War of Words
After the break, I returned to my seat. In front of me was Jura, who was already sitting.
"The left will start first." (??)
Without saying words of greetings, I was unilaterally sentenced by the timekeeper.
"This is the third time I"ve been played. How annoying…"
Since she had moved her piece, I pointed my hand accordingly. After about fifteen moves, the battle situation was clear.
On the other side, it seemed that she was using the tactic of "Preparing Spear in exchange of Eagle King." The Eagle King unit made the same diagonal movements as in Shogi, but they had special characteristics.
It could jump over enemy and ally pieces, and could completely disregard the terrain called river that ran in the center and restricted the invasion.
"In my heart, I call it a sniper."
"Needless to say, this unit makes it easy to snipe the king. But since it will be a game where the King piece just need to run away from the Eagle King piece, it"s not interesting. The Royal Guard piece and the Personal Guard piece which are arranged in front right and left of the King piece are the pieces that can"t be jumped over."
"However, the special ability to jump over the pieces is still overwhelming, which greatly limits the tactics of enclosures in Togi. Conversely, there is a wall against the Eagle King piece in the initial state, so breaking this will increase the danger of sniping. I can say that."
"By using this strategy, she wants to bring down my Eagle King piece with her Eagle King piece in the first several moves. I"ll have to waste a few moves, but with a few disadvantages, I can limit her tactic."
"Instead of better at using the Eagle King piece, I"m probably better at crus.h.i.+ng this tactic."
"Hey, you." (Jura)
And Jura spoke there.
"What? Wasn"t a promise not to say anything in the finals? That reminds me, this is the first time I hear her voice."
"Are you alright?" (Jura)
"What about it?"
"Well, I don"t feel bad." (Yuri)
When I answered, Jura deliberately put her hand on her mouth and laughed with giggle.
"No, I wonder if you don"t know. Aren"t you worried at all?" (Jura)
"Not in any way." (Yuri)
"Is that so? The things you do are… what was that again? That small store." (Jura)
"Are you talking about Hou and a.s.sociates?" (Yuri)
"I hear you"re hiring a lot of drifters. Isn"t hard to do it nowadays? I mean there could be a fire." (Jura)
"Aah… How do I say it… She"s really a sc.u.m."
"It"s not that I hate sc.u.m. I"m a sc.u.m myself, but on the other hand, I"m like a villain with a sense of aesthetics."
"But these guys aren"t good. There is no sense of aesthetic."
"Hmm… well, I was surprised." (Yuri)
Jura smiled with a grin.
"Oh my, why is that?" (Jura)
"Haa, my mind is not well until now, maybe." (Yuri)
"I was stupid. Give up the victory? Give a favor?"
"What the h.e.l.l is that? It"s not like we"re talking about it."
"When I allowed you to win clearly so far, you would probably notice it for granted. Well, I thought so, but you didn"t even notice it at all. If you are so insensitive, I can"t give you a favor. You would think that you"re wining because of your ability."
"I just received a report. Four houses burned down, but no injuries. Well, the damage was minor…" (Yuri)
"…Oh, really?" (Jura)
Jura was pretending calmly, but she couldn"t hide the surprise. The smile she made intensified.
"Do you think I don"t know? What a fool."
"However, perhaps, you"re setting the fire to make me upset. To mention it in a place like this… goodness." (Yuri)
"…Did you say I did it?" (Jura)
Jura wasn"t holding back her voice.
"I don"t know what you"re thinking, but do you think this kind of winning bring honor to the Witch household?"
This conversation was overheard by the audience who sat on the front side.
"I"m not going to report any damage anyway." (Yuri)
The houses were devastated and the criminal wasn"t identified.
"It doesn"t matter whether it is arson or misfire." (Yuri)
"Really? Then, what do you want to say?" (Jura)
"You"re also poor in character." (Yuri)
"Wha…!" (Jura)
Jura glared at me, turning her face red with shame.
