episode_0096

Juanville, the second largest city in the Pirate Republic.

A place where people of the most diverse races and cultures live in the world.

A sailing ship from the empire entered port here.

This was an extremely routine occurrence, but one thing that was unusual was that a group of young men holding liquor bottles and wreaths were hanging out in front of the port.

At last the galleon was docked, and there a black man disembarked with a monkey.

“Graven!”

Pours of cheers and applause.

Excited crowds often knock bottles against rum barrels, causing one of the barrels or bottles to break.

Graven Albatross waved his hand as if it was a familiar occurrence, but soon became embarrassed.

He is the first academy graduate from the Pirate Republic to enter the academy in a few years.

As such, there has always been a certain level of welcome, but this was the first time there was a crowd like this.

“… Thank you so much for coming… ”

“Ukkisqueak?”

Graven’s face hardened as he saw the banner fluttering above the harbor.

Because the words written on it are-

Graven, the myth of the fourth round of the Festival of Romance!

“That’s right! Congratulations on being the runner-up in the Mini Cup!”

No matter how you look at it, it is not a teasing atmosphere.

I sincerely congratulate my colleagues on achieving this level of achievement.

However, from Graven’s perspective, it was a heartbreaking welcome ceremony.

“It is not something worth celebrating. In the end, I failed to win… ”

“Ah! If the runner-up fails, what happens to those who didn’t even pass the preliminaries?”

“That’s right, that’s right. Well done!”

“Good job!”

“Good job!”

“Good job!”

“Ukkisqueak!”

It seemed like he would get really angry if this strange celebration went on any longer, so Graven quickly changed the topic.

“By the way, has the era of romance spread to the Republic?

I understand that Funforge has just opened a logistics line in the empire, but what happened?”

“There is no model yet.”

The ogre smiled and placed a finger on his shoulder.

It’s a face that Graven knows.

“Ah, Gerudo.”

“But somehow I got the rule book!”

A Gerudo proudly picking up a dirty book with his fingers.

“You can get started as long as you have a rule book, right?

You can do this by marking things like chess pieces or rocks appropriately.”

“Do you want to go that far?”

Graven, who thought that getting drunk and playing ssambat was not a hobby suitable for the young people of the Republic, soon changed his mind.

Isn’t that why the Crown Princess and Director Coleman created the game in the first place?

To educate young people who are addicted to violence.

“Okay then! That’s right, Graven.

Wynne created something quite interesting-

Ah, it’s right there at the right time!”

“Graven!”

A very welcome voice.

From far away, a half-wind spirit girl is flying towards us.

“Win.”

“Ukkisqueak!”

Goofy gets off his shoulder, runs towards the girl, and hugs her.

“Haha. Guppy is still the same.”

“Gerud says you made something.”

“Oh, it’s nothing special… ”

Winn scratched his head shyly, rummaged through his bag, and took out a small notebook.

The title of the note is ‘Romantic Era Viscount Camp – Cheonghae Pirates’.

“Viscount camp?”

“Since we are playing the Romantic Age with only rules, it would be nice to have a faction that follows the citizens of our republic.

I tried making one by referring to other dorm camps.”

Graven opened the note and checked it.

There are approximately 20 nameless general units and 20 unique characters.

Although it has poor durability, it has high speed and many units can be active both at close range and at long range.

The biggest feature is that there are many effects that depend on the luck of the dice.

The nightmare of the romantic festival semi-finals immediately comes to mind.

The misfortune of seeing 10 snowfalls in one day in a year…

“How about it? I wanted to hear your opinion.”

“Opinion.”

Graven tried to evaluate it calmly, but it was impossible to make an objective judgment because the defeat of that day kept coming to mind.

“I’m not sure. The overall design doesn’t seem very out of place.

There is no effect that shakes up the premise of the romantic era, and it goes well with the other characters.

But what will the balance be like and whether this design will provide a good playing experience… ”

“Playing experience?”

Win opened his eyes wide.

“Wouldn’t I or the other person be uncomfortable if I used this camp? That’s what it means.”

“Mmm. But it’s natural to feel good when you win, and bad when you lose.

Isn’t everything okay as long as it’s balanced?”

When I first played the game, Graven thought the same thing.

However, as he formed a crew that exploited weaknesses in the rules and experienced losing sight of victory right before his eyes, his horizons broadened.

“Win. What if there was a unit with these rules?

If this unit is in the crew, both players play rock-paper-scissors at the start of the game.

The winner of rock, paper, scissors wins the game.”

“What is that?”

Graven nodded.

“This is a somewhat extreme example, but it shows that winning percentage is not everything.

This unit destroys the basic purpose of enjoying the romantic era.

The only people who write things like this are bad gamers who want to ruin other people’s mood.”

Of course, everyone has different opinions on what ‘enjoying the romantic era’ means, or where the fun of the romantic era comes from.

