“I can’t understand it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Really… I can’t understand it.”
*Click.*
Duke Nicholas, who had just set down his teacup, wore an extremely complicated expression.
He seemed to be pondering something, thinking deeply, and then suddenly feeling deflated.
Grabbing his own forehead with his hand, he muttered,
“How did you do it?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve tried every means possible. I even tried to forcibly dismantle the turret, invited Spirit Masters contracted with the Spirit King to drive out the spirits, and begged outside the turret, promising to grant any wish if they would just talk to me. That went on for over five years.”
“……”
“But during all that time, my daughter… not once, not even once, did she respond with so much as a short letter, let alone her voice. But you, in just a week, managed to enter that turret, meet Leisha, and come back.”
As he spoke, the Duke was smiling.
But it was clear that it wasn’t a smile of joy.
The Duke was genuinely curious.
Why had all his efforts been denied, while something as absurd as a board game had opened Leisha’s heart?
“Tell me, how did you do it?”
“I just wanted to play a board game with the Princess, and that’s what we did.”
“……And?”
“That’s it.”
No matter how I thought about it, that really was all there was to it.
Sure, there was a moment when Princess Leisha cheated, which oddly(?) brought us closer, but in the end, it was Leisha who opened the door, accepted the request to play a board game, and even told me to come back tomorrow.
It wasn’t so much that I persuaded her, but rather that she chose to do so herself.
‘Still… Kyle Galli played a big part in it.’
It was also thanks to that game that I became friends with the spirits, and that Leisha, who had been hurt by people, came closer to me.
The Duke, who had been glaring at me as if expecting more, finally sighed.
“Hoo… I see. Thanks to you, there’s a glimmer of hope… I suppose I could invite famous board game players.”
“That’s…”
“After all, you can’t stay here forever, can you? How many days has it been now?”
“……15 days.”
15 days. So, half a month.
It had already been that long since I left home and stayed at Everts’ ducal estate due to a sudden letter from the Duke.
Of course, I had exchanged letters with my father in the meantime.
‘It’s not like my absence would cause any problems anyway.’
I heard that Kyle Galli was quietly spreading among the servants under the management of Grandpa Butler Charles.
Being the third son, I wasn’t involved in the family’s major affairs, so staying at the ducal estate for a long time wasn’t an issue.
In fact, the problem was that my father subtly asked if I wanted to settle down there.
“You’ve been here quite a while. Do you plan to stay longer?”
“That’s… no.”
“I see. To put it bluntly, unless you marry Leisha, I’ll have to find a way after you leave.”
“……I see. Well, if it’s famous board game players, they’d probably be familiar with something like chess… They’d likely get used to Spirit Poker quickly.”
“………….”
“Duke?”
“At the point where you’re more concerned about board games than marriage… I doubt I’ll find a better solution than you.”
Anyway.
After wrapping up the conversation, Duke Nicholas stopped his forced smile and put on a solemn expression.
“A week ago, after you first entered the turret, you went there every day to play board games with my daughter, right?”
“It’s Spirit Poker.”
“I see. In the end, my daughter didn’t come out of the turret, but thanks to you, there’s a glimmer of hope. Tell me what you want. I’ll grant you anything within reason for your service.”
“………”
A reward, huh.
I just played board games with Leisha and…
I just wanted to, but I never thought I’d come this far.
But if it’s a “reward” from the head of the Everts Ducal House, the wealthiest in the west, then something beyond imagination might just be possible.
…Well, honestly.
If I’m getting a reward, what I want has always been the same.
“I need support.”
“…Support?”
“I want to spread Kyle Galli and Spirit Poker far and wide. For that, I desperately need money and manpower.”
I got permission from my father to make board games, but that doesn’t mean I can use the family’s money to produce and spread them. I never intended to, anyway.
At first, I planned to use the prize money I won from that chess-like board game tournament as capital, but looking at the estimated costs, I’m way short.
No matter how simple the materials are, I didn’t realize that mass production would require a budget beyond imagination. After all, I’m just someone who loves board games, for better or worse.
‘First, I need to create dedicated pieces and cards for Kyle Galli, hire people to engrave geometric designs on the cards, and it would be great to have special cards and paper for the knights’ house rules.’
Not to mention, preparing the newly made (?) Spirit Poker would require an unimaginable amount of money.
