Chapter 90 – Are you two friends? No. Yes.

[Cursed Coin: When this coin is flipped and it lands on heads, you will experience misfortune. When it lands on tails, nothing happens.]

With the prize of the infamous flasher within my hand, I offered Loftus the honour of flipping the coin.

“Actually,” the teacher who coordinated the contest said, “I have a coin here.”

“No need,” I waved the teacher off. I needed Loftus to flip this coin. It was pitiful vengeance, but it would delight me to no end if he flipped it.

Loftus took the black coin and said, “Thanks. I would be happy to flip it. Heads or tails?”

The problem with this method was that there was a 50% chance that Loftus wouldn’t be punished so I couldn’t answer so easily. Instead I told him, “You should flip it several times to make sure it’s fair. I don’t want to be accused of giving you a weighted coin if I end up winning.”

Loftus laughed as if the notion of me cheating him was impossible. “I know you wouldn’t do that, Yarm. You’re not the kind of guy to stoop so low.”

Loftus clearly didn’t know me well because I was exactly that type of person. In fact, I was stooping even lower than low by trying to curse him. I had no idea what kind of misfortune would befall Loftus, but I was willing to roll the dice. “I insist. Please flip it a few times to make sure.”

“There’s no need. I trust you.”

“You shouldn’t trust me so easily. Just flip it five times or so. Then you can be sure it’s not improperly balanced.”

“I’m sure its not.”

Why was he being so stubborn? Wouldn’t any normal person want to make sure that they were dealing with a fair coin? “What’s wrong with you? Why are you so adamantly against flipping it to make sure?”

Loftus smiled sweetly at me. “Because friends trust each other. I don’t want to put our friendship in jeopardy by even suspecting you of cheating.”

“What friendship?” I shouted. We were not friends at all. What delusion was this man under? One thing I could never account for was the stupidity of others. I wasn’t going to get anywhere by arguing this further. I unfortunately had to leave it to chance. Just like with roulette, when black came up too many times in a row, red was due. Fate had frowned upon me for too long and now it was time for her to smile by letting Loftus flip heads. “I pick tails.”

I wanted heads to come but if it didn’t, I could at least be happy that I won the toss.

With a clink, Loftus flicked the coin into the air and caught it. He opened his hand to show what it landed on. It was heads.

“Yes!” I screamed. “That’s fantastic. Finally, some luck!”

The crowd started whispering, “Why is he so happy? He lost the coin flip.”

Loftus said, “You’re happy for me that I won? You’re so nice, Yarm.”

That wasn’t it at all. His delusions did irritate me, but I was more concerned with his misfortune. What was going to happen? Would a meteorite land on his head? If it did, hopefully not while I was in the strike radius. Maybe he would be transformed into a frog. Or maybe lightning would zap him out of nowhere.

For a good few seconds nothing occurred. But then I heard the galloping of horse hooves. Looking in the direction from where the sound came, I saw a man riding a spectral steed. I did not question how it was possible to sit on a ghost horse. The horse rider came over to Loftus and handed him a letter.

The rider said, “Sincerest apologies, sir. I’m afraid your shipment of slaves have been freed. You will have to place another order in if you would like us to find some more.”

Loftus’ sweet smile quickly disappeared. “What?” he said furiously. “What do you mean freed? Don’t you people have mercenaries guarding the merchandise? How stupid. I was looking forward to those slaves for so long.” Loftus started punching the air in anger. “You people are so incompetent!”

Was this the effect of the coin? I couldn’t hide my smile at the outcome. What a delight it was to see Loftus like this. However, I was amazed if this really was due to the coin. Did the curse cause the slaves to end up being freed? The coin was flipped only moments ago yet it caused something that obviously happened a while ago to occur. Did the coin change the past? I had no idea.

Loftus tapped his foot on the ground in annoyance. “Fine. Whatever. Just give me back my deposit.” He held his hand out for the horse rider to reimburse him.

The rider said with some worry, “Unfortunately, sir, that is not possible. In the contract you signed, it detailed that the deposit would not be returned if unforeseen circumstances like this were to occur.”

Loftus’ fury was brought to a boil. He was almost as mad as I was when he insulted Penrin and Newmill. He said, “So you’re stealing from me now? The guards are going to love it when I tell them about this. I’m going to sue you lot into bankruptcy.”

The rider looked like he had seen reactions like this a thousand times before. “Once again, I apologise sir. I shall be on my way.” He rode off while Loftus screamed at him.

When he finally calmed down, the event coordinator gave him a marble. “This event requires a captain from each team to do all the playing. I assume you and your friend shall be the participants?” Loftus nodded.

