Isaac looked at the dice on the table, then at Carlo across from him. "You... can reroll them?"
"Of course, but you have to pay a 'price.'" Carlo gathered the two dice in the middle of the table. "Your turn."
"Huh?" Isaac pointed at himself. "Me?"
"Did you think I wanted an employee just to help with odd jobs?" Carlo pushed the dice toward Isaac. "Hurry up. Don't waste time."
Isaac hesitated as he looked at the dice in front of him. "Is there no price for rolling these?"
"There is."
Isaac's gaze sharpened!
"Hey, hey, don't be so tense. You're making it sound like I'm trying to cheat you." Carlo waved a hand casually. "The price is the effort it takes to roll two dice."
Isaac said, "...Really?"
"Ah, since I'm the one using the ability, you'd still have doubts no matter how I explained it, wouldn't you?" Carlo shook his head. "So the easiest way is still-believe it or don't."
Isaac said, "..."
What was with this guy...? Though he wasn't wrong. In Isaac's current situation, he had no way to confirm whether Carlo's explanation was true.
But they couldn't stay at an impasse forever. Isaac thought for a moment, then said, "You can explain your ability to me. I'll judge for myself and take responsibility for my judgment."
Carlo nodded. "Not bad. You're not the kind of person I hate, so cautious that you can't make a decision. But you made one mistake."
"Hmm?"
"Asking about a superhuman's ability without permission is quite offensive."
"Uh." Isaac hadn't considered that. After all, information about superhumans was rarely made public. Most people only knew they existed and nothing more.
"Since I'm such a nice guy, I'll let it slide." Carlo leaned back in his chair. "I call my ability 'All Checks.' I can set a check value for a specified event and roll dice to make a check. For example, the die with indented numbers represents the tens digit, and the one with raised numbers represents the ones digit. As long as the final number is less than or equal to the check value, an event can happen no matter how ridiculous it is."
"That sounds... impressive." Isaac looked thoughtful.
Carlo smiled. "Are you wondering whether, since anything can be solved with a roll of the dice, I could bring the dead back to life or just make the whole world explode on the spot?"
Carlo had hit the mark. Isaac coughed. "There must be some limitations."
"There are a few main limitations." Carlo held up two fingers. "First, the difficulty of the check. The harder an event is to bring about, the lower the check value, with a minimum of zero."
"'Then couldn't I just roll two zeroes? After all, isn't zero the lowest number on the dice?' Unfortunately, no. Because no matter the event, rolling two zeroes counts as a critical failure. So an event with a check value of zero is beyond my ability."
Isaac understood. "In other words, your ability has to follow some framework of 'feasibility.'"
"You could put it that way. Of course, this 'feasibility' doesn't mean an event has to be able to occur under natural circumstances." Carlo continued, "The second limitation is the number of checks. I can only make one check for the same thing. If it fails, even if I describe it differently, as long as I know it points to the same result as the last one, I can't make another check."
"To get around that limitation, I either have to abandon my original goal and find a roundabout way to achieve it indirectly, or find someone else to help." Carlo spread his hands. "That's why I need employees. After all, it's more reassuring to use someone on my own side, and I won't have to go to the trouble of convincing him why he suddenly needs to roll dice."
Isaac understood why Carlo was hiring. The ability was powerful, but its limitations were just as obvious. Once a check failed, someone else had to take over the check, and that person needed to trust Carlo enough, or understand how the ability worked well enough. Otherwise, it would be difficult to cooperate in a crisis.
"In that case, couldn't you accomplish any event with a, um, nonzero check value, as long as you found enough people?" Isaac pondered.
"There's a third limitation." Carlo held up a third finger. "The person making the check must be an unbeliever."
Isaac was taken aback.
"Only by refusing to revere the gods can one master fate... Oh, that sounds so pretentious." Carlo lowered his hand. "Anyway, if you still have some great god in your heart, you can't take part in a check."
Isaac fell silent for a while. The vast majority of people were baptized by the local church at birth and followed its faith, even if they weren't particularly devout. Unbelievers were extremely rare and definitely unwelcome. Though he had no faith, he had pretended to be a follower of the Blackthorn Church in the past to avoid trouble.
"How did you know I..."
"Why, my powers of observation, of course. They're a point of pride for me." Carlo cut him off.
Isaac thought that Carlo clearly had no intention of giving him an honest answer, but everyone had their secrets.
"All right, then, the contract..." Isaac changed the subject.
Carlo pushed the dice toward Isaac. "Give it a try."
Isaac took a deep breath and gathered the dice in his palm. "Do I need to think of an event to check?"
"No. Only I can set the event. I already said it: 'Is it possible for the contract we're going to sign to appear directly on the table?' The check value is fifteen. Let's see how lucky you are. If your luck's bad, we'll have to make the trip."
Isaac took a deep breath, gathered the dice in his palm, and glanced at Carlo again. Carlo was holding his coffee cup and already acting as though it had nothing to do with him.
Isaac flicked his wrist, sending the two dice tumbling across the table. His eyes followed the spinning dark gold.
Isaac had no experience rolling dice, and the two dice didn't spin in sync. One spun rapidly at first, then gradually slowed, finally stopping on the indented one. The other kept rolling around and only stopped near the edge of the table, with the raised four facing up.
Fourteen.
Carlo glanced at it. "That was close. We almost had to make the trip."
Before Isaac could ask what the result meant, he froze. A document had appeared on the table between him and Carlo at some point.
"Employment agreement."
Although Isaac hadn't looked away, he hadn't noticed when the contract appeared on the table. Had it been the moment the dice stopped rolling?
In any case, the moment the dice stopped, the contract was lying there.