That was the only reward I hoped for from the Duke.
“Support… for spreading board games.”
“Exactly. I don’t expect continuous funding, but if I could just get a lump sum───”
“…Ha, haha! Hahaha!! Me, the ruler of the west, Nicholas van Everts, said I’d grant anything, and it turns out to be board games! Hahahaha!!!”
“…Your Grace?”
“Haha… Ha, so my efforts weren’t in vain after all. It takes someone as crazy as you to make it possible.”
After the Duke finally stopped laughing like a madman.
Unlike his earlier complex, despondent, or solemn expression, he smirked and continued.
“Alright, I can provide as much support as you need. If you need money, I can give you funds. If you need manpower, I can send master craftsmen. Moreover, I can use the Ducal House’s connections to spread those board games.”
“Wow…!!”
“However, I can only give you one thing. Money, manpower, or connections. You can only choose one. What will it be?”
It seemed a bit different from his initial declaration of granting anything.
But honestly, even that was beyond my wildest dreams, so I nodded quietly. It wouldn’t do to push my luck and upset the Duke.
“If you want more, you can stay at the Ducal Castle longer than you have so far.”
“I’m sorry, but that might not be possible. I’ve already made arrangements at the Byron Viscountcy.”
“Fine. Then choose one. I’ll support that one thing with my full authority.”
I could stay at the Ducal Castle and receive other rewards, as the Duke suggested.
But if I get too caught up in the rewards and delay spreading the board games, that would be a problem.
Since I’ve already spread Kyle Galli to some extent at the Byron Viscountcy, it makes sense to start promoting board games from there.
If it’s urgent, I can always come back to the Ducal territory later. Though whether I’ll be welcomed then is questionable.
Anyway, if I have to choose one of the three, the answer is clear.
“I’ll take the connections.”
“A wise choice.”
After all, money and manpower can be managed somehow, but connections are irreplaceable.
If the Everts Ducal House’s name helps spread Kyle Galli and Spirit Poker among the nobility and the Ducal territories, the ripple effect could be massive. Whether it’s a flop or a hit remains to be seen.
But before spreading through connections, there’s something that needs to be done first.
Money.
‘First, I need to mass-produce the board games to spread them through the Ducal House’s connections.’
Spreading a few handmade Kyle Galli and Spirit Poker sets won’t have much impact.
In the end, mass production is a prerequisite for the Duke’s House’s connections to shine.
…Somehow, we’ve come full circle. We need an insane amount of money.
‘What should we do?’
First thing that comes to mind is borrowing money from the Merchant Guild or getting an investment.
The Merchant Guild is in the capital, and it’s questionable how much I can borrow under Kyle Byron’s name rather than the Byron family name.
As for investments, finding investors is a problem in itself.
While I was worrying about funding like that…
“…Well, I guess I can give you a little more help.”
“Duke, Your Excellency?”
“Take this.”
*Thud.*
What the Duke casually tossed was a letter.
A meticulously sealed letter with ridiculously luxurious decorations…and the seal of the Magic Tower.
Wait, the Magic Tower?
“What is this…?”
“It’s a letter sent to all the wealthy families in the west. It probably went to your family too.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll understand once you open it. But more importantly…”
*Knock. Knock. Knock.*
Both the Duke, who had been laughing boldly, and I, who was clueless about the sudden letter, turned our heads at the same time.
…Toward the sparrow spirit tapping on the reception room window.
[Chirp, chirp!]
“What is it saying?”
“…It says it’s about time, hurry up and come.”
“Your daughter must really be looking forward to spending time with you. Go ahead. And make sure to tell her today is the last.”
“Don’t worry.”
“I’m worried…about you. Leyshia might actually try to tie you up with spirits. She was the type of kid who never let go of her favorite doll since she was little.”
“……You’re joking, right? Haha!”
It’s a joke, right? You’re saying it while laughing, so it must be a joke, right?
…Right?
*
The Magic Tower.
Unlike the Imperial Academy in the capital, this is a place for those who truly wish to walk the path of magic, not just for cultural refinement.
It’s famous for being a strictly merit-based society where once you enter, it doesn’t matter if you’re a commoner or a noble.
Whether your blood is red or blue, in magic, only talent and skill matter…or so they say.
