by Yuu Kamiya
“ “—Whaaaaaaa?!” ”
Not just Chlammy, but also Steph, and in fact the whole castle shouted it. Even so, it went unheard. Sora shouted on as if he were really standing on the battleground.
“Well you have withstood; well you have stood your ground, proud knight! This is what it means to be a sword of the people!—But now you may rest your sword for a time and enjoy your leave! I pledge on my name that those who achieve on this battlefield will be rewarded as they deserve!”
And so the knight—the mere piece. Turned to face Sora—no…his king. Tipped as to bow—and vanished from the board, moving to the corner of the table.
—At this phenomenon unheard-of in chess, two pieces taking each other out, Chlammy had no words, while Sora answered mockingly.
“Heh-heh-heh, you fool. This version of chess is a simulation of real war, yes? I’ve never lost at Civ or Daisenryaku—did you think that you could defeat me at this game, which is just an outdated version of the same?”
Correct—it wasn’t chess. It was a strategy game. Magic to maintain morale—well, well, quite a useful spell. But something like that was only on the level of a status modifier like a Social Policy or World Wonder. And—he already knew well the weakness of such modifiers. Namely, that her play style would come to depend on them—. And if he could see her play style—he couldn’t lose.
“Third Pawn Company! Now is your chance—take the enemy bishop!”
Sora shouting orders with conviction, just going for the mate, his pieces moving loyally. But before the bishop—
—The pawn turned black.
“ “ “Wha?!” ” ”
The crowd raised their voices in astonishment. It was already a familiar sight. But now, for the first time—Sora was part of it. Sora’s countenance revealed to Chlammy that this turn of events was clearly unexpected. She smirked…thinly and darkly, and spoke:
“‘Brainwashing’—what an interesting expression you use. Brainwashing is certainly an option, in regards such as this.”
Another piece that tried to attack was forcibly turned black.
Forced brainwashing—that meant that all attacks from his side would be sealed off.
…Crap.
Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap!
Sora managed not to show it on his expression, but he realized he’d made a fatal error. Her cheat being maintaining insane morale—was what he’d assumed!
—It was just the mistake he had haughtily criticized Steph for a few days back, and now he’d done it himself! He’d failed—he’d failed he’d failed he’d failed he’d failed he’d failed! It was an obvious, epic fail! Once his enemy was cornered, bereft of room to care about appearances… Once she was losing for the loss, she might be prepared to expose her use of magic—once she was already losing, she might try the cheats that originally shouldered her with a risk of getting caught! (Why didn’t I think of it—I’m such a dolt!)
“—All troops, retreat! The enemy is using brainwashing magic; stay away!”
Under Sora’s overpowering direction, even the pieces that weren’t supposed to be able to retreat started retreating with all the others, but.
“Heh-heh, you think you’re a battlefield king? This king is quite a poseur, trying to bring up the rear himself!”
Under the command of Chlammy, crowing at the sight of victory, the enemy descended upon the king—i.e., Sora. Specifically, the enemy queen.
“Take that king’s head, Queen! It’s checkmate!”
“…Brother!”
As the hall filled with noise, even Shiro felt a threat and raised her voice. But—Sora pronounced to the oncoming piece.
“—O Queen, I entreat you to lay down your sword…for you are—beautiful.”
……
“ “ “What?” ” ”
The crowd, Chlammy, even Shiro gaped. As Sora spoke heated, passionate nothings to the piece—the queen.
“Oh, Queen. Do you serve that king of your own accord, or are you trapped by circumstances—in any case, I would that you might ask your heart. Is yon king truly a king worthy of your service?”
Like a first-rate stage actor. With the sweet voice of the playboy of the century, Sora put together an elegant line of words. Truly as if he were a young, handsome monarch on the battlefield.
“That king who brainwashes his soldiers, his people, to use them as his swords, his tools—to say nothing of putting you in front to bear the arrows as he cowers at the back: Does he merit your beauty, or your sword? O Queen, whose beauty I have but glimpsed on this field where strange fate has pit us against each other, I beseech you to lay down your sword and see—your people, those you should protect—your king! Where are they!”
—Clank—. With the sound of a sword falling to the ground.
—This time, the black queen turned white.
The crowd, still left agape, could no longer even make a sound. All that was left was Chlammy, who was speechless, and Sora, who just chuckled.
“Wha!”
“Heh-heh-heh, romance simulation games are one of the few genres I’m better than my sister at.”
“You little…!”
As Chlammy gnashed her teeth, the crowd sighed as if relieved. Seeing that Sora had done the same thing as the enemy, evening the match once more—that was probably why.
—But that was wrong. So very wrong. This—Sora was only able to do because he was the king and the enemy was the queen. But Chlammy—it was hard to say exactly, but it looked as if she could use any piece to brainwash another. While this side was still sealed off from attacking—the enemy carried on attacking freely. What waited ahead—was nothing more than certain defeat.
—What to do. What to do what to do Sora—virgin, eighteen—! Sora put his everything into holding up the unconcerned smirk floating on his face. With all his soul and fire, he looked for a way to somehow break the impasse. No—more accurate, he’d found a way. There is—a way. Strictly speaking, there is… But will she fall for it?!
