The swan races run by the white and black swans were... well, it was getting a bit confusing. Since they were in human form, I decided it was best to call them by their actual names. I knew what they were; I just hadn't been using them until now.
The white swan was Odette, and the black swan was Odile. They shared the same names as the leads in the ballet Swan Lake, making them quite easy to remember. For the white swan, it was a rather elegant name. Odile's was a villain’s name, which made me feel a bit bad for her, but since it was her real name and not a pseudonym, there wasn't much to be done about it.
When I referred to them as the "Ode Sisters," the black swan begged me with tears in her eyes to stop treating them like a family unit. Was she really that repulsed by the idea?
"All right, all right. Just stop crying."
I cleared my throat. Regarding the swan races being conducted by Odette and Odile, I wasn't going to tell them to stop. Gambling was a normal part of life in this world, and there were no laws to regulate it beyond the specific restrictions a king or lord might decree. Since I was the Village Head of Village Five, the management of their pond fell under my jurisdiction.
However, I didn't want to be the kind of person who left everything to Yoko and only intervened when it was convenient for me. I sought Yoko's opinion on the matter first.
"A swan race? I welcome anything that increases the local entertainment," she replied.
With her blessing, I demanded a series of improvements to the current operation. First and foremost: an absolute ban on cheating. I understood that in this world, anyone who failed to spot a fixed match was often laughed at as a fool. Even so, while rigging might guarantee a profit for the house, it wouldn't sustain a customer base in the long run. If the house takes too much, the pool of bettors eventually dries up.
Besides, people were bound to notice the fix eventually. If I could spot it, someone else surely had already. If the secret got out, the house would inevitably face a backlash. Since Odette and Odile were acquaintances of mine, I didn't want them to meet a grisly end. Therefore, rigging was out. I wanted the matches to be fair.
Next was the schedule. Currently, the races were irregular, held whenever Odette and Odile's pockets started feeling empty. Furthermore, the number of heats depended entirely on the whims and motivation of the racing swans. This was unacceptable. Unpredictability only leads to confusion. While they claimed to promote the events on the day, it meant the audience was limited to whoever happened to be nearby at the time.
If we were going to do this, we were going to do it right. We would establish fixed race days and settle on a structure of ten races per session. Unlike a horse track, we could freely alter the course and distance within the pond to give the bettors more variables to consider when making their predictions.
We also needed to grade the races. While a complex ranking system wasn't necessary yet, we would place the higher-stakes races at the end of the ten-race block. This wouldn't change the dividend math, but the winners of those prestigious races would receive better or more abundant treats. That would keep the birds motivated. Since there would be no staging, we had to rely on the swans' genuine competitive spirit.
Finally, I insisted they name the individual swans. Until now, they had been referred to only by numbers. While I understood that was efficient, it lacked drama. Narrative is essential—the story of each individual bird matters. I told them not to be lazy and to give them proper names.
In the end, I agreed to handle the initial naming. I knew my own naming sense was mediocre at best, so I decided to draw inspiration from the famous thoroughbreds of my previous world. I didn't know much about their specific records or lineages, but I knew the names. I couldn't bring myself to use them exactly as they were, though; that felt disrespectful to both the original horses and the swans. I’d save the actual names for when we had more horses.
I wanted to say that concluded the matter, but there was still the issue of the money. Since Odette and Odile had started the venture, I initially thought they should keep all the profits. However, that only worked if they handled the entire operation themselves. I didn't believe for a second that those two could maintain the motivation to manage a regularly scheduled gambling house.
Instead, they would remain the nominal heads of the organization while taking on the role of "Swan Complaints Officers." Essentially, they would oversee the health and well-being of the racing birds—a job only they were truly qualified for.
As for the actual labor, I turned to the Silver Fox tribe to see if they had the bandwidth.
"Us? Well, we’ve settled into our new lives and the management of the shrine, so we have some free time, but..."
"Then I’m leaving it to you."
"T-That is... we don't really know anything about how to run a gambling house..."
I promised to teach them the basics and offered thirty percent of the profits as compensation.
"T-Thirty percent? Is it all right if we enlist the help of the Red, Black, and Round-faced Fox tribes?"
"Of course."
"Then we shall serve with everything we have!"
Of the remaining seventy percent, twenty percent would go to Village Five as a security fee. If the shrine staff handled security themselves, it would create too much tension with the customers. We needed a third party that wasn't beholden to either the house or the bettors. Besides, if only one group was getting rich, it would breed resentment. It was better to let the money circulate through Village Five.
The final fifty percent would be earmarked for swan rearing expenses and pond maintenance. It seemed like a solid plan until Odette raised her hand.
"Village Head, you’re talking as if profit is a given, but you haven't mentioned how we’re actually going to make that money."
"Wait, what? We’re the house. How could we lose?"
"Village Head, didn't I tell you? The only reason we were staging the results was to ensure we actually made a profit."
My understanding of the gambling model in this world was apparently lacking. Odette explained that in their current system, the house set the odds for each of the six swans. Customers bet based on those odds, and the winners were paid out accordingly. If too many people bet on the favorite and the favorite won, the house would lose money. Thus, the staging.
"Village Head, what do you intend to do about that?"
The answer was simple: the system itself was the problem. A business can't survive unless the house is guaranteed a margin.
"It’s not complicated. We just collect a management fee from the total pool of bets. If we have a thousand bets of one Medium Copper Coin each, that's a thousand coins. We take ten percent off the top—one hundred coins—for operations. The remaining nine hundred are then divided among the winners based on the proportion of bets placed."
"No, no, no. Who's going to do all that calculation? And having the odds fluctuate while people are still betting..."
"The odds are supposed to fluctuate, aren't they? I don't think the arithmetic is that difficult."
I looked toward the Silver Fox tribe. They all looked away, their eyes filled with uncertainty.
I see. It seemed I needed someone who was good with numbers. I’d have to find a volunteer from somewhere else.