“In case you didn’t notice, there were initially only two gradients of yellow. I observed all the colors and their positions when we saw the wheel.”

“E-eh…?”

This was news to Ivan. He thought the wheel had always been like that. How come she noticed something like that?

“After Edward spun the wheel and vanished, an extra one appeared. My theory is that due to our error in picking the ‘wrong’ color, an extra ‘right’ color appeared to make things easier. These serve two goals.”

Lemi faced Ivan, who was downright flabbergasted by Lemi’s reasoning.

“One is to give us a clue for which color is correct. The other is to make the next person who tries to spin the wheel have a better chance at getting the right color.”

Since there were currently three yellow colored gradients, and nineteen with other colors, there was a greater likelihood to score yellow than the previous round when only two yellow gradients existed.

Extrapolating these scenarios, alongside another ongoing investigation of hers, Lemi was almost sure she was on the right track.

“There’s more to understand, but… this could work.”

*

*

*

As Ivan listened more to Lemi explain, he began to realize just how short sighted he had been.

From the very beginning, the girl had been thinking of solutions to the problem, rather than simply avoiding it.

Sure, she was a bit rash in her actions, but her choices simply led to more discovery that she was using to further investigate their situation.

‘Unlike me, who was panicking about Edward’s disappearance, she simply focused on the task…’

“Edward will be fine. He’s tough. Besides, he was a necessary sacrifice. If he didn’t spin the wheel, I wouldn’t have known so much.”

It sounded cold blooded, but Lemi was just being rational. She unapologetically continued her task of investigation.

“Alright. I think I have it all figured out. From what my Automaton has analyzed from this foreign language, there seems to be a common denominator among the darker colors.”

The Automaton used Light Magic to project what she meant so Ivan could understand what she was referring to.

“A-ah…?” The boy didn’t understand though.

“I’m trying to extrapolate the language and understand the underlying principle here. Look above, there’s a board above the wheel. If I assume that the letters there read ‘Spinning Wheel’ or at least something in that respect, I can check for similarities in the respective gradients.”

Ivan was slowly comprehending.

“The Gradients have letters written within the colored gradient and above them too. The ones within are most likely the name of the colors, while the one above state something else. I was trying to understand what they state.”

“And? Dis you get a good idea?” Ivan found himself somewhat excited.

All of this was new to him, but he couldn’t deny that he was enjoying the new knowledge.

“Sadly, not exactly. There’s so much to decipher, and since I’m using inductive logic, there’s a chance that my conclusion could be wrong. There just isn’t enough information or enough time.”

“Ah, I see…” Ivan muttered.

“I did find a common denominator among the darker colors, and also some similarities among the other colors. Guess what? None of those have any similarity to the color yellow. I think it’s safe to assume that Yellow is the safe color.”

“A-ah, I thought you had already established that…” Ivan chuckled a little

“Are you crazy? Do you think I would just blindly follow one approach without cross referencing with another source of evidence?” Lemi suddenly shouted, causing the boy beside her to jerk back.

‘I didn’t know she could be this serious… damn…’ Ivan’s thoughts trailed.

“My bad.”

“It’s fine. As I was saying, with the two tests I devised, I’m almost certain that this is correct. There’s a chance of failure, so I can’t be a hundred percent sure.”

“T-then, how many percent?”

“About sixty. But if you add my gut feeling, and the fact that we don’t exactly have a choice… it skyrockets to ninety nine.”

Ivan sensed some weird logic behind Lemi’s last statement, considering she just mentioned stuff about not leaving anything to chance. Still, his trust in her analysis made it impossible to doubt her.

“Let’s give it a try then.”

“Thank you. Now spin the wheel.” She smiled.

“E-eh?” Ivan stopped dead in his tracks and glanced at the Half Elf.

For a moment, silence took charge. Millions of thoughts coursed through his head as he wondered the reason behind her suggestion.

“You heard me, Ivan. Spin the wheel.” Her grin grew broader.

“B-but why? There’s no telling if it’ll end up getting the desired results. The odds are still overwhelmingly high and—”

“Do you trust me, Ivan?”

“W-well…”

“There’s no time.for hesitation, Ivan. I have a reason behind everything I do. I know you wish you had Jared here with you, bit guess what? I’m not him! Even if he were here, do you think he’ll explain every single thing to you? No, I doubt it. Yet, I’m almost certain you’ll follow his instructions anyway.”

“H-hold on, I—”

“I don’t have the time to explore every single reason behind my decisions. Edward understood that, and he listened. So… what will it be?”

Ivan was stunned beyond words. Faces with the serious stare of his colleague, he only had to choose what decision to take.

The boy found himself swallowing his saliva.

“One question. If I do this… will it add to the probability of winning?”

“Yes.”

Ivan sighed, gulping once more as he did what he was told.

“This better work.” He murmured, spinning the wheel in front of him.

>WHIIIIIIRRRRRRR<

The mechanism began rotating, and all eyes were on the object.

“Please work. Please work. Please work.” Ivan begged and prayed.

He wondered why Lemi was so clam when the stakes were so high. Was she so confident of their victory.

“There’s no need to beg or pray. The odds are against you. You’ll most likely lose.”