After the topic of gifts came to an end, Lavinia brought up another issue, and Liyami happened to be curious about this one as well.
“So, why did you two come back so early? Since you haven’t even picked out a gift for Liyami yet, shouldn’t you have stayed out a while longer to keep looking?”
Regarding this, Liyami wasn’t actually curious about what kind of gift Colin would choose for her. What she really wondered was, why did the two of them come back so soon? After all, it had only been just over an hour since she returned, and it was still quite early—the sun was still hanging high in the sky.
Faced with this question, Colin didn’t display his usual calm, instead answering vaguely, “Uh, well… it’s just that we got a bit tired, that’s all. Anyway, it’s not like Liyami is in a rush to get her gift, right?”
“…I’m really not in a hurry.”
“You see? So we just came back to rest for a while. We can go out and pick a gift later when we have time—the holiday’s still long, after all.”
Although Colin explained it like that, anyone could see he was hiding something. Judging by Eleanor’s reaction at the side, whatever Colin was hiding probably had something to do with her.
As Colin was explaining, Eleanor kept looking in other directions, only glancing at Liyami from time to time, but quickly looking away.
She didn’t seem to be in a good mood. Did something happen with Colin at the end of their “date”? Judging from her reaction, though, it was probably just something that soured the mood a bit, nothing too serious.
Liyami guessed inwardly based on Eleanor’s changing expressions. She suddenly felt a bit regretful—if she’d known it would turn out like this, she wouldn’t have come back early. Maybe it would have been better to keep tailing them a while longer.
But now that things had already come to this, Liyami couldn’t be bothered to dwell on “what if.” Compared to that, she was more interested in whether anything else had changed between Colin and Eleanor—like, had their way of interacting shifted?
Thinking this, Liyami got an idea: she wanted to find a chance to test Colin’s attitude toward Eleanor. If Colin acted as usual, then nothing had happened. But if things were different, then…
As for what would happen then, Liyami decided not to think about it; it was pointless anyway. She knew, deep down, that it was impossible.
“Do you two want to play a round?”
While Liyami was lost in thought, Lavinia had already started inviting Colin and Eleanor.
Colin actually had some experience with this game, but he wasn’t in the mood to play at the moment. After exchanging a few polite words, he left and went back to his own room.
Eleanor, on the other hand, surprised Lavinia by staying. She’d never played this game before, but seemed quite interested in it.
What Lavinia didn’t notice was that although Eleanor did seem interested in the game, her gaze had not left Liyami ever since Colin walked out. Rather than wanting to play, it was more like she wanted an excuse to get closer to Liyami. As for what she wanted to do after getting closer—only she herself knew.
Liyami didn’t really mind. She had already noticed the gaze lingering on her. After all, as an assassin, she was quite sensitive to these things. Actually, it was a perfect opportunity—she could observe Eleanor and see what was really on her mind.
She hadn’t forgotten that, lately, Eleanor hadn’t just been sticking to Colin—she also seemed to have an inexplicable hostility toward Liyami that was difficult to hide. Liyami wanted to take this opportunity to figure out why Eleanor was acting this way.
So, in this slightly tense atmosphere, with only Lavinia genuinely wanting to play, a new round of “Great Adventurer” began.
As the winner of the last round, Liyami naturally took the first turn.
She shook the dice a few times in her palm, then tossed them out. The dice spun slower and slower, finally coming to a stop, and the top number was a six.
Seeing this, Liyami smiled faintly, picked up her chosen adventurer, and moved forward six steps, stopping on a square marked with a question mark.
As the question mark square glowed, a small picture appeared above the table. In the picture, an adventurer was receiving training from an old man with a white beard, apparently enduring some harsh training.
As the image faded, Liyami’s chosen adventurer appeared a bit stronger, and one of the stats on her card was greatly increased.
“Wow! Such luck?! Right at the start, you trigger this extremely rare event! Your personal abilities must have gotten a big boost, right? Ugh, why are you always so lucky?!”
Lavinia grumbled, her tone mixed with surprise and a hint of jealousy. Liyami just smiled and had no other thoughts about it.
For some reason, whenever Liyami played this game, her luck was off the charts—it was hard for her to be unlucky even if she tried.
Even though it was the first time she’d seen that particular event, it just proved her luck was as good as ever, maybe even the best it had ever been.
Once Liyami finished her move, the others started taking theirs. Lavinia went next; her luck was average—not good, not bad. She simply rolled a three.
After moving forward three steps, Lavinia gained some beginner adventurer funds. Nothing special, really.
Next up was Eleanor. Following the other two, she threw the dice. After spinning for a while, the dice slowly stopped—the top number was also a six, just like Liyami.
That surprised Liyami a bit, but only a little. After all, it was just a six—if your luck’s good, it happens. Rolling a six didn’t mean much.
Sure enough, just as Liyami thought, even though Eleanor landed on the same question mark square after moving forward six steps, she didn’t trigger the same event. Instead, she got a decent opportunity event and earned a substantial amount of money.
“Oh! Eleanor, you’ve got pretty good luck too. With that much starting capital, maybe this time you’ll have a chance to beat Liyami?!”
Even though Lavinia said that, Liyami didn’t think much of it. With luck like that, it still wasn’t enough to contend with her for first place. As the game went on, Eleanor and Lavinia’s luck wasn’t bad, but still not at Liyami’s level.
Nothing stopped her from forging ahead; the money, reputation, and personal abilities of her adventurer soared, and soon she left the other two far behind.
Although Eleanor surprised her a bit at the beginning, that was as far as it went.
In the end, just as expected, Liyami became the winner once again, firmly grasping the fruits of victory.
With Lavinia’s faint wails in the background, Liyami’s lips curled up, thoroughly satisfied with the situation. Right now, she was like a demon lord, gleefully watching her defeated foes struggle.
Yet deep down, she felt like something was missing. It was as if there was something she’d meant to do, but had forgotten. But what could it be?
Why was she playing this game again…?