Ch.126Chapter 126. Prediction, and Result (2)

“What? When you say you want me to make a move, do you mean you want to duel? But-“

“Take up your weapon, Swen.”

She cut off my words and glared at me with a sharp expression.

I wanted to say something, but it didn’t seem like she would listen, so I drew my rapier as instructed.

“Are you ready?”

“…Yes.”

“I’ll begin.”

After saying that, she gave an extremely elegant formal bow and-

Slash!

She lunged at me with a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

I somehow barely managed to avoid her rapier as it thrust toward me.

“W-wait a moment! My lord, please wait-“

Slash! Slash!

Before I could launch an attack, several strikes came from her and-

…Thud.

When I came to my senses, the tip of her blade was near my abdomen.

My knees gave out without me realizing it, and I collapsed.

This time I couldn’t even dodge. The previous dodge was purely luck, as I couldn’t track her movements with my vision.

“…”

I slowly observed Serpina, who remained silent.

I don’t sense… any killing intent.

Perhaps this is literally just a mock duel.

If so, why suddenly do something like this?

“…I’ve lost.”

“Are you giving up?”

“Persisting against an opponent I absolutely cannot defeat is not my style.”

One thing became clear from this.

My combat ability was ridiculously low.

Watching Serpina’s movements just now confirmed it again—I was completely hopeless in this area.

If Irene hadn’t been by my side, I would have frequently faced quite dangerous situations.

“…I understand. Thank you for indulging me.”

“I don’t mind indulging you, but… may I ask why you suddenly wanted to do this?”

At my question, she stared at my face for a while before asking in a monotone voice.

“What do you think the reason is?”

What do I think?

I try inputting that question into my mind, but the only answer that comes out is ‘I don’t know.’

Since questions unrelated to national affairs were unpredictable, I had no way of knowing what was in her mind.

Without waiting for my answer, she spoke briefly.

“…It’s entertainment.”

Entertainment.

No matter how I looked at it, that didn’t seem to be the case, but I understood she had no intention of telling me the real reason.

“Um… was the reason you called me here for this ‘entertainment’?”

“Follow me and you’ll find out.”

She said that, hung her weapon back on the wall, and began walking somewhere.

As I stood there dazed, she turned her head and asked me.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”

“Ah… I’ll be right there.”

After hearing my response, she turned her head and took the lead again.

Serpina’s large hips swayed pleasantly from side to side, once again disturbing my vision, but I quickly pushed away my carnal desires and slowly followed behind her.

*

We climbed the stairs and arrived at a room.

Inside was a large table with a familiar game board and pieces placed in the center.

A board with black and white squares, and very familiar pieces on top…

It was a chess board.

“What’s this…?”

“Swen, I felt like playing a game with you.”

First a one-on-one duel, and now chess?

I wondered what she was thinking, but a vassal’s duty is to do as their lord commands.

“You know the rules, I assume?”

“I know the basics. But I’m not confident in chess. I haven’t played much, so I’m worried I won’t be a proper opponent.”

“That’s fortunate. You won’t have to suffer any injury to your pride.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Since you won’t win anyway, if you claim inexperience, your pride won’t be hurt, will it?”

Serpina said with a playful “kuhuhu” laugh.

This woman?

Her obvious provocation sparked a competitive spirit in me.

Since I knew the basic rules and a few openings, I felt an inexplicable confidence growing that I wouldn’t be completely overwhelmed.

“Well, I’ll do my best.”

“Come, Swen.”

And so I began playing chess with her out of nowhere.

And then-

*

“…”

“It seems you have no moves left, Swen. What will you do?”

Finding myself in a position where any move would be a blunder, I surrendered once again.

This made it five consecutive losses to her.

The difference in our skill levels was clear. When defeat is this overwhelming, it actually clears the mind.

“I’ve lost.”

“You made quite a few bad moves from the middle game.”

“I don’t even know which of my moves were bad.”

I said with a dejected laugh.

She stared at me for a while, then rose from her seat.

“You’ve had a hard time today, playing along with my whims.”

“Not at all. Is this the end?”

At my words, she smiled again as if amused.

“Perhaps you wish to spend more time with me?”

Seeing how easily she said such things, I thought Serpina might enjoy joking more than I expected.

Well, might as well practice some social skills here.

“Of course. What could be more honorable for a vassal than spending time with their lord?”

“Then let me give you some advice. If you truly want to win a place in my heart, you should stop saying only what sounds pleasant.”

Though she said this, her words didn’t carry much weight.

