Herald of Steel

Chapter 980

When Cambyses had rolled her dice this turn, at the revealed number, she sounded quite excited.

It was because she was near the Palace and Guard's Quarter's squares and thus hoped she could land on the former.

She very much looked forward to getting to decide on a rule.

She had not thought what exactly that would be, but it would surely be something fun.

However, as her counting came to an end, much to her disappointment, she realized she had missed her mark by 2, coming to share the same space as Princess Camelia- the Guard's Quarters.

"Dammit!" This meant Cambyses had to skip her next turn.

While Alexander turned to Princess Camelia to remind her with a sly face, "Oh, Camelia, you can use your special card next turn to send Cambyses to the dungeon."

He was of course referring to the card Princess Camelia had picked using her piece's special power, one which let her send any piece sharing the same square as her to the dungeon.

"What! No! No! Shit!" And hearing this, Cambyses seemed to finally decide to remove that elegant facade pertaining to her status as the matriarch of the house and began to curse like the rest of the room.

Princess Camelia flashed a small grin at this, be it at Cambyses's comic reaction or at her long last chance at being able to use her power.

Thus the princess began to formulate how she was going to use her card.

White the game moved on, with Cambyses's turn rolling over to Gelene's.

But before rolling the ebony lady took it, she turned to Alexander to clarify a few things.

"So, if I roll a double now… am I just out of the dungeon? Or do I get to move that number of spaces?" She asked while playing with the die in her hands.

"Ummm.. yes, you get to move equal to the rolled number," Alexander answered with a small hum.

"And does that double count towards my three doubles?" Gelene quickly added.

"..Umm..." And for a brief second Alexander pursed his lips.

He had not thought of these nitty gritty details yet.

"No. Let's say after going to the dungeon, you start with a blank slate. So your three doubles refreshes."

After giving himself a bit of time to think, Alexander declared such, making it a clear victory for those freed pieces.

However, instead of being content with it and celebrating, just like the saying goes, 'Give them an inch, and they will ask for a mile', Gelene went on to pose with a sly smile,

"Then can I roll again? Because I rolled doubles?"

"........" The whole room went deathly silent hearing this as everyone was astounded by the blatant shamelessness on display here.

When Princess Camelia had to try hard to not gape at such blatant greed.

While Alexander did not know whether to laugh or cry,

This was really typical Gelene, greedy and always looking for opportunities.

He had known her nature for almost a decade.

Thus he did not feel like scolding her for overreaching.

Instead he only raised his eyebrows with a placid face

And then decided not to forcefully leash her, Alexander chortled, first shaking his head ruefully, "Hehehe… oh Gelene what am I going to do with you?" and then decided to give her a choice,

"Ummm… I will give you two options. You can either choose to do what I said."

"Or you can make the double roll you want, in which case the double you used to roll out of the dungeon will also count. So you will be effectively starting with two doubles."

"I will…" The choice here was of course a no brainer for Gelene.

If she was unable to reach Tibias, she would end up in the dungeon anyway. Thus the moment Alexander ended speaking, the girl attempted to loudly announce her intention, not even feeling like this was a choice.

One which forced Gelene to stop speaking.

And it was here that the Pasha presented Gelene with her two actual choices, proposing to her with a 'warm' smile,

"But remember, whichever one you choose, that will be the rule for the rest of the game. For you and every one others."

"Haha haha, as expected of master." It was the usually quiet Ophenia that broke into a peal of laughter upon hearing this, thinking such a catch twenty two really suited Alexander's 'MO'.Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs ɴo(v)elFɪre.ɴet

While Cambyses on the other side was more concerned about what Gelene would choose and thus quickly shouted at the black lady, "Don't fuck us over Gelene. Choose the first one. It's impossible for you to land on Tibias even with two rolls! You know that"

"....." Gelene did not immediately respond to either party.

Instead, she sunk into her mind palace, where she tried to balance her chances.

At this point, she really started to agree with Ophenia that such a devil's bargain was indeed Alexander's cup of tea.

Does she take the risk and try and salvage her piece, something that was very, very unlikely just as Cambyses claimed?

Or does she let her piece be sent to the dungeon and then in the next turn try and get out?

Once Gelene thought about it like that, from all logical standpoints, the latter undoubtedly seemed to make more sense.

After all, there was not even a guarantee that Gelene would roll a double this time.

And even if she did, it would almost be miraculous for her to land on exactly Tibias, which was precisely 18 spaces away from her current square.

While in the case of the latter consideration, Gelene even did not have any property with her so there was no worry of it being seized and taken out for the rest game.

But just as Cambyses had warned, Gelene really wanted to fuck with them.

She would not have done it in real life, but here, in a board game, she really wanted to do it.

Just for the fun of it.

And both Cambyses and Alexander knew that.

That's why one gave her the chance and the other warned her against it.

And guess who won?

"I will take the second option. Rolling doubles." The dark lady had a charming smile as she announced her intention.

"Agghhhh dammit!" And instantly Cambyses produced a frustrated grunt.

Before sneering, "Look at this! Look at this!" as she angrily waved her 'Denounch Your Collaborators' card- the one which let her swap places with another player when she is in the dungeon.

"Next turn, I'm going to prison. And guess who is going to take my place, sunshine!"

The menacing way Cambyses threatened Gelene said it all, and the comic hilarity of it made Fabiyana and Princess Camelia grin.

Both could not remember when they had so much fun.

While the recipient of these curses, Gelene did not seem to care, only flashing her pearly whites once more.

'Do your worst!' Seemed to be her message.

And then she rolled.

'Come on! By the gods!' The black lady prayed as she threw the two dice, and

"Fuck yeah!" immediately loud out this immense, almost hoarse roar as she literally got up and started to pumped her fists into the air with almost manic abandon.

She had rolled a double.

And better yet- she had rolled the highest double possible- 12, making her get as close to her desired square as possible.

"Haha haha," The entire room cheered at this display of raw emotions that Gelene almost never displayed.

"Lucky bitch!" While Cambyses muttered so with the voice of a mosquito under her breath as she shook her head.

Even now, she did not think Gelene could get to 'Tibias' but much more importantly, she was very salty over how Gelene had decided to screw them over.

"Okay, okay. Came down." As for Alexander, after having a good chuckle at this open show of ecstasy, he tried to get everyone to settle down and get back to the game, as he handed Gelene the dice "It's still your turn role!"

"Six! Six! Six!" And as Gelene took the two dice, still standing, suddenly a small chant started to emanate, started surprisingly by Fabiyana of all people.

The little doll of a girl seemed very excited by all the loud cheers and laughter that was going on.

"Right! Six! Gotta roll a six," Even Gelene seemed to be swept by the current of the crowd, as she loudly declared so, and then bending forward a bit threw the two cubes into the board, desperately hoping that one miraculous number.

It was a 1 in 12 chance.

"Nooooo!"

Gelene's mournful howl said it all.

It was snake eyes- two 1s.

This even caused Ophenia to sing a poetic line, "Ahhhh… from the joys of elation so quickly turning into plummeting depression."

While Cambyses was much cruder, chuckling and sneering, "Ahhaha haha, literally the lowest you could have scored and still get a double. You happy now?"

"......." By this point, Gelene could do little but chuckle and shake her head, as she began to move her piece towards the dungeon.

Until suddenly….

"Wait, master! I landed on King's Chance! I should get to draw a card."