Dice.
A cube-shaped plaything that offers random numbers from 1 to 6, with each probability being equal. This little guy is favored in games because of how easy it is to use.
But one day, quite suddenly…
If a person had to stake their entire life on this tiny die, would they really be able to roll the desired number? What answer would the die give to them?
“I should have rolled a 6 then… No, at least a 5.”
On the way to the Imperial Palace.
A man, shackled and handcuffed, muttered weakly.
“It was a gamble of life on the die. If I had won there, I could have easily paid my Academy tuition, right? Maybe I would have become a remarkable honor student that everyone would recognize…”
The man muttering helplessly was Barton.
He was currently the most wanted criminal in the Yurgo Region.
As he babbled to himself, he suddenly chuckled and shook his head.
“No, that’s not it. I’d probably have killed that annoying professor the moment I faced him, right? Maybe I was fated to commit murder from the start…”
Just then.
Thud─!
A soldier’s knee slammed into Barton’s abdomen.
“What are you muttering about, you disgusting criminal scum?”
Two soldiers nearby seemed to be eagerly awaiting this moment, immediately joining in the violence. Before long, the area was filled with dull sounds.
Thud─! Thud─!
“You’re mistaken if you think we’re treating you like a VIP as we’re dragging you along nicely.”
“You’ll be executed the moment you arrive at the Imperial Palace, you little bug!”
Thud─! Thud─! Thud─!
“…Ah, the die.”
Barton simply repeated the word “die” while enduring the beating. The assault continued for a while longer until it was finally stopped by the lead escort captain.
“Alright, that’s enough.”
The escort captain clicked his tongue and said.
“I understand the urge to kill, but our mission is to transport him. We have to keep him alive until we reach the Imperial Palace. That’s enough for now.”
“Ah… understood!”
The escort captain simultaneously examined Barton’s condition.
He had been beaten severely. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to walk for a while.
“Have you all eaten?”
“Not yet!”
“We haven’t eaten yet!”
The captain thought. Since Barton couldn’t walk at the moment, he figured they could fill the soldiers’ stomachs in the meantime.
“We’ll eat first, then set off again.”
As soon as the order was given, the soldiers tied Barton to a nearby tree trunk. Their meal began right in front of the criminal’s face.
“The guys working at the Imperial Palace eat with important people every day, and yet we only deal with disgusting folks like this… What’s with that?”
“You don’t know? Catering to important people is far more troublesome and difficult. I’ve done both, but this side is much easier in the end.”
“Is that so?”
The conversation over meal obviously revolved around work.
However, at that moment, one soldier suddenly seemed to have recalled something.
“But, Captain. Isn’t the Palace of Penance being filled up again after a long time? Is that true?”
“Surprisingly, yes, it’s true. I was quite shocked to hear it myself.”
“Isn’t this guy we’re transporting headed to the Palace of Penance too?”
All the soldiers briefly turned their gazes toward Barton before scattering again.
Barton, the heinous criminal who had wiped out an entire village using black magic.
“How does a scumbag like him end up in the Palace of Penance? Who exactly gets in there?”
“We wouldn’t know. It’s a place for folks beyond imagination.”
“Beyond imagination, huh? Like someone who killed their own family, perhaps?”
“That’s within your realm of imagination. As I said, the Palace of Penance is a place for those who exceed our comprehension.”
“…I see. I suddenly feel a chill.”
“I heard one of them is already in the Palace of Penance, and another one must have passed through the Yurgo Mountains by now. They’ll probably be killing each other soon.”
“Really, huh?”
Suddenly, a peculiar voice interrupted.
The issue was that the source of the voice was quite close. The soldiers quickly turned their heads toward where they heard it.
“If there’s such a fun place, you should have told me sooner!”
“…”
The voice belonged to none other than Barton. He was now sitting cross-legged between the soldiers and the escort captain as if he had been there all along.
As if he had been enjoying a meal right from the start.
“…!”
Everyone’s eyes widened a beat later.
They quickly grabbed their weapons and stepped back. How had he regained his freedom? Since when had he been beside them? The more they thought about it, the chillier it got.
