Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World - Volume 4 - Chapter SS

Bonus Short Stories

A World for Two

You know, I think I’ve spent more time messing with ehrengarde pieces than using a hoe or quill. Such were the young student’s thoughts as he watched his friend from across the board.

His playing partner’s effeminate features were pulled tight, and those eyes bluer than the summer sky squinted in deep thought. For once, he looked thoroughly stumped: his jaw rested on his hand with a lone finger pushing up into his cheek.

The northern winters were long and harsh. As a result, the denizens of the Empire’s remotest reaches spent the season counting their days to spring while doing what work could be done indoors; tabletop games were the perfect escape from the dreary monotony.

Having grown up in a small canton that practically amounted to a few huts buried in the polar snow, Mika was no exception to this rule. He’d spent almost all his free time back home playing inside with his family. Of all the games he’d played, ehrengarde was the cheapest to play and most difficult to grow tired of—losing streaks notwithstanding—so he had naturally racked up enough hours to be able to envision entire matches without a board or pieces.

It went without saying that he was a strong player. He hadn’t gotten much chance to play people outside his family on account of the stigma against tivisco, but his recorded losses were only in the single digits.

Across the board from him now sat the servant to a College researcher: Erich, too, was quite the player. While unfamiliar with by-the-book tactics or recent trends, he was blessed with a mind both deep and swift. His style of play wasn’t backed by theoretical knowledge or technical expertise, but a simple intellect, which meant his strength did not wax and wane with the different strategies he faced. Frankly, Mika thought he made for a difficult opponent.

Yet the current state of their game was enough to perplex him. The center of the board had devolved into chaos: among the immaculately designed wooden pieces clashing across the board, both their emperors were inches away from locking blades.

This situation had arisen purely because Mika was trying to complicate things to brew confusion. To be fair, Erich’s early consolidation of his major pieces in the middle to take board control had forced Mika’s retaliation. Still, it wasn’t as if the fledgling oikodomurge had marched his emperor in with reckless abandon.

Although the emperor was the piece that ultimately decided the victor, it was more than a worthless noncombatant that needed protection. Its ability to move omnidirectionally—albeit one tile at a time—made it highly versatile. So long as it was protected properly, it made for a strong attacker.

Mika knew one didn’t need an empress to make use of their emperor, so he’d used his to tip the mid-board gridlock slightly in his favor. Erich couldn’t afford to pull back now and regroup his forces; he had no choice but to march forward knowing the danger that awaited.

With both emperors only a step away from walking into enemy lines, the game was exhilaratingly close. Had any connoisseur of the sport been around to watch, they surely would have been deeply impressed with both players’ competitive spirit: very rarely could one tell so clearly that both participants were adamant on dominating their opponent through a full frontal assault.

This had all started after Erich showed off his work and invited his best friend to join him in selling pieces. He had then suggested a friendly bout meant to foster bonds and whatnot, and no self-respecting ehrengarde lover could refuse the chance to play with tiny figurines packed with such lifelike detail, so Mika had agreed.

And look where they were now.

In some ways, the game could be considered a contest of egos. By playing, one announced to the world that this was the way they liked to play; every stray motion divulged more than a palm reading ever could. At times, this mental connection surpassed even that of the flesh.

Ehrengarde’s infamy for becoming more difficult against players one knew well proved that the poets’ insistence on parallels to the sensual were no mere dramatization. After all, Mika had begun to grasp what sort of plays Erich was liable to pursue.

Erich, in turn, was stuck in the pits of his mind trying to avoid the lines he figured Mika would want to see: he was struggling to figure out how to deal with the guardsman by the emperor’s side. Guardsmen were powerful pieces—so powerful that only one could be used—that were invincible so long as they stayed in front of their monarch, but this one had exposed itself. If he took it now, he would certainly have a better chance at vying for the center, but the only pieces in position to strike it down were his keystone pieces.

The knight, dragon knight, and general in range were all powerful units that exerted pressure just by being there; this also meant that losing one was a blow incomparable to sacrificing a minor piece. Any piece that created tension with its presence alone was sure to leave an even greater hole once gone.

Taking the guardsman meant losing a major piece, and Erich would need to form his plans around counterattacking after it was gone. But to leave the guardsman up would inevitably mean committing an extra piece or two to attacking the emperor anyway, which was hardly any better.

Mika knew he would have been just as indecisive had he been in his shoes, which made the situation all the sweeter. However, there was something that gave him even greater joy: for this brief moment, the whole of Erich’s attention was devoted to the tactician across the board—for now, Mika had him all to himself.

“Okay,” the young magician said. “Thirty more seconds.”

“Ugh... Argh...”

Reversed, it also meant that Mika was all Erich’s. As he flipped over the small hourglass, the trickster began to plot his next move.

[Tips] Ehrengarde is enjoyed all across the Empire, but it is well established that the density of strong players positively correlates with latitude. Common wisdom tells that this is because there are few other activities engaging enough to last the frigid winters.