Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Winner
With Dunn and Joe removed, the remaining four players continued with their game. The fifty silvers pot was attractive for everyone.
The men were honest to each other. They knew the others were trying to cheat and none was playing fair. But if a player was caught to be cheating, he would lose that round.
Buster and Siderius were masters in cheating and got caught the least. Next was Bas. And finally was Casper.
Kid saw that he couldn’t cheat that well in front of these lizards so instead of losing a die for cheating, he would keep an eye on the others instead. This way he would no longer need to worry about others finding out and they would need to be on the defensive side.
Kid’s strategy worked well at first. He was able to point out Bas and Buster cheating, causing each to lose a die. Bas’ skill was respectable but he still left traces behind, allowing the Kid to call him out.
As for Buster, Kid knew him well so he got advantage on calling him out.
But Siderius never got caught. Not even once. This made the others lose all of their advantage. If they were still battling each other, the sweet fifty silver coin pot would fall into Siderius’ hand eventually.
The three understood it so they set aside their differences and worked together to go against Siderius.
Siderius smiled under his scarf. "It seems like I’m the best cheater around here. How about this. We continue the game without cheating. A fair and honest game, what do you say?"
The other three looked at each other. They had no reason to refuse. They weren’t going to see how Siderius cheated anyway so accepting this deal gave them a better chance to win.
"Sounds good!" Buster smiled widely.
"Let’s do it!" Bas nodded.
"No disagreement here." The Kid said.
The game of lying and cheating continued with only the lying part stayed.
Siderius started to lose for real this time. But he was still ahead of the others.
The Casper Kid was the first to go. His strategy was the worst out of four.
Then it was Bas. He had a solid strategy but Buster and Siderius were better players.
The last round had Buster and Siderius playing each other. Each player only had one die left under their cup. Whoever went first would hold the most initiative but also much more prone to challenge.
Siderius looked under his cup. A single six.
Buster looked under his cup. A single one.
Siderius was the first to go. He observed Buster closely.
Beads of sweat rolled down on Buster’s cheeks. But he kept a poker face well with no emotion on it.
"Apologies, Buster. I really like that pot.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six."
Siderius counted the number quickly. Too quick for Buster to register what had happened. His face darkened.
"What was that?!" Buster said.
"A trick to learn what your die is. Here is my bid. Two sixes." Siderius gently said.
Buster’s throat closed down. He looked under his cup one more time. He had a one.
A one-dot die was a wild die, which meant it could be any number in between. Siderius said two sixes. He communicated with Buster that Siderius had a six.
Buster gulped. There was no other choice than to challenge Siderius. He couldn’t raise the quantity or the face value, both would lead to a loss.
"Well played... I challenge you. Liar!"
Buster lifted his cup. Under it was a one.
Siderius lifted his cup. Under it was a six.
Siderius won.
The Casper Kid took his hat down out of respect. "I’ve never seen anyone beat Buster."
Buster covered his face and screamed into his hands.
Siderius chuckled and grabbed the coins in the pot. He just received an additional forty silver coins, and combined that with his current coins, Siderius had ninety silver coins and thirty bronze coins.
He almost accumulated his wealth to one gold coin.
Siderius couldn’t help but contemplate the wealth of this world. He had gone through many things to have this much coin. But these were even less valuable than the rings on Thane’s hands.
Siderius hadn’t forgot about him. He would find Thane eventually and make him pay for what he did to Snow.
Siderius had promised to the original owner of this body.
"Actually. It was more of a promise to myself." Siderius thought.
Siderius’ identity and Snow’s had intertwined deeply. He too hated Thane with all his beings. He was also taking revenge for himself.
"Well, boys. Much appreciated for the game. As a thank you, let me buy you guys a round." Siderius gestured at the bartender.
The bartender nodded knowingly and prepared to bring over full mugs of beers.
Buster licked his lips and laughed. "I know you were a fine man."
"As do I." The Kid tipped his hat.
"We haven’t learned you guys’ names yet." Buster said.
"Argh. I totally forgot about that. Bas of Fort Novera. At your service."
"Siderius Satterblade." Siderius simply said. His name was unknown to the people of this world. There was no reason to hide it.
"Oh? Are you some kind of high-born, Siderius?" Buster said.
For a commoner, last name could be their birthplace, the profession of their family or maybe the name of their ancestor.
Bas introduced himself as Bas of Fort Novera because he was born there. Only high-born like Lyara Starcrow had a last name.
This was the same for Ashe Costeau and Quinlan Carlisle. Both were coming from a noble clan or house.
The last name Satterblade was unique. It made the others think Siderius was also coming from a high-born family as well.
"You can say that." Siderius shrugged.
The group continued to feast and talk. Siderius learned more about the two new strangers. Buster didn’t outright say who he was but Siderius could deduce that he was some kind of charlatan or thieves. His job was to rob people.
The Kid was similar. His skill laid more toward fighting while Buster was a better liar.
The two were very capable young men with respectable skills. Unfortunately, to survive in this kingdom, they had to pick a dishonest profession.
Their names were probably fake too and the two seemed to be partners in crimes.
Siderius really wanted to recruit these two into his organization. But he knew that they would be much harder to fool than Kraus’ group.
In the end, Siderius only left them with Kraus’ location in case they needed his help in the future. Maybe one day, their paths would cross again.
Bas carried Quinlan into his room. Then he rode into Scalize to visit the brothel.
Bas invited Siderius but he respectfully declined. This body was young and it needed to conserve its elements, not letting it leak out and harm future potential.
Siderius rented a room inside the inn, next to Quinan’s room.
Siderius laid on the bed and closed his eyes. The short and eventful journey came to an end. Tomorrow, he would visit George and start to forge a new sword that was suitable for him.