BXBX NOVEL Chapter 6: Palace of Penance (2)
A six-sided plaything tool. It randomly presents numbers between 1 and 6, each with an equal probability —simple enough to be favored in games. This little thing.
But then, one day, quite suddenly…
If a human had to stake their entire life on this tiny die, could they truly obtain the desired number? What number would the die deliver in response?
“It should have landed on 6… no, even a 5 would have been enough.”
A man in chains, tied with a rope, muttered weakly as he was being taken to the imperial palace.
“It was a life-or-death dice game. If I had won, I could have easily paid for my academy tuition. Maybe I would have become an honor student that everyone would recognize….”
The man who was muttering weakly like this was named Barton.
He was currently the most wanted fugitive in the Yurgo region with the highest bounty.Barton muttered to himself, then suddenly chuckled and shook his head.
“No, I suppose not. The moment I met that vexing professor, I might have just killed him. Perhaps I was fated to commit murder from the start…”
It was right then.
Whack!
A soldier’s knee slammed squarely into Barton’s abdomen.
“You disgusting murderer, muttering and mumbling. What are you saying?”
The two nearby soldiers, as if waiting for this moment, immediately joined in the violence. They must have been itching to do so. Soon, the surroundings were filled with only the sound of thudding.
Whack! Whack!
“He thought we were treating him like an honored guest?”
“You’re headed straight for execution at the imperial palace, you insect!”
Whack! Whack! Whack!
“…Ah, the dice.”
Barton could only endure the beating, while repeating the words “the dice.” The assault continued for a while longer, and eventually the situation was brought under control by the lead escort captain.
“That’s enough.”
The escort captain said, clicking his tongue.
“I understand you want to kill him, but our job is to escort him. In the end, we have to keep him alive and take him to the imperial palace. That’s enough.”
“Ah…understood!”
The escort captain also examined Barton’s condition.
He was badly beaten. It seemed unlikely that he would be able to walk anytime soon.
“Have you all eaten?”
“Not yet, sir!”
“We haven’t eaten yet!”
The escort captain thought. Since Barton couldn’t walk immediately anyway, they might as well let the soldiers eat first to pass the time.
“Fill your bellies, then we depart again.”
As soon as the order was given, the soldiers tied Barton to a nearby tree stump. Their meal began brazenly in front of the criminal.
“The imperial workers always deal with fancy folks, but we’re stuck with just scum like this…what is this, really?”
“Don’t kid yourself. Catering to those elite’s tastes is far more tedious and difficult. I’ve done both, and this work is much easier in the end.”
“Is that so?”
Their lunch conversation, naturally, was about work.
Then, one soldier seemed to recall something and spoke up.
“But Captain, I heard that the Palace of Penance is full for the first time in a long time. Is that true?”
“Surprisingly, yes. I was quite shocked myself when I heard.”
“The scum we’re escorting now won’t be going there, right?”
The soldiers’ gazes momentarily turned to Barton before dispersing.
Barton. A vile criminal who annihilated an entire village with black magic.
“A place even scum like him can’t set foot, just who gets sent to the Palace of Penance?”
“There’s no way for us to know. It’s for those beyond our imagination.”
“Beyond our imagination…like someone who killed their own family?”
“That’s still within the scope of what you can conceive. The Palace of Penance, as I said, is for those beyond our comprehension.”
“…I see. Suddenly I feel uneasy.”
“From what I heard, one inmate is already there, while the other nearly crossed the Yurgo Mountains. They’ll likely kill each other soon.”
“Heh, is that so?”
A strangely out-of-place voice suddenly interjected.
The problem was the voice’s source was unsettlingly close. The soldiers’ heads whipped toward the sound’s origin.
“If there’s such an amusing place, you should have told me sooner!”
“………….”
The owner of the voice was none other than Barton. He had somehow seated himself cross-legged brazenly between the soldiers and the escort captain.
As if he had been dining with them all along.
“…………!”
It took everyone a beat for their eyes to widen in shock. They swiftly grabbed their weapons and backed away. How had he regained his mobility? When did he get so close? The more they thought about it, the more unsettling chills ran down their spines.
