“It’s quite a nice room.”
“………….”
“Princess? You’re a bit far away.”
Me.
What on earth was I thinking?
Leisha blamed herself from just five minutes ago. It was just a moment of anger, and she couldn’t resist her competitive spirit, which led her to let an outsider in.
If she could handle it naturally, maybe, but she wasn’t in sync, and it had been years since she last had a conversation with someone. The Leisha of the past might have been able to, but the current Leisha couldn’t even properly look at Kyle Byron’s face.
She wanted to kick him out right away, but Leisha still had some common sense. She had synced with the spirits on a whim, lost the game on a whim, and in her frustration, she had invited him in. Now, it would be too shameless to kick him out.
And so, the strange standoff continued.
Kyle sat comfortably in a chair, while Leisha, surrounded by spirits, went to the corner of the room and pointlessly touched the wall.
[Grrr?]
[Click.]
[Jingle.]
[Whoosh!]
[Meow.]
The water and wind spirits remained on Kyle’s side.
If Leisha spoke, they would come to her, but she didn’t feel the need to do so.
In fact, the fact that two of the spirits who always liked and supported her stayed on Kyle’s side only reaffirmed her own mistakes.
How long had it been?
Kyle, with a bitter smile, opened his mouth again.
“It seems the Princess is quite shy. You were so confident when you came out of the door earlier.”
“………….”
“You’re not upset because of what I said earlier, are you?”
“…………….”
No. She desperately wanted to believe it wasn’t that.
Leisha didn’t want to admit that she was so petty as to get upset over something like that……
“Well, how about this? You don’t have to talk. Just sit across from me. How about it?”
……That much.
As Kyle offered a reasonable compromise, Leisha inwardly nodded.
At this point, the fastest way to get Kyle out was to fulfill his purpose.
Since she roughly knew why he came, Leisha took a few deep breaths and mustered her courage.
Of course, she couldn’t make eye contact. She just bowed her head deeply and, with the help of the spirits, sat in the chair across from him.
But that seemed to be enough, as Kyle smiled faintly.
“Thank you for your courage.”
He knows. Then just say your purpose and leave.
“So, Princess.”
It’s probably something like asking her to come down from the tower, meet her father, or face reality, so just──
“How about a board game?”
“………What?”
“You finally responded. My purpose is as you said. Just one game, how about it?”
For a moment, Leisha was stunned, unable to read Kyle Byron’s thoughts.
But slowly thinking about it, it wasn’t such a bad condition for Leisha either.
Instead of annoying and predictable talk, one board game would make him leave quietly. She could handle that much.
However.
“…………….”
“Ah, Kyle Galli might be a bit too much, huh?”
Well, of course.
Unless she was in sync with the spirits, she didn’t want to play Kyle Galli, touching hands with a man she had just met less than 10 minutes ago.
So Leisha hoped Kyle Byron would quietly back off.
But after a moment of thought, Kyle pulled out a deck of cards from his waist.
“The design is………hmm, there are plenty of good subjects around.”
“………?”
“One with a Water Tiger, one with a Wind Horse, one with a Fire Cat, one with a Lightning Sparrow……….”
The newly drawn cards were blank. Not like Kyle Galli with shapes drawn on them, nor like gambling cards with patterns or numbers, just blank.
Without hesitation, Kyle started drawing on the blank cards with a pen.
As she slightly raised her head to see the cards being drawn.
“………Ah.”
[Grr?]
“Yeah, it’s you.”
With just a simple sketch, a vibrant Water Spirit comes to life. Eight cards like this are drawn.
Since they’re hand-drawn, not all the pictures are the same, but the composition and pose are slightly different, and anyone can tell it’s a Water Spirit.
[Click!]
“Of course, you’ll draw too.”
Wind Spirit, Fire Spirit, Lightning Spirit.
In addition to the Water Spirit, seven other types of spirits, totaling eight types, are quickly drawn, eight cards each.
While Princess Leisha is quietly impressed by the high-level drawing skills, Kyle picks out the spirit cards one by one and lays them out in front of her.
“If you don’t like Kyle Galli, how about this game?”
“…………….”
“It’s not a violent game. The rules are simple too. Would you like to hear them?”
“………….”
Nod.
After a moment of hesitation, Leisha nods her head. As long as it’s not a game where they have to touch each other or anything like that, it’s fine.
