Happy Monday!
IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!
It is quite sad for me to say this,, but unfortunately, I will be going on a hiatus. I really didn’t want to have to do this, but I just don’t have the motivation for translating anymore. It used to somewhat ok, but lately, I’ve just been dreading having to translate and just not wanting to do it. I keep putting things off and just not feeling the joy that I had before. Maybe I’m just burnt-out?? I have no idea, but I realized that if I don’t stop, I will come to hate translating and that’s not something that I want. So in light of that, this will be the last chapter from me for a while. I do not know when I will be back, maybe in a few months or maybe longer than that. I truly have no idea. However, I would like to thank every single one of you for reading and enjoying the stories that I’ve translated so far. It really means a lot. Truly, thank you.
If there’s anyone who would like to pick up either this novel or the Assassin Status novel, just comment on this chapter. DO NOT send me an email because I don’t check that, but I will occasionally check the comments.
Once again, thank you, everyone, for sticking with me until now and hopefully, we will meet again soon.
Here’s the chapter, enjoy.
The number of days I spent playing cards with my family had increased.
I even played Speed with Cynthia so that we could play with the two of us, but I couldn’t win at all and I was in tears.
At Otou-san’s request, I made three more sets of playing cards and a large amount of cards with a plain back.
I went to the tutorial dungeon at night as well, but there was not much change in the day to day. After all, I didn’t leave the estate.
The people in the estate did not change, so everything stayed the same.
As such days passed, something happened. There was a guest coming, so we will be going to welcome them.
「Is it ok for me to meet them?」
「Yes, it’s fine.」
It’s been mentioned many times, but children of nobles did not leave the house until after their debut and did not meet anyone other than the necessary number of people.
If one were to say that they’re treasuring their children, then that’s all there was to say, but it was a boring and uncomfortable life.
「Excuse me.」
「Aah, you came.」
「Gil-chan, welcome.」
Sitting across from Otou-san and Okaa-san was a man who was older than an oji-san, but not yet an ojii-san.
TN: oji-san=uncle and ojii-san=grandfather. Here, it’s easy to tell that the difference between the two is just an ‘i’, but means different things.
When he made eye contact with me, he gave me a smile. His mustache was dandy.
「Gil-chan, give your greetings.」
「Yees.」
Standing next to Okaa-san, I faced that oji-san.
「The second son of the Orto Family, Gilbert Orto. Please take care of me.」
「Such a polite greeting. I am Krendil Boiler. I am the butler of the Elverine Family.」
Elverine Family? If I remember correctly, that’s Otou-san’s paternal house, a Count House.
「Oh, Father’s paternal house. How is Ojii-sama and Obaa-sama doing?」
「Yes, yes, they are having a delightful time with Young Master Midrad.」
「Is that so. Thank you for taking care of my older brother.」
I quickly bowed my head.
「…fumu. The last part is a demerit, but it’s a nice greeting.」
「Our son is humble.」
「Gil-chan is kind to the servants as well.」
A demerit, what was that?
「Gil, this is the man who had taught Midrad at my father’s house. From now on, he will be teaching you etiquette and the war board.」
「Please take care of me, Young Master Gilbert.」
「P, please take care of me.」
Fumu, he looked into my eyes as he stroked his mustache.
「You’re different from Young Master Midrad.」
「Onii-chan is a person who is a bundle of energy.」
「The eldest son is a little too spoiled. It’s regrettable.」
「Unlike Midrad-chan, you’re a child who can study, right?」
Eh? I think I’m quite spoiled though? Onii-chan was even more so?
「Hohoho, now, Young Master Midrad is a splendid member of the nobility. Young Master Gilbert can’t lose to him.」
「I can’t imagine myself being able to beat Onii-chan.」
No matter what he said, he was someone who specialized in his physique. Like Otou-san, he was cool.
「This is not about beating Young Master Midrad with a sword. Etiquette and the pursuit of knowledge, this is more important than anything else.」
Saying that, Krendil-san tapped on the large bag that he had at his feet.
「Sorry to bother you. Was it heavy?」
「It is my hobby, so please do not worry.」
Looking at it, that bag seemed quite heavy.
Those weren’t all reference books or something, right?
As I was thinking that, the corner of my lips twitched.
Today was an introduction and he would give me some simple guidance, so we moved to another room.
Otou-san and the others did not come along and Cynthia, Krendil-san, and I went to my room.
