“That would have been a good play,” Ludwig said halfheartedly, he then moved his queen to take over the pawn on the diagonal of the king.
“Huh? Are you giving up your queen for a pawn?” the old man laughed.
“Not really, the game…is already over,” Ludwig said as he stood up.
The old man thought for a second, “Why? I can just take the Queen with my king,” he said.
Ludwig pointed at the bishop all the way in the corner, “You can’t, you lost,” Ludwig said as he once again beat another opponent in a few moves.
The monitor had paid more attention to Ludwig this time and approached him faster, “What’s the name of that move now? It’s quite different from the Fool’s Mate you played last time,” the monitor said.
The old man was still frowning but regardless he stood up and said, “You beat someone else doing this? I feel rather embarrassed to be called a fool,” the old mans aid.
“Not really, this is called the Scholar’s Mate, it requires a bit more advanced play.” Ludwig said. Though he lied, after all that was one of the basic ways to take on a new player but he didn’t want to embarrass the old man who wasn’t rude like Rudolph.
“Interesting, interesting,” the monitor said as he noted down the moves. “Please take a seat and wait for the next round.
Just as the three were talking the chains once again sprang out and were about to grab the old man, but almost instantly they slammed against something invisible and coiled back almost afraid then soon disappeared under the ground.
The old man seemed to have noticed what happened and turned to the direction of the chains, but ignored it after not seeing anything.
“I’ll have to excuse myself, young man, I hope we can play some more, you have quite the interesting playstyle.”
“Sure, if the opportunity ever presents itself,” Ludwig said.
After the formalities Ludwig once again peeled his eyes for the strange occurrences in the area. More chains came up and grabbed a couple more people but didn’t go too greedy. And once again the two it captured from the chess game were both people who lost their last game.
‘So apparently there is a condition for these chains, and it only hit people who lost. What is this though? Who’s planning all this and why here?’ Ludwig continued thinking and formulating ideas. ‘If they want the souls, maybe for a reason, a ritual of sorts?’ he thought, though he knew all the ideas he had were simply him hypothesizing for all he knew he could just be talking out of his ass without any good rhyme or reason and this could all be something completely different, but that doesn’t mean its not dangerous.
The people who are managing this event seem to be aware, or at least parts of them, as Ludwig inspected one of the people overseeing the chess games. And it turned out that he is just a simple human without any afflictions or enslavement applied to him.
“You’re done already? Don’t tell me, you won again?” Hoyo asked as he arrived next to him still munching on the last part of the roasted squid.
“Yeah,” Ludwig shrugged.
“Damn, are you maybe… a genius?” Hoyo asked.
Ludwig smiled letting Hoyo have his own misunderstandings. It wasn’t that Ludwig was insanely good at chess, he was a great player, an had already reached Grandmaster status once before, but it was just that the people in this event were just bad.
After some time the players began leaving, those who lost, and some remained to watch the rest of the games. Kassandra came to the two’s company looking completely worn out.
“What’s wrong?” Hoyo asked, “My brain is fried… the one I played against really used some sneaky moves, regardless I won. But I’m up against her next,” Kassandra said, “She won her second game in twenty moves…”
The direction she gestured was where the girl in white robes was, the leader of the White tower academy.
Just as Kassandra was talking, the person she was talking about stood up, turned, noticed the three and moved toward them.
“She’s coming over,” Hoyo said.
“What’s up with you two, you’re acting like you’re terrified of her,” Ludwig said.
“Oh, you don’t know about it, the competition between the five towers is pretty damn fierce, the only problem is that we’re ranked last…” Hoyo said.
‘No wonder, the Black Tower academy is pretty much in a nerfed state. Where they can’t use any of their ‘Powerful’ magic such as necromancy and curses…’
“You,” the girl said as she stood in front of Ludwig completely disregarding the other two next to him.
“What is it?” Ludwig asked.
“What did you do to Rudolph… he’s acting strange,” she said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ludwig said as one of the Djinn guards moved past the event venue. Ludwig could almost feel the burning gaze of scrutiny of that entity from behind the mask watching him.
