Published: August 1, 2025
He looked down silently for a while, clenching his fists as he searched for words.
“I am… not only the head of the granado trading company but also a director of this Baltandels Ship. I have the duty to maintain order on this ship.”
He muttered quietly.
“Normally, stowaways are a serious crime. Just like prohibiting excessive gambling, I cannot recklessly invite you all onto the ship... But I understand that it would be unreasonable to simply throw you out unilaterally.”
“Heh, I’m glad you understand.”
“Tell me your conditions. What is your purpose?”
The moment Lord Cyrus asked this, Ms. Kaede’s lips curved into a clear smile.
“I told you before, right? I want to accompany you on this ship. I want you to take us all the way to Ipsandros.”
“...Why? There’s no direct trade between Ipsandros and Mizuho. Even if you plan to start trading, you should just use your own ship.”
“Is it no good if the destination doesn’t matter and I just want to get along with you all?”
“No good.”
Lord Cyrus answered immediately, and Ms. Kaede laughed merrily. Her voice was cute, like the sound of a bell rolling, but it was far from an innocent smile.
Their conversation reached a deadlock.
Lord Cyrus glared at Ms. Kaede and fell silent. Without rushing him, she sat down and sipped her tea...
Amazing. Ms. Kaede was such a graceful woman, probably not much older than me—and yet, she didn’t back down an inch against Lord Cyrus. She was on equal footing with the nation’s top merchant—or perhaps she even had the upper hand over him.
“Lord Cyrus can’t beat Lord Kaede.”
I wondered when Mr. Angelo had come to my side; he murmured this quietly.
“Right now, it’s Lord Kaede moving the Kioin household. She can’t appear on the public stage because she’s a woman, but her negotiation skills far surpass the master of the granado trading company. I, a simple brute, can only watch in admiration.”
“...Did Ms. Kaede win the gambling against you, Mr. Angelo?”
Curious, I asked. Mr. Angelo smiled and nodded.
“Of course. In the earlier game with the sailors, I was just there to even out the numbers. Ms. Kaede’s handling of the dice is nothing short of a divine skill.”
“Dice? What is that?”
When I asked about the unfamiliar term, Mr. Angelo pulled something from his pocket. It was about the size to hold between two fingers, made from animal bone perhaps, a beautiful milky white perfect cube. Each face had a dot pattern—six dots.
“Is this a die? The dots represent numbers?”
“Yes, something very similar exists in the West. This is called a ‘saiko’ (dice), commonly used in Mizuho.”
“How do you gamble with this?”
“Hmm, shall I show you how? It’s called ‘chōhan gambling’ in Mizuho.”
I nodded. Mr. Angelo drank his tea in one go and wiped the cup. He tossed two dice into the opaque ceramic cup, covered it with his free hand, and turned it upside down. He shook it twice in the air, then slammed it on the table.
“Now, is the total of the two dice even or odd? If you guess correctly, Ms. Marie wins; if not, you lose.”
“Eh? Um... The probabilities are equal, right?”
“Exactly, so just guess whichever comes to mind.”
“Then... odd.”
Guessing completely at random, Mr. Angelo lifted the cup lightly. The dice on the table showed four and six. The total was even.
“Sorry, Ms. Marie, you lose. The money bet beforehand is forfeited, and if you’d guessed correctly, it would have been doubled. Good thing it’s not the actual bet.”
“I see... It’s a pretty simple rule.”
Mr. Angelo grinned.
“But it’s also quite deep. Even numbers are called ‘chō’ and odd numbers ‘han,’ but besides these two, there are other ‘hands’ and the payout can vary.”
Hearing that sparked my curiosity. I asked about the different ‘hands,’ and I wrote down strange new words like pinzoro, guni, and shisou in my mental notes. Delving into their origins, the more I heard, the more interesting it became.
While Mr. Angelo and I chatted amiably, Lord Cyrus and Ms. Kaede silently glared at each other.