Chapter 223
Chapter 223
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: Shura Field (3)
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I grab the cover of the board game, feeling like I'm opening Pandora's box.
Either way, no matter how much we hem and haw, it's clear we don't have many options here.
If this gathering—supposedly brought together because a board game felt awkward—falls apart, the atmosphere that follows would undoubtedly turn into something I don't even want to imagine.
"...I'll do it?"
"...Well, uh. Yeah."
"...Woo, this'll be fun."
Hearing those soulless responses one after another, I open the cover with the bitter taste of having to eat my words.
Soon, two simple six-sided dice, character cards, and the main board are neatly set up.
The victory condition is a straightforward system: be the first to accumulate a certain amount of money or romance points. Nothing hard to understand.
Under my reluctant guidance as the makeshift game master, everyone draws a character card.
Cards made of magic stones are distributed one to each person. The moment they pick them up, strings of text detailing their character info float up above them.
At the same time, virtual pieces resembling each of us pop up on the board.
'...Oh.'
It even replicates this.
Tech in this world really is something else sometimes.
High-tech stuff pops out of nowhere in the most unexpected places.
"Uh, we should probably introduce our character cards first. Elnor, you start."
"...I suppose. My character is—"
Elnor's expression crumples in an instant.
"...a bride on her honeymoon with a philandering husband."
"..."
A brief silence falls over the group, but I muster my unyielding willpower once more and force my mouth open.
"...Ah, is that so. Anyway, we need to roll the dice once to set our initial status."
"...Fine."
Elnor rolls the dice with movements somehow rougher than before, and the two cubes clatter across the table.
I check the numbers, then glance back at the rulebook.
"So, with that number..."
A constricting sensation grips my diaphragm.
But backing out now and showing I'm fazed by the content would probably make things worse. I squeeze my eyes shut and read it aloud.
"...Lately, we've been a bit neglectful toward each other. It's a crisis where my husband could be stolen by anyone at any time."
"..."
"..."
"...So, my character card is..."
Sensing the room might explode if I stop here, I push on with forced cheerfulness.
"Compared to other characters, it's easier to raise romance points. The setting is a playboy who attracts women without trying... though it doesn't really suit me..."
"..."
"..."
No physical force is exerted, but an intensity like my whole body might burst crashes over me.
"...I'll roll the dice."
So I shut up obediently and roll. The moment I open my mouth with something wrong, I feel like I might drop dead.
"Let's see, my status is... just a simple single. No special traits, always open to new encounters—"
(-Perfect status for a playboy.)
I ignore Beatrix's snickering whisper in my ear.
Why is her hatred meter for me so high?
[You think it'd be low?]
"..."
[Try denying it yourself if you can. You've seduced your best friend and a horde of women you can't even count on one hand—]
Shut up.
While Caliban yammers on, Eliya tilts her head at her character card after rolling her dice and asks me.
"Sir, is there a marriage system in this game?"
"Ah, it's here. Players can marry on certain spaces, and married players get double romance points?"
At those words, Eliya smirks. The kind that sends a chill through everyone present.
"My character can turn the man in a married couple into her subordinate. She's a seductress."
"..."
"Current status: enjoys breaking up existing couples. Welcomes any handsome man nearby—♥"
She winks at me as she says it.
"—that's what it says."
"..."
The way she switches expressions right after is pure serpentine slyness.
She's always had hints of this, but right now it feels like she's doing it on purpose to tease Elnor.
Sure enough, Elnor glares and opens her mouth the instant she sees it.
"Why read it with such flirtation?"
"I'm just reading what's written."
"...This isn't a joke. Do you really want to settle things with me here—"
"Beatrix, your introduction, please...!"
I divert attention before the suffocating tension escalates.
Seeing my desperate effort, Beatrix smirks and rolls her dice.
Nice try, it seems to say.
She scans her character card while rolling.
"Let's see, my status is..."
But.
The moment she reads her card, her smile vanishes.
"Beatrix?"
"..."
"What's wrong?"
"Uh, no, it's just..."
Elnor's eyes narrow at Beatrix's flustered stammering.
Before Beatrix can react, Elnor snatches the card.
"Elnor, w-wait!"
Her panicked voice is followed by Elnor's icy tone.
"The target is a single woman starving for marriage. She will definitely pair with any single man nearby."
"..."
Everyone's gazes fly to the board to confirm the single man near Beatrix's piece.
And then.
"...It's the teacher?"
Eliya speaks up, her expression as cold as Elnor's.
"So, you're married to the teacher and Beatrix?"
"..."
"And you ditched both me and the Student Council President?"
"..."
"..."
A far more apocalyptic silence descends.
In contrast, Caliban's infuriating laughter echoes from within my soul linker, like his lungs are bursting.
