The World Controlled By Dice Chapter 6

Translator: Endless Veil                  

Editor/Proofreader: NONE, so comment section

 

Chapter 6:  The Arrangements of Time

There were a total of three rooms on the second floor of 13 Milford Street.

Siles rented the easternmost room.

He didn't remember much about the neighbors living on the second floor. He only knew that a man in his thirties lived in the western room, and a young couple who went out early and came back late and rarely made any noise lived in the center room.

Currently, the person he met by chance was the man in the western room.

He hadn't seen this neighbor since he had become Siles the night before, but at first glance, this man looked very conspicuous.

He was wearing an exotic red orange cape with a pretty, colorful feather pinned at its collar. He also wore an exaggerated top hat, and a pair of pointed boots.

Around his waist hung a belt of tusks, rings, feathers, and bones, and beneath his cloak, each of the belt's ornaments made a clear ringing sound.

His face was painted, especially around the eyes, to an excessive degree that he could've gone straight to a masquerade ball. The red, orange, white, and purple paint made the man look like a child who had knocked over a paint tray.

Siles couldn't help but halt for a moment, and then nodded politely as a greeting.

The neighbor, who was dressed strangely, coughed subconsciously, and then said nonchalantly, "I'm not going to do anything bad." 

Siles remained silent.

The man suddenly grew even more awkward.

At last, he stammered to explain why he was dressed like this: "I'm a folklorist! You know, with the development of the Land of No Embers, the Principality of Const has established stable communication channels with increasingly more countries."

"The customs and habits of those countries are quite different from those of the Principality of Const. I'm going to attend an exchange meeting later, so I'm following their local customs and dressing like this."

"It's strange though, isn't it? That's just how people dress in those places."

From the man's explanation, Siles understood why he was dressed like that. 

Folklore… Siles nodded thoughtfully.

In the history of this world, the current era was called the "Age of Mist". The "Mist" in this name covered a large area of ​​land in the world of Fissure, and these places were called the "Land of No Embers".

The Land of No Embers was a barren land shrouded in layers of black and gray fog. The fog also barred communication channels between the countries in this world.

Countless countries, tribes, and villages could only live in isolation from the outside world. That was, until a few hundred years ago, the fog in the Land of No Embers began to fade away. Since then, the development of the Land of No Embers and the exchanges with other countries were put on the agenda.

Now, there were many lands in the Land of No Embers that were no longer covered by the fog. These lands were called the Withered Wastelands, because they were indeed endless, barren and yellow plains.

During the land development of the Land of No Embers, related disciplines such as folklore, which studied the culture of one's own country and other countries, naturally emerged.

Siles believed the man's words, but still had a few qualms.

The man seemed to be unaware and simply introduced himself, "My name is Alfonso Carlyle. We've been neighbors for a while, but we still don't know each other's names."

Siles nodded and said, "Siles Noël."

The folklorist dressed in gaudy clothes nodded at him, then said he was pressed for time, and left in a hurry.

Siles watched his back as he left, then calmly withdrew his gaze and returned to his room.

He put the umbrella at the door, placed the manuscript on the desk, and took out the wallet, dice, pocket watch, paper and pen from his coat. Then he took off his coat and silently sat on the sofa for a while.

The information about the Revelators were beyond his expectations. He didn't expect that he could come into contact with the supernatural powers of this world in such a short time.

A coincidence?

His eyes lingered on the die on the desk.

After a short while, he stood up and went to the washroom to take a hot shower. It was still drizzling outside, which made Siles feel comfortable when he returned to the warm and dry room.

He was very hungry, so he chewed on his bread while wiping his hair. He wanted to drink some hot soup at this time, but there were no ingredients. He told himself to visit Logan Market to buy some fresh ingredients tomorrow.

There was no kitchen in the apartment, but the first floor of 13 Milford Street was the residence of Mrs. Finn and her family. When Mrs. Finn didn't use the kitchen, the tenants could cook in the kitchen by themselves, but they had to clean the kitchen afterwards.

Shortly, Siles finished the bread and his hair was almost wiped dry. He changed into simple pajamas, feeling that the sticky rainwater had finally left his body.

But it couldn't be helped. The weather in Lamifa City at the end of July every year was like this. Not only did it not contain the warmth of summer, it was also gloomy and cold. When August arrived, it was another extreme. The sun was so bright that it had almost burnt a hole into the earth.

By the end of October, the weather was wet, cold and rainy again. But at that time, there was a holiday lasting for more than two weeks.

People called it winter vacation, because after this vacation, Lamifa would usher in a long winter. However, there were also people who called this vacation a rainy vacation, because the rain at that time was extremely abundant.

Today was July 24, Monday.

Lamifa University started school on the first Monday of August, which happened to be August 1st this year.

The calendar of this world was similar to that of earth. There were twelve months in a year, thirty days in each month, and seven days in a week. However, when it comes to festivals and holidays, it was very different from that of earth.