Some people would say it’s about creating a crew and understanding the roles of the unit.

Others would say it’s the elaborate layout and breathtaking distance measurement.

Another person would say it’s choosing movement order and creating combos.

The last person would say probability calculation and risk hedging.

To that extent, for some, beautiful play that makes Jinyoung’s fantasy come true, for others, ‘This is not a romantic era!’ with no interaction at all! There is a problem of becoming .

“But anyway, I have no way of proving whether your viscount faction falls into that category.”

“I see… Then what should I do… ”

“Why are you worrying so much?”

Gerudo’s loud shout.

“Everyone, pay attention! From now on, we announce that we will be hosting the Gerudo Ship Romantic Era Tournament!

Tournament for 64 people on a first-come, first-served basis! The winning prize is all the gold coins I have collected so far!

And participant number 1… Graven here!”

“What?”

“In order to check whether the camp was created well, wouldn’t it be better to verify it through actual battles?”

“I understand that, but why should I participate?”

“Graven.”

The ogre chuckled.

“If you don’t participate, the prize money will only be my gold coins?”

That was right.

A crowd gathering like a cloud.

Everyone is holding jagged wooden statues and small rocks in their hands.

“You can play a game with Graven? Really?”

“Okay then! However, if you want to have priority against Graven -”

Gerudo held Winn’s self-made rulebook high in the sky.

“You must use this faction!”

Graven thought there was no way they would respond.

For gamers in the romantic era, crew is more important than life.

He bought, collected, and painted it himself.

When I was told to use a new faction that I had never heard of-

“Okay!”

“Me too! I want to see it too!”

Little pirates running around in a hurry.

“… It seems like he has a strong attachment to his crew.

Actually, I’m not using a proper model.”

“Hey, Graven. That’s not it, everyone is anxious to fight with you.”

Is it that much?

Originally, I was planning to decline on the grounds that I needed to relieve my travel fatigue.

Honestly, the skill gap was so big that I didn’t think it would be a proper game.

But if you’re this passionate…

“Good. I will try.”

“It should come out like that!”

Immediately, squares measuring 1m x 1m began to be drawn with chalk throughout the port.

The edges of the table are white and the terrain is red.

Players play the game using their fingers as rulers and a deck of cards as dice.

and-

“Hehehe.”

“Are you smiling? Your model is under siege! Next round, it’s dead!”

“There is no next round for you. My own model, Republic Blood Mage Graven, casts Vampiric Wave! All models in units within 18cm take damage!”

“What?”

“Destruction! Bloody! Stream!”

The first major player. All main models are wiped out and defeated.

“You used all of your passes.”

“That… So?”

“It’s my turn. Black Swan 4th year student casts Ice Prison!

Afterwards, a special recruit from the Black Swan permanently changed the ice prison with his imprint!”

“What… What is this combo!”

The second major player. All core elite models abstained after being sealed.

“Black Swan Inspector Saraljit consumes 4 mana!

I cast the kiss of death on Ahab, the captain of the captains!

Your model is already dead!”

“Ugh… ”

The third major player. The 35-point ace was hit by a deadly poison and exploded, resulting in the loss of a battle.

“Okay, that’s it for today!”

It’s dark, so I can’t play the game anymore.

Gerudo clapped his hands and called the players together.

Win runs to Graven with a notepad.

“Graven, tell me your thoughts.”

“I don’t think it’s bad. It’s fun to deal with.

It seems like the players who chose the four sides also had a fun game.

Of course, I felt some balance issues -”

“Let’s sleep!”

The ogre got between the two.

“We’ll talk about that later! First of all, congratulations to the quarterfinalists!”

“Wow!”

Graven waves his hands and responds to the applause.

but… His colleague had no intention of ending there.

“What is it? This is all! Graven! Are you satisfied with this?”

“I think the cheers were enough for this?”

“What are you talking about! Congratulations!”

The ogre’s booming voice echoed throughout the harbor.

“It’s made with rum!”

“Ukkisqueak!”

And so the second round began.

Hometown friends who spend their nights drinking strong alcohol, telling dirty jokes, and playing pranks that risk their lives.

Graven also happily joined them, and only went to sleep when the moon rose in the morning.

And the next day-

“Ugh… ”

“Graven, are you okay?”

“What is it? Are you hungover just because you played this much?”

Graven forced himself to stand up with his shaking legs.

The moment I step on the stairs of the bunk bed to go to the quarterfinals –

“Uh… What?”

Graven is rolling around with his feet tangled.

“Ugh!”

“What should I do!”

“Hey, are you okay?”

Diagnosis: ankle fracture.

Requiring intensive care during vacation.

Of course, you cannot advance to the Gerudo Ship Romantic Era tournament.

Therefore, Graven’s score is in the quarterfinals.

Current password is 248.

“What is this!”