Wheeeee—
A tense silence fell between the soldiers and Barton. Surprisingly, he did not immediately attempt an ambush.
Instead, the wanted criminal simply spat out something he had been chewing on.
At first it seemed he was expelling a tooth knocked loose from the beating. But unexpectedly, it was a cubic object. One of the soldiers muttered in realization:
“…Is that…a die?”
“Indeed. A three came up.”
Despite his gruesome appearance that made his ability to stand questionable, the soldiers could hear Barton’s words clearly.
“Each of you roll it too. If a higher number than three comes up, I’ll spare you.”
“…………”
“The odds are a whopping fifty-fifty. Quite an enticing offer for those definitively facing death currently, wouldn’t you agree?”
The three soldiers and the captain exchanged glances.
The captain soon scoffed at Barton’s words.
“I don’t know how you escaped the tree stump, but that was your last chance. You’ll regret not ambushing us for the rest of your life.”
“So you won’t roll? Despite the incredible fifty-fifty odds?”
“Mere criminal scum! This time I’ll have to slit your—”
Shlick—
Spines erupting from the ground vertically impaled the justice-filled captain. The noble soldier became a corpse in an instant.
“C-Captain??”
“This is… This is what…!”
The soldiers muttered in horror, but their words soon became their last. More spikes began rising from the floor.
Shlick— Shlooosh—
“Guheck…ughh…!”
“Aaaaagghhh…!”
For a while, only agonized screams and the cruel wet sounds of tearing flesh and bones filled the area. The rapidly pooling blood staining the ground was a given.
.
.
.
The sunset stained the world crimson. At the edge of the Yurgo Mountains.
The shattered remains of a carriage lay abandoned, soldiers’ corpses strewn about. Standing tall in the center was, of course, Barton.
He grinned, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.
“So I’m the one headed for the Palace of Penance…Definitely amusing. It was risky.”
“Spare me, spare me please…” A vile criminal squirmed at Barton’s feet, begging.
“No can do. The dice only showed a two for you.”
Barton had rolled a three. And this wretch, a two.
He never made exceptions in this dice game.
“Please, spare me…Agghh–!”
Barton coldly snuffed out the other criminal’s life. He felt quite satisfied. The one in the Palace of Penance would surely be even more entertaining?
Muttering thus, he crudely changed into the freshly dead man’s clothes. From now, he would wait patiently to be discovered and escorted to the imperial palace by the palace goons.
“…I can’t wait to reach the Palace of Penance.”
Just who awaited him there?
He simply hoped for an amusing companion. One who would make the killing savory.
◇──◆──◇
Late at night. Finally, the entrance to the Palace of Penance.
Knock! Knock!
Having at last arrived, Barton rapped on the entrance door. As an added flair, he exuded an aura of black magic.
‘This should suffice to instill some fear.’
If they were weaklings, their frightened expressions would be entertaining to witness. If reasonably strong, they would tense up the moment they sensed Barton’s aura, taking up combat stances.
Either reaction would be a sincere one. He found that amusing.
Such powerful sincerity, crumbling with just one dice game?
…Ah, the thrill of that was indescribable.
Indulging in the pleasing thought, he kicked open the door with a bang.
“Greetings, friends! Give me a chance to play a dice game with you. What do you say?”
His shout was for added flare. What reaction would come?
However, Barton’s vision detected no one. Impossible, right? The soldier had mentioned another inmate already being in the Palace of Penance.
“A dice game? Sounds fun.”
“……….!”
Barton’s head whipped toward the sudden voice.
“…What’s this?”
And he was dumbfounded once more.
Upon first entering, Barton had scanned the blind spots and ceiling. If they sensed his intense aura, they would surely prepare for combat. Typically lying in wait at such locations.
…But not here.
One man, one woman, casually seated on the center sofa.
But then he realized there was another reason to be stunned.
‘What did I just hear?’
Had they not accepted the dice game proposal far too readily?
As if reading his mind, the man opposite nodded.
“Let me finish this, then we’ll get started right away.”
“……..”
“Ah, would you like one too? I have extras if so.”
He even offered sunweed quite brazenly.
Barton reflected on his life up to now and quickly reached a conclusion.
…This man was of a type Barton had never encountered before.