Chapter 129: Dice that Twists Fate (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 129: Dice that Twists Fate (2)
[Liberation of The Fox Who Brings Misfortune: Complete]
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Misfortune knows no moderation.
These are the words a little pink fox from a misty canyon holds dear to her heart.
The fox girl had no name. Lacking even the name a sentient being ought to have, the only words used to describe her were slurs.
The Calamity Fox who brings disaster.
The Pink Fox who brings misfortune.
Simply because she was pink, she was forced to bear the blame for all manner of ills. Scorned by her own kind, she could not even eat properly. To survive, she had to play a life-or-death game of tag.
Even when she did the right thing, she was met only with reproach. The girl was no different from a wretched fox cub.
But the girl did not mind.
Knowing nothing but misfortune, she did not know what “good things” were. To the fox girl, being despised was a natural part of her daily life, a karma she was meant to bear.
You, who came to find this fox girl, were without a doubt her good fortune.
You carefully brushed the pink tail she had considered a brand of shame and gave the nameless girl a beautiful name.
The wretched fox girl’s name was Rin.
Rin learned what affection was.
A girl who is loved is bound to become beautiful. The little child grew, learned how to smile, to enjoy the taste of food, and to be mischievous.
Overcoming countless trials and tribulations, she used your affection as nourishment, and her tails bloomed like a flower in full blossom. The once-frail girl was reborn as a proper gumiho.
Though she caused accidents and was a great deal of trouble, the fact remains that these were expressions of her affection for the one she held dear.
The girl overcame her misfortune and became able to decide her own fate.
The fox girl’s name is Rin.
The gumiho who twists fate.
That day, you twisted the gumiho’s fate.
You were the girl’s one and only four-leaf clover.
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Rin’s liberation is at 100%.
Reward: 50,000pt have been awarded.
The [Soul Shackles] skill has been enhanced.
The [Generous Master] skill has been greatly enhanced.
New Skill [Animal Lover] acquired.
※Additional rewards exist.
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The king of yokai, the fox spirit gumiho.
The absolute are always destined for solitude.
But you made the gumiho, who had only ever looked upward, turn to look beside her, and you reached out your hand to share the warmth of companionship.
A meeting may be brief, but a precious bond is not easily broken.
The gumiho gives you an affectionate wink.
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New Item Acquired: ‘Dice that Twists Fate’.
Item Effect: Roll the dice. The gumiho's power twists fate in proportion to the number rolled. The higher the number, the greater the fortune that will come your way. If the number is below a certain threshold, misfortune will follow.
(This item can be reused 7 days after use.)
[Fully Liberate the Main Slaves. Progress: 2/5]
Every time I see a liberation complete window, I’m reminded of how good it feels. It’s like getting a full collection, or maybe like achievement hunting.
I closed the screen and looked closely at the die in my hand.
The Dice that Twists Fate.
It wasn’t some useless passive skill, but an active item I’d gained for fully liberating Rin. And it was a d20, no less.
Its base was pink, like the gumiho’s fur, and the grooves of the numbers swirled with the sunlight and moonlight of her odd eyes, giving them a dreamlike, twilight glow.
Just as I suspected.
The higher the number, the greater the luck; the lower the number, the worse the misfortune. It was just like the dice you roll in a TRPG.
I had used it before.
I had a general idea of what kind of item it was, but seeing is believing. I needed to grasp exactly how this fortune and misfortune manifested.
Only then could I decide whether to use it in a critical moment.
The first time I used the die was around the time we left Vestia and arrived at the next city.
The number I rolled was a three. On a standard six-sided die, that would be about average, but it’s a different story when there are twenty numbers.
It was more than low enough to bring misfortune. The result was that I got shaken down for money at the city checkpoint.
Of all the luck, a knight who despised slave traders happened to be on his day off, shooting the breeze at that very checkpoint.
He told me to pick one: die or get lost. So I gave him money. Turns out, giving him money created a new option that wasn't there before. I lost 30 gold coins just like that.
That fucking bastard made more than his monthly salary on his day off.
The next time I rolled the dice was when a noble lady, passing by in her carriage, tried to summon me to her family estate.
She seemed to have taken quite a liking to me, but I wasn’t interested. I’m the type who doesn’t really get excited unless it’s a slave.
But for a mere commoner to refuse the order of a noble’s daughter? Her escort knight could have just said, “Kill that bastard,” and my life would have been over.
I could have escaped with my invisibility robe, but honestly, I can’t resist a good gamble. The perfect situation had presented itself, so I rolled the dice again.
This time, I got a 12.
A pretty high number.
As a result, the incident was resolved by the young lady having a sudden bathroom emergency. Without another thought for me, she and her knight scurried back to her mansion with a poot-poot-poot.
It was misfortune for her, but since I was the subject, it was my good fortune.
In other words, if I just roll a high enough number now, this situation could be resolved smoothly.
‘And what if I roll a low number?’
A gamble is always something for my future self to worry about. Not my present self.
Of course, even if I rolled a 1, it would only increase the intensity of the misfortune; it’s not like the world would end. It would be something I could overcome.
It was a gamble worth taking.
“Anyone here consider themselves lucky? Raise your hand.”
“I… am not sure, sir. I don’t think it’s particularly good or bad, sir.”
“Being average in luck can be interpreted as being good. Then, Miss Azyeth… never mind.”
