Ch.227[Chapter 227] The Most Silent War in the World

Sir Dominic moved the pawn at B2 forward two spaces.

Chess is a battle of brain, logic, and strategy.

However, looking at the chess match before him, Sir Dominic thought that Gacha Land’s chess was somewhat different.

Gacha Land’s chess was a battle of knowledge, wisdom, logic, and tactics.

If someone had peered into Sir Dominic’s thoughts, they would have responded incredulously, asking what the difference between those two sentences was.

Of course, on the surface, there might not seem to be much difference.

But if one looked closely at Gacha Land’s chess, they would immediately understand the difference.

“An excellent move.”

The Slaughter King, with his arms crossed, moved the knight at G8 to H6.

No, the piece moved by itself.

Before Sir Dominic could move another piece, the bishop at C1 moved to A3 on its own.

Have you noticed something strange here?

Have you noticed what makes Gacha Land’s chess special?

“…I’m not sure if this can even be called a chess match.”

“It’s an excellent game.”

The Slaughter King, still with his arms crossed, looked down at the chess pieces that had begun moving on their own.

The queen captures a pawn and gets eaten by a bishop.

A knight arbitrarily moves in front of the opponent’s king and becomes a sacrifice.

A pawn reaches the end without any obstacles in its path and suddenly promotes to a bishop, while a rook attempts to castle with the king on its own and gets captured by a pawn.

It was such a mess that even beginners would shake their heads in disapproval!

Sir Dominic sighed.

Gacha Land’s chess wasn’t like Feralant chess, where you check your opponent’s move and then make your next move.

If it had been Feralant style, 7 of the 12 games that had just ended in draws would have ended in checkmate for Sir Dominic.

Of course, the remaining 5 games would have ended in draws favorable to Sir Dominic.

But Gacha Land’s chess was… truly arbitrary.

“Why are you sighing?”

The Slaughter King asked Sir Dominic.

The game instantly reset to a draw, with all pieces returning to their original positions.

“You are an excellent chess player. Equal to or better than this Slaughter King.”

The Slaughter King spoke as if pleased to have found a worthy opponent.

However, Sir Dominic wasn’t particularly happy with the praise.

“This is automatic. It’s influenced by intelligence stats, wisdom stats, and the [Logic] trait or [Strategy] trait.”

That’s right.

Gacha Land’s chess was literally a game where intelligence, wisdom, logic, and strategy collided.

The chess pieces moved more intelligently based on each player’s intelligence and wisdom stats, and predicted several moves ahead through logic and strategy traits.

The fact that such an automatic chess game was this chaotic meant that both players’ intelligence and wisdom were truly chaotic.

This was why Sir Dominic couldn’t be happy with the Slaughter King’s praise.

Who would have thought Sir Dominic’s intelligence and wisdom stats would be this miserable!

Sir Dominic sighed once more.

The game was now recording its 16th draw.

“This is enjoyable. All my subordinates are terrible at chess. I always win within three moves.”

“Then your subordinates must either be empty-headed, or they were letting you win. I’ve never seen such a mess of a chess game.”

Sir Dominic spoke sharply to the Slaughter King.

Of course, while Sir Dominic presented two hypotheses, he clearly thought it was the latter.

“Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m the best chess player here.”

The Slaughter King wiggled his hips as if strangely excited.

“After all, I’ve played 172,223 games.”

While the Slaughter King was oddly proud, the game recorded its 22nd draw.

“…How about we just have a conversation?”

Sir Dominic turned his eyes away from the seemingly endless chess game and looked up at the Slaughter King.

The Slaughter King was so much taller than Sir Dominic that even looking up at him while seated made Sir Dominic’s neck ache.

“That sounds good.”

The Slaughter King said, still keeping his eyes fixed on the chessboard.

Just as Sir Dominic’s rook captured the Slaughter King’s pawn, the chessboard automatically retracted Sir Dominic’s move and arbitrarily revived the pawn.

Then it returned the queen that had been moved before Sir Dominic’s move, and immediately used that queen to capture Sir Dominic’s rook.

With that, the game ended in a draw, and the 24th game began.

“It’s been so long since I’ve spoken peacefully with someone like this. What would you like to talk about?”

The Slaughter King asked Sir Dominic.

