“What sort of trouble?” Hoyo asked.
“Tower Master gave us an assignment,” she said. “But I honestly think he’s just messing with us,” she said.
“Can you explain some more? I really have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ludwig asked.
Kassandra gathered her thoughts and then said, “Remember that you said Master Van Dijk had asked you to bring an item from the Mage Masquerade?”
“Yes, but that was it, he didn’t say what to bring,” Ludwig replied.
“Well, he said he wanted the Artificer’s Orb.”
“That… I don’t think we have enough money for that,” Hoyo said, “Even with all that gold, we can’t afford that,” Hoyo added as he gestured to Ludwig’s side pouch.
The busboy soon came with a frothy mug of beer that Kassandra grabbed and gulped half of it in one go, surprising both Ludwig and Hoyo.
“Ahhh, that hits the spot, been a while too, never mind, the reason why we have to do this, is because Master Van Dijk promised us full passing marks on next week’s exams. Basically, this is a mission that if we succeed in we can skip the entire next week’s exams and pass. I want this so bad! But why does it have to be like this!” she said and ruffled her own hair.
‘I can see why she always has unkempt hair…’ Ludwig thought inwardly.
“You’ll grow bald at this rate,” He said as he pointed at her hair, which she rapidly tried to straighten with her own hand, not that it did much.
“And like Hoyo said, if that thing is expensive, then what’s the point of sweating about it.”
“That’s the thing, it’s obtainable, for free even,” she said. “But I doubt I can earn it, ahhh, I should have studied more about the King’s Gambit… I never thought I’d be needing to play a Noble’s Game to pass my exams.”
“Slow down, Kassandra, and get to the point, it’s frustrating to talk to you this way,” Ludwig said, he inwardly thought that she might have a severe case of ADHD, but he didn’t want to point it out, they probably have no idea what that is in this world anyway.
“Yes, Yes, the point, anyways, the Mage masquerade are planning several events, one of them is the King’s Gambit game. All is welcome to join, but only the nobles win that game every time.”
“Good, now that we know what’s going on, tell me, what’s this Artificer’s Orb?” Ludwig asked.
Hoyo was the one to answer, “Basically, it’s a core that can be used to create a golem, the Artificer’s Orb is a valuable object that people wouldn’t mind spending hundreds of thousands of golden Krona to obtain.”
“Okay, then, what’s this King’s Gambit?” Ludwig asked. After all, the name was… quite familiar. Almost too familiar.
“Ah, since you don’t know, there is no point in explaining it. I’ll be participating, I have some experience playing it a few years ago, and I still remember some strategies. This book,” she said as she pointed at the large book in front of her, “Is something I grabbed from the academy, it harbors the history of King’s Gambit and how it came to be, and even the plays and strategies that the creator had made. Which still hold strong to this day.”
Ludwig was more and more intrigued, “Humor me, and show me the book’s content,” Ludwig said.
She sighed and opened the book.
“See this,” she said as she showed an eight by eight black and white square shaped platform with symbols on it.
Ludwig’s upper lip twitched, both in annoyance at the fact that Kassandra completely underestimated his understanding and the fact that she insinuated that he was ignorant, and at the fact that he fully knew this game.
After all, he came from a wealthy family, incredibly wealthy in fact that this was a game that he hated with all his being.
For a simple fact, that he showed incredible genius playing it when he was young.
‘Freaking Chess is haunting me even in a different world…’
“You look surprised, it’s fine, it happened to me the first time I saw this, it looks complex. It’s an easy game to learn, but incredibly hard to master.” She said
“I see…” Ludwig stalled as he looked with amusement at Kassandra trying to explain a game where he reached the status of Grandmaster in just so he can get his father off his back about playing online games.
“These are pawns, they move on square forward and…” she began explaining the notions and all possible moves of each and every piece.
“And this is the Queen, the most powerful piece on the board, she can move diagonally and in straight lines,” Hoyo added, “I read about this game before” he said feeling proud that he finally knew something that Ludwig had no idea about.
“Right…” Ludwig said.
“The creator of this game was a genius,” she said, “He apparently was awarded by the former emperor of Lufondal a seat in the council, though he was later called a madman since he kept saying that he came from another world and all. Regardless, this game remains the most strategically complex game of the current world, and I need to study up on some strategies that we can use later tonight.”
Her words explained something Ludwig was wondering about, how did chess even come to exist in this world, especially with the exact rules that were created on Earth. But the fact that someone got isekaied here like him, was enough to explain it. Van Dijk had already mentioned that several people had come to this world from another place, heroes they call them. This guy was probably one of them… though taking credit for creating chess was a bit too disingenuous, he couldn’t blame the guy, since he got a seat on the Imperial table.
Resources and Knowledge should be used to achieve maximum efficiency and profit.
“When is the event happening?” Ludwig asked.
“In one hour!” She said as she began skimming through the book.