episode_0126

“Yes? When you ask for a favor, do you mean to have a duel? But-”

“Hold your weapon, Swen.”

She interrupted me and glared at me with a sharp expression.

I wanted to say something, but it didn’t seem to work, so I did as I was told and pulled out my rapier.

“Are you ready?”

“… … Yes.”

“Let’s begin.”

She said that, gave a very elegant bow, and-

Shock!

It was creeping into me at a speed so fast that I couldn’t see it.

I somehow managed to avoid the close stab of her rapier.

“Now, wait a minute! My lord, please wait a moment-”

Shock! Shock!

Without even having time to attack, several attacks came from her –

… … Slurp.

When I came to, the tip of her knife was close to my abdomen.

Without realizing it, my knees gave out and I fell down.

This time I couldn’t even avoid it. What I just avoided was pure luck, and I couldn’t follow her movements with my body vision.

“… … .”

I slowly looked at Serpina, who didn’t say anything.

Murderous intent… … I don’t feel it.

Is this literally just a mock duel?

So why are you suddenly doing this?

“… … I lost.”

“Are you giving up?”

“Because it’s not my style to hang around an opponent I can never beat.”

One thing becomes clear from this.

My force level was ridiculously low.

I felt this again after seeing Serpina’s movements just now, but I was very poor at this talent.

If Iren hadn’t been by my side, I would have often encountered quite dangerous situations.

“… … i get it. Thank you for hanging out.”

“It’s okay to just hang out… … May I ask why you are suddenly doing this?”

At my words, she looked at my face and asked in a dry tone.

“What do you think is the reason?”

What do you think?

As a test, I put that question in my head – but the only answer I get is ‘I don’t know.’

Since I couldn’t even predict questions that had anything to do with the national situation, there was no way for me to know what she was thinking.

Without waiting for my answer, she spoke briefly.

“… … It’s entertainment.”

It’s entertainment.

No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem like that, but I knew that he had no intention of telling me the reason.

“I… … By any chance, is the reason you called me for this ‘entertainment’?”

“Follow me and you will find out.”

She said that, hung the weapon on the wall again, and started walking somewhere.

As I was looking at it blankly, she turned her head and asked me.

“What are you doing? Without following.”

“Ah… … I’ll be there soon.”

After hearing what I said, she turned her head and took the lead again.

The sight of Serpina’s huge pelvis moving beautifully from side to side once again shook my vision, but I soon shook off my carnal desires and slowly followed her.

*

I went up the stairs and arrived at a room.

There was a huge table in the room, and in the middle was a familiar game board and pieces.

A game board with a mix of black and white, and pieces on top that are very familiar to the eye… … .

This was a chessboard.

“This… … ?”

“Swen, I want to share something with you.”

Just now we had a 1:1 duel, but now we’re going to play chess?

I wondered what he was thinking, but isn’t it the duty of a military commander to criticize his lord?

“You know the rules, right?”

“I know the basics. But I’m not confident in chess. I haven’t had much experience with it, so I’m a little worried about whether I can deal with it properly.”

“It’s rather fortunate. You won’t get hurt by her.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’re not going to win anyway, so if you hide by saying you’ve never tried before, won’t your pride get hurt?”

Serpina said and laughed playfully.

This woman?

Her obvious provocation made me feel like I was winning.

As I knew only the basic rules of chess and a few openings, I began to feel confident that I would not be unilaterally pushed out.

“Still, I’ll do my best.”

“Come, Swen.”

So I started playing chess with her out of nowhere.

and-

*

“… … .”

“It looks like you have nowhere to put it, Swen. What will you do?”

When I was in a situation where I could shake hands no matter what I put down, I raised the white flag again.

With this, I lost to her 5 games in a row.

Is this a difference in class? When you lose so overwhelmingly, it actually clears your mind.

“I lost.”

“Starting in the middle, there was quite a lot of handshaking.”

“I don’t even know which of the moves I made is a handshake.”

I said that and laughed helplessly.

She looked at me for a while again, then stood up.

“Today, I had a hard time adjusting to Yeo’s rhythm.”

“No. Is this the end?”

She put a smile on her face again as if my words were amusing.

“Do you want to spend more time with me?”

Seeing her say things like that so often, I thought that Serpina might enjoy joking more than I thought.

Well, let’s try to have a social life here.

“Isn’t that natural? As a subject, there are few things more glorious than spending time with your lord.”

“Then, let me give you some advice. If you really want to win a woman’s heart, you’d better stop just saying things that are nice to hear.”

Even though I said that, my words didn’t carry any weight.

If this was a lightly thrown around statement, there was no need to attach any meaning to it.

“I will engrave it.”

“… … .”