—It would be a wild gamble. If successful, he’d get by for now. But, if he blew it—his last chance at victory would be gone. Compared to the risk of placing the bet, the reward would be too transient—should he still lay it on the table? As Sora spun around his thoughts, in time itself compressed by excess secretion of neurotransmitters.
Now, this time, Shiro. Softly enclosed her brother’s face…in her two small hands.
“Wha…?”
The sudden sensation of warmth on his cheeks made his body want to leap. But Shiro peered into Sora’s eyes and continued quietly.
“…You said…if you lost your cool, I should help you.”
“!”
“…Together…we are Blank…”
Yeah…
“—Yeah, we are…”
“……It’s okay.”
—You think she’ll fall for it? To the silent question of the brother’s eyes, the sister slightly, yet strongly…nodded. Once.
—That’s right, Shiro—this genius girl—the sister he was so proud of. Had, at a point, outplayed an opponent unbound by rules that yet constricted her. Only by reading her opponent’s—Chlammy’s—moves could she do that. She may have been greatly the inferior of her brother in mind games and diplomacy—but Sora reminded himself.
—Don’t forget. His sister—had defeated a god.
That sister, by pure reading of moves, had stated unequivocally that she’d fall for it. Then all he had to do was trust his sister and form a strategy on that premise!
And so—Chlammy, shoulders shaking.
“Knight! Slay the traitor queen!”
She fell for it…… She stepped right in—to the trap. The black knight commanded trembled as if conflicted, and then—. Turned white.
“H—how…Wh-what did you do?!”
—This was it. This was the one way out. If Chlammy really did mean to fight for the human race, it was the one thing she couldn’t take: It was her reaction to betraya
l. And the fact that she still assumed that our heroes were cheating… Here it was: the only scenario that could lead to victory. Oh, that’s my sister. He told her by stroking her head, and she closed her eyes in pleasure like a cat.
And so, as if all things were preordained, Sora let out an impudent grin and spoke.
“King, foolish king. To order your subjects to kill their queen…Cruel commands are not well given. Perhaps you should cool your head. Those shoulders, shaking in anger—they are not fit to show your people.”
“You—damned traitor…!”
Chlammy, believing Sora to be cheating using the technology of another country, selling out his people. Her face no longer bore a corpselike sense of helplessness, or of responsibility, but only rage. In contrast, Sora’s face was bold, brazen, full of ease.
…Who could have guessed it? That at that very moment, Sora himself felt his heart pounding hard enough to rupture, his mind in total mobilization. In his brain, he dug up all the knowledge he had yet acquired, through quiz games, through history games. All the wars he could possibly be expected to know of, and he simulated them.
—Indeed, the situation had not improved a bit. This wasn’t a trick he could pull off indefinitely. It was only a bluff to buy time as the enemy fell into paranoia. If he were to charge defiantly onto the offensive, everything would be balanced on a tightrope demanding too-precise calculation. In that case—he could only find a way to win without fighting
Win without fighting?
.
—And, thus. In the midst of a situation tantamount to certain defeat. In the back of Sora’s mind, a ray of light was finally found.
“—Shiro. Take command of the troops. Can you run them around so they won’t be brainwashed by the enemy?”
“…That’s easy.”
His sister gave a firm salute, not needing to hear the reason, and took command.
—This, again, was a wild gamble. However, this time, if successful, it meant certain victory. To draw victory from the situation—there were only two ways. Ways in which Sora knew one could win without fighting—and they were.
“O Queen—”
Leaving his sister to lash out the orders, Sora spoke to the former enemy queen, now on his side.
“I dream not to ask you—nor those proud knights who lay down their swords out of love for you—to turn your blades on your brethren. This battle, this situation…already, anyone’s eyes can see it for a vain butchery—while your king—already boils in the depths of madness.”
Then Sora, in about the time a clock’s second hand takes to move once. Turned through tens of thousands of words in his brain, and embarked on the seduction of a lifetime.
“Your people belong to you—already, I believe there is none but you to lead your people in the place of the frenzied, mad king—is this not the truth?”
Sora’s speech. Its intent. No one in the castle, not even Chlammy, could comprehend it. And so the castle hushed—as had happened many times so far. Something beyond imagination was about to happen—that they waited for in silence. And—finally, was it a result that answered their expectations?
The queen which had been black—which now was white.
—This time, turned red.
And, in continuity, almost every black piece on the front line turned red.
“Huhh?!”
The cry came from Chlammy alone. The rest of the crowd must not have been able to grasp what had happened. However, Sora’s speech released next—finally made it clear.
“I celebrate your independence, O brave, admirable queen! You champions of justice, who have overcome brainwashing to follow your queen! I ask you not to slay your brethren! But they themselves surely wish not to slay you! It is you who must put an end to the oppression of this mad king, who brainwashes his people and robs them of their freedom!”
Indeed, it was. The spark of insurrection—the emergence of a third force.
“What I seek is not blood! It is what everyone seeks—yea, I seek peace! I would that our sides sheathe their swords; I shall not permit this bloodshed to go on!”
At this speech, the side of the red queen was joined by more and more red pieces.
