One Truth of the World
One Truth of the World
Taking a corner-dwelling mage hostage won't fetch much of a ransom, but taking a noble one will. And that's why nobles always bring guardian knights along.
I smiled awkwardly and pulled my eyes away from the woman arranging the pieces to glance at the man standing behind her. Brown hair and brown eyes. The most common hair and eye color in the empire, exactly like the woman's. Only the man's were real, while hers was a disguise. She must have used some magic tool.
Who was she, to go around in disguise and keep showing up at the chess club? The young lady of a marquis household? Or a ducal one? She could be an imperial princess, but I doubted it. Anyone who knew the imperial family understood how busy they were. They received education twenty-four hours a day. They had no free time to play around in a place like this. Of course I didn't know for certain, but they were the imperial family. My guess had to be right.
Anyway. If the woman in front of me really was the daughter of a high-ranking noble, I had committed quite the discourtesy. It was fine while she was disguised, of course, but grudges formed regardless of costumes, didn't they? I needed to manage the risk.
I opened my mouth. “Shall we play a game?”
“Sure.”
The disguised young lady moved the pawn at the very end two squares forward. Royal Gambit. It was the opening that evolved the strongest piece, the Royal Knight, faster than any other.
So you're that type too? The same opening the young master from Shade Grafton enjoyed. In that case…
I moved the pawn in front of my assassin one square forward. Phantom Attack. An extremely light and aggressive opening. Its high loss rate made it unstable, so it usually looked weak against solid, safe openings.
Yes. In other words, it had a terrible matchup against the Royal Gambit, which quietly evolved the Royal Knight before landing one massive blow.
Entertainment chess. The art of playing while appropriately holding back against important people. The key was making sure your opponent never realized you were holding back, and that required precise adjustment.
In my case, I preferred to pick a disadvantageous opening and then only make ordinary moves. The important part was immersion. I had to method-act so convincingly that it looked like I truly could only come up with ordinary moves, or the other party wouldn't enjoy it.
When I threw away my armor and picked up nothing but a dagger, the disguised young lady happily built up her castle walls. I charged straight at them. Recklessly, like a berserker.
The result came quickly. Obviously.
My assassin butchered the disguised young lady's king.
“A chess berserker.”
“She really does play exactly like she looks.”
Listening to the murmurs around me, I calmly ordered some honey wine.
A variable had appeared. My method acting had been perfect. I really had only made utterly ordinary moves. The disguised young lady simply couldn't withstand those utterly ordinary moves.
I'd have to dial it down a little more.
I asked calmly, “Shall we play another round?”
If it ended here, the disguised young lady would leave the chess club carrying only the memory of defeat. That would be the opposite of my goal to erase the grudge risk.
Determined to give her a pleasant victory, I suggested another game. The disguised young lady nodded.
This time she used the Knight Game. The most standard of standard openings. I responded with Magician Defense. As the name suggested, it was a defensive opening, but the magician piece itself was weak against knights. It usually collapsed without holding up against a knight's assault.
The disguised young lady knew that too, so she developed her knights in textbook fashion. I also set up a standard defensive formation.
And then.
My magician burned the disguised young lady's king to death.
“That notation needs to be recorded in history!”
“Sacrificing the fully evolved magician to checkmate with a regular magician!”
Strange. Why had I won again? I was certain I'd only made ordinary moves. Did I need to lower my level even further?
The disguised young lady's breathing grew rough. She was clearly excited at the prospect of summoning an assassin to slit my throat immediately.
No. At this rate I'd die before learning all the magic.
“Let's play one more game?”
“Sure.”
The disguised young lady steadied her breathing and chose the Magician Game. She seemed to like standard openings quite a lot, whether Knight Game or Magician Game.
I responded by moving the end pawn two squares forward. Royal Gambit. An opening with a bad matchup against the late-game-oriented Magician Game.
Now I'll definitely lose!
“That young lady deliberately picks bad matchups and then beats her opponent senseless without giving them room to breathe!”
“The devil of chess!”
“She's a monster!”
I'll let the spectators' reactions replace any direct description of the game's result.
To be honest, my entertainment chess had never gone well. My method acting was flawless, yet the opponent always lost. Still, after growing stronger through training with Kelton, I thought it might work this time. Another failure. What a shame.
“Still, I was right, wasn't I?”
