The Swindler's Students (Blue Archive x Male Reader)

Chapter 1 - Casinos, Conmen, and C&C

With flashing lights, blaring music, and waitresses dressed as bunnies delivering drinks, the casino Brutale was once again in full swing. Located on the outskirts of the Millenium School District, I pride myself on how successful this place has become since I took control a few years ago, and how hard I've made it for anybody to even attempt to cheat here. Before anybody can even come up to the tables, they are searched and any valuables on their person which are deemed in any way suspicious are confiscated. This prevents any cheating through outside means, and if anything too valuable is confiscated, we can just say it was "lost"

As I looked towards the entrance, I saw a customer getting a warning as a deck of playing cards was taken from him, and after he apologized, he was let in. I'm getting a bad vibe from him so I think I'm gonna keep an eye on him. Looking at him, he didn't seem older than nineteen or twenty. He was wearing a suit, and as he passed through the poker tables, he had a confident smirk on his face, like he knew exactly what was going to happen today, but most off of all was that he was completely lacking a halo. Before he sat down at a table for high rollers, he tried flirting for a moment with the blonde haired waitress nearby, whose expression seemed to light up from it. I guess that's fine as long as he doesn't try anything funny.

I returned to my work, occasionally looking over at him, but besides the pile of poker chips beside him, he didn't seem to be doing anything suspicious. He occasionally called that same waitress over to bring him a drink, but beyond that, nothing seemed up. However, a moment later one of the security guards approached me and said "Sir, the dealer at table 6 asks you to come over. There is somebody over there who is obviously cheating, yet he can't figure out how."

"Right, I'll be there." I replied, heading over to table 6, so my gut wasn't wrong, huh? Well, I'll figure out what's going on...

As I arrived, I apologized to the table before pulling the dealer to the side and asking what was going on.

"I don't know sir, nearly every single round that player in the center has been in, he's won." The dealer said

"I see, then I'll take the reins then." I said, heading over to the table. After all, I've been playing and cheating at poker for a long time now. I'm an expert here, so there's no way he can cheat under my watch. "Excuse me dear customers, but I think I'd like to deal a couple hands."

"Just get on with it." One customer said gruffly, obviously frustrated at the boy practically robbing him.

As I shuffled the deck, the boy called over the same waitress and said. "Mind getting me a cola?"

"Not at all master." the waitress said. Wait, master? What the hell is that about?

The boy however was just as surprised by her words as me and said "Why exactly are you calling Master?"

"Oh nobody~ I'll go get that for you." She said as she left

After I dealt, in the end, the boy still got the entire pot after a straight, and while it's not like he went for something glaringly obvious that he is cheating, he certainly made a hand that's a pain to win against. Still, how the hell did he do it? I'd chock it up to chance if he had lost even a single round all night.

"You know, last time I was here was something like two years ago, back with the previous boss, and I gotta say the place sure has changed." He said as I shuffled the deck

"Of course, I pride myself on improving the Brutale, and making it the best it can be." I said, smiling politely

As I dealt the next hand, the boy handed the empty glass to the waitress "I can't stand having an empty glass in the way." he muttered to her as he handed it to her. He then turned to face me and said "I wasn't talking about your supposed improvements, I'm talking about how much more oblivious you've all gotten. I wouldn't have been able to get away with this with the old owner."