"Even if you didn"t do it, I was planning to lose. I"m sorry you didn"t seem to notice the previous game, but I lost on purpose. You don"t feel uncomfortable about it, so I can"t imagine that you"re a Witch." (Yuri)
"How about you shut…!" (Jura)
Jura was angry with her face red. But my mouth didn"t stop.
"Even if I lose purposely, you"ll burn people"s homes without understanding the kindness of the favor. So, I challenge you to war of words with this sort of trick. That"s not worth losing." (Yuri)
"I wanted to avoid such a collision, so I lost in the second game in an easy-to-understand manner."
"If I give the favor, even if I can"t avoid the conflict in the future, I can prolong it. However, now that it has actually been burned down by arson, I have no obligation to lose anymore."
"For the sake of argument, I don"t mind if they burn down the entire factory."
"When I think about them, this is also a job. If indirect hara.s.sment doesn"t work, it"s inevitable to take direct action. This is because I ignore easy-to-understand warnings, so it became like this".
"Lakrama.n.u.s receives commission from the parchment guild, so they had an obligation to protect their interests. Gudanvier also said "Let us protect you", but as long as they get paid, they will have to take responsibility for protecting me from other opponents."
"When a child"s interests are threatened, even if they don"t have a grudge, they will attack. That"s normal, and it"s their job."
"That"s why I don"t mean to say a grudge when they set fire to the factory that I had been building carefully. It seems despicable to me, but for Lakrama.n.u.s, it"s a family business. I can"t afford to quit now."
"It"s fine that they burn it down. It"s also fine to take advantage of the things since I"m sitting here now and I can"t move."
"But why do you have to use that mouth to make me upset? Are you trying to look down on me by crus.h.i.+ng Hou and a.s.sociates?"
"That"s greed. You take away Hou and a.s.sociates from me, take the honor of winning, smear the mud laugh at me… Such intentions can be seen through easily."
"Fine."
"Judge, I can"t stand such insults." (Jura)
When Jura said so, the timekeeper (what kind of referee is this) was…
"Yuri-dono should close your mouth. And as a penalty, the time allotted is zero." (??)
…pulling out another joke.
"It"s alright. She"s probably have been bought."
When I looked at the Queen, she looked pretty frowned upon.
"Surely, if I lose my job, I"m sure I have enough money that I won"t have trouble for the rest of my life."
"Anyhow, if the time allotted is zero, I will be disqualified if I don"t make a move within thirty seconds. This is a great disadvantage."
"It"s so interesting that I can"t help smiling."
"Hehe… I don"t mind. But, is that alright?" (Yuri)
"What is it?" (Jura)
I hit the corner of the board with my index finger.
"So, I am in a position where I"ve been imposed disadvantages by cheap tricks, isn"t it?" (Yuri)
I didn"t feel like losing.
—
Without looking at the board, I was looking at Jura"s face without showing expression while holding my chin with my arm on the armrest.
When I looked at her in this way, she had a face that suited her age, staring at the board as if she was about to cry.
"But, there is no way for her anymore. In the first place, her skill is two or three levels inferior."
"As everyone has said, the semi-finals opponent is much stronger. If you play ten rounds with her, she would lucky if she can win 1 round."
"They live in the same dormitory. I"m sure that you have played many times."
"Moreover, for me who showed the difference in the first game to beat you, did you think you won the second game on your own? And, do you think you can win the third game by making me upset?"
"Do you think of things that are convenient for you? Didn"t you think about revising your plan in advance?"
"It is also possible that you haven"t play in the dormitory, or you depend too much on the bloodline. Well, I don"t know."
"Even so, are you planning to continue when I"m cornering you already?"
"Are you going to retort by hitting the board and throw it at me? That"s not impossible."
"It"s a brat-like action, but it would be quite disappointing if I fall off the chair with the board and pieces thrown at my face."
"I guess it"s not bad to make it worse. There are, of course, some excuses for retaliation for my disrespect."
"So, should you be wary?"
"I… give up…" (Jura)
Jura bit her lower lip, and with teary eyes, she put her hands on the board with regret.