When I smiled and spoke, the disguised young lady trembled as if she'd realized the truth, then answered in a low voice.
“You're a woman too.”
“I'm the greatest chess player in history, one who has transcended gender. The rule is to exclude irregulars from the sample.”
“What's your name?”
“It's Jinx.”
The reason she was digging into my identity here was obvious. She wanted to send an assassin after me. So I gave her a suitable alias. It was the name of a famous game character from my previous life; if she wanted to kill me, she'd have to cross dimensions.
“Miss. That person is Ruina.”
But the man standing behind her interrupted right after. The disguised young lady blinked.
“Lady Ruina?”
“Yes. The protagonist of the recent rumors.”
“Ah! The one who fought the priest of the evil god!”
“More precisely, the disciple of the magician who fought the priest of the evil god.”
“Not disciple. Friend. And I fought too.”
By the way, how did he know my name?
To my silent question, the man narrowed his eyes sharply and said, “Because you sold hot spring water while performing in a play.”
Chris's one-woman show must have played a big part. As expected of someone with the qualities of a master merchant, she had many minor talents. One of them was acting, something you really had to see in person. It had to be good for even me—who had lived through the actual events—to watch the play with genuine interest. Though I was mostly entertained because the adaptation had changed it into an entirely different story. Still, her acting was excellent. Moving on.
“Lady Ruina?”
“Speak freely.”
“Why did you use a fake name?”
“I have a habit of using pseudonyms.”
“I see.”
At my honest answer, the disguised young lady fiddled with the chess pieces. That hesitant gesture reminded me of the past. Not just this life, but my previous one. It was the reaction you saw in school, especially after class changes. The moment when someone wanted to make friends but didn't know how, when they were still pondering the very definition of friendship.
Maybe I was wrong. It wasn't as if I'd experienced it myself. I had usually taken the role of secretly observing everything from further back than people like that. Come to think of it, wouldn't I have suited being an assassin more than a magician? Though I still would have learned magic anyway.
Fixing that state was easy. I extended my hand and said, “Still, it was fun. Let's play chess again sometime.”
“...Yes. It was fun for me too. My name is Tasia.”
I'd thought it was a pseudonym, but the way the attendant behind her flinched suggested it was her real name.
I waited for the gentlemen around us to react. But none of them exclaimed anything like “Tasia of the so-and-so family?!” They didn't know who she was.
Was she not as high-ranking as I'd assumed? It didn't really matter, but it felt strangely anticlimactic. Too bad.
I stared at Tasia as she left the club with an excited expression, then put a pipe to my lips.
To still want to be friends after treatment like that. Her tastes really were quite unique.
After blowing smoke toward the ceiling, I asked slowly, “So, is there a next person?”
“Miss. Ah… Lady Tasia. What are you thinking?”
Haze stuck close to Tasia's side and whispered softly. Tasia walked along the street, murmuring in a pleasant voice.
“Haze. Did you know? Ruina thought I was the daughter of a high-ranking noble.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You could tell from her reaction. Yet she still acted that way. Isn't it interesting?”
“Haa.”
Haze let out a long sigh. Maybe it was because she'd been locked away in the annex since childhood. Tasia had developed quite a twisted set of tastes. This was one of the traces.
“Lady Tasia. Do you know the saying about flame mages?”
“That a burned flame mage has lost their mind, so beware?”
“That's a saying for those with burns on their hands or arms. Full-body burns like that woman are excluded from the start.”
“Her chess skill is excluded, her burns are excluded. Ruina is just… exceptional.”
Having already grown interested, every word about Ruina sounded positive to Tasia. Once she reached this state, no one could stop her.
It was hopeless. Haze shook his head and spoke.
“Please at least recognize that the current atmosphere is far from ordinary.”
“I know that too, Haze. That's why this is my last outing.”
Tasia glanced back at the chess club once, then started walking again.
“Haze.”
“Yes.”
“Let's return to the imperial palace.”
“Lady Ruina. It seems we've located the Holy Grail.”
“Is that true?”
I paused with bread halfway stuffed into my mouth, genuinely surprised. I hadn't expected him to actually track down its whereabouts.
Leon sat down and continued.
“However, if the rumor is accurate, it already has an owner.”
“I figured as much. Who is the owner?”
When I asked out of curiosity, Leon gulped down the milk on the table and murmured in a low voice.
“The second prince, Isaac Eternum.”