I played a couple of games of Old Maid—I mean, Dark Card—with Ricent. The result of the match was… kind of unexpected.
“Aaaaagh! Why are you so good at this?!” Said the person with the world’s worst poker face.
All I had to do was shift my hand a bit to the left or right, and I could immediately tell if the card I was hovering over was the Old Mai—I mean, Dark Card. Not to mention, when I was about to grab the Old M—I mean Dark Card! God, I hate that name—Ricent snickers a bit.
The game was too easy, an instant 12-0. I began to get bored, I wanted to play something else. As if sensing that, or maybe he was just a bit bitter, Ricent bundled the cards together again and offered up another game.
“Let’s play with a dice! Ever heard of Snakes or Cyclops?”
“No?”
That sounds interesting. Though, if it turned out to be snakes and ladders…
“Okay then, we’ll play that! Don’t worry, the rules are simple, I’ll explain as we play!”
Ricent went back to his drawer to store his cards and then pulled out two dice. He sat back down, cupped both of the dice with both of his hands and began shaking them.
“Alright! Tell me, will it be Snakes Or Cyclops?”
“Huh?”
“Hehe, you have to guess if the dice will land on Snakes or Cyclops. Snakes are numbers like two, four, and six. Cyclops’ are one, three, and five. Got it? Now… Snakes or Cyclops?”
I sat there, taking the rules in slowly. Then, it hit me.
“That’s just even or odd ain’t it?!” I shouted a bit.
“Even or odd?” Ricent stopped shaking the dice. “Oh, I guess people in the bar sometimes call it that.”
I wanna die…
“Hmm, if you don’t like it, I have a board game! It’s missing the pieces though, but we can replace them with coins!”
“Yeah, that sounds good...”
Anything was better than even or odds. But a board game, huh? Judging from the games he pulled out so far, I doubted it would be something unique. I would be kind of happy if it was chess or checkers, at least we’d have to strategize on those.
Ricent pulled out a small parchment with lines sketched on it. There were around a hundred boxes, every few boxes, there were crude illustrations of dragons and chickens across the boxes.
The dragons all face upwards, each with varying length. The chickens move downward in a group, with varying quantities depending on the distance between the two boxes.
Don’t tell me…
“You see, if you roll a dice, you move forward based on the number! Also, if you land on a dragon’s tail, you fly up! If you land on a chicken herd, you have to follow them down—”
“This is just snakes and ladders!!!” I held my head in frustration.
“Snakes and ladders? No, it’s Dragons or chickens.”
Who cares about the name?! Snakes and ladders is snakes and ladders!
I slumped in defeat.
“Ugh… Fine, let’s just play.”
“Haha! Alright! I’ll show you my skills!”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
This is a game of luck, though…
—
Eventually, enough time passed and we ended our game. I wouldn’t say I was bored, per se. Just disappointed.
“How are you so good at this!!” Ricent screamed into his pillow.
“It’s… mostly luck,” I tried to comfort him.
It’s all luck, really.
“Hmph! I guess I just need to train more!” His head shot up, his eyes glaring, his finger pointed at me. “I’ll catch up to your skills in no time, Feyt! Just you watch!”
How are you going to train for skill in snakes and ladders?!
“G-good luck with that…”
After Ricent finished cleaning up the floor, we spent the rest of our time talking.
“Oh, Feyt! Forgot to ask, you got your Talents checked yet?”
I shook my head slightly. “No, I haven’t. Have you?”
“Almost! Mom already placed an order for the scroll! It’ll arrive in a while!”
“Wait seriously?!”
This pub must be doing crazy good for her to afford that scroll.
“I always have this feeling I can cast magic, you know? Maybe I do have a Magical Talent!”
“Y-yeah, I wish you the best.”
Dammit, now I want a scroll too! But it might be a while until Mom and Dad could get enough money to buy one. Is there another way?
“Feyt!” A shout came from downstairs, it was Aunt Diane. “Come down! Your mom’s dead drunk again!”
“Wha–?!”