It was over.
—
At the moment it was over, cheers were sounded as if an explosion had occurred in the audience area. The Knights were literally happy and jumping.
In the midst of cheers, Carol stood up from the guest seat and headed toward us without knowing the event procedures. She was wearing a scarlet dress close to black. The head was a delicate hair barrette made of amber and silver.
The dark shades of the dress were well-shed, with blonde hair dressed in hair ornaments. She was wearing shoes with heels, so when she got up, she looked like a different person.
"Goodness, couldn"t you do normally?" (Carol)
The inside still hadn"t changed.
"The trouble is coming from that side. So, I can"t help it." (Yuri)
"That"s because you"re twisted." (Carol)
"…I guess so." (Yuri)
I suddenly lost my confidence.
"It may be so. Maybe Carol is right. I don"t really know, but it"s going to be a lot of trouble after this."
"…But, you did well. It"s splendid." (Carol)
Carol smiled pleasantly and held out her hand lightly. This time, she wasn"t going to tap my shoulder.
"Is that so?" (Yuri)
When I got up, I took her hand and said it. Then, I gently kissed the hand.
—
I immediately walked out of the hall and had my clothes changed into uniforms. I left out the royal castle as if to run away. I wasn"t in a hurry, but I wanted to go to the watermill as soon as possible.
"Yuri-kun." (Myaro)
Outside the gate of the royal castle, there was Myaro. I wonder where the rein she held was from, but then, the saddle was from the Hou Household.
"Please forgive me." (Myaro)
Myaro bowed deeply.
"What are you apologizing for?" (Yuri)
"I didn"t consider the big picture. It"s because I pulled you into the tournament, your important building was set on fire…" (Myaro)
"Myaro." (Yuri)
I said it in a strong tone.
"I"m not that low enough to blame you." (Yuri)
"After all, it would be done in that way someday. It is my fault, and I"m paying the price since my company makes huge profits."
"It isn"t Myaro"s fault."
"…But that"s not all. I got into your waiting room, and complaint about how you lost. I have no excuse for that." (Myaro)
Myaro kept her head down.
"Please raise your face." (Yuri)
"…Yes." (Myaro)
She raised her head and saw my face. With a sad looking face, she was like a child waiting for the parent"s scold. It wasn"t a face that usually saw through people.
There was a young child here. It was like a puppy that was afraid of being abandoned by the owner.
The fact that she prepared a Galloping Bird was probably because of this.
It was only twenty minutes since the final ended. It was too early to procure a Galloping Bird after the final.
That meant that Myaro listened to the conversation at the beginning, and as soon as she learned about the fire, she left the hall, went to my secondary residence, talked about the situation somehow, and procured the bird. That was what it meant.
That was smart, but I felt sorry for that concern.
"What a sixteen years old girl could do?"
"Aren"t you a fool?" (Yuri)
As I approached Myaro, I hugged her body tightly. Myaro"s thin body was slender even at the same age, and it fit perfectly in my chest.
"U-uhmm…" (Myaro)
"Don"t be hard on yourself. Besides, I don"t hate the mistake you make." (Yuri)
"…Yes." (Myaro)
Myaro"s body in my arm relaxed as if relieved.
"Well, I-I shouldn"t say this right now, but.. I"m actually a woman." (Myaro)
She said something.
"Do you think I"m doing this while thinking that you"re a man? It"s disgusting, isn"t it?" (Yuri)
"ah yes… B-but, please let me go…" (Myaro)
I let Myaro go.
"If-if you do this… I may misunderstand." (Myaro)
Myaro was bus.h.i.+ng. I thought that I was comforting her, but somehow, it turned into a strange direction…
"Y-yuri-kun, aren"t you in a hurry? Come, please go there quickly. I"ll be fine." (Myaro)
"Is that so?" (Yuri)
I stepped on the stirrup and I lightly sit on the saddle. As expected, it was easy to move with the Knight uniform.
"Here you go." (Myaro)
When I received the reins from Myaro, I began to move.