As the bodyguards stood up, Siderius pulled out his knife and threw it at them.
Buster dashed away from the table without any hesitation. He wasn’t going to take part in any of it. Joe followed him quickly.
The Casper Kid smirked and leaned back on his chair, seemingly unaffected by whatever was happening.
The two bodyguards scattered to the sides, the knife stuck into the wooden pole in between them. The knife had always been aimed at that pole and even if they didn’t move, the bodyguards would be fine.
Bas slammed his hand on the table and stood up as well. His palm imprinted onto the hard surface of the wood, white smoke floated up slightly.
The bodyguards froze in place. With them was Dunn Longar, his cold piercing eyes danced between Siderius and Bas.
"You react a little bit aggressive, don’t you think, gentlemen?" Dunn said.
"And you showed your disrespect a little bit too obvious, Dunn Longar." Siderius tilted his head.
Bas grinned widely without saying anything. His white teeth showed.
Dunn squinted his eyes and looked around.
The Casper Kid shrugged. "Your boys did stand up."
Buster, as a coward as he was, walked beside Casper. "Even I have to say you were a little rude, Longar."
Joe did not say anything and simply stared at the scene. A knife was tucked inside his waistband that gave him courage in this conflict.
Dunn smiled. His smile was gentle and without grudges. But one couldn’t know what the opponent truly felt inside.
The rich man turned his head back to his two bodyguards. "Sit down, boys. There isn’t anything to worry about. Just a little misunderstanding between players."
The bodyguards assessed the room one last time before calming down. One of them plucked the knife out of the wooden pole and gave it back to Siderius.
Siderius jerked his eyebrows up a little bit, seemingly to agitate the bodyguard. However, he did not react this time and returned to sit at the table behind Dunn.
"Well. That is finally out of the way." Buster sat down at the table again. "We can finally play some dice. If anyone wants to check anything, do it now, or else we start."
"I’m good." Joe sat next to Buster.
Dunn dropped a pouch onto the table. Inside was full of silver coins. "As I said. We need to know that these gentlemen can handle the game."
His eyes focused on Siderius on Bas.
Siderius took out his pouch of fifty silver coins that he had looted in the monastery and placed it on the table. "More than enough."
Bas also placed his pouch on the ground.
Joe’s pouch, Buster’s and Casper’s coins were already on the table.
Dunn finally nodded. His eyes glanced at Siderius from time to time. "We can begin."
In Dunn’s mind, what he did was entirely entitled. He didn’t know who they were and he needed to know they could carry the weight of the game. Not just any commoners were worthy of sitting with him.
Siderius pretended to be oblivious to Dunn’s gaze and enjoyed the game as usual.
The six players grabbed their cup and placed it upon the dice. Then they shook it.
The six cups landed on the table. The dice rested with its final value.
The players looked at each other, measuring each other’s resolve and guts before peeking into their cup.
The players checked their dice carefully and stealthily, making sure no one was able to peek into their numbers. Then they looked up at each other.
"Well, boys. I bet first." Buster lit up a pipe in his hand and took a deep inhale. "Let’s start small. I like the minimum five silver coins."
"Me too. Five is enough." Joe said.
"I’ll raise. Ten silver coins." The Casper Kid smiled. at Buster.
"Whooo-wheee! You have a nice set of dice, huh." Buster said. Replying to him was only a shrug from the Casper Kid.
It was Bas’ turn to bet. "Ten coins for the first round seems good. I’ll call."
"I’ll call as well." Siderius said.
Dunn also bet ten silver coins. Now Buster and Joe had to bet the same amount as them or back out of the game. Both of them raised their bet accordingly.
There were a total of sixty silver coins in the pot. The winner would take it all. An amount of wealth that was even more than what Siderius had looted from the monastery.
Buster was the first to bid. His dice were three threes, one five, and two sixes. Now he must state his desired set. He had three threes, so starting with three threes was a very safe choice.
But Buster knew that at least someone out there would have another three. So if he said four threes, he would most likely be safe.
"Four threes." Buster said.
Then it was Joe’s turn. He must either increase the number of dice, the number of face values or both. His dice were one twos, four fours, and one five.
"Four fours." Joe said. He was safe and whatever anyone said, he would not lose a dice.
Then it was Kid’ turn to bid. He did not even hesitate and said, "Five fours." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
He had played this game with Joe for a while. He knew Joe would never bid a number that he did not have. Combined with what Kid currently had, he also couldn’t lose. Kid’s dice were four twos, one four, one six.
Bas also had a four. With the same logic, he bid, "Six fours."
Bas’s dice were two ones, one two, one four, two fives.
Siderius was next. His dice were one one, two twos, two threes, and one five.
He had no four to add on to the pile. Assuming Joe, Kid and Bas were all telling the truth. It meant that the six fours must have scattered between all of their set.
If Siderius challenged Bas, which meant calling him a liar, there would be two scenarios.
If Bas was telling the truth and there were six fours amongst all the dice, Siderius would lose a dice. In contrast, if there weren’t six fours, Bas would lose a dice.
Six fours were a realistic number of dice. But seven fours were difficult to have.
Ones were wild. Siderius had one dice with a value of one, so he could easily name seven fours if he wanted to.
But Siderius felt a bit more adventurous than that. And he already calculated all the possibilities and the likelihood of having two ones amongst all the dice was very possible.
Siderius bid. "Eight fours."
The players looked at his smile and the upturn of his lips. They were trying to determine how much was the truth and how much was bluff.
The next turn belonged to Dunn. He had fallen into a dilemma. Eight fours sounded unimaginable but not entirely impossible. There were six players and a total of thirty-six dice. Eight of them being fours or ones would be very likely.
However, nine fours were a completely different concept.
Now Dunn had three choices.
One, to challenge Siderius and announce him as a liar.
Two, to up the quantity of the fours and bid nine fours.
Three, to up the face value of the dice and bid eight fives.