That’s why Leisha didn’t see the expression on Kyle Byron’s face at that very moment.
*
There’s a certain board game.
A game that doesn’t require bells like Hali Gali, or a board, just 64 cards.
If Hali Gali is about physically clashing and stirring up competitive spirit, this game has no physical elements and is purely psychological warfare.
But the name is a bit… questionable.
‘Cockroach Poker.’
In my opinion, it’s the best party game next to Hali Gali, and a game where you can see the extremes of psychological warfare.
It’s just that instead of cockroaches and other bugs, spirits are drawn on the cards.
“You can play with multiple people, but it’s also perfectly fine with just the two of us. You see the spirits drawn on the cards, right?”
“………….”
Nod.
The princess nods without answering.
She’s been keeping her mouth shut since she suddenly came out of the door and huffed, and one of the objectives of this game is to get her to open her mouth.
Because this is a game where you absolutely have to talk.
“Players receive cards and keep them to themselves. Then, they choose one card, flip it over, and hand it to the opponent without showing it.”
“…………?”
“And then you say, ‘This is a Water Spirit.'”
But the card I gave is actually a Wind Spirit.
In other words, it’s a lie.
“……….”
“Then, Your Highness, you can ponder whether this card is really a Water Spirit or not, and then answer.”
“…………….”
“Would you like to try?”
If she still keeps her mouth shut even after this, I’ll have to bring out another board game.
But the fact that the cards have spirits drawn on them seems to have worked, as Princess Leisha opens her mouth.
“………This is a Water Spirit.”
“Then let’s flip it over. Oh! It was a lie!”
“……………….”
“Don’t glare at me like that. Anyway, since you were wrong, you place the card face up in front of you. And the person who placed the card passes another card. This repeats, and when four cards of the same type are placed in front of you, you lose.”
“…………….”
“Ah, there’s no victory condition. If you survive until the end, that’s your victory. How about it? Is this game okay?”
Nod.
After a moment of hesitation, Leisha finally nods her head.
‘There’s no reason to refuse.’
She seems really shy, so there’s no way someone like her could play a game like Hali Gali with someone she just met. That’s why I switched to Cockroach Poker, a game that’s good even for first meetings.
No chance of physical contact, just handing over a card and saying one word. A very static game with no chance of getting heated.
…Or so it seems.
The charm of Cockroach Poker is something you have to experience for yourself.
Just how maddening this game can be.
Originally, it’s a game for multiple people, but there’s a separate rule for two players. First, randomly remove 10 cards out of 64 to exclude from the game, then split the remaining 54 cards in half. That’s it.
I also placed half of the cards in front of me and then drew any card to check.
“This is the Wind Spirit.”
“…………….”
With a smile, I handed the flipped card to Leisha.
For a moment, the princess pondered.
“………This is not the Wind Spirit.”
Perhaps because of the memory of being tricked earlier, she declared it a lie.
As soon as the card was flipped.
“…………….”
“Oh, it was the Wind Spirit after all.”
Shaking.
Leisha, who had been trembling while holding the true card, took a deep breath and placed the Wind Spirit card in front of her.
After that, Leisha, with a slightly more serious expression, picked a card and placed it in front of me.
“………This is the Fire Spirit.”
“This is not the Fire Spirit.”
“……!!”
“Shall we check?”
With no hesitation in my answer, Leisha was momentarily flustered. When the card was flipped, it was the Lightning Spirit.
As if it were the most natural thing, I smiled and returned the card to Leisha.
“Normally, it would be the princess’s turn again, but since it’s your first time playing, let’s take turns. This is the Wind Spirit.”
I mentioned the same spirit as before. Truthfully, without any lies.
Leisha deeply pondered over this.
“………This is not the Wind Spirit.”
As if to say that even so, she wouldn’t tell the truth with the same card twice in a row.
Leisha answered as if declaring, but when the card was flipped, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
Because it was also a Wind Spirit card.
“What the……!”
“I’m just being honest, princess.”
“…………….”
Alright, let’s be frank. This game is infinitely favorable to me.
Cockroach Poker… or should I now call it Spirit Poker? It’s easy to think that Spirit Poker is all about psychological warfare. Just poker faces and acting, that’s all you need to win.
Not entirely wrong. But there’s another crucial element.
That is, creating ‘patterns.’
Since reading the opponent’s psychology is everything in this game.
