Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 178

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 178.
The Call of the Sealed Land (24)
This dice game, which the spirits called “Chase Off,” appeared to have been quite popular in Ganapoli.
All manner of spirits who had refrained from interjecting in the conversation thus far gathered to watch the match. The scattered cushions were swept to one side, and Daphnen and the Regent King sat facing each other across the space for throwing dice.
Behind their backs, spirits so faint it was difficult to count their numbers craned their necks forward.
The method of confirming scores by throwing the dice up to three times remained the same as before. However, since Daphnen was unfamiliar with the scoring system, the spirits wrote it out on the ground to teach him.

Chase Off
: All five dice showing the same number. 50 points.
Straight
: Dice arranged as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 40 points.
Even Straight
: Dice arranged as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 30 points.
Four Dice
: Four dice showing the same number. Score calculated by summing all numbers.
Full House
: Three dice showing the same number, and the remaining two dice showing another matching number. Score calculated by summing all numbers.
Choice
: Two pairs of matching numbers. Score calculated by summing all numbers.
Six Beans
: Only sixes are summed. Minimum 0 points, maximum 30 points.
Five Beans
: Only fives are summed. Minimum 0 points, maximum 25 points.
Four Beans
: Only fours are summed. Minimum 0 points, maximum 20 points.
Three Beans
: Only threes are summed. Minimum 0 points, maximum 15 points.
Two Beans
: Only twos are summed. Minimum 0 points, maximum 10 points.
Aces
: Only ones are summed. Minimum 0 points, maximum 5 points.

The game participants took turns rolling dice twelve times each, and whoever accumulated the highest total score from all twelve rolls won.
A chart with twelve boxes was drawn on the floor, and players were required to write the dice score from each roll into the corresponding box.
However, scores couldn’t be entered sequentially—a Chase Off had to appear to write in box one, and only a Straight could be written in box two.
Once a score was entered in a box, it couldn’t be changed even if a better combination appeared later, so each entry required careful deliberation.
There were cases where a single dice result could be entered into multiple different boxes.
For example, with 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, one could enter it in the fifth Full House box, but since it only totaled 7 points, it seemed wasteful to use that box if a higher Full House might appear later.
In such cases, one could interpret it as two 1s and two 2s and enter it in the Choice box, or even calculate it as three 1s and enter only 3 points in the Aces box.
However, without careful planning, one would eventually face the unfortunate situation of entering 0 points in a high-scoring box when the desired combination never appeared.
The existence of 0 points in Twos and Aces was because even combinations without those numbers could be entered in those boxes.
In the case of Aces, the maximum score was only 5 points, so if one wanted to preserve other boxes for better scores later, one could simply write 0 in this box without rolling any 1s at all.
Given this structure, as the game progressed to its final stages with only a few boxes remaining, nail-biting close matches inevitably unfolded.
Some time had passed. Now Daphnen and the Regent King each had only two boxes remaining.
Daphnen’s remaining boxes were Chase Off and Four of a Kind. Earlier, when five 5s appeared, he had boldly placed them in the Five Twos box rather than Chase Off because 25 points seemed too valuable—a decision he now regretted.
Daphnen’s current total score was 151 points. For a beginner, it wasn’t a terrible score.
In contrast, the Regent King had left the relatively easy-to-make Choice and Three Twos boxes. Moreover, his current score was 202 points.
Since any empty box would become 0 points if the required combination didn’t appear in the final two chances, Daphnen was absolutely at a disadvantage.
The Regent King spoke.

「Even if I score nothing from this point on, you must succeed at Chase Off at least once.」

Daphnen replied with a bitter smile.
“Even if I pull off Chase Off, if Four of a Kind becomes 0 points, I’ll lose by just 1 point anyway.”
The Regent King rolled first.
With just one reroll, he easily made [1, 2, 2, 4, 4] = 13 points for Choice. The Regent King’s score was now 215 points.
Daphnen rolled the dice.
1, 2, 3, 3, 6. Daphnen boldly kept only the single 6 and rerolled the other four dice, remarkably producing 3, 3, 3, 3, 6.
The watching spirits let out an impressed “Ooh,” murmuring that “Four of a Kind comes up so easily.”
However, Daphnen stared at the dice and fell into deep thought. Then, muttering something like a prayer under his breath, he rerolled the four dice showing 3—not keeping them.
Clatter.
The dice scattered across the marble floor all showed 6. Even Endymion was so startled he cried out in amazement.
The Regent King laughed and spoke.

「My, how remarkable. I’ll need to exert myself now.」

But something even more astonishing happened. While all the spirits stood bewildered, Daphnen entered that combination not as 50 points in the Chase Off box, but as 30 points in the Four of a Kind box.
Thus Daphnen’s score became 181 points.
Shortly after, the Regent King gathered the dice and spoke.

