1. It's Just a Game
"Feeling a bit calmer now?"
"...I apologize, my lord. I seem to have gotten a little carried away."
"I-I'm sorry, my lord........."
By the time the round was over, the table looked like a battlefield. There were a full five bells the old man had crushed in his fist, the cards were a hopeless jumble thanks to Sally slinging spells left and right, and the table itself had been split nearly in two by the sheer violence of their play.
The cards had been made of paper to begin with, so finding a single one still intact was practically its own challenge.
At my knowing gaze, the old man and Sally both glanced guiltily away. Very well done, indeed.
"Don't forget—this is just a board game we play for fun."
"Our sincerest apologies."
"I'm sorry........."
"Well, anyway."
The shattered table and the demolished bells weren't really the important thing. If anything, the fact that they'd gotten that invested was proof of just how fun the game was.
"So... Kylegalli. What did you think?"
"...Considerably well made."
"I-It was really fun!"
Naturally—it was a board game built to provoke raw, primal competitiveness.
Unlike the many strategy-based board games out there, Halli Galli demanded nothing but your reflexes and your wits. Your reactions might be slow the first time you play, but it's one of those games where the more you play, the better you get.
On top of that, everyone scrambles for the same single bell, so hands collide and bodies crash into each other almost by design. Add in the fact that you watch yourself lose right before your eyes, again and again, with every physical impact, and even the mildest person's competitive fire starts to burn.
And since the win condition—collecting cards—lets everyone see at a glance who holds how many, it's immediately obvious who's winning and who's losing.
Its reputation as the best game to play with friends—and the best game to destroy friendships among those friends—was not earned by accident.
"Grandfather, this much should be fine to enjoy, right?"
"Of course. Even the head of the house will have no complaints about this one, my lord."
"Good to hear. Sally, sorry to trouble you, but could you grab more bells? Let's play again."
"Yes, sir! Right away!"
"And this time, no aura or magic. You know the reason why?"
".........Yes, my lord."
"Yes........."
It was fine for the two of them to have their fun, but I should get a turn in too, shouldn't I?
I smiled brightly at the old man and Sally, who had gone slightly sullen. At that moment, at least, I believed—
—that this game would stay something the three of us enjoyed together. Just as it always had.
"Hehehe........."
"Sally? Sally!"
"Huh!? Wh-What?"
"Snap out of it, Sally. It's almost time to sleep—quit grinning to yourself."
This was the annex where the house's maids lived. While some of the servants commuted from their own homes, the maids and butlers who had to start work before dawn often stayed in a separate building within the estate, set aside just for them.
And naturally, such places developed their own atmosphere and customs.
Hazing rituals for newcomers, gossip, factions, bullying—the whole assortment.
Even in that place, Sally was a seasoned senior maid—a strange creature who took magic lessons from the family's mage yet still insisted on living in the annex. She could have lived as the family's exclusive mage if she'd wanted to, but she stubbornly held on to her position as a maid.
And of course, everyone here knew exactly why.
"Senior Sally, thinking about Lord Kyle again?"
"Wha—!? N-Never!"
"Yeah, right, 'never.' Sally, are you still dreaming? You really think Lord Kyle would ever notice you?"
"...B-Being beside him is enough........."
"There she goes. Yeah, right, like that's satisfying."
Sally whipped her head away from her smirking fellow maid and buried her face in her pillow. But the maids were already deep into the topic of Sally and Kyle.
"Senior Sally is honestly frustrating to watch. How long has it been now?"
"Ten years. That's about when Lord Kyle brought that little runt home."
"Oh right, Sally came from an orphanage, didn't she?"
"You're an orphan too, so don't talk. It sounds weird when you say it like that."
"So what? Orphans are the only ones allowed to tease each other about being orphans. Anyway, so she's been working as Lord Kyle's exclusive maid for ten years?"
"That's about it. She got reassigned once, but she bawled her eyes out until she suddenly learned magic and came back as his exclusive, bodyguard duties included."
"Wow........."
Pretending not to hear, Sally kept her face buried while the maids chattered on. The topic drifted naturally from Sally to Kyle himself.
"Lord Kyle is so wonderful. Handsome, kind, never loses his temper. Sometimes I wish the second young lord would take after him a little."
"Did you forget the dice gambling incident a few years back? The second young lord lost his entire allowance over that, and that's what caused it all."
"Oh........."
"Whatever, I'm just jealous of Sally. If you're Lord Kyle's exclusive maid, that's gotta be so much fun!"
"Fun? What do you mean?"
"You still don't know? Why Head Butler Charles always stays by Lord Kyle's side? He's the third son, so he doesn't have any particular duties, and he mostly spends his time at the mansion playing games. If you work at his side, you could spend your whole day playing games. Best job ever."
"Really.........? Senior Sally, that's so unfair!"
"Hearing that does kind of piss me off. While we're all run ragged working, Sally's just playing board games with a handsome young lord, huh?"
Zap.
Struck by the red-hot truth, the maids' eyes all converged on Sally. Cold sweat trickled down the neck of the "sleeping" Sally.
She was one of the most senior maids in the annex, after all, so the only maid of matching rank stepped forward as their representative.
"Sally."
"I-I'm sleeping........."
"Sally."
"I said I'm sleeping........."