“……”
Well. If you were lucky, you wouldn’t have been captured by a dragon in the first place.
“I’ll roll it.”
“Huh? Isn’t this where you’re supposed to hand it over to me, sir?”
“I was just asking. Why would I let someone else have all the fun?”
I can only do this once a week.
Besides, I’m too anxious to use it on a normal day, so if not now, when?
Perka stared at me as if I were being ridiculous, but no matter how she looked at me, I was absolutely not handing it over.
“Alright, here we go.”
I tossed the die high into the air.
It spun before landing on the ground.
Clatter, clatter, clatter…
The die rolled before coming to a stop.
Let’s see. The number is…
“It’s a seven, sir.”
“A seven, indeed.”
The die flashed with a twilight glow.
When the light faded, the die was gone. It meant the die had exerted its power and twisted my fate.
“What in the world was that, sir?”
“Just wait. We’ll see a reaction soon enough.”
On a d20, a 7 couldn’t be called high, but it wasn’t entirely bad either.
It’s a lucky seven, right?
Just like a joker is a wild card in a deck of cards, a 7, even if it’s a low number, should be worth a hidden reward, right?
SKRAAAAAAWK—!!!
The reaction was immediate.
A deafening roar that felt like it would shatter my eardrums.
Stepping outside the tent, I saw a massive black shadow cast upon the ground. A number of flying objects were in the sky. A swarm of wyverns was circling above.
“W-Wyverns!”
“Eek! Why are those monsters here?!”
“Put out the fires, now!”
The dwarves frantically threw snow on the fires to extinguish them, then covered their heads and dropped to the ground.
“Mr. Karami! What in the world did you do?! Wyverns just fell out of the sky, sir!”
“Fell out of the sky? They’re flying just fine.”
“Is this any time for jokes, sir?!”
If drakes ruled the land, wyverns ruled the sky.
As distant cousins to dragons, wyverns were known as the tyrants of the sky, filling in for the reclusive dragons who hid away in their lairs like hikikomori.
If even a party of veteran adventurers encountered them, it would be a miracle if one or two survived. And now, a whole swarm of them was flying toward Lake Fortress.
It was questionable if they could be stopped, but even if they were, the damage would be immense.
‘I see how it is.’
It wasn’t hard to figure out how the dice had twisted fate. I spoke to Azyeth, who was watching the sky.
“Miss Azyeth?”
“…?”
“It’s time to give them the poison and the antidote.”
*
“Do not panic! Women and children, take shelter in the tents! All Northguard, prepare for battle!”
Jorn, the tribal chief of Lake Fortress, issued commands with a calm voice. At his order, the northerners scrambled into motion.
“Chief! A wyvern, over there!” a Northguard warrior, who had been firing arrows into the sky, shouted urgently, pointing.
Unlike the other wyverns that circled above, observing the situation, one curious wyvern descended to the ground to menace them.
The fierce flapping of its wings made the tents billow as if they would be torn away at any moment. A woman inside, shielding her children, was frozen, unable to do anything.
SKRAAAAWK!
The wyvern thrust its maw forward, dripping with viscous saliva. Jorn drew a pair of tomahawks and leaped from the ground.
He kicked off a post holding up a tent, ran up the wall, and launched himself toward the wyvern.
Like a saber-toothed tiger.
Without a hint of hesitation, Jorn landed on the wyvern’s neck and brought his tomahawk down on its head.
The scales covering the wyvern’s skin couldn’t be scratched by an ordinary blade, but Jorn was the warrior who represented his tribe.
CRUNCH—!
The sharp edge of the tomahawk, enhanced with mana, crushed the wyvern’s skull and dug deep.
KIEEEEEEEK!
A blow that would have been fatal to a lesser demonic beast didn’t fell the wyvern. It thrashed wildly, trying to shake Jorn off.
Jorn held on, his legs clamped tight, and pushed the axe in deeper.
The wyvern staggered, swaying precariously.
Then, it collapsed to the ground.
The wyvern was dead.
Its hide and teeth were valuable spoils that could be made into high-quality gear, but he didn’t even spare them a glance. Jorn jumped to his feet and assessed the battle.
“Do not fall back! The moment you retreat, your loved ones will become prey for these beasts!”
The Northguard were all veteran warriors. Not one of them was frightened by the wyverns’ night raid.
But courage alone wasn’t enough to resolve the situation. Their enemies were flying beasts—the tyrants of the sky, no less.
The Northguard, unaccustomed to anti-air combat, could do little more than shoot arrows. Magic was the domain of the high-and-mighty intellectuals in the cities.
Darka could use shamanism, but in her current state, he couldn’t expect any help from her. Jorn bit his lip.
Just as Jorn was searching for a way to break the stalemate…
“Chief! The wyverns…!”
Having assessed their strength, the main body of the wyvern swarm finished its reconnaissance and began its attack in earnest. They started to descend as one. The momentum of their overwhelming mass was equivalent to a carpet bombing.
This was unstoppable.
The image of a devastated village flashed through Jorn’s mind.
Th-th-th-thunk!
From somewhere, a volley of ice awls flew through the air.
They intercepted the wyverns.
The wounded wyverns shot back up into the sky.
‘Magic…? Who?’
Jorn turned his head.
A single figure approached with a leisurely gait, completely out of place on the frantic battlefield.
Glowing with a white light even in the dead of night, scattering ice crystals as she walked, she was the very picture of Snow White.