Serpina slowly stood up.

Then he looked out the window of the annex and said.

“I have just sent a conscription notice to Amir Castle.”

“… … .”

“I plan to listen to your opinion and strengthen my defense. We plan to prepare to stop the attack by the Acious Army.”

Does this mean that you will finally listen to my opinion?

Still, I wondered if it was really necessary to tell me this… … For now, I waited quietly for her to speak without answering.

And soon-

She said, looking at me with an absolute expression.

“I will ask. Swen, do you still think that the Aishous army will attack?”

“… … .”

I was brought to this annex and became part of her incomprehensible entertainment.

He then said that he would accept my opinion, which he said was ‘lackey’, and asked me if I still thought that way.

I wasn’t sure, but I thought maybe this was some kind of test on her part.

So what should I say?

The Aishous army comes up the river and attacks?

To be honest, it was just a hypothesis derived from the absolute result that ‘it is most efficient to station troops at Amir Castle as is.’

When I actually put it together, it seemed very plausible, so I just said that.

but.

In a situation where even I don’t know where this ‘unconditionally correct prediction’ will lead, how can I be 100% sure that it will happen?

Maybe she… … Do you think I’m hiding something?

It wouldn’t be surprising if you think that I wanted to test my abilities by playing chess and having a 1:1 duel.

I don’t know exactly what she’s thinking.

But if she really thinks I’m a guy hiding something – she might need to take advantage of that illusion.

“Master.”

I lowered my head and roughly put together a plausible-sounding sentence.

“There is no such thing as jumping to conclusions about anything. We are all just travelers who are always navigating towards the highest possibility. There are inevitably moments in the process where you have to see the invisible. Even if it seems obvious, there are moments when it is not visible. I think this might be the answer.”

“This is the moment to see the invisible?”

“Yes.”

You must see the invisible.

It was a sentence that expressed my situation of having to somehow track an invisible process.

The phrase that something that is clearly visible cannot be seen was literally a metaphor for ‘I know the result, but I don’t know much about the rest.’

Rather than trying to give her a hint of my abilities, my goal was to impress her by saying something plausible.

in other words.

Since I couldn’t provide a basis that would convince her anyway, my goal was to present it as convincingly as possible.

The conclusion is decided. The coming future would make my plating real, so all I had to do was let go of the plausible things.

I wondered how I would answer if they asked me what that meant.

Fortunately, she seemed to be convinced in her own way and just lost herself in thought without answering.

It seemed like he was desperately trying to interpret what I meant.

―How would she react if she knew that all I was thinking about was ‘Serpina’s profile is beautiful when she is lost in thought’?

“… … Is that your answer?”

“Yes.”

“I understand.”

Serpina thought for a while longer, answered, and then held out her hand to me.

“Today was fun. It would be nice if you could hang out next time.”

It must have been fun because you unilaterally massacred civilians, but I didn’t find it very fun.

But what… … Isn’t this also social life?

“Please call me anytime.”

I held his hand and laughed lightly.

At least, I thought I had gotten through this moment well.

* * *

After Swen returned.

Serpina, left alone in the annex, sat on a chair and lost in thought.

‘… … ‘It doesn’t look like he has the ability to read the future.’

When he dueled while holding a rapier, his movements did not seem to be able to understand his attacks.

It was safe to say that there was no magic way of knowing what was going to happen.

You can tell by looking at the body movements. Is he hiding his abilities or is he truly lacking in talent?

At least, Swen’s appearance in the 1:1 duel was closer to the latter.

So, does it mean that he excels at tactics?

That wasn’t it either.

Chess is a game, but at the same time, it is a game close to a test that allows one to lightly understand an individual’s tactical skills. It was common knowledge on the continent that people who showed outstanding tactics were good at chess.

Swen sometimes showed surprising moves, but the connection between numbers was not clearly felt, so it felt like he was making the best moves at the time rather than drawing the big picture and taking action.

In other words, it was judged that it was right to see this as truly doing one’s best rather than hiding one’s abilities.

The answer to the last question is also the same.

Because it seemed like it wasn’t backed by anything that could be strongly convinced, it was just a vague statement.

‘… … Bluff?’

but.

No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem like he was bluffing.

Serpina had a pretty good eye for people. It was not difficult to tell who was bluffing.

Swen’s confidence… … I felt like I had some basis. There was something similar to the belief that it would definitely happen.

If it’s just a bluff, then it’s safe to say that you’ve lived your life wrong for not noticing it.

‘You must see the invisible…’ … is it.’

Serpina spent some more time in the annex, mumbling to herself what Swen had said.

For the first time, she was forced to admit that she was strongly drawn to an opinion that she did not fully understand.