Chapter 143: Those Who Want To Become Rich, Come With Me!
"Thank you for choosing to dine in our establishment!"
After having the most wonderful meal they had in their entire lives, Shye, Maia, and Shirley left the seafood restaurant with satisfied smiles on their faces.
On the way back to the inn, Shye couldn't help but think about the words of the two adventurers regarding bets.
It seems that everyone could place a bet on who they think would make it into the top 8.
Naturally, he planned to make a fortune by betting on themselves. He even planned on telling Siegfried and the others about the betting opportunities so they could make a killing as well.
He didn't know where to bet though so he planned to gather information at the inn first before going to sleep, maybe the manager knew.
The restaurant they ate at was quite far from the inn so it took them around half an hour of walking before arriving in front of the inn where they were warmly greeted by some companion students who were chilling outside.
Shye wasn't some sort of dumb snob so he warmly reciprocated their greetings before entering the inn. He then looked at the two girls and said:
"You guys go first, there's something important I have to do"
"Okay, see you big bro!"
"Later, S-Shye…"
Maia and Shirley replied, which slightly surprised Shye, making his little heart beat a little faster.
'After three years…You finally called me Shye.' He thought as he headed towards the counter where the manager of the inn was stationed.
"Hello"
"Hmm? Hello, what can I do for this young sir?"
"I would like to ask if you know where the betting stations are?"
"Oh…Yes, it's located at…"
***
*RING* *RING* *RING*
'Ughh…I want to sleep more…'
Startled awake by the alarm he set, Shye groggily stood up, washed his face, and looked at the time.
'8AM huh? Guess I'll have to skip breakfast…'
According to the inn manager, the betting stations were around an hour's walk away from the inn so he had to move fast if he wanted to make it on time.
He didn't want to miss this massive opportunity to strike it rich so he paraded the hallways of the inn, knocked at every door, and said in a loud voice:
"Those who want to become rich, come with me! I'll wait for five minutes in front of the inn!"
Dazed and confused, the companion and representative students who heard his voice looked at each other and raised their brows.
"Isn't that Crowley? What the hell is he on about?"
"Hmm? Senior Crowley? He said something about becoming rich..."
Still, they got curious so after a few preparations, most of them left their rooms and followed Shye to see what was going on.
Then, after five minutes, everyone, even Wendy, followed him making Shye chuckle again.
It seems that Wendy still had the same stubborn and curious personality, although she matured a lot after the unfortunate incident.
Shye knew that this wasn't the time to fix his friendship with Wendy, so he simply let her tag along without saying anything lest she back out.
Naturally, such a huge commotion attracted the attention of the deans and the instructors.
*PAH*
Ahh…A nostalgic slap at the back of the head from Instructor Fienna…
The abrupt slap caught Shye off guard, prompting him to turn and glare at the person responsible. Though, after seeing that it was Instructor Fienna, his initial bravado vanished into thin air.
"I-Instructor Fienna, w-why did you slap me?"
"How about you ask yourself why? What the hell are you planning here? Are you rebelling?!"
"H-How could I rebel?! I just want to g-give my fellow students an opportunity" Shye replied as he inwardly reprimanded himself for causing such a ruckus.
Hearing what Shye said, Instructor Fienna's expression turned into one of intrigue.
"Hoh? Opportunity? What opportunity are you giving them?" (Fienna)
"O-Opportunity to earn money…" (Shye)
"Opportunity to earn money? How?"
Instructor Fienna and Shye turned their heads after hearing Dean Snowcrest's stern voice, making Shye shudder.
"A-Ahh…D-Dean…It's nothing…This is nothing…" Shye replied, stuttering in anxiousness after getting caught red-handed by the deans.
"I'M ASKING YOU PROPERLY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY OPPORTUNITY TO EARN MONEY?!"
Dean Snowcrest asked in an intimidating voice, seemingly very angry, prompting Shye to respond honestly.
"I heard that…There are betting stations in which one could bet on who will make it to the top 8…I…I just wanted to bet on Colzen…" Shye responded anxiously, praying that the dean would let him off this time.
"Oh? That's it? We're on the way to bet actually, let's go together then, board the carriages!"
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
Under the dumbfounded gazes of the students, the two deans took the lead in boarding the carriages.
*PAH* *PAH*
"Oh, you should've told me sooner if you're just taking them out to bet!" Instructor Fienna said as she enthusiastically slapped Shye's back as if complimenting him for a job well done.
She then boarded the carriages along with the other instructors.
Naturally, after realizing what the plan was, the students gave their Senior Crowley a grateful look before excitedly boarding their carriages.
Meanwhile, Shye, who was the perpetrator of this whole thing, breathed a sigh of relief and boarded his own carriage with a smile on his face.
***
"Sir Elmer! As of now, around 60,000 people have chosen our betting station, and as expected, due to the odds that we put out, around 83.5% of them are betting for Acacia, Wilhelmburg, Petersen, Blackrock, Hockwarts, Ozenia, Kossin, and Springvale academies to make the top 8!"
"Meanwhile, only 5% chose to bet on our expected winners, Beelhorn, Bluestone, Jenzin, Phillipps, and Amarantha academies along with 10% voting for the sure winners, Eusford, Aslan, and Freia."
"Our estimated earnings after this is around… 13,320 gold coins!"
After hearing the report of one of his employees, the manager, Elmer Cruz, of the betting station, ELMBets, was in seventh heaven.
"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good job, it seems that we will earn a lot again this year. Fucking up the odds sure fool a lot of idiots! In their little minds, all they think about is, the higher the odds, the stronger the academy! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
However, while Elmer was laughing, his subordinate suddenly continued his report.
"H-However, there were some weird people who bet on a fairly known mediocre academy called Colzen. Around 700 people bet unusually huge amounts of money on Colzen Academy, currently totaling 600 gold coins with odds of 80:1."
Just when Elmer was about to speak, another one of his employees rushed over and spoke with a slightly nervous voice.
"S-Sir Elmer, just now, around 45 people from Colzen Academy came and bet on themselves…Their bet totaled at around 500 gold coins…"
"What?!"
After hearing the report of his employees, Elmer was forced to pay attention to Colzen Academy.
With around 745 people betting on the academy totaling 1100 gold coins with 80:1 odds meant that all of them were probably betting their entire fortune in this academy.
Which means that…Something was up with Colzen this year…
Unfortunately for him, the bets with 80:1 odds were already locked in and each bettor got their receipts as proof.
Even if he changed the odds now, it wouldn't matter.
In addition to this, Valenzia City is strict when it comes to handling matters regarding betting stations so in the event that Colzen Academy managed to indeed enter the top 8 then…He needs to fork out a whopping 88,000 gold coins in total.
Over the years, Elmer has earned a lot. However, 88,000 gold coins would make his betting station go bankrupt.
Imagining the scene where he needed to fork out the winnings of the Colzen bettors, Elmer broke out in a cold sweat as he immediately ordered his men to dig up everything they could about this year's Colzen representatives.