Zophia clicked her tongue in frustration. “A tie, is it? Stubborn woman...”

Lynga was next, stepping up with five red dice in hand. “I’ll be using these special dice.”

“Wait a second!” Zophia protested. “Those are loaded!”

“Why do you get to use those?!” Loewe asked.

“H-How rude!” Lynga said. “Do I look like a cheater?”

“You look like the epitome of a cheater! Those are definitely rigged to always roll 1!” Zophia retorted.

“So that’s why you added that strange rule!” Loewe said. “Use the same dice we did!”

Zophia and Loewe ended up confiscating Lynga’s special dice. The werewolf’s shoulders sagged as she picked up the ordinary dice off the ground.

“Ugh...” She shut her eyes tightly and tossed the dice—four 6s and one 5. Twenty-nine points. Her eyes widened and she began to hop around excitedly. “Take that! I don’t need rigged dice to do this!”

“She just totally admitted to the dice being rigged,” Zophia pointed out.

Loewe grumbled. “A three-way tie...”

The heated developments elicited a mix of cheers and roars from the audience.

Carmilla let out her signature chuckle. “The probability of three people scoring twenty-nine points in a row is incredibly low. No wonder they all rose to leadership among demi-humans in the dog-eat-dog world of the slums. What an incredible stroke of luck. How fun! How will this contest end, I wonder?!”

“You sound way too excited about this!” Zenos interjected.

Finally, it was Lily’s turn. The girl gripped the dice nervously, glanced at Zenos, then took a few deep breaths. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay!” she said to herself, letting out a shout as she released the dice into the air.

Four of the dice settled with the number 6 facing up. The last one bounced on the ground several times before stopping in front of Zenos.

It was a 6.

Cheers erupted all around. “Holy hells!” Zonde shouted. “Thirty points! The winner is Lilyyy! Celebrate, you bastards!”

Lily stood there, stunned, as the audience broke into thunderous applause. “Huh? What? H-H-H-H-Huh?” she stammered. “No way...”

The demi-human women all stared in disbelief.

“Who would’ve thought Lily would take the win?” Zophia mused.

Lynga grumbled. “This sucks.”

Loewe groaned. “So Lily gets the right to confess to Zenos...”

“Confess?” Zenos asked, cocking his head. “What’s this about?”

“Oh, um, well, it’s...” Lily stammered, waving her hands and turning bright red.

Carmilla bent down to pick up the discarded dice with another chuckle. “What a wondrous competitor you were, Lily,” she said with a proud smile as if to extol the girl’s valiant efforts. “I didn’t even need to lend you a hand.”

“Oh, Carmilla!” Lily exclaimed, moved.

Then, the wraith tossed the dice back into their original tray. The five dice tumbled around and eventually all settled with 1s facing up.

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Everyone stood there dumbfounded. Even Carmilla herself let out a gasp of surprise.

“Uhh...” the host Zonde began in confusion. “So, the winner is actually this translucent lady who just scored ten thousand points, Carmilla.”

Strange half sighs, half cheers rose from the crowd.

The women shrugged, smiling awkwardly. “This is what happens when you make up weird rules, Lynga,” Zophia said.

“I didn’t think anyone would actually roll all 1s without cheating,” Lynga protested.

“What was the point of our epic battle, then?” Loewe muttered.

“I think maybe that’s for the best for me,” Lily said, somewhat relieved. “My heart isn’t ready yet.”

Carmilla, when asked what she wanted for her prize, shouted with a hint of desperation, “Liquor! Bring me booze!”

***

The riveting competition had ended unexpectedly, and the rest of the night was spent leisurely enjoying the festival. Zenos and Lily were at one of the stalls lined up along the main street, munching on skewers to the sound of the lively festival music.

“Come to think of it,” Zenos said, “where did the winner of the games go?”

“Carmilla said she was attracting too much attention and went home.”

“Bit late for that, but all right...”

Most of the festival attendees were regulars at the clinic, so very few would’ve been meeting the wraith for the first time. Either way, it seemed she had indeed taken home her prize of fine liquor.

“Having fun, doc?” Zophia asked as she approached him with the other demi-human leaders in tow before circling him.

“Yeah. Thanks to you,” Zenos replied.

The women sighed as they looked up at the night sky. “To think Carmilla would actually win, though...” the lizardwoman said.

“I sure regret making up that one rule,” the werewolf lamented.