The academic system of Lamifa University held three semesters a year. The first semester was from August to the end of October, followed by a two-week winter vacation; if the rainy season was long, the winter vacation would also be extended accordingly.

The second semester was from early November to February of the following year, and there would be a one-month spring break at the end of February. The concept was the same as the winter break. Spring break was a holiday to welcome the arrival of spring.

The third semester was from the end of March to the beginning of July. Generally speaking, the annual exams would be held in the first week of July, and then there would be a three-week holiday, which was called the summer holiday—or the rain holiday of July.

Every year, graduates would get off school earlier, so they had enough time to find a job.

When Siles was a student at Lamifa University, he was already plenty familiar with this school system. But when he became a professor, things became much more complicated.

He now had to agonize over his lesson plans in the last week of July.

The university required him to offer two public elective courses and two professional elective courses. The former spanned the first and second semesters, and the latter had one course in the first two semesters and one course in the third semester.

The third semester's elective course was alright, but the two public electives and one professional elective were already imminent, and he had to face the students in a week.

Siles sighed imperceptibly.

He quickly calculated his next week's schedule—he had to go to the Historical Society on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons; he had to move out and organize his office on Sunday. In other words, he still had a full Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

In addition, he might also have to examine the textbooks and book list for the students, as well as be mentally prepared to deal with mentees who weren't sure of their specific majors and research topics.

...It was really rushed.

He lowered his eyes and wrote the names of his courses on the draft paper: "A Literature Overview from the Age of Divine Genesis to the Age of Mist", "An Appreciation of the Literature of the Age of Silence", "Literature of the Age of Silence and Its Theoretical Evolution—Taking the Three Famous Authors of the Age of Silence as Examples."

The first two were public electives, and the latter was a special elective for the first two semesters.

Overall, it was still a consistent and increasingly in-depth course. He could prepare for the three courses together.

Finally, he drew a line under three phrases: Age of Divine Genesis, Age of Silence, and Age of Mist.

The Age of Divine Genesis was the first historical period of this world recorded from history. According to legends, this was the period of the birth of gods.

After the birth of gods was the birth of man. People believed in and worshiped the existence of gods, so the second historical period was called the Age of Faith.

Human civilization gradually prospered, established empires, increased production. Several empires fought each other, conquered each other, and the gods also stayed behind the scenes to support their believers. The third historical period was called the Age of Empires. This was a long and glorious era.

The fourth historical period was a mysterious one. There were not many records left today, and most of them were vague and secretive. People called it the Age of Shadows based on the records of some archives and manuscripts. It was indeed an era hidden behind the shadows.

After the Age of Shadows, humans and gods seemed to have entered a stage of extreme decline. In the fifth historical period, gods fell one after another, the continent became shrouded by fog, empires were torn apart, and people grew isolated from the world. This was the Age of Silence, a period filled with confusion and deathly silence.

After the fifth historical period, humans in the sixth historical period rested and recuperated. The God of the Past and History appeared, and people lived and developed under the protection of god again, extending their sphere of influence to the Land of No Embers.

The dividing wall between the Age of Silence and the Age of Mist was the appearance of Antinum.

This god was the only one left now, and was also considered the patron saint of mankind. He existed, and protected mankind in some way.

Thinking of the pattern and symbol of the eyes on the door, Siles couldn't help but wonder, was this God of the Past and History the source of the power of the Revelators? Or should it be said that He actively gave power to the Revelators?

After thinking for a while, Siles shook his head. There were still too few clues.

He decided to stop thinking about it, and looked at the names of the several courses he wrote on the draft paper. After some pondering, he opened the manuscripts he took from Professor Cabell's office.

Some of them were organized and belonged to the course teaching plan. Siles was lucky to find the complete syllabus and lesson plans for the course "Literary Overview from the Age of Divine Genesis to the Age of Mist" in it.

He immediately put it aside neatly, intending to take a closer look later.

He continued to flip through the materials and found some scattered notes and lesson plans. However, he still grew a headache when he found that he might have to integrate the materials and book lists himself, and then prepare for the two courses related to the Age of Silence.

Fortunately, that was what Siles' major focused on.

He took out the useful portions and put them aside, intending to look for his school notes tomorrow and sort out the general framework of the two courses.

He remembered that he had taken Professor Cabell's elective course. But he couldn't completely copy Professor Cabell's original class. That would be too inappropriate.

While thinking, Siles pulled out a manuscript.

He lowered his eyes and took a look, and then suddenly froze. It was because he found that the contents of this manuscript seemed to have nothing to do with the contents of Professor Cabell's classes.

This looked like something that Professor Cabell wrote casually. At a rough glance, he could see words like "madness" and "shadow."

Thinking of the mysterious fourth historical period, the Age of Shadows, Siles became a little interested in the contents of the manuscript.