Teffania continued to stare at him with her big eyes. He could see her mulling over the name of the blessing, as if trying to figure it out.
And here it comes.
“Against the Odds,” she said slowly. “What does it do?”
Ludo rubbed the back of his neck. After all, he wasn’t sure how she’d take it. Would she think of him as some worthless god? Maybe. There was always that risk. But if she saw the value of it, then there would be the risk she’d become overconfident.
“For the next twenty-four hours,” he began. “Your dice rolls will always land one number higher than you would’ve gotten.”
Teffy’s hands dropped to her sides as her mouth opened wide.
Looks like she’s figured it out.
Ludo sighed at the blank expression on her face.
“I’ll never roll a one.”
“Never.”
“Oh, that’s… It’s huge!”
“Yeah,” Ludo chuckled.
Teffania shifted a bit as her hands trembled. Ludo noticed they were rougher than you’d expect from a young woman.
Life must have been hard on her.
That was something he should be mindful of from now on.
“I need to know something,” Ludo started. “The game you’ve been playing. What’s it called?”
Teffy’s eyebrows rose as a look of shock appeared on her face. “It’s called Noble.”
“Noble?”
“It’s named that because the old noble houses used to play it a lot,” Teffania said as she tapped her delicate chin. “This kingdom, Vahrn, is just one of many. There are small kingdoms like ours all over the continent. I heard the game started as a way for their strategists to practice without going to war.”
Hm, not a bad idea. So, this kingdom is called Vahrn? Hold on, if there’s a ton of kingdoms, then…
Ludo paused as he started piecing things together. “What about the tournament?”
Teffania’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at him. “I think they’re looking for something.”
Damn, that’s what I was worried about.
“Let me guess. They’re looking for potential commanders.”
“That’s what I think,” Teffy sighed. “Vahrn has always been peaceful. But there’s been some trouble on our borders for the last few years.”
War’s coming.
Ludo sighed. Hopefully, it wouldn’t arrive too soon.
But if they’ve held this tournament a few years in a row, it can’t be far off.
Just then, a caller for the tournament shouted her name. Clearly, they’d been talking for longer than Ludo had realised, and the next set of matches was about to begin.
“I have to win this tournament,” Teffy said. “For my sister’s sake.”
She didn’t wait for him to say anything else. Teffania quickly ducked out of the tent as Ludo shrank back into his orb form.
For her to be this worried about her sister… Maybe her debt isn’t the only reason. I wonder. Are we close to the border here?
It was something for him to think about as he floated out of the tent to follow her. Surprisingly, the tournament grounds had become a lot busier now. Realisation dawned on Ludo. Most of the spectators only arrived after the first matches, so they didn’t waste time on folks who couldn’t be called real contenders.
Her next opponent must have been one of the last ones to finish his first match since he was already seated at the table she was directed to. Luckily, this balding man didn’t seem inclined to be dismissive of her. He paid close attention to Teffy, which made Ludo a bit nervous. This was the kind of player who preferred to read his opponents.
A few minutes later, the match started.
Ludo watched from just above her shoulder as dice clattered on the tabletop. Teffy rolled a five and four, and Against the Odds immediately displayed how broken it was. Teffania grinned at the numbers before she moved a supply token forward and ended her turn.
Her opponent frowned at her move. With such strong numbers, he’d clearly been expecting something else. Hell, even Ludo was confused at her opening move.
However, there was nothing to worry about. Why? Because the match only lasted twelve minutes. In a splendid display of skill, Teffy won the match by creating a resource chokehold. Her poor opponent never saw it coming and was left with no way to raise any reinforcements.
This time, instead of returning to the tent, Teffania decided to stay seated and pay attention to the other participants. She didn’t seem too concerned until a dark frown appeared on her face. Ludo followed her gaze and found the man called Garrs. Teffy’s attention remained fixated on him right up until her third opponent seated himself across from her.
She was an older woman with grey hair. The only other female in the competition. She played very aggressively. Any advantage that appeared, she would press it, which forced Teffania on the defensive for the first several turns. However, she soon became frustrated. She barely gained any ground as Teffy’s dice rolls countered the worst of her assault.
Eventually, Teffania’s opponent made a mistake. She’d lost too many troops in what could only be called a reckless assault at this point. Teffy exploited the opening by driving into her weakened flank before demolishing her armies.
The old woman laughed as she conceded the match. “Well done. You’ve got the luck of a demon.”