Vwoosh─
Silence hung between the soldiers and Barton. However, surprisingly, Barton did not immediately attack.
He merely spat out something he had been chewing.
At first, they thought it might be a tooth he lost from the beating, but surprisingly, it had the shape of a cube. One soldier eventually realized its true identity and muttered.
“…What is that, a die?”
“Right. It rolled a 3.”
Barton looked so battered that it was questionable how he was even standing, but the soldiers could hear his words clearly.
“Why don’t you all take a turn rolling it? If you roll a number greater than 3, I’ll let you live.”
“…”
“The odds are fifty-fifty. Isn’t that a tempting deal for you who are facing certain death right now?”
The three soldiers exchanged glances with the escort captain.
Soon the captain scoffed at Barton’s words.
“How you freed yourself from that tree trunk, I don’t know, but that was your last chance. You will regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t attack now.”
“So you don’t want to roll? The odds are fifty-fifty, you know?”
“You filthy criminal scum! I’ll tear your mouth open this time—”
Hoo─
A spike that shot up from the ground impaled the escort captain vertically. The justice-filled soldier became a corpse in an instant.
“C-Captain?!”
“W-What… is this?!”
The soldiers muttered in shock, but soon those words became their last. More spikes began to shoot up from the ground.
Thud─ Thud─
“Ugh… cough…!”
“AAAHHH…!”
For a while, only the sounds of screams and the gruesome tearing of flesh and bone echoed through the area. The ground turned red with blood as an afterthought.
.
.
.
As the sunset bathed the world in crimson, at the edge of the Yurgo Mountains.
Scattered soldiers’ corpses lay around a shattered wagon. Standing tall in the center was, of course, Barton.
He wiped the blood from his mouth with a grin.
“Heading to the Palace of Penance, they said… It’s certainly interesting. That was close.”
“Please, spare me…”
A heinous criminal groaned for mercy at Barton’s feet.
“No way. The die rolled a mere 2.”
The die Barton had thrown was a 3. This guy rolled a 2.
He had never made exceptions in this die game.
“Please, spare me… AAHHH─!”
Barton coldly snuffed out the life of another heinous criminal. He found him somewhat satisfying. The one in the Palace of Penance must be even more interesting, right?
He muttered as he began to clothe himself in the garments of the recently deceased. From now on, he would sit quietly and wait for the Imperial Family to discover and transport him.
“I can’t wait to go to the Palace of Penance.”
I wonder what kind of character awaits me there?
I just hope there’s someone interesting. Someone fun to kill.
Late at night. Finally, at the entrance of the Palace of Penance.
Knock, knock─
Having reached the Palace of Penance, Barton knocked at the door, emanating an aura of black magic.
‘This should be enough to scare someone.’
A weak person would surely have a scared expression, and a strong one would be tense and ready for battle upon sensing Barton’s aura.
In either case, it’s a sincere gesture. Barton found that amusing.
Such a strong sincerity crumbling over just a game of dice?
…Ah, that would be indescribably thrilling.
Imagining that delightful thought, he kicked the door open with a bang.
“Greetings, friends! Give me a chance to play a dice game with you. How about it?”
That shout was just a bonus. What kind of response would he get?
However, no one appeared in Barton’s sight. That can’t be right? Someone had mentioned that there were others in the Palace of Penance.
“Dice game? That sounds entertaining.”
“…!”
At the unexpected voice, Barton’s head whipped around.
“…What?”
And he was again surprised.
After entering the Palace of Penance, Barton scanned the corners and ceiling. If they had felt his intense aura, they must surely have been prepared for battle. So, they would typically be waiting in such spots.
…But that wasn’t the case.
One man and one woman were comfortably seated on a central sofa.
But there was another surprising thought.
‘What did I just hear?’
Hadn’t they just accepted the dice game way too easily?
As if reading Barton’s mind, the man opposite him nodded.
“Let’s finish this one up and get started.”
“…”
“Ah, would you like one too? I have a spare.”
Offering a Sunweed so brazenly.
Barton reflected on his life so far and reached a conclusion.
…This guy was a type he had never encountered before.
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