Super Righteous Player
Chapter 834 - 373: Game: The Number of Courage

Chapter 834: Chapter 373: Game: The Number of Courage

When the Faceless Poet declared, "In this game, let’s not bet on anything."

Both Annan and the Faceless Poet himself were very aware.

— The Faceless Poet was already scared.

Though rationally speaking, the Faceless Poet didn’t believe that Salvatore, with his intelligence, could win against him.

But in the previous game that he played with Annan, he had lost terribly... Looking back, the initial illusion of "perhaps being able to win" was also intentionally given by Annan.

So perhaps the seemingly unbeatable Salvatore was another trap left by Annan.

In the previous game, the Faceless Poet had started with a "fifteen."

But afterwards, it was a "ten."

At that moment, a slight hope of victory had actually risen in the Faceless Poet’s heart.

Because the Faceless Poet was very clear that "fourteen" was also a safe card.

If Annan truly knew everything, he should have known—that among ten to fifteen, except for the initially chosen "twelve," all were safe cards.

It was then, Annan chose not to go for larger numbers, giving the Faceless Poet a chance to win.

— Could it be that Annan was also unsure of all the cards, and thus chose a card less likely to be chosen by Kafney to strike at himself?

But only at the end did the Faceless Poet realize... Annan had purposely not played the "thirteen" and "fourteen" large cards immediately, just so he wouldn’t despair right away.

The poker in this world was not categorized by "hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds," but rather "cups," "wands," "coins," "swords" as the four suits. It also signified the Goddess of Cup, the Old Grandmother, the Silver Baron, and the Red Knight as four True Gods, thus it could be used as a ritual tool.

And each category’s eleven to thirteen are the "major cards," each having a different suit.

For instance, in the suit of cups, it’s the "Prince," "Queen," and "King."

And in the suit of wands, it’s the "Child," "Father," and "Grandmother."

But among all the cards, there are two dressed comically.

One stands on a flower ball, wearing a thin purple-green outfit, his face painted with oils, looking foolish with a grin. But his right hand is hidden behind him... Some say it’s a dagger, others say it holds a bottle of poison.

The other is dressed in a baby-bonnet-like red garment, extremely obese, with a clean face, offering a respectful yet comical bow.

These two cards foretell the "Tragic Playwright" and the "Faceless Poet." They can also be called the "Little Clown" and the "Big Clown."

Players like to call them "Fat Monk" and "Skinny Monk," or habitually refer to them as the "Little King" and the "Big King."

Wherever the Tragic Playwright and his followers appear, tragedies always follow. Thus, people see them as a "bad omen," dressing them comically in plays where the Tragic Playwright appears.

Every tragedy born from schemes and conspiracies is understood by people as either "the meddling of the Tragic Playwright’s followers" or "the direct descent of the Tragic Playwright."

And anyone comically dressed—stepping on or playing with a ball—is understood by the audience as either the "Tragic Playwright" or a "clown following the Tragic Playwright."

Hence, if they could enter clumsily falling off the ball, it would actually provoke laughter from the crowd.

The Faceless Poet, however, is different, leaning more towards a positive character.

As a god often appearing in legends alongside the Tragic Playwright, the Faceless Poet tends to prophesize the "impending tragic fate" for others.

The Faceless Poet generally appears in epics as a sage passing the truth to the ignorant, often seen as the comically dressed court fool who always speaks astonishing truths.

For example, telling a prince, "You are actually the child of the queen and the stable boy," or saying, "The one who killed your father was your uncle."

The Faceless Poet usually doesn’t tell the truth directly. Instead, he delivers a mysterious long poem... usually metaphorical with very important truths, only when one is near to discovering the truth does one realize the poem’s intended message.

When the Faceless Poet pulled out these two cards, he indeed wasn’t thinking much.

He simply used them as "fourteen" and "fifteen" fillers to lower the chances of Kafney and Annan guessing the correct numbers.

But Annan, in turn, used their other meanings to mock the Faceless Poet.

He started by using the "Ugly" card, symbolizing the Faceless Poet, to hint at him that everything was already known to him... and ended with the "Joker" card to insult him.

It was not until he received the Joker card that he realized—at the very beginning, Annan had already hinted at him.

Annan must have thought up his strategy while choosing the cards.

He even had room to offer a prophecy!

Annan’s wisdom, which seemed to know everything, truly sent chills down his spine.

Initially, he had thought of taking out his anger on Salvatore, but as soon as Annan said "Are you sure?" he immediately became fearful.

Like a scared bird.

He realized Annan was not the eagle that soared through the skies—but a dragon.

He even wondered if Annan had already anticipated his arrival here... and the trap he had laid on Salvatore could very well kill him right in this place.

He was already feeling some regret.

If he could escape, he surely would have after the second game.

But he couldn’t escape.

He was only able to enter this nightmare directly as a deity, because of the mechanism that "his character originally appeared in this nightmare."

If he tried to run away directly, it would leave behind an empty shell of himself.

Annan could still use that "self" as a medium to affect his real body. But he, himself, would not know what exactly happened inside... thus losing the initiative.

And if he directly destroyed this nightmare, it would cause the nightmare to shatter and curses to overflow. Annan had entered the nightmare through a bank, and the bank was the temple of the Silver Baron.

Once the inert curses inside the nightmare leaked out... it would be like throwing excrement into the Silver Baron’s temple.

—he didn’t have the courage for that.

Although Annan mentioned that he knew what he had done in the third game.

But this might be a lie—mere bait to make him spill information.

The best outcome was to ensure that he helped Annan complete a "strong purification" within this nightmare.

The moment this nightmare was purified, all evidence would vanish like smoke.

—That’s right.

Inside his mind, he thought that he could actually lose on purpose.

That’s why he would not bet on anything.

In that case, if he lost, it wouldn’t be too humiliating... and of course, if he won, he might regain some face from Salvatore.

...Whether winning or losing, it wasn’t really a loss.

Thinking this, he glanced at Salvatore, who was playing the role of Bella.

The blood-covered man spoke solemnly, "This round, we’ll still be playing cards, but the rules will be simpler.

"We draw from this deck. There are no Jokers here, just fifty-two cards.

"For the one showing cards, only the first one is hidden; all others are visible;

"For the one with hidden cards, only the first card is visible; all others are hidden.

"The so-called ’hidden cards’ mean the cards one cannot see and must directly place face down on the table. The one showing cards will draw first.

"The hidden card player can choose to settle at the end of their draw phase; or it automatically settles when the showing card player gathers a set of the same suit ’Big Cards’... for example, when gathering together the ’Prince, Queen, King’, or ’Child, Father, and Grandmother’ showing cards, it will automatically settle."

"When settling, every King card counts as three points, Queen as two, and Jack as one, but collecting a complete set of the same suit adds an extra point. Compare the points of both sides; if the scores are exactly the same, the side that initiated the settlement wins... Do you understand?"

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