Teffania simply nodded as she shook the woman’s hand. Meanwhile, Ludo could tell the old woman had a solid strategy in place. All she had needed was to break the front lines before she’d ease off and play the long game. Unfortunately for the old woman, it was never meant to be.
The fourth opponent was a rather young man. However, the quality of his clothes easily singled him out as being from a family with money.
“Anvor Vilirus, pleasure to meet you,” the man offered her a charming smile as he sat down. “I have to say, your plays have been quite impressive.”
Hm?
It was the first time Ludo had heard someone introduce themselves with a daily name. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was an uncommon thing in this world.
“Thank you,” Teffy replied as she returned the smile. “Shall we play?”
“Of course, that’s why we came here, right?” Anvor chuckled.
It quickly became clear that Anvor was a few notches above the others Teffania had faced. He played a defensive strategy similar to Teffania’s choice. Ludo watched as the pair built up supply lines, neither of them eager to make an advance on the other. Before long, the board became covered in tokens.
For the first time, Ludo saw Teffania seriously considering her moves. She squinted as she rested her chin on her palm while she looked over the board. Then, she broke the pattern. She made a small push against Anvor’s front line to test the waters. However, even with Against the Odds, she rolled a three and a two.
It wasn’t enough to beat Anvor’s natural roll, and Teffy became the first to suffer casualties in the match. There was a lot of back and forth between them until Anvor made a breakthrough. Ludo grew concerned as Anvor marched his entire cavalry through the gap he had created. As the turns went on, the cavalry cut deep into Teffania’s territory and eventually broke her main supply line.
The game’s tilting.
Even Ludo could see it would be difficult to make a comeback under these circumstances. Teffy’s main forces were stuck on her border, holding off any more incursions. Meanwhile, she didn’t have anything strong enough to counter Anvor’s cavalry.
She drew her next card and stared at it. A few moments passed before she moved her remaining tokens near the borders to the frontline and the card face down on the table.
Anvor blinked with a frown. “Are you giving up on me? Without a buffer force, my cavalry can ruin the rear of your main force.”
“Hardly,” Teffania grinned.
She flipped the card over, and Ludo almost burst out laughing.
It was the same card that won her the first match. Only this time, she decided to target her own supply line instead of her opponent’s.
Anvor studied the board intensely. All of his cavalry was deep inside Teffy’s territories. Completely cut off from his own supply lines. But that didn’t matter since he relied on Teffania’s main line he’d seized for himself to produce reinforcements. But now, Teffy had cut him off from that. The territories he’d seized had essentially become worthless.
“That can’t be legal,” Anvor declared as he glanced at the judge for a ruling.
The middle-aged man stepped forward and studied the situation. Then, he read through a small book, which Ludo assumed to be the rulebook.
“It’s legal,” he declared after a few moments.
Anvor’s expression shifted rapidly. He was a smart guy, so he knew this spelled the end for him. It simply took too long to build up cavalry, and spearmen were much cheaper. With his troops cut off, Teffy would whittle them down to nothing. In the meantime, she’d use the extra forces on the frontline to create a breakthrough of her own. From there, the situation would spiral out of his control.
“I… surrender.”
Teffania exhaled a sigh of relief. Ludo could see she’d genuinely been worried for a while there. Still, her victory brought a smile to his face. She rolled a dice in her hand with a smile on her face. “I’ve never won this many matches in a row before.”
However, before she could revel in her victory, a shadow fell over the table.
Garrs was standing at the other end of the table, a deep frown on his rugged face as he stared at her.
He doesn’t look friendly.
“You’re in my seat,” he said to Anvor, who quickly apologised and moved to watch the match with the rest of the crowd. Then, as he sat down. “Three matches. And you didn’t roll a single one.”
Ludo’s heart skipped a beat.
Shit. Was this guy really able to pay that much attention to her matches?
“What?” Teffy said as she blinked in surprise.
Garrs folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. “I’ve been watching. At first, I thought it was just dumb luck. But, the odds of that happening with that many dice rolls? Impossible.”
The crowd around them grew silent as all eyes fell on Teffy.
This bastard is accusing her of cheating.
Ludo was furious. But after a moment, he realised she kind of was. However, could you really call a god’s intervention cheating? Wouldn’t it be more like… fate or something?
“I’ll only ask you once,” Garrs growled. “How are you doing it?”