For the Slaughter King, conversations usually consisted of giving orders to subordinates or issuing warnings to intruders who had penetrated underground, so he didn’t quite remember how to have a proper conversation.

That’s why the Slaughter King handed over the initiative to Sir Dominic rather than leading the conversation himself.

“I have questions about Princess Merry.”

The Slaughter King’s body flinched.

His psychological disturbance was significant enough to be physically expressed.

That’s how important Princess Merry was to the Slaughter King.

Sir Dominic knew this fact well.

He couldn’t not know.

Even the numerous portraits of Merry hanging in the Slaughter King’s room showed how much he liked Merry.

Knowing this fact, Sir Dominic could sharply question the Slaughter King.

Simply to disturb the Slaughter King.

The Slaughter King’s disturbance began to appear directly on the chessboard.

The pieces lost their way and moved chaotically, then moved randomly just before the time limit expired.

“…Princess Merry.”

“Yes. According to the nanny… she was supposed to be the Hero’s wife.”

“That’s right. It’s not wrong.”

The Slaughter King’s eyes wavered.

“I heard that after the Hero disappeared, you fell in love with Merry.”

“It’s a bit different, but not entirely wrong.”

The Slaughter King’s fingers began tapping his knee in a steady rhythm.

“Then, was it not love but pity?”

“…”

At Sir Dominic’s words, all of the Slaughter King’s movements stopped at once.

Sir Dominic was still looking up at the Slaughter King.

As if urging him to answer this question.

“Well. Pity.”

The pieces on the chessboard fell over on their own and then stood back up.

Just like the Slaughter King’s complicated psychological state, the pieces on the chessboard were scattered chaotically.

“…Maybe so.”

The Slaughter King uncrossed his arms and stood the fallen king back up.

As if trying to establish a reference point in his confused mind.

“But even if the feeling started as pity, love is love.”

The Slaughter King told Sir Dominic in a voice full of strength.

“Since I defined this emotion as love, it is love. Twisted love? Pure love? No. No modifiers are needed. This is simply love. I decided so.”

Sir Dominic silently looked up at the Slaughter King.

And then looked back down at the chessboard.

Somehow, the Slaughter King’s pieces were pointing their blades at Sir Dominic’s king.

“Check. Your attempt to shake me was good, Sir Dominic. But I am not one to be shaken by such things.”

…This doesn’t look good.

Sir Dominic sighed heavily at the Slaughter King’s words.

The gambit he had played for victory, that double-edged sword, was about to stab Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic urgently rolled his eyes to reassess the situation on the chessboard.

Fortunately, there were several ways to survive.

The subsequent moves would proceed unfavorably for Sir Dominic, but at least he could aim for a draw.

Thinking this, Sir Dominic grabbed the piece that was trying to move on its own and was about to make his planned move when—

“…Slaughter King.”

Merry’s voice was heard from behind the Slaughter King.

“…Merry?”

The Slaughter King suddenly stood up from his seat as if he couldn’t believe it.

The chessboard flipped over from the impact, but the Slaughter King didn’t care and turned to look at where the voice had come from.

But there was only darkness there, no one to be seen.

“Merry.”

The Slaughter King called Merry’s name in a low voice.

And then, following a presence he suddenly felt, he looked up at the ceiling.

Merry, in the form of a spider, was hanging upside down from a thin spider web, looking down at the Slaughter King.

“I knew you’d be here, but I didn’t expect you to be having a conversation like this.”

Merry smiled and descended to the ground along the spider web.

“How did you get in?”

“Through the front door.”

“…I forgot to lock it again.”

The Slaughter King was at a loss, as if he had made a mistake.

“By the way, this place is… bizarre.”

Merry, who had finally placed all eight legs on the floor, looked around the Slaughter King’s room.

“I didn’t know there were so many of me.”

Merry looked at each of the portraits and dolls in the Slaughter King’s room.

Sometimes her gaze would stop and she would make a disgusted expression, and other times she would smile as if reminiscing about the past.

Finally, after checking the entire room, Merry spoke to the Slaughter King with the brightest smile she could muster.

“Disgusting.”

The Slaughter King stood frozen, unable to move.

Whether it was because of Merry’s words or her bright smile was unknown.