Chapter 124: Intimidation

Chapter 124: Intimidation

Above the gray fog, within the palace like a giant’s residence.

Klein lightly tapped the edge of the mottled long table with his fingers, his thoughts continuously circling around that strange die.

“It can make me accept its influence without noticing any abnormality at all… That is already almost the same as 0-08 from back then. The only difference is that one is right in front of me, while the other hides behind the curtain… It is certainly a Sealed Artifact, and one belonging close to the top. Even if it is not Grade 0, it is an extremely special existence among Grade 1…

“Fate is something I am temporarily unable to interfere with, yet I cannot simply respond passively. As time passes, a Sealed Artifact of this level will often cause increasingly serious destruction. Perhaps it will begin affecting people around the fat Apothecary, including me and the passengers aboard the ship…”

Klein thought hard for a while but remained completely without a solution. He decided to immediately return to the real world.

He did not know how to seal the die or how to weaken its influence, but he knew someone who did.

That person was the Mercury Snake, Will Auceptin—still inside his mother’s belly, still in the state of a fetus!

Entering the master bedroom, taking the paper crane from his wallet, and unfolding it on the desk, Klein glanced at the surface, which still bore marks of erasure. He picked up a pencil and wrote a simple question:

“How should the die be handled?”

He folded the paper crane back into its original form, slipped it into his wallet, then came to the door of the servant’s room and lightly knocked three times with his knuckles.

This did not violate Gehrman Sparrow’s persona, because Gehrman was a refined and courteous madman. Of course, the main reason was that Klein feared opening the door rashly might directly smash the unlucky fat Apothecary, Darkwill, to death. This belonged to knowledge he had acquired from the Final Destination series of movies.

In addition, Klein was somewhat worried that opening the door directly might let him see something that would stab his eyes.

Judging by Darkwill’s demonstrated preferences, after discovering he was in extreme danger and unable to escape, only able to wait for death, there was a not insignificant chance that he would decide to enjoy himself one last time… Amid Klein’s inner mockery, he heard the fat Apothecary answer weakly, “What is it?”

Good. Not dead yet… Klein carefully opened the door, leaned forward slightly, looked at Darkwill and the ring box open before him, and calmly asked, “How many?”

“Isn’t there a wall clock…” Darkwill remained in that listless state.

“I am asking about the die,” Klein added concisely.

“Still three…” Darkwill answered instinctively at first. Then he turned his head and jumped up. “You believe me?”

Klein gave no response, lest the other party recall the scene of Gehrman Sparrow being fooled by the die moments earlier.

He turned around, his tone without fluctuation as he said, “Bring the die outside.”

“Alright!”

“Alright!”

Darkwill and the owl Harry spoke in surprise and delight, almost at the same time.

One lifted both arms; the other lifted its wings.

Once the fat Apothecary had extremely carefully carried the ring box out, Klein pointed at the tea table.

“Put it there.”

As he spoke, he sat down on the nearby sofa, braced his elbows against his thighs, leaned forward, and studied the strange die.

Judging purely by appearance, the die carried no strange mysticism significance. Its only difference from ordinary dice was that even the three pips were red.

Klein cautiously refrained from touching it. He straightened slightly and looked toward the fat Apothecary, Darkwill, seated opposite him, and the plump owl, Harry, perched on the top of the chair back.

“Describe the specific situation.”

Darkwill no longer hid anything. He smiled even more miserably than crying and said, “This is an important Sealed Artifact inside our organization. My mission is to deliver it to the designated person on Oravi Island.

“But as you have seen, it is extremely dangerous. It can turn by itself, even when there is no corresponding space at all!

“When it turns to six pips, the holder becomes sufficiently lucky. Everything one does succeeds easily—just like earlier, when I used a very clumsy lie and still deceived you.”

Do not mention that matter… One day, that mouth of yours will get you soundly taught a lesson… Klein listened without expression.