The process of imprinting on the opponent that I will do this is very important.
That player enjoyed telling the truth twice in a row, so they’ll probably do it again this time.
‘Actually, it’s the gambler’s fallacy.’
Independent events mean that the previous outcome has no effect on the current result. Like believing that after five odds, an even must come next—a baseless belief.
Spirit Poker is a game where you can easily win by making the opponent think of the gambler’s fallacy.
“This is the Water Spirit.”
“………Yes. This is the Water Spirit.”
Telling the truth once.
“This is……also the Water Spirit.”
“……Right. This is also the Water Spirit.”
Telling the truth twice.
“Hmm, this is the Lightning Spirit.”
“No. This is not the Lightning Spirit.”
“Are you cheating or something? How do you keep guessing right every time?”
“………There’s something like that.”
Then, always lie.
Not all rounds go like this, but a significant frequency does. After all, Spirit Poker isn’t a game that ends with just one or two correct guesses.
Moreover, the cards I handed over were as varied as possible. Even if they kept piling up in front of me, it would take a few more correct guesses to reach four.
After pondering and waiting for over 10 minutes like this.
“……………Ah.”
The cards in front of me were significantly more. All types of cards were placed, with the most being three Wind Spirit cards, so I was on the verge of elimination.
On the other hand, there weren’t many cards in front of Leisha, but the Wind Spirit cards she had gotten wrong twice in a row were also three.
And now, it was my turn.
“This is the Wind Spirit.”
“………!”
The situation seemed favorable to Leisha from anyone’s perspective. Just be careful with the Wind Spirit cards.
But if I guess wrong this time, the Wind Spirit cards might gather four and I could still lose. The moment I realized that, Leisha’s eyes were filled with tension.
Is this the Wind Spirit like I said, or not?
Maybe this choice could decide the outcome. Both Leisha and I have three Wind Spirit cards each.
……And just in the previous game.
I had already told the truth twice in a row, and Leisha saw through it.
So then.
What choice will Leisha make this turn?
“…………….”
The deliberation was long. It seemed Leisha realized that just because the number and types of cards laid out were few, it didn’t necessarily mean an advantage, so she was being extremely cautious.
She had been focused on this simple yet heart-pounding board game for a while now.
“………Alright, here.”
“………….”
“This is… the Wind Spirit… right.”
After closing her eyes and maintaining an unnatural silence, Leisha finally gave her answer.
Unlike the routine I had been following.
It was the third consecutive truthful answer.
And the card I gave was──
“The Wind Spirit.”
“Correct. That makes four Wind Spirit cards for me.”
──It was the Wind Spirit.
Leisha didn’t trust the routine I had been subtly hinting at during the critical moment.
It was quite surprising, but it could happen.
“I won, I won……!!”
Clatter!
After a nerve-wracking 10-minute psychological battle, Leisha, who had barely managed to win, was so excited that she immediately jumped up from her seat.
I laughed as I looked at her.
“Congratulations, you won.”
“…………Yes.”
Finally realizing her actions, Leisha bowed her head and sat back down.
The atmosphere was winding down as the board game came to an end, but.
“Now, as promised, I’ll leave the tower…… but.”
“………?”
“Could we perhaps play one more round of Spirit Poker?”
“Spirit……… Poker?”
“That’s the name of this board game. What do you think?”
Perhaps because of all the talking during Spirit Poker, Leisha, who now didn’t avoid eye contact or stay silent, looked at me for a moment.
After pondering and pondering again, she gave a small nod.
“……Just one more round.”
“Thank you, Princess.”
She quietly nodded.
It was half a success.
*
Now, I just need to win one more time.
Looking at Princess Leisha’s attitude towards the board game, her shyness seemed to stem from not having interacted with people much, but her competitive spirit was top-notch.
The plan was to show her a winning streak, fuel her competitive drive, and gradually increase our interactions, but.
“This is the Lightning Spirit.”
“Correct, it’s the Lightning Spirit.”
Hmm.
“This is… the Water Spirit.”
“No, this isn’t the Water Spirit.”
Oh.
“………This is the Wind──”
“Correct.”
“…………….”
Next round.
After starting another round of Spirit Poker with Leisha, I realized within less than a minute.
Leisha, who was confidently guessing every card, whether it was routine, bluffing, or psychological warfare.
‘This girl?’
Right now.
……She’s up to something.
