EPILOGUE: You’ve Come to the Right Place

Bero finishes a shift at the Double Double casino, reflecting on nearly a year of steady work, sobriety, and plans to leave the recovery home with Eiten-jen’s reference. Walking through Janloon, he notices new development—the Green Lotus casino rising amid optimism after the Oortokon War and the ebb of Espenian servicemen.

Crossing from the bustling Armpit into Dog’s Head, Bero slips into an upstairs lounge where three men play cards. Recognizing a leaflet they handed him—“Join the Revolution!”—he approaches. The men, Guriho, Otonyo, and Tadino, invite him to a meeting, bristling when Bero calls them shotties before clarifying they are Oortokon and ex-barukan.

The men argue that jade entrenches oppression worldwide—by clans in Kekon, the military and merchants in Espenia, and aristocrats in Ygutan—and claim that putting jade in the people’s hands could break those chains. Otonyo displays a choker of bluffer’s jade as a symbol of resistance rather than power.

Memories of dead friends and ruined years surge, and Bero admits jade destroyed his life. Though he wants no jade himself, he finds purpose in their message. By the end, Bero rejects jade but agrees that taking down the Green Bone clans “sounds good,” aligning himself with a nascent, international anti-clan movement.