Darkwill continued, “One pip means the holder becomes extremely unlucky. Nothing succeeds. Even when I told you everything without hiding anything, you still would not believe me…

“Two pips should represent a lighter degree of misfortune, but why would it lead to me being struck by lightning… I cannot understand that at all!

“Three and four pips belong to normal bad luck and normal good luck. That can be confirmed. Five corresponds to two.”

You are still not unlucky enough. Otherwise, I would have beaten you just now… Klein thought for a moment, then calmly instructed, “From now on, you will take turns monitoring this die. Once it drops below three pips, notify me immediately.”

“We?” Darkwill was momentarily confused.

“Including me?” The owl perched on the chair back behind him lifted its right wing.

Klein leaned back against the sofa, crossed his right leg, and said calmly, “This helps preserve energy and maintain attention.”

After speaking, he pointed with his chin toward the owl.

“You begin.”

“My name is Harry,” the owl muttered.

Harry… Klein restrained his laughter and turned to Darkwill. “Go ring the bell and have the attendant come over. From now on, we will use room service for meals.

“Before reaching Oravi Island, you must remain in the sitting room at all times. You cannot go anywhere.

“Even if you need to use the washroom, it must be while the die is on three or four pips.

“If you truly cannot hold it, I will give you a bucket.”

Listening to Gehrman Sparrow’s orderly instructions, the fat Apothecary Darkwill calmed bit by bit, no longer as terrified as before.

Earlier, the two things he had feared most were, first, that Gehrman Sparrow’s greed would be aroused and that he would kill to seize the item; and second, that this slightly mad and cold adventurer would be frightened by the die and decide to terminate the commission, no longer offering protection.

Now, however, it seemed that Gehrman Sparrow was not afraid. He even appeared quite confident!

Darkwill secretly breathed a sigh of relief and could not help thinking:

“His performance just now was truly professional…

“And he was not afraid at all!

“He could even forcibly break free from the die’s influence and accept my explanation. As expected of a powerful adventurer who could easily hunt the Silver-Tongued! He must be a pirate admiral-level powerhouse!”

Darkwill stood, walked to the door, and rang the service bell.

Just as he was returning to the sofa area, the owl Harry’s shrill voice abruptly rang in his ears:

“It changed! It changed!

“Two pips!”

In an instant, Klein drove force into his feet and shot up from the sofa without warning, rushing to Darkwill’s side.

Bang!

At the same time a gunshot rang out from outside, Klein grabbed Darkwill’s arm, pulled back with his own arm, flicked his wrist, and flung the plump Apothecary to the other side.

At that moment, a bullet hole appeared in the wall corresponding to the place where Darkwill had been standing.

Was it a sailor’s gun misfiring? Or did someone shoot at a seabird or another target, hit something unknown, and cause a ricochet that flew in here? No matter which possibility it is, the probability of it happening is extremely low. Yet it happened… Klein turned his head to look at the fat Apothecary.

“Are you injured?”

Darkwill shook his head with lingering fear.

“No.”

Over the following period, Klein successively resolved more than ten accidents, including the ceiling lamp abruptly falling, a repairman slipping so that his hammer flew straight at Darkwill’s head, and the fat Apothecary nearly dying after a fishbone lodged in his throat.

None of these seemed especially dramatic, but to Klein, dealing with them required extreme focus. Fatigue was unavoidable.

Fortunately, the die turned itself to four pips, finally ending that disaster-filled hour.

No. If this continues, maybe even my attempts to rescue him will have accidents of their own… Klein dismissed the captain, who had come to apologize, and said to Darkwill, “I will sleep for half an hour.

“Keep watching the die. If there is any problem, wake me immediately.”

The fat Apothecary and the owl nodded at the same time like chicks pecking at grain.

Leaning back against the sofa, Klein used meditation to quickly fall asleep, hoping that Will Auceptin had already given a reply.

When he became lucid in the dream and saw that he stood upon the pitch-black, barren plain, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Following the familiar path, he went all the way to the depths of the black spire.

