Yun was guaranteed to lose.

Two cards each were dealt to Zhou Yun, Tull, and Cicero.

Cicero was the first to reveal one of his two cards. It was a 9.

Under the rules, the dealer had one face-up card and one face-down card, while the non-dealers had both cards face-up.

Cicero knew his other card was a 10, giving him a total of 19.

Tull revealed his cards: a J and a 9, also totaling 19.

According to the plan, Tull would not take another card.

Zhou Yun's hand was a 10 and a Q, totaling 20.

If he dared to take another card, Cicero would deal him a 2. Zhou Yun's total would become 22, and he would bust immediately.

If he did not take another card, Cicero would make 21 and win outright.

Cicero smiled at Zhou Yun...

Zhou Yun smiled back at Cicero, then turned over his cards.

The first was a Q, exactly as Cicero had expected.

Then Zhou Yun gently turned over the second card...

"Ah?" Cicero let out a bewildered cry.