[How do you screw everything up like this?]
"..."
Agreed.
From the heart.
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Beatrix rolls the dice with a tense expression.
It's not her usual stiff face. It's on par with the near-death tightrope I've been walking all evening.
"Please be low, please be low, please be low..."
Muttering that, she tosses the two dice.
They clatter to a stop. Her anxious eyes scan the numbers.
Double sixes.
The maximum possible.
"..."
"..."
My face and hers sour simultaneously as our pieces on the board embrace, rubbing cheeks.
Beaming smiles plaster their faces, unlike our real selves.
Soon, my piece scoops Beatrix's up princess-style and tosses her onto a bed.
Then, cartoonish curtains draw with a whoosh—like built-in mosaics—and dozens of hearts cascade over the scene.
The board's narrator chimes in cheerfully.
[Such great marital harmony! They've had three kids in a row!]
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
[They receive congratulatory gifts from everyone! 'Dawood' and 'Beatrix's' love shines across the land! Currently in first place!]
I want to smash the board.
No joke—I want to flip the table and pretend this never happened.
My palms are already slick with sweat; now it's a flood.
Elnor and Eliya, staring at the board, are draining of color, their eyes dulling ominously.
As I glance around desperately, Eliya extends a few game-money tokens to me with dead eyes.
"...Congrats."
"..."
"..."
Beatrix and I swallow dryly and accept them. Then Eliya's head turns slightly.
"...Student Council President, you too."
"..."
At that, Elnor offers her gift with trembling hands. The token sliding across the table carries unmistakably tangled emotions.
And who could blame her.
Her fiancé marries her best friend, they're so compatible they pop out kids like rabbits, and she has to congratulate them. Even in a game, what woman could smile through that.
'...How did it come to this...!'
Truth be told, the vibe wasn't this terrifying at the game's start.
When the setups were revealed, Beatrix and I were on edge, but Elnor and Eliya barely reacted beyond initial annoyance.
Elnor even tried lightening the mood with untimely jokes.
Looking back, those jokes might've been her forcing levity to calm herself.
Not that it helped with what followed.
"My turn."
Elnor speaks in a voice like frost in midsummer and picks up the dice.
They roll, and her piece trots across the board to the space where mine and Beatrix's are tied.
[Contact with other pieces. Courtship request!]
On the board, my piece vigorously shakes its head at Elnor's, waiting outside with flowers.
[Courted the male, but thoroughly rejected! Instead, the couple's bond strengthens!]
"..."
With that, Beatrix's piece appears, mocking Elnor's weeping one with laughter.
The moment she sees it, a thick vein bulges on Elnor's forehead. Her eyes are bloodshot.
Beatrix's and my faces turn ashen.
"...Um, Elnor?"
I call out to her in a quavering voice.
"...Hm."
"I-It's just a game."
"...I don't care."
Liar. She's obsessed.
As Beatrix and I shiver, Eliya grips the dice with her still-dead eyes.
"...Hoo..."
She exhales deeply—not a sigh, more like venting steam to cool her boiling body.
"Here goes."
The dice clatter across the board again. Eliya's piece walks to the crowded space.
[Contact with other pieces. Courtship request!]
Same event as Elnor's.
Eliya's piece struts seductively toward mine, decked out head to toe—reflecting her seductress trait.
It blows a kiss and winks; my piece blushes momentarily. But spotting the ring, it closes its eyes and shakes its head.
[Seductress trait grants extra courtship bonus!]
[But the couple's harmony is too strong! Target 'Dawood' resists!]
[Roll dice to determine resistance success!]
The dice bounce toward me.
"..."
I roll with shaking hands.
Double ones.
[Resistance failed!]
"..."
[Target enters 'cheating' status. Wife hasn't noticed yet, but discovery will slash romance points!]
At those words, my board piece staggers drunkenly, slips off its ring, and pockets it.
Then it snuggles into smirking Eliya's arms. They kiss like star-crossed lovers—
"...Oh my."
Eliya blushes, a spark returning to her eyes.
"..."
"..."
Beatrix glares at me like trash, utterly repulsed.
This is bad too.
The table edge Elnor grips cracks with a grind. Uncontrollable tremors rack her body.
The game's Beatrix is the one betrayed, but the real one's far angrier.
Probably triggered by me removing the 'ring' and cheating with 'Eliya.'
"..."
No.
No, I didn't do it.
It's just the game animation.
I didn't...!
[...No one's buying it right now?]
"..."
[Hey, this game's fun. How long we playing?]
Amid Caliban's cheer and the grinding from Elnor's clenched teeth beside me.
I pray in a near-faint haze.
Please.
Let me survive this...!
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