On the raised ground surrounded by Tarot cards, several lines of silver-white words had appeared. They were dense and numerous.

Klein stopped and quickly read through them:

“It is called the Die of Probability.

“It is the highest-level Sealed Artifact within our School. I believe it reaches the standard of Grade 0.

“What it controls is the probability of every event. When it shows one pip, it amplifies the probabilities unfavorable to the target to the limit. When it shows two pips, it greatly increases unfavorable probabilities. This does not mean two pips is necessarily safer than one, because once probability becomes high, any accident can occur. Three pips amplifies unfavorable probabilities to a certain degree, while four to six pips does the reverse.

“Even for me, who can reset a process to some degree, it is an extremely dangerous Sealed Artifact. By using it, one can kill a demigod. Of course, one may also kill oneself.”

I understand. Your contest with the Die of Probability is like the Great God Save/Load battling the God of Dice… Klein inwardly lampooned, then continued reading:

“The Die of Probability possesses a living quality, always making the holder swing between misfortune and luck. If one is even slightly careless, one will die from an accident. When its level of awakening becomes sufficiently high, it will gradually bring the people and things surrounding the holder under its control, manipulating the probabilities of their actions.

“Although I have never confirmed it, I suspect that if it were given enough time, it could influence the entire world and make the every action of every living being determined by the pips it rolls. Gods excluded, of course.”

Simply put, it would digitize the entire world… This—this absolutely falls within the scope of a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, with an extremely high degree of danger! Truly terrifying… Klein could not help frowning and urgently read onward:

“To truly seal the Die of Probability is quite complicated. Simply put, it requires using specific Sealed Artifacts to isolate its connection with the spirit world, the astral world, and the real world. You may try that.

“Haha. I lay my cards on the table: I discovered long ago that you can resist my prophecies. Perhaps you can use this point to seal it.

“There is another method, but it can only temporarily reduce its influence. Still, that should be enough to successfully deliver the Die of Probability to someone who can seal it.

“The method is to exploit its living quality and use an effective means to intimidate it. That way, it will behave obediently—no, quietly—for a period of time, roughly twelve hours, before continuing.

“The more often it is intimidated, the weaker the effect becomes. After more than a week, it will resent you and frenziedly manipulate your probabilities.

“Finally, thank you for your help. Your sincere friend, Will Auceptin.”

As expected of a Snake of Fate. He really did discover my special nature… Throwing the Die of Probability above the gray fog should seal it… But the problem is that a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact with a living quality like this may be able to influence the mysterious space above the gray fog, kick me out, and become the master itself… Divination cannot provide an answer to something like this. It can definitely resist, just like 0-08… Klein rejected the idea of using the gray fog.

As thoughts flashed through his mind, he suddenly had an idea.

Klein hurriedly broke free of the dream and woke. He said to the fat Apothecary Darkwill, “I have a way to suppress its influence.”

“What way?” Darkwill asked in delighted surprise.

Klein did not answer. He picked up the Die of Probability, which was showing four pips, and walked into the washroom.

What is he going to do? I remember that in certain folklore, the way to deal with evil things is to splash filth over them… Urgh… Darkwill did not dare continue thinking.

After entering the washroom and locking the door, Klein immediately set up a ritual and summoned himself. Then he went above the gray fog and brought out the iron cigarette case.

After that, he picked up the Die of Probability and opened the cigarette case. Inside lay the All-Black Eye from the Marionettist.

In the dim light, Klein’s face was buried in heavy shadow, his gaze dark and restrained. He brought the Die of Probability close to that strange eye—the Beyonder characteristic containing the True Creator’s mental corruption.

The corner of his mouth slowly split open into a kind smile. In a low voice, he said to the die in his hand, “Come. I’ll treat you to a concert.”

Translator’s note: Klein’s joke about the “Great God Save/Load” plays on a Chinese phonetic pun for “save/load,” referring to repeatedly saving and reloading in games to beat probability or dice rolls.