"I'm not trying to take your exclusive maid position away. But you could at least rotate it a day at a time, right? Don't you think?"
"IIIIII CAAAAN'T HEEEAAAR YOOOOU........."
"Shall we go make a direct request to Lord Kyle, then?"
"U-Uuuh.........! You.........!!"
The moment Kyle's name actually came up, Sally could no longer hold out. If it was the young lord she knew, he'd be happy to trade a day here and there and tell her to rest up in the meantime.
For Sally, being beside Kyle was her rest—but if she'd had the courage to say that out loud, she wouldn't have spent ten years like this.
If only to never be separated from Kyle, she needed to draw a firm line here.
"Ab-Absolutely not! I'm his bodyguard mage, and by rights the young lord's side is my—"
"Head Butler Charles is already there anyway. Who's going to beat him?"
"Uuu........."
"Besides, we might make Lord Kyle even happier than you do! He has to get bored playing board games with only you, right? Don't you think?"
".........Board games?"
"Huh?"
"Th-That's it.........! Fine! I-If any of you can beat me even once at a board game!!"
"If we win?"
".........I'll, I'll, I'll g-give up......... the exclusive position!!"
"Oh?"
At this unexpected harvest, her fellow maid's eyes lit up. Who would have thought that Sally, of all people—this hopeless devotee of her young lord—would actually go that far?
If they lost even once, they'd have to swallow bitter tears and back down, but if the maids gathered here could defeat her completely, no objections would ever be raised again.
For Sally, it was a do-or-die gamble—and for the other maids, it was hardly any different.
The only nagging question was why Sally would propose such a wager in the first place.
'Well, there's no way we won't win a single game, right?'
And so the maids' thoughts converged on a single point: a vague confidence that not one of the more than ten maids gathered here could possibly lose.
Exchanging glances, the representative maid gave a firm nod.
"Deal. We just need to grab that game board, right?"
The game where you move pieces across the board to capture the opponent's king—the game Lord Kyle had called chess.
That was the board the maid was about to fetch—
"N-No......... wait."
"Huh? What else is there?"
".........Kylegalli."
"Kyle......... what?"
Flustered for a moment by the name she knew all too well, Sally rummaged through her personal belongings and pulled out a single bell of the kind used in the dining hall, along with a stack of cards.
New cards, made to replace the ones she and Head Butler Charles had reduced to tatters in their games. They were things Kyle had entrusted to her personally, so Sally drew them out with the utmost care.
"What's this?"
"A game Lord Kyle......... m-made himself."
"Huh? The young lord made it? Seriously?"
"I-If it's this, you won't have any complaints, right?"
"Of course not, but........."
Remembering the dice incident from years ago, her fellow maid couldn't help but frown slightly.
If this went wrong, wouldn't it be the maids—not the knights—who fell into gambling this time?
Even under that suspicious gaze, Sally looked rather confident.
"J-Just try it! You'll understand once you play!"
"Uh, sure........."
Hm, as long as it's not gambling, it should at least make a decent way to kill time.
It wasn't chess, but as long as it was reasonably fun, it would do fine.
Thinking this, the maid set her bell down on the floor.
"Just so we're clear—it can't take too long? I have morning cleaning tomorrow."
"D-Don't worry!"
"Right. Well then."
"Seniors only—game on!"
"Let's just watch first for now. Study it well and get ready to beat Sally."
"Kylegalli.........? A game with the young lord's name in it?"
Well, even if I lost, it'd be fine as long as one of the remaining maids won.
For now, might as well enjoy it lightly.
".........Kyle, you understand why I've called you here."
".........Yes, Father."
The main hall of the mansion—specifically, the head of the house's study on its topmost floor.
A place where, under normal circumstances, only Father, my eldest brother, and the family's closest retainers could set foot. To be summoned there after so long could only mean one thing, and knowing it wasn't good, I couldn't stop the cold sweat from running down my back.
Me, hands clasped behind me, trembling with anxiety—and Father, seated at his desk with a stern expression. William Byron, head of House Byron.
"Today, your exclusive maid, along with fourteen maids including the senior maid directly under the head maid, were late. All of them. At once."
"........."
"The lateness itself is no great matter. There were no distinguished guests, and they were hardly the only servants working. An hour's delay—a small incident, easily closed. However."
Click.
From a drawer, William produced a slightly crumpled bell—and a stack of cards that had evidently seen some very rough treatment.
He set them down on the desk.
"As I heard the reason for their lateness, an interesting object came to light."
".........That would be."
"Kylegalli."
"........."
"I'm told it's a board game you created, Kyle."
".........That is correct."
"And this as well—I believe this was one of your creations."
Rattle.
From the same drawer, he produced five dice and rolled them across the desk.
The very dice that had been taboo within the family ever since the knights' gambling was exposed years ago.
"I've already heard it from Charles. Even so, hearing it from your own mouth is best."
".........Yes."
"Then explain. Kyle."
"........."
"And if that explanation proves improper, or insufficient."
A good father—but also, at the same time, a coldly clear-headed head of the house. That was William.
My father, who viewed board games themselves no more favorably than my second brother did, was now flashing a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
"Board games will be banned from this household."
.........For the sake of my boredom, my hobbies, and my future.
I had to find a way out of this.
No matter what.