「Well then, why don’t we start with something fun.」
「Something fun? Um, Krandil-…sensei?」
「It’s Krendil-sensei, Gilbert-sama.」
「Ah, I’m sorry.」
「No, it’s alright.」
While waving his hand with a smile, he took out a large wooden box from the heavy bag.
Inside the box, there were many things in there that looked similar to chess pieces.
It’s the war board.
「Do you know about the war board?」
「Yes. I have seen Otou-san using it with Redrick. But I was told that I could not watch.」
「My goodness, he’s left this old man some fun.」
「Fun?」
「Yes, first, why don’t I tell you the rules of this war board.」
He placed a board with grids drawn on it on the desk.
At a glance, it looked like the grid from shogi.
TN: shogi is Japanese chess.
「This is a game piece.」
He continued to take out white and black pieces. They were similar to chess pieces.
「The one with the largest number of pieces are the soldiers. These mercenaries, wizards, imperial soldiers, horseback soldiers and archers have two pieces each. And this is the king and the prince.」
「The king and the prince….」
A piece with a large crown and another with a smaller crown.
「The rule of the game is to move the pieces around each other until you either capture the opponent’s king or surrender. This paper has the method of moving the pieces written on it.」
「I see.」
It’s chess.
「You can arrange the pieces freely. You may do as you like with the three squares in front.」
「They don’t have fixed positions?」
「Yes, this is because this is a mock war game. You put a partition on the grid so that the opponent would not be able to see the positioning of your pieces.」
It seems that the partition was in the large wooden box as well.
「As for the rules for the positioning, the soldiers can not be lined up in the same row, so in other words, you can only put nine pieces there in the beginning. In addition, the king and the prince must be arranged on the board and the king has to start at the middle square in front of you in the beginning. And there is no need to put all the pieces on the board at the start of the game.」
「?」
「If you choose not to move, you can freely put the pieces that you have onto the three squares in front of you.」
「The three squares in front.」
It seemed that similar to shogi, when you were checked, you couldn’t put out a bunch of pieces.
「Not just your own pieces, you can also put out the pieces that you took from your opponent. However, this does not include the prince and the imperial soldiers.」
「So the prince and the imperial guards can not betray their own king.」
「That’s correct.」
I picked up a few pieces and looking at the list of the pieces that I was given, I checked how they should be moved.
「In addition, if the prince is taken, the mercenaries would betray you, so please be careful.」
「The pieces on the board will suddenly become the opponent’s?」
「Indeed.」
Depending on the situation, the mercenaries would become traitors.
Since the mercenaries could move forward and sideways by two spaces, they were excellent pieces to use for both attack and defense, but if they turned on you at a strange place, it could end up being fatal.
「Well, I’ve explained the basic rules, but do you have any questions?」
「When there’s a piece in front, can you jump over it?」
Something like jumping over your own soldiers and attacking the soldiers on horseback?
「The only ones that are able to do that are the wizards.」
The wizards, were the ones that could move like the knights.
TN: the knights are referring to the knights in shogi
「I see. Can you send out new soldiers behind the soldiers?」
「That’s not a problem.」
It seems that there were no rules against double pawns.
TN: 二歩(nifu/double pawns) is an illegal move in shogi where you have two pawns in the same column. The reason behind why it is illegal and can result in an instant termination of the game is to prevent players from building a wall of pawns, leading to an unfair advantage. If anyone’s interested, you can look it up.
「What do we do about the pieces that can no longer advance?」
「That is what is called a dead piece. On the battlefield, those who stop advancing are already dead. The other party could take them.」
「Oou.」
It seems that there were no rules for exchanging and promotions.
「It’s troubling even if you tell me that I can position them as I like. There’s no standard arrangements or something?」
「Of course. I will teach you after you become familiar with the war board.」
「I see?」
I looked at the pieces and thought about it. Krendil-sensei saw me stop moving and put the divider onto the board.
「After you’ve thought it through, it would be a good idea to line them up. It is alright even if you take some time to do so since it is your first time playing.」
「I understand, I’ll give it a try.」
The war board was probably a simulation game of this country’s military tactics. Come to think of it, Eugene also had an option system, but there was a time when he led an army into battle.
TN: games with an options system is when you are given multiple choices as a response to an event and different responses can lead to different storylines
If I studied this kind of thing now, it might be helpful when the story began.
I fired myself up and drilled into my head the movement patterns of the pieces.
And so, I arranged each piece just like in shogi.
Wandering Muse Translation 