If it was just a casual remark, I didn’t need to attach much meaning to it.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“…”

Serpina slowly rose from her seat.

Then, looking out the window of the annex, she said.

“I’ve sent a conscription notice to Amir Castle.”

“…”

“Taking your advice, I intend to strengthen our defenses. I’m preparing to block the Aeshus army’s attack.”

So she’s going with my opinion after all?

I wondered why she needed to tell me this specifically… but I remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

And soon after—

She looked at me with the expression of an absolute ruler and said:

“Let me ask you. Swen, do you still believe the Aeshus army will attack?”

“…”

I was brought to this annex and indulged her inexplicable entertainment.

And now she was saying she would accept my opinion that she had previously called “lacking evidence,” and asking if I still thought the same.

I wasn’t exactly sure, but I thought this might be some kind of test from her.

If so, what should I say?

That the Aeshus army will come up the river and attack?

Honestly, that was just a hypothesis I had derived from working backward from the absolute conclusion that “stationing troops at Amir Castle is the most efficient.”

It just sounded very plausible when I said it.

But.

In a situation where even I couldn’t know where this “absolutely correct prediction” was heading, how could I be 100% certain?

Could she perhaps… think I’m hiding something?

If I consider that the chess game and the duel were to assess my abilities, it wouldn’t be so strange.

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

But if she really thinks I’m a man hiding something—I need to use that misunderstanding.

“My lord.”

I bowed my head and improvised a plausible-sounding statement.

“Nothing can be taken for granted. We are all travelers navigating toward the highest possibilities at any given moment. In this process, there inevitably comes a time when we must see what cannot be seen. Even what appears obvious can sometimes be out of sight. I believe this is my answer.”

“A time when we must see what cannot be seen?”

“Yes.”

We must see what cannot be seen.

It was a phrase expressing my predicament of somehow having to track invisible processes.

Saying that what’s clearly visible can be out of sight was a metaphor for “I know the result but don’t understand the rest well.”

Rather than giving hints about my ability, my goal was to make a strong impression on her with plausible-sounding words.

In other words.

Since I couldn’t provide evidence that would convince her, my goal was to package it as convincingly as possible.

The conclusion was already set. The coming future would validate my gilding, so all I needed to do was drop plausible hints.

I worried about how to respond if she asked what I meant.

Fortunately, she seemed to accept it in her own way and fell into thought without answering.

She appeared to be desperately trying to interpret my words.

—I wonder how she would react if she knew that all I was thinking was “Serpina’s profile looks beautiful when she’s deep in thought”?

“…Is that your answer?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

Serpina thought for a while longer before extending her hand to me.

“I enjoyed today. I hope you’ll indulge me again next time.”

You probably had fun since you one-sidedly massacred an innocent civilian, but I didn’t enjoy it much.

Still… this too is part of social life, isn’t it?

“Call for me anytime.”

I took her hand and smiled lightly.

At least, I thought I had handled this moment well.

* * *

After Swen left.

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

‘…He doesn’t seem to have the ability to read the future.’

When they dueled with rapiers, his movements didn’t look like he could anticipate her attacks at all.

It seemed appropriate to conclude that he had no magical ability to perceive what would happen.

You can tell from a person’s physical movements whether they’re hiding their abilities or genuinely lack talent.

At least in the one-on-one duel, Swen appeared to be the latter.

Then, was he showing exceptional tactical prowess?

That wasn’t the case either.

Chess was a game but also a kind of test that could lightly gauge one’s tactical capabilities. It was common knowledge across the continent that those with excellent tactical abilities played chess well.

Swen occasionally showed surprising moves, but the lack of connection between his moves suggested he was making what he thought were the best moves at each moment rather than seeing the bigger picture.

Again, this seemed more like he was truly doing his best rather than hiding his abilities.

His answer to the final question was the same.

He only gave vague statements, as if there wasn’t something strong backing his confidence.

‘…Bluffing?’

But.

No matter how she thought about it, he didn’t seem to be bluffing.

Serpina had a good eye for people. She could easily notice when someone was putting on airs.

Swen’s confidence seemed to have… its own basis. There was something like a belief that things would definitely turn out that way.

If it was mere bluster, she might as well admit she had been living her life wrong for not noticing it.

‘We must see what cannot be seen… is it?’

Serpina spent more time alone in the annex, muttering the words Swen had spoken.

For the first time, she had to admit that her heart was strongly drawn to an opinion she couldn’t fully comprehend.