But in the end, the Magic Tower is still a place where people live, and since it’s within the vast framework of the Empire, noble magicians start with a significant advantage, even if not openly.
Commoners start from level 0, not even as apprentices, while nobles start from level 1, with better teachers and opportunities, showing that there’s still subtle discrimination.
Yet, it’s clear that it’s the most equal place, given that out of the six major Magic Towers in the Empire, four are led by commoners.
One of the six major Magic Towers in the western part of the Empire, Arkhé.
A place that researches magic related to light and darkness, where an old man and a girl were pulling their hair out together.
“Again…again? How many years has it been?”
“…It’s the 7th year this year, Tower Master.”
“Damn it.”
As is typical for those who have learned magic at Arkhé Magic Tower, both had pure white hair.
The old man, frantically flipping through documents and books while clutching his thinning hair, and the girl with white hair, expressionlessly assisting him.
Who would believe this old man is one of the six major Tower Masters and an Archmage? That’s how overwhelmed the Tower Master was.
“This is driving me insane. We’re making so much money…and it’s still not enough?”
“To be precise, our expenditures are three times our income. We’ve managed to sustain the massive deficit over the past seven years with our reserves, but…”
“…Don’t beat around the bush, Adela.”
“Calculating our current reserves and income versus expenditures…we have only a year left.”
“A year! Just a year!”
In a year, I’ll probably go down in history as the Tower Master who reduced the six major Magic Towers to five.
The Master of the Magic Tower slumped into his chair, let out a deep sigh, and turned his head to a white-haired girl named Adela.
“What happened to the letters we sent to the western families…? We have to sell that thing on the first floor no matter what. There’s no other way…”
“We sent letters to 134 places, and 108 of them replied.”
“Not just formal replies, but meaningful ones.”
“None at all.”
“Damn it…!!”
Just as the Master of the Magic Tower felt his blood pressure rising again and grabbed the back of his neck, the door to his office, cluttered with all sorts of documents and numbers, opened.
*Clang!*
“M-Master! Someone from the Everts Duke’s House has arrived!”
“Is that really true?!”
The Everts Duke’s House.
It was the place he had put the most effort into when sending letters, but also the place he thought would never help.
Knowing Duke Nicholas well, the Master of the Magic Tower thought there was no way he would buy that thing on the first floor, but he still held onto a sliver of hope.
Who would have thought they’d betray him in such a good way!
“W-Who came? Could it be the Duke himself?! Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I need to go out and see for myself!”
“Master!? Even if it’s not the Duke himself, for you to personally go out…”
“What does that matter now?! If this keeps up, I’m going to go bankrupt in the most unfair way!!”
Yelling at the magician who tried to stop him, the Master of the Magic Tower quickly headed down to the first floor of the tower.
For an Archmage who studies light and recreates it with magic, that distance was nothing more than a blink of an eye.
In an instant, the Master of the Magic Tower reached the first floor, frantically looked around, and soon spotted something, frowning.
‘That damn money pit!’
The thing that comes to mind when you think of the Arkhé Magic Tower, the giant board game that once elevated Arkhé to one of the six great magic towers.
It was a great landmark in that you could move pieces larger than most people using light and dark magic to play the game.
But at the same time, the enormous maintenance costs had turned it into a white elephant.
The more he looked at it, the more his stomach churned. The Master of the Magic Tower turned his gaze away from the giant board game and looked for the person who had come from the Everts Duke’s House.
Since the tower’s doors were closed today for visitors from the family, it was easy to find someone in the vast hall.
A man who clearly looked like an outsider and a servant girl with a faint aura of magic caught his eye.
“Um, are you the one from the Everts Duke’s House? Nice to meet you, I’m the Master of the Arkhé Magic Tower───”
“Ah.”
“Young Master…?”
“───Huh?”
The young man from the Everts Duke’s House and his servant were not overwhelmed by the giant board game like most first-time visitors.
“Is this really possible…?”
“……..?”
“A giant board game…!!”
With the corners of his mouth stretched to the limit, the young man was filled with excitement.
“Y-Yes! If it’s you, Young Master, you can do anything!!”
The young man, grinning from ear to ear, and the maid, laughing without any hesitation, approached him.
In the face of that insane spectacle, the Master of the Magic Tower found himself unconsciously taking a step back…