Why do I have to deal with that?!
“Oh, time’s up already, huh?” Ricent shrugged his shoulders. “Well then, see ya Feyt! We’ll play some more tomorrow, or whenever you’re free!”
“Kay’!” I stood up and headed out the door. “See you, Ricent! It was fun!”
I waved goodbye to Ricent and headed downstairs.
In my sight was Aunt Diane with an annoyed look alongside Mom sleeping and drooling on the counter while holding an empty bottle of booze.
“Sorry about this, Feyt. I tried to control her, but I failed,” she said, shaking her head in disappointment. “You should bring your mom home tonight. If she wakes up here, who knows how many bottles she’ll empty before passing out again.”
“Bottles?”
I looked behind Mom, and there it was, six whole bottles all emptied of their contents. My eyes widened in disbelief.
“How much did she drink?! Can we afford all this?!”
“Don’t worry, I gave her the cheap stuff, she couldn’t tell the difference anyway. And as always, I’ll give her a discount, just remind her to pay it tomorrow when she visits.”
“I-I see! Thank you!! You’re very kind!” I respectfully bowed to her.
“No problem, just get your drunkard of a mother out of my pub, we’re closing up.”
…
Walking back home, Mom was clutching an empty beer bottle with her face up in the sky.
“Ah~ What have I done to deserve this blessing~?”
She was in complete bliss, her steps almost like she was dancing, drunken dancing, of course. I had to walk carefully to make sure she could keep up pace with me.
“Ugh, where the heck is Dad and Sis?” I grumbled.
I thought those two would arrive a bit later than us, but they never came.
After a while of walking, we got back home with no incidents. Dad and Sis weren’t in the living room or the kitchen. But I heard Sis pacing around in her room, and Dad groaning in pain in the fields.
“Damn it, that girl, I swear–!”
Why is he there? Don’t tell me he’s working this late?
Well, it sounded like he was fine, so I left him be and got Mom to bed.
I slowly dragged her to her room.
“Thank you, Feyt~” Mom plopped on the bed, the bottle still tightly clutched. “Zzz~”
“Yeah, let’s get that thing away.”
I pulled the bottle out of Mom’s grasp carefully. After making sure everything was fine, I took a rest in my room.
The sun had already set outside, the sky was filled with beautiful stars, which meant…
—
“Lady Carine? Dinner is ready.”
After a hot warm bath and a long rest on the world’s fluffiest bed, the next logical step would be dinner of course.
I excitedly opened the door to greet Leila.
“Good evening, Leila.”
“Good evening, Lady Carine. I shall guide you to the dining room.”
“Please do.”
Leila led me to the dining room, it was of course, as opulent as always. Ornate candles lined the long-clothed table, illuminating the drool-inducing platters of meat, soup, and other such delicacies.
Mother and Father were already seated and I bowed as I greeted them, “Good evening, Mother, Father.”
“Good evening, Carine,” Father responded.
I sat at my seat and dinner began as usual. It was so quiet that even the silverware didn’t clink.
After a while, Mother’s voice broke the silence. “Carine dear, have you gotten any better?”
I carefully touched the part where my bump was supposed to be, it was still there, but it was smaller and didn’t hurt that much.
“Yes, I have, Mother.”
Mother gave a tender smile and a slight nod. “Good, then you won’t mind continuing with your usual schedule tomorrow, right?”
Ugh–! I slipped up.
“But, Reina, wouldn’t it be fine if we just let her rest for tomorrow?” Father argued. “She just recovered, we shouldn’t push her too hard.”
Oh! Nice one, Father!
“No, she already rested enough today. We should not waste time letting her skills rot away in her bed all day.”
Father let out a heavy sigh, nothing seemed to sway Mother’s opinions. Father looked at me as if he was sorry he couldn’t budge her decision.
No worries, it was a nice try, Father.
Stressing about tomorrow’s schedule won’t do me any favors, I should just enjoy the food.
----------------------------------------
image [https://i.imgur.com/RdC5Gde.png]