“He’s been acting strange since he lost to you…”
“Maybe he just hates losing to the Black Tower academy and is depressed,” Hoyo said as he swallowed the last of his squid.
“No, I’m being serious, not only him,” she said “A few others are also acting strange… I just thought you might know something,” she said addressing Ludwig.
“I honestly have no idea,” Ludwig replied, “Maybe they ate something strange, or have something in comment,” Ludwig threw her a hint. He wasn’t about to expose the fact that he knew ‘something’ and wanted her to act by herself. After all, so far nothing of what was going on here bothered or even was by any relation something that affected him.
The girl nodded, though Ludwig didn’t know if she understood his intentions or not, he did the bare minimum for someone who seemed worried about their companions.
She left the group and instantly Hoyo said, “I’ve never seen her act like that,” he said.
“You know her?” Ludwig asked.
“Well, she’s a pretty bigshot in the White Tower academy, well more like her older brother. He’s is the youngest commander grade Swordmaster to achieve Aura mastery at the age of twenty two. He was praised by the King of Tulmud, the Kingdom of the East. The rumors were thought to be exaggerated until the Emperor of Lufondal asked him to come and showcase his Aura. And after showing it, he received endless praise. The house of Urbaf, where she comes from is now a ducal house and is second to none but the king of Tulmud and they are highly regarded by the empire. Though she on the other hand has quite the unlucky circumstances,” Hoyo said.
“How is that unlucky, to have the favor of an emperor and a king, she would be praised and honored wherever she goes,” Ludwig said.
“Ah, you know so little of the world Ludwig,” Hoyo said as he patted Ludwig on the back, “The fact that her brother is that bright and shining of a star makes it that she became nothing but a bargain chip in political affairs. Unless she overshoots and outshines her brother, she’ll never be her true person, that is the one disadvantage of Nobility.” Hoyo said. Definitely speaking form experience.
Hoyo looked at the woman who took a seat waiting for her next match, pity? Sympathy? Maybe empathy? None of them fitted what he currently felt, even he didn’t know.
“Please proceed to the semi-final rounds,” the administrator said.
Ludwig headed to his seat and waited for his opponent, this time it was another person from the white tower academy.
Hoyo on the other hand decided that this time he wanted to watch. He wanted to see Ludwig’s Luck in action, or maybe hidden genius.
The game started and ended almost as fast as Ludwig used the many holes in his opponents’ opening to completely overwhelm him.
The game this time took longer than before, at least fourteen moves from Ludwig before he pinned his opponent’s king. For others that might sound like a short time for a game to end, but for Ludwig it was too long and he did it on purpose. He already beat two others in the first few moves, so he wanted to take longer this time. he didn’t want to draw too much attention and at the same time he wanted to have a better look at what was going on in the venue form his seat.
The chains however didn’t come to his opponent this time.
Ludwig stood up after having beat his still unbelieving opponent and moved along Hoyo to the waiting area.
Not long after, Kassandra came over with annoyance clear in her face.
“What’s wrong?” Ludwig asked.
“I lost,” she said sighing.
Ludwig frowned, not because she lost, but because she looked completely fine.
‘Perhaps the chains aren’t grabbing those who advanced far enough that they’re noticeable by the people. It’s picking up those who are either less known or don’t have power, otherwise it would have taken that old man from earlier. And since Kassandra advanced all the way to the semi-finals she was probably not a good target for the chains…”
“Let’s leave then, I guess I’ll have to study for the exams,” she sighed.
“What do you mean?” Hoyo asked.
“Well, I lost to that White Tower noble, and that means I can’t get the Artificer’s Orb, so we’ll have to study. Unless you have a hundred thousand extra gold krona that you don’t mind spending,” Kassandra shrugged.
“No, I mean, why buy it, we still have a chance,” Hoyo said.
Kassandra frowned, “There is no loser bracket in this event, if you lose you’re out.”
Hoyo pointed at her, “You lost,” then he pointed at Ludwig, “He didn’t, he is a finalist.”
Kassandra’s eyes almost bulged out, after all, even beginner’s luck has a limit.