Grin Andersen explained all the rules of the card game to Betty.
Although the tsundere Betty pretended to listen half-heartedly, she was actually quite curious about this new thing.
With the wisdom of a Great Spirit, she grasped the essentials in no time.
"Grin, according to your explanation, don't we need three people?"
"Don't worry, I also have a dog here."
After saying that, Grin summoned the magic mirror and threw it onto a corner of the table.
At this moment, the magic mirror looked rather disheveled, covered in dust, with the character for 'dog' carved on its surface.
"Hehe, Master... I knew you couldn't bear to keep me confined. Can I erase this engraving now?"
Grin shot him a fierce glare.
"You're dreaming. If you erase it, I'll carve an even bigger one on you."
"Alright, alright, I'll keep it. The character you wrote, Master, is truly sophisticated and grand..."
"Enough, stop the flattery."
Grin signaled the magic mirror to shut up and threw the playing cards in front of him.
"Do you know how to play fight the landlord?"
The magic mirror's eyes lit up, immediately switching back to its arrogant and unruly state.
He extended two magical arms and skillfully shuffled the cards with fancy cuts, showing off various techniques.
"Hahaha, truly showing off one's meager skills in front of an expert! Did I never tell you the story of the Snow Kingdom Gambling God?"
"Back in the day, with just a slight effort, I reached the limit of the Snow White Kingdom's royal casino, winning 25 million from just 20 copper coins overnight!"
"Tell me, what's the stakes? We can't play for fake money. Even though you're my master, we must keep accounts clear between us."
Suppressing the urge to smack the magic mirror away, Grin tapped on the table.
"Who's playing for money? Besides, do you even have any? We're playing with sticky notes. Whoever loses has to stick one on their face."
The magic mirror made a disgusted expression and said disdainfully, "That's so boring. Playing for half a day without earning a single coin and getting saliva all over your face."
Grin laughed in exasperation and immediately supplemented the rules for the magic mirror.
"I see your surface is too smooth for notes to stick. If you lose, I'll carve the characters directly onto your face."
The magic mirror shrank back fearfully.
"Don't do that, Master! You're so brutal, I don't dare play."
"Are you sure? If you can win ten games in a row, I'll allow you to erase the 'dog' character on your face."
Grin offered what the magic mirror desired most in its heart, blatantly tempting it.
This idiot still cared a lot about its appearance.
Sure enough, after hesitating for a long time, the magic mirror reluctantly floated over.
"Fine, but Master, you can't trick me!"
..."Who wants to be the landlord? I'm not calling, anyway."
"Hmph, Betty wouldn't want something Grin doesn't want."
"Tsk, as if I would want it either. I'm not calling either."
Grin was dumbfounded.
Is this how you're supposed to play?
It's just that my hand is bad.
Even after reshuffling several times, no one wanted to be the landlord.
This can't go on; a solution must be found.
After dealing the cards again, Grin said nonchalantly:
"I think the name 'fight the landlord' isn't good. Let's change it to 'Fight the Demon'! Come on, who wants to become the world's greatest demon?"
Hearing this, the magic mirror slammed the table and eagerly stretched out a large hand to grab the three face-down cards.
"The world's greatest demon must be me!"
"Reveal!"
"Hahaha, three sixes, such a fitting number for a demon!"
"The great demon wolgaroth plays a pair of nines, shaking heaven and earth!"
Betty gave the magic mirror a disdainful glance. This nutcase kept adding flashy adjectives for himself while playing cards.
To suppress the magic mirror's arrogance, she pulled two cards depicting clown-like figures from her fan-shaped hand and directly threw them down.
"Betty plays two Roswaals! By the way, why is Roswaal so powerful in this game? It's unreasonable. It should be set as Mother's image instead."
..."Ah, how did I lose again? It shouldn't be!"
The magic mirror panicked, scratching its head. It already owed quite a debt.
If it kept losing, there probably wouldn't be enough space on its entire face to carve all the characters when settling accounts.
Betty and Grin's eyes were filled with amusement, almost unable to hold back.
The magic mirror spread its cards with both hands, and all the card faces were reflected from its mirror surface.
This guy was playing with his hand exposed every round.
No, no, something must be wrong. Could it be that the Super Male Master and the Evil Loli teamed up?
Otherwise, the Master must be cheating secretly.
Damn, what a despicable couple.
"I know it! You must have done something!"
"I want to inspect the cards!" (French accent)
The magic mirror collected all the cards and examined each one carefully.
Grin urged impatiently, "What are you up to, wolgaroth? Hurry up."
By now, both he and Betty also had some fluttering strips of paper on their faces.
These were mostly punishments for failing to call landlord, but they had never been beaten by the magic mirror.
After inspecting for a long time and finding nothing unusual, the magic mirror reluctantly put the cards down.
"The cards are fine."
..."So Betty won again? Bring your face closer, Grin."
A hint of joy appeared on Betty's face.
This novel game was indeed quite good.
After Grin moved his face closer, Betty tore a long strip of paper from a discarded notebook.
She then put the paper strip to her mouth, moistened it with some saliva, and pressed it onto Grin's face.
"This game is somewhat interesting, but Betty still doesn't understand why saliva must be used. Couldn't tea work?"
Grin answered with an air of seriousness, "The rules are like that. Otherwise, how could it be called a punishment?"
Betty's little face darkened, as if she had seen through someone's trick.
"It is indeed a punishment for Betty, but you don't seem to mind at all."
Grin said expressionlessly and sternly, "Ahem, Betty, you must be imagining things."
..."Alright, game over! As of now, wolgaroth, you owe me a total of two thousand one hundred and thirty-one characters. I'm going to start carving now!"
Grin counted on his Fingers for the magic mirror, then rummaged around his body, seemingly looking for a nail.
"What! Are you planning to write a novel on my face? I... I quit."
After saying that, the magic mirror turned into a beam of light and vanished into Grin's body.
"This dog has terrible sportsmanship, running away as soon as he loses."
Grin laughed mockingly but didn't actually intend to carve that many characters on its face.
The main purpose today was to entertain Betty.
"Hmph, you can only bully someone with a poor brain."
Betty poured herself a cup of hot tea and took a comfortable sip.
It was already early evening. For the first time in four hundred years, she had stayed up this late playing.
Grin stacked the cards neatly and placed them on Betty's small desk.
He straightened his clothes and massaged his sore wrists.
"Alright, Betty, maybe we should stop here for today."
..."Wait a moment."
A flicker of loneliness passed through Betty's eyes. She awkwardly turned her face away, her cold tone hiding a barely noticeable softness.
"There's still some time before a healthy bedtime. If you can't sleep... Betty grants you permission to tell a boring story here to pass the time."
"Considering you presented a gift to Betty..."