—They might not hesitate to harm their enemies. But.
“—Y-you… No matter! Execute all renegades!”
Chlammy, raging without grasping the meaning, once more—walked into a trap.
“Another mistake, fool king. It is a universal truth, since time immemorial, that armed suppression of insurrection—is the worst move.”
—Even if they would harm their enemies, the comrades with whom they had fought—regardless of brainwashing magic—would not be so easy to slay. Indeed, just as Sora had spoken, the pieces ordered by Chlammy turned red, one after another.
“—Wha… You… What is this; what is your trick!”
Chlammy had gone so far as to call on the power of elves to protect the human race. Her emotions regarding her own betrayal strengthened and stole away her composure. Meanwhile.
“…All troops, aid the red queen forces… Form a circle… Let…no one die.”
Shiro took Sora’s cue and issued appropriate directions to incorporate the red pieces into their battle strategy. Not really. Really she was just making it hard for Chlammy’s army to attack by using the red queen forces as a shield. But she papered over that with words, and manipulated the red queen’s pieces to create a situation in which no one could get an attack through.
—The result.
“!—You treasonous swine!”
Chlammy ground her teeth and spewed bile. Yes—the result was that that the battle deadlocked.
“—Hey, mad king, I mean, ‘brainwashing king,’ have you heard?”
Sora explained with a smile as if this was what he had been aiming for all along.
“In real wars—you don’t necessarily have to capture the king to win, you know? Come on, you already have no chance to win. Neither of us can do anything in this state—it’s time for you to resign.”
Sparking an insurrection to split the nation’s forces and concluding a peace from the overwhelmingly superior position this afforded. This—was one of the ways Shiro knew to win without fighting. It probably appeared to the crowd that all of this was planned from the beginning. At the too-brilliant turnabout, the castle heated up, and a feverish roar resounded.
—Excluding one person. Yes—Chlammy alone glared daggers at Sora. She snickered.
“Heh-heh…heh-heh-heh… Don’t underestimate me—I’ll never hand over this country!”
It was a cackle like that of a true mad king. As the furor of the castle hushed, Chlammy gave her orders.
“All troops, lay down your lives and take the enemy king’s head…All you have to do is follow my ordersjust cut down all traitors in your path.”
It couldn’t be detected by Sora—by Immanity. But the brainwashing magic must have grown even stronger. Unsettlingly, quietly, the black army began to advance. As did the red pieces, and the white pieces. The lines of pieces emanating the clear feeling that they were going to wipe out everything without regard, the castle swallowed.
“…Brother, this is what happens…when you back a weakened enemy into a corner.”
As even his sister pointed it out with a trace of cold sweat. Even so, Sora smiled back.
“I know—that’s why I did it.”
Crik—
The sound came out of nowhere. The black king, Chlammy’s king.
—Developed a crack.
“—Uh—wha-what?”
As the crack spread through the black king. And Chlammy watched in shock, not knowing what was going on, Sora told her plainly.
“Dictators of continual oppression, subjugation by fear, and brainwashing—it’s a funny thing.”
This was—the second way Shiro knew to win without fighting.
“It works when you’re winning, but once you start losing, universally, for some reason, such leaders’ fates are always seal
ed in the same way.”
…Namely.
“It has held true for time immemorial: Their fate is sealed by assassination by someone close to them, not even a combat unit.”
—A historical fact of the world they came from, repeated endlessly. The brainwashing expanded in scope; appearances were abandoned. Becoming vilified as a despot, being run to the edge of defeat. Commanding as a mad king, and thus—self-destructing.
And so, watching the cracked-apart black king crumble. Everyone in the castle. Even Chlammy stood stunned.
“Sorry, our world isn’t as nice a place as this one.”
Victorious, rising from the seat, Sora and Shiro.
“—When it comes to conflict and slaughter, we’re seasoned experts compared to you.”
And then he heaved a single great sigh. Sora exchanged a quick high five with Shiro, and his eyes grew distant. Their old world. Squinting as if to look at it far, far off.
“But here, it ends with a game. This is a fine world…”
…So he mumbled.
“W-wow…”
—The scene of victory was overwhelming, dazzling. Amidst the cheers that shook the entire castle, it was Steph who whispered. The cheering spectators probably didn’t understand the underlying truth. Steph alone did. Not to say she understood all of the siblings’ tactics and statements. Since she had no way of knowing what their world was like. But. She knew that that girl—Chlammy—had received powerful Elven backup. That the game that had just unfolded hid their cheating magic. And, in the end, that they had faced that magic head-on and broken through. This meant—albeit indirectly—that they had faced the world’s largest country, Elven Gard, and defeated them. That mere humans had triumphed over a race full of magic. An accomplishment with not a single precedent in the history that Steph knew. And, therefore—
“……Are they really human?”
In awe—even fear, she couldn’t help but whisper this. Opposite to the uproar of the audience, the vanquished Chlammy looked down in silence. As the siblings slid away from the table without a second glance at her. And as they walked up to Steph, Steph, for a moment—didn’t know what to do.
—Because, right? They’d brought down face-on an enemy that cheated completely with magic, and they weren’t even showing triumph.