I wasn’t too happy to be called Loftus’ friend, though I was pleased to have the chance to go head-to-head against him. I asked the teacher, “Did you make this a one-on-one battle because you weren’t told it was supposed to be done with teams of three?”

The teacher was amazed that I sussed it out so fast. They put a finger to their mouth and shushed me. Explaining the event, the teacher said, “There is a small post here and a circle with a 2-metre radius around it. From outside the edges of the circle, you must flick a marble as close as possible to the wooden post. Hitting your opponent’s marbles is allowed. You have three marbles each. Good luck.”

Such rules felt very much in my favour, so I was glad I chose marbles. I knew exactly how much power to put into the marbles to get them to the post.

Loftus clicked his tongue and readied himself to go first but before he did, I asked, “Wanna make a bet, Loftus?”

When he looked at me, he tried to hide the anger he was feeling. “Sure, bud. What kind of bet?”

With a wicked smile I said, “If I win this, I want you to flip that coin five times every day, from now on.” With five flips, there was only a 3% chance that Loftus wouldn’t flip heads. If he accepted the bet, he would be experiencing misfortune of this calibre all the time, and that would please me. And since Loftus’ disposition was contorted towards evil, that meant the coin would cause good to happen. Just like how it freed enslaved people. Loftus experiencing misfortune would be a net positive for the state of the world.

Loftus was confused by my bet, but he accepted it anyway. “I guess that’s fine, but what if I don’t follow through? I could just promise I’ll do it and then what? How can you be sure that I’ll actually flip the coin?”

I put on the kindest expression I could and told him, “You said it earlier, didn’t you? Friends trust each other. I believe that you’ll stick true to your word.” It made me want to vomit calling him a friend.

A profound emotion took Loftus and he clutched his chest. “We…” He choked on his words. “We really are best friends, aren’t we?”

I didn’t say that at all.

“You truly understand me. I’ll do it. If you win, I’ll flip the coin for you.” I could tell that Loftus was speaking honestly. He wasn’t intelligent enough to believably lie. “But if you lose, you have to do something for me,” he said.

I nodded. It was only fair that he got something for winning too. That was how bets worked after all. “Do you want money?”

He shook his head. “Nothing so trivial. I want your company.” His eyes sparkled at me. They were far wetter than my liking. “Ditch those two teammates of yours and journey with me from now on. We’ll form a party with just the two of us. We could go and fight monsters together, or eat delicious food with one another. We can play smash-or-pass at the slave auction. We could do quests for the guild, or peak into the female changing rooms at the bathhouse.”

It was truly starting to dawn on me how utterly pathetic Loftus was.

“Doesn’t that sound fun?” he asked.

It didn’t, and Loftus didn’t have the awareness to understand as much from my facial cues.

He went on, “How about it? If I win, abandon those losers on your team and come with me.” Newmill and Penrin were rightfully troubled by what was going on. “Deal?” Loftus asked.

“Deal,” I said.

Penrin and Newmill immediately urged me to reconsider. “What if you lose, Yarm? Are you really going to leave us for him?” Newmill said.

“This is a bad idea, Yarm. Don’t agree to the bet,” Penrin said. “Even if there’s only a 1% chance of you losing, that’s still too much.”

I was surprised that they were so concerned because accepting the bet was a no-brainer to me. It was obvious that I should accept it. Not because I was 100% sure I would win. I was only 98% sure of my victory at most. However, even if I lost it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to fulfil the bet anyway.

What sense was there in honouring my word? I was going to cut off all contact with Loftus the moment I lost. I didn’t care about keeping my promise at all. Especially not to a rat like Loftus.

With the bet underway, the audience retreated a little to make room. Loftus knelt by the outer edge of the circle and tried to visualise how much power he needed to make the marble stop exactly at the post.

The teacher had an in-depth explanation of the rules on a board next to the ring. The objective was to get as many of one’s own marbles as close to the wooden post in the centre of the circle. Each marble counted. The closest to the post would give 0 points and the furthest would give 100 points. The objective was to get as few points as possible.

Any marble that was outside the circle also counted as 100.

Loftus flicked his first marble. It hit the wooden post and then bounced away. It stopped about 20cm away from the post.

“10 points,” said the teacher.

It didn’t really matter what points the marble currently had. If I bounced the marble away, his point total would change. It would be child’s play for me to flick a marble that touched the wooden post exactly. Then I would have 0 points and Loftus would have 10. However, if Loftus hit a marble that hit his own marble, and then hit mine away, he would have two marbles close to the centre. He could have around 15 points while I had 100.