「Quite so. If you had been aiming for Chase Off this time, why would you have rerolled all the 3s?」

The Regent King cast the dice. After fixing them twice, the dice naturally showed [3, 3, 3, 3, 3]=15.
Fifteen points were written in the Regent King’s Three of a Kind column, bringing his final score to 230 points.
It was Daphnen’s final turn. In a situation where he absolutely needed to roll a Chase Off, he threw 4, 4, 5, 5, 5.
When he rerolled the two fours, a 1 and a 5 came up, giving him 1, 5, 5, 5, 5.
The spirits watching had expressions of disbelief—they couldn’t fathom how such favorable combinations could appear consecutively.
He picked up the last die showing a 1.
It had to be a 5. Everything depended on this single roll. Daphnen gripped the die, closed his eyes, and murmured something one final time—it almost sounded like a song.
And the die was cast.
The falling die didn’t show its face immediately; instead, it spun with its corner striking first, tumbling in a peculiar rotation.
Everyone’s eyes—Daphnen’s, the Regent King’s, and all the spirits’—were fixed on the die’s movement. Yet the die showed no sign of stopping its rotation.
It simply continued spinning, again and again, for what seemed like an eternity.

「Hmm…」

The Regent King let out a groan and glanced at Daphnen’s face. Daphnen continued to move his lips while watching the die. Beside him, the Winterer emitted a faint glow.
The die spun for nearly a full minute. As everyone murmured in confusion, Endymion noticed something.

「Both of you, stop. This won’t settle anything.」

The Regent King nodded, his brow furrowing slightly.
Yet even as the Regent King’s expression grew increasingly grave and he glared at the die, it showed no intention of stopping. Horror spread across the spirits’ faces.

「This is… that young boy is actually contending with the Regent King in power?」

「And they’re evenly matched? What manner of calamity is this…」

Daphnen, his mind concentrated to a single point, couldn’t even hear their voices.
He could see nothing but the spinning die. It was as expected. If he lost, his opponent would not spare Oizis, and all his efforts would be in vain.
Yet such a moment could not last forever.
Regardless of Daphnen’s will, the die’s rotation gradually slowed, and eventually came to a complete stop.
Remarkably, the die stood balanced on its corner, showing no face at all.

「You do enjoy taking risks.」

Daphnen realized his power no longer worked and regained his composure to answer.
“I had no choice but to take the risk.”

「Explain yourself.」

“Your Majesty the Regent King possesses the power to manifest any result you desire from the dice whenever you wish. Each time, you made only modest adjustments to produce adequate scores, yet you always maintained a lead of fifty points or more over me.”
Daphnen had remained tense and focused throughout the entire dice game, and thus remembered everything with perfect clarity.
“During the game, I noticed such things and did not find them particularly strange. Your Majesty was naturally reluctant to resurrect a child who had fallen into the domain of death, and when I boldly proposed the game, I suspect you found it a convenient pretext to refuse—which is why you agreed so readily, is it not?”
At this blunt remark, which could be deemed disrespectful, discomfort flickered across the faces of the spirits.
Yet the Regent King himself, the subject of this discourse, merely gestured silently for Daphnen to continue.
“However, I possessed the Sacred Chant Tradition—imperfect though it may be—a power born of Origin itself. So I resolved to attempt whatever I could with it. After all, without taking a risk, I could never sway Your Majesty’s will. As you know, when only two final chances remained, I trailed Your Majesty by fifty-one points. Even if Your Majesty scored not a single point thereafter, I would need to secure fifty points via Chance Off first, and then achieve at least some score with Four Dice to have any hope of victory.”
Daphnen gazed down at the scoreboard, absently fingering the stylus.
“Yet Your Majesty cast the dice and obtained thirteen points once more. In that moment, I knew that if Your Majesty so desired, you could easily secure the maximum score of fifteen points with Three Beans on the next turn. Thus I could deduce that Your Majesty’s final score would be two hundred thirty points.”
It was a precise calculation. Several spirits glanced at the scoreboard.
“Of course, had I failed to score significantly in my remaining two turns, Your Majesty might not have gone so far. But if I drew close, it was clear you would do exactly that. To defeat Your Majesty in such circumstances, my only path was to secure the highest score available to me—fifty points via Chance Off—and then roll five sixes to place them in the Four Dice column, earning thirty points.”
This was precisely what Daphnen had actually accomplished moments before.
“I deliberately aimed for five sixes first because, if defeat seemed likely anyway, I wished to test how useful my Chant truly was. If it proved useful, I would win; if not, I would lose. In any case, if all went as planned, I would reach a total of two hundred thirty-one points, winning by a single point over Your Majesty. And…”
Daphnen smiled slightly before continuing.
“It very nearly succeeded.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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