Paladin of the End - Volume 3.2 - Chapter SS3

Hobbies: Tonio

It was a board with stately character, polished by months and years of time. Squares of sycamore and walnut were laid alternately in a nine-by-nine checkerboard pattern. It was a very involved piece of woodwork. Silverwork and a subtle carving of vines decorated the board’s edges. This may have been part of a game, but it was more than that. This was a piece of art. I stared at it, captivated.

“Hoowee! That’s so pretty!” Bee exclaimed from beside me.

“It’s well made,” said Menel as he gave the board a rough look-over—but he handled it with respect. “You couldn’t make something like this around here. Doesn’t look like it was snagged from some ruin, either. This an import from the north?”

“Yes. I discovered it when I went to make some trades the other day. I fell in love with it at first sight and purchased it on the spot. I couldn’t help myself.”

The one smiling with a hint of embarrassment was Tonio, the merchant.

“Do you like Infantry?” I asked.

“I do.” He laughed. “If only I were any good.”

Infantry was the name of one of the most popular board games in this part of this world. The players would decide who was to go first, then take turns moving one of their pieces, of which there were eight kinds: the pawn, the giant, the wyvern, the fairy, the caster, the priest, the knight, and the king. The goal was to take your opponent’s king.

The closest thing from my previous world was probably board games derived from chaturanga like chess or shogi. It was a two-player, zero-sum, finite, deterministic game of perfect information. The people of this world were similar physically and identical in their souls to the people of my last. It made sense that the games they came up with would be similar.

“What about the pieces? Wow, these are really elaborate as well! Whoa!” Bee cried out as she gazed at a beautifully carved milky-white piece that had probably been made from the fang of a marine creature. The piece she was holding was a wyvern with its wings folded and its neck held imposingly high. Within the game, it was considered a major piece; it could move a long way along the diagonal and was easy to use.

“This one’s pretty, too,” Bee said, continuing on to pick up an androgynous fairy piece. This too was beautiful. “Hm? Doesn’t this one look like Menel?”

“Huh? You think?” Menel tilted his head.

Tonio watched the two of them with a charming smile. We were currently gathered near the front of the store at the trading company Tonio was running by the port. We’d dropped by because he was carrying out a deal that for various reasons we had to be present for. After that was done, Bee turned up as well, and we all started talking about random topics. The conversation led to Tonio bringing out this Infantry set.

Tonio, who was normally so sedate, had showed the set to us with a little bit of pride, so he probably liked it quite a lot.

Bee, who was gazing hard at the beautiful board and pieces, suddenly turned to Tonio and said, “Hey, can I have a play?!” Her eyes were sparkling cheerfully.

“Of course you may, Robina.” Tonio nodded with his usual smile.

“Okay, Menel, let’s play!”

“Me?! Why?”

“’Cause Will looks like he’d be good at it! And so does Tonio!”

“And I look like I’d be bad, do I?!”

“In comparison? Yeah, I think so.”

“You wait, missy.”

They must both have been familiar with the rules already. They set up the pieces, flipped a coin to decide who would go first, and started to play. Tonio and I watched as the game progressed... and... yep.

“Huh? Ah, the wyvern was covering that?! You’re kidding?!”

Menel cackled. “You let your guard down...”

Menel made short work of Bee’s sloppy play. Menel’s own skill was nothing especially noteworthy, but the way he invited carelessness, set up traps, and drew his opponent into them was cunning and greatly suited him.

“Gaaah! I lost!”

Tonio laughed. “All right, Robina, why don’t you and I play a game?”

“I’ll never win against you!”

“No, no, give it a try. I’ll give you a handicap.”

Tonio exchanged seats with Menel and boldly removed his giant, wyvern, fairy, and caster pieces from the board. Bee looked at the board for a while, unusually quiet, then said, “I think I could win now!”

And she started her match against Tonio. She made several mistakes and had pieces taken as the game went on, but ultimately—

“Yeeeah!”

She won.

“Oh dear,” Tonio said and laughed. “Losing that many pieces was quite punishing, it seems.”

As we played around like that, making lots of noise inside the store, passers-by and people who lived around the area started to pop their heads in.

“Oh, nice and lively in here.”

“Infantry?”

This was still quite a rural area, and pretty much everyone knew each other. It made for a relaxed atmosphere.

“Would any of you care to play?” Tonio smiled at them engagingly. “I have a number of other boards. It may be your chance to defeat the Paladin.”

Then he threw a smile at me, saying, “What do you say?”

I nodded. “I’m up to the challenge.”

“Oh, he’s confident!”

“I’ll never have stronger arms than this guy, but I might stand a chance at Infantry!”

Before I knew it, more and more people had gathered and all set up boards, and games were being played all over the store. Despite some mutterings from Menel that told me he wasn’t really into this, he went along with it surprisingly well by playing against himself. Bee seemed to be enjoying spectating and went around watching how the different matches were unfolding and chipping in comments. As for me...

“Daaaah, the Paladin’s too good!”

“The way you use this giant to protect the knight so it can come forward is very clever.”

“And your castles are so damn strong. Strengthening with the priest here, was that called a Tower castle?”

I was wiping the floor with all my challengers. These kinds of board games were also something Gus had trained me in, so I was pretty good at them. I looked over at Tonio. He had a smile on his face as he cheerfully played one of the people who had come to his store.

“Well done,” he said after a laugh.

“Tonio, buddy, you almost had me!”

It got to the point where drinks and snacks were brought out. The lively Infantry tournament continued until it got dark, with laughter filling the shop. And then finally it wound to a close, and everyone went their separate ways.

As I helped Tonio clear up, I dropped a casual comment. “Tonio, those were all very close matches you played.”

“Yes, that’s exactly the level I am, it seems. How embarrassing.”

“Oh, no, I think it’s amazing. Losing by a hair every time is harder to pull off than winning.”

When I said that, Tonio’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “You weren’t fooled.”

“Well, I kind of got the feeling. I thought you’d be more interested in everyone having fun and making good memories than beating your opponents into the ground.”

“Is that because I’m in the business of selling things?”

“No.”

Certainly, it was better for business if he left a good impression rather than a bad one, and that might have contributed to his decision. But there was a bigger reason.

“It felt to me like you just wanted a lot of people to like Infantry.”

When I said that, Tonio gave me a deeply peaceful smile. It wasn’t his usual business smile. It was a very transparent expression for him.

“I lost my wife many years ago. She was often in poor health, but she liked to play Infantry.”

I was speechless.

“We often played together,” he said calmly. “She was very strong. I was no match for her.”

Somewhere in his voice, I could sense the affection he had for her. All I could do was nod and continue helping him tidy up. I couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say.

After our work was almost done, I said, “Tonio, would you mind having a game with me? A serious one.”

“No, I wouldn’t mind. Let’s play.” He smiled.

In the now-dark room, under the wavering light of a lamp, Tonio and I sat on opposite sides of that beautiful board and took turns making the satisfying sound of a piece against wood.

To cut a long story short, Tonio’s fairy chopped the head off my king.

I said, “Good game” to him, and Tonio thanked me. After that, every few times I stopped by his store, Tonio and I would play a game of Infantry together.