I didn’t think Loftus had the ability to do that, but I didn’t want to take the chance. Instead, I flicked my marble into Loftus’ marble. That caused my marble to stop at the 20cm mark and Loftus’ went flying outside of the circle.

“11 points.”

If things went on like this, I was the clear victor since I would have the last flick. It was a misplay by Loftus to choose to go first.

“Well played,” said Loftus. A strange grey light came from his fingertips and embedded itself into the marble in his hand. He then flicked the marble into mine. Upon impact, my own marble shattered from being hit by Loftus’. His marble then hit the post and bounced back to a distance of 10cm.

“5 points.”

The crowd let out a long, “Ooh.”

“How did you do that? Is breaking my marble allowed? Does it still count for being in the ring?”

Loftus explained that he cast a buff on his marble, and the teacher explained that a broken marble is worth 100 points.

“That so unfair! Where does it say that a broken marble is worth 100?” I asked aggressively. I felt like I was being cheated.

The teacher turned the signboard around to reveal another set of rules that I wasn’t aware of. It was probably my folly to not check the other side, but it still felt bad.

“Ugh.” The marble that Loftus had flicked was still glowing with magic. “What does your buff do?” I asked. Answering my question would only be a detriment to Loftus’ winning chances, but I was sure that he would answer me anyway. Either out of cockiness or naivety.

“The buff makes the marble heavier and stronger. You won’t be able to move it out by hitting it anymore.” He grinned. “Looks like we’re going to be adventuring buddies.”

Like hell we were. I targeted the heavy marble with Cleanse and removed the buff. My mana was quite low now. Just like before, I flicked my marble into Loftus’ and sent it out of the ring.

“6 points,”

Now, Loftus had 200 points, and I had 106. I was all but certain to be the victor. But the boy had a tricky expression. He was plotting. He said, “That skill of yours is quite problematic. But the reason you’ll lose is because we’re best friends, Yarm.”

“I doubt that,” I said. I wasn’t close enough with Loftus for that to be true.

“You see, I know that you’re specced into Mind. That means that you don’t have a lot of MP, so you probably can’t cast that skill a lot.” Loftus rolled the marble between his fingers while speaking.

“What does that matter? Just once more is enough to beat that little spell of yours,” I said. In fact, using Cleanse on the skill didn’t even matter. So long as Loftus did not flick a 0-point marble I was assured victory.

Loftus giggled to himself and said, “Do you know what a stackable buff is?”

“Erm, yeah, but explain it anyway.”

“You’re such a terrible liar, Yarm,” he said fondly. “I know you don’t play video games, so you have no idea. A stackable buff is something that can be applied many times over. I have enough mana to buff this marble 100 times. Do you have enough mana to remove the buff 100 times?” He wagged his finger from left to right. “I don’t think so.”

[Cleanse: Remove one status effect from a target within range. Costs 10 MP. (Soul)]

At this moment I completely regretted ever speaking a word to Loftus. If I hadn’t told him about my investment into Mind, I would almost certainly have won. However, it still didn’t matter so long as Loftus didn’t score 0 points. If he got at least 1 point, I could land a marble next to the post and win.

But a foreboding dread came over me.

True to his word, Loftus used his buff skill on the marble over and over. With each cast, the grey light got brighter and brighter. He wiped his brow and said, “That should be enough. If I use it too much, it will be too heavy to flick.”

He positioned himself in a line with my marble and the post. With a flick he shattered my second marble. The worst possible scenario occurred when the strengthened marble embedded itself into the wooden post with a thud. Normally it would have bounced off but it was buffed to such a degree that it became lodged in the post.

“0 points!”

The crowd gasped. I saw Newmill and Penrin looking extremely worried that I may have to abandon them. I wanted to assuage their worries, but I didn’t want Loftus to catch on.

If I flicked a marble, I could easily get 0 points by touching the post. We would then both have 200 points. However, that wouldn’t be a draw. By the rules, the person who went first wins in the event of even points. Did Loftus predict this when he chose to go first?

“Wanna give up now?” Loftus asked. “After I win, we can go and steal some friendship rings from the market.”

I shook my head. “A marble is quite a small and valueless item, isn’t it?”

Loftus wasn’t sure where I was going with that comment.

[Repair: Mend broken objects. Variable XP drain dependent on object value. (Mind)]

I used my repair skill on the marbles that were shattered within the circle. They mended themselves at the points at which they were broken. Without even needing to take my last turn, I had already won. I took my third marble and flicked it at Loftus’ forehead. He stumbled back from the mild impact.

“100 points,” said the teacher. “In total, Loftus has 200 points and Yarm has 117 points. Yarm’s team wins!”