Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Liar Dice
"A woman?" Siderius stopped his mug in mid-air. His mind flashed images of the possible scenarios. "A witch?"
Bas nodded. "A very beautiful and powerful witch. The Black Lady of Itertia."
"And you sure this isn’t..."
"Not a spell." Bas shook his head. "House Argentius confirmed it. Furthermore, Damien is a seasoned Spirit Swordsman. His spirit is much stronger and sharper than a normal person. You see how I was able to resist Nora’s spell right?
But I am barely a Spirit Swordsman. I haven’t even solidified my Iron Will yet. But he already reached the third rank. He is the warrior with the most potential to reach the fourth rank, the rank that everyone in Everia dreams of."
Siderius’ gaze placed upon Bas. His smile was subtle with a slight upturn of the lips. "Are you going to tell me what the ranks of a Spirit Swordsman are?"
"Argh... It’s not a secret anyway and everyone in Everia knows it. So I will tell you.
The Will of Spirit has three ranks. Each is more powerful than the last.
The first is the Iron of Will.
The second is the Forge of Flame.
The third is the Blade of Spirit. Some people called this rank the Invisible Blade also.
I have not reached the Iron of Will yet. But Damien Argentius has been on the Blade of Spirit for years. Our power levels are night and day."
"Interesting..." The ranks of Spirit Art seemed to reflect the process of forging a sword.
First you made Iron. Then you forged it with flame. Finally, you gained the Blade. But that was only Siderius’ theory. He needed to get his hands on an actual Spirit technique in order to know the truth.
"And that is as far as I can tell you, Sid. I wouldn’t tell you this if we weren’t friends." Bas said.
Siderius chuckled. He picked up the mug. "And I won’t ruin our friendship by asking something I shouldn’t. Here’s a toast for my friend!"
Siderius chugged the beer in one go.
"My man!" Bas laughed, slapping his thighs a few times before chugging down a same size mug.
Both of them had ways to get rid of the alcohol in their body so they didn’t worry about passing out. Quinlan moaned while laying on the table. Unfortunately for the wealthy merchant, he did not have such a technique to mitigate the influence of alcohol.
"It becomes a bit stale, Sid. Wanna join a game of dice?" Bas suggested.
Siderius fiddled with the full pouch of silvers in his deep pocket. He had just gained fifty silver coins from the monastery, a rather substantial amount of money. He would be a fool to gamble his coins now.
Siderius might need the coins to order a sword from George.
"I have to tell you though." Siderius turned to Bas. "I don’t play fair. Still want to play?"
Bas grinned. "The boys I gamble with have a saying. If you don’t cheat, you aren’t playing. Why don’t you and I rob those fools over there?"
Bas’ gaze darted to a group of men sitting at the table.
A young man in his early twenties with a thick horseshoe moustache.
Another young man that seemed harmless but had a pair of sharp eyes.
A man around his late twenties with a very stern face but twitchy fingers.
An older man with luxurious clothing that acted like he owned the place. Behind him were two brutes, his bodyguards, sitting on a table not far away.
"I won’t be holding back." Siderius said.
"Good. Every man for himself." Bas grinned.
The pair approached the table of four.
"Any spot for two more players, fellas?" Bas said.
The four men looked up at him. The two young men didn’t say anything, a mild interest flickered in their eyes. The twitchy man squinted his eyes, seeming to observe Bas and Siderius.
The rich man looked them up and down then said. "Minimum five silver coins. Winner takes all. You’re in?"
Siderius already brought a chair over and sat down. "We’re in."
Bas followed him and sat down quickly.
The young man with sharp eyes chuckled. "You didn’t even ask what kind of game we’re playing, mate!"
Siderius shrugged. "Doesn’t matter. We’re all here to have some fun, aren’t we?"
Siderius’ eyes darted to the two bodyguards behind the rich man without any hesitation.
"I like him." The man with the moustache said.
"Me too. Buster Cass. At your service." The man with sharp eyes tipped his hat at Siderius and Bas.
"People call me the Casper Kid." The moustaches man said.
The stern man also joined in. "Joe of Scalize."
And finally, the rich man introduced himself. "You may have heard about me before. Dunn Longar of the Ivitsio Bank."
"Surprisingly. No. I haven’t heard that name, Lumbar." Bas blurted out then laughed at his own sayings.
Dunn seemed to be bothered by this. His jaw hardened and his eyes fixated on Bas. He tried to keep his cool.
"My name is Dunn Longar." He slowly repeated.
"Yeah. Yeah. I know." Bas said.
"What game are we playing?" Siderius asked.
Buster lifted up a cup, revealing six dice underneath. He slid two cups with two collections of dice toward Siderius and Bas.
"Liar dice." The Kid said. "You play by announcing the amount of dice and the face value of those dice.
Each time you announce. You must bid higher than the last player. Raise the amount of dice or the face value. Either is fine.
If you think someone has announced a false set, you can call them out. If you’re right, they lose the round and lose a dice. If you’re wrong, you lose the round and lose a dice.
Bet is placed at the start of the game after we’ve seen our first set of dice. Minimum bet is five silver coins. If someone bet higher, we must bet the same or raise the bet.
We’ll play until only one player has dice left. Then he’d win the entire pot."
Buster then raised his index finger. "Oh. And don’t forget, ones are wilds, which means they can be counted as any face value."
The Casper Kid nodded then pointed to Buster. "What he said."
"Well then." Bas rubbed his two hands with passion, tongue licked the side of his mouth. "Let us begin."
Suddenly, Dunn placed his cane on a table. "As I have said. Minimum bet is five silvers. Do YOU drunkards have enough coins to play?"
Siderius pushed the cane off the table with a gentle flick of his hand. "You are a little bit rude to my friend, Dunn Longar."
The